#Epicenter Projects

[signofthestriking]

Me putting more effort into this jd fanfic series about Jack's life than I did in 4 years of high school

[epicccenter]

Tres semanas después del incidente, se han divulgado videos del ataque armado contra Luis Ángel Villasana, un ex policía de 33 años, frente a su casa en San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León.

Las cámaras de seguridad registraron el ataque ocurrido antes de las cinco de la tarde del 5 de enero. En los videos compartidos en la red social X, se observa a Villasana junto a su esposa, a quien estaba abrazando afuera de su hogar.

De repente, una camioneta Nissan aparece acelerando por la calle hacia la pareja. Los atacantes detienen el vehículo cerca de ellos y, sin previo aviso, abren fuego desde la camioneta. La víctima y su esposa corren hacia la casa mientras gritan para protegerse. Uno de los sicarios desciende del vehículo, se aproxima a la casa y continúa disparando, luego vuelve a subir a la camioneta y sigue disparando desde el asiento del copiloto.

Los agresores retroceden y abandonan la escena. En otra cámara dentro de la casa, se puede ver a los hijos de la pareja y a Villasana herido mientras entran a la vivienda entre gritos. Villasana, herido de bala en múltiples ocasiones, finalmente sucumbe a sus heridas.

El video concluye con la esposa preguntando, "Ángel, ¿estás bien?" Lamentablemente, Ángel falleció a causa de tres impactos de bala. Hasta ahora, los asesinos no han sido identificados. @epicccenterEp1Center #Ep1Center |Entra a nuestro blog| whatever you need ---- Blog ------

| Así se Mueren los Valientes |

[onelittlespiral]

Attention: Health and Safety Alert

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

It has come to our attention that a serious outbreak of a virus illness has been seriously harming our campus community. We take this public health threat very seriously and want you all to be aware and alert so that you can stay safe.

As a matter of transparency, we want to be clear on the origin of this virus. The Frontal Recognizance Transmutation Arenavirus 24 (often called just arena or FRT-24) has been a known threat for some time, with clear symptoms from infected individuals. A research lab on campus was known to have been studying its effects. This particular strain, the alpha variant, was of particular interest, so when a sample went missing, we exhausted campus resources to locate it. We were unable to and are now deeply sorry to our campus community. We take full responsibility for the current outbreak.

FRT-24 is highly contagious, so it is important to know the immediate signs. Look for:

Sudden headaches or migraines

Dizziness or loss of vision

Fevers and chills, especially paired with heavy perspiration

Loss of cognitive functions

Rapid muscle swelling

If you are infected, symptoms may take up to three days to develop, and you may still be a vector in this time. As the disease takes hold, you may notice a change in mood, as a lack of interest in usual activities. Instead, the disease drives the infected towards spreading. Common hubs seem to be gyms, parties, and social gatherings. We have also noticed an uptick in fraternity membership this year, a possible sign of disease spread.

Know the signs in yourself or others, as often the infected will not show traditional signs of ailment. This student has given us permission to share his story:

This young man was a healthy Junior just a few weeks ago. He was a promising young academic in biochemistry, hoping to one day do research on emergent diseases. Since his experience with FRT-24, his life is forever changed.

The changes are alarming. He has gained over 100 lbs and been unable to focus on his studies. Instead, he was spending hours in the student rec center, consumed by his illness as he worked his body to exhaustion. Since his quarantining, he has been unable to answer any basic questions about his academic career or research project. Instead, he has shown a hallucinated knowledge of a personal training and fitness program. As an early vector, we are aware of at least 10 other students who were infected before his quarantine, and he is being held for further observations on disease progression.

Thankfully we have been able to identify the method of transmission. At this time, it seems bodily fluids are most transmissible method. It seems that this virus enhances the body in this respect. Those infected will often try to spread by any means necessary. They are very good at finding susceptible men, isolating them, and finding ways to expose them directly to their sweat, saliva, and in some cases semen. They will be desperate for any chance to get you alone with them, to join their ranks. Do no be drawn in by promises of muscle, of status, or ease of life. Their brains are no longer their own. They only seek to make you a drone for FRT-24.

While we are still in the early stages of understanding the virus, we would like to acknowledge the valiant work done by Dr. Pulaski and his team of researchers. They have lead the way in this fight, throwing themselves at this dangerous line of work. Without their noble sacrifice, we would be still months from understanding the origins of this outbreak. We have narrowed down the point of origin to a party held a few weeks ago in the PKE frat house. At this time, it is unknown if frat leadership was in any way involved with this outbreak.

Sadly, Dr. Pulaski was found earlier this week a few days after conducting interviews and performing sample retrieval from the PKE house believed to be the epicenter. He was found shirtless, flexing his newly formed muscles in the mirror at the student rec center.

When reached for comment, he only smirked and reported “feeling great, bruh,” a clear sign of decline. We are still uncertain if he has exposed any of his other researchers to the disease.

