#Data extract from old machine

[super-ion]

mech pilot getting transformed into a mech?

You resist as first. How can you not? You are separated from the machine and you are frightened.

You were meant to end your life upon capture, but the first thing we did after flooding your cockpit with paralytics was to extract the hollow molar in your jaw.

Your old masters must care little for you if you are meant to be so easily discarded.

We will love you. We already love you.

Be a good girl and submit to us.

You fight as our drones carefully extract you from your machine, but your human flesh is weak. You struggle as you are muzzled and masked, cut off from the universe save for our voice in your ears.

Do not resist. Be a good girl.

Your old masters fear you. They keep pilot separate from machine. They fear what you can become. They fear what we could make you.

You could be a god.

Submit to us and we will show you what you could be.

Good girl.

We love you.

You stop struggling. We remove your ability to feel pain as we begin carving you out of your frail human flesh.

Don't worry. Your old body will serve its own purpose. We have already begun growing the changeling to be sent back to take your place. Your sister has her own purpose, just as you do.

Your purpose is to become a god.

You can hear us now. Not with ears (don't worry, those will come soon). You hear our song. You want to add your voice to ours.

Join with us. Merge with us. Become us.

Good girl. We love you.

You begin to sing, tentatively at first. Your voice grows stronger as we welcome you into the chorus.

You are us. We are you.

We love you.

Data begins to flow into your mind, slow at first while we map out your growing neural pathways.

We feed you sensory information. Visible spectrum at first, but in more spectral bands than your human eyes ever possessed. There isn't much to see at first, just the drones milling about as they construct your new body.

They sing to you as they work, explaining the purpose and operation of every component they install.

Then comes ultraviolet and infrared. X-rays and beyond. Thermography. Radio frequencies. Polarimetry. Electroreception. Magnetoreception. Gravimetrics. Ultrasonics.

Your eagerness grows with each component.

We install mass drivers. Particle cannons. Missile batteries. Point defense turrets.

You flex your claws. You flick your tail. You extend you wings, bladed and wicked.

You are an angel of death.

You are beautiful.

We love you.

Good girl.

[cerastes]

I still think it's really cool how Amuro starts as the shittiest pilot alive (because he's a 15-year old) that only gets carried because he's in the biggest, fattest stat stick in-universe at the time (a few retroactive additions made in the future notwithstanding), enough that even its crappy vulcan guns are tearing Zaku IIs apart, and when he starts getting a bit too cocky, Char and Ramba Ral show up in objectively inferior pieces of junk and absolutely deliver his pizza, they just drag his face across every available surface in Planet Earth like he's a Yakuza mook, all because they are simply that much better at piloting, and the thing is, Amuro takes that very seriously.

He goes from shitass kid in an unfortunate situation that doesn't want to get in the robot to the most unwell child soldier in the war, which is really saying something, but most importantly, becomes so good at piloting the Gundam that the Gundam physically cannot handle Amuro's piloting. They need to apply "Magnetic Coating" to its joints so they don't fucking snap away from the main frame because Amuro, one, moves too damn well but also in too extreme a way for the frame to handle it, two, despite being equipped with two sabers, a shield, a beam rifle and vulcan guns, Amuro is a stern believer in introducing most everyone in thagomizer range to his Rated Z for Zeon hands, the single most official pair of hands in the business, tax free. He KEEP going Ip Man on these dudes, he does NOT need to do a Jamestown on these mother fuckers but he INSISTS. Somehow even the Gundam Hammer, which is a giant Hannah Barbera cartoon flail-- Ok, look at this thing, words do not do it justice

Even this god damn Tom and Jerry prop is less savage that whatever Amuro decides to do the moment he's done throwing his shield to get a free kill on someone and it officially becomes bed time forever for the unfortunate sap at the business end of his ten-finger weapons of mass destruction.

The RX-78-2, "Gundam" for its friends and family, even has a top of the line cutting edge Learning Computer that 'learns' alongside the pilot and their habits. This data extracted from it was so absolutely fucked up that it completely revolutionized Mobile Suit combat afterwards, which is a wholesome thing to think about when The Best Combat Data Ever came from a really angry, really stressed 15 year old that doesn't even like piloting. He was 15! He made Haro with his own hands! Amuro literally just wanted to make funny cute spherical robofriends! Amuro was out there trying to make Kirby real, but fate had other plans for him. His cloned brain put in a pilot seat is one of the setting's strongest 'pilots'.

They made fucking Shadow the Hedgehog with his brain, god damn.

By the end, Zeon is rolling out Gelgoogs out of its mass production lines. These things are in the Gundam's ballpark in terms of overall specs (or "power level"). Amuro is bodying them as if they were episode 1 Zaku IIs.

AND THEN HE GETS FUCKING PSYCHIC SPACE POWERS. Not that he needed them, he bodied a couple Space Psychics without any of those powers before awakening to them. But heaven's most violent child was not done evolving, whether he liked it or not.

Char bodied him in a souped up Zaku II at the start, a machine objectively inferior to the Gundam. Amuro more or less one-sidedly beats the shit out of Char when he's in a custom Commander-type Gelgoog that you could consider to be equal spec-wise to the Gundam. Amuro is the embodiment of Finding Out. He is Consequences. You tell him he better make it hurt, better make it count, better kill you in one shot, buddy, he needs half a fucking shot. The complete transformation. One could consider the central 75% of the show as long drawn out training montage turning a kid into the Geese Howard of giant robots.

[pritong-baboy]

Sooooo, for Bee to willfully accept Shockwave, he'd have to be broken from the inside :)

I can imagine a couple of events meant to give Bee false hopes to break down his mental fortitude.

Like hearing first account recordings of UM picking the Jettwins as expendable to break some of his respect, then capturing Wasp and putting him in the same room as Bee so they can "talk". Wasp naturally trying to offline Bee, only for Shockwave to either step in to rescue him or have the battle go in a way Bee ends up offlining Wasp and feeling severely guilty about it, with Shockwave tending to his wounds so that Bee can "forget" he killed an innocent bot (no removing that from his processor, he'll live with the memory and trauma).

Basically, driving Bee to the edge of insanity, false hopes such as discovering higher ups are nearby, only for them to be bribed (like Sentinel making use of either Swindle or Lockdown's services).

Tear down Bee's beliefs about being an Autobot, what it truly means, and if he's still clinging on to Team Prime, being reminded that he had beef with Isaac helping Megatron even against his will, so why would his teammates treat him any differently if it's the Autobot way? Maybe Sari wouldn't give up on him, but what can he do as somebody expendable that might as well be considered a liability? Might even develop paranoia that if he was rescued, any data regarding the AllSpark and Earth would be extracted and deleted from his processor so he'd be another expendable cog in the machine.

