The Old Ways can rub some people wrong — especially those coming into the supernatural world fresh from this modern era of excess, privilege, and internet anonymity. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen societal changes and cultural shifts in every direction you could plot an axis for; live for nearly 3500 years as I have, and you too will come to understand that Change is the one and only constant in this world. But what our more, shall I say, exuberant (indignant, entitled, take your pick) newcomers tend to misunderstand is that Old Ways — and those of us who uphold them — don’t stand in opposition to change; we’ve just already seen all their ‘new’ ideas brought forward before, been accepted, gone stale, and get discarded for the next.
The Old Ways aren’t rules, they’re just how you come to behave once you’ve lived through a few revolutions of the cycle. They’re also not written or codified in any way, but if I had to articulate the particular tenet that seems most abhorrent to our most recent newcomers, it would be this: Respect is owed to your elders, because they’ve already damn-well earned it in the past.
The recent upheaval in the supernatural underworld wasn’t particularly upsetting, or even that surprising: some newly-minted vamp shaking things up, gathering a following, killing off a few of the established vampire lords. I don’t overlap much with the neck-biter scene, so it wasn’t very concerning to me. But as ill-luck would have it, he kept growing more famous, and thus harder to avoid hearing about.
He was turned fairly late for a vampire, in his 40s, having already led a deeply troubling life steeped in conspiracy theory, hoax, and rabbit holes into the occult. So rather than take the traditional path toward amassing strength for a vamp — which is basically just to feed regularly and get older — he instead continued his dive into the occult. To his credit, this did score him the power he needed to oppose (and depose) many of the vampire lords of London; to his detriment, it also placed him rather firmly on a collision course with me.
I’d put a handful of wards and contingencies in place out of habit, but I wasn’t particularly concerned. Vampires are about as dangerous to me as… eh… now that I think of it, I don’t have a great analogy on hand for this. There isn’t much that’s truly all that dangerous to me at all, anymore — about as dangerous as a mosquito, I guess? In that I’d be annoyed if one bit me?
Still, he did manage to surprise me, if only because I never thought he’d be stupid enough to come for me there, in the Tavern. But like I said: in this storied community, the impetuous youth flaunt or ignore the Old Ways at their own peril. And it had started as such a nice, quiet night, with me seated at my usual booth in its dimly lit, secluded corner of the restaurant.
“Here you are, darling, you just let me know if you need anything else, okay?”
The head server of the Tavern is a lovely woman, seemingly 30 to 40 years of age, who despite the many years she’s spent in England, still speaks with an accent from the American south. Her ethnic heritage is clearly from a region further south-west in Africa than my own.
“Of course, thank you Catherine,” I replied as she placed an impeccably plated salad on the table before me. It was one of my favorites at the Tavern, a delightful little number with tender bamboo shoots, and some kind of sweet and spicy mustard vinaigrette. Catherine smiled and whisked off toward another table. I folded a piece of baby spinach over an arugula leaf and pinned them to a bamboo shoot with my fork, and had just lifted them to my lips when the doors to the Tavern slammed open into the walls of the entryway. The small, decorative windows in the doors shattered on impact, showering the hostess’ podium with shards of glass.
Most groups of vampires want to be called ‘covens.’ Some of the weirder, extra culty groups prefer the term ‘hive.’ Judging by the collection of washed out, middle-aged vampire bros who sauntered in through the broken doors, I can only assume this group called themselves something extra stupid, like ‘the posse.’
He was immediately evident. His four goons looked like your average jocks who’d had neither the skill to go pro, nor the sense to plan for anything else in life, and had spent their subsequent years in disappointment of themselves and others.
“Barkeep! A round of your finest libations for the entourage of…” the fucker actually paused, as though for dramatic effect, “the Dread Prince Lestat!”
An audible groan of disgust rose from a table of Lesser Devils in the next alcove down from mine. Abyssal-speech is difficult to decipher even when there isn’t a group of demons all talking over one another, but I did manage to make out from one of them, a trickster muse by the name of Mamenoche, just before he dissolved into a cloud of flies and dispersed. The remaining devils grumbled in disappointment, but still turned with eager smiles to watch the drama unfold.
The keeper of the tavern, for his part, simply raised an eyebrow while he wiped down a freshly washed stein with a drying rag. He nodded to an empty table. “Take a seat, we’ll be right with you,” he said, and then turned away to shelve the clean glass.
The keeper is a slight man, of average height, perhaps in his early to mid 50s. He wears the same costume every day: dark brown slacks and a burgundy tweed vest over a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled back to his elbows. His voice is rich and resonant, and though soft-spoken, he is never difficult to hear. Beyond that, I can only say that the tavern keeper looks exactly as you think he would, and do understand that I mean that literally. His features, his hair, the color of his skin: they all exist only in the eyes of the beholder. It’s part of the Glamour.
The four underlings slid chairs out from the table and plopped down with what some of my younger students have recently informed me is known as the ‘Riker maneuver.’ Lestat remained standing and circled the table while he addressed the patrons.
“Well, well, well. So this is the storied Tavern. Drinking hole for the Greats of the underworld, the movers and shakers, the true titans of the occult.” He smirked and paused for effect again. “At least now it is. Bit of a slow day before I got here, eh barkeep?”
The keeper responded with silence as he filled five elaborately crafted snifters from a small, gold-banded barrel behind the bar.
“No matter, we’ll liven things up here real soon. I’m looking for a woman — no, not you love, some other time maybe.” He gestured across the bar to a woman of simply indescribable beauty, whom he utterly failed to recognize as Titania. Lounging beside her, Oberon narrowed his eyes, but remained otherwise still.
It had been at least 150 years since the last time a patron had stepped out of line in the Tavern, and the mood of the crowd was positively electric with anticipation. The vampire, bless his shriveled little heart, clearly interpreted this as deference to his prowess.
“The woman I’m looking for is… Egyptian. An Empress. Her very name and image carved off the face of history by her own son. Probably on the masculine side, considering how she managed to pass herself off as a Pharaoh and usurp his reign for 20 years. Just a guess, but probably a 2 or 3 out of 10.”
“I’ve had kings put to death for far less impetuous horse shit than that, young man,” I said. How rude — I looked positively fabulous with a false goatee.
He turned to me with a broad smile and threw his arms wide open. “And here she is, The Empress Undying. The ‘last word’ in all things occult and arcane, so they tell me.” He approached, squinting into the gloom surrounding my dining table. “And wow, I take it all back, for a 3,000 year old mummy, you are surprisingly bang-able. You know I love a girl who plays hard to get, and let’s face it — erased from history, all that jazz — you were difficult to track down, Hatshepsut!”
“Really? I have a page on Wikipedia.”
“That’s not— I mean I prefer— that is, well, primary sources are—”
“Which, if you’d bothered reading, would have told you that Thutmose the Second was not my son, but my step son, and that at 2 years old he was not in the best position to rule when my husband passed. Not to mention it was actually his bratty son Amenhotep who ordered the whole defacing of my icons thing.” Which is also untrue. I ate my own name as part of my Ascension. But he doesn’t need to know the details of my life.
“Here’s your drinks boys,” Catherine said behind him with her typically cheerful demeanor as she set the tray of snifters down between Lestat’s posse. “Seeing as how it’s your first round at the Tavern, darlings, this one’s on the house.”
The vampires grabbed their drinks without so much as a thank you. Lestat wisely took the interruption as a reprieve from this sudden hiccup in whatever grand plan it was he had in mind for me, and retreated to the support of his minions. One of them sniffed at the drink suspiciously, while the others simply threw them back like shots and immediately grimaced. One got it down before sputtering and coughing uproariously, the other two spit it out back into their snifters.
“What is this shit?”
“That’s Ambrosia, darling,” Catherine said as she gently patted the coughing vamp on his back. “Nectar of the gods. It’s a bit of an acquired taste for sure, and most people do prefer to sip it. They say it’s ‘too much sensation’ for us lesser beings.”
“They don’t want Ambrosia, you wench,” Lestat howled, “they want blood!”
“Well I’m sorry darling, but we don’t serve blood here. You asked for a round of our ‘finest libations,’ and there’s no drink finer than Ambrosia in the Tavern, nor outside of it as I’ve ever heard. That barrel over there was handed off by Hermes himself.”
One of the vampires dashed his drink on the floor and pointed at Catherine.
“You’ve got blood, don’t you lass?”
“That will be enough.” The tavern keeper’s soft, mellifluous voice draped over the exchange like a weighted blanket. “I’ve served you drinks, and in return you have been exceedingly impolite to my establishment, my staff, and my patrons. Learn the meaning of deference before you visit next, for you will not be well-received without it. Now, leave.”
Lestat’s four hulking minions might have succumbed to the spell of the keeper’s voice had not their ring-leader, to his detriment, managed to shake out of it.
“Leave? No, we just got here,” he turned back to me, “and I’m not finished with her.”
“But I am finished with you,” I said.
“Ten,” the keeper said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the bar.
“The only reason I haven’t ended your miserable existence thus far,” I continued, “is out of deference to my elders. It is not my right to take your life inside the walls of this Tavern. I suppose I’ll soon be forced to do it outside, but do understand, I’ll approach that no differently than I would stepping on a scarab.”
“Nine.”
“The truth of it is, 'Dread Prince,' that you are not worth the breath spent uttering your ridiculous name.”
“Not worth your time, am I? I’ll show you what your time is worth, you decrepit bitch!”
“Eight,” the tavern keeper said, and Lestat flung an outstretched claw in his direction while hissing out a spell in medieval Latin.
Generously translated, it came out to roughly As though caught on a hook, the keeper tumbled over his bar and forward through the air. Lestat caught him by the neck and wrenched sideways, spinning the keeper’s head fully around with a loud crunching sound. Then, with the inhuman speed inherent to vampires, he hoisted the keeper’s body over his head, darted across the Tavern, and slammed him down through a table surrounded by a flock of naiads.
He turned and caught Catherine in the hypnotic gaze his kind uses to trap their prey, and strolled leisurely back over to his group. I crossed my arms.
“Sorry ‘darling,’ but I like my meals a little toasty.”
He hissed in his awful Latin again, along the lines of Catherine convulsed and shrieked, unable to move while locked in his gaze. He yanked her head to the side and made a show of sinking his fangs into her neck with a ripping motion, splattering droplets of blood across the tavern that sizzled and steamed where they landed. Her lifeless body rolled under the table as he turned his bloody face back to me.
“How do you like me now?”
I pushed my untouched salad, now flecked with Catherine’s blood, away from me on the table and let out a deep sigh.
“First, your grasp of Latin is elementary at best, you really should have practiced more before coming to see me. No, now, this is the part where you listen.”
I pinched my forefinger to the thumb to seal the air inside his lungs. He stumbled back and clutched at his neck in surprise — he wasn’t going to suffocate of course, but it’s an unpleasant feeling for sure if you haven’t yet come to the realization that you don’t actually need to breathe in undeath.
“Of course it is the intent that matters somewhat more-so than the language used — but, and I cannot stress this enough, good syntax simply never hurts. The age of your language also should not be overlooked. The older the language, the truer it is to the One Tongue of Magic, before it was fractured and the tower fell. You came with a form of Ecclesiastical Latin from around the 12th century, taught to Catholic priests. Underwhelming at best. You should have at least brought Classical Latin from the time of the Caesars, that would have shown me you were trying.
“Second, you demonstrate a lack of finesse that is simply appalling. I will commend your creativity in bringing your own spells to demonstrate. It is a key craft that many young students of the occult struggle with terribly for many years. You are also clearly capable of drawing significant power to bear, which is always a good start. However, the path to enduring success in the arcane arts isn’t power, it’s efficiency. What you did worked, but it took far more power than it needed to. I can think of a dozen ways to boil someone’s blood off the top of my head, and none of them require much more focus or power than this.”
I released my fingers, letting the air out of his lungs in an involuntary wheeze.
“Since you were turned, I suspect you’ve never met a door you couldn’t break down with brute force. But that’s only because until today, you never really went looking for one.
“Third, and most damning of the indictments against you is this: you absolutely and utterly failed to read the room, nor did you accept the un-earned grace that was offered to you. Thus ends our impromptu lesson, prince. Good luck.”
I leaned back and draped my arms across the cushions of my booth, while Lestat yanked one of his minions to their feet and stood behind him, tensing for a fight.
“Mother… fucker…” came a mutter from under Lestat’s table, as Catherine stirred and rolled over onto her side. The newly-minted vampire lord paused and looked down at her with a furrowed brow.
“Wait, was she not a human? That normally kills humans.” He looked to his cronies, who gave him an array of shrugs and uncertain mumblings.
I said in Classical Latin,
The vampire cocked his head, clearly trying and failing to work through the declensions and figure out exactly what I had said. I pointed across the room to the tavern keeper, standing up out of the wreckage of his table. Loud crunches of grinding bone sounded from his neck as he rolled his head from side to side, reforming the shattered vertebrae inside it. He spat out a mouthful of blood, then plucked a wrinkled pocket square from his vest and dabbed the corners of his lips.
“Zero,” the keeper said once his larynx had reformed enough for speech. “It’s the medical benefits of her employment package: immunity to death, disease, etc. Cuts the insurance middle-men right out of the picture, I find it’s very efficient.”
“Ah.” Lestat eyed the keeper, far too late showing the slightest hint of caution or concern. “So she’s human, but you’re not. Well then, what are you?”
“Immortal,” the Keeper replied simply, as he plucked a shard of glass out of his skull and tossed it aside. It landed with a loud tinkle in the otherwise silent room.
“That means nothing,” Prince Lestat waved his hand dismissively. “I’m immortal. Half your bloody patrons are—”
“No,” the keeper cut him off as he straightened out his vest and stepped out of the wreckage of the table. “You are ageless, thanks to the curse of undeath upon you. That is a very different thing than being immortal. Numerous vampire lords you’ve killed in the last few months would attest to this, were they not dead, no? They may not like to acknowledge it, but this is a simple fact that every entity in this establishment is keenly aware of, save for you.”
Lestat said nothing, but his body language spoke volumes for him, as he shrunk half a step backward toward the support of his underlings.
“My patrons from the Fey realms, or the Abyss? They experience death on this plane of existence as a banishment back to their own. But once there, they age and die the same as all other creatures in existence, if perhaps at a different rate than a human does. My dear employee Catherine, whom you’ve treated with such brazen disrespect, will live as long as she wishes to. But some day, be it centuries or millennia from now, she will grow tired of life, and request I terminate her contract.”
He gestured to me, seated in my quiet, dark corner, and a chill ran down my spine.
“Even the Empress Undying, whom you unwisely came looking for tonight, will only survive so long as she maintains the numerous spells and failsafes she has crafted to preserve and extend her unnatural life.”
My thoughts flickered in succession through my 5 phylacteries, painstakingly secreted away in sealed and warded caches both near and far-flung — and I watched in horror as the keeper’s eyes lifted briefly to the keystone of the stone arch over his doorway, then settled on me, and he winked.
By the gods, my cold heart would have skipped a beat were it able. How did he find it out? Or, more likely: has he simply always known?
“One day, when she has grown tired of this endless upkeep, she too will come to me for release. You see, Edwin, everything dies eventually.”
He held his hand calmly out to his side, and wisps of shadow materialized and snaked through the air into his grasp. The Dread Prince Lestat — Edwin — first shivered, then spasmed, and finally, as his entourage withdrew from him in horror, collapsed in a fit of convulsions. The shadows continued to flow into the keeper’s outstretched hand, gaining solidity and texture, until he was left holding his implement: a bowed farmer’s scythe, worn and battered, but with a keen edge that felt dizzying and somehow wrong to look upon. The keeper stepped forward.
“Everything dies, except for me.”
Been wanting to get back into writing for a while and came across this response I half-wrote last year.
Original prompt either here or here , honestly not sure which one I originally happened across anymore.

Humans are not the fastest, not the strongest, not the most durable, or even the smartest race. They do not proliferate quickly, live very venerably, or evolve rapidly at will. They variously track higher on all of those scales, certainly making them one of the most formidable species among the stars, but none of that is what makes them the most terrifying predators in the known universe.
As humans would put it, the six sensory groups are touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing, and place. There are many many more specific senses of course, but each is a subset of one of those, such as a sense of temperature being part of touch, or the sense of motion being part of place. There is however a seventh sense that all humans possess and only humans possess: Precognition.
Several thousand cycles ago, a ship of the Tlygot was investigating the human home world long before they came to be and found many species of similar build to modern humans proliferating across the planet. They were all variations of the same evolutionary line, but not quite sentient. Seeing potential to corral them into a docile, slave race they collected a few specimens to see which genetic variations had the most desirable traits and began experimenting with the Terran genome.
They wanted a race capable enough to complete nearly any task they might be assigned, but not innately intelligent enough to defy their masters. They removed genetic markers for dangerous traits like claws and fangs, and then crippled their infants to prevent escapees from becoming invasive to the local environments wherever they may be. As fits the Tlygot reputation, it was masterful bioengineering, but there was a single flaw. One of the newly spawned hominids possessed a genetic mutation that seemingly gave them the ability to predict future events. This was not immediately apparent to the Tlygot, and all evidence had been written off simply as savantism. As such, the Tlygot release the first humans to their homeworld to reproduce and eventually become a valuable source of labor amongst the galaxy once they’d reached significant enough numbers to collect.
Following their standard procedure for such ventures, the Tlygot left the world under the eye of an AI meant only to alert them of anything that might spoil their investment. A few hundred cycles later they were alerted that the planet had begun to show signs of civilization which should never have occurred. Assuming another race had missed, or more likely ignored, their claim to the planet, they returned with a small task force of assault craft should they need to deal with them aggressively. Instead they found that their creations had spread across the globe and advanced far faster than even the most intelligent known sentients would have in that time. Still primitive and restricted to simple wood and stone, but a dangerous development nonetheless.
As per galactic treatise, no species may subjugate or enslave another without formal declaration of war, requiring witnesses from at least three non-party races. As an uncontacted race would have no representation, the war could not be approved by the Assembly. This was a problem for the Tlygot because, before bioengineering, the various species of the world had been pre-sentient; therefore outside jurisdiction of the treatise. A clearly sentient species however could not be enslaved, and furthermore, resource rights to the entire local cluster would be lost.
Attempting to hide their mistake before it was made known to the wider galaxy, the Tlygot had their assault craft divert an asteroid to strike the planet in an attempt to wipe the slate clean. The impact caused massive climate change across the biosphere that decimated the populations of all life on the planet, but unexpectedly enough humans survived to not only replenish their numbers, but allow them to advance further still. The Tlygot tried again by setting off a super volcano, and both again, watching the evidence each time they returned and witnessed as the humans somehow managed to predict what decisions would lead to another advancement. Even lacking the Tlygot's own genetic memory traits, they passed their knowledge on to subsequent generations despite the crippling of their young. It was in the young that they found the truth of their mistake.
Lacking the physical ability necessary to survive in any capacity for the first several cycles, the species had adapted to continue development of the brain far beyond infancy. Particularly the enlarged frontal cortex. This has been well documented to be the origin of sentience, or at least its equivalent in other species. All sentient species in the galaxy evolved as predators due to the increased need for the brain to predict the actions of its prey and prepare the appropriate reaction. This would eventually lead to planning and reasoning and the building blocks of sentience. Humans have a frontal cortex so highly developed that what most species would take rotations to calculate and predict, they can often do off handed in moments. While most species could not develop any feasible ranged weapons of war until the development of advanced mathematics, humans could sling stones at avion prey while in motion and predicted where large beasts would flee over long distances, all before they had even invented clothing.
For the Tlygot, the species they had created was beginning to become too expensive to hide and while resetting a biosphere was doable without being noticed on the galactic stage, destroying one would be troubling to say the least; but better to lose a single planet than the entire cluster. The Tlygot with their final attempt decided to crash a comet into the planet's moon on a path that would then in turn cause the moon to collide with the planet. Gravity tugs were dispatched to gradually curve the comet into a collision course to better avoid any unexpected witnesses. As if by cosmic coincidence, the new path accidentally converged with a major hyper lane and an antimatter fuel ship collided with it, destroying both of them along with many more; and slingshotting the situation to the forefront of the galaxy's awareness.
The debacle immediately cost the Tlygot much more than they would have ever lost had they simply openly admitted to everything from the start. The Tlygot were immediately sanctioned and the entire sector of space around the Human homeworld was quarantined while the Galactic Assembly reviewed the records turned over by the Tlygot. The ruling against them for the destruction of the fuel ship and cascading damage to everything within 500 stellar units along the hyperlane was damning. They were forced to inevitably sell themselves into indentured servitude to pay off the debt that could never be repaid.
While the Assembly prioritized matters of blame and repayment, the matter of the fledgling sapients at the center of the events was entirely overlooked. After all, new sapients blinked in and out of existence frequently, and few ever advanced far enough to even be worth contacting. Those that did, took millions of cycles to stumble into electricity let alone any form of communication that could be interpreted into galactic common. They had expected to have ages to come back to the small world, after they settled the financial matters first. The quarantine enacted after the hyperlane disaster had left their corner of the galaxy practically uninhabited and untouched, and with the cloud of antimatter blocking the hyperlane, it stayed that way until the Assembly ordered a proper clean up.
By the time the Tlygot’s sentence was carried out, the Galactic Assembly found themselves facing an entirely different monster than had ever been expected. The humans had advanced. They had advanced into a thriving interstellar civilization. Not just one civilization either, but several independent states of their own. Their ability to predict possible futures inevitably gave way to the means of creating said futures. While every sentient race was capable of planning and devising new means of accomplishing goals, they did so out of immediate need or convenience. None did so with the foresight of humanity.
The disastrous antimatter explosion that ravaged the hyperlane and facilitated the human’s isolation didn’t go undetected by them. Their primitive detection systems registered the energy release and caught their attention like lightning to an iron rod. The whole of humanity suddenly became aware that they were not only not alone, but that they had been in the direct path of imminent destruction. They leapt forward into the stars with all their intuition, which they had mistaken for imagination and ingenuity.
They imagined reviving the reassembled dead with lightning and manufactured their medicine into defibrillation and artificial organs. They imagined being able to fly like insects and avians and navigated their means of transit to hypersonic jet propulsion. They imagined statues that could think and function autonomously and fabricated their machinations into robotics and cybernetics. They imagined harnessing the power of stars and delineated the secrets of fusion power. They imagined faster than light travel and illuminated their physics to the warping of space and time. They imagined instantaneous communication and compiled quantum mechanics into the creation of an ansible.
It was the humans who made first contact with the Galactic Assembly, much to the shock of every other sapient race. Humanity had used its time to not only advance to a level of technology almost on par with the Assembly, but had predicted where and how to communicate with them once the cleanup of the hyperlane was underway. As far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned, a new galactic power emerged from the aether overnight. A power that proved proficiency in nearly everything they came in contact with. Anything humans didn’t know, they quickly figured out; and anything they couldn’t do, they quickly made something to do it for them.
In physical ability they were certainly not the strongest or the fastest, they didn’t have the most powerful weapons and armor, and there were ships far larger and more advanced; but all of that counts for little in combat if your opponent knows what you are going to do before you do. Even more so if your opponent is the one who planned for you to do it. Their ability to predict what others might do and what events might unfold was so ingrained in their society that their most simple spawnling games involve divining where their opponents might hide from a predator.
By adolescence most were already so proficient in prediction that they played dozens of advanced simulations that follow various sets of goals and restrictions involving everything from combat and commerce to technological development and social engineering. They even bestowed the title of Grand Master to those so proficient in their clairvoyance that their greatest competition wasn’t each other, but advanced artificial intelligences that could calculate every possible move faster than their own minds.
Humans were the most cunning diplomats and merchants because they could guess how far to negotiate before settling any deal. Humans made the best security forces because before danger they always felt their hair “stand up”. Humans seemingly avoided disasters and created miracles seemingly on a whim based on nothing more than a “gut feeling”. Humans navigated the ins and outs of societal norms and taboos simply by feeling “the vibe”. Even works of art or ability they themselves deemed masterful were often attributed to simply being “in the zone”.
In the span of only a few Human centuries, the new galactic standard of time, humanity had seemingly conquered all of known space simply by existing. They may have been products of the Tlygot’s less than savory business practices, but even they were freed by their creation as the humans saw no need to enslave what could be just as easily guided to a better future.
A future of their own design.

Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory

Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.

All Buyouts are listed in cash value.

KNIVES

★ Butterfly Knife Freehand FN #1, B/O: $2500

★ Butterfly Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $822

★ Butterfly Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $616

⎯

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW #1, B/O: $1300

★ Bayonet Autotronic FN, B/O: $1050

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW, B/O: $629

★ Bayonet Bright Water FT, B/O: $326

★ Bayonet Safari Mesh BS, B/O: $233

⎯

★ Karambit Lore FT, B/O: $1110

★ Karambit Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $840

★ Karambit Freehand MW, B/O: $784

★ Karambit Bright Water MW, B/O: $759

⎯

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $751

⎯

★ Nomad Knife Fade FN, B/O: $1156

★ Nomad Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $544

★ Nomad Knife Blue Steel WW, B/O: $318

⎯

★ Flip Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $646

★ Flip Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $574

★ Flip Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) MW, B/O: $552

★ Flip Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $257

★ Flip Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $255

★ StatTrak™ Flip Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $287

⎯

★ Huntsman Knife Lore FN, B/O: $461

★ Huntsman Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $436

★ Huntsman Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $353

★ Huntsman Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $212

★ Huntsman Knife Bright Water FT, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT MW, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT BS, B/O: $123

★ StatTrak™ Huntsman Knife Rust Coat BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $375

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $363

★ Bowie Knife Tiger Tooth FN, B/O: $269

★ Bowie Knife Crimson Web WW, B/O: $192

★ Bowie Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $159

★ Bowie Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $126

⎯

★ Stiletto Knife Slaughter FN, B/O: $616

★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web FT, B/O: $412

★ StatTrak™ Stiletto Knife Night Stripe FT, B/O: $227

⎯

★ Falchion Knife Lore FT, B/O: $214

★ Falchion Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $192

★ Falchion Knife Scorched WW, B/O: $105

⎯

★ Survival Knife Crimson Web BS, B/O: $216

★ Survival Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $198

★ Survival Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Shadow Daggers Fade FN, B/O: $368

★ Shadow Daggers Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $228

★ Shadow Daggers, B/O: $201

★ Shadow Daggers Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $108

★ Shadow Daggers Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $105

★ Shadow Daggers Black Laminate FT, B/O: $99

★ Shadow Daggers Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $85

⎯

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Sapphire) MW #1, B/O: $1700

★ Gut Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $223

★ Gut Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $203

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $191

★ Gut Knife Case Hardened BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife, B/O: $138

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $111

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★ Classic Knife Urban Masked FT, B/O: $146

★ StatTrak™ Classic Knife Stained BS, B/O: $168

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★ Ursus Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $476

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★ Skeleton Knife, B/O: $1137

★ Talon Knife, B/O: $608

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★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Kimono WW, B/O: $1215

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★ Hydra Gloves Case Hardened BS, B/O: $65

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AK-47 Case Hardened BS, B/O: $130

AK-47 Bloodsport MW, B/O: $79

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Bloodsport FT, B/O: $70

AK-47 Neon Rider MW, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AK-47 Aquamarine Revenge FT, B/O: $72

⎯

AWP Fade FN, B/O: $1039

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

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AWP Wildfire MW, B/O: $95

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

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AWP Duality FN, B/O: $81

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

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AWP Chromatic Aberration FN, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

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StatTrak™ AWP Electric Hive FT, B/O: $55

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Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $623

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Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

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Desert Eagle Printstream FT, B/O: $54

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M4A1-S Blue Phosphor FN, B/O: $434

StatTrak™ M4A1-S Bright Water MW, B/O: $55

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M4A4 Poseidon FN, B/O: $1465

M4A4 Asiimov BS, B/O: $55

M4A4 Hellfire MW, B/O: $50

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USP-S Kill Confirmed MW, B/O: $72

USP-S Printstream FT, B/O: $69

StatTrak™ USP-S Kill Confirmed FT, B/O: $139

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AUG Flame Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $234