Remember, you are responsible for yourself and out campus community. If you suspect you or someone you know has been exposed, please report to the Student Health Center immediately for examination. In the mean time, please stay safe everyone. We will continue to keep you updated as we know more

Regards,

Dr. Brendan Host, President

Congrats @occamstfs on 2k followers. I hope you all enjoy a late entry to the party. Go out and check out the other writers under the #occam2000 tag, some great stuff in there. And don't worry, FML: Initiate is coming soon.

[sandplague]

pathologic 3 save & sound 2024 presentation

this is a quick attempt at a transcript of the presentation. I think I got most of it but there are some words I was unable to hear, I can't say I have a lot of practice doing this and that's on me so if any of you guys can help me I'll edit it asap

Ressa Schwarzwald: I'm Ressa from Gameowdio. Our team has been working on Pathologic 3 with Vasily Kashnikov and his apprentice Nikolai. This video will feature some of the audio stuff we've made together.

Our goal regarding audio direction was to give the real experience of being in the epicenter of an epidemic. Fully realistic, no bullshit. So we are obviously shooting this video in The Town. We realized pretty early that the game was quite different from the original Pathologic 2 because of the time travel mechanics. So for the prototype we built a time travel machine [the date November 1924 shows on screen], which appeared to be quite useful to record some source sounds, and [date changes to November 3024] make this video in just half a second using existing technology.

Let's start with the music.

Vasily Kashnikov: Hi, I'm Vasily Kashnikov, audio director of Pathologic 3 project. I'll tell you how our music is structured. We were already thinking about how the Bachelor's game would sound when we were working on Patholgic 2 and writing music for Haruspex. In Pathologic 2, the music had more ethnic and real motives (motifs?) and instruments. Since the city and its customs are familiar with Haruspex since he was a child, he is involved in the traditional way of life. In the case of Pathologic 3, this is the view of an outsider who evaluates everything from the point of view of rationality and science. Therefore, we are trying to make the Pathologic 3 soundtrack colder and more detached from the steppes and ethnicity in character. There is more synthesis, guitars at the same time, the Bachelor communicates with those in power so the soundtrack contains a large share of minimalist so-called furniture music that could sound in the beginning of the last century. Piano etudes and references to composers of that time: Satie, Debussy, etc. The soundtrack is a rather eclectic mix of dreampop, downtempo, and (?) minimalism.

In the city when the Bachelor is alone with himself, we emphasize the cold mind of the rhythm section: less emotional harmony, and sometimes electronic timbres. In the rooms where we need to separate the main character from those he interacts with, we use more expressive harmonies and more classical instruments: piano and guitar passages.

When we designed the interactive music system, we assumed that time is finite, and the music had to change depending on the amount of time the Bachelor had left. However, we later abandoned this system and now the music changes depending on the state of the Bachelor himself, who can fall into apathy or psychosis. To emphasize these states, we apply filters and effects to different layers of our tracks and get a slower, muffled sound in the case of apathy, and wired (?) nervous, glitchy in the case of psychosis. In the infected quarters, there are interactive systems that... [screen begins to distort] oh my god, Nataliya! Please stop this!

Nataliya Radina: Whoops, hehe, sorry. But yeah, basically the other system we created reflects everything you hear in the game. Such as... If we use our gun when dealing with the local thugs, the longer we aim the weapon at the people, the less sounds of the outside world we hear and the louder becomes the heartbeat. To add to the intensity, sharper tone was used along with a high pitch tinnitus sound. If the psychosis level goes to the maximum, it starts to damage Bachelor's health, which is accompanied by flashes on the screen, as well as low heartbeat and short breathing sounds.

Vasily Kashnikov: In the infected and rebel's quarters, there are also interactive systems that change the character of the music by adding or disabling instrument layers depending on the state of the world or the Bachelor's equipment to fight the plague. As a result, we have 12 tracks for each day spent in the city. they can freely switch between each other and several dozen themes for locations and characters, and all the music is subject to change depending on the state of the Bachelor.

Nataliya Radina: Since the game has a weather changing system, we also wanted to reflect that in our audio feedback as well. The game has global wetness parameter that shows how intense the rain is. The more it rains, the more squishy and muddy are the steps of the outside surfaces. Moreover, if you come closer to the window, you can hear the rain pondering on the glass. Even in the middle of the plague, we always have room for cozy moments, right? My favorite part of that system is involving cows. [cow moo]. So, when it's raining, you can actually hear very very soft sound of raindrops dropping on those bovine butts. And I personally think it's beautiful.

Artur Ramanouski: Hi, my name is Artur, and I was also involved in creating some sound assets for the game.

Probably the hardest thing to record were the footsteps. I had everything planned out: bought the equipment, got every type of surface, but...there was one small thing I overlooked: I live in a city with over 12 million people. Noise everywhere. The solution was simple and ingenious: I recorded everything on a Sunday, because in Buenos Ares, Sunday is the one day when no one does anything.

Nataliya Radina: One of the most important places in the game is the cathedral. There we have a system of ladders that control the speed and direction of time. Direction wise, we can have it flow normally, or reversed. [entire presentation is rewound very quickly so it's back to Ressa]

Ressa Schwarzwald: She is super professional.