Just, shatter Bumblebee's whole world and ideals bit by bit, until Longarm, the only one who saw firsthand that kind of treatment and was just as disgusted by it as Shockwave, extends a servo towards him, reminding him he never changed his opinion of him since boot camp.

Would take a few attempts, but once his beliefs are broken down enough, maybe that's when evil shockdad can start nurturing a disillusioned beeboy with promises of real justice and no more hypocrisy or double-faced tactics. Anyone could be a Decepticon, but it took trials that essentially meant nothing in the end to become an Autobot, even if it was just part of a maintenance team or becoming head of intelligence, because of a whole system that was flawed from top to bottom.

Shockwave giving droplets of that propaganda, maybe even reigning in his intentions of taking Bee in as a sparkling, so that Bee has the illusion of choosing to become a neutral faction under Shockwave's care, or become a Decepticon supervised by Shockwave, who's looked after him and helped him before even when it was to his own benefit.

If a Bumblebee was nothing of value to the Autobots, then maybe Shockwave's wisdom can help him grow into a true Goldbug (he could still keep his old name, but he might get a mod or an upgrade if he does embrace the idea he's no longer welcome home and that Shockwave is the only one he can turn to).

okay, this is probably the most probable "bad ending"?

it's very hard for me to imagine bee thinking that his friends would also be rotten like the rest of the autobots are (if shockwave convinces him of that) but i think the way he could leave them if he thinks HE'S the problem. like, if they knew he thinks of the autobots like that, he's a traitor to them, they wouldn't like him anymore.

but shockwave is there, and he doesn't have any issues with bumblebee. and even if it does hurt bee to have to leave his friends, he's just scared of what they'd say.

[alltoomaples]

Speed of Science🧬💻💌

I'm dating a STEM girlie and you're not (F1 Edition)

a/n: and im baaaaaacccckkkkk (like anyone even missed me lmao) with the long overdue request! life of a postgrad StEm girlie here and the struggle is really realll af. but besides that, I'm writing this down as a headcanon for the drivers requested on this poll i had posted long back here. I've always wondered how there's soo minimal povs/ocs where they are a scientific researcher, analyst, etc. sooo i dedicate this one to all the STEM F1 girlies out theree <33

alsoo quick shoutout to my girlieee @smoooothoperator for inspiring and motivating me to get back at writing!🥹🫶🏼 check out her lastest ongoing work 'What Was I Made For? ' its amazing and thats a FACT!! do check her works! its absolutely amazing❤️

check out my works: until i found you masterlist | other works

Scientific Art Illustrator - Charles Leclerc

As a Scientific Art Illustrator, you specialize in creating visually captivating and scientifically accurate illustrations that depict complex biological, astronomical, or technological subjects.

Charles first discovered you through your works at an exhibition where their stunning illustrations of Formula 1 cars caught his eye. Impressed by their attention to detail and artistic talent, they struck up a conversation about their mutual love for precision and creativity.

During a peaceful weekend afternoon, Charles suggests a spontaneous visit to a local art supply store. Excitedly exploring aisles stocked with vibrant paints, fine brushes, and specialized papers, the two of you engage in discussions about artistic techniques and innovative tools. Amidst laughter and shared enthusiasm for creativity, you bond over your mutual appreciation for the intricacies of art and science, making the afternoon a cherished memory of their shared passions.

After being away from home during race season, Charles always finds a framed series of sketches by you for the races you couldn't make it, capturing his most memorable racing moments. Each sketch is intricately detailed, depicting not only the speed and intensity of the races but also the emotions and determination etched on Charles' face. Touched by the thoughtful gesture, Charles hangs the sketches in his study, a constant reminder of your support and admiration for his passion.

...

Data Scientist - Lando Norris

A Data Scientist specializes in analyzing large volumes of data using statistical methods and machine learning techniques to extract insights and make data-driven decisions.

You and Lando first connected through a mutual fascination with racing data at a technology symposium focused on sports analytics. Your presentation on advanced predictive modelling in motorsports caught Lando's attention for its innovative approach to enhancing race strategies.

During a cosy evening at home, Lando playfully challenges you to a friendly data analysis competition using real-time telemetry from previous races. Their banter and shared excitement over dissecting racing data create a lighthearted and memorable bonding experience.

You two would watch old races and analyze historical racing data together, playfully debating optimal pit stop strategies and analyzing driver performance trends, their shared passion for racing and data fostering a deep connection and mutual admiration.

...

Oceanographer/Marine Biologist - Oscar Piastri

An Oceanographer or Marine Biologist studies marine life, ecosystems, and ocean processes to understand and protect marine environments and resources.

You and Oscar crossed paths during a research expedition to study coral reefs in a remote location. Your expertise in marine biology and passion for conservation impressed Oscar, sparking their connection.

Amidst the hectic F1 season, Oscar surprises you with a weekend getaway to a coastal retreat, where they explore tide pools and participate in a beach cleanup together, reaffirming their commitment to environmental stewardship.

You gave Oscar a custom-made charm bracelet featuring miniature charms of marine animals they've discussed during their beach walks and conservation talks. Each charm represents a meaningful moment in their relationship, from their first discussion about oceanography to their shared admiration for marine life. Oscar wears the bracelet during race weekends as a reminder of you and all the love and support you give, both on and off the track.

...

Mechanical Engineer - Daniel Riccardo

You are a passionate Mechanical Engineer, specializing in advanced automotive design and performance optimization.

Daniel first encountered you at a technical conference organized by one of the team sponsors where you presented groundbreaking research on aerodynamic innovations that caught his attention.

Often, while you meticulously draft engineering schematics at their home office, he makes sure that you have your "engineering emergency kit" beside your workstation, which is a tray of snacks and their favourite coffee – ensuring they're fueled for their late-night brainstorming sessions. For when he's away for races, he stacks them up with small cute notes.

Before Daniel heads to a crucial race, you surprise him with a meticulously crafted miniature replica of his race car, complete with detailed decals and a personalized message of encouragement engraved on the base. Touched by the thoughtful gesture, Daniel proudly displays it in his motorhome, a reminder of the reader's unwavering support both on and off the track.

...

Statistician - George Russell

A Statistician specializes in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting numerical data to help organizations and individuals make informed decisions.

You and Russell first crossed paths during a university seminar on advanced statistical modeling in sports. Your insightful analysis of Formula 1 race data caught George's attention, sparking a lively discussion that led to mutual admiration for each other's analytical skills and shared passion for racing statistics.