P90 Run and Hide FT, B/O: $147

Five-SeveN Candy Apple FN, B/O: $61

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Knives - Bowie Knife, Butterfly Knife, Falchion Knife, Flip Knife, Gut Knife, Huntsman Knife, M9 Bayonet, Bayonet, Karambit, Shadow Daggers, Stiletto Knife, Ursus Knife, Navaja Knife, Talon Knife, Classic Knife, Paracord Knife, Survival Knife, Nomad Knife, Skeleton Knife, Patterns - Gamma Doppler, Doppler (Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, Black Pearl, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald), Crimson Web, Lore, Fade, Ultraviolet, Night, Marble Fade (Fire & Ice, Fake FI), Case Hardened (Blue Gem), Autotronic, Slaughter, Black Laminate, Tiger Tooth, Boreal Forest, Scorched, Blue Steel, Vanilla, Damascus Steel, Forest DDPAT, Urban Masked, Freehand, Stained, Bright Water, Safari Mesh, Rust Coat, Gloves - Bloodhound Gloves (Charred, Snakebite, Guerrilla, Bronzed), Driver Gloves (Snow Leopard, King Snake, Crimson Weave, Imperial Plaid, Black Tie, Lunar Weave, Diamondback, Rezan the Red, Overtake, Queen Jaguar, Convoy, Racing Green), Hand Wraps (Cobalt Skulls, CAUTION!, Overprint, Slaughter, Leather, Giraffe, Badlands, Spruce DDPAT, Arboreal, Constrictor, Desert Shamagh, Duct Tape), Moto Gloves (Spearmint, POW!, Cool Mint, Smoke Out, Finish Line, Polygon, Blood Pressure, Turtle, Boom!, Eclipse, 3rd Commando Company, Transport), Specialist Gloves (Crimson Kimono, Tiger Strike, Emerald Web, Field Agent, Marble Fade, Fade, Foundation, Lt. Commander, Crimson Web, Mogul, Forest DDPAT, Buckshot), Sport Gloves (Pandora's Box, Superconductor, Hedge Maze, Vice, Amphibious, Slingshot, Omega, Arid, Big Game, Nocts, Scarlet Shamagh, Bronze Morph), Hydra Gloves (Case Hardened, Emerald, Rattler, Mangrove), Broken Fang Gloves (Jade, Yellow-banded, Unhinged, Needle Point), Pistols - P2000 (Wicked Sick, Ocean Foam, Fire Element, Amber Fade, Corticera, Chainmail, Imperial Dragon, Obsidian, Scorpion, Handgun, Acid Etched), USP-S (Printstream, Kill Confirmed, Whiteout, Road Rash, Owergrowth, The Traitor, Neo-Noir, Dark Water, Orion, Blueprint, Stainless, Caiman, Serum, Monster Mashup, Royal Blue, Ancient Visions, Cortex, Orange Anolis, Ticket To Hell, Black Lotus, Cyrex, Check Engine, Guardian, Purple DDPAT, Torque, Blood Tiger, Flashback, Business Class, Pathfinder, Para Green), Lead Conduit, Glock-18 (Umbral Rabbit, Fade, Candy Apple, Bullet Queen, Synth Leaf, Neo-Noir, Nuclear Garden, Dragon Tatto, Reactor, Pink DDPAT, Twilight Galaxy, Sand Dune, Groundwater, Blue Fissure, Snack Attack, Water Elemental, Brass, Wasteland Rebel, Vogue, Franklin, Royal Legion, Gamma Doppler, Weasel, Steel Disruption, Ironwork, Grinder, High Beam, Moonrise, Oxide Blaze, Bunsen Burner, Clear Polymer, Bunsen Burner, Night), P250 (Re.built, Nuclear Threat, Modern Hunter, Splash, Whiteout, Vino Primo, Mehndi, Asiimov, Visions, Undertow, Cartel, See Ya Later, Gunsmoke, Splash, Digital Architect, Muertos, Red Rock, Bengal Tiger, Crimson Kimono, Wingshot, Metallic DDPAT, Hive, Dark Filigree, Mint Kimono), Five-Seven (Neon Kimono, Berries And Cherries, Fall Hazard, Crimson Blossom, Hyper Beast, Nitro, Fairy Tale, Case Hardened, Copper Galaxy, Angry Mob, Monkey Business, Fowl Play, Anodized Gunmetal, Hot Shot, Retrobution, Boost Protocol), CZ75-Auto (Chalice, Crimson Web, Emerald Quartz, The Fuschia is Now, Nitro, Xiangliu, Yellow Jacket, Victoria, Poison Dart, Syndicate, Eco, Hexane, Pole, Tigris), Tec-9 (Rebel, Terrace, Nuclear Threat, Hades, Rust Leaf, Decimator, Blast From, Orange Murano, Toxic, Fuel Injector, Remote Control, Bamboo Forest, Isaac, Avalanche, Brother, Re-Entry, Blue Titanium, Bamboozle), R8 Revolver (Banana Cannon, Fade, Blaze, Crimson Web, Liama Cannon, Crazy 8, Reboot, Canal Spray, Night, Amber Fade), Desert Eagle (Blaze, Hand Cannon, Fennec Fox, Sunset Storm, Emerald Jörmungandr, Pilot, Hypnotic, Golden Koi, Printstream, Cobalt Disruption, Code Red, Ocean Drive, Midnight Storm, Kumicho Dragon, Crimson Web, Heirloom, Night Heist, Mecha Industries, Night, Conspiracy, Trigger Discipline, Naga, Directive, Light Rail), Dual Berettas (Flora Carnivora, Duelist, Cobra Strike, Black Limba, Emerald, Hemoglobin, Twin Turbo, Marina, Melondrama, Pyre, Retribution, Briar, Dezastre, Royal Consorts, Urban Shock, Dualing Dragons, Panther, Balance), Rifles - 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P90 (Neoqueen, Astral Jörmungandr, Run and Hide, Emerald Dragon, Cold Blooded, Death by Kitty, Baroque Red, Vent Rush, Blind Spot, Asiimov, Trigon, Sunset Lily, Death Grip, Leather, Nostalgia, Fallout Warning, Tiger Pit, Schermatic, Virus, Shapewood, Glacier Mesh, Shallow Grave, Chopper, Desert Warfare), MAC-10 (Sakkaku, Hot Snakes, Copper Borre, Red Filigree, Gold Brick, Graven, Case Hardened, Stalker, Amber Fade, Neon Rider, Tatter, Curse, Propaganda, Nuclear Garden, Disco Tech, Toybox, Heat, Indigo), UMP-45 (Wild Child, Fade, Blaze, Day Lily, Minotaur's Labyrinth, Crime Scene, Caramel, Bone Pile, Momentum, Primal Saber), MP7 (Teal Blossom, Fade, Nemesis, Whiteout, Asterion, Bloosport, Abyssal Apparition, Full Stop, Special Delivery, Neon Ply, Asterion, Ocean Foam, Powercore, Scorched, Impire), PP-Bizon (Modern Hunter, Rust Coat, Forest Leaves, Antique, High Roller, Blue Streak, Seabird, Judgement of Anubis, Bamboo Print, Embargo, Chemical Green, Coblat Halftone, Fuel Rod, Photic Zone, Irradiated Alert, Carbon Fiber), MP9 (Featherweight, Wild Lily, Pandora's Box, Stained Glass, Bulldozer, Dark Age, Hot Rod, Hypnotic, Hydra, Rose Iron, Music Box, Setting Sun, Food Chain, Airlock, Mount Fuji, Starlight Protector, Ruby Poison Dart, Deadly Poison), MP5-SD (Liquidation, Oxide Oasis, Phosphor, Nitro, Agent, Autumn Twilly), Shotguns, Machineguns - Sawed-Off (Kiss♥Love, First Class, Orange DDPAT, Rust Coat, The Kraken, Devourer, Mosaico, Wasteland Princess, Bamboo Shadow, Copper, Serenity, Limelight, Apocalypto), XM1014 (Frost Borre, Ancient Lore, Red Leather, Elegant Vines, Banana Leaf, Jungle, Urban Perforated, Grassland, Blaze Orange, Heaven Guard, VariCamo Blue, Entombed, XOXO, Seasons, Tranquility, Bone Machine, Incinegator, Teclu Burner, Black Tie, Zombie Offensive, Watchdog), Nova (Baroque Orange, Hyper Beast, Green Apple, Antique, Modern Hunter, Walnut, Forest Leaves, Graphite, Blaze Orange, Rising Skull, Tempest, Bloomstick, Interlock, Quick Sand, Moon in Libra, Clean Polymer, Red Quartz, Toy Soldier), MAG-7 (Insomnia, Cinqueda, Counter Terrace, Prism Terrace, Memento, Chainmail, Hazard, Justice, Bulldozer, Silver, Core Breach, Firestarter, Praetorian, Heat, Hard Water, Monster Call, BI83 Spectrum, SWAG-7), M249 (Humidor, Shipping Forecast, Blizzard Marbleized, Downtown, Jungle DDPAT, Nebula Crusader, Impact Drill, Emerald Poison Dart), Negev (Mjölnir, Anodized Navy, Palm, Power Loader, Bratatat, CaliCamo, Phoenix Stencil, Infrastructure, Boroque Sand), Wear - Factory New (FN), Minimal Wear (MW), Field-Tested (FT), Well-Worn (WW), Battle-Scarred (BS), Stickers Holo/Foil/Gold - Katowice 2014, Krakow 2017, Howling Dawn, Katowice 2015, Crown, London 2018, Cologne 2014, Boston 2018, Atlanta 2017, Cluj-Napoca 2015, DreamHack 2014, King on the Field, Harp of War, Winged Difuser, Cologne 2016, Cologne 2015, MLG Columbus 2016, Katowice 2019, Berlin 2019, RMR 2020, Stockholm 2021, Antwerp 2022, Swag Foil, Flammable foil, Others - Souvenirs, Agents, Pins, Passes, Gifts, Music Kits, Cases, Keys, Capsules, Packages, Patches

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Kind of my fault. I had been finding little reasons to make the party succeed and got a bit complacent.
After wiping out the Rebrands, the party beelined straight for Cragmaw Castle (with Droop as a guide), where two new players joined the game. The goblin army didn't stand a chance and the combined might of Grol, Glasstaff and Vyerith was for nought.
When it became clear that Grol was about to die, Vyerith took Gundren hostage and escaped with a knife to his throat and with no map. After the fight was over, the druid wildshaped into a wolf and went after her. I had plans for the doppleganger, so I decided that she would abandon the unconscious Gundren and flee to preserve herself.
The party took the Gundren to a nearby camp and this is where things went a bit sideways. You see, I play D&D in a common space at work after hours and it's a big company, so there are actually 3 games going on - sometimes playing on the same day. One of the other groups was supposed to be playing, but the majority of them cancelled last minute, leaving two players hanging around with nothing to do. I decided they could "guest star" in my campaign and had them wander into camp while the party was resting.
I had no idea what kind of characters they would be playing, so when it became apparent that they were intending to rob my players, I decided that it wasn't the first time they had tried this. I created a band of Rebrands that had been fleeing from Tresendar Manor. The rogues had joined their camp the night before and since the fight had been knocked out of the Rebrands, they accepted the company before being cleaned-out of any valuables. The Rebrands remnants caught up with the rogues at the party's camp and a fight broke out.
With seven players, it was chaos but the Rebrands fell very easily. Since it was approaching the end of the evening, I decided on one last hoorah and I told them that following an explosion caused by the party's rogue, they heard thunderous footsteps and snapping trees as the noise had attracted a hill giant. I thought it would be fun to see all seven players bring it down. Instead, they immediately opted to run. The first time they have ever done so.
They ran for half an hour until I realised that Gundren was still unconscious at the camp. Immediately after I realised, so did the party. I have decided not to pull strings to keep Gundren alive. He has been flattened. But when the party's druid once again decided to return to go after Gundren, I had him find the camp flattened, the smell of blood heavy in the air, but no bodies. He followed a trail until he found another camp with two "drow" (dopplegangers) and a cart full of dead Rebrands (I'm going to have the big bad raise them as zombies later). The druid did not get close enough to determine if Gundren's body was among them. He then wisely chose to return to the party and head back to Phandalin.
The party's dwarf fighter had swiped the map from one of Grol's treasure chests but had not yet inspected it. Since I don't want the party to bypass all of the chapter three content and go straight to wave echo cave, I decided to throw up a roadblock here. The map is enchanted. By default, it shows an area of Neverwinter Woods and if tilted, appears to show the location of the mine and it's layout. But the image keeps shifting and the more a person tries to focus on it, the harder it is to perceive. The deal here is that to the rest of the party, the map appears blank. The first enchantment means that only the owner of the map can see anything (and ownership passed to the fighter the moment Gundren died), but they still need to figure out how to read it.
I'm now dropping breadcrumb trails that will send them off in search of a powerful magic user (Hammond Cost, Agatha or Reidoth) in order to learn more of the map's secrets before they can simply storm the mines.
And at the end of the last session as one last gag, I had a doppleganger appear in Barthen's provisions disguised as Gundren, looking for "his map" that he must have dropped when the party rescued him. The party has no idea that dopplegangers exist and so are now doubting the report that the druid gave, especially since he could not verify that Gundren's body was present.
I'm looking forward to messing with my party some more going forward, but does anyone have any ideas for fun things that I can do with this scenario?

Hello, fellas:
Hope any of you can help me with this issue i'm having.
Sometines, when playing destiny 2 I'm getting a BSOD with a WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR message.
It doesn't happen when i'm not playing and stress tests (even after a long time) don't give me any issues. Temperatures are all under 60ºC.
I have tested all parts (except for the power supply), there seems to be no issues with any of them.
My setup:
A 1660, a Ryzen 5 5500,a MSI B450M PRO-VDH M motherboard and three drives (one M.2, one HDD, one SATA SSD), both new.
I changed my motherboard, ram, cpu and drives on the last november, but the issue didn't start till around february. My grapics card is a bit old, i bought it on Q4 2019.
It happens at random, but it happens the most when there's stuff going onscreen.
The fixes I've trieed so far are:
- Updating all drivers
- Updating BIOS
- Updating from W10 to W11
- Changing thermal paste on both CPU and GPU and thoroughly cleaning computer
- Reinstalling Destiny 2 on all drives
- Reinstalling BattleEye
- Testing with XMP on and off
- Trying all options for the Precision Boost Overdrive
- Clearing all Destiny 2 and BattlleEye temp files
- Doing a fresh windows install on my main drive. That seemed to fix the issue for about a month, but then it started happening again
​
Stuff that I've heard that may be of use:
- There seem to be some issues regarding the last windows updates. They changed some stuff regarding the Kernel. It seems that BattleEye is fucking shit up around theree, but I don't really know what to do with that.
- I use Opera as my main browser and I've read that it can cause some issues with BattleEye too.
- I have both Logitech G Hub and Steelseries GG installed, which i've read can cause crashes in rare instances (I've reinstalled them both multiple times)
- There may be issues with BattleEye or Destiny as a whole and some CPU/GPU drivers.
¿Do you have any info that may help me?
I'll keep an eye on this thread and try to give any information you ask me for.
​
Thanks!
​
Edit: I'm now trying to install drivers from january of this year.

I am not the Original Poster. That is u/Whofuckingknows2. She posted in AmItheAsshole, her own profile and TrueOffMyChest.
I posted the first few updates in BORU 2 months ago here. These are her newest updates.
The start of the new updates is marked with ***\*
Trigger Warning: Verbal/emotional abuse that escalates; drug addiction
Mood Spoiler: rollercoaster but it's pretty bleak right now
Original Post: March 5, 2023
My fiancé (m22) was injured over a month ago and had surgery to correct things literally two days after the accident. I (21f) have been my his side the entire time. I have more or less become his caregiver.
In the last month I have taken over the role of keeping our house together. I cook all the meals. I take care of the pets. I stay up all night to tend to his endless needs. I take him to the bathroom. I have been working remote. I haven’t left the house for more than an hour since the accident (aside from taking him to and from appointments). I am not saying this to complain, I am grateful that my life allows for me to support him the way I have.
My problem is his attitude. He was given very strong pain killers for the first two weeks after surgery. He had to extend his time on them and recently stopped taking them in the last week. When he was taking them, he thanked me, told me how much he loved me, apologized at every step, though he didn’t need to. Without the meds he doesn’t seem to see that I am helping him. Every dish I bring him is the wrong one, he will yell for me and when I come he will tell me to “fuck off” if he’s in pain he expects me to fix it. I am exhausted. I can’t do anything right and it is wearing on me. I haven’t slept in weeks. I haven’t seen a friend or family member in way too long. I can’t even be on the phone for more than 10 minutes without it being an issue.
After days of what turned into verbal abuse, I called my MIL. I told her everything as soon as I saw he was asleep. I cried for about 15 minutes. I felt terrible unloading on her like that, but I had so much built up frustration I just couldn’t stop. She was very supportive on the phone, let me know I wasn’t wrong to feel like that., and let me cry. After hearing everything she was furious and ended our call to talk to her son. She tore him an new asshole. I heard him trying to defend himself through the door but it was mostly just stammering.
She flew up yesterday and put me up in a nice hotel. I haven’t heard much from my fiancé since I left but as I was leaving he was yelling at me for calling his mom, he said he didn’t want to marry someone who couldn’t be there for him in sickness. I told him I loved him and I was sorry, I am just so tired. He didn’t care and just told me to go, and his mom could do a better job for him then I ever could.
So now I’m in my way too nice hotel room, feeling like a major AH. I need to know if I am wrong here.Edit- He began weaning off two weeks ago and became fully dependent on over the counter medication this week. He did not stop taking them cold turkey. His doctors were heavily involved too, due to previous drug abuse.
Edit 2- March 6, 2023 (Next Day)
MIL is taking him back to they’re hometown once they can get flights together. I’ll stay in this hotel until then. Fiancé doesn’t want to talk yet and tbh I don’t blame him, he knows what’s coming and that I am pissed. I’ll go visit him in a week so I have until then to decide how I want to move forward. My mother called last night about a venue she found in my hometown and I told her what’s going on, she doesn’t want to spend a bunch of money on a “pending divorce” so we are stepping back from planning.
Not much more to add, I’m excited to see my pets and be able to sleep in my own bed. I’m going to try to make my sister fly to my state so I can have some company. That’s pretty much it. I’m in serious awe about how I let my life get like this, but oh well. Today will be better.
Relevant Comments:
Is it withdrawal?
"He behaves like this frequently when in pain, just never to this degree. I can promise you that he had been weaned off and would tell me if that’s what he was feeling. I have seen him go through much worse withdrawals when we first met and this isn’t that. He is lashing out on me in pain, which I get. I was the only person around."
"He has a history of drug abuse, I took administration of the pills very seriously. Due to his history we worked very closely with his psychiatric team and the orthopedic to make his weaning period as easy as possible. I should have put that in the post but he did not stop cold turkey."Is this abnormal behavior?"He has what some would call a short fuse. Especially with me. Him saying hurtful remarks to me or just blatantly putting me down is not necessarily uncommon and is something we are working on. Prior to this he would apologize and make it up to me, now even when I’m in tears he will just keep laying on insults."
OOP has thoughts later that day:
"Being away and able to process the last month of my life has been eye opening. I couldn’t imagine trying to care for a child under conditions like that. I couldn’t imagine how frustrated I would be. HIs injury is in his arm, he can walk, he can use his left (dominant) hand. I understand that he is in pain and its awful but I have had a friend with much worse injuries help us move! I’m thinking about returning my ring."
OOP is voted NTA
Update in comments (Same Post): March 13, 2023 (8 days later)
"I’ve returned. My last night in the hotel I called my parents to make a plan and it didn’t go well. I’m home with my fiancé again. He wont talk to me except to bark orders at me. I’m hoping I can move out within a month or two. Surgery and recovery are expensive and we have been living on my income for some time and I’m pretty broke but I’m keeping my head up and I’m confident I can get myself out."
Why didn't he go with his mom?
"I know she pushed for him to go home but he is a very stubborn boy. Thank you, I will be okay."
Update Post: March 22, 2023 (17 days from OG post)
Updates on AITA seem like a process so I’ll just post here.
I went home two days after posting. Things were sad. My mil had cleaned but the energy in the house was a bummer. The first thing he said to me when I got back was “I’m glad you’re back, can you make me a snack?” There was no apology, no accountability, just a task. He only talked to me when he needed something. His attitude was worsening. My mil took the rest of he prescribed opiates so I knew he wasn’t using.
The weekend following the MIL debacle my wonderful Fiancé told me he had friends coming to stay for the weekend. 2 hour heads up. Didn’t ask. I sighed and made up the guest room. His friend and friends girlfriend came to stay. During the stay my fiancé bought me flowers, got out of bed daily, took me out, and let me call my parents unsupervised. The day they left he was back to bed with a shitty attitude.
I wish I could say I am in my own apartment with my pets and a bottle of rosé that’s just for me. Or with my girlfriends that I haven’t seen in months. Unfortunately I’m writing this on the couch while I listen to the music that are his endless demands. However I do have a light at the end of the tunnel.
I’m scared to leave him in person but he’s leaving the country for a month in April. My sister lives abroad and I’m working on getting to her during that month. It’s a process especially with pets. I look forward to getting there.
My mother hasn’t spoken to me since I told her I was returning the ring because “That’s not we do, we clean our messes.” But I have my fathers unwavering support. I’ll miss my MIL but I deserve that kindness and understanding from my partner, not his mother. I have stopped forcing myself to find the joy in his presence and its helping to fuel my drive to get out of here. I may update again when I get to my sister but don’t be surprised if I do my best to put this chapter behind me.
Thanks for the kind words. I hope you all get the love and hugs you need.
Update in a comment on my OG BORU post:
Why isn't he with his mom?
"MIL was planning on taking him, he refused. Things got very bad since I posted this. Im currently in my childhood room at my fathers (decently hungover) and I am officially a single lady."
OOP then added a few new comments to her latest post in regards to questions:
About "calling her parents unsupervised":
"I called my sister once when I was scared of him awhile back. She called the police. He liked to be in the room when I was talking to family following that incident so I didn’t say anything “dramatic”. I should have seen how bad it was. Typing that out just feels gross."
More about what happened:
"I don’t want to get too into it but we had a bad night. It ended with me locked on the balcony. I still have some bruising. I was able to call my father on my watch and we made a plan to get me home the next morning"
Are you and your pets safe?
"Yep. Im with my dad now."
"They are. They aren’t in my arms yet but I should get them back in the next week."
****Update Post 2: April 14, 2023 (5 weeks from OG post, 3 from last)***\*
It’s been some time and I finally feel comfortable enough with my situation to update y’all.
My pets and I are safely with my father. We’ve been here a couple weeks and things are going well. I’m working remote but also searching for a new position closer to my hometown so I can still have a social life. My animals are adapting to life without their dad, and I’m doing my best to join them.
My ex and I were high school sweethearts. I have been through most major life event with him. There is only a small fraction of my life as an adult that I have been through without him. Leaving was really hard. I am still second guessing myself. But I realized recently that by not enabling his shitty behavior I really am helping him.
He went on his planned trip and I took that opportunity to get everything I needed from our shared home and made arrangements going forward for my lease. He took his trip as an opportunity to reflect on his behavior within our relationship, specifically the last year. He is pretty disappointed in himself. It seems that the company he was on vacation with helped to hold a pretty clear mirror to his face and he was really unhappy with what he saw. I feel bad he’s really having a hard time with this self awareness but I do really appreciate the accountability that has been accompanied.
I’d like to add that I don’t hold any resentment towards him. I am hurt and disappointed in the way he felt he could treat me, but I don’t hate him. I was sad to hear how upset he was with himself, though a little relieved I wasn’t being painted as the “crazy ex” I was sure he would paint me as. Since getting home he has started therapy and is looking for a new sponsor. We talk about once a week so he can see his pets, I also do not mind the positive updates. When we talk it’s respectful, there is still a lot of love, but I’ve set boundaries that keep him from hounding me about our relationship.
I have also started a new therapy. This is my first serious breakup and the after shock is real. It’s hard to lose your best friend, future husband, and father of your fur babies in one go. I am confident however, that this is essential to both of our growth. I’m happy that we can have a respectful albeit small relationship. Who knows what the future holds but for now I’m doing my best to be content with this new independence, and grateful my life can go through road blocks and I can get through easily, thanks to my amazing support system.
I still haven’t spoken with my mother. That will be much later and I will be requiring a serious apology. I love my mom, but I’m not going to stand for her demanding I make really unhealthy choices to appease her, and so she doesn’t have to be “embarrassed by my broken home”??? I mean come on man I’m 21. My broken little tykes home lets be real. I am young and smart and pretty and I have a really good kind life in my future. Thank you for helping me not settle for “comfortable”. I hope I never have to update again. And I hope you are all having a really Good Friday.
Relevant Comment:
It's good his behavior is improving, but don't rejoin the relationship:
"Absolutely. I’m pleased to see progress. Period. I have no intentions of rejoining that relationship. I am just really happy that he is also getting a new start that is positive, and I am proud of him for taking it seriously and getting the help he needs. I was fully expecting self destruction while blaming me and instead he’s owning up to his mistakes and trying to do better for himself."
Update Post 3: April 28, 2023 (2 weeks from last post, almost 2 months from OG post)
I left out of my last post my final interaction with my ex. It didn’t seem too important at the time, but we had a final hookup the last time I saw him. I am now pregnant.
This was my biggest fear while with him, having a child and being solely responsible for them. I am now in that exact position. I told my ex a couple days after I found out. I assured him that this changes nothing about our relationship, but as he is the father he has the right to be involved in the conversation.
He declared he is moving to my hometown and he will be “the best goddamn father you’ve ever seen”. I have my doubts, I am full of anxiety. I’ve barely learned how to treat my self correctly. I want my kid to be so beyond loved. I want my child to have everything in the world and more. I don’t know how to do that on my own. I am encouraged to see my ex making big boy steps to be a part of our kids life. But I’m also cautious he’s doing all this to get back in my good graces.
I can’t be a mom to my ex and my future child. I cant fall back into the same dynamic that made me leave. I am doing what I can to stay strong and hold my ground, but then he send flowers, or a massage certificate, or a bump box. Every gift, every check in text, and every mention of OUR baby gets me closer to going back to him.
I don’t really know why I’m posting this. I guess its cathartic to get this all down and out in my own words. It’s hard to write your own narrative in your words in a small gossipy home town. It’s hard to be pregnant and single. But the hardest thing is telling your father that you’re expecting no matter how old you are.
I know we will be okay. I am already trying everything in my power to be a good mom already. I am trying to be respectful to everyone I can regarding this situation but damn its tough. Anyway thats my ramble. I doubt anyone reads these anymore lol but I’m glad I said it.
Relevant Comment:
Are you sure you want to be tied to him for the rest of your life? Because that's what this baby will do:
"No i am not. Im not too sure about much right now. I do know that I already love this baby more than I can say. I know that he loves our baby already too and thats all I really care about. His mom is good at reigning him in and I have to believe that things are going to be okay"
Slight Update Post: May 31, 2023 (1 month from previous update, almost 3 from OG)
My mom and I have always had a rocky relationship. I went to live with my dad as soon as I could decide and kept my contact minimal. After high school I moved away for college and for a good job with my ex. My mom followed me to my new city and we tried to rebuild our relationship. Unfortunately I got scared of the choices I made when I was with her so I went back to low contact and she moved back to my hometown.
Unfortunately recently my life turned upside down. Long story short my boyfriend and I broke up. I moved home (with my dad) and got a new, better job. Then I found out I was pregnant. My dad has a full house and I made the decision to move to my mothers guest house for my pregnancy so I can save more money for Bebe, and move out once they are around 2 months old. The timeline works for my finances, and I figured, since I’m just on her property, not main house, it might be easy to keep a low profile. How naive. After work daily she comes over to “check on” me. She hasn’t failed to offer me an alcoholic beverage. Not once since I moved in. She chain-smokes right out side my bedroom daily, and she stays late.
I know its her home. I know that she’s very kind to have me here, but I’m growing a person right now. I am preparing myself for motherhood. Single motherhood. I work long demanding hours. I am stressed and isolated. I would love a fucking drink. But I’m pregnant. I cant drink. The time I brought it up, I was screamed at and she asked me to leave in the morning. It was really upsetting and stressful. I feel like she comes here to bait me into picking a fight so she can pull every power play to make me feel small.
So any way. Mom, I love you. But, fuck man. I am trying to give our entire family a healthy new friend. I am trying to reestablish myself as an adult in the town that I was a child in. I am trying to do better for myself and my baby. Please respect that for me. Please respect that enough for your grandchild. I love you. Please, try to love me.
Please remember the no brigading rule. You will be banned from this sub if you message OOP or if you comment on her posts.