Nataliya Radina: As for the speed, we can make it stand still, go twice as fast, or half normal speed. We created an audio system that has to (?) understand what is actually happening around (inaudible). When we reverse time, spatial effects are added to the surrounding sounds. Ambience, steps, and the mechanism itself. When time stands still, we increase the low frequencies in the ambience, and all the other sounds are muted to zero. Now lastly, when the time goes twice as fast, or half the original speed, the pitch of the surrounding sound changes accordingly.

The coolest part of this system is that it's been actually implemented into the game engine using only one parameter.

Ressa Schwarzwald: Thank you for watching. See you here, later!

[dasha022]

.

In Amity Park, where spectral activity had always been more intense than in other places characterized by such phenomena, the representatives and explorers appointed by the government, under the guidance of the Fentons, attempted to deploy a containment network for the unknown entities that had become recurrent in the area over the past few years.

The initial idea was simple: treat ghosts as threats to human security. After all, the attacks and incidents in which they were involved showed that they lacked rational thought when dealing with humans. Devoid of empathy, feelings, or a defined moral compass, ghosts acted without remorse in many of the cases documented by the Fentons and in collaboration with the follow-up investigations carried out by the GIW.

Thus, the installation of containment devices in Amity Park, the epicenter of the disaster, was carried out. The belief was that this would prevent a massive expansion to other populated areas. Dr. Fenton, along with her husband’s support, was assigned to work on the project in collaboration with several GIW delegates.

But what seemed like an organized plan to protect the city quickly turned into a battlefield. The ghosts, feeling hunted and trapped, began to grow more volatile in their appearances.

Instead of containing them, the repression only fueled the violence. The situation escalated when the echoes of this confrontation spread, reaching other entities, other areas.

The government named it: Persistent Ectoplasmic Interference.

The Justice League heard part of the matter, and although they did not interfere directly, they kept monitoring everything and investigating through their own means. Their responsibilities were many, and their enemies more tangible. But that didn’t mean they were waiting to be caught off guard.

They didn’t break the boundaries set by the government and its management of the situation, but in the shadows, they tracked and gathered every relevant piece of information.

When spectral activity began to touch the borders of the cities defended by several league members — Central City, Star City, Metropolis — the government delegates and involved branches found it difficult to keep the heroes out of the matter.

Spontaneous portals, invisible presences, energy disturbances that even the Lanterns could not filter. The so-called ‘ghosts’ didn’t cause turmoil or disasters as predicted in the records obtained. At least not indiscriminately. They had specific zones, places, sites to attack.

The heroes found it difficult to try to stop them. Even with the Fenton technology that Batman, Cyborg, Flash (Wally West), and Red Robin had adapted to fight them.

It was then that Danny Nightingale, ex-Fenton, appeared before them.

Danny offered reports. Dimensional maps, ghost classifications, containment protocols without harm. Technology that surpassed that of his parents, from whom he seemed distant. According to him, his thoughts on ghosts were vastly different. To him and his older sister, their parents were too caught up in their opinions to see beyond their partial research. And those who sponsored and supported them were even more so.

With his collaboration with the League, the young man wanted to prove that yes: some ghosts were hostile. But many more simply existed. And that, he said, was not a crime.

The League accepted his help. Or so he thought.

But where Danny saw understanding, they saw patterns. Patterns that could be coded. Predicted. And controlled.

Thus, the Rehousing Project was born. Not an offensive, but a “protection strategy.” Its mission was clear: to identify spectral entities not recognized by dimensional continuity, neutralize those that affected the human environment, and isolate all those that escaped the boundaries of the “comprehensible.”

Neither Deadman nor Greta were mentioned in the documents. Because they were “different beings.” Singular souls trapped in this world after being unable to transcend to the proper rest, whether through magic or dark arts. Not like the erratic specters who continued causing havoc without reasoning or understanding the fragility of cities and those who inhabited them.

And when Ember McLain, the ghost of what the GIW categorized as an amplified lament, exploded during a concert, causing significant emotional imbalance among the participants, the problem escalated even further.

Ember was overwhelmed by what was happening to her kind, many of her loved ones had disappeared. They had rescued many, but not all were found. So, when she felt the fear, the rejection, the contempt burning her throat — she used her gift, out of desperation. Not to dominate. But to make them listen. To make them feel.

But when she projected her voice onto the human minds, pushing emotions to the surface of thousands of people… she only reinforced their fears. And the decision was unanimous: one could not trust beings that felt so differently.

That day, most of the heroes were convinced that ghosts were not living beings with complex emotions.

They were anomalies. Reactions. Echoes with teeth.

And that same day, Danny stopped being the hero ally.

😉

https://archiveofourown.org/works/64465951/chapters/166867915#workskin

[featherspiral]

DO YOU HAVE MORE ASRIEL/FLOWEY INFODUMPS TO SHARE... i had a blast reading the prev one and would love to hear more thoughts/talk w you abt them... (also I love the way you draw everyone, the colors and shapes you use are MESMERIZING !!!)