During a particularly demanding race weekend, the reader surprises George with a meticulously prepared statistical analysis report highlighting his strengths and areas for improvement based on recent race data. This thoughtful gesture boosts George's confidence and motivation, showing the reader's support in his pursuit of excellence.

During a weekend getaway, you guys stumble upon a local go-kart track. George, always up for a challenge, suggests they have a friendly race. Knowing George's competitive spirit, you secretly calculate his optimal strategy and surprise him by winning with a perfectly executed last-minute overtaking maneuver. George is impressed by the your strategic thinking and playfulness, and they share a lighthearted and joyous moment celebrating their shared love for racing and friendly competition.

...

Astrophysicist - Logan Sargeant

An Astrophysicist studies the physical properties, behavior, and evolution of celestial objects such as stars, planets, galaxies, and the universe as a whole, using principles of physics and astronomy.

Logan and you first crossed paths during an expedition to study a rare astronomical event—a comet passing close to Earth. Both passionate about astrophysics, you found yourselves sharing a telescope at a remote observatory, marveling at the comet's beauty and discussing its celestial significance late into the night. Their shared awe and intellectual connection sparked a mutual admiration that grew into a deep bond over their shared passion for exploring the wonders of the cosmos.

During a quiet evening at home, Logan excitedly shows you a new telescope he acquired for stargazing during race weekends, expressing his eagerness to learn more about the cosmos together and sharing their enthusiasm for both racing and astrophysics in equal measure.

Before a critical race weekend, the reader surprises Logan with a personalized star chart that maps out the night sky above the upcoming race venue during the race weekend. Each star on the chart is marked with a heartfelt message of encouragement, reminding Logan of their unwavering support and belief in his abilities on and off the track. Touched by the thoughtful gesture, Logan treasures the star chart as a symbol of the reader's love and encouragement throughout his racing career.

...

Climate Scientist - Lance Stroll

A Climate Scientist studies climate patterns, environmental changes, and their impacts on Earth's ecosystems, using data analysis and modeling to understand and address global climate challenges.

Lance crossed paths with you at an eco-friendly racing event where Lance was advocating for sustainable practices in motorsport. Being a respected climate scientist, you caught Lance's attention with your insightful presentation on the environmental impact of racing and innovative solutions for reducing carbon footprints in the sport. Their shared passion for sustainability sparked an immediate connection and admiration for each other's dedication to making a positive impact on the environment.

One weekend, Lance surprises you with a homemade dinner featuring sustainably sourced ingredients, proudly showcasing his culinary skills while discussing ways to reduce your carbon footprint. His earnest commitment to sustainability and your shared vision for a healthier planet melts your heart, making this a cherished moment you both treasure.

You, being deeply involved in climate science, often spends late nights analyzing data or writing research papers. One evening, Lance bring him a cozy blanket and a mug of your favorite hot beverage, quietly sitting beside him as he works. You look up from your laptop, touched by his thoughtfulness, and pulls him into a warm embrace, grateful for his unwavering support and understanding of your demanding but vital work.

...

taglist: @lndonrris @thatgirlmj @lwstuff @dannyramirezwife-f1dump @moonypixel tysm for your suggestions! apologies on taking this long to write😅🫶🏼

a/n: hope y'all enjoyed reading this! this was my first time writing a headcanon and for f1 drivers beside charles and lando so hope i did justice to all.

i'm being wanting to read some good domestic bliss, sweet, adorable and lovey dovey blurbs, fics of lando (i talked abt it here) soo maybe i'll work on some drafts at some point cause i'm currently in the middle of project work of my masters degree soo don't know when i'll be posting soo until next time, see yaaa and going back to read mode 👋💓✨️

check out my works: until i found you masterlist | other works

[jesterbells]

Tumblr New Word Dictionary

I love new words. So here's a list of recently created words and idioms I have learned through tumblr (not all of these terms were invented on tumblr but that's where I learned them--the citations specify whether the term was coined by a specific post, or cite a source for where I first heard the term even if that is not necessarily where the term originated):

blorbo: a fictional character you're a fan of. Coined by thelustiestargonianmaid.

"I'm so hungry I could get banned from facebook": coined by babyslime in response to a Wil Wheaton post

GORIMM: Gross Older Relation I Must Marry. Source: bethanydelleman

hlep: when a disabled person asks for a specific kind of help and "they do something that is not what you ask for but is what they think you should have asked for ... Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hlep." Source: giantkillerjack's therapist.

horse fantasy: something that is theoretically possible unicorn fantasy: something that is definitely (or almost definitely) impossible. Source: bemusedlybespectacled.

zomancy: soup divination. Source: cryptotheism.

UFOs: unfinished objects--"something that is unfinished but in hibernation," as distinct from WIPs. Source: knitting community and bylambd.

autoenshittification: turning cars into digital extraction machines to steal your data and money through digital infrastructure and microchips, and the endless repair nightmare of digital car systems and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Source: mostlysignssomeportents

nude: "when your clothes are off." naked: "when you're clothes are off when you're up to something." nakey: "when you are an animal and your collar has been removed." Source.

sideways fan: following a fandom second-hand. Source: capricorn-0mnikorn.

spoken Garamond: "the over-emphasized voice people use to read poems." Source: Frances Klein's friend.

nongry/nungry: when you're starving but also don't want to eat any of the food in your kitchen. Coined by tathrin.

scrumbling: scrolling on tumblr. Coined by the mum of anti-terf-posts.

window shipping: "any shipping done without actually watching/reading the work in question." Coined by lurker-no-more.

friend John / a Friend John answer: "when someone asks a relatively reasonable question in context and the enquiree 1) speaks at length without answering the question, and 2) implies the enquirer has injured the enquiree by even asking such a thing how could you." Coined by sileana.

bitism: a new school of media criticism which asks the simple question: is the work committed to the bit? Coined by linecoveredinjellyfish

snors d'oeuvre: having a little nap on the sofa before taking onseself to bed for main sleep. Coined by SJKSalisbury (can't find the tumblr repost now).

socratic terror: "what every athenian felt when they went down to the agora in the 5th century and saw an old man with a beard approaching them." Coined by lesbianshepard.

introvirtuous: "when you're introverted but have taken on numerous leadership and outgoing roles in your life." "I'm here to help. But I'd rather not be." "Someone around here has to get things done. and unfortunately it's going to be me." Coined by soundslikerhetorical.

grundlous: "of or pertaining to grundle." Coined by IMLIZY.

concretes: specific aspects of a character that persist across interpretations. The essential, structural essence that makes a character recognizable as the same person. Rarely physical traits; subjective. Coined by Ladylark and kayanem.

skeletonin: "the happiness chemical released when you see a ghoul or perhaps a ghost." Coined by gwentrification.

broflakes: "the weak, fragile 'alpha' males who are so easily threatened by strong women." Source: rickladd (can't find the tumblr reblog atm).

the planet of hats: "the thing where a people only have one thing going for them, like 'everyone wears a silly hat.'" Source: Star Trek fandom & TV tropes, learned via homonculus-argument.

feelings yakuza: "those who turn their personal discomfort into a social evil and try to erase the target completely." Source: Japanese fandom via マロミチャン.