Lightning crashed onto the now empty no-man's land.
Candorick peeked above the trenches. Nobody in sight.
The battle in this area was approaching its fiftieth day, and the space inbetween fortifications made that clear. Craters filled the destroyed land, burned out remains of Leman Russes were scattered throughout, and the corpses of dead heretics and loyalists almost formed another layer of ground. The land was dark and gray, and the pouring rain didn't help the aesthetic.
Being Whiteshields, the gun he was handed was a hand-me-down standard pattern lasgun, probably belonging to someone whose corpse was scavenged for anything useful. His still had a little bit of human on it when it was handed to him.
Candorick felt a sense of impending doom. Suppose being in the trenches always gave you a feeling of death, but this felt different than before.
Candorick’s Whiteshield company had been placed in the frontlines after a failed push resulted in the death of a majority of the regiment assigned to the trench.
Most of the other Whiteshields were younger than him, some were as young as twelve, who had just been given a gun and told to fight. Candorick was one of the older ones of the group, being sixteen. The only other sixteen year old was Merok, who helped man the squad’s lascannon.
Candorick looked above the trenches one more time. He just couldn’t shake the feeling something was coming.
“Everything ok there Candorick?” Merok asked.
“Yeah… yeah, I just can't shake this feeling that something is going to happen.” Candorick replied.
Rain poured into the trenches, creating a layer of water up to Candorick’s knees.
“I’m sure we’re fine.” Merok said.
“If anything does attack, that’s why I’ve got this lascannon right?” Merok slapped the barrel of the gun.
Merok turned to the other Whiteshield, a 14 year old kid, manning the lascannon.
“Stocks doing good?” Merok asked.
“Yep, everything is in order, charge packs match up with how many we had yesterday, and all parts are in top shape.” The kid responded, saluting to Merok.
“Good. Listen, Candorick, we’ll be fine, they would be foolish to attack in this rai…” Merok stopped as the sound of a massive amount of footsteps echoed from the no-man’s land.
“BATTLE STATIONS EVERYONE!” the squad leader said as everyone along the trench prepared their guns to fire.
Candorick looked down the lenses of his recon binoculars. A massive charge of heretics was coming at them rapidly.
“KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!” The squad leader said as every soldier began to fire their lasguns at the heretics. Merok began to fire his lascannon repeatedly at the few armored targets coming with the charge, ending them almost immediately. When no vehicles were around, they fired at the charging infantry, killing multiple with each individual shot.
Candorick fired upon the approaching enemy as well. Eventually, one of them struck one of the incoming heretics. That was the first time Candorick had killed someone. He watched as they clutched their chest and fell to the ground, letting out a scream as they hit the muddy land. They clutched their chest for a bit, before going limp.
Before then, he had never really thought about his first kill. It was just seen as something minimal, a stepping stone of sorts on his way to becoming a veteran guardsmen. But to see it with his own eyes, it was different. He thought of all the things that person must have lived through. They grew up, they loved, they suffered.
And all of that ended when Candorick put that laser into their chest. In training, he had always been told that the heretics “weren’t human” and “they deserve the emperor’s mercy”, but what else would react like that? He looked along the line of charging heretics. He could almost see the look in their eyes. Fear, anger, sadness, he could see every emotion in every one of them. If they weren’t human, why did they act so much like them?
But Candorick didn’t have time to think about that right now. This was not a battle of morals. It was a battle of life or death, and he had to live. For his family, for his homeland, for the Imperium.
Bullets and lasgun fire flew by him. The heretics had hid in some of the craters, and had begun to fire at the trenches. Candorick ducked down. A Whiteshield beside him didn’t duck down fast enough, and a bullet had gone straight into his head. He fell to the ground, dying instantly. He looked at the other Whiteshields. They were scared, and you they had begun to tremble at the thought of death. Candorick peaked his gun above the trench, and fired his lasgun at one of the heretics that had peaked from cover, hitting him right in the eye, sending him falling back onto the land. Merok was still firing the Lascannon from the relative safety of the sandbags surrounding him, and many heretics had fallen to his lascannon fire.
The kid who had been helping Merok load charge packs into the cannon suddenly got his foot stuck in the mud below the cannon and fell backwards, leaving him out in the open. A heretic fired a single shot at the now not in cover soldier, causing his head to explode into tiny pieces of gore. Merok got down, crouching firmly below the sandbags, as to get closer into cover. He waved his hands at Candorick.
“GET OVER HERE I NEED YOU MANNING THE CANNON!” Merok yelled over the sounds of bullets firing and other screaming from loyalist and heretic forces. “I KNOW YOU’VE THE BEST AIM HERE, AND I AM THE ONLY ONE LEFT HE KNOWS HOW TO LOAD THIS THING, JUST GET OVER HERE!” Merok gestured to Candorick to get onto the lascannon.
Candorick ran over the lascannon protected by a plethora of sandbags in the trench, which until recently, had been firing on the heretics.
“GET ON THE CANNON AND START FIRING AT THEM, I’LL LOAD THE CHARGE PACKS WHILE YOU FIRE AT THE HERETICS!”
Candorick took aim onto the cannon, aiming it at a large group of heretics hiding behind a burned out Leman Russ. He pulled the trigger, and a bright white ray of light sped out. It pierced right through the damaged armor and struck one of the heretics, sending him flying back. With Candorick pinning the heretics down, the other Whiteshields got out from cover and began to fire onto the heretics, killing even more. Eventually, the heretics' morale broke, and they began to retreat back away from the battle.
Why would they do that? Sending an army of heretics with little armored support into a fully prepared and mostly organized defense is suicide! Candorick pulled his recon binoculars and looked back out at the lines. The pouring rain made it hard to see, but eventually, he saw several massive black figures charging towards them. Candorick zoomed in. Massive men fully clad in twisted, black armor were charging at them.
Space Marines.
Candorick looked at the supply of charge packs for the lascannon. Only one remained.
That’s why they charged. They knew the soldiers here weren’t as well trained as those on other spots, and that they would use all their ammunition with reckless abandon at the approaching heretics. And now, they had no weapons strong enough to pierce through the space marines armor. They had this all planned from the beginning. Candorick pulled out his binoculars again and looked at the incoming space marines. Four of them were charging at the line. He had only two shots left, one still loaded in the cannon, and the other still waiting to be used. He could only hope that the other lascannons along the line had more ammo then he did, because if not, it would be a massacre.
Candorick looked at the other lascannon fortifications. None of them had any left besides one on the far edge of the defensive fortifications. He pulled out his binoculars again and looked at them.
“RUNNNN!” A voice screamed from behind him. A Whiteshield behind him holding binoculars turned around and began to sprint away. This sent panic throughout the entire line. Whiteshields began to sprint away from various parts as the commissars assigned to the regiment began to fire their lasguns into the retreating soldiers to no avail. The entire line was dissolving as the marines were getting closer and closer to the trenches. Candorick looked back at the lascannon that still had ammo left. The soldiers overseeing it had begun to run away.
“MEROK STAY HERE I AM GOING TO GET MORE CHARGE PACKS!” Candorick yelled over all the screams of fear to Merok.
Candorick knew to stand a chance they needed to use the lascannons. The only way he could save this battle is if he grabbed the excess ammo left at the far-away lascannon and distributed the others.
So he ran. He ran as fast as he could to the other edge of the line. He heard the sounds of the last few shots from the lascannons that still had ammo left, before the sound of the cannons firing stopped.
As the Space Marines got closer, more and more of the Whiteshields began to retreat. Candorick looked at the lascannon teams as he passed by their fortifications. Around half of them had left; the other half was looking everywhere for any ammunition they could find, digging around through the mud, looking to see if any ammo had sunk below, away from view. Candorick reached the abandoned lascannon.
He pulled out some rope from his pack and started to tie as many charge packs as he could to himself. 5 on his back, 2 on both sides of his body, another 5 on the front of his body to counterbalance.
Candorick tried to start running, but his knees buckled under the weight of the large cartridges. He was starting to hear the sounds of power armor as he struggled to stand.
“Come on, just stand…” Candorick put all of his power into standing up. A brave Whiteshield stood on top of the trenches and tried to fire onto the approaching marines, but before he could even aim through his scopes, a bolter round came rocketing through the air, turning the top half of the man into a splash of blood, covering Candorick. He had to stand, he had to. Candorick felt a surge of adrenaline as he was able to stand up. He started to run. He just needed to make it to the next lascannon to drop off the ammunition. The sound of the hydraulics of the marines power armor was getting closer. Heavy bolter sounds rang through the trenches as soldier after soldier was turned into piles of gore. His legs weakened as they pushed through mud and water and blood. He was so close, he could just taste it. He pulled himself onto the closest lascannon platform.
“Ammunition…” Candorick cried, collapsing to the ground, fainting from exhaustion.
He awoke to the screams of a soldier. Candorick looked up. One of the space marines held the screaming soldier up in the air. He grabbed the soldier with one hand around his head and the other along his legs. The space marine began to pull on the man. His legs began to stretch and contort as he neck skin stretched until he tore himself down the middle, the space marine, now holding two separate halves of a man, discarded his remains to the side. Candorick looked around. A dead space marine perched himself on top of the lascannon he had delivered the ammunition to. He appeared to have died from a point blank shot into his chest, vaporizing his armor and leaving a massive hole to the other side. Candorick dragged himself up to look into the no-man’s land. Another space marine laid dead out in the field, his head blown clean off by the lascannon. Candorick looked down the line. Another dead space marine laid in the trenches. He appeared to have fallen to hundreds of lasgun shots all over his body.
Only one space marine remained alive. Although he looked wounded. He too had taken many lasgun shots, and what appears to be a missed lascannon cracked open his helmet, leaving a clear view of his twisted, warped face.
“STAY AWAY!” a 13 year-old Whiteshield screamed. He appeared to have been spotted by the space marine. He stood behind a corner of the trench, firing his lasgun at the marine. The space marine slowly walked towards him. He intended to make every one of the soldiers that killed his brothers pay.
Candorick wouldn’t let them take another life. He wouldn’t. Candorick looked out into the sea of corpses and mud of no man’s land. A bright blue light glowed in the center of a crater. It wasn’t far. Candorick tried to stand up, but his legs failed him. He began to crawl towards the light, putting all of his might. One final time. He was almost there. The space marine approached the soldier, firing bolter rounds at the trench he was using for cover, piercing through the ground and wooden walls of the fortification, just barely missing him. Candorick reached the center of the crater. It was a plasma gun. Candorick picked it up with two hands, placing it on his chest, and aiming it at the space marine.
Candorick took a deep breath.
“One shot, One kill.”
Keating stood in front of the infirmary.
Candorick had not woken up in two days.
Bogra stood right next to him.
“Is boss gonna be ok?”
Keating turned to Bogra.
“I don’t know."

InvestorPlace technology expert Luke Lango has held an important live event. Let’s go ahead and view the video:
2023 Tech Melt + Readers questions - 1Hr 15 Mins long (Presentation & Offer for Early Stage Investor)
Our world will exit this decade appearing dramatically different than how we entered it, all because of artificial intelligence (AI).
This technology presents an enormous “before-and-after” paradigm shift that will disrupt/revolutionize nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives.
From a business perspective, the tidal wave of capital that will flood into AI over the next 10 years will be like nothing our economy has ever seen.
As a result, from an investor perspective, today’s well-placed investments in the AI-leaders of tomorrow will turn into multi-million-dollar windfalls.
Luke’s event focused on helping investors understand the sheer size of this societal change, the enormity of the investment opportunity, and the right action steps to take today.
Here’s Luke:
I truly believe that, thanks to the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), we face one of the most seminal moments for the economy ever.
And investors who recognize the importance of this moment – and seize the opportunities it presents – will make fortunes over the next few years…
Let me abundantly clear: AI is the biggest technological paradigm shift we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes.

Wrapping your head around what’s coming with AI

Chances are, you’ve used ChatGPT. If so, you know how incredible it is.
But for some mindboggling perspective, remember that this is the worst version of the technology that will ever exist. In a couple of years, today’s version will seem stupid – even inept – compared to the enhanced model we’ll be using.
To understand why, we must grasp the basics of AI.
AI consists of incredibly powerful algorithms that gather, sift, sort, and contextualize data to generate insights, draw conclusions, and make predictions.
If there were no data, then these AI models couldn’t do anything. As such, data is the lifeblood of AI. Or as Luke calls it, the “fuel.”
Here’s Luke with more:
What happens when you give a car 10X more fuel? It drives 10X farther.
What happens when you give an AI model 10X more data? It becomes 10X better.
And over the next few years, AI models will have more than 10X more data than they have access to today.
That’s not an exaggeration. That’s a fact.
In 2020, the total volume of data created worldwide was 47 zettabytes. By 2030, that volume will exceed 600 zettabytes.
That’s a 13X increase – and, by extension, a potential 13X increase in AI capability.
Folks, these AI models are only going to get way better over the next five to 10 years.
You think it’s impressive that law firms are already using AI to write briefs or that hospitals are using AI to diagnose diseases?
We’re just getting started.

Similar to the internet explosion in the 1990s, AI will create a stark divide separating the businesses and investors who benefit from the technology from those who get left behind

One of our biggest weaknesses as investors is that we’re not great at envisioning the future.
Think back to the 1990s…
As you drove to your local Blockbuster to rent a videocassette for the evening, could you have imagined the company going bankrupt because of a technology that would enable you to “stream” a movie straight to your home television, without driving anywhere or renting a physical product of any kind?
As you stood in line at your local Borders Books (remember that one?) to buy the latest James Patterson mystery, could you envision the company being driven out of existence by online book stores and e-readers?
Or what about your family summer road trip? Do you remember using a physical map?
No Millennial will ever understand the particular pain of trying to fold a map with one hand while speeding along some back road, totally lost, all because you missed a turn. As I look back now, spoiled by GPS, a 1990s road-trip seems downright barbaric.
Well, the future that’s coming with AI will bring its own jaw-dropping advancements. As investors, we must do our best to envision this and place our money ahead of these advancements. After all, this time around, it’s not just a wave of new innovation, but a 1,000-foot tsunami.
Back to Luke:
AI will be used to power a whole all sorts of technologies – robotic landscapers, delivery drivers, pilots, waiters, and more.
AI will be used to diagnose, prescribe, and treat patients for all sorts of ailments.
It will trade stocks, create music and movies, write articles, code, concoct new recipes, and make fabulous drinks. It will clean, repair, and restore cars, homes, and just about every object you can think of.
This is an “Everything Revolution.”
AI will permeate every industry of the economy. This revolution will leave no stone unturned. By 2030, every company in every sector of every country will use AI.
If you need convincing of this, just track the money flow.
Luke highlights a brand-new Bloomberg Intelligence research report concluding that just one portion of the AI economy – generative AI – will grow by more than 40% per year, reaching $1.3 trillion by 2032.
And here we are today, at the 1-yard-line, able to align our wealth with this avalanche of growth.

Luke sees investors falling into one of two camps

Here in 2023, it’s been a tale of two markets…
You’ve either been in tech/AI and made big returns, or you’ve been in anything else and more than likely made next-to-nothing or even lost money.
To illustrate, we need look no further than the Nasdaq 100 and the Dow Jones.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 is up 33% while the Dow is up 1%.
Luke sees this as just the beginning. But for every bit as exciting as the enormous return potential of top AI stocks is, the risk of anemic returns from “old economy” stocks is concerning.
Here’s how Luke sizes up this divide:
Invest in the right AI stocks, and you’ll find yourself on the winning side of this massive technological paradigm shift.
Invest in the stocks that artificial intelligence will kill, and you may never recover.
It’s really that simple. And urgency is required because just as AI is already here, this stock market divide is, too.
Luke highlights the same night-and-day difference in 2023 market returns we just noted above, then says that this divide will only become larger in the years to come.

Watch Luke's presentation for all the details of this paradigm shift, as well as how to position your portfolio today

This isn’t the same as the computer… or the internet… or smartphones.
It’s bigger – for both good and bad.
AI will end certain diseases… destroy entire sections of our labor force…transform certain day-to-day tasks that are just normal parts of our lives today…
And for investors who invest in this trend early, it will generate mind-boggling investment wealth.
I’ll give him the final word:
AI is the biggest technological paradigm shift we’ve ever seen in our lifetimes.
Over the next several years, AI will sweep across society and will change everything about everything. For some, this will present a huge opportunity. For others, it will create a huge threat.
I wouldn’t be surprised if, in five years, AI stocks are up 400% or 500% while every other stock is pretty much flat, if not down.

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With the help of an email service provider, businesses can design and send emails that are tailored to their audience’s interests and needs. This helps to increase open rates and conversion rates, ultimately leading to more sales. Email marketing is a cost-effective way to reach customers and potential customers directly, without relying on third-party platforms like social media.
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Email marketing can have a significant impact on your business, and the benefits are numerous. First, email marketing is a highly effective way to generate leads. By sending targeted messages to your subscribers, you can attract potential customers to your website and encourage them to take action.
Another benefit of email marketing is that it can drive traffic to your website. By including links to your website in your emails, you can encourage subscribers to visit your site and explore your products or services further.
If you’re looking to increase online sales, email marketing is a great tool to help you do so. By creating email campaigns that are specifically designed to convert subscribers into customers, you can significantly increase your online sales and boost your revenue.
In short, the benefits of email marketing are clear. It can help you generate leads, drive traffic to your website, and increase online sales. So if you’re not already using email marketing to promote your business, it’s time to get started.

Understanding your audience

Before you can begin crafting effective emails, it’s crucial to understand who you’re communicating with. Knowing your audience will help you tailor your messaging to their needs and interests, ultimately increasing the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
One key element of understanding your audience is lead generation. This involves identifying potential customers or clients and capturing their contact information so you can continue to communicate with them through email. Lead generation can be accomplished through a variety of methods, such as offering a free ebook or white paper in exchange for a person’s email address, hosting a webinar or event and collecting attendee contact information, or simply having a sign-up form on your website.
Once you have a list of email contacts, you can begin to segment your audience based on characteristics such as demographics, location, and past interactions with your business. This allows you to tailor your emails to specific groups and increase their relevance and effectiveness.
By understanding your audience and utilizing lead generation tactics, you can create targeted email campaigns that resonate with your subscribers and drive engagement and conversions.

Building an email list

One of the most important aspects of email marketing is building a high-quality email list. After all, your emails won’t be effective if they aren’t reaching the right people. Here are some tips for building an email list that will deliver results:

1. Provide value: Offer something valuable to your audience in exchange for their email address. This could be a discount code, a free ebook or whitepaper, or exclusive access to content.
   
2. Use sign-up forms: Add sign-up forms to your website, social media pages, and other digital channels. Make sure they’re easy to find and fill out, and be transparent about what subscribers can expect to receive.
   
3. Run a contest: A contest or giveaway is a great way to encourage people to sign up for your email list. Just make sure the prize is relevant to your business and will attract your target audience.
   
4. Partner with other businesses: Collaborate with other businesses or influencers in your industry to co-promote each other’s email lists. This can help you reach a wider audience and build credibility.
   
5. Attend events: If you attend events, conferences, or trade shows, make sure you have a sign-up sheet available for people to join your email list. Be sure to follow up with new subscribers promptly.
   

Remember, building an email list is an ongoing process. Make sure you’re consistently adding new subscribers and engaging with your existing ones to keep your email list fresh and effective.

Crafting effective emails

Once you have a solid understanding of your audience and have built a quality email list, it’s time to craft effective emailsthat will engage your subscribers and encourage them to take action. Here are some tips for creating effective emails:

1. Keep it simple and concise: Your emails should be easy to read and understand. Avoid using jargon or complicated language and get straight to the point. Keep your emails short and sweet, with only the necessary information.
   
2. Personalize your emails: Personalized emails have been shown to have higher open rates and engagement levels. Use your subscriber’s name in the subject line or body of the email and tailor your message to their interests or past behavior.
   
3. Use attention-grabbing subject lines: Your subject line is the first thing your subscribers will see, so make it count. Use a subject line that is interesting, compelling, and relevant to the content of the email.
   
4. Include a call-to-action: The goal of your email is to encourage your subscribers to take action. Make sure you include a clear call-to-action in your email that tells them what to do next.
   
5. Use images and visuals: Including images or visuals in your email can make it more visually appealing and help break up text. However, make sure your images are high-quality and relevant to the content of the email.
   
6. Test and optimize: As with any marketing strategy, testing and optimization are key. Try out different subject lines, email content, and calls-to-action to see what works best for your audience. Use analytics to track the success of your emails and make adjustments as needed.
   

Crafting effective emails takes time and practice, but with the right approach, your emails can be a powerful tool for driving engagement and conversions.

Automating your email campaigns

One of the most appealing aspects of email marketing is its potential for automation. By setting up automated email campaigns, you can save time and ensure that your audience receives timely, relevant content without requiring constant attention from your team.
Automated emails can take many forms, from welcome messages for new subscribers to birthday greetings to abandoned cart reminders. To get started with automation, you’ll first need to identify the triggers that will prompt your emails to send. For example, a welcome email might be triggered when someone subscribes to your list, while an abandoned cart reminder might be triggered when a customer leaves items in their online shopping cart without completing the purchase.
Once you’ve identified your triggers, it’s time to set up your campaigns. Most email marketing platforms offer automation features that make it easy to create workflows for your automated emails. These workflows typically involve setting up a series of emails that will be sent at specific intervals, based on your trigger criteria.
When creating your automated emails, it’s important to keep your audience in mind. Make sure the content of each email is tailored to their interests and needs, and consider how each email will fit into the larger customer journey. By mapping out your email campaigns in advance, you can ensure that each message is relevant, timely, and impactful.
Of course, automation doesn’t mean you should set it and forget it. Regularly reviewing and tweaking your automated campaigns can help ensure they continue to drive results. Look at your open and click-through rates, and make adjustments as needed to optimize your campaigns for success.
Overall, automation is a powerful tool that can help you streamline your email marketing efforts and reach your audience more effectively. By investing the time and effort to set up effective automated campaigns, you can build stronger relationships with your subscribers and drive more revenue for your business.

Measuring success with analytics

One of the biggest advantages of email marketing is the ability to measure your success with analytics. Unlike other forms of marketing, you can see exactly how your emails are performing, and make adjustments accordingly. Here are some metrics to pay attention to:

1. Open rate – This is the percentage of people who opened your email. A low open rate may indicate that your subject line or sender name needs work.
   
2. Click-through rate – This is the percentage of people who clicked on a link within your email. A low click-through rate may mean that your call-to-action (CTA) isn’t compelling enough.
   
3. Conversion rate – This is the percentage of people who took the desired action (e.g. making a purchase, filling out a form) after clicking through from your email. If your conversion rate is low, consider optimizing your landing page or CTA.
   
4. Bounce rate – This is the percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered to your subscribers. A high bounce rate could mean that your list needs cleaning up.
   
5. Unsubscribe rate – This is the percentage of people who unsubscribe from your emails. While it’s natural to feel discouraged by unsubscribes, it’s important to remember that a smaller, engaged list is better than a large, uninterested one.
   

By tracking these metrics, you can identify what’s working and what’s not, and make data-driven decisions to improve your email marketing campaigns. Just be sure not to get too bogged down in the numbers – ultimately, the most important metric is whether or not your emails are helping you achieve your business goals.

Best practices for email marketing

1. Personalize your emails: Address your subscribers by name and segment your list based on their interests to make sure the content they receive is relevant to them.
   
2. Keep your emails concise: People’s attention spans are short, so keep your emails to the point. Use short paragraphs and break up content with headings, bullet points, and images.
   
3. Make it visually appealing: Use high-quality images and graphics that complement your brand and message. Ensure your emails are mobile-responsive and easy to read on all devices.
   
4. Use a clear call-to-action: Encourage your subscribers to take action by using clear, compelling language and prominent buttons or links.
   
5. Test your emails: Use A/B testing to see which subject lines, content, and CTAs perform best. This will help you improve the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
   
6. Respect your subscribers’ preferences: Give your subscribers control over how often they receive emails and what type of content they receive. This will help you reduce unsubscribes and keep your list engaged.
   
7. Keep your email list clean: Regularly remove inactive or unengaged subscribers to ensure your email list is up-to-date and accurate.
   