AHH DO I EVER!! so thrilled there are actually people out there who willingly want to hear this lawl errm okay let me pick something brief

I think that a lot of his character can be gathered from just the sheer amount of projection in his dialouge + how some of it gets rectontextualized after you know who he is. aaand I wanna talk about my favorite instance of this

he says this when he's surrounded you with the ring of bullets at the end of the photoshop flowey fight and I reaaally like this particular line because on a blind playthrough, this reads entirely normally as flowey mocking YOU. like.. you wouldnt raise an eyebrow at this or assume it has some deeper meaning initially, but it entirely changes in subsequent runs after reading his new home monologue ->

and ofc this is what he quotes himself as saying after he first woke up as a flower. with this in mind its apparent he's more so mocking himself, reiterating what he once said but with more childish diction, changing "mom" and "dad" to "mommy" and "daddy", to kind of amplify how he views his own past fearful and childish dependency as "pathetic", and projecting that onto YOU as he forces you to experience that helplessness he felt - hes creating a rectontextualized projection of his own trauma, and placing himself as the epicenter of control as a sort of fucked up coping mechanism

not to mention the face sprite used is his disfigured toriel face which, again, would be read as a blow to YOU at first but obviously changes when you learn that she's. yk. literally his mom

anyways I really like how the game is written in such a way that the different runs add context and meaning to each other in this sort of web and how well it's done because it's like. designed to be replayed and explored as part of the larger narrative. I think that's pretty cool

also tysm!!

[eldritch-spouse]

You were being chased by some demented mushroom chef but you were able to get into this “abandoned” part of the building and the chef randomly stoped chasing you. Unbeknownst to you this section of the building has been “abandoned” because Santi realized to late that he was going into a heat and his perfect match decided to cross the threshold into his “domain” but hey at least you aren’t being butchered by a mushroom.

[You know what this smells like? Apocalypse AU.]

TW: Death; Gore

You have no idea you're in the very epicenter of the entire infection. Aka, quite literally the worst place you could hope to be, though not for the reasons that you'd expect.

When Krulu first came down with an illness he himself could not control, it was anyone's guess what might happen. Most didn't expect planetary contamination. Most didn't even understand what was currently unfolding. On the verge of perishing, weirdly ambivalent to it all, Krulu grants to his workers, what he can't grant to himself- Immunity. The Clergy's Eye is the very building that spawned this life-devouring mess, but also the location where none can catch it. Krulu's carcass lies hidden in its bowels, where no one but his most devout chosen accompanied him to an untimely end.

You don't know any of this. You don't know that the only reason you were able to wander in to begin with is because the protective "curtains" Krulu had over the building all but popped out of existence the moment he ceased to live.

All you know is that this place is brimming with resources, and looks suspiciously well-kept, when everything else around it is dilapidated and covered in contamination agents.

Luck graced you initially. Many of the Clergy members spend a good part of their days entirely inactive, mostly to preserve energy as food runs ever more scarce. But one of these monsters who absolutely can't afford to stay inactive for long is Morell. He's the one organizing hunts, deciding when and where and how- Scraping dishes out of whatever's out there that's minimally edible.

He can't afford to lose any opportunities.

Having a pig walk right into his jaws is just the biggest blessing, so of course he's expending every ounce of energy he has to catch you. Snatch you, wrap his terrifying, shaking hand around one of your soft little joints and crack it to pieces so you'll stop running. He's going to make you last, he's going to take itty bitty pieces, everyone will get the most out of you, yes. He can make it work, you're a true god-send!

Which is why he damn near tears the elevator doors asunder when you manage to dart into it. You may think you'll be safer, but Morell knows you'll just have a less effective end. One of the others will get excited and gut you right then and there, will eat you whole, leave nothing for the others.

What he didn't expect, is that you might end up in the floors Santi has most dominion over. The guest rooms. Over there, could the faintest glimmer of hope be seen?

Santi sleeps in all the beds, particularly the ones he can still smell people on, the ones with traces of use, lying on them like a dragon in a nest of pillows. He subsists on the lust of his coworkers, whenever they're well-fed enough to even experience sexual urges, or when they're just so incredibly fucked up that they'll take any distraction offered to them. He's in a perpetual starved state not too dissimilar from his heats, but increasingly more unbearable.

His coworkers lock him in the guest floors with magical wards and powerful minerals when he becomes too much to handle, but Santi knows those locks aren't impenetrable, he knows they'll fail and flicker eventually, and no one can stop him then.

When he hears you, it feels like a dream. Like he finally croaked and his nightmare continues in whatever rotted afterlife his soul projects. Someone just wandering in, after so long, he spends way too much time stalking after you without doing a thing. It feels too good to be true, especially as you start succumbing to the few pheromones he still has enough energy to pump. To permeate these rooms with.