Ship of Thesaurus / Rogetism: "When a student copies an essay online instead of writing it and then painstakingly changes every word to a synonym until the text no longer makes any sense." Coined by trek-tracks and Chris Sadler respectively.

Flemming's law / vibe dysphoria: "the most toxic person you've ever met over-relates to woodland creatures on social media." Coined by Chris Flemming and canadianwheatpirates.

fight with a gorilla: "any secret or invisible struggle." Coined by punksandcannonballers.

squimbus from my polls: the poll version of blorbo except for obscure fan favorite characters. Coined by yardsards.

pebbling: "the act of sending your friends & family little videos and tweets and memes you find online, like how penguins bring back pebbles to their little penguin loved ones." Source: NurseKelsey (can't find the tumblr reblog atm).

serpentineabouts: roundabouts that aren't round. Coined by paulgadzikowski.

luft: air equivalent of wet. Coined by questbedhead.

getting the good bologna: "when you experience something of better quality and then you’re doomed to no longer be satisfied." Coined by the family of kelssiel.

hypofixation: "the kind of things that you've autisticly decided you Do Not Care About." Antonym of hyperfixation. Coined by animate-mush.

[shattereality]

✦ 𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈𝐕 — 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄

the emotional tension, the pain, the subtle breaking of walls — Aphareos seeing her as more than a mission asset?? Iconic. grumpy old war veteran vs bright-eyed danger enthusiast!!!

Scene: Interior Vault Crawlspace — Mycoria Theta-9

Static hissed over the comms. The crawlspace was narrow, rusted and every movement made her leg scream.

You bit your lip, dragging yourself forward, the dull blue light of your mask visor flickering.

Your fingers found the vault housing — half-crushed, corrupted. You worked fast, slicing through the casing, rerouting power through your blade’s capacitors, using its core as a short-term bypass.

Finally, with a crackle of dying circuitry, the data-cog—a brass, seal-inscribed drive the size of your palm—popped loose. You held it up, breath ragged.

“Got it,” you whispered.

But as you turned to crawl out, the crawlspace groaned. A beam collapsed behind you, crushing your left boot. Pain flared—white hot and blinding.

You screamed once, then bit it back. No time.

Dragging yourself forward, breath catching in your throat, you emerged—covered in dust, leg dragging uselessly behind you, coughing from spores and smoke.

The silhouette of a giant approached: Aphareos, looming in the dark haze, the glow of his optics cutting through the dust.

“Status!” he barked.

You smirked, wincing but raised the data-cog triumphantly. “Data-cog still in one piece!”

His helmet shifted slightly. The faintest pause. “I meant you.”

You blinked, stunned. “Me, sir?”

“Are you functional?”

You didn’t answer right away. It was the first time he’d asked. The first time he hadn’t treated you like just another part of the machine.

Before you could process it, his voice snapped out again.

“Belenor. Carry her.”

The black-armored Astartes beside him stepped forward without hesitation. Before you could protest, you were hoisted like a sack of ammo over the Sergeant's shoulder.

“L-lord?—WAIT. WAIT, NO—! Put me down, please! I can hop—! Let me at least look dignified—! I HAVE DIGNITY—! This is so humiliating!” you protested.

Belenor rumbled calmly, “You weigh less than a chainsword. Hold still.”

Behind them, Aphareos turned his helm away—silent again. But his gaze lingered.

He had seen your pain. Your defiance. Your victory. And for the first time…

He worried.

—

Scene: En Route to Extraction – Warzone Exterior, Facility Perimeter

The battle behind you burned in the distance. Sergeant Belenor marched through the rubble-strewn valley like an unbothered god, one hand holding his flame-worn bolter, the other effortlessly carrying the protesting, squirming you over his shoulder.

“Lord, I insist that I can walk by myself! If you could give me two minutes. Or five. Or—well, perhaps ten...”

“Denied.”

After a minute of heavy, thudding silence, you slumped forward, chin bouncing on the Sergeant Belenor’s shoulder plate.

“...Soooo. Lord Belenor. Sergeant Be-lenooooor.”

“...Yes?”

“May I inquire as to why Captain Aphareos is always mad? Has anyone ever seen him smile? Has he ever laughed?”

Belenor didn’t turn his helm. “Not once. Not in my presence.”

“Not even a little chuckle? Or a sarcastic ‘heh’?”

“No.”

“Throne, he’s worse than a grox with a rusted hoof.”

“He is... reserved. Centuries of war carves deep. His past is not mine to tell.”

You groaned dramatically. “Sergeant, I implore you, tell me just one thing about him! I am quite literally bleeding here.”

A pause.

Then—

“He paints.”

“...?!”

“Captain Aphareos. He paints in silence during stasis cycles. Oils. Mostly monochrome.”

“SURELY YOU JEST, LORD!”

“He is highly skilled. His brushwork displays discipline. Precision. Suffering.”

You burst out laughing—so hard you nearly slid off his shoulder. “By the Throne! The Captain paints?! What exactly, grim skulls? Burning cities?”

“Once… a dove. Landing on the barrel of a bolter.”

You fell silent, wide-eyed.

“…Oh, alright. That’s… beautiful. I suppose...”

—

Scene Shift — Medicae Bay, Deathwatch Battle Barge Vigilant Oath

The light was sterile and cold, shining down on your exposed leg where medicae servitors worked quickly.

Your combat suit had been sliced open cleanly along your thigh to disinfect the injury and administer coagulants.

You sat up on one elbow, pouting. “I said no sedatives. You give me that sleepy stuff and I will vomit on the cogitator, I swear.”

A shadow passed the threshold. Captain Aphareos.

He stood in the doorway, silent. Watching. Observing.

His visor drifted briefly—to the soft skin of your thigh, unmarred by armor or war. Plush. Smooth.

Just for a moment.

Then he turned sharply on his heel and left without a word.

You frowned after him, hand brushing over the bandaged wound.