By following these best practices, you can create effective email campaigns that engage your audience, increase conversions, and help grow your business.
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Disclaimer: Registered trademarks and copyrights are properties of their rightful owners. As this series jumps realities very often it is hard to track that info.
DM, the Digitalman, the Scion of Variable is a creation of my good friend who does not use Reddit and is used with permission.
The Pokémon Lucario is © The Pokemon Company.
“When you're in your darkest place, you give yourself hope and that's inner strength.”
― Uncle Iroh
The Daughter that Follows
Chapter 27
Reunited
Part 5
“So, are we all ready?” Darius asked as he rolled out a second grill in his backyard. He had decided to host the mini-reunion for Alan and his friend.
“We are so friggin’ ready.” Kenji grinned. “I can almost taste the meat...”
“Why is he acting like he hasn’t had meat in forever?” Alan asked Brooklynn while pointing to her husband.
“I wish I knew, he has his own grill.” Brooklyn shook her head. “Cooks good corn.”
“Speaking of, I got these for you.” Alan held up several cobs. “Won’t be a competition because Vegeta thinks vegetables are a sin.”
Brooklyn rolled her eyes, “I know the type.”
“So...” Sammie pointed into Darius’ house. “Is your other guest okay?”
“He’s fine, he just doesn’t like the sun that much.” Alan grinned.
“He’s a vampire.” Yaz said.
“Don’t say that.” Sammie chided her wife.
“Technically he’s a nosferatu.” Alan wavered his hand. “But also be quiet, I want Anna surprised, and Salem surprised.”
“Why is he getting surprised?” Kenji asked.
Yaz smiled, “You didn’t pay attention to his shirt, did you?”
“I think he might be a fan of Alan’s friend.” Sammie said.
Not a moment after that a hole opened above Darius’ driveway. They heard Ben shout in surprise as he fell out with Anna and Vegeta.
“You know, you’re brave...” Vegeta said, “But you need to have more spatial awareness if you’re not gonna fly.”
“We can’t fly here.” Ben said as he was flown over Darius’ roof and sat down.
“Where’s Anna?” Alan asked.
“She saw someone attacking Spider-Men.” Vegeta shrugged.”Dropped us off and ran off.”
“Oh.” Alan blinked.
“Yeah, it looked like some wasp thingy.” Vegeta flew back and returned with a huge slab of meat. “Wagusaurus.”
Alan stopped to think for a moment before another hole in reality opened and Anna walked through covered in orange and green gunk.
“Hose?” She asked grumpily.
Darius pointed to the side of his house.
“So I take it, it squished good?” Salem snickered from the sliding door.
Anna froze and looked up. Then she looked at her father.
“Surprise.” Alan smirked.
Anna ran up and hugged her father. “That’s for surprising me.”
Alan nodded. “I kinda figured.”
Salem was laughing like mad as Anna went to hose herself off. Then he froze as he saw Vegeta cutting up the meat.
“Surprise.” Alan smiled and tapped Vegeta on the shoulder. “You gotta fan here, man.”
“Huh?” Vegeta turned to see the fanged nosferatu staring and pointing. “Hey, you want to help? This stuff is heavy.”
Salem just nodded and helped the saiyan prince separate out the meat.
Anna came walking back around the corner, she had used her aura to squeeze the water from her clothes and skin, though her hair was still wet. She giggled as her father simply eradicated the gunk that was on his clothes.
“Thank you.” Anna smiled up at Alan.
“Yeah, well he’ll be going with you.” Alan smiled. “Plus this needed to happen outside of a battle zone.”
“Oh yeah.” Anna nodded emphatically. “Completely.”
Alan smiled as he clapped his hands. “All right! Everyone get ready for a taste test sensation! Except Brooklynn, I’ll have your corn done not long after.”
“What is she vegetarian?” Vegeta snapped.
“Vegan.” Brooklyn said as she crossed her arms.
“I make meat.” Vegeta crossed his arms as if to challenge her.
“Good for you, my husband is who you want to impress.” She nodded to Kenji.
“Huh, fair.” Vegeta nodded. “Why is he staring at the grills?”
“He grills too, but for fun.” Brooklynn smiled.
“Hey, amateur!” Vegeta stomped forward.
Kenji flinched. “Yes?”
“You’re my second.” Vegeta grinned.
Kenji smiled and saluted, “Yes sir!”
“Ben, you got my stuff?” Alan asked.
“Stuff?” Vegeta asked as Ben walked out with a wheeled tray filled with cooking paraphernalia.
“Oh, now we’re getting serious!” Vegeta grinned. “Anna, you got my stuff?”
Anna nodded and tossed out a pink and blue capsule that turned into another wheeled tray with similar cooking tools on it.
“Just so we’re clear, I’m recusing myself.” Anna smiled.
“Clever girl.” Vegeta stared at her with a vicious smile..
“Man if you knew the history of that phrase here.” Alan shook his head. “All right folks, quarter of a steak each for the taste testing. Be honest, put your fork on the plate you like most.”
“Do we get ketchup?” Anna asked with a devious grin.
Both men stopped and glared.
“I found the heckler.” Alan said through gritted teeth.
“Considering her parentage, I’m not surprised.” Vegeta nodded.
(T)(D)(T)(F)---(T)(F)(T)(W)
Darkseid paced on Apokalips.
He had been shunted back to his planet and reality with ease by the ghostly reaper. He had been embarrassed for the last time by the Scions. He would not tolerate it anymore.
“Kalibak!” He shouted for his son.
Kalibak came forward and kneeled. “Father.”
“Prepare all to attack Earth. If I cannot go to them I will draw them to me. We will slaughter Superman's adopted homeworld.” Darkseid grinned.
The sound of chains echoed through the halls.
“Alice?” Hare lifted his head.
“She’s coming...” March Hare’s vocalizer on the back of the warbeast he was attached to, sang to life.
Soon a woman in white with red on a half mask walked into view.
“And who are you?” Darkseid asked.
“I am called Kyton. I come from Alan Quain’s home reality.” She said as the chains holding Hare released him. “I am the Revenant of Heroes, element of metal.” March Hare’s brain case released itself and fell to the ground.
“FREEDOM!” The brains’ final thoughts shouted from the vocalizer.
“You will keep them no longer!” Kyton’s chains flew from openings and snagged the ragged body of Hare into a swirling portal.
“So it is war!” Darkseid grinned as lanced out a punch, but a wall of crystal rose up from the ground.
“I’m here to asshole.” Stephen Quain walked in as the air around all of Darkseid’s forces turned to solid crystalline bindings. “And we brought an old friend.”
A scream of rage tore through the air as a clown mask landed at Darkseid’s feet.
Darkseid looked down and was caught by a powerful uppercut, but it was nothing to him. He did recognize his opponent, they had taken him form Quain’s home reality and tormented him. They had tried to shatter the mask he wore only to find it resisted them at all attempts. He wore a new mask now, but Darkseid felt the same hidden power inside it. He grinned and grabbed the human’s fist and tossed him back.
“Dammnit!” SideEffect shouted. “If I could feel those bones I’d be even more pissed!”
“And now I am...” Darkseid looked outside his window to see a series of explosions ripple across Apokalips.
A man flew down to his window, a billowing red cape.
“I’m afraid not, Darkseid, this is the Scion’s war.” Superman smiled. “We’re just helping.” He flew in and slammed the leader of Apokalips through the walls.
Kyton looked at Stephen Quain, “Don’t kill the sapient ones.”
Stephne rolled his eyes. “Just because I have a history with the hairball doesn’t mean I’m trigger happy.”
Kalibak looked around in confusion. The crystal bindings were all too familiar and he looked at the human in fear. “Can you please not turn me into crystal again? It really hurts.”
Stephen rolled his eyes.
(T)(D)(T)(F)---(T)(F)(T)(W)
In the black space above Apokalips, a green form looked down upon the world. A scythe and sword were by his side, as was a young pale skinned woman. She shook her head but did not oppose the Scion.
“You started this early.” Death of the Endless sighed. “Why?”
“Because it’s the one thing no one would expect me to actually do.” Wraith drew his daggers from his side and looked them over. His black blade still had a knick in it from when a piece broke off in Atropos. “So I’ll make sure this entire war is off balance.”
Death of the Endless shook her head. “I think she got under your skin. So to speak.”
“She did.” Wraith acknowledged. “For this I am not Death. For this I am the endless rage of the murdered and unavenged. She wants this fight, I’ll give it to her, but on my terms.”
“What are your friends doing?” Death of the Endless looked down.
One half of Apokolips was now thoroughly exploded with mechanical animals running rampant over it. The other half was now a flower covered paradise that had strange trees restraining the parademons and other forces.
“What they do best.” Wraith smiled. “Chaos and Imbalance.”
“And what can we do?” The voice of Astral, Scion of Order asked as he appeared.
“Cage of this reality, separate it from itself.” Wraith leaned on his scythe.
“Shadow reality?” Astral asked.
Wraith nodded.
“I’m gonna need my buddy down there.” Astral nodded.
“I’m your buddy?!” Perfection cooed as he appeared. “Hiya D.o.E.! How’s Delirium?”
“Delerious.” Death of the Endless smiled with a nod.
“All right!” Perfection cheered. “One shadow realm coming up!” He snapped his fingers and a wig very similar to a popular card game anime character’s hair appeared on his head and his clothes shifted to a similar style.
“Does that mean I have to be Kaiba?” Astral sighed.
“Would you?” Perfection asked with a pleading look.
“Okay, fine. This once.” Astral sighed and his trench coat shifted to that of another coat similar to the other one’s rival.
“I’m not watching this.” Wraith sighed as he vanished.
“Man, what a party pooper.” Perfection sighed. “Well it’s time to get twisted!”
(T)(D)(T)(F)---(T)(F)(T)(W)
Anna sat watching her friends and her father. Everyone was relaxed and the party was winding to a close. Vegeta was busy going over a speech with her dad and Salem was busy trying to understand how Ben survived a Carnotaurus as a teenager with no powers.
“We will go to our final battle soon.” Rio sat beside her enjoying some of the last steak.
“Well not our last.” Anna smiled.
Rio shook her head. “I cannot go with you beyond this.”
Anna looked at Rio. “Did I say something, do something?”
Rio shook her head. “I have a responsibility I too will be stepping into, at Arceus’ last request.”
Anna hugged Rio. “You could have said something.”
“I was conflicted.” Rio admitted, “But it was Arlina that made me realize I had to do it.”
Anna nodded. “You’ll always be my sister.”
“You will always be welcome in my world.” Rio smiled and gave a happy yip.
Anna smiled. “Bonds beyond life and death.”
“Bonds beyond time and space.” Rio said as a compliment to it. “I will cherish the time we have had together.”
Anna smiled and held up the pokeball.
“Oh no,we still need that, I don’t want to travel the multiverse exposed to it!” Rio barked nervously.
Anna laughed. “Okay, One last big adventure.”
“Once more unto the breach, my friends.” Alan said as he sat next to them.
“What?” Anna asked.
“The Bard himself.” Alan smiled. “Henry the Fifth.”
Anna nodded. “I’m scared.”
Alan nodded. “So am I. I could lose the most important people to me. But it has to stop, she has to be stopped, he has to be stopped. No more.”
Anna nodded.
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our English dead.” Yaz said. “Act Three, Scene One.”
“Indeed.” Alan smiled and nodded. “I better pick up Teal’c and the other’s too.”
Anna looked at her father quizzically.
“He sounds a lot like Kratos. But he enjoys breaking False gods, so...” He paused. “Disturbingly coincidental hobbies.”
Anna giggled.
“How many of my friends have that hobby?” Alan pondered aloud.
Vegeta jumped up and waved his hand.
“No, Vegeta. Frieza was not a false god.” Alan sighed.
“Fair.” Vegeta harrumphed.
“Well I have to get this all cleaned up tomorrow.” Darius sighed.
Alan gave a baring laugh.
“What?” Darius asked.
“Darius.” Anna scoffed, “We aren’t trashy guests...” She focused and Hong Long came out from her aura and quickly began to pick up trash.
Alan simply focused on various small bits that flew to the trash cans. Within minutes the backyard and the grills were sparkling.
“Kami, do I miss the easy cleanups...” Vegeta sighed. “You know the stars here are bit different, but I like’em.”
Anna smiled and began to point out the constellations. Soon though Alan, Anna and their guests returned to the Camp for one more night of rest.
When they got back Anna and Alan crashed within minutes, Vegeta and Salem were still up staring out at the stars.
“You feel it?” Vegeta asked.
“Like a cat with its hackles up.” Salem nodded.
“What do you do, to keep her safe?” Vegeta asked.
“Got some magic, but mostly I use big guns.” Salem said. “I can hack, but it’s a tertiary skill nowadays. If I get pissed I can jack my bodies’ power up, but not anywhere near as powerful as you.”
Vegeta nodded. “Willing to die?”
“For them?” Salem just nodded.
“Good.” Vegeta nodded. “He wants me up front with Darkseid. How do you think I’ll fair?”
“Depends.” Salem shrugged, “What’s your newest technique?”
“Well I developed a bit of an Ego, if you will.” Vegeta grinned.
“No, not with Darkseid.” Salem shook his head. “Definitely poor on the aggression, but you do not want to take a hit. Especially the Omega Beams, you can’t dodge them, you can only put others in front of them.”
(T)(D)(T)(F)---(T)(F)(T)(W)
“He wasn’t there.” Consumption hissed. “Not even a trace of him.”
Atropos blinked in shock. She felt for certain Wraith would retreat to the Gates of Hell in their home reality. That he wasn’t there was a shock.
“That’s because he’s off picking a fight with Darkseid.” Odin shook his head. “Your plans aren’t coming together, Norn.”
“Don’t call me that.” Atropos said in an off-sweet tone. “I write fates, they make a show of them.”
Odin grunted. He was starting to regret working with this woman.
“As I said it doesn’t matter.” Atropos shoved her hand into her leg, golden ichor rolled out as she pulled an obsidian black shard from her leg. “A piece of his Sin left to remember him by.”
“I can use that.” Sindri shot up, “That will work” He walked over and held out his hands.
Atropos smiled and dropped it in his open palms. The sharp piece struck into the dwarf’s hand and his grief flashed before his eyes and he clutched his hand around the piece as he roared in pain. He forced himself over to his work table and pried it out of his own hand.
Atropos watched in shock.
“It wants you to suffer under your own guilt.” Sindri winced. “Vicious piece, but it has a piece of him, more than enough.”
“Then let Undeath Echo through the multiverse.” Atropos roared with laughter.
Odin watched the woman and slowly tilted his head towards her, then to Sindri. He nodded slowly as he realized what was happening. He had to get out of this mad house and fast.
(T)(D)(T)(F)---(T)(F)(T)(W)
Anna stretched as Hong Long coiled about in the sky, doing his own version of warming up. Alan yawned as he said his goodbyes to his co-workers and bosses.
Dr. Grant handed him a book, an old one signed by another Paleontologist. Quain grinned as he put the book signed by Tim Murphy into his bag. Dr. Ellie Sattler just gave him a hug. Dr. Wu who had the hardest time saying goodbye, despite the few words the two ever exchanged they had become good friends and trusted each other.
“Don’t go bad or I’ll be back.” Alan smiled.
“I don’t think I can anymore.” Wu smiled.
“He’s got the heart!” Anna shouted. “He took a while to grow into it though!”
Dr. Wu smiled and waved. “Take care of her, she still needs her father.”
Alan nodded and stood next to his daughter.
“What do you think, two holes?” Anna asked.
Alan blew a raspberry. “Why waste the energy?”
Anna nodded. “So who is going to make it?”
Alan stroked his chin. “Rock paper scissors?”
Anna rolled her eyes and Hong Long roared and tore into reality leaving an extra large whole gaping open.
“See you in a week!” Anna laughed as she ran and jumped through. Salem came screaming after her shouting about not being ready.
“That’s CHEATING!” Alan shouted as he raced after his daughter. Vegeta sighed and ran after his friend, grumbling about losing the steak-off once more.
As he breached into the multiverse he felt the power of his new nature course through him. He held it back, but just barely. He wanted to show Darkseid exactly how bad he had messed up.
Anna also felt the power crest in her and she looked back and smiled at her father while Salem tumbled in the rear of Hong Long’s frame. She waved as her father and Vegeta skewed off in a different direction.
“I think I’m gonna puke!” Salem groaned as he spun around.
\\\\
First
Previous
End of the Daughter that Follows
SPOTIFY LIST!
////
All the Scions: OH!
S: Yup.
Astral: Fuck.
Maven: With extra cheddar.
Perfection: What?
Maven: It’s a saying from my home reality.
Perfection: But why Cheddar?
DM: How does he even have Cheddar, that’s from England.
Perfection: My head hurts.
S: So that’s her plan folks.
Mosious: That’s not good.
Theten: But there’s no need for Undeath. It’s antithetical to the universe!
Karma: Maybe it’s about exactly that. Like we’re concepts. What if she’s going for Extra material power.
S: Smart woman wins the prize.
Wraith: SHE... ANger... RAGE...
Karma: Oh no, he’s sputtering.
Astral: (steps back)
S: And now folks I work on outlining the final battle. I’ll know more about it’s length in a week or two. In the meantime I will continue to work on GSD.

Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory

Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.

All Buyouts are listed in cash value.

KNIVES

★ Butterfly Knife Freehand FN #1, B/O: $2500

★ Butterfly Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $822

★ Butterfly Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $616

⎯

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW #1, B/O: $1300

★ Bayonet Autotronic FN, B/O: $1050

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW, B/O: $629

★ Bayonet Bright Water FT, B/O: $326

★ Bayonet Safari Mesh BS, B/O: $233

⎯

★ Karambit Lore FT, B/O: $1110

★ Karambit Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $840

★ Karambit Freehand MW, B/O: $784

★ Karambit Bright Water MW, B/O: $759

⎯

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $751

⎯

★ Nomad Knife Fade FN, B/O: $1156

★ Nomad Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $544

★ Nomad Knife Blue Steel WW, B/O: $318

⎯

★ Flip Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $646

★ Flip Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $574

★ Flip Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) MW, B/O: $552

★ Flip Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $257

★ Flip Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $255

★ StatTrak™ Flip Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $287

⎯

★ Huntsman Knife Lore FN, B/O: $461

★ Huntsman Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $436

★ Huntsman Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $353

★ Huntsman Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $212

★ Huntsman Knife Bright Water FT, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT MW, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT BS, B/O: $123

★ StatTrak™ Huntsman Knife Rust Coat BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $375

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $363

★ Bowie Knife Tiger Tooth FN, B/O: $269

★ Bowie Knife Crimson Web WW, B/O: $192

★ Bowie Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $159

★ Bowie Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $126

⎯

★ Stiletto Knife Slaughter FN, B/O: $616

★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web FT, B/O: $412

★ StatTrak™ Stiletto Knife Night Stripe FT, B/O: $227

⎯

★ Falchion Knife Lore FT, B/O: $214

★ Falchion Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $192

★ Falchion Knife Scorched WW, B/O: $105

⎯

★ Survival Knife Crimson Web BS, B/O: $216

★ Survival Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $198

★ Survival Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Shadow Daggers Fade FN, B/O: $368

★ Shadow Daggers Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $228

★ Shadow Daggers, B/O: $201

★ Shadow Daggers Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $108

★ Shadow Daggers Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $105

★ Shadow Daggers Black Laminate FT, B/O: $99

★ Shadow Daggers Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $85

⎯

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Sapphire) MW #1, B/O: $1700

★ Gut Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $223

★ Gut Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $203

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $191

★ Gut Knife Case Hardened BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife, B/O: $138

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Classic Knife Urban Masked FT, B/O: $146

★ StatTrak™ Classic Knife Stained BS, B/O: $168

⎯

★ Ursus Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $476

★ Ursus Knife, B/O: $375

⎯

★ Skeleton Knife, B/O: $1137

★ Talon Knife, B/O: $608

★ Paracord Knife, B/O: $305

★ Survival Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97

GLOVES

★ Moto Gloves Transport MW, B/O: $204

★ Moto Gloves Polygon BS, B/O: $142

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

⎯

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Kimono WW, B/O: $1215

★ Specialist Gloves Tiger Strike FT, B/O: $672

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander FT, B/O: $305

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander BS, B/O: $140

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Web BS, B/O: $137

★ Specialist Gloves Buckshot FT, B/O: $75

⎯

★ Driver Gloves Crimson Weave FT, B/O: $359

★ Driver Gloves Imperial Plaid BS, B/O: $229

★ Driver Gloves Overtake BS, B/O: $77

★ Driver Gloves Racing Green FT, B/O: $48

⎯

★ Sport Gloves Omega FT, B/O: $739

★ Sport Gloves Amphibious BS #2, B/O: $733

★ Sport Gloves Arid BS, B/O: $292

⎯

★ Hand Wraps Giraffe MW, B/O: $212

★ Hand Wraps Leather FT, B/O: $160

★ Hand Wraps Desert Shamagh MW, B/O: $101

⎯

★ Broken Fang Gloves Yellow-banded MW, B/O: $185

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point FT, B/O: $67

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point WW, B/O: $59

⎯

★ Hydra Gloves Case Hardened BS, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald FT, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald BS, B/O: $62

WEAPONS

AK-47 Case Hardened BS, B/O: $130

AK-47 Bloodsport MW, B/O: $79

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Bloodsport FT, B/O: $70

AK-47 Neon Rider MW, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AK-47 Aquamarine Revenge FT, B/O: $72

⎯

AWP Fade FN, B/O: $1039

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Wildfire MW, B/O: $95

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP Duality FN, B/O: $81

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Chromatic Aberration FN, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Electric Hive FT, B/O: $55

⎯

Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $623

Desert Eagle Emerald Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $241

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Printstream FT, B/O: $54

⎯

M4A1-S Blue Phosphor FN, B/O: $434

StatTrak™ M4A1-S Bright Water MW, B/O: $55

⎯

M4A4 Poseidon FN, B/O: $1465

M4A4 Asiimov BS, B/O: $55

M4A4 Hellfire MW, B/O: $50

⎯

USP-S Kill Confirmed MW, B/O: $72

USP-S Printstream FT, B/O: $69

StatTrak™ USP-S Kill Confirmed FT, B/O: $139

⎯

AUG Flame Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $234

P90 Run and Hide FT, B/O: $147

Five-SeveN Candy Apple FN, B/O: $61

Trade Offer Link - Steam Profile Link - My Inventory

Knives - Bowie Knife, Butterfly Knife, Falchion Knife, Flip Knife, Gut Knife, Huntsman Knife, M9 Bayonet, Bayonet, Karambit, Shadow Daggers, Stiletto Knife, Ursus Knife, Navaja Knife, Talon Knife, Classic Knife, Paracord Knife, Survival Knife, Nomad Knife, Skeleton Knife, Patterns - Gamma Doppler, Doppler (Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, Black Pearl, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald), Crimson Web, Lore, Fade, Ultraviolet, Night, Marble Fade (Fire & Ice, Fake FI), Case Hardened (Blue Gem), Autotronic, Slaughter, Black Laminate, Tiger Tooth, Boreal Forest, Scorched, Blue Steel, Vanilla, Damascus Steel, Forest DDPAT, Urban Masked, Freehand, Stained, Bright Water, Safari Mesh, Rust Coat, Gloves - Bloodhound Gloves (Charred, Snakebite, Guerrilla, Bronzed), Driver Gloves (Snow Leopard, King Snake, Crimson Weave, Imperial Plaid, Black Tie, Lunar Weave, Diamondback, Rezan the Red, Overtake, Queen Jaguar, Convoy, Racing Green), Hand Wraps (Cobalt Skulls, CAUTION!, Overprint, Slaughter, Leather, Giraffe, Badlands, Spruce DDPAT, Arboreal, Constrictor, Desert Shamagh, Duct Tape), Moto Gloves (Spearmint, POW!, Cool Mint, Smoke Out, Finish Line, Polygon, Blood Pressure, Turtle, Boom!, Eclipse, 3rd Commando Company, Transport), Specialist Gloves (Crimson Kimono, Tiger Strike, Emerald Web, Field Agent, Marble Fade, Fade, Foundation, Lt. Commander, Crimson Web, Mogul, Forest DDPAT, Buckshot), Sport Gloves (Pandora's Box, Superconductor, Hedge Maze, Vice, Amphibious, Slingshot, Omega, Arid, Big Game, Nocts, Scarlet Shamagh, Bronze Morph), Hydra Gloves (Case Hardened, Emerald, Rattler, Mangrove), Broken Fang Gloves (Jade, Yellow-banded, Unhinged, Needle Point), Pistols - P2000 (Wicked Sick, Ocean Foam, Fire Element, Amber Fade, Corticera, Chainmail, Imperial Dragon, Obsidian, Scorpion, Handgun, Acid Etched), USP-S (Printstream, Kill Confirmed, Whiteout, Road Rash, Owergrowth, The Traitor, Neo-Noir, Dark Water, Orion, Blueprint, Stainless, Caiman, Serum, Monster Mashup, Royal Blue, Ancient Visions, Cortex, Orange Anolis, Ticket To Hell, Black Lotus, Cyrex, Check Engine, Guardian, Purple DDPAT, Torque, Blood Tiger, Flashback, Business Class, Pathfinder, Para Green), Lead Conduit, Glock-18 (Umbral Rabbit, Fade, Candy Apple, Bullet Queen, Synth Leaf, Neo-Noir, Nuclear Garden, Dragon Tatto, Reactor, Pink DDPAT, Twilight Galaxy, Sand Dune, Groundwater, Blue Fissure, Snack Attack, Water Elemental, Brass, Wasteland Rebel, Vogue, Franklin, Royal Legion, Gamma Doppler, Weasel, Steel Disruption, Ironwork, Grinder, High Beam, Moonrise, Oxide Blaze, Bunsen Burner, Clear Polymer, Bunsen Burner, Night), P250 (Re.built, Nuclear Threat, Modern Hunter, Splash, Whiteout, Vino Primo, Mehndi, Asiimov, Visions, Undertow, Cartel, See Ya Later, Gunsmoke, Splash, Digital Architect, Muertos, Red Rock, Bengal Tiger, Crimson Kimono, Wingshot, Metallic DDPAT, Hive, Dark Filigree, Mint Kimono), Five-Seven (Neon Kimono, Berries And Cherries, Fall Hazard, Crimson Blossom, Hyper Beast, Nitro, Fairy Tale, Case Hardened, Copper Galaxy, Angry Mob, Monkey Business, Fowl Play, Anodized Gunmetal, Hot Shot, Retrobution, Boost Protocol), CZ75-Auto (Chalice, Crimson Web, Emerald Quartz, The Fuschia is Now, Nitro, Xiangliu, Yellow Jacket, Victoria, Poison Dart, Syndicate, Eco, Hexane, Pole, Tigris), Tec-9 (Rebel, Terrace, Nuclear Threat, Hades, Rust Leaf, Decimator, Blast From, Orange Murano, Toxic, Fuel Injector, Remote Control, Bamboo Forest, Isaac, Avalanche, Brother, Re-Entry, Blue Titanium, Bamboozle), R8 Revolver (Banana Cannon, Fade, Blaze, Crimson Web, Liama Cannon, Crazy 8, Reboot, Canal Spray, Night, Amber Fade), Desert Eagle (Blaze, Hand Cannon, Fennec Fox, Sunset Storm, Emerald Jörmungandr, Pilot, Hypnotic, Golden Koi, Printstream, Cobalt Disruption, Code Red, Ocean Drive, Midnight Storm, Kumicho Dragon, Crimson Web, Heirloom, Night Heist, Mecha Industries, Night, Conspiracy, Trigger Discipline, Naga, Directive, Light Rail), Dual Berettas (Flora Carnivora, Duelist, Cobra Strike, Black Limba, Emerald, Hemoglobin, Twin Turbo, Marina, Melondrama, Pyre, Retribution, Briar, Dezastre, Royal Consorts, Urban Shock, Dualing Dragons, Panther, Balance), Rifles - Galil (Aqua Terrace, Winter Forest, Chatterbox, Sugar Rush, Pheonix Blacklight, CAUTION!, Orange DDPAT, Cerberus, Dusk Ruins, Eco, Chromatic Aberration, Stone Cold, Tuxedo, Sandstorm, Shattered, Urban Rubble, Rocket Pop, Kami, Crimson Tsunami, Connexion), SCAR-20 (Fragments, Brass, Cyrex, Palm, Splash Jam, Cardiac, Emerald, Crimson Web, Magna Carta, Stone Mosaico, Bloodsport, Enforcer), AWP (Duality, Gungnir, Dragon Lore, Prince, Medusa, Desert Hydra, Fade, Lightning Strike, Oni Taiji, Silk Tiger, Graphite, Chromatic Aberration, Asiimov, Snake Camo, Boom, Containment Breach, Wildfire, Redline, Electric Hive, Hyper Beast, Neo-Noir, Man-o'-war, Pink DDPAT, Corticera, Sun in Leo, Elite Build, Fever Dream, Atheris, Mortis, PAW, Exoskeleton, Worm God, POP AWP, Phobos, Acheron, Pit Viper, Capillary, Safari Mesh), AK-47 (Head Shot, Wild Lotus, Gold Arabesque, X-Ray, Fire Serpent, Hydroponic, Panthera Onca, Case Hardened, Vulcan, Jet Set, Fuel Injector, Bloodsport, Nightwish, First Class, Neon Rider, Asiimov, Red Laminate, Aquamarine Revenge, The Empress, Wasteland Rebel, Jaguar, Black Laminate, Leet Museo, Neon Revolution, Redline, Frontside Misty, Predator, Legion of Anubis, Point Disarray, Orbit Mk01, Blue Laminate, Green Laminate, Emerald Pinstripe, Cartel, Phantom Disruptor, Jungle Spray, Safety Net, Rat Rod, Baroque Purple, Slate, Elite Build, Uncharted, Safari Mesh), FAMAS (Sundown, Prime Conspiracy, Afterimage, Commemoration, Dark Water, Spitfire, Pulse, Eye of Athena, Meltdown, Rapid Eye Move, Roll Cage, Styx, Mecha Industrie, Djinn, ZX Spectron, Valence, Neural Net, Night Borre, Hexne), M4A4 (Temukau, Howl, Poseidon, Asiimov, Daybreak, Hellfire, Zirka, Red DDPAT, Radiation Hazard, Modern Hunter, The Emperor, The Coalition, Bullet Rain, Cyber Security, X-Ray, Dark Blossom, Buzz Kill, In Living Color, Neo-Noir, Desolate Space, 龍王 (Dragon King), Royal Paladin, The Battlestar, Global Offensive, Tooth Fairy, Desert-Strike, Griffin, Evil Daimyo, Spider Lily, Converter), M4A1-S (Emphorosaur-S, Welcome to the Jungle, Imminent Danger, Knight, Hot Rod, Icarus Fell, Blue Phosphor, Printstream, Master Piece, Dark Water, Golden Coil, Bright Water, Player Two, Atomic Alloy, Guardian, Chantico's Fire, Hyper Beast, Mecha Industries, Cyrex, Control Panel, Moss Quartz, Nightmare, Decimator, Leaded Glass, Basilisk, Blood Tiger, Briefing, Night Terror, Nitro, VariCamo, Flashback), SG 553 (Cyberforce, Hazard Pay, Bulldozer, Integrale, Dragon Tech, Ultraviolet, Colony IV, Hypnotic, Cyrex, Candy Apple, Barricade, Pulse), SSG 08 (Death Strike, Sea Calico, Blood in the Water, Orange Filigree, Dragonfire, Big Iron, Bloodshot, Detour, Turbo Peek, Red Stone), AUG (Akihabara Accept, Flame Jörmungandr, Hot Rod, Midnight Lily, Sand Storm, Carved Jade, Wings, Anodized Navy, Death by Puppy, Torque, Bengal Tiger, Chameleon, Fleet Flock, Random Access, Momentum, Syd Mead, Stymphalian, Arctic Wolf, Aristocrat, Navy Murano), G3SG1 (Chronos, Violet Murano, Flux, Demeter, Orange Kimono, The Executioner, Green Apple, Arctic Polar Camo, Contractor), SMGs - P90 (Neoqueen, Astral Jörmungandr, Run and Hide, Emerald Dragon, Cold Blooded, Death by Kitty, Baroque Red, Vent Rush, Blind Spot, Asiimov, Trigon, Sunset Lily, Death Grip, Leather, Nostalgia, Fallout Warning, Tiger Pit, Schermatic, Virus, Shapewood, Glacier Mesh, Shallow Grave, Chopper, Desert Warfare), MAC-10 (Sakkaku, Hot Snakes, Copper Borre, Red Filigree, Gold Brick, Graven, Case Hardened, Stalker, Amber Fade, Neon Rider, Tatter, Curse, Propaganda, Nuclear Garden, Disco Tech, Toybox, Heat, Indigo), UMP-45 (Wild Child, Fade, Blaze, Day Lily, Minotaur's Labyrinth, Crime Scene, Caramel, Bone Pile, Momentum, Primal Saber), MP7 (Teal Blossom, Fade, Nemesis, Whiteout, Asterion, Bloosport, Abyssal Apparition, Full Stop, Special Delivery, Neon Ply, Asterion, Ocean Foam, Powercore, Scorched, Impire), PP-Bizon (Modern Hunter, Rust Coat, Forest Leaves, Antique, High Roller, Blue Streak, Seabird, Judgement of Anubis, Bamboo Print, Embargo, Chemical Green, Coblat Halftone, Fuel Rod, Photic Zone, Irradiated Alert, Carbon Fiber), MP9 (Featherweight, Wild Lily, Pandora's Box, Stained Glass, Bulldozer, Dark Age, Hot Rod, Hypnotic, Hydra, Rose Iron, Music Box, Setting Sun, Food Chain, Airlock, Mount Fuji, Starlight Protector, Ruby Poison Dart, Deadly Poison), MP5-SD (Liquidation, Oxide Oasis, Phosphor, Nitro, Agent, Autumn Twilly), Shotguns, Machineguns - Sawed-Off (Kiss♥Love, First Class, Orange DDPAT, Rust Coat, The Kraken, Devourer, Mosaico, Wasteland Princess, Bamboo Shadow, Copper, Serenity, Limelight, Apocalypto), XM1014 (Frost Borre, Ancient Lore, Red Leather, Elegant Vines, Banana Leaf, Jungle, Urban Perforated, Grassland, Blaze Orange, Heaven Guard, VariCamo Blue, Entombed, XOXO, Seasons, Tranquility, Bone Machine, Incinegator, Teclu Burner, Black Tie, Zombie Offensive, Watchdog), Nova (Baroque Orange, Hyper Beast, Green Apple, Antique, Modern Hunter, Walnut, Forest Leaves, Graphite, Blaze Orange, Rising Skull, Tempest, Bloomstick, Interlock, Quick Sand, Moon in Libra, Clean Polymer, Red Quartz, Toy Soldier), MAG-7 (Insomnia, Cinqueda, Counter Terrace, Prism Terrace, Memento, Chainmail, Hazard, Justice, Bulldozer, Silver, Core Breach, Firestarter, Praetorian, Heat, Hard Water, Monster Call, BI83 Spectrum, SWAG-7), M249 (Humidor, Shipping Forecast, Blizzard Marbleized, Downtown, Jungle DDPAT, Nebula Crusader, Impact Drill, Emerald Poison Dart), Negev (Mjölnir, Anodized Navy, Palm, Power Loader, Bratatat, CaliCamo, Phoenix Stencil, Infrastructure, Boroque Sand), Wear - Factory New (FN), Minimal Wear (MW), Field-Tested (FT), Well-Worn (WW), Battle-Scarred (BS), Stickers Holo/Foil/Gold - Katowice 2014, Krakow 2017, Howling Dawn, Katowice 2015, Crown, London 2018, Cologne 2014, Boston 2018, Atlanta 2017, Cluj-Napoca 2015, DreamHack 2014, King on the Field, Harp of War, Winged Difuser, Cologne 2016, Cologne 2015, MLG Columbus 2016, Katowice 2019, Berlin 2019, RMR 2020, Stockholm 2021, Antwerp 2022, Swag Foil, Flammable foil, Others - Souvenirs, Agents, Pins, Passes, Gifts, Music Kits, Cases, Keys, Capsules, Packages, Patches