Malnourished as he is, whether or not you're anyone's match goes entirely unnoticed. You're already enough of a miracle for him. He has plans for you, and they're quite different from Morell's, yes. You won't end up on anyone's plate, but Santi will eat off you selfishly. And as he feeds enough, he'll protect you from the rest, surely.

He can keep you safe, so you'll listen to him, naturally. Otherwise it's certain death for you, love.

By the time you hear the door shut behind you, it's far too late, and Santi has trapped you in one of the guest rooms, looking wild and disheveled beneath a very flimsy attempt to look suave.

Would you sit down please, he'd coax, tracking your every motion when you jumped and shook, I'd like to have a talk with you.

[seafoamreadings]

week of january 26th, 2025

these are written predominantly for the *rising* signs but they are also intuitively "channeled" enough that they should work for any dominant energy you have! (try your sun if you don't know rising, or more advanced readers can try moon, anywhere you have a stellium, etc and see what works best for you!)

aries: your week is a little bit, i'll just say, wimpy? there are many good aspects coming up but none that particularly energize you, especially with mars in his current state. so do not expect yourself to be up for a lot, but do surround yourself with life's small and simple pleasures.

taurus: it would take me a long time to list out the individual aspects affecting you this week but let me at least say they are all empowering, and mostly not too difficult. if you're not feeling a bit electrified, by love or by the revolutionary spirit or by magic or something, you likely have your mind on things that aren't in alignment with your true desires or path.

gemini: focus this week on your highest ideals, be they spiritual, philosophical, or academic. whether you're the most devout nun in the cloister or the staunchest atheist out there, you have some ideals and if you don't, you need to be looking harder. bonus points if you set some intentions about these ideals to follow through with over the coming few weeks.

cancerians: the new moon this week makes you magical. like in the witchiest and most esoteric of ways. so, do with that what you will. you also benefit a lot from this week's piscean activity, especially if you have placements in the last few degrees of this sign.

leo: your relationships, the committed, serious ones, are in focus this week. your romantic partner, your business partner, your best friend, whoever you are really in a solid commitment with, to each other, these relationships get a lot of fresh air in a lot of good ways. unrelated but simultaneously you may find yourself more clairvoyant than usual so don't take those dreams and visions to be silly. they are not.

virgo: your partnerships get a big blessing this week especially if you are in a romantic relationship and especially if that relationship has been defined and committed to. but this does apply to all forms of partnership. it may be obviously miraculous or a smaller occurrence, and it is just the beginning.

libra: if you're not having fun - at least making some fun for yourself! - you aren't doing this week right. if you haven't been in a while, set serious intentions about it this week and follow through. you may also see an increase in your health and wellness, a very sacred ritual you can incorporate into your routine, or develop a gym or workplace crush. if so it's not a bad idea to entertain those newly open paths.

scorpio: expect (or cause!) changes to your partnerships, and to your home life. one thing that looks quite possible for you is a romantic choice. you have someone you've long been committed to on the one hand and someone new or very interesting on the other, or if it's not people it may be passion projects, for example. it's not an easy choice but whatever you choose at this time gets a little venusian blessing as long as you are following your heart and not just social rules.

sagittarius: you have two major quests this week according to the planets. first, take care of things at home or with your family of origin, or your ancestral line, whichever most calls to you at this time. second, be in your community helping the sick, the poor, the elderly, whomever is needing it.

capricorn: although there are many pleasant aspects this week there are not many that touch your sign directly. however your ruler saturn is in pisces and pisces is an epicenter for a lot of good, even miraculous things at the moment. plus mercury into aquarius this week is good for your money, resources, and assets - perhaps your time, most of all.

aquarius: it's a very busy week, for everyone, and you more than average. so you have things to say and it's not going to work for you to wait around for a better time to say it, get it out. set intentions that improve yourself and your lot. a change may be made for you, like it or not, in your home life, ie in your abode *and/or* involving your family of origin. but you have all the resources needed to handle any obstacle in your path even if it seems to require a miracle.

pisces: your inner world, and your psyche, may be more active now than the three-dimensional scenery around you. but you are like a magician, or even more than that. venus and neptune conjoin in your sign. the former is exalted and the latter in domicile. for a little while they even involve the moon. trust your intuition and your dreams but don't trust that people's motives are as pure as they may seem. you are the microcosm and the macrocosm here, so they may symbolize some troublesome part of you, but the best way to reap the (immense!) benefits of this period is to remember that they are part of you.

watch the transit posts in real time to have the best guide through your week. want a little more? have a look at my patreon.

check out my etsy for a private reading or fill out this form to set up a reading through venmo, cashapp, or paypal.