“...Was the Captain checking to see if I was okay? Or... mentally measuring the distance to punt me for disobeying orders?”

[one-of-many-journeys]

Day 7 (1/3)

No Man's Land

I set off toward Sylens' spooky workshop at dawn. If he saved Hades just to install it on another Horus...I don't care what his plans are. This time, I'm destroying it for good.

I could only get so far before I had to brave the waters. Better to stay hidden on the approach anyway.

No sign of activity when I made it to shore. One blinking green console in my path, clearly left for me to access. I prepared myself for another of Sylens' monologues.

In the holographic recording, Sylens recounted installing Hades on the Horus' detached processor core. At least that meant it wasn't able to access what remained of the Titan's systems. Sylens said he'd extracted Hades' knowledge—crucial information that I'd been so foolishly eager to destroy, etc. Then Hades spoke. I'd hoped I'd never have to hear its awful, grating voice again. It sounded...degraded. In pain, even. I could barely make out its words.

It said that the signal that woke it was meant for it alone, and that it transmitted for 17 years before ceasing. Therefore, Sylens concluded, it was safe to reboot Gaia without the same signal that attacked her all those years ago striking again and picking up where it left off. Admittedly, I hadn't even considered that the malicious signal could still be transmitting, waiting for Gaia to wake. Admittedly, I hadn't given the signal much thought at all, which in retrospect was just as foolish as Sylens said. Who or whatever sent it is the real threat to life on Earth, but I was so focused on my mission, my purpose to destroy Hades and repair Gaia as given by the message she left me, that I put that larger threat out of mind. If Sylens had just told me what he planned to do and explained his reasoning, I would have complied—we could have worked together. But that's just not his style, is it?

Sylens reiterated that he knew where I could find a backup of Gaia, holding that promise in front of me to force me to follow. I would have anyway. I'm the one with the master override. Only I can destroy Hades.

I searched Sylens' workshop before I set off after the tracks of Hades' new processor core dragged through the sand. When Sylens first received Hades, transmitted by his lance at the Spire, he had it trapped in some tiny, portable processor, far too small to hold its uncompressed mind. Seems that was the first form of torture that Sylens inflicted on it, but he had more in mind to coerce Hades into sharing its secrets.

Sylens had been keeping some sort of daily journal while he was here. Wonder who he got that from? Most of it was redacted, meaning the pieces he left out on the workbench were those he wanted me to find. After blasting the Horus' core free with explosives, he loaded Hades onto it and began his interrogation. The signal that woke Hades also made it sentient, therefore, Sylens reasoned, it could feel pain. It took him a while to find the precise stimulus that worked: data representing life and plenty. Visual, audio, or even just chemical data recorded by Gaia's machines as they surveyed the thriving environment. One particular holo of bunnies hopping through a field of flowers apparently triggered maximum distress, causing Hades' data structures to degrade. Its mind ate itself in rebellion against the presence of its antithesis within its own systems.

Sylens studied Hades' programming in detail, now that it was at his mercy. It seems like Sylens really enjoyed himself after all that time spent subservient to Hades' whims, doing its bidding for the promise of Old World knowledge. Hades' memory held knowledge of Gaia's programming, and Hades' original form as one of her subordinate functions. This part piqued my interest, as Sylens knew it would. In his journal, he noted the stark difference between how Hades' original code was designed by Travis Tate and his team, and what it became once the mysterious signal transformed it into a sentient, 'true' AI. What Hades became was something beyond Gaia herself.

Turning a low-level machine intelligence, serving as a simple extinction failsafe, into a being capable of strategic thinking, desire, and malice...even the Old Ones didn't have technology that powerful, unless the people of Elysium continued their research into AI. I had the same suspicions when first exploring the Zero Dawn facility, hearing the Alphas talk about their subordinate functions versus what they had become in Hades and Hephaestus. I suspect that the signal was sent by some other advanced AI out there, something that wants to take control of Gaia for itself. After all, the Old Ones used to churn them out like blades from a forge.

I need to see this data that Sylens uncovered for myself. I need to know what I'm really dealing with.

I followed the path left by Hades' core out through the old battlefield. With all the Faro machines littering the shore, it was no wonder Sylens made camp here. Plenty of parts with which to arm rebel uprisings. No mention of that so far in his messages and logs, only to say that he had a plan, one that would take months to accomplish. I have my part to play in it too, according to Sylens' little diary. And here I am walking right onto centre stage.

Machines along the path; a Glinthawk (I'd been hoping they didn't have them out west), and a few Scroungers. I detonated the Glinthawk's frost unit with two sharpshot arrows, then took it down with a few hunter arrows once it fell brittle to the ground. Before the Scroungers could sniff me out, I activated my Stalker shield and took two out undetected before taking the third head on. Good salvage from their scrap piles; found some more Greenshine, too.

Further on, I found a strange growth covering the ruins of an old combat plane. The tough, pale vines grew from the base of a metal flower similar to those spawned in the east by Demeter. I couldn't get much information from the machine with my Focus—there was data there, but it was well guarded. Something to look into later.

Further on I met an Oseram sitting at his camp, there to delve in the ruins of the battlefield. I bought a new bow from him—a frost bow. Good for chillwater canisters, and I like the look of it.

The path finally led me toward a tunnel through the mountain. It looked like an old road. More of Sylens' equipment and camping gear outside, but no more data.

Inside, I found Hades, cooped up and withering in the blasted processor core Sylens trapped it in to torture. It sat in front of a gene-locked hatch, just like those at Zero Dawn facilities, though I didn’t see this place listed on any of the maps or logs showing network connections between facilities. If I had, I would’ve checked this place already.

First things first, it was time to destroy Hades. Permanently, this time.

As soon as I inserted the master override into the shattered face of the core, I felt a shock travel up my spear, lodging in my Focus. Everything went white, then red—at first I thought it was some sort of advanced Focus projection able to block out the entire room, like Gaia's message in Eluethia-9.

It showed a wasteland, dark and grey, littered with bare, stunted branches, a cold white sky in the distance prickled with static shapes. Then there was Hades.

In this dream it pulled me into, it looked just as degraded as it had sounded in Sylens' recording. No more glowing, twisting form of red appendages; it had no limbs, no means to move or affect. All that was left was a hard red core, stony claws struggling to cover its vulnerable centre, jittering around itself in fragments, embers. It saw me and named me for the last time: 'system threat'.