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Spirits are the least conventional lifeforms in Gnosis and the people of its worlds really don't understand what they are or how they function. As they are so highly unconventional, I'm looking for a little feedback on the core concept. I'll keep it as quick as I can, but this is a big complicated topic and spirits are weird so I may need to explain a lot.
From the Outside:
Let's pick a common spirit for an example, in fact the most common spirit species, fey. From the outside, they look like a tiny winged humanoid of some description. We'll go right to the one of the two contenders for least common of four subspecies because they'll require the least explanation, fairies. They basically look like miniature glowing humans with large butterfly wings, coming in every imaginable color for their skin although some are more common for each part than others and that means they're glowing those colors. Fey have some size-changing going on but in their smaller default form fairy women typically range from about 45-50cm and fairy men about 35-40cm in both height and wingspan, and in their larger form they go up to 1.5x scale. Spirits don't need to sleep, can if they want to and there are reasons they might even if usually only for a couple minutes to fix some recent major injury.
Most species of spirits are 75% female and fey are in that group, so let's look a bit closer at a fairy gal. The first thing you'll notice about her is that she is very colorful her surface has zero texture, but you may not notice from a distance because her surface is using artistic tricks to imitate texture without actually having it. Her various features are simplified, yet either exaggerated or understated. Her usually quite a bit of head hair is usually also a pretty loud color but it's also actually just part of her head which is one rigid piece and if this gal has long hair you'll notice it only bends at the top of the neck one time to keep the rest "hanging" where it "should be", and trying to change her hairstyle is painful and fruitless. Her jaw stretches and twists to imitate an actual joint being there but there also clearly isn't one if you look closely. Spirit hands and moreso heads, especially their eyes, are larger while their legs are slightly shorter relative to their height and their feet are tiny, meanwhile secondary and tertiary sexual characteristics are exaggerated overall but with a larger standard deviation from the average in each area between individuals to the point where they still reach 0 if less often. They're not a very convincing imitation, to put it lightly, they should be well on the "less human" side of the uncanny valley.
Spirits are regenerating shapeshifters, in the case of fey it's mostly size-changing, but all spirit sophonts also have the ability to imitate clothing, weapons and equipment even if the imitated gear is not nearly as good as the real thing. It and the body part it's on are not separate and the false gear cannot be taken off or set down except by shapeshifting it out of existence, nor can they imitate chemicals or complex machinery like the magitech in nearly all proper melee weapons, which of course means imitating any sort of ranged weapon or explosive is off the table. It also means they aren't rendering their body underneath the gear, if she's wearing a shapeshifted knee skirt and you were to look up it you'd see an opaque void the same color as the skirt which her knees are sliding freely along the surface of, there's nothing between it and where the shapeshift gear ends, everything from hem to waist currently IS the skirt. (Of course if she's wearing actual clothes this does not apply.) Same if she shapeshifts a sword into her hand, the sword and hand are a single piece so it only looks like she's holding it, like a cheap action figure. It also needn't be a sword, most hand tools can be imitated effectively, from hammers and saws to ladles and spatulas, just note that it's part of her and smacking it on things or getting it too hot will hurt even though shapeshift gear is not very sensitive.
Fey also can control the brightness of their glow or generate spotlights, generate and manipulate magnetic fields, of course fly and pretty quickly, they swim fine too which is extremely odd for fairies given their apparent butterfly wings, and all but pixies have easy if slow contact healing albeit the fairy's healing is stronger and pixies have their own benefits (stealth, sensors and a 3-day forecast). Healing is a fairy's main ability, when in water it's strengthened (as is a nymph or ghillie) and in emergencies fairies can massively drain their energy reserves even to the point of depleting them in order to staunch more severe wounds than they would be able to normally, although that's something they can't do more than once or at most twice without a refill and it's still got its limits, "already dead" is beyond those limits, "decapitated" also counts, if somebody's heart got bisected that's somebody they're not fixing, but this burst of frenzied automatic medical treatment is just the thing for some poor sap who's just taken multiple bullets to the chest and head. They're pretty good at self-repair and generally have less downtime than some fey when the poor things get severely injured very easily. (Not because they're little, being a spirit makes that difference often less than it appears, but because they're spirits.)
But what if you touch her? Well, then you'll discover her textureless surface isn't actually a surface at all. You'll start feeling resistance just before you make contact, like trying to touch like poles of two magnets. This is pretty mild, but intensifies as you go on and once your finger passes through her stomach miss fairy will scream and hit you but more importantly you'll contact something solid not far beyond it, many somethings solid spaced apart, teeny-tiny balls and stands. That's odd, so let's put on a mask with goggles and stick our face in this fairy who hopefully agreed to that but it seems unlikely on account of how much this is going to hurt. (Maybe for science. And food. ...And a hug or five or six.)
On the Inside:
What you'll find in the little lady is exactly what it felt like, many less than one millimeter thick strands connecting hundreds of millimeters-wide orb-shaped nodes and thousands more nodes no bigger around than the wires leading to them. Most of the spirit's body is empty space, covered by a gradient forcefield and projected light. These internal structures are brightly colored, in the case of fey blaze orange and notably each part of their facade is most commonly an orange/brown of various hues, brightnesses and saturations (including super dark brown or super pale orange for their pupils and sclera), but if broken open are transparent or translucent white/grey inside. For ages there was no even vaguely comparable material to the unusual lipid-derived organic stuff these nodes are made out of, but the Drachentäller invented a very similar one half a century ago called "plastic" (though only they make it right now so it's still pretty pricey). The nodes have openings on them of different types which differentiate their function, but these aren't well understood, except the biggest ones outside the core that are just storage tanks for slurries of liquid nutrients. The wires feel like normal rubber-insulated wires but super thin, but under a microscope they look to be another bioplastic and if split open will reveal themselves to actually contain both piping for transporting material between nodes and actual copper wire that carries a current too low-gauge to be powering anything so it's speculated to effectively be her nervous system.
This explains her shapeshifting, seeing as her body's not real she just needs to re-arrange her wires and nodes, alter the shape of her outer fields and the image she's projecting. To grow from 50cm to 75, she just increased the distance between her nodes by 50%, her "surface area" by 125% and her "volume" by 237.5%, her mass and weight are completely unchanged. This also explains how such giant variations can exist within one species or even subspecies, they aren't really nearly as big of a change as they externally look to be. Fairies can project light and generate powerful magnetic fields, those are also being done by her nodes, with the very projectors that create her outer fields and holographic "self" which she doesn't know isn't real unless you tell her (she probably won't believe it). It also explains why they feel pain when you attempt to penetrate their fields, for starters they think there's actual physical flesh you're pushing into except for how it visibly doesn't react like it once you've started (and that confusion's only going to make them freak out more), and it makes sense if this imitation is a defense mechanism for a pain response to exist to reduce the odds of you or them discovering what's inside or either of you being able to make sense of what little you do see.
Of course, passing through their fields doesn't always hurt, only if they're expecting it to, the field projectors will even roll inwards to create an opening if one is expected in that spot. IE she bites things by rolling her face fields inwards to "open" her "mouth", then uses them to apply pressure, but as she has no actual teeth this is blunt and often she'll need to yank at it with her entire head, neck and even engage her torso to, for example, tear a chunk off a steak and swallow it. If you were to observe this hunk of steak you'd watch it get passed by repair nodes down into the woodchipper-like opening of one of her digestive nodes in her core, where it will be broken down into proteins and lipids and sent to storage through her piping. We know that because people have in fact stuck periscopes inside spirits to see what goes on inside them. As she uses energy, you may notice a tiny bit of fine dust descending from around her, this is ash and it's all that's left of the nutrients she efficiently consumes in exorbitant amounts to power everything she does. As she repairs damage, her repair nodes can produce the plastic of her tubing her core production nodes print complex components, even required metals coming out of what she eats.
The Core:
The core is the center of a spirit's being, a series of seven dreamcatcher-looking rings large nodes and thicker wire in rings stacked front to back with cross-crossing wires notably devoid of metal instead having silica fibers and flashing lights on each node for signalling between them, making sure every one in each ring is directly connected to each other for redundancy. Here you'll find, in her notably female case, from front to back, half her reproductive system, forward core nutrient storage, forward core cognitive ring (memory and motor control nodes are scattered throughout the body), central digestive and manufacturing ring, aft core cognitive ring, aft core nutrient storage and her other ring of reproductive nodes, and notably there is lots of tubing running between rings 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7. If she was male instead both reproductive rings would be at the back as the purpose of them is different.
In a fey, any humanoid spirit really, this is in the chest where you'd expect the heart to be. Some spirits have two cores, the second will be lower down, in a humanoid it'll be in the pelvis and/or abdomen, as low as it can be at its size and still fit without blocking the leg tendrils. These nodes require more exotic materials less common in food or that are more difficult to work with and even with recycling as much as possible are usually significantly harder to repair and replace. Losing digestive and manufacturing nodes is a big hit to regeneration rate, enough that they usually start by replacing those if at all possible. The way spirits die is by receiving too much core damage, or losing too much mass overall, to the point where they don't have the manufacturing nodes to fix themselves despite all being multiple redundant, or they lack both material in storage and the functionality to go get them. If starved, they will eventually enter an inert state and be left laying as a bundle on the ground until somebody revives them or they decay which takes a very long time even though their plastic is biodegradeable as it is coated in a preservative (in this case orange) chemical that takes years to corrode and is frequently replenished during normal activity. Even then, if you go grab the bundle and drop them into a bunch of loose resources like a bowl of ground beef and fruit preserves that'll solve the lack of resources and if they didn't lose all the required nodes they'll start fixing themselves up.
Damage control and repair:
As mentioned, spirits regenerate. As also mentioned, this is an internal repair system with distinct parts performing distinct tasks, which when they are unconscious gets all of their energy and resources allowing it to work significantly faster, whether they're unconscious because they were nearly destroyed or because they decided to go lie down for a minute because they just saw their wires and nodes for the first time. You may think this could be defeated by severing a part, since they wouldn't be able to reach out and grab it, but what'll actually happen is microwaves will be emitted by the repair nodes on each end of the breach and it'll fly right back into place to get fused back together, and if a node is is destroyed that node'll be replaced a part at a time which will take longer than patching a wire and it won't be working until it's fully reconnected, but the bioplastic that makes up most of it is pretty easy to print and paint if they've got proteins and fats on hand. If she takes too much damage, though, to the point where she's at risk of being destroyed she will involuntarily bail on this entire situation, dropping her outer fields and image, curling her wires into a tight ball, coating herself in a much denser forcefield, rocketing into the distance in a direction with nobody (detected) in it and as clear of a shot as possible. This launch is very forceful, reaching hypersonic speeds in a matter of seconds before the thrust stops and she cruises ballistically to a different post code and at quickly slows to a gentle landing. (Assailants: Brace for the backblast, or it may knock you on your ass.) She is semi-conscious during this process and once she's landed will fully lose consciousness in order to dedicate all her energy to self-repair until she's either back to 100% or as close as she's getting without getting up and finding something to eat. Significant damage to her core, whether it's that "enough core cables are cut to defeat their redundancy" or "a core node is destroyed", will usually result in her blasting off right away, as will her ending up in a situation where destruction otherwise seems unavoidable. Take a moment to absorb the implications of this while you imagine how much worse her being swallowed by a giant frog or something is going to work out for it than her even if she has to clean that mess up. Spirits actually dying due to violence is a rarity because of their remarkable ability to bail in the nick of time, although it does happen. They get hit with a 7-ton naval shell they're absolutely donezo, but dropping them in a volcano won't work because they'll blast off into the sky.
Reproduction and Development:
In her core, this fairy has two rings dedicated to reproduction, one at the very front and one at the very back. These are rings of dedicated manufacturing, wire-printing and assembly nodes, which create and keep in stock a set of redundant nodes, enough to make 1/2 of a new spirit minus their core. If we look in the chest of Sir Mothwing next to her he has none of the assembly or wire-printing nodes but he's got a bunch of dedicated manufacturing nodes in two rings at the back of his core and between them is kept the fruits of their labour: All the nodes for one entire spare core, in addition to half the nodes needed for the rest of a spirit stored stored between the reproductive rings and the back of the spirit which these nodes also manufactured. All they need to do is keep their cores together so a single opening through both their fields can allow them to interact. The actual internal process is unconscious, any activity that'll align their cores and press their bodies together will do the job. They mimic humans generally, but they don't always know how humans do it so this might just be hugging.
The spirit man will pass his spare parts into the spirit woman's chest, one at a time as she needs them, that's his entire job in the actual reproductive process. Granted, those are hard to replace parts, especially all those core cognitive and manufacturing nodes, so he can't do this nearly as often as she can and that puts the bottleneck on the side of the less common sex, giving them a slow reproductive rate. (Then again, they're massive resource hogs for their size, have indefinite lifespans and are hard to kill. Maybe slow reproduction's a good thing long-term.) As for her part she'll be externally paralyzed and unresponsive while her unconscious works as fast as it can making wire and connecting these parts together. In the mean time, he'll be semi-conscious, cuddled as close as humanly possible, only able to move if it's strictly necessary (if a coyote's wondering if they're edible he can go deal with that real quick and come back). The rest of the time while this process is going on, both of them will be tripping balls. No, that's not doing it justice, they're having a life-changing psychedelic experience. Why is unknown, only they're seeing the same things, communicating somehow and by the end they usually claim to "feel" the newborn's presence before they're born, if their estimates are right seemingly a couple hours after the core's done being assembled. Some think it's how the newborn's consciousness is formed, some think it's how all the child's various traits superficial and meaningful alike are determined, some think it's a deep spiritual experience meant to make them reflect on and prepare for the life-changing thing they're doing bringing another tinier person into the world, some think it's just meant to keep their conscious mind entertained while their unconscious does all the actual work. It's also notably intensely euphoric. Regardless, after about one day in 5d technicolor dreamland, the new infant spirit will be assembled and will exit the mother however makes sense to her. They may just pop right out of her chest as a little rolled-up ball, unfurl and form their facade mid-air before any of them wake up, only provided nobody's there to witness it (as far as any of them know).
The even littler one will as usual typically resemble hehis parents in many ways except often with several completely random minor variations like a ginger and a blue-haired parent may have a violet-haired child and have no idea why even if most of the time most of their traits seem to be inherited from their parents. Mutations that large shouldn't be occurring that often with biology as we know it, but this is not biology as we know it. Their sex is determined by how their mother assembles their core, whether they left room and connections at the front and back (female) or all at the back (male), and their facade matches their core in what may be a "natural" metaphor. As the father donates the core nodes the child will always be their father's subspecies, in fact this is how subspecies are classified because it's that reliable. ...And the exception is there are two species of hermaphroditic spirits who all have one male and one female core and each parent provides one of each and this means that if they are of different species you get actual hybrids, for example an ant myrmidon queen and a bee myrmidon queen make a wasp myrmidon queen with one ant core and one bee core. (Myrmidon queens look like little half-meter anthropomorphic insect queens, they make even tinier autonomous frameworks called "workers", "soldiers" and so on who are full-fledged sophonts. They have a limited cast of minions, a bee queen has six workers, four soldiers and two drones whose minds, memories and personalities are backed up every night in the queen's caboose in case they get smashed and they have to print a new copy. They usually don't understand the original is actually permanently dead and has not come back.)
A newborn fairy is already about half the mass of their parents despite looking externally like the infant they are and being the right size relative to them. The extra weight goes into thicker wire and fitting just as many forcefield and repair nodes into the way tinier body. At birth both sexes are always of identical actual mass, even if there's an apparent size difference, and will not appear to age externally despite accumulating actual mass as they go until suddenly overnight they appear to age years all at once complete with a change in their otherwise permanent hairstyle that seems to be subconsciously or even unconsciously decided and only usually has any continuity with the last style. This will first happen at 2, then at 5, then at 10. Their reproductive tract will grow in during their equivalent of puberty, until then there's just empty space, and even once it's there (age 14-16) it'll need just as much time to generate the parts as will be needed between kids later. If the kid's a girl that's only about six weeks, but for boys it's about two years, notably roughly coinciding with one of their overnight metamorphoses episodes when they turn 17, the previous having been at age 10, and they will suddenly go from looking like a kid in their pre or early teens to somebody vaguely in their late teens or early twenties, as they usually appear to be about the middle of the age group they're in, but it is while they are asleep on their exact birthday that these visible changes occur, all at once, exactly at midnight if they're already out. There is no upper limit on their age, after the "adult metamorphoses" at 17 they stop gaining actual mass (except they can always make more storage nodes if they need to) and their final visible change is at 82 at which point they look about a hundred years old indefinitely.
Combat Performance and the Framework:
Spirits aren't very strong, tend to be sent flying to the next county over from the next county over with one swing of a sword and their nutrient stores aren't much for how fast they can burn through them. That itty bitty fairy eats as much as a human toddler who appears to be several times her size and is many times her mass. Most of that normal operating cost is her facade, its fields and holograms are not cheap and she's not nearly as dimly glowly as other spirits even if turns it down as far as it'll go she will illuminate dim surroundings rather than only truly dark ones so that's more energy spent. All of that's coming from food eaten, and although their metabolism is more efficient and only leaves a fine ash she's still eating several times her actual mass on a daily basis. She also only has at most a couple days of nutrients stored, far less than if she spends that time, say, on a battlefield repairing damage to herself and others and shooting electro-lasers out of her wizard's staff in which case she'll be eating nearly as much as a physical folk-sized caster and more than any of the non magic-using soldiers. Thankfully, all spirits are omnivorous and not super picky about what they eat. Fat's got the most calories for them to use, sugar's the quickest to burn, carbs are sugars with extra steps and they need protein for their bioplastics that's most of what they'll need. They need other organic materials and minerals sometimes too, sometimes they'll eat rocks and even they can't have no explanation to give, but anything even vaguely edible to the least discerning and most voracious of goats will work just fine for them and they don't seem to be subject to poison or disease. (Corrosion is a different matter.)
They're really resistant to projectiles, they're mostly empty space after all a bullet could potentially go right through them and hit nothing, their forcefield does well against explosions, heat and corrosion, nor is cold really very effective, but a sword with good edge alignment faces comparatively little resistance from the forcefields and will cut them right in half straight through the core. Also, blunt impacts work fairly well, as although the force transferred through the fields is distributed between multiple projector nodes an impact can still jolt them hard enough to snap the wires they're connected to, it's not like they're spread across the entire facing side of the spirit's body like a blast wave and the forcefield is good at deflective most of the force of a blast wave away. This amounts in total to a significant melee weakness, especially since regeneration takes time and melee combat tends to be more short-lived than ranged combat. Although they are very hard to actually kill and all have interesting abilities, they tend to lose fights with physical sophonts pretty hard and may have issues with creatures that a physical sophont would demolish, since physical sophonts are stronger than they are, are capable of faster reaction times and can dish out a hit after taking one in a way a spirit won't because they'll probably be in the stratosphere. Of course, all of these people are probably wearing armor and that complicates this entire subject considerably, as does the fact that direct one on one duels are not exactly common.
Frameworks are their built-in attempt to make up for this, vaguely resembling a "wicker man" in the shape of one specific form of theirs complete with any and all shapeshifted gear as actual solid pieces. It's actually made bioplastics and glass as usual with them and it's articulated, it's got nutrient storage tanks, more forcefield and motor-function nodes, more holographic nodes too so their appearance gets more detailed (her hair even becomes a seperate piece from her head and flexible along its length) and they generally look more life-like with slightly less exaggerated proportions. Once in a framework, they can't shapeshift until they get back out, but while they're in it they're more protected, faster, stronger and have room for considerably greater reserves. They're both too metabolically expensive to manufacture and take up too much space to keep one of every possible gear variation, and while frameworks can be re-configured this is also metabolically expensive despite recycling as much as possible and being way cheaper than a whole new framework, so usually frameworks use shapeshift gear only if absolutely necessary even though framework gear is much more effective than normal shapeshifted gear between stronger fields and backing them up with various plastic and glass. Instead, spirits who have call for them tend to cap out at one framework for each of their major forms and not waste resources or space making more. Little miss fairy probably has a 50cm and 75cm framework, for example, and if she's not in danger often they'll last her until she outgrows them, and even then she can recycle them to mitigate the cost of the new ones. They last despite being made of bioplastic because thankfully, the framework is coated in a preservative coating just like her insides are that takes anywhere from months to decades to decay and is constantly being replenished when she's in the framework, it'll also take about as long for the bioplastic to degrade, and it can still be saved for a little while because her own repair system can also repair her framework. Of course, when you compare plastic and glass to actual armor and weapons it comes up short, but once forcefields are added to the mix... They still do in the balance, but only because the real armor and weapons can have internal magitech or be a different kind of weapon that couldn't be replicated, the framework weapons and armor tend to directly deal more damage and provide more protection by weight although that's "more protection" compared to lighter armor and "lighter weight" to denser armor.
What the IU Meat-People Think:
As you may have guessed, a common early "hypothesis" was that spirits were ethereal beings and their internals and frameworks were believed to be some sort of congealed ectoplasm and their connection to the corporeal realm. That belief died pretty hard when they were clearly reproducing, except to the kind of religious nutcase to whom reality is always irrelevant. Actual scholars who study things that exist are currently arguing as to whether to settle on "mechanical lifeform", "semi-physical lifeform", "holographic lifeform", or something like that except they all seem to think only their suggested term is acceptable and everybody else is WRONG BECAUSE (17 paragraph diatribe here). Still, they're at least seen by the scientific community as being an extremely bizarre lifeform. You might think they'd have a little issue accepting them as a lifeform because of all the plastic and metal wiring, but there's one important background detail I should mention: Spirits first came from the Otherlands.
In the Otherlands of west Sohei, meat grows on the ground, plants get up and walk around, animals come from spores, giant clonal colonies of sedentary animals grow throughout forests seeping caustic sludge, meteors sometimes fall from the sky followed by crystals that forge themselves mecha made of the ossified remains of what died in the blast, you get in too deep and all electronic sensors are jammed, electroreception is hit with a signal so overwhelming the sense goes completely dead to keep the creature from ripping its sensory organs out, concrete buildings grow on their own by millimeters per day, random paved roads with painted lines exist and change shape so slowly you don't notice until you're hopelessly lost, usually after running into a vertical loop or something unreasonable like that which those among us overly prone to antropomorphising might attribute to spite, sometimes broken glass falls from the sky, you get giant lightning storms where the strikes are so powerful they produce enough ionizing radiation to create a secondary electromagnetic pulse, the wind sounds like an unintelligible modulating electronic tone, people swear the clouds are watching them.... My point; Spirits are only debatably the strangest thing coming out of that place, and they're definitely not the most artificial-seeming thing that seems to be occurring there without outside intervention. At this point the answer to "Could spirits be natural creatures?" is "Uh... Oh I don't know, why the hell not?" or sometimes "Insufficient data; Please define the term 'natural' within the context of The Otherlands.".
But what do YOU meat-people think of them? (And what term would you choose to describe them?)

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There are some deeds, some crimes and horrors even our Mother, the Universe itself, loathes beyond all. And when this is the case, neither time, nor space, nor reality itself can deny her vengeance.
Because time is a flat circle... and we all dance on its twisting disk. - kwong879, Pukan philosopher, Post Second Precursor War Reconstruction Era
For three days and three nights did the Lady Lord of Hell, the Detainee herself, in all of her fearsome matronly glory, tempt the First Biological Disciple, Daxin Freeborn, Enraged Phillip.
And for three days and three nights did he deny her.
And thus did he pass into memory and legend. - The Book of Telkan
And before I took the lives of the damned, He did appear before us and commanded my hand still.
His glowing blue form a radiant mercy. For us.
For them. - Glory, Failure, Temptation, & Redemption, Magnus Oathsworn
There is no doubt of the fact of malevolence. The very universe itself reaches out to crush what she has birthed in an eternal struggle of hatred. There are, however, some sins which even in the face of annihilation cannot be countenanced. Some acts which even this malevolent universe will not tolerate. Protect the infants at all cost, for they are survival, and to sacrifice survival for the sake of survival shall bring only suffering and doom. - Wisdom of the Traveler, Tribulations, Chapter 5 Verse 1.
In the Age of Paranoia, Humanity's leadership ordered terrible things done. Not because they knew they were necessary, but because they might become necessary. Never realizing that the existence of those terrible things would drive them to find a reason to use them. — Prof. Kuruka N'anga, University of the Sacred Bough, Terra Nuevo
While many things enrage the Lady of Hell, in fact most things seem to, certain crimes and sins earn her personal wrath. The many men who took everything from her. The idiotic creatures who thought themselves masters of everything. And those who commit cruelties upon the innocent. For she sees all of mankind's many many sins and knows very few are clean of them. Wise beings fear when cold gray eyes turn upon them.
We were desperate, and in our desperation we reached for things that will haunt me for all eternity. We could have stopped at anytime, we should have stopped before it was too late. We ignored the warnings, in our hubris we were assured that what we were doing was necessary. We were right, but it was still wrong and there is not enough time in the universe to pay for what we did. We ignored all the warnings and applauded ourselves on our success...only moments later the shouts of joy and celebration became screams of terror as the gray-eyed one illustrated why the warnings of these dark sciences should be heeded. --Words found in a blood-soaked journal at dark site research station, this was the only document recovered. Site glassed and all traces of the research were redacted.
It was misty, with a little bit of rain. The anomaly was hidden behind artificially generated cloud cover so that it looked more like an overcast sun than the strange globe of psuedo-reality it was. The starwalk station was empty, no bones, no shades, no scars from the furious fighting that had taken place after the Glassing had driven the SUDS personnel insane.
Holos flickered, some advertising restaurants or stores, others with directions, some with safety warnings, and still others with just public service holograms. The mist made the holograms flicker and fade in and out as the focused laser systems were scattered by the tiny water droplets suspended in the air.
There was a beep and the gate opened, allowing Surscee to step from the starwalk to the platform. She was wearing revealing leathers, a bustier, a short skirt with copper strips for reinforcement, tight weave fishnet stockings, and polished black leather boots with silver buckles. Around her shoulders was a gauzy sheer cape that shed the moisture even as it gleamed and sparkled.
She stopped to examine a few of the public service announcements. Some making her smile, others making her shake her head.
"You are a window to the world of my ancestors, nine thousand years gone," she said softly, touching the base of the holo. She moved to another and watched it. "We are not so different, you and I," she said, her voice full of wonder. She watched a PSA to remind everyone not to bring plants from Earth in case of seed contamination. "Your lives were full of danger that eventually became mundane," she said softly.
"That's humanity in a nut shell," the voice from behind her was low, rough, a woman's whiskey and cigarettes voice.
"Although ever changing, thus, we are," Surscee said, straightening up. She turned around and looked over the short matron in her dark charcoal gray skirt and blouse. "Greetings, fearsome one."
"Greetings to you, sorceress," the Lady Lord of Hell said. She looked Surscee up and down slowly. "Huh."
Surscee raised an eyebrow.
"Nice to see the Great Value Red Sonja look isn't just an act," the Lady Lord of Hell said, turning and walking into the mist. "Magic, science, mysticism, technology, all the same to the ignorant." Her voice faded as she walked away.
Surscee watched the short woman walk away, then turned and went back to following the path.
She was startled to discover that the vending machines were not VI driven, but just mechanical with a few holograms.
One of the vending machines that normally dispensed energy drinks and fizzybrews was ripped open, like someone had hacked on it with a blade. Surscee noted that most of the Liquid Hate was gone.
She got a lemon-lime fizzypop and followed the softly glowing holographic line of the ground until she finally came to a small park.
She stopped at the playground, leaning against a cement post, and stared at it.
The swings moved slightly back and forth at the almost unfelt breeze that stirred the mist. Droplets of water ran down the slide. The swinging rings just rocked slightly in the air current. The seesaw and the spring horses, the jungle gym and the wooden playhouse all sat quietly, damp from the mist.
Surscee closed her eyes, cocking her head slightly, listening for any echoes of happiness gone by.
"I would bring them here to play, once I had soothed their trauma to where they could interact with one another, to the point they could do more than run and scream and claw at themselves," the voice of the gray eyed matron sounded behind Surscee.
The sorceress turned, seeing the darkly clothed matron standing under a tree, barely visible in the fog, lighting a cigarette.
"I recreated it in Hell, just for them. To let them be children again, to remember," her voice said. She took a drag off her cigarette and Surscee saw the stern planes of the smaller woman's face illuminated for a moment. When she exhaled smoke, Surscee could still see her gun-metal gray eyes.
"I set fallen angels to watch over the park with sword of burning sin and tridents of icy treachery," she said, then turned and walked into the mist.
Surscee frowned as the matron vanished into the mist.
She waited a moment, but the other woman was gone.
Surscee moved on, making no sign of effort as she brought up her defenses. Her fingernails twinkled slightly as the microscopic piezoelectric systems came online. The targeting reticles and the HUD elements appeared in her vision. She brought up the passive acoustic mapping and changed the hardness of the heels of her boots so that her boots clicked with each step.
The fog muffled the acoustic map slightly, the water droplets absorbing and redirecting sound, making the map fuzzy here and there.
She passed by a vending machine and smelled cigarette smoke. The onboard systems broke it down for her, putting it up in the tiny window beyond her left hand peripheral vision. No manufacturer signature, no trace elements from other worlds. Her onboards told her that it was Old Earth brand, the tobacco lacking any genetic engineering and the cigarette containing nothing but an asbestos filter, paper, and tobacco. No flavors, no genetic smoothing, no flavor enhancements. No record in the database she always carried loaded.
She frowned slightly.
"You are unmoved by human suffering, making you suitable for this task," a tired sounding man said from just past a set of benches. He was leaning against a fountain. He had shaggy cut dark hair, a simple pair of pants and shirt without decoration, and dark circles under his eyes.
Two steps and the figure vanished.
The echolocation acoustic mapping told her that there was a solid bipedal humaniod form there for a split second but it vanished just when she got in range of it.
Surscee followed the arc of the path, curiosity filling her.
She knew if the being that had manifested as a five meter tall demon with bat wings and a whip of burning warsteel links woven with barbed wire, or the short matron with the nasty steel knife, wanted to kill her, the being simply would.
Surscee was curious what the purpose of this was.
"Enemies never rest. That's why they're called the Enemy, you blithering morons. I swear, dealing with the two of you is like dealing with particularly naive and ignorant children who are shocked, shocked I tell you, that they can't ziptie a plastic bag around their head and dance in the middle of the Interstate during rush hour," the matron's voice was cruel and full of disdain. "Of course millions are dying, that's what happens when you act like atomic weapons are no more dangerous than sparklers."
Surscee didn't bother to look around, her onboard bioware systems letting her know that the point of origin for the voice kept moving and shifting.
A trivial trick with nanites and one she had used often to confuse and harry foes.
"Your weakness disgusts me," the woman's voice hissed from between two food vending machines. "If you spent less time crying and more time fixing the system you'd be done by now, you pathetic puling weakling."
Surscee smiled slightly.
The voice reminded Surscee of her mother mocking her lessers.
There was a small basket with berries and small fruits sitting on a bench and Surscee's smile got wider. She moved over and sat down, picking up the basket and setting it on her lap.
If the being wanted her dead, she would be dead, simple as that.
The berries were blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries. Clean, sweet and tart.
After a moment the matron came walking out of the fog, opening a breast pocket to remove a pack of cigarettes and a flint-steel lighter. The woman sat down, crossing her legs at the knee and smoothing her skirt. She then lit the cigarette, the flare of the lighter lighting her face with the warmth of the flame without making the face seem any warmer.
Surscee slowly chewed a blackberry as the cigarette was lit, puffed on, and the lighter clinked shut. The pack and the lighter went back into the top pocket, the matron's fingers nimbly buttoning up the pocket.
They sat there for a long moment.
"All of that power, all your knowledge and mastery of exotic and esoteric disciplines, and here you sit eating freshly picked berries and fruit," the matron said.
"I am a simple woman who enjoys simple pleasures," Surscee said, smiling.
"I could use someone like you on my team," the matron said, exhaling smoke. "Power, the will to dominate, the means to achieve the goals I set out for you."
"An enticing offer," Surscee said carefully. She picked up strawberry and bit off the tip, chewing slowly.
"With your brother as one of my Hell Knights, you would make an excellent Hell Storm," the matron said.
This time when she exhaled the smoke was tinged with a slight tang hot freshly spilled blood and a taint of brimstone.
"Acting as the agent of the Lady Lord of Hell herself," Surscee said. She picked up a black cherry and looked over it. "Empowered, strengthened, by the Lady Lord of Hell, to punish the wicked for their sins."
The matron nodded slowly.
"With you as the judge, myself as the jury, and my brother as the executioner," Surscee said, still smiling.
"At times," the matron said. She exhaled smoke and glared at the mist that surrounded them. "Do you know what sin mankind has fallen into?"
Surscee shook her head. "Pride, perhaps? My mother often spoke of sloth and gluttony, perhaps that?"
The matron shook her head. "No. Far far worse."
"I would hear your words, fearsome one," Surscee said, making sure her voice was respectful.
"An anecdote," the matron said. She sighed. "Later, in my life, as more and more people became enamored with being ethical, more for status than to be truly ethical, philosophers and those who called themselves ethecists began posing questions, providing answers, each of the seeking to be recognized as the pinnacle of ethics and morals that would guide humanity into a Golden Age."
"That smack of wickedness," Surscee said. "Of pride and arrogance."
The matron nodded. "One question, posed by academics to students, always enraged me. Asked by academics who had never traveled beyond their ivory towers or guarded enclaves, asked to pampered students who had spent their lives dwelling in luxuries beyond imagination to the people of my youth."
The matron reached down into the mist that covered her feet, lifting up a bottle of beer and popping the cap with a talon that immediately returned to a manicured nail.
"The question, put forth, involves a situation. I will explain it thusly: You are at a village in a war torn nation. A warlord arrives with his men, intending on killing the village. The reasons do not matter. However, the warlord makes you an offer, handing you a gun with a single bullet. Shoot one person, of your choice, and he will spare you and the survivors. Kill him, and his men will kill you, and allow the village to survive. Kill none, and he will order his men to kill all the villagers, man, woman, and child, but leave you to live," the matron said.
Surscee frowned. "A terrible choice."
The matron snorted. "The academics and ethical philosophers then asked their students: What is the most moral choice?" the matron looked at Surscee. "Care to make a guess?"
Surscee thought for a long moment. "Shoot one of his men. He did not say you had to kill a villager."
The matron laughed. "A choice fitting for a Great Value Red Sonja," she laughed. She shook her head. "But, you would be wrong. You see, you make the unethical choice to take a human life."
"Then what?" Surscee asked.
"To stand aside. That you do not make a choice. The philosophical correct answer was to stand aside, that the warlord and his men make their own decisions and it is not your responsibility nor your moral failing whatever they choose to do," the matron looked out at the mist, taking a swig of her beer. "Do nothing, let the trolley kill five, because for you to decide who lives and dies is unethical."
Surscee snorted. "Choosing to make no choice is a choice in and of itself. You should always seek to do the least harm and the greatest good."
The matron nodded.
"The cowardice disgusts me," the matron said. She took another swig of her beer and then a drag from her cigarette. She exhaled smoke tinged with blood and brimstone. "I need those who will not back down, who are willing to get in the mud and the blood and the beer to get the job done."
The matron held up a red apple. "Take the apple, accept my offer. Be my Hell Storm to your brother's Hell Knight."
"Your offer humbles me," Surscee said. "It does not matter if my brother took your offer, I am Oathsworn to Lady Nakteti the Traveler. My duty is clear, it lies with my sworn liege."
"But what of your duty to your people?" the matron asked. "What of your duty to humanity?"
"I represent humanity wherever I go. Shall my actions, my decisions, lead the people's of the galaxy to believe that humanity are oath breakers? That our word, our bond, our oath, carries no meaning other than to further our own aims and goals? That we will abandon them, no matter what oaths we swear?"
The matron was silent.
"I am tempted by your offer, but I must, respectfully, refuse," Surscee said.
"Very well," the matron said. She blew on her fingertips and the apple dissolved. She stood up, taking a moment to smooth her skirt and tug the cuffs of her sleeves.
"You would have made an excellent Hell Storm," the matron said, exhaling smoke.
When it cleared, she was gone.
Surscee closed her eyes and heaved a great breath.
"I have passed the test, I hope," she said softly.
Only the dripping of water in the mist answered her.
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The Defense Mechanisms Episode, Part I