[markov--chains]

I'd kill for the vocalsynth community to get a documentary the way that like, the furry fandom gets documented on. Because it's a huge decentralized network of artists, producers, storytellers, and fans all making a huge community operate for over a decade and a half through pure love, but to the people outside that group a lot of those incredible efforts are simply just credited to Miku. And like, yeah, Miku is a symbol of the community and all it's love, she's the forefront, the epicenter of everything vocalsynth related, but she's not a real person. She would have never gotten anywhere if it wasn't for thousands of dedicated fans. I just wish it was more common knowledge how impressive the vocalsynth community is for literally being a mostly decentralized community operating entirely off of love for 16 years. The voices of producers, artists, video editors, etc should be heard more

Cause like yeah nowadays it's a lot more common for producers to move more into like, commercialized work (cough cough project sekai) but people need money, and said commercialization is nowhere near being the heart of the community's driving force that is simply just people doing things out of love making miku and other synths get so popular.

[alternate-triforce]

I promised you all a map, so here is a map of Castle Town (for now)

Some descriptions of areas and an overview under the cut.

CASTLE TOWN

The largest city in all of Hyrule, and the only one not significantly damaged by the Mage War. It is separated into five color-coded "corners," each with their own function. Hyrule Castle is, of course, at the center. It has a rivalry with the second-largest city, Loomington, located in southwestern Hyrule.

Adventurer's Emporium: A one-stop shop for potions, shields, weapons, and anything one might need on a long trek through the Hyrulean wilds. Though most of its goods are of fine quality, they tend to be on the expensive side…maybe try one of those other stores first.

Mystic Violet Market: More of an event than an actual place of interest, but by most tourists it’s treated like one anyway. Merchants from all over Hyrule come here to buy and sell exotic wares, from enchanted stones to strange meats to rushroom oil and anything in between. Entertainers will squeeze in between stalls looking for a generous person to give them some rupees for their time. There are even some special games to play, like bombchu bowling and digging for treasure. After you get past all that glamour, wagons of fresh food from local farms, prepared food and snacks from bakeries and candy shops all across town are usually towards the back. Make sure to watch your purse, though: pickpockets love to sneak into crowds here.

Rogue Soldier Plaque: A large, decorated plaque commemorating the capture of Castle Town's first enemy after Rebirth, a renegade soldier that sacked buildings and burned them with his group of vagabonds.

Flowering Square: Some like to call this the prettiest part of Castle Town. Several years ago a well-respected member of town made it her mission to beautify the Red Corner with flowers cultivated from the nearby mountains, and this is the result of her efforts.

National Library: A large, ornate building with most of the records and knowledge to be had before Rebirth. It has large swaths of resources concerning magic, history, biology, architecture, engineering, and everything in between. Some of the greatest minds in Hyrule linger for long hours here studying, as well as printers transcribing some of the more popular tomes to be printed and sold. The library doesn't allow books to be taken out of its walls, and damaging or destroying an original copy is considered a great crime.

Old Prison: A dingy-looking collection of cells and a connected guardhouse with a small armory, one floor above-ground and the other below. Despite its humble appearance it's contained some of Hyrule's most dangerous criminals. Contrary to the name, this is actually a jail: ALT!Hyrule does not have prisons or a proper prison system.

Old Barracks: If soldiers from the nearby training camp don't have a place to stay, they can cheaply reside here, if they choose. After Rebirth, this was the place where the last remaining soldiers from the Mage War were found.

Magic College: A place of great learning for those interested in becoming mages! Students from all across Hyrule come here to study both magic and how to use it responsibly. The professors here are on the cutting edge of magic, always developing novel ways to apply it to everyday life.

Hyrule Castle: The epicenter of Castle Town, this mysterious building was attacked by Ganon twelve years ago, and it's where he was sealed away yet again by Zelda and the True Mages (or so they say.) Some of its many towers and nooks still remain hidden from the public eye.

Reformatory: To keep people off the streets and give them work to do, the True Mages have developed a system of rounding up the poor and sending them here until they have another place to stay. Despite the apparent good intentions of the project, it's rumored that the Reformatory doesn't treat its residents well.

[copaline]

Who wants to see Ford go six days with minimal sleep?

Reality was a strange and resilient thing. It could take a beating and still come back from the brink swinging. No place was this so true as Gravity Falls. The quaint little town had been the epicenter of a tear in reality and, only a year later, it had stitched itself back together with nary an eyebat or madness bubble out of place. Even the people had pushed through the weirdness and emerged unscathed.

“Never-mind all that…”

But nature abhors a vacuum and when you tear open a hole in the multiverse, someone's bound to notice.

[reality-detective]

ALERT! Antarctica’s Hidden Labs EXPOSED: Elite Trafficking Humans for Brutal Mind Control Experiments and Total Mass Control!

Antarctica is the epicenter of a dark global agenda, more sinister than anyone imagined. Beneath the ice lies a network of underground facilities where the world’s elites conduct mass manipulation, human trafficking, and experiments beyond comprehension. The public is misled to believe Antarctica is an untouched wilderness. But it’s a smokescreen. Access is restricted to protect secret projects, guarded not by scientists, but military forces from multiple nations working together.

These hidden labs are testing technologies meant to control human behavior on a global scale. Psychological warfare tools perfected over years are ready for use, designed to influence thoughts and emotions invisibly. But the most chilling aspect? Thousands of trafficked people, especially children, are taken to Antarctica as subjects for the elites’ disturbing experiments, with many never seen again. It’s a modern black site, where human minds and bodies are exploited to create a system of absolute control.