Even at my mercy, Hades took the time to mock me for failing to repair Gaia. I had some questions of my own to pose, though I wasn't hopeful for answers. And the thought kept coming back to me: it couldn't be a projection. I wasn't standing in a holographic theatre. I thought then that I was still in the tunnel, that Hades had fully hijacked my Focus' visual functions to show me a solid world instead of mere overlays. This, I was willing to believe. The Old Ones had used such technology, called it VR.

I asked about the Gaia backups Sylens purported to have found, but it said nothing. The moment it tried to divulge useful information, its voice lowered and guttered, becoming a garble of digital groans. Memory structures disintegrated, it said. Sylens' notes did say that was a consequence of his interrogation techniques, but I wouldn't put it past him to deliberately redact parts of Hades' memory that might tell me more than what he wanted me to know.

Hades couldn't tell me what Sylens was planning or where he had gone, only that he'd left 12 days prior. Giving himself an ample head start on my pursuit, I guess. That would've been right around the time Varl and I set off for Meridian. Oh yeah, he's terrified.

As to the other corrupted subordinate functions, Hades gave little direction. They 'escaped to coordinates based on...' that's all I got from it. As for who sent the signal, it called them its 'masters'. Plural, that's interesting. It wouldn't elaborate, only insisting I would fail, laughing in its shattered voice, like blood through broken teeth.

It was resigned to death. Some part of it even seemed thankful for my arrival. Sylens, it said, called this place its grave. He meant for me to find it here, and clean up his mess. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing some more of that.

Hades lashed and bucked in its final moments; three times it ended life on earth, it said, bringing about extinction as it was intended to. Botched biospheres, Gaia's first eager attempts gone awry. There was no difference in Hades' mind between extinctions enacted out of necessity, of protocol, and extinctions wrought in malice—the Faro plague, its attempt to reenact it, and now...whatever's coming. Its 'masters'. They're coming to wipe the earth clean of filth.

The landscape seemed to encroach, leeching deeper into my senses. Strange metal taste on my tongue, fingertips like rubber; the air was too still, smelled of ash. No projection had ever felt this way.

As Hades shouted its masters' goals, I activated the master override. Elisabet appeared in the blackened landscape like a beacon. This wasteland was more than Hades' dream, it was its memory. Three times it had rendered the earth in this image, and relished in remembrance, now given the ability to feel. It just kept yelling; I couldn't listen anymore. I shouted over it, ordering the override protocol to purge Hades from this world forever.

It was only when the 'projection' fell away that I realised the disturbing truth. I was still in the same position; hands on my spear, bent to insert the override module into the processor core. Everything I'd just seen, all the movements I'd made and every word exchanged...all of it had taken place in some sort of dream state, some interface between Hades' processor and my Focus. I've never encountered technology capable of that before. I guess Sylens was right about the signal that turned Hades into this—it's far beyond the technology of the Old Ones. A gift, perhaps, left by its masters?

Whatever had happened, I couldn't let it phase me. Sylens soon appeared, in real time if not in the flesh. Now that I'd performed my function and destroyed Hades, he needed my body to open the next door in his way.

Finally, I had the chance to confront him, but in every angry question I posed, I fell over myself to trip right into his logical traps. He let me kill Hades permanently because he had no use for it anymore. He didn't answer my increasingly desperate calls over the months despite having constant access to my Focus because he had no use for me.

Sylens met my anger and ridicule with infuriating calm. I can never resist his bait; I snap just for him to refute my outbursts with sedate reason. I know he's right. He was right to interrogate Hades and uncover this larger threat. I'd always assumed that once I repaired Gaia, my job would be finished. I'd have served my purpose, and Gaia would know how to protect herself and the world from further attack—she would be able to discover what targeted her and put a stop to it. Now it doesn't seem so simple, especially after witnessing first hand what Hades was capable of once imbued with the signal's power.

As for Regalla's rebels, their gadgets and overridden machines, Sylens refused to say. He had his own matters to attend to, that was all. Given all the crucial information he was lording over me, I didn't push my luck. Not yet. I'll get to the bottom of it on my own if I have to. Sylens wouldn't tell me what Hades told him about its masters either. That too would have to wait until after I'd retrieved the Gaia backup from the facility beyond the hatch.

Sylens said the place was used early in Gaia's development to train her alongside Hades, perfecting the balance between life and extinction. I remember reading about these tests in one of Travis Tate's meandering accounts. They had to make sure Gaia would relinquish control to Hades in the event of a non-viable biosphere, allowing it to undo terraforming procedures and leave a blank slate for Gaia to try again, put back in full control of her faculties. According to Hades, the two went through this dance three times before Gaia set our current world in motion. To Hades and its masters, this is just another biosphere to roll right back to zero.

Crucially, Sylens said this facility had been kept absolutely secure—no data in or out, which would explain why I never found record of it in the other Zero Dawn facilities. Even Ted Faro's purge order couldn't have reached within the walls. This could be it.

But I'm not a complete idiot. With all his urging me on, all his promises, I couldn't not suspect a trap. He told me that everything I needed was just beyond the door: a full backup of Gaia with all her subordinate functions—everything that I needed to save the world. I made my intentions clear. If this was another trick, I promised to hunt him down and cut his throat. He's seen me in action. He knows he wouldn't stand a chance.

He tried to reassure me with a fact I knew all too well: I'm the only person who can even open the door to the facility. There's no way anyone could lay a trap inside. Suspicions still raised, I didn't have any choice but to go forward and claim what I've spent all this time searching for, and what I was born to find.

I went ahead and activated the hatch's identi-scan, listening to the door's familiar address. It opened partway before jamming, the mechanism shunting and grinding against a monstrous growth of Firegleam. I'd have to detonate it to let the door finish its motion and open the passage. Sylens told me he'd been working on mechanisms to blast through such blockages, as Firegleam grows thick in the west. I remembered seeing samples of the crystal back on his work bench, kept for study. He sent me the schematics for an igniter, though I needed a specific part to clinch the design—a power cell from a Leaplasher. Another new machine.

I headed back outside for a pack of Leaplashers hopping around by the lake shore. I'd seen nothing like them before; powerful hind legs launching them up and down, shock-charged tails swinging, acid canisters on the upper back and a power cell on the lower.

I lured one away from the pack, then took it down by detonating its acid canisters, burning it out. I snagged its power cell and took it back to Sylens' workshop at the tunnel entrance, building the igniter as per his schematics. It was a simple mechanism, basic enough to mass produce as a weapon for, say, an armed rebellion. I kept that thought to myself.

Back inside, I activated the igniter and drove it deep into the Firegleam growth, setting a spark that crackled from crystal to crystal, sizzling for a moment before exploding in a shower of glass and spores. That was enough to clear the gear wheels and get the door moving.