So, the way that the Defense Mechanism are often presented rather exemplifies one of the things that often annoy me about enneagram literature, which is that you often just get shown a table or list of traits listed under each type without any real definition of what it is, elaboration on how it’s meant, or an explanation of the how and why or how it’s connected to everything else.
Maybe it’s a Ti vs Te thing?
In any case, just having a term thrown at you isn’t really helpful unless your goal is to win an argument by accusing the other person of doing it. Being able to recite what term goes with what number only gets you so far.
I would figure that the goal is to eventually be able to spot those mechanisms operating in yourself for greater self-awareness and whatnot, and for that I’d reckon that one needs a substantial, tangible idea of what’s meant by it so you can begin to connect and map your intellectual understanding of the process to your actual lived experience of your thoughts and emotions.
It’s one thing to read a description of a rose and another to see/smell/hear what goes with the words, and yet another to have the linkage of the two, spot the theoretical symmetries there should be in the petals in the actual flower and know what it means and how it connects to its history and makeup.
IDK, but as they say: If you’re complaining you’re just part of the problems and: If it doesn’t exist yet, you have to create it yourself.
So, you might be familiar with those listings of one defense mechanism per type, and have heard that it goes back to Naranjo – once in a while you could come across an author that has one of the swapped out or a longer, also unelaborated list.
In truth Naranjo didn’t actually assign a 1:1 correspondence but discussed multiple ones for each type (though they are often ultimately related in nature), and of course in the exty years since his day, numerous other authors have had a go at it & had arguments about it & whatnot (Lukovich, Condon, Rohr etc.) but often its just psychobabble words being thrown around and looks to an outsider like a theological argument of a religion they don’t believe in.
So, uh, let’s start with the basics.
What is a (Psychological) Defense Mechanism?
The basic idea goes back to Freud, who probably came up with it by observation, just from noticing seeming distortions or knots in the thinking of his clients.
In life, we can’t always get what we want, and we are sometimes confronted with facts that we don’t like.
What does a toddler do in such cases? They throw a tantrum.
Why do they throw a tantrum? Because they are experiencing distress. They want the thing and they can’t have it, or, they’re upset about what they’ve been told. They don’t like it. It’s experienced as aversive and dysphoric. Do Not Want.
Why is an adult different?
Because an adult has a more mature ego, a pattern according to which to filter, sort, interpret & deal with their experience, to reconcile both their animal drives and social expectations/ideals with a reality that sometimes won’t give them that and hence triggers distress.
You can’t cry, kick and scream every time you don’t get what you want – it doesn’t help you get it, and it will probably get you scolded.
Having a way to make sense of or cushion the negative experience, to mitigate the distress, is crucial to being able to cope with adversity, mitigate distress, regulate the self and act in some self-directed goal-oriented manner as an emergent independent entity rather than just reacting to whatever stimulus comes along.
This is why defense mechanisms are a part of the ego (means of self-organization) and characteristic of which ‘flavor’ of ego you have: They are a part of the mechanism of how it is maintained, how you don’t mechanically do or accept whatever someone else tells you but have some mechanism for rejecting some suggestions, ideas and criticisms but act as an independent entity with consistent behavior.
So one takeaway here is that using a defense mechanism doesn’t immediately mean you’re in denial about or refusing to face something or “refusing reality” – what is reality even, or ‘right and wrong’? How would you know it when you see it? ‘Self deception’? Based on which “truth”?
Some things are relatively clear like the earth being round but many don’t have a correct answer like which opinion is correct on some complex argument.
Resisting something doesn’t mean that it’s secretly true and you’re just in denial. If I go to you & say ‘youre a fucking idiot’ you are not going to like that regardless of your actual idiocy because it’s a hostile action & humans are wired to dislike this. It’s an attack on your feelings & self-image.
Even if you shrug it off totally, that is because some process happened to dismiss it & protect you from feeling pain.
A small child would be hurt if you’re randomly mean to them; You, an adult, can dismiss it because you have defenses. They are a part of self-control – particularly when you consider that they don’t just ”defend” against outside imput but also unwanted thoughts & feelings from within.
Maybe you want to throw a tantrum and hit me if I say youre an idiot & point & laugh at you, but, punching me might bring consequences you don’t want, or it doesn’t fit your self-image.
So you must diffuse this urge to punch somehow, or else Mommy is gonna punish you for being mean to your siblings.
Another, third function that defense mechanisms can serve (besides defending against unpleasant input and controlling yourself) is to justify yourself to others. If your tell your mom you should get the toy instead of your sibling because you want to she probably won’t accept it. So you need to come up with a reason. Your parents are already using rteasons to tell you why you should do what they tell you to do, so eventually the child copies them, taking in those justifications and beginning to form their own superego.
You might internalize that fairness is important so when your sister had her turn with the toy you will insist that its now your turn, because of fairness.
Again it’s important not to look at this as deliberate trickery or “secret true intentions”, but rather the nuts & bolts of the machinery that produce your very real, very sincere subjective experience.
In the “fairness” example with the toy, the child isn’t deliberately using fairness as a pretext to get the toy, they really believe in fairness. (though claiming to believe in fairness when you dont and justifying this to yourself might be another, different strategy)
But let's assume the genuine belief for now: The black box machine of the ego takes ‘wanting the toy’ and ‘social belief in fairness’ as imputs and produces the subjective experience of believing in / arguing about fairness.
Causes (when you look at a person like a complex machine of biology) are different from intentions. (the personal experience of feelings & wants)
You evolved to crave sweet food because it is full of energy, but you don’t think “Oh, sugary food, gotta get that energy!” you eat it cause its tasty & makes you feel good.
You explicitly aren’t consciously calculating about the energy, or you would stop wanting sweets when you consumed enough calories for the day.
Under the hood in your body there is a regulatory network going on, signals between your brain & liver etc. but that’s a blind process with no conscious will ‘keeping track’.
Thinking of subconscious mechanisms as ‘secret intentions’ is not only incorrect, it lacks validity as, if its by definition a secret intention from yourself, anyone could claim that you ‘secretly want’ anything as long as they could come up with a semi plausible ‘just so story’ for your behavior.
It also leads to a startling lack of empathy or invalidation of ppl’s subjective struggles & suffering of the ‘the wife totally wants to be beaten’ variety.
So it’s better to think of it as consistent patterns of emotions and reactions that have a cause in the “machinery” of your mind. Your conscious experience is what’s on the desktop & the defense mechanisms are like the guts of the computer.
However, while keeping in mind not to see it as an invalidation of your subjective experience, it is of great usefulness to know how the machine works under the hood, however, because what your ego & its defense mechanisms certainly are doing is dismissing or filtering out unwelcome information and possibly suppressing, deprioritizing or distinctly coloring aspects of inner or outer reality -
and this goes doubly if you don’t realize they are operating and don’t even know that you rejected an idea.
It creates “unknown unknowns”, things you don’t know you filtered out. For example someone might argue based on ‘fairness’ but be unaware how their own wants might be influencing them.
Also, the interpretation of the world that your ego is creating may be more or less sustainable, more or less congruent.
For example, if you believe that you are totally fine & okay after the death of a loved one but are constantly confronted with things that remind you of them, which triggers an emotion of grief, you have to expend energy to filter out the grief, trying hard not to think of it is still focussing it & might still ‘reinforce it’ so it doesn’t lead to the desired outcome.
The incongruence you experience between ‘Im ok’ and the experience of grief is going to cause more distress in the long-term than it averts.
Or you might believe you’re always right & never wrong, but then what do you do if stuff explodes in your face or people do not validate that self-image? You can rationalize it away but you have to expend energy to do it, and you won’t really get what you want if that involved the other people liking you.
In both cases, you move closer to being like the toddler rather than the 'mature adult' in the first example (less able to deal with distress, get what you want & so on), though it might be due to too much or too rigid interpretation of what you see rather than its absence this time. Either way an overly rigid, low congruence ego doesn't do its job very well.
So I hope that by now it’s clear that it’s a bit nonsensical when you see ppl try and type themselves by saying which defense mechanism they “relate to”, as there is a very good chance they don’t know it’s happening. It’s rather part of what you want to learn from finding your type so you know what to look for.
Some people might know already – if they’re very introspective, previously did work in therapy, had others point it out, learned from bitter experience etc.
This information is observable, how else would the people who came up with it have figured it out?
But as Dunning Krüger is a thing, it’s very dangerous to start out assuming right out the gate that you’re in the more enlightened 20%. You might be, its totally possible, but don’t bet on it.
Find your type by other means and then you’ll see how much of it you were already aware of or not.
After all, even if you are very aware of your inner processes themselves, you could be wrong about what psychobabble word it best maps to.
The Role Of The Primary Defense Mechanisms
Another thing to realize is the difference between any ol’ defense mechanism or psychological process, and the ones that have a special role in maintaining your ego.
We all use lots & lots of them cause our brains are roughly similar. Even for the most unique person it’s a pink fatty jelly thing with lotsa wrinkles, right?
6s aren’t the only ones who project things, that is, explain other’s actions through disowned thoughts & motivations that we have labelled as not-self. Condon talks a lot about how for many types it’s related to the lines of connection. (which are, after all, qualities & parts of the human experience that can be blocked or labelled not-self)
4s aren’t the only ones who introject things – 6s for example tend to have strong mental impressions of powerful figures in their life.
3s aren’t the only ones that identify with things or try to keep congruency with a desirable self-image.
But it has a special role for them.
Take projection.
Most people can be liable to projection when they’re wondering about the intentions or motives of someone they don’t understand. It baffles you, & you want an explanation, and in trying to come up with one you more easily think of explanations that, in some way, seem “natural” to you.
Now what’s so special about 6? They are very concerned with people’s intentions.
It’s one of the main features of their attention pattern: What are they thinking?
You can tell a song was probably written by a 6 (or someone with a strong 6 component) if they’re telling the love interest what they are probably thinking. Or the authority figure or ex they’re mad at.
Are they gonna take advantage of you? Are they going to abandon you? Very salient information if you wish to be prepared for whatever might happen.
So it’s rather easy for projection to sneak in if you’re thinking about other people’s intentions all the time. Tempting, too, since it ‘defends’ you both from the chaos/uncertainty of not knowing what the person can do, and by relieving the distress of self-doubt. (“I’m not aggro, they’re aggro!”)
And hey, sometimes it actually works! They are a human just like you, so they might well have inner mechanics similar to yours! But not always.
So it makes a difference is you know what you’re doing. Without self-awareness you might take that perception as fact: This is definitely totally 100% their motivation. They can’t fool you!
Or you might be aware that it’s a perception: “This might be their motivation, or maybe I am thinking it for a reason that comes from me. Let’s look closer & see which one it is.”
The “Obvious Temptation”
In the literature you often see the types explained in 2 ways, one beginning from the weakness or deficiency – that you start with your fear & then compensate with your desire to make up for it, framing all as being just illusory cope for our wretchedness etc. whereas others (incidentally, often frustration types) start from the inspiring vision of the ‘essential aspect’ and so on & how you lose you way chasing after that ideal.
But in the end it’s sort of a chicken & egg situation because whether you start from coping for weakness or the corruption of a strength, there is going to be a self-sustaining loop.
Because, if you ever find yourself strapped for copium you are likely going to end up going for a method that is easy for you to do, leaning on what strengths you have (not a strength as in anything exceptional, but just the best one you have)
Conversely, if you start relying on a skill for psychological “survival” that’s one heck of a motivation to practice.
So did our baby 7 get good at seeing silver linings or talking their way out of tricky situations as a way to soften the blow on harsh situations, or are they more tempted to explain away their problems because they are so good at seeing multiple options or talking their way out of difficult situations?
Is there even a hard objective distinction between a genuine silver lining and a fake one?
There are probably similar emotions involved, its the same basic mechanism – it’s all the same strategy that sometimes works & sometimes doesn’t, uncomfortable as it may be that ppl we find admirable and ppl that we really really disapprove of may actually be functioning on fairly similar basic premises.
This isn’t to say that the existence of a grey zone is an excuse not to be honest with oneself when you know in your heart the primary motivation behind what you’re currently doing is to make the ouch go away, but rather to illustrate that it isn’t always obvious.
It’s not so simple as to say “ah, those 2s don’t actually care about helping ppl it’s all just an evil trick”, “Those 1s don’t actually care about justice its all hypocrisy” or indeed “those 5s don’t actually care about understanding the world its just for cope”. In a way, it would be easier if that was that case cause then it’s all black & white.
I don’t think it’s all just cope, if only because doing those things actually does simply feel intrinsically satisfying.
The types are also programs of ‘this feels rewarding, this makes me feel good about myself, this other thing makes me feel not so good’ which also comes down to survival reasons at the causal level but as we said before, causes and subjective intentions are different.
I would still want all the nerd facts even if I had zero problems or insecurities whatsoever to “defend from”, if not for any noble high-minded talk of values then simply because reading & theorizing is fun and other things aren’t.
But the temptation is naturally there, that, if I’m going to be preoccupied with or analyzing stuff anyways, that it might serve as a nifty convenient excuse to be conveniently preoccupied, focussed on something else or have a “buffer” of mental distancing going on when I feel like avoiding a challenging situation.
I’m not tempted to use the flavor of cope that a 2 or 9 might not because I’m too good & pure & wholesome for it but simply cause I lack the necessary skills and/or temperament to get away with it. Anticipate what they need & what their feelings are? How? Just don’t think about it too much and enjoy this ice cream? Easier said than done. Look on the bright side? Ah, but every silver lining is but evidence of a dark cloud.
And analogous for the other types.
Confused Intuitions
Which brings us to another great reason why learning to spot your defense mechanisms at work is really useful. It’s a way to “clean your lens”.
Remember when they thought there were canals on Mars because the astronomer had actually seen the shadows of the blood vessels in his own eyeball?
That’s what happens if you can’t separate what comes from you & what comes from someone else.
Note that the issue is not that the blood vessels exist, but that the guy thought that they are on Mars.
Seeing the blood vessels could have been a worthwhile observation in & of itself – they are not simply in the way, they are info about the human eye.
The human eye isn’t “bad” but if we don’t account for it being there, we won’t get an accurate picture of Mars.
In the end there is no way to completely do away with subjectivity because any perception involves interpreting and labelling. But if you look around you there are obviously people who are more discerning than others and being in that category sure sounds like the preferable, more dignified option.
Your go-to defense mechanisms are potentially interfering with your greatest strength, the most practiced parts of your discerment that you tend to trust. So they lead you to be wrong in an area that matters to you & get in the way of you using your intuition/strength to its greatest effect because there’s all this icky bias gunk on your “lens”.
Or well, it presently acts as icky bias gunk but it could instead be valuable insight about yourself, important information that could help you make well-informed decisions that feel congruent and make you happy.
For example, say you’re a 2. You’re pretty confident in & proud of your ability to know others’ feelings & what will make them happy. It’s important to you. But what if some repressed desire or fear of yours is interfering with what, and rather than really seeing ‘whats best for them’ you’re seeing what you want to be best for them so that they will need you.
If you act like it’s the person’s real need, the worst case is that they could end up thinking you’re a self-absorbed narc who doesn’t care about their feelings. Not what you want at all, right? Whereas if you learn to realize when it’s your own repressed desire at work you not only get a better understanding of other’s feelings that isn’t clouded by bias, you also learn what your desire is. You can now do something with that information. There is probably a better way to grant the desire than to tell them what you want their feelings to be.
Of course, the elephant in the room, and the reason why people don’t just do it if it’s so great, is that the reason you yeeted that desire out of consciousness to begin with is that it once provoked distress and/or felt incongruent with your conscious self.
In the above example with the 2, the person might be afraid that it’s ‘bad’ or ‘selfish’, or that it will expose them to being powerless (cause the request to have the desire granted might be denied)
There was some pain, threat or incongruence involved that now hangs as an ‘or else’ over the prospect of admitting that fact into consciousness.
You might be afraid that, if you admit the feeling or desire, it will mean something about yourself, or that it means you’ll have to act on it and do something that is contrary to what you consciously want or aspire to (maybe that one fear’s a competency triad thing?)
But actually that’s not true! Acknowledging it doesn’t mean you have to change how you think about it, that you have to act based on it, or that you’re “bad”, it’s just a feeling.
You can acknowledge it & be aware of it without doing something.
You might decide to do something in the light of all the information (for example, maybe you can think of a way to grant a desire without compromising your values?), but before you eve consider that, let it sink in that no one’s gonna make you.
Indeed, just acknowledging the feeling, letting it be heard, may lead it to resolve & dissipate.
Although, if this leads you to realize that there is something that’s repeatedly touching you off and causing the distressing emotion to reappear, you might want to feature that in into calculations as to which courses of actions are realistically sustainable or conducive to happiness.
Even if you choose that your feelings don’t matter on this account you’ll at least make an informed decision & not be blindsided by it. And maybe there’s some comfort/outlet you can find.
It’s against my principles to ring the bell for humiliation o’clock without going first, so I’ll confess that there’s times that I probed & introspected & felt into something & like Did Techniques (thanks to the person who recommended that Gedlin Focussing thing), and the result I got is that… [tw: barf cringe blegh] sometimes… somewhere… there’s a teeny tiny part of me… that kinda sorta wants to cry and whine and get held & comforted and have somebody come in and sweep aaall those pressing, overwhelming problems away & take care of it for me.
Consciously I don’t want this – at all.
It’s not in the least compatible with my values, will & life-plans.
If ppl ask me if they can help with it I tell them no.
I would vehemently reject it, protest against it, even fear it.
Even fear it to an irrational degree. Which is silly & distressing on its own, but it’s a silly distress that I apparently allow into consciousness no problem because it’s not a threat.
Because it’s quite congruent with my belief/understanding that the problem in question isn’t something anyone can help me with. It’s up to me and I’ve arranged it so that it’s up to me because I’d rather it’s up to me than any of the alternatives.
But ‘snot like my inner mammal gets that. It doesn’t understand the logical reasons – of course not, its like a tiny mammal. Might as well imagine one of those tiny Lemurs with big googly eyes 🥺
It’s pre-verbal. That’s probably the no-bullshit way to say it. Monke no speak English.
Also, is the sky gonna fall if I go hug a plushie, or a family member? Or if I maybe casually mention this to a living soul?
Nope.
I have this option available, right? That’s something to be grateful for, not everyone has those.
It is gonna solve the problem? The one that I’ve intellectually ruled unsolvable? No.
But it might just solve the feeling, cause my inner mammal is really quite dumb & doesn’t understand the intellectual complexities of the problem anyway… It just feels houded, right? But you know what it does understand?
Hugs.
Also, none of yall know where I live so its not like you can come after me. xDDD
Sooo… in the interest of self-awareness and self-transparency, it might be worth asking yourself...
​

1. Is this really the best way to do this, or is it a justification for doing it your way?
2. Is that the other person’s feeling, or is it your desire?
3. Is this what you really feel, or what you think a smart/sucessful/dominant/[insert desirable trait] person would feel in your place?
4. Is that a deep insight about your life, or does what just happened actually have nothing to do with you personally?
5. Do you really not want or care about this thing, or are you scared of what might happen if you did? Is it really settled what is going to happen, or are you avoiding action?
6. Is that really the other person’s intention, or is it your fear of what their intention could be?
7. Is that a real solution, or are you explaining the problem away?
8. Does it really not hurt, or are you blocking out the pain?
9. Are you really fine & content with things as they are, or are you giving up?

Sometimes the answer will, in fact, be the first half!
Don’t fall for masochistic ontology. The truth may hurt but not everything that would hurt if it were true is the truth.
Constantly assuming the worst of yourself isn’t gonna help either. Indeed that’s probably some kinda misfiring defense itself, punish yourself first before others have the chance to keep a sense of control, maybe?
Rather, when you catch yourself doing the thing, use your defense powers for good & frame it in a way you can live with. Like you might see it as feedback or information, as a sign to know to improve yourself, as an invitation to apply self-compassion.
Maybe it helps to think of it as an ‘inner child’ or ‘inner animal’ or some such concept.
Would you be mad at a child or a pet for wanting something silly, or avoiding something painful?
No, you’d direct them towards a healthier outlet wouldn’t you?
Or at least, if it’s really not feasible, you’d comfort them about it.
So yeah.
(So the ‘preliminal explanations’ turned into an essay. But, I did promise “what the individual mechanisms actually mean”, “how to actually spot them” and “putting together the Best Of from the authors”, and that I plan to deliver in Part II without any further ramblings. But first I have to ‘recharge my imagination battery’, as a wise sponge once put it, that is, get some sleep.)