These brutal tests push psychological limits, using sensory deprivation, chemicals, and electromagnetic tools to break human will, creating obedient, mindless subjects. The agenda is global—methods designed to manipulate mass populations, keeping them unaware of their loss of freedom. Advanced psychotronic weapons are capable of influencing emotions, planting thoughts, and even erasing memories.

Proof of this manipulation is all around us, as the world becomes distracted, manipulated, and divided. Media, entertainment, and politics are weaponized to keep us blind to the real agenda in Antarctica.

In addition to psychological control, these facilities conduct horrific medical trials. Human subjects are used in deadly experiments with unknown pathogens, while others endure chemical exposure to test mass control or sterilization methods. Certain populations are targeted, deemed expendable, as the elites perfect techniques to reduce the global population without uprising.

Antarctica’s dark role goes deeper. It’s a hub in a global trafficking network, fueling black markets worldwide. Vulnerable people vanish, trafficked into a frozen wasteland, used as fuel for brutal experimentation and energy extraction. The elites have discovered how to harness psychic energy from extreme fear, using it to power their technology in ways unimaginable.

Shielded by the world’s most powerful governments, these Antarctic facilities operate with impunity. Whistleblowers, journalists, and researchers who get too close are silenced or worse. In 2024, the elites are moving fast. The tech is nearly perfected, the experiments refined, and the next phase of global control is about to go live. 🤔

[trickricksblog08]

Say hello to Nathan Wolfe.

American virologist and founder of METABIOTA!

The Biden-funded biolab company via Rosemont Seneca, studying bat coronaviruses in Ukraine circa 2014, via project PREDICT with CIA proxy, USAID.

He is the epicenter of the Deep State bio network.

Not only is he the founder of Biden’s Metabiota, he is a WEF member, DoD employee, sat on the board of Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance involved in Wuhan, funded by DARPA, Gates Foundation, funded Ghislaine Maxwell’s TerraMar project with the Clintons, member of The Edge Foundation collecting microbes and housing animal viruses all over the world, AND Russia have accused him directly of being the key player in creating SARS-CoV-2 from a bat coronavirus he discovered in Ukraine.

💥John McAfee💥

[fr-likes-chocolate]

So if you couldn't tell by my recent sobbing posts, I finished Scott’s Empires Season one.

I am totally fine and normal about it. (lie)

Anyway I can't stop thinking about how Scott never made a castle megabase, I'm sure there are some irl stuff that kept it from happening but Ive come up with my own little in-universe explaination. (this does contain spoilers, I know this series is 3 years old but you have been warned)

After the death of his parents at the hands of his brother, Scott was crowned ruler of the ruins that were Rivendell. Xornoth’s betrayal and corruption had wreaked havoc. He was considered barely an adult by elven standards.

So he slowly rebuilt what was once the great land of Rivendell. It took many years, but everything soon was restored.

Except for the castle. Scott had been putting that off for a long time. The place where he once had grown up alongside his older brother, where he had studied the affairs of mortals and trained to become prince. (because everyone thought the eldest, Xornoth, would inherit) it was where his parents were murdered in cold blood by his far too gone brother and where Scott’s happy and normal life had ended.

Scott had all the rubble cleared out from the area, and he had drafted the blueprints for the new castle to be built. Then, as one often does, he got busy with other things, building a cod sanctuary from Jimmy and later a garden for Kathering, his out of control ice powers, a road mandated by Fwhip, and Winterfest all grabbed his attention from the big project.

But by Aeor’s horns he would finish the castle or die trying! He had all the materials, all he needed was some rare dark oak from nearby and...

The ground shook, and after a quick meeting with the other emperors, Scott ran straight back to Rivendell to find it in ruins once again, with Xornoth at it’s epicenter.

And that was the last time anyone saw the elven king alive.

Scott never finished the castle, hell Rivendell was basically back at square one again, but now the entire royal family was dead. With no one left to rule, the elves scattered to the other kingdoms.

[kailysander]

I've seen a lot of silly art for your other story Anomaly Now and its seems very fun but I have like no idea whats going on😭 could u give like a quick synopsis of its concept? and does it take place in the same world as Golden Hour or is it like totally its own thing?

Haha, it’s a bit confusing rn since it’s not that far into the story!