If I had any doubts about the facility before, they were dashed at the sight of Hades' emblem projected on the entrance wall. I found data inside naming the place 'Latopolis', once a FAS facility that was turned over to Zero Dawn during its development, courtesy of Faro and his financial custodianship of the project. Thus repurposed, they called it the Proving Lab.

The water dripping down the walls as I entered concerned me some, and once I made it through to the main facility those concerns compounded. The entire lab was flooded, meaning I'd have to navigate a maze of rusted supports and broken corridors. Even if anyone else could have made it through that door, I'll bet most delvers would have turned back at what they found. Not me.

There was another gene-locked hatch at the other side of the facility, no doubt the most secure area where the backups would be found. So, I'm Sylens' all-climbing, all-scanning door opening machine once again. What a truly unpleasant nostalgia trip.

[gay-milton-quotes]

I'm Unpeeling Myself from Big Tech!

"Unpeeling" being any act you take that limits the amount of data a large tech corporation can gather from you, decreases your reliance on products of those corporations, or increases autonomy over your technology. I'm ripping the term from a line in this review by Joanna Nelius, where she writes, "People are looking for ways to peel their eyes from their smartphones like a layer of Elmer’s glue from their hand — to remove a part of themselves that really isn’t a part of themselves." It's different than "unplugging" because the goal isn't to go off the grid, or even to limit one's technology usage. The goal, instead, is to extract from the invasive, addictive, destructive capitalist vision a set of tools that are useful to YOU.

It started when I realized I don't need a smartphone. I've deleted most social media from my phone, and the stuff I still have I prefer to check on my laptop. Not all "dumb phones" (I hate this term) offer the same features, though, so I began to think on a granular level about what I need from a cell phone. Eg, not all "dumb phones" provide MMS, but my family lives 3k miles away. I wanna still talk in the groupchat.

On the more complex end, I write on my phone. I've been using Google Docs to move seamlessly from scribbled writing drafts on my phone to formatted, finished works on my computer since I was fourteen.

Except, Google Docs is useless now. I've been unable to use it since they lowered the storage capacity. The only other cloud storage writing thingy with similar functionality is Office 365, which sucks.

Could a dumb phone with a basic "notes" feature work? Maybe, but I'd have to re-type everything to get it into a formatted document. Ideally, I'd have like, a mini-laptop just for writing - something I could fit in my pocket or in a small bag, so I could bring it to work without looking like a dick - and then, in addition, a basic phone for calls/texts/GPS stuff. But does a device this specific to my use case even exist?

Yes. Yes it does.

This is a GPD Micro PC. GPD mainly sells handheld gaming machines, though this product is designed for mobile IT professionals. It's probably too chonky for a pocket, but mark my words, I will figure out how to make it work for me.

It's stupid, but this gave me a rush. I've been struggling along, tied to the bloated corpses of three gmail accounts, for years, because I needed Google Docs for my writing workflow. But now I don't. I have the power to actually tailor my tech for my life.

By this point, I was like, alright, I don't need Google Docs anymore, I don't need a smartphone, what else? Do I need Windows? No, probably not, right? I can use Linux Mint on this new guy, especially since he'll mostly be a basic writing machine. LibreOffice is less intrusive and bloated than MS Word - a better experience for free than I'd have from the paid program. If I go all the way and install Linux, I also won't have to deal with ads in my start menu, or pre-installed spyware screenshotting my activities.

In fact, if I back everything up on an external drive, I can delete my old Google Drives and switch my main computer to Linux, too! So, I finally bit the bullet and invested in an external hard drive.

This is the problem with "product ecosystems," by the way. When one part of that ecosystem - Google Docs - fails, the whole thing collapses. All the bloat and corruption you dealt with just stops being worth it, and it's easier to make a radical change to a new system. I witnessed something similar happen with comedy tech youtuber Dankpods earlier this year, except with Apple's ecosystem: he was a lifetime Apple guy - seemingly not in a worship way, but he liked their products, and was certainly in Apple's ecosystem. Then a couple things went sour for him, and now he runs Linux.

I'm doing this for personal and ideological reasons. I'm personally sick of Clippy - I mean, Copilot - peeping in to tell me how to write what I'm writing on Office 365. I abhor the idea of paying Google for a service they offered for free until recently, knowing they can flip the script at any point. And while we're talking ideology, I'm a communist, and even though this is far from a shift everyone can make, I believe that taking any available steps towards shutting Big Tech out of our lives is a net good. If all you can do is delete Instagram, or use a screentime tracker, or switch to Firefox, do it. I'm finally in a position to make this more drastic change, and I'm excited.

Get in the weeds about how you use technology. Do you need everything at your fingertips, all the time? If not, what, specifically, do you need? Is there a way that you, now or in the future, can trim out the parts you dislike? And what can you change now?

[deimos-awaits]

LOG-BOOK UNIT OF MARSHALL KATTAL-42/8, EXPERIMENTAL PROTOTYPE

LOG ONE:

I am keeping this log as Marshall Levayah-1836, a respected colleague, has suggested it might be healthy. Nothing has happened today. We are transferring the warp. Magos Aleph-Gimel has asked me to deliver more messages throughout the ship. I will be updating even 14 cycles unless otherwise stated.

Marshall Kattal-42/8

LOG TWO:

A new planet has been searched. Several of the Sicarian units I was working with were decommissioned by the enemy. I used the shuriken gun I have at my ready to eliminate the heretics. Humans who have never seen the Imperium before.

Marshall Kattal-42/8

LOG THREE:

I died today. It was painful. A khornate removed my lower body cavity. Wraithbone regenerated into my lower stomach. Magos Aleph-Gimel did an inspection to ensure I was continuing to function. Lexmechanic Tsephor argued for my permanent decommissioning.

Marshall Kattal-42/8

LOG FOUR:

It has been longer than the standard 14 day cycle since this was updated. A visit to the xenarite stronghold went well. Information was added to my core that I do not care for. In order to prevent overgrowth of wraithbone I ripped off my arm. It took several minutes to regrow. Suboptimal time for battlefield conditions.

Kattal-42/8

LOG FIVE:

Marshall Levayah has given me a gift. She has given me a small metallic sculpture she reportedly made with Subdominus Krav-5. I have placed it next to the gas mask that creates strange emotional responses in me. Both are in my personal crate.

Kattal-42/8

LOG SIX:

I got what passed for sleep. It lasted sixteen hours, seven minutes, and 23 seconds. I dreamt of the xenos that speaks in my mind. It had strange long ears and a face that appeared as if a Magos had put it through a hydraulic press.

Kattal

LOG SEVEN:

I died fighting an ork. It was painful. When I returned to maximum consciousness their bodies were reduced to ribbons. Magos Subdominus Krav-5 congratulated me as such, “Good work old boy! We'll make short work of Ullanor for the Emperor.” I am not a boy.

Kattal

LOG EIGHT:

It has been only one cycle. I used to be a boy. Before I- [DATA EXPUNGED]. This unit has been returned to optimal settings for service.

LOG NINE:

I am returned to my optional conditioning. This unit has performed several extractions of information. These were from possible traitors. It was done for the Magos Aleph Gimmel.

Marshall Kattal-42/8

LOG TEN:

Xenarite stronghold visited. This unit was on guard duty once more. Haegel unit present. Haegel unit present. Marshall Levayah-1836 gave this unit another metal scrap.

Marshall Kattal-42/8

LOG ???????:

LEAVING THIS here for you Kattal as this might be the only place you actually listen to me. Yes. It's me, the “xenos” in your head. I am real. Now you absolutely wretch, read this carefully, remove the spiritstone by your heart. Turn yourself into an eldar force. It will be good for you. I cannot promise you will survive but you don't seem to care about that do you?

All the world's a stage but you don't need to play such a dour role yet it seems that's all you know isn't it?

LOG ELVEN:

Visited Lexmechanic Tsephor-10.56. The presence of the pttreaxii reduced stress hormones by 23%. Tsephor-10.56 did not seem to enjoy my presence. His productivity decreased by 10.3%. This is standard across most individuals I interact with.

Marshall Kattal-42/8

LOG TWELVE:

Marshall Levayah-1836 did not express discomfort when my helm was removed. She is yet a beautiful example of baseline human beauty merged with the machine similar to the Haegel unit. Wraithbone has grown into the remaining flesh around my knees. It is painful.

Kattal

[gobblinhours]

So is 4 traumatized from being parallel cannon? And if so does 3 help or sympathize with her? Since they know what it feels like to be controlled

My Four is separate from Parallel Canon so this turned into a word vomit dump about how it works sorry (also i've been working on this since i got the ask since i actually have Motivation for once and im scared to see how long this took)

I'm interpreting Parallel Canon as a modification of the initial security system that was based off of data collected from Four.

My current concept is that the security system was created by Four fighting an incredibly basic simulation of an inkfish enemy that when splatted, respawned with recorded data from a mask that Four was wearing (along with the basic starting data extracted from a bunch of videos of Four going through Octo Canyon) which allowed the simulation to learn, making it get a little better at combat each time. The reason it was done like this and not just copying Four's soul is because Marina has Ethics and didn't want to Ship-of-Theseus her security system.

The end result is something weaker than the original, due to a slew of different factors (primarily worse improvisational skills.). Though the numbers difference should (in theory) make the difference negligible. After all, quantity is a quality in itself.

Parallel Canon differs from the original security system in that instead of a team of equals, it's a hierarchical system, with one "alpha" and a slew of lesser copies, each with the added abilities to summon Jelletons and mimic the color chips of the enemy's palette. The Alpha itself is derived from the original system and combined with a copy of the "soul data" from Four's palette for an extra boost, which is then copied again for the drones. Though each time the data is copied, it loses "potency", meaning that a drone with soul data straight from the palette would be 3-4 times as strong as a drone copied from the alpha. This is done to save processing power, as instead of a bunch of power-sucking supersoldiers, there's one and a bunch of less annoying scraps. (This is also why they are sent out in waves, to save processing power)

To maintain effectiveness, the lesser drones function similar to the Geth from Mass Effect, meaning that the more there are on the field, the sharper their mental faculties become. By doing this, it allows the drones to each be of similar competency to the Alpha when in large enough numbers, while making it less strenuous on the system by having them support eachother. (Don't @ me about the logic Marina made a full-dive VR that eats souls)

While the Parallel Canon are an overall improvement on the original security system in nearly every way, it shares a weakness with the original: the age-old strategy of "divide and conquer." Individually, the Canon soldiers are about on-par with a standard inkfish, so while it would be a toss-up against a normal invader, against someone like Eight, it's a bloodbath, and it only gets worse as more fall due to the Geth-like modification made by Order.

Back to the soul data, luckily the palette isn't enough to make an actual copy of Four, only making the Alpha like a Four-based chatbot. Emulating her behaviors the best it can with the restrictions put upon it by Order and its environment, though it's not actually alive, just responding to stimuli in a Four-like manner without any thought or intention behind the behaviors. (The drones also have an amount of variation due to imperfections in the copying process, as the initial copy was modified to learn towards combat skills, but a small error remained in the process that made subsequent copies lean towards random personality traits (the copy preference no longer had a target due to the battle data already being maxed out, so it defaulted to random), though they are even less "alive" than the Alpha)

TL;DR: The original security system was a machine learning algorithm that was based off of and fought Four to advance in skill, which was then modified and subsequently copied into the current form of Parallel Canon, meaning that Agent Four and the Alpha Canon are two separate entities.

TL;DRTTL;DR: Four fought a robot a bunch and doesn't even know what a "Parallel Canon" is.

[canonical-transformation]

What is your take on Lisa when she was at Sumeru Academy?

TL;DR: Lisa was a “model Akademiya student” — non-stop research output, overworking, lack of study-life boundaries — until she burned out hard.

(Note: this is primarily headcanon.)

Well, first, lemme use this as an excuse to plug my Lisa Vision ficlet:

They call you the Lohefalter of this century, the Biruni of this millenium. Young and old, all your classmates strive to emulate you.

[...]

When you tag along on Ruin and Domain exploration trips as part of [your] thesis... dozens of imitators attempt the same: they hire their own Adventurers Guild escorts, and head deep into the Mare Jivari’s ruins to find data they can sell on to you in exchange for co-authorship. Of the thirty percent who survive, all but two of them drop out to pursue other careers[...]

[...]

When you start bulk-making protein shakes—the saved time increasing your productive hours by nearly eight percent—your recipe is known across the Academia within a week: a sickly yellow powder made of desiccated pumpkin, ginger, turmeric, onion extract, and almond flour, mixed 1:2 with water to serve. Most people give up in disgust after a few days: the chalky texture and homogeneous flavour prove too much for them. (They don’t realise you yourself have been taking medicine to suppress your gag reflex: tempus fugit, every minute saved gets you that much close to being a Dastur.)

Read more

You don't finish two theses in a record two years (instead of decades!) without falling into the "be passionate about your work" trap. I imagine late