Previously on Hell’s Kitchen…
The final 10 participated in a game of craps, and it would be Natalie’s dish, that scored yet another win for the blue team, but just barely. At dinner service, things got chaotic with Dante’s raw ribeye, followed by miscommunication from Natalie, for causing a small fire, burning her fish. Over on the red team, Claire and Matt had issues of their own on the meat station, with raw ribeye, as well as undercooked and overcooked fish. Which made matters worse was that Claire used a thermometer to check the meat. Neither team did a great impression, and the red team nominated Matt and Claire, while the blue team nominated Dante and Natalie, but ultimately it was Claire that said goodbye to her dream of becoming Head Chef at the Hell’s Kitchen restaraunt in Glasgow. And now, the continuation of Hell’s Kitchen.
Intro
As both teams went back to the dorms, Ramsay urged them to come back strong. Dante thought the blue team held a grudge against him, but he did not care as their performances were superior to his. Larissa was concerned about the blue team’s fate at the patio as she did not want any more drama. Caleb chimed in that he was not the source of the drama but said it was Dante causing it. While the blue team waited for Dante to come to the patio to join them, Dante decided to take a break from his team, and rest in the bedroom. Larissa saw that the blue team’s performance was going on a high horse, and felt that Dante would go, and make them strong next service.
Challenge
The following day, the dining room was set up with a wrestling match between Chef Ramsay, and Marino. Dante was too thrilled about the wrestling match, as he wanted to join, as he used to wrestle back in the day. Most of the chefs were surprised of watching the wrestling match, especially, Jeff, and felt that Marino would not be comfortable to wrestle, and neither could chef Ramsay. Michelle found it a good experience to watch, and rooted for Chef Ramsay, and felt that he could be a pro at wrestling, and cooking. As the match was called, a scoring sign shown saying “Blind Taste Test” as the next challenge, exciting many of the chefs, especially Hope, as she was a fan favourite. Chef Ramsay announced that each chef will be blindfolded, with wearing earphones, and then tasting and guessing what they just ate. The team with the most points wins the challenge. And because the blue team had an extra person, they had to sit someone out. They agreed on sitting out Dante, as many of the chefs found his palate to be the weakest. Chef Ramsay also announced that he was bringing curry blasters as their consequences. He then announced if their chef got 2 wrong, they get blasted with Rice. If they get 3 wrong, they get blasted with chicken, and if they get them all wrong, they will get blasted with curry sauce. This made Natalie look nervous as she had perfect hair, and didn’t want to get it ruined. Although Dante was excited to not get blasted, he was upset he didn’t participate in the challenge.
Scoring
1st Round >> Natalie vs. Ty (Larissa and Michelle sitting in blaster chairs)
>>Turkey<<
Natalie - Chicken
Ty- Chicken
>>Sour Cream<<
Natalie - Sour Cream
Ty - Greek Yogurt (Michelle gets hit with rice)
>>Mango<<
Natalie - Peach (Larissa gets hit with rice)
Ty - Cantaloupe (Michelle gets hit with chicken)
>>Cashews<<
Natalie - Almonds (Larissa gets hit with chicken)
Ty - Peanuts (Michelle gets curry sauce dumped)
The score is 1 - 0, blue team in the lead.
2nd Round >> Hope vs. Caleb (Natalie and Ty sitting in Blaster chairs)
>>Prunes<<
Hope - Plums
Caleb - Pears
>>Clams<<
Hope - Muscles (Ty gets hit with rice)
Caleb - Shrimp (Natalie gets hit with rice)
>>Cheddar Cheese<<
Hope - Cheddar Cheese
Caleb - Cheddar Cheese
>>Mushroom<<
Hope - Mushrooms
Caleb - Mushrooms
Score is 3 - 2. Blue team up by 1
3rd Round>> Jeff vs. Matt (Hope and Caleb sitting in Blaster chairs)
>>Red beans<<
Jeff - black beans
Matt - kidney beans
>>Coconut<<
Jeff - coconut
Matt - potato (Hope gets hit with rice)
>>Chick Peas<<
Jeff - Peas (Caleb gets hit with rice)
Matt - Figs (Hope gets hit with chicken)
>>Lobster<<
Jeff - Crab (Caleb gets hit with chicken)
Matt - Scallops (Hope gets curry sauce dumped)
The score is 4 - 2. Blue team up by 2.
4th Round>> Larissa vs. Michelle (Jeff and Matt sitting in blasted chairs)
>>Filet Mignon<<
Larissa - ribeye
Michelle - filet Mignon
>>Beets<<
Larissa - kiwi (Jeff gets hit with rice)
Michelle - papaya
>>Potato<<
Larissa - potato
Michelle - potato
>>Strawberries<<
Larissa - strawberries
Michelle - strawberries
The blue team wins the challenge 6 - 5.
Reward
Chef Ramsay congratulates the blue team on winning their 4th straight challenge, and declares that they were one of the unstoppable blue teams in Hell’s Kitchen history. For their reward, they will be flying to Costa Rica. They will be heading to the Arenal Volcano, where they will take a dip in the thermal waters, and then enjoy a massage. After that, they will enjoy lunch with a view of the volcano. Natalie said it would be an amazing reward, as she liked a massage.
As the blue team arrive at the waterfall, Jeff said that it was very fun for the blue team to get out, and take a splash in the Costa Rican water, and then get a massage. Natalie mentioned that a massage makes her day, while Caleb called it a relaxing tension. Caleb enjoyed beautiful Costa Rica and he wished he could be there the whole time. However, Dante had trouble enjoying the reward, as his team cut him from the blind taste test challenge. While they were enjoying their lunch, the blue team excluding Dante, had a chance to make the black jackets, and then Jeff and Caleb formed an alliance of themselves making the final 2.
Punishment
While the blue team head off to Sunny Costa Rica, the red team are going to be stuck together, because they will be cleaning up the mess they made during the Blind Taste Test. chef Ramsay also expects that dining area to be spotless, as he was opening up for Dinner Service. Ty was disappointed, as he missed the opportunity to go swimming in a waterfall, and that he had to clean up a curry terrorized dining room. As the red team starting cleaning, Michelle said that it would be nice to see a volcano, as she never seen one, and felt that she shouldn’t have used her punishment pass on the London reward. While cleaning, Chef Meghan tells the chefs to take a break as she prepared food for them. On the table was an arrangement of offal, which disgusted Hope, as she vomited. Ty also almost threw up, but knew it was a punishment, and if he took the loss, he would pay the price that came with it. Matt also got annoyed by Hope throwing up, and felt that the team needed her during dinner service.
Before-service
Later that evening, both teams were ready for service. Ramsay told the blue team that they were responsible for their own station while telling the red team to shine as individuals as they worked together. Chef Ramsay also expected a good service, and wanted both teams to work together. Then, Ramsay asked Marino to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner Service
As the blue team began appetizers, Jeff led the order as he knew they had to get through their internal problems. Jeff wanted it done and got his scallops accepted. The blue team worked on their first order. In the red kitchen, Hope served a bland carbonara, leaving Sous Chef Meghan to come to appetizers and gave her a reminder. Ramsay told Hope that he needed a rich carbonara while Ty did not want a horrible start. Hope got her refire accepted.
As appetizers left both kitchens, Ramsay began firing entrées in the blue kitchen. Dante knew that he received one last chance to bounce back, and he refused to let Ramsay down. Still, Natalie compared Dante as one of their sloppiest members and feared that her performance on garnish could back them up. While Jeff and Natalie got their proteins accepted, Ramsay was waiting on Dante’s garnishes. However, Dante cooked the wrong garnishes, and he was berated for the salmon garnish and forced to cook the wellington garnish. Ramsay reminded the blue team that it was their first order and was confused about how Dante worked on firing the salmon garnish instead of the wellington. Dante admitted to his mistake. In the red kitchen, Michelle got her wellington accepted, but Matt was slow on the garnish. Then, Matt forgot the mashed garnish to go with the order, making Michelle deem him disorganized and a hot mess. Ty chided Matt for being a turtle with the garnish, but the latter got it accepted. In the blue kitchen, Dante got the couscous accepted, and blue diners enjoyed their entrées. On their next order, Dante was determined to bounce back and denied Jeff’s assistance. Still, Caleb feared they would be scrambled if Dante did not keep up. Dante sent up over portioned garnish for the lamb as he thought it was two instead of one. Ramsay brought Dante and Caleb to the pass and asked them for their cooperation. Dante admitted that it was 1000% his fault he sent up over portioned garnishes as Ramsay was confused by the major mistakes.
One and a half hours into dinner service, the red team worked on the chef’s table as Ramsay informed them about the latter’s show. While most of the red team worked hard, Hope called out the wrong order. Seeing that, Ramsay took Hope to the pantry room for a one-on-one talk. Ramsay did not know what was wrong with Hope as one of the most talented and accurate chef in the red team was not calling the right order. Ramsay told Hope that he needed more vigor from her before warning her over an ejection. Inspired by Ramsay’s comment, Hope said he wanted it and knew the former wanted more from her. Refusing to let that day define her, Hope went back to the kitchen and started communicating with the red team. Michelle rose as the leader for the red team and got her New York strip loin accepted with Ty’s halibut accepted not long after. The red chef table received their order, and both teams hustled to get all their entrées out. No other mistakes were made as the customers enjoyed their entrées. As the red team cleared down, Ramsay praised Ty and Michelle for their spot-on performances.
Post mortem
After both teams lined up, Ramsay deemed it a solid service from both teams. Still, he reminded them that he wanted people to start popping out more as they moved forward in the competition. Ramsay said two did, praising Michelle for leading the red team to success thanks to her vocalness and sounding like a leader. Then, Ramsay turned to Jeff and praised him for his immaculate wellingtons. Both were named “Best of the Best,” and they were asked to name one person from their teams for elimination.
During deliberation, Michelle told Ty that the only two people he was considering were Hope and Matt. Michelle saw that Hope was not vocal that night, and didn’t have the right calls and felt that Matt was not ready for the Head Chef position. Ty considered Hope due to her lack of effort that night but reminded Michelle that it was her decision at the end of the day. Meanwhile, Jeff told Natalie that she and Larissa were not at risk of being nominated thanks to their performance on appetizers. Jeff knew Dante was his nominee and told the women that. In the red bedroom, Michelle and Matt chatted about the latter’s disorganization. Matt said that he might have a few mistakes, but felt that he could do a lot more, but he was nervous that Michelle could nominate him. Back at the blue bedroom, Jeff told Caleb that he was nominating Dante as she knew Ramsay did not want a sloppily clumsy person as his protégée. When Jeff spoke with Dante, he reminded the latter how he struggled on garnish. Dante tried to argue he did not know they could fire garnishes at the same time, but Jeff called it an out of time excuse. Meanwhile, Hope told Michelle to weigh her options carefully as she wanted her to think about the team. Still, Hope was ready to fight for her life, while Michelle admitted Hope was a strong but memory loss chef. Michelle struggled to make her decision.
Elimination
Michelle announced Hope as the red team’s nominee, while Jeff announced Dante as the blue team’s nominee. During their pleas, Hope said that she was not done with her dreams, and she was still running for the opportunity to become a Head Chef at a restaurant in Glasgow, and felt that she had the composure to be his head chef, while Dante said that his team might have given up on him, but he wasn’t ready to go yet, and also asked if he can join the red team, as he trusted them more. In the end, Chef Ramsay eliminated Dante for his cluelessness, lack of support, and miscommunication on garnish. During his exit interview, Dante was disappointed about not making it further into the competition, as he was ready for a black jacket, and felt that it was his team’s fault for backing him up.
As Dante left, Chef Ramsay told Hope that she was lucky to dodge her first bullet. Hope said that there was still nothing in her way, and she wasn’t ready to leave yet. As the teams left. Michelle said that the blue team may have been backstabbed, but their performances just gets worse, and felt that the red team could have a chance. Jeff said that there are no excuses made during service, and thinks that the blue team can work a lot more powerful, and thinks he had the guts to stay in the competition, while Caleb said that there were only 8 chefs left in the competition, and he was ready to get his game face on.
Ramsay’s comment: “After watching Dante cooking the wrong garnish. His team dropped the bag, and after many major change, his chance was shot”
18th: Camilo (Individual Challenge)
17th: Derek
16th: Josh
15th: Trish
14th: Rosemary
13th: Kristian
12th: Jamila
11th: Ashley
10th: Claire
9th: Dante

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“One of the cornerstones of understanding the nature of Nieth and Hebeen is understanding their strange religion, or religions, as the case may be. In that previous phrase, we touch upon the issue at question. Does Nieth even have a religion, as we, the followers of the Lost, blessed be them, would understand it? Already, the initial impression is strange - rather than worshipping a pantheon of gods, as is wide-spread throughout the continent, they worship one, yet all.
It might help to touch upon some relevant history, as well as some examples to illustrate the roots of such a foreign concept.
Nieth, as far as we can seek, has its roots in a nomadic peoples that travelled the great desert that wraps around its northern half. These were unlike the brutish and savage people of our own northern flood plains, more like the mystical but lowly Vieatta from the mountains past them. Still, it was enough for them to carry on the advanced and civil arts of poetry and music.
It’s within those that they encoded much of their history from early days, although without the advent of writing which other societies wisely use, some of it was subject to mythologization. Regardless, life by all accounts was strenuous out on the sands, and the sacred was pushed aside for the practical. From the practical needs of water and shade there appeared to arise a new religion, one that enfolded all primitive others within its arms as emanation of ‘Embass Aliyah’, or ‘The One and Truth’.
This may provide some illumination to the reader who may have heard of Nieth’s ‘acceptance’ of our Faith.
Within this one, unifying principle, people gravitated to the Oasis of Nieth, which was a popular way station for trade and rest. Many of the historians I have engaged suggest that the principle of ‘The One’ was a major factor in the formation Nieth as a societal centre, as well as the establishment of the Nine Princely Families. The fact that the scions of the Nine Families that I’ve had the fortune to interview claim vastly different patrons between them supports this.
The current ‘landscape’ as it were, for the religion of Neith is roughly as follows:
Perhaps one in five are adherents of our own Faith. Most, that is to say, three in five, worship the traditional, normal pantheon of Nieth, which is also the religion of the ruling prince. In addition, the sisterhood who administer Hebeen, the city of children, are drawn from this majority faith. More details on the various gods and their descriptions is enclosed in the following chapter. The remaining are split between various small and often foreign denominations, including some faiths from the First Lands.
Of these, there are two that bear special mention. The first is the actual seat of the ‘pure’ faith of ‘The One and Truth. It is a relatively small, if quite beautiful temple in the Seat of the Nine. The high priest (‘teacher-guide’ as he refers to himself) was gregarious and pleased to answer my various questions through a translator. Despite being the nominal religion of Nieth, its principles underlying the whole of the society, its actual numbers of worshippers are small. A potential reason for this is the second faith of note.
This is a separate derivation of the principles of ‘The One’ and seemingly the older of the two. It is the principal faith of the various nomadic peoples that wander the Plague Dunes of Nieth. As their account goes, the principle of ‘The One’ was revealed to the forebears of the Nine Families out in the northern deserts. The families had planted and grown an oil-bush to an impossible size (presumably why it is referred to as a tree in oral retellings), often feeding it with cruel blood sacrifices from other enemy tribes.
One night, either nine generations, nineteen, or ninety nine, depending on which account you receive, the oil tree burned. For those that know anything about oil bush, they will know it burns with a fearsome light due to the eponymous liquids within. In this case, such was the magnitude of the tree and blaze that the volatile oils exploded outwards. The founders of the Nine Families, who held council around the tree when camped in the locale, were covered in the oils.
This crude anointment, while horribly disfiguring them all, supposedly imparted revelation to them about the nature of ‘The One’. As such, the faith of ‘The One’ is strongly rooted in the depths of the desert, and many of its more zealous adherents are to be found out among the dunes, navigating the toxic and dangerous environs using methods not understood even among the Neith city-dwellers.
Hence, most of the faithful of ‘Embass Aliyah’ leave Nieth and its surrounding fiefs to live with the nomads from which their faith originated. While the high priest does not concede the idea that ‘The One’ would have a special connection to the desert, for it exists everywhere equally, he considers it understandable for people desiring to live the savage life of their ancestors. Even so, one can observe the imprint the desert has left upon the primitive church, the icon of the oil tree being central to their architecture and symbolism.
To illustrate the devouring nature of this faith, one can examine one of the most famous events in the history of Nieth, which led to the founding of its sister-city Hebeen. For those that take such an interest in the regions of the south, you might quickly realise that one of the title gods of the majority faith shares the same name as a Karkosian deity -‘Viethustra, The Bloody Handed God’.
By all accounts as brutal as he is cunning, he is also the god that provides for the administration of justice. Though all of these gods are of course false as we understand them, one can find an interesting parallel with the origins of Nieth as a society. An astounding number of original texts survive from those haydays, often reflective accounts of the events by those who lived them.
Supposedly this adoption into the widely recognized pantheon traces to the great conflagration that consumed Nieth some four hundred years ago. This destruction particularly devastated the child population of the city. The reigning prince, after the fires had been quenched, ordered the formation of Hebeen, the city of children. Thereafter, almost all children of Neith of age are sent to cross the Aderhajj mountains, and come out into a place where they live and play together, under the watchful eyes of servants of Viethustra and the Dusky Sister.
Another example, far more contemporary, is that of the Yumyaq, the nightly processions of songs, hymns and poetry recitations. The overall effect is hardly like the organised harmonies of our own choirs, and often subject and song clash in the air of cities. However, it is the general belief that such a task is essential for the preservation of Embass Aliyah. It may be universal, but its claimed emanations, which is to say, every religious being in the world, are bound to locations.
So, this discordant din is, in a sense, a spiritual beacon, for the gods to return home, over the land and sea to Nieth. It is perhaps better explained by the high priest of Embass Aliyah, who suggests that it is more of a reminder. Namely, a reminder that the gods all exist within the embrace of Embass Aliyah, and that they will always be worshipped in Nieth.
Out of all the strangest tenets of the faiths of Nieth, this is perhaps the most offensive to those learned. Not only would it implicitly suggest that they have solved the most important theological question of the Lost Ones (i.e. ‘where they were lost’), but also the term ‘Yumyaq’ (‘Of gods’ or ‘godly’ depending on usage) is questionable in itself.
Indeed, the derivation of the term, as far as I can trace it, is actually a title given to the city itself.
‘Yumyaq Al-Nieth’. Or, to translate the crude language, ‘The Watering’ or ‘Resting Place of the Gods’.
​
An Account of Nieth and Its Civilization
Except from Chapter 4: Faith and Religion
Brother Amelius Jacobino, Eps., Brotherhood of The Shaded Path
UNDER ORDER OF REVIEW - OFFICE OF THE HIGH LUTICIENT
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It was an all too normal day, for all of its stresses, or at least, so Yemassa thought. The merchant trudged through the street, his bag of wares heaped high upon his back. That was just about the only thing that was abnormal - his big request. It was an unusually large order of various herbs, spices, and raw plant products that his small farm cultivated. While his handful of workers were busy harvesting gemsing, hot peppers, and the spiky amanas plant, he was carrying the last of the stock into Nieth proper.
The long, squat buildings had their dark windows shuttered against the afternoon sun. Despite that, many of the various city merchants and their clientele were happy to host conversation and commerce. Indeed, they were rushing to do so, considering that the Yumyaq was almost upon them. Once the sacred hour of sunset had passed, no commerce would be allowed, at least no formal commerce.
The activity was abuzz in most parts of the city, especially since the complete rout their forces had enjoyed to the north. Some raiding legion from across the sea had challenged the might of Nieth and learned a hard lesson. Yemassa wasn’t much aware of the details, though like every good citizen, felt a certain pride at the rumour of crushing victory. More importantly, excitement usually meant people’s pursestrings grew a little looser.
The thought hot on his heels, Yemassa drove himself forwards. The request had been a surprise, both in magnitude and in source. He was headed towards one of the inner, higher districts where the wealthy were congregating. He climbed the freshly cleaned steps to one of the upper roads, finding it mostly clear of people, save those that were stall-shopping.
Onwards and upwards he climbed, going up the various footpaths carved out by hundreds of tromping feet over the years. He had to take care to avoid the various pebbles and small scrub brushes that nipped at his wrapped feet however. Finally, he made it to one of the smaller winding district streets, which spat him out in one of the quieter streets. A bend and a twist in the route later, he managed to find his way into the courtyard of the commissioner.
He was greeted by two separate maid servants who helped him unpack and ferried the goods to where they needed to go. To further the shocking nature of the encounter, the client, a woman devout enough to wear a veil over her face, came out to speak to him directly. He knelt before her, refusing to lift his eyes even against her insistence that he need not be so formal.
She even deigned to discuss business, inquiring after his holdings and what kind and how much of his products he grew. He answered with as much humility as he thought was safe, and found a receptive customer at the other end. He had to keep himself from jumping up with excitement when she casually suggested he recommend his services to friends. Only when she returned to the inside did he spring away, walking back down the hill with significantly more energy then he’d climbed.
Just before he scampered off the road and onto the various footpaths that led down to the main thoroughfare, he caught a glimpse of the far cliffs between the houses. It would be sunset soon, he knew, and if he waited for just a few more minutes, they would turn a golden red in the evening. The others would manage just fine without him for a little while longer, he was sure.
So, making his way between the various alleys of the neighbourhood, he clambered out onto a shelf of rock. This was both a better and more precarious view, given the drop of several hundred hands into another quarter already in shadow below. It had been the site of an old mine, he thought, although his knowledge of the older parts of the city was not completely up to snuff.
He hunkered down on a rock a handful of paces from the edge, crossed his legs, and waited. Soon enough, the sun lowered in the cliffs behind him, the skies awash with the evening haze. This was a good spot, he’d have to remember it when he desired a good view of the city. From here, he could see most of the northern quarters, as well as the great central sprawl of the city running from left up to right.
At the very top of the city to the right stood the palace of the Nine Families. As Yemassa watched, its nonagon concentric layers of domes and spires, one for each generation he recalled, began to glimmer a pinkish hue. As the shadows below his feet began to stretch out to cover districts by the dozen, the northern cliffs seemed awash in fire.
Before he had much of a time to enjoy it, however, he heard the first lilting notes. The plucking of strings, the beat of rabbit-skin drums, the raised voices all started from below. He recognized some of the tunes that began the Yumyaq, songs of the working man and woman mostly about hard days in the fields or jungle. He smiled, the notes recalling fond memories of his own family, though he generally heard less of them now.
It was with a start that he realised that meant he had spent nearly a half hour on the ridge. As more elaborate poetry in service to one god or another began to drift behind him, joining the din from below, he scrambled. Thrusting the pack onto his shoulders, he took one last chance to survey his city as the cliffs shone their fiery colours. The din of the Yumyaq, the song of bountiful Nieth, rose to the heavens, calling across the brushlands and jungle to the distant sea, to carry the gods home.
It was a good sound, a familiar sound, the sound of home to him as well as those distant divine beings. Before he could turn his heel and walk down to the footpaths that would take him home, however, he found something tickling the edge of his vision. He squinted at the far cliffs, red and magenta, with hints of orange and yellow among the craggy faces.
He squinted further, trying to determine what exactly had drawn his attention.
It took him a half-minute more to determine that a flickering, bluish light was moving this way and that in the shadows of a cliff face. That was certainly odd, he thought as he watched the barely visible speck hover in place.
It only became odder when a second, yellowish light joined it.
It became alarming when a dozen, then two dozen, then hundreds of multicoloured lights joined it. The shadows it had inhabited vanished a glow of yellow and blue as they seemed to get bigger. They were getting bigger, Yemassa realised, as little tendrils and flakes began to shoot up above the cliffs in the sunset haze. Reds, purples, greens, but predominantly yellows and blues floated like petals on the wind.
There was a deep rumbling at the edge of his hearing, not powerful enough to shake the ground, but enough to send a wave through his feet. Fear lanced through him as he watched them grow brighter and larger until…
With an explosion of colour and light, a great torrent, like a spring pouring forth from a crevasse, vomited out and up. Yembassa watched as a swirling mass, a comet coming down to earth, shot forward across the city. As he watched it streak towards his position, frozen with shock, pieces of the light flaked off, drifting almost lazily down toward the city.
A piece of Yembassa recognized the locale - the school quarter, where most of the children would just be running out of classes. The scholars and priests studying long hours into the night, preparing to defend themselves against peers, or to present a proposal to the Prince-in-Reign.
There was a flash so bright he had to turn his eyes away.
When he looked back, the minarets and walls of the school districts were drowned under a sea of flames. More flashes followed, bits and pieces of the great comet delivering the biggest explosions he’d ever seen as they made contact with the ground.
Yembassa’s legs finally managed to unlock as the first screams began to drift up to him on suddenly scorching air. He realised numbly that half the city was burning in a matter of moments, and that the comet was shooting straight towards him. He turned to run, yet something drew his eyes around even as his legs pumped.
The mass turned just in time, streaking below the cliff line, where the old mine entrances had been, he thought. A small spine of hope poked through his terror.
Slowly, slowly, wavering from side to side in gentle, periodic motion, the molten feather drifted down, down, to touch the rocks where he’d been sitting.
Then there was light, and sound, and a heat that melted his eyes out of their sockets and tore him limb from limb.
[←Chapter 60] [Cover Art] [My Links] [Index] [Discord] [Subreddit] [Chapter 61→]

Pt 1 If you haven't read it.
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Pt 2 If you haven't read it.
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Pt 3 If you haven't read it.
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Hope you enjoy Pt 4 and happy reading!
​
*Flick* "Aligning descent profile for re-entry." I had made all the final preparations
*Flick* "Prepare for comms black out in 10" William began the countdown.
"9"
"8"
"7"
"6"
"5- when you get back I absolutely *have* to show you this really old movie, interstellar, its a classic" Will interjected.
"4-Oh my stars we're about to enter the atmosphere of Ix-5 at 7km/s and all you can think about is showing me some old movie when we get back?!"
"3- Fine."
"2"
The plasma had begun to lick around the edges of the heat shield and up onto the windows.
"1"
The comms began to make a static hissing sound.
"Just breathe." Will muttered to himself.
The whole shuttle began to shake violently.
"PASSING MAX-Q" Will had to shout to be heard over all the rattling.
Just like that, it began to quiet down, the fiery inferno of re-entry plasma died down and we began our coast down to find a suitable landing spot. Comms had also returned.
*Click* "I'd just like to let everyone know that we made it through re-entry just fine." Will had radioed back to the ship.
The sound of faint cheers from bridge could be heard.
"Engaging cloaking device" *Flick*
A loud hum could be heard as the cloaking device not only prevented us from being seen by eyes, but also seen by any radar, sonar, or other means of detection spun to life.
"So where should we land?"
"Oh just a few more kilometers to shore, then I'll just find a nice, secluded spot and we'll spend the next couple of days getting to know the locals!" I responded gleefully, as this was my first time with a civilization that didn't just learn how to farm.
After carefully gliding down we landed in a patch of grass-like vegetation. Will pointed out all the leaves were all black, to which I responded by telling him that the vegetation had to adapt to capture more of the light spectrum than the vegetation on Earth, because of the dimmer, red dwarf this planet orbited.
We had set up the basics, communications equipment, synthesizers, and a variety of other scientific tools.
"Hey, remember when you said you wanted to see an example of human food! Because I do!" Will exclaimed giddily.
After plugging in a drive and pressing a few buttons, the machine whirred to action, printing out a most unusual dish.
"So keep in mind this is just one dish out of... out of well I don't really know how many different kinds of dishes we have, all you need to know is that it's a very large number... But here's too hoping you enjoy it!"
What came out were this white, almost sphere like but more so a squat raindrop shaped... things. Will called them "Dumplings", and they smelled delicious, though he had dipped them in this brown liquid he called "Soy Sauce" that I really did not care for as far as smell goes.
I carefully picked one of these dumplings and bit into it.
"Oh my" I said, albeit muffled by the food.
"It's good isn't it! I told you!" Will grinned.
"That's quite the... texture. I don't really know how to process this. It's so soft and yet firm. Nutrient packs are so much easier, they don't make a mess and they're just so efficient, I mean, you could probably play around with the recipe, make them tastier. Right?"
"You just don't get it do you." Will said, shaking his head.
"Oh well, more for me." He grabbed at my half eaten dumpling.
"Hey! That's mine!"
"So you DO like it then!"
"No, just, ugh, leave me and my dumpling alone, I've already had my Nutrient Pack for the day I'm going to hibernate now."
Will rolled his eyes at my response.
"Fine." He said in that same begrudging manner as before.
I walked on over to the hibernation chamber, a circular area just big enough for me with a warm, gentle breeze flowing over. As I was going inside I heard Will behind me closing up the door after bringing everything inside.
"Wait... you were going to tell me about.... sleep..." I muttered out.
"Oh yes so hold one, could you just fully wake up for a little bit so I can explain, so your species, and for that matter every other alien species I've met, sleeps one hemisphere or one part of their brain at a time, but humans sleep the whole brain all at once."
"What's that like?" I replied, still in the grip of hibernation.
"So for starters we are like, FULLY unconscious the whole time, we can be woken up but we have a very, VERY limited understanding of what's going on around us. We also go limp so we don't move around accidentally, we still do. It's not perfect but it works enough to where I can say, "yeah we go limp"."
"But aren't you... what happens... if... someone ambushes you at night?"
"In all likelihood unless we happen to be right next to a weapon or something good enough, we die."
"Oh my. How... how did this not drive your species extinct?"
"I'm left wondering that same question too Tomō."
This might be the first time I've heard about a human ever being truly defenseless. Will had disappeared off into another room to change, returning in only a pair of shorts. Which left me examining his exposed torso. Human skin is wrapped quite tightly around the internal structure, and there seems to be very little, if any, loose skin, it also seemed to only be composed of one layer, most others I've meet without loose skin have special layers that can break off. Perhaps humans might be less sturdy than I had come to expect. No no that can't possibly be true I thought to myself, or as much as I could with half a brain working.
The morning was punctured by this infernal clattering from Will's bed, his arm swung up and smashed down on a small table next to him, causing the sound to stop.
"What was that?! Did someone find us?!"
"No... it was just my [Yawns] Alarm, we need to be startled to wake up and that [Will yawned again] was the startling noise."
Will climbed out of bed, shuffled over to another table (Those humans have a lot of tables) grabbed a fresh change of clothes and made his way over to the bathroom to change.
That's when I heard it, a loud SHHHHH sound from the bathroom, I made my way over to the locked door and shouted:
"EVERYTHING OKAY IN THERE WILL?"
"YEAH, JUST TAKING A SHOWER."
"A WHAT?"
"SHOWER"
"WHAT'S THAT?"
"I DON'T CARE FOR THIS CONVERSATION RIGHT NOW."
"OH OKAY."
I shuffled back over to my hibernation chamber, pulling the divider closed I took in a bath of UV sterilizing light and changed out of yesterday's uniform, and into todays, which on scout missions is always a set of cloths made to imitate the look of whatever cloths are common on whatever world we're scouting. In this case it was a brown turtleneck sweater, some black pants, 6 pairs of gloves as the basic orbital scan of their unencrypted communications revealed they obsess over cleanliness, often sporting multiple pairs of gloves for specific tasks, kept in separate pockets, land lastly, a sort of shawl like piece of fabric, apparently used to protect yourself from the midday dust and wind storms.
The disguise of our more... alien features was provided by some makeup, changing our skin to a sort of pale grey. We also made use of some printed prosthetic noses, wigs, and ears, which made our faces impossible to distinguish from the local inhabitants.
Once I had finished applying all my disguises, I exited my chamber and walked over to where Will was, standing by the synthesizer watching it print up a breakfast.
Will, who hadn't even donned the appropriate clothing at this point (he was wearing a simple outfit of black shorts and a grey t-shirt), was oddly enough, sopping wet. His hair had turned a jet black color due to its saturation of water, releasing its store down his face and his neck, resulting in the back of his shirt, and the front collar turning a visibly darker shade and sticking to his body, at this point I also noticed that his skin was covered in beads of moisture glinting in the sun.
"Why are you so wet?" I asked him.
"It has to do with a shower, I get myself under this sort of, simulated rainfall, only the temperature is nice and hot, and use soap, not the same kind you use to clean your hands, but the function is still the same, I then put some stuff in my hair which gets rid of oily build up, the water rinses everything off, but by the end I'm soaking wet, I will need to dry off properly though before I put on all the disguises."
As he grabbed his tray with his hands, still damp from the shower, and the skin around his fingers was all shriveled up.
"Your fingers look like mine now! See!" I asked, moving right up next to him to better show him my fingers.
"It just increases the surface area so I can grip things better underwater, only happens if they get wet."
"Why wouldn't they be like that all the time?"
"Once again I'm left wondering that question myself."
"So what's on the menu for "break-fast"?" I asked
"Well for starters, it's just one word, breakfast, and secondly, I'm having two slices of buttered toast, an egg, and a black tea. Standard human breakfast, though Coffee is more popular."
"Black tea...?" I had heard of Coffee before and its danger to other species, and was hoping that this tea drink lacked any of this substance known as Caffeine.
"Yeah just a little caffeine to wake me up."
"CAFFEINE?! That's... that's a.... that's a Class IV chemical weapon! They banned that centuries ago! How?! What?! Oh my... Oh my..." I began to hyperventilate.
"Relax! There's only what... 50 milligrams in a cup."
"FIFTY?! FIFTY!?! ONLY FIFTY?!? THAT'S TEN TIMES THE DEADLY DOSE! WHAT ARE YOUR THINKING!" I shrieked, though deep down I did take note of how that was less than that of Coffee.
"Shhh, you'll risk us getting caught, calm down, don't worry I'll have the cup disposed of properly, I've done this every day and so far, no one's gotten hurt." Will said in his standard, nonchalant attitude that has become so typical of him, a tone which did not seem anywhere near appropriate for the situation.
"SO FAR?!" I was not heeding his instructions to calm down, it's typically very hard to do so when faced with something that could lead to a violent death.
"Look, look, it's totally harmless for us humans, besides, the Federation strictly manages our recreational use of substances highly dangerous to other species, such as but not limited too: Caffeine, Capsaicin, and Cocoa. I make one wrong move and my ass is sent to jail."
I was shocked, frozen with shock, at least I wasn't screaming but I felt like I couldn't move a muscle. Capsaicin was last used by the Rx'lac to murder billions, Cocoa I hadn't heard of before so it must have been something unique to Earth, but it terrified me still. In my frozen state I waited for the cup he drank from to be destroyed, and at this moment I began to regain my motor functions.
After rigorously drying himself off with a towel and this awfully loud machine he pointed at his hair, Will began to
"Now, could you help me apply the makeup?"
Human hands, while much sturdier than what most of us use, in the case of Captain Reloxyn, she has 6 tentacles which can vary their diameter, and in the case of Zorxians like myself, we have the two hands attached to their respective arm much like a human, but the geometry of the fingers themselves are different, each finger is made up of 3 fluid filled sacs, attached one after another in segments, each sack is attached to the previous with a variety of muscles, which gives each joint the ability to make movements with a full 120 degree range of motion, in any direction. While this makes them far more fragile, due to the lack of skeletal structure, this makes us quite dextrous.
But yet, I noticed that Will's right hand, arm, and ankle were already painted, which puzzled me, if he could paint his right side, then why couldn't he paint his left?
"Do you really need my help? You did just fine painting the right side of your body."
"Tomō, do you really know so little about humans?"
"You know you're the first human I've met!"
"Humans tend to have what's called a dominant hand, what it means is that there's one hand I am really good at using, and another that I'm not so great at using, I *could* train myself to use both hands equally well, but I never really had a need, and even when it would've come in handy, there's always been someone else who can help me. Like you!"
"Aww, thanks!" I responded.
"In my case, my dominant hand is my left one, fairly uncommon. Only about 10% of people are like that, the rest are right handed, and a very small number are born with both hands being of equal capability."
"But you really should get on it with the whole training your right hand. There won't always be someone to help you."
"And yet there always has." Will responded jokingly.
"We ready?" I asked.
"Just have to get some things ready, hold on, if this society is so obsessed with cleanliness, how come they don't wear face masks? I doubt they've gotten to a point where they've already eradicated all diseases. That should take them at least another century."
"Oh, this is the really cool thing about this planet! So basically, airborne diseases never evolved! They just... don't exist here!"
"Absolutely fascinating." Will responded.
"Everything we need is now in the bag." He pointed to the black bag slung over his shoulder made from the local flora.
"And we should be ready to go!" Will enthusiastically marched over to the shuttle door, opening it at saying;
"After you!" With a look of pride on his face, odd, if anyone should be proud, it should be me, after all, this mission is already off to a good start considering he's a rookie.
The red light of Ix bathed the planet in this warm glow, Ix was rare for a red-dwarf system, as most habitable planets are tidally locked, but we marched through the woods, noting observations of the local ecosystem that we stopped periodically to jot down in our notepad.
About halfway through the forest Will stopped suddenly, turning back to face me.
"You forgot to tell me what bridge came up with for our secret identities? Oh stars, saying it like that makes me feel like some kind of super-spy!"
"Oh yes, I must have gotten distracted..." I reached for my communicator.
"Okay, so we're two hikers, you named Po'ol and I named Gra'aul, and we just finished up a nice long hike and so we're off back to Hl'Ix, population 12.8 million, and about a 2 hour train ride. Oh by the way, I have to share the language file hold on... yup that should do it! Congratulations you are now fluent in Ix!"
A requirement of working for any Federation job was the implantation of a language chip which allowed the user to become fluent in all 608 languages and, what they called "Significant Dialects" spoken in the Federation, though for people working on exploration vessels like me and Will, we had access to a file sharing system so we could download new languages for the planets we visited after the central computer processed them.
"Thanks!" Will responded from a meter or so ahead of me.
We continued our march down to the road, where we walked parallel to it as cars zipped by. Eventually the forest we had landed in cleared way for farmland, which after about 5 kilometers or so more walking, started to turn to houses with expansive yards, which gradually became smaller and smaller as we neared the center of town.
"You getting tired yet?" Will asked me, we had decided it was best for him to walk behind me, so we could make sure we stayed together.
"Yeah, but just a bit longer until we make it into... whatever the name of this town is."
"Alright."
We continued to make our way into the town, named Urup and with a population of about 3 thousand. When we got there it was almost devoid of any activity, and the wind had started to pick up, which carried in dust. Thankfully we anticipated this, having donned contact lenses to keep debris out of our eyes, and using the shawl to cover up our mouth and nose. At this point will stopped to pull out a small, and very thin, weather sheet, which he released into the wind. This device would record the weather conditions as it gets carried by the wind. Just after doing this, he turned to me and said,
"Weather at time of release: Temperature: 10 degrees Celsius. Wind speed: 56 Kph, rising. Feels like: 5.2 Degrees Celsius, falling. It wasn't able to get a good reading on dust concentration because it's rising too fast so that should tell you everything you need to know."
The wind nearly blew Will's shawl off, but he grabbed it just in time, and me, being too focused on Will, had let my own shawl blow away in the wind, and while Will had tried to reach for it, the wind carried it away far too quickly for him to get it in time, only missing his fingers by a handful of centimeters. I quickly covered my mouth with my sweater, though this did leave part of my midsection exposed to the elements, a suboptimal position to be in during a dust storm of this magnitude.
"Dammit! Almost had the blasted thing!" Will shouted, the rush of the wind was beginning to drown out our voices.
He put his hand in one of the many pockets on his pants, that's something everyone can appreciate about Ix fashion, anything below 10 pockets is simply unacceptable. Anyways, Will pulled out a small pair of scissors, and quickly removed his shawl.
"What are you doing you can't remove your shawl in these conditions!" I shouted back at him.
"I'll be quick, don't worry!" Will responded as he cut his cloth in two.
"Here!" He said handing me the now removed half of his shawl, and quickly covering his face with the remaining half.
We continued on, though this time much slower than before, as we didn't want to loose our balance and be toppled by the wind. Never before had I ever had to deal with wind this intense, no wonder they assigned the human.
"Squat down! Boundary layer winds should be slower!" He shouted to me while bending down to waddle his way across the street to the hotel.
Squatting down only provided minimal relief, as I suppose one would have to crawl to truly take advantage of this effect. Slowly but surely we made our way across the road, over to the hotel. Opening the first set of doors we were met with a powerful blast of air, which prevented any dust from getting in. Only until after the doors had closed, and our clothes were sufficiently purged of any particulates that had somehow lodged their way into the remarkably dense fabrics. Eventually though, the blast died down, and the second doors opened automatically.
The doors opened to reveal an interior with a largely brown, beige, and black color pattern. The whole lobby was lit with a quite warm color tone, with the lightbulbs occasionally flickering and all the windows had been sealed off behind steel plates. Eventually Will turned his head to face a desk spanning quite a large distance, located just in front of a large board with all the room numbers located next to a light.
We could vaguely hear someone talking to another person, emanating from behind a door marked "Employees Only", Will glanced at me, pulling my attention to his gloves, which he began to swap out for a new pair. I quickly followed suit. Eventually, just moments after I finished putting on a new pair of gloves, one of the people from behind the door exited.
"Why on Ix would there ever be customers walking in during the middle of the storm! We issued the alert 2 hours ago!" The woman said to the man who stayed in the room as the door closed behind her.
Turning around to face the two of us, and walking over to the main part of the check in desk, she began to speak to us.
"Hi my name us Za'ul!" She said, showing us her name tag.
"Now what can I do for the two of you! Must've been miserable trapped out there in the storm!"
Will began to approach the desk, seeing this I decided to sit down and catch my breath, the 10 kilometer walk had exhausted me, it was remarkable to see Will barley fazed by it.
"Hi my name is Po'ol and this is my hiking buddy Gra'aul, we just finished up the most beautiful of hikes through that nearby forest, so we're on our way back to Hl'ix! I was wondering if you could get us a room please and thank you ma'am." He said in a sort of folksy manner, not too dissimilar from the way Za'ul spoke.
"Alright you want one bed or two?" She responded.
"-Two please." He said, almost cutting Za'ul off.
"All right! You want first floor or second floor?"
"Oh second floor would be lovely."
"Well here's your key and have a lovely stay!"
Will walked over to me.
"Got us a key for room 203, here's your key" Will had switched from his folksy mannerisms to a soft whisper, but I just let the key hit me, I was far to tired to catch it.
"Well I see our hike took quite a bit out of you, so just come up when your ready, I got the bags don't worry."
I nodded my head in silent agreement, I was exhausted, but I knew I should probably go upstairs to the room with him.
"Hold on.." I said, slowly lifting myself up onto my feet and carefully making my way over to the elevator.
Standing in the cramped elevator I noticed Will suddenly had this terrible and persistent oder.
"You okay?" I asked him
"Yeah... why do you ask?"
"It's just... you smell kind of... bad."
"Oh!" He chuckled with that same old chuckle I had heard a million times before.
"Yeah, uh, I'm sure after I explained to you what a shower was you were probably perplexed as to why we don't do the standard UV bath, but basically humans smell bad after a long day, or after a long enough, or intense enough period of physical exertion. Showering gets rid of the smell. I did notice the Ix had only a single layer of skin, and hopefully this means they too have the scent issues that humans have, and thus also make use of showering."
"I see. Can you take another shower when we get to the hotel?"
"Tomō! That's... don't say that to other humans okay, you can be direct with me like that but... a lot of other humans will not take that kindly. Just letting you know that."
ding
The elevator had made its way up to the second floor.
"Let's see, 203... 203... here it is!"
Will unlocked the door and opened it.
"Oh thank the stars they have actual beds and it wasn't just a translational error!" He cried out in relief.
Will ran over to the bathroom.
"And they have showers too! Just Wonderful! Don't worry a shower should adequately clean you too."
"Oh I brought my own portable UV sterilizer, I'll be fine."
"You just relax down I'll take care of the report back to bridge."
I made my way over to the beds and just collapsed into it. Hibernating while laying down was not ideal, but at this point I'd do anything not to be on my feet anymore. Eventually I decided that I didn't care for lying face down, and instead rolled over to face Will, just to make sure he didn't botch the report.
Eventually once he finished his report, he walked over to the rooms corners and placed the sound barriers, which would cancel out our voices making sure nobody heard us. Which he, well, I was supposed to do first thing upon entering, though I was far to tired, and Will must've only just noticed. You know, when he first got here he really just annoyed me to no end, but now, he's really settled in and has gotten really into the hang of things, and sure, he's weird, but you know what, he's a human, he's not weird, just... different.
​
I think I'm going to leave it off here, I know I promised some action but this is just where the story lead me, and it was already getting long. Part 5 will be out tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed reading!

2023 Results (So Far): +13.78 Units
2022 Results: +73.185 Units
All Time: +87 Units

Quick recap for last week - one of our worst weeks in some time. It was a very frustrating watch on quite a lot of our bets. I mentioned in our betting mailout post weigh-ins that this was a massively dicey card in that it was going to be a hugely positive results or quite a rough week for betting and that came completely true (sadly). Recap:

1. Daniel Santos ITD and under 2.5 rds - I don’t know how Munoz hung in there, he was getting absolutely battered at some many points. That one hurt.
2. Castaneda wins RD 2/ RD 3 - A tonne of people riding the Gafarov side in this one, he showed some good heart and durability but Castaneda was the clear a side in this one as I thought. In retrospect, this was a really sharp bet and I think we were unlucky not to hit here.
3. Zaleski ITD - on the right side with a close fight between these two, ITD never really looked likely. Chalk it.
4. Tim Elliott ML - was my strongest lean and at a good price. All week I thought he would just be better than Altamirano everywhere and he was. I think Victor looked good and he is getting better and the guy is super tough but just outclassed in this one.
5. Kara-France/Albazi under 4.5 rds - thought this was hitting when Albazi had the back of Kai and was choking him out, Kai did unreal to survive that. Close fight, never really close to any finish besides that RNC. Is what it is.

I think we were unlucky on a few of those picks and if a few things had gone differently it wouldve been a mammoth week. That’s part of the game though! Play your value, make your reads properly week after week and you will get your dues - firm believer.
Anyways enough waffle - let’s get into this week’s shenanigans. Name value wise, this is one of the worst PPV’s in some time - gotta feel for those Canadian fans. However, I say it most weeks, any weekend with MMA in my life is a better weekend than if there was nothing! Some strong favourites and some interesting underdogs this week.
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David Dvořák (20-5) vs. Steve Erceg (9-1):
Erceg is a rangey FLW who fights out of OD. Decent little leg kick, more of a counter striker. He has good timing on his wrestling entries, good at using the overhand right consistently and then using that setup to feint and use double leg entries. Erceg also has really nice outside leg trips. He’s quite an elite grappler, very sharp on the ground and is outstanding at finding the back and on the mat he is so comfortable. He has complete control with his long arms and legs and is able to use them expertly to position his opponent where he wants them. He just has a great variety of submissions he is able to go to depending on the scramble situation. He is also very good at using his height to hold people against the cage and has really good knees in the clinch. Dvorak is an elusive, well rounded guy on the feet. He is quite a movement orientated FLW, very bouncy and likes to fight on the outside and off the back of his jab. Quite a wide base and can be very measured which means he should have good balance against an incoming takedown. He does at times rush into exchanges at times which worries me that he will get level changed and clean taken down. He is the far more experienced fighter with almost double the fights and this does seem like a step down in competition. Coming into this fight I thought I would be far on the Dvorak side given the striking advantage but I think Erceg can give Dvorak a lot of issues on the ground here with his scrambling ability and outside leg trips in the clinch. Close fight, edging Dvorak but if we see Erceg as a big underdog, I am definitely playing him, potentially by sub. For now, I will take David Dvorak via UD.
BET: If Erceg is over a +250 underdog, 1 unit play on Erceg. If I can get Erceg via SUB at +500 or more, I am definitely playing that.
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Chris Daukaus (12-6) vs. Khalil Rountree (11-5) [CANCELLED BUT I HAD ALREADY ANALYSED SO ENJOY LOL]
Rountree is a SP Thai style fighter, he has very quick, sharp hands that pair with his explosive variety of kicks nicely. He has always been a super talented guy but struggled mentally so it is nice to see him put things together in that area as well as develop physically. I like the way he handfights in opposite stances, he really accentuates the rear body kick and straight shots which is excellent, it works better when he works off the back of his lead hand feints. Can be partial to losing a little technique with his boxing combos and swinging wildly which a skilled boxer in the pocket will take full advantage of. Daukaus coming down for to 205 for this fight which is a move that shouldve happened sooner IMO. He’s mainly a boxer who relies on quick hands in close, landing some decent volume but can be out powered. If you look at Daukaus’ record, there’s a clear trend - he KO’s grapplers and loses to competent strikers. Will be interested to see him on the scales but skill for skill, I favour Rountree’s kicking game to really shine here and given this will be an OD vs SP matchup, I favour the Rountree side even more - I expect the lead hand feints, sharp crosses and rear body kick to dictate this fight and lead to a KO within 2 rounds. Taking Khalil Rountree via TKO RD 2.
BET: Will be looking at the unders, Khalil ITD if in the range of -130 and under.
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Nassourdine Imavov (12-4) vs. Chris Curtis (30-10):
This is a pretty tough fight to handicap given we have seen such varying degrees of success from both men. Imavov is a long, flowy Orthodox mainly kickboxer who has good footwork and really good straight shots. He has a similar style of footwork to his main training partner Cyril Gane however he has far less head movement and this really does show as he is quite hittable. I do really like the variety in the kicking game of Imavov, he has a very agile lead lead leg which means a lot of teeps, side kicks, oblique kicks and calf kicks. Imavov is far better when he is dictating the fight off the back of his jab and the one moving forward, when he is the one moving backwards his head movement is far worse, his chin is there to be hit and his footwork leaves him just in range. Chris Curtis is a Southpaw boxer who has a simple game plan in his fights - keep the fight standing with his great takedown defence and land the more significant shots in the pocket. He is good at moving forward, cutting off the cage and relying on initial slips and a high boxing guard to defend most shots. His lead hand is somewhat active but his money maker is definitely his body rips, which generally come off his slipping actions, as well as his rear hand cross. Given his heavy lead leg orientated boxing stance, Curtis has very little kicking ability and his ability to check kicks is next to nothing - this is an area I fully expect Imavov to exploit. To me, Imavov is going to be landing more volume, with the kicks and the hands, dictating where this fight takes place. I think Curtis will be slowly trying to move forward, cut the cage and use his power shots to the body to wear on Imavov to where he can take over late. I think the movement of Imavov will be enough to use angles in and out, land more often and use the clinch to get the Thai plum for knees to the body and to hold Curtis against the cage if need be. This is a close fight, I think the odds are pretty bang on here. Not interested in betting this fight but I will slightly edge Nassourdine Imavov via UD (29-28).
BET: Too many unknowns for me, no bet.
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Aiemann Zahabi vs. Aoriqileng
Zahabi is one of the strangest fighters to breakdown for me simply because he is so awkward in his movements. He switches stances as he moves forward in the most uncomfortable looking way. I like his kicking counters, has nice kickboxing style counters and he clearly has some power in his hands. He is very low volume and looks to be the counter striker, letting his opponent throw first and then countering off that. He fights super infrequently which concerns me but is riding a few OK wins. Coming up against Aoriqileng here who is definitely rounding out his skill-set and getting better which you like to see. Defensively, he is good at just staying out of range with his footwork and staying in a tight shell, he also has a really good chin to absorb shots. Offensively, he is OK, he could probably benefit from using his jab more but he has good timing on his shots and has nice boxing combos in close specifically. He likes to lead in with a lead left hook and follow with his big cross and work off that. In this one, I think Aoriqileng is the side to be on. I think he is the more well-rounded fighter who can use his wrestling to mix things up but on the feet, I favour his power and hand-speed and I think he will touch Zahabi up in this one. I think Fight Ready will have Aoriqileng primed here and I think he will look better than his last fight. Taking Aoriqileng via UD.
BET: Swaying on an Aoriqileng ML play but as of right now, nothing.
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Blake Bilder vs. Kyle Nelson
I think Bilder is better in every single area of this fight. He’s a better boxer, he is more durable, his grappling is probably his best aspect of his game and I think he will wear on Nelson here and outlast him. Bilder is (pardon me) building into his career nicely, I think this is a good opponent for him to put a showcase on against. Am curious to see what some props on Bilder ITD will be. I think he will have more volume, more power and he will be more live to finish the fight. I think Bilder’s speed will catch Nelson and then he will find a submission. Taking Blake Bilder via SUB RD 2.
BET: Nothing outlayed currently. Potential Bilder ITD play if +250. Probably a parlay piece.
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Diana Belbiţă vs. Maria Oliveira
Close fight. Not interested here.
BET: no bet.
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Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Miranda Maverick
Now this is a fight that I might surprise some with. Let’s start with Maverick - she got a huge wrap from Anik probably over 1.5 years ago claiming she would beat Shevchenko. Now while that is completely ludicrous, she has shown a decent amount of talent. On the feet, she is pretty technical with her kickboxing, looking her best when she is at range and can use her kicks to dictate the fight. She is pretty well-rounded with an OK offensive wrestling game, generally built off clinch pressure and outside/inside trips. Now where she has struggled is her defensive wrestling, she is content to get stuck on her back and shows an inability to move or improve position. She is coming up against Jasudavicius here, who while is incredibly average on the feet, is honestly a very impressive female wrestler. She is BIG for the division, she is durable and she has really good forward pressure. I think while this fight is on the feet, Maverick will be the far better striker but I think Jasudavicius will be like a dog in this fight, moving forward, absorbing shots while she closes distance and holds Maverick up against the cage, using her massive frame before working takedowns and trips and maintaining top position to win minutes. I think this is a decent matchup for Jasudavicius and I think frankly that this is a far closer fight than the odds would indicate. It should be close but I am taking Jasmine Jasudavicius via UD.
BET: Jasudavicius ML +260 (1 unit to win 2.6).
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Mike Malott vs. Adam Fugitt
Hometown boy in Mike Malott in this one. Malott fights out of both but southpaw stance mainly, with a Thai style striking game mixing powerful hands and sharp rear power kicks while keeping the fight in his range. On the ground he has really good BJJ, I like how smothering his top pressure is - he has really good balance to hold top position but uses it well to land good ground and pound and hunt submissions. He has good power in his hands, especially in his hooks that land in perfect placement and with excellent timing. Fugitt also fights out of southpaw and is a sort of OK everywhere but not great anywhere sort of fighter. He looks comfortable on the feet but is extremely hittable, not a lot of head movement but is super durable, I mean that head kick he just ate from Kinoshita was so flush and it didnt even wobble him. He is a Muay Thai bred fighter but has good wrestling pressure and we saw in his last fight that he can mix in takedowns, maintain top position and use vicious elbows to finish the fight. If we see SP v SP on the feet, I think this will be pretty closely contested. Both guys are fairly rudimentary strikers with Malott probably having more power but I think Fugitt has the durability to withstand this. I probably favour the grappling of Malott, I think pure grappling wise he is stronger and more technical and given I think that the striking is fairly close, I am going to lean Mike Malott via UD.
BET: Curious to see what the over 1.5 is set at given Fugitt is durable and can probably withstand Malott.
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Dan Ige vs. Nate Landwehr
Man I love Nate Landwehr as a person and a personality within the UFC but this is just a really difficult matchup for him. Ige is super well-rounded with good power in his hands, nice movement, Hawaiian durability, effective offensive wrestling and good grappling. He is good in brawls but also content to fight from the outside and land his shots. Nate thrives when he can make these fights absolute scraps and wear on his opponent but I just don’t see Dan succumbing to the pressure of Nate. Nate’s chin can definitely be cracked and I think Ige has too much power in his hands, I think he will touch Nate and I think he will put him away. It’s a big step up in competition and one that I would love to see Nate do well in, but going to have to side with the more proven, well-rounded commodity at this point and take Dan Ige via TKO RD 2.
BET: no bet.
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Eryk Anders vs. Marc-André Barriault
No time to watch tape and honestly not much interest. Two grappling offensive heavy boys. You’d think this goes overs.
BET: No bet
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Charles Oliveira vs. Beneil Dariush
And finally, we are at the main event of the evening! Just kidding, but seriously…. We know who Charles Oliveira is, he is an aggressive, forward pushing, muay thai striker with elite offensive grappling. On the feet, I love Charles’ offense. He has technically beautiful and powerful boxing combinations, he has solid leg kicks, he has a agile lead leg which we see lets him use his teep to the guts and check kicks intermittently, he is just a lot to deal with. However, where he falls is his striking defence. He is susceptible to being hit and this is purely because he has no head movement and is always on centre line. While his recovery time is pretty decent, his chin isn’t great and we have seen that he can be submitted after being hurt if the opponent isn’t concerned with entering the grappling space with him. Onto Beneil Dariush - super well rounded guy, fights out of SP and is on some sort of upward trajectory career wise. While I do think the competition level can be slightly questioned, the same could have been said (and was said) of Charles post Kevin Lee / Tony Ferguson, but these guys cant prove themselves against top flight competition if they don’t get their chance and Beneil is getting his shot here. Beneil is good but not great on the feet, he has a sort of awkward style where he isn’t super explosive and is kind of flat footed but he does have power, good leg kicks and a decent chin. He has excellent takedown defence to keep the fight standing and if his opponent does get him down, he has elite scrambles to threaten submissions, specifically leg entanglements to use this to get back to his feet. Straight up, this is an excellent fight and we are in for a treat. How does this fight play out? It is definitely the critical question. I actually think Do Bronxs offensive wrestling is hugely underrated, he has elite double legs and if he can clinch up with you, especially against the cage, his knees to the body and elbows on the break and massive for wearing on his opponent. I honestly don’t think we see a massive amount of ground time here unless someone is rocked and wants to jump in, I think Beneil’s TD DEF is good enough to stay on the feet and I doubt he’s putting himself out to shoot singles and doubles and risk a scramble scenario with a non-concussed Charles. So the question is, who is the better striker? I think it’s Charles. I think his lead teep is going to be a huge weapon here, I think he will push the pace, use that to keep range and just wear at Beneil as well as off his jab and as long as he can avoid the big overhand left that Beneil loves, I think he is live in this one. Beneil drops his hands as he leg kicks and I can see Charles timing this, blocking the power left kick from Beneil and countering with left hook on the chin and I think we might see a ground and pound stoppage here. It is a super close fight, one that will be exciting from the start and one that will hurt no matter who loses. I think the odds are closer to a 50/50 than the bookmakers have it - I am taking Charles Oliveira via TKO RD 1.
BET: Charles Oliveira ITD +180 (1 unit to win 1.8)
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Amanda Nunes vs. Irene Aldana
This is a much more interesting fight than the previous Pena scheduling so I don’t mind seeing this replacement. Mexican fighters are on a hell of a run in title fights, so I am sure Aldana will be absorbing that momentum coming into this. Aldana is a very typical style Mexican fighter, good boxing especially in the pocket, some wicked durability and a really nice jab. She can be wrestled and taken down but for a mainly boxing fighter she manages to catch people in some strange scrambles sometimes which could play a key here. The main questions for Nunes is and always tends to be, what is her motivation like? We know how she fights, she loves to try and strike on the feet, has mean power but can also shoot takedowns and grapple with severe efficiency when she gets on top. We knew Pena was going to be durable, be awkward, be relentless and keep pushing forward and she did and she wore on Nunes. I think Aldana can do the same here, if she fights off the back of her long jab, she is a much more technical striker than Nunes IMO - and to be honest, I think Nunes has slightly regressed in her technicality on the feet. Aldana has a path to victory in fighting behind the jab, frustrating Nunes to engage in a dog fight which is much to Aldana’s benefit. I also think Nunes has a path to victory by working her takedowns, working her kicking game and winning minutes by smothering the output of Aldana. I capped this fight 55/45 to Aldana, will wait to see what they both look like on the scale before I pull the trigger but there is a potential of a Aldana ML play here if we get the right number. The pick will be Amanda Nunes via SUB RD 4 but has the potential to change.
BET: No bet currently, potential Aldana ML play.
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And that wraps up the breakdowns for this week! Good luck, always gamble responsibly and remember to hang around long-term because there will be ups and downs but trust the process and we will build some bankroll. Would love to know if you agree or disagree anywhere and let us know who you are riding with below. Enjoy the fights!
Full transparency, I run a MMA betting service called Provide Picks. We have been operating for roughly a year and a half completely tracked and verifiable with a return of over 90 units in that short time. You can find our full tracking sheet history here and you can also see a bunch of customer testimonials and betting slips throughout that time here.
Me myself, I have watched MMA religiously for more than 10 years and trained for over 4.5 years, I love this sport so I figured why not help bring some insight and analysis to others! Now this isn’t a sales pitch, I know how Reddit works and I really enjoy the opinions shared on this sub-reddit so I genuinely want to help contribute and if you enjoy the output, please feel free to join the team! We are proven to be profitable long-term so if you have some spare change to invest at any level, you love the sport and are interested in improving your knowledge - come over and check us out at providepicks.com. As we have a fair base of paying members, it wouldn’t be fair to them to share every single one of our bets however I want to provide as much value for this betting community as people, hopefully to help you guys see a different angle in terms of MMA betting and long-term profitability and more importantly - sending these bookies broke.