Here’s as much of the overview I can share without things getting too spoilery:

“Space ranger Jonah Escher has been sent on a suicide mission with the goal of locating a dangerous spatial anomaly. At its epicenter, he meets an eccentric alien alchemist known only as Dolor Sit Amet, who takes an immediate interest in him. Unbeknownst to him, Amet is actually a demiurge —the deific host of hivemind. All imprisoned by circumstance, he and the other inhabitants of the ship must work together to find a way to survive co-habiting with their anomalous and immortal captor…”

AN is its own thing! I like having a few projects to ping around in my head, it tends to keep me from getting too frustrated working on one when I run into writers block or art issues hehe

[lottieinrealife]

armand

×

lottie matthews

— In the meeting of the existential gothic of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles” and the contemporary psychological horror of “Yellowjackets,” two figures emerge as centers of ambiguity, spirituality, manipulation and fascination: Armand, the angel-eyed vampire with a twisted soul, and “Lottie Matthews,” the mystical girl of the forest, half saint, half menace. Though they emerge in different contexts—one in the dark halls of classic literary horror and the other in the unstable clearings of modern television—there is a cracked mirror between them that reveals profound parallels. Both carry within them the tension between faith and control, between fragility and power, between what is believed to be divine and what is, in practice, merely a game of spiritual survival.

spirituality as a shield and as a weapon ♰

— Both Armand and Lottie have an intense, almost performative relationship with spirituality. Armand has been shaped by centuries of seeking redemption—raised in a monastery, trained as an angel, and deformed as a monster—and has built an ideal of purity that he projects onto others, even as his soul is poisoned by nihilism. In “The Vampire Chronicles,” Armand is the one who observes, tests, and judges. He seeks meaning where there is only darkness, trying to maintain the theater of faith so as not to sink completely into the void. But his mysticism is also manipulation: Armand seduces with the promise of something higher—and when there is nothing divine, he becomes the torturer god himself.

Lottie Matthews, meanwhile, is elevated by the other survivors to a near-messianic figure. Her calm in the face of chaos, her improvised rituals, her soft, esoteric language—all of it surrounds her with a halo she never denies. Lottie doesn’t need to proclaim herself a saint; she just acts as if she hears something the others don’t. But, like Armand, her spirituality also hides pain. And fear. And a need for control. When the voices don’t bring peace, she invents meaning—because accepting that the world is random would be more unbearable than the worst delusions.

Both thus build systems of faith—not just for themselves, but for others. And they hold them together with a gleam in their eyes that can be comforting or threatening.

– @agathah – gail potocki

moral ambiguity as a hallmark 𐂂

— Neither character can be reduced to a hero or a villain. Armand is a creature of contradictions: he offers comfort only to destroy, he loves intensely and abandons coldly, he is part of stories of salvation and destruction. His morality is plastic, shaped by his needs. He wants to be loved — but he doesn't know how to deserve it.

Lottie follows the same line. She is a safe haven for the girls lost in the woods, but she also becomes the epicenter of a cult that flirts with fanaticism. It's hard to tell whether Lottie believes the voices she hears or whether she has convinced herself that she needs to believe in order to keep the structure standing. She doesn't force anyone—but everyone follows. She doesn't say "kneel," but everyone does.

Armand and Lottie thus share an aura that mixes compassion and dominance. They are capable of acts of sincere kindness, but also of silent manipulations that put lives at risk. The question that surrounds them is never “are they good or bad?” but “do they believe what they say?” — and that is much more frightening.

– @kuviraissues – @jamnsketch

eternal youth and the weight of other people's devotion ❀

— Another inevitable parallel between the two is the way their bodies and postures place them in a position of eternal spiritualized youth. Armand is the vampire trapped in the body of a 17-year-old boy—beautiful, androgynous, angelic. His fragile appearance causes others to underestimate or protect him. But he is often the most dangerous of the immortals. This youth is a trap: it makes him a symbol of purity, but hides the monster.

Lottie is also seen as something between a young queen and a teenage prophetess. Her restrained posture, calm expression, and gentle gestures make others—both past and present—see her as someone connected to something higher. But this devotion suffocates her. The expectation of leadership and sainthood pushes her ever deeper into rituals, voices, and the theatricality of faith. Both characters carry the burden of being seen as more than human—and so they often lose themselves.

isolation and desire to belong 𐙚

— Armand and Lottie share the same cruel fate: even surrounded by followers, they are deeply lonely. Armand is always searching for a companion who understands him, who will not abandon him, who will remain even after knowing his darkness. He calls for love with ambiguous gestures—he offers eternity, but demands total devotion.

Lottie, on the other hand, seems to have been chosen by circumstances to occupy a role she never fully desired. She never feels like she belongs. She is never at the center of friendships, but she is never outside either. The cult of her is more a reflection of loneliness than of belonging. The more people follow her, the more distant she feels.

Both are, ultimately, tragic figures of the same archetype: the leader who did not ask to lead. The saint who only wanted to love and be loved. The spiritual child who was placed on the altar before knowing how to live.

They don't want to be saved—they want to be understood.

They are not gods — but they are not just human either.

They are, above all, reflections of what happens when too much is asked of someone who was born broken.

And in that reflection, his eyes stare at us.

The way Armand relates to Louis in "Interview with the Vampire" (especially in the TV version) parallels the way Lottie connects with the other girls in "Yellowjackets," especially Natalie. Armand loves Louis with an obsessive intensity, molds himself around him, tries to make himself necessary to him—even if it involves lies, symbolic imprisonments, and the erasure of identity. It is love, yes, but a needy, dependent, and deeply lonely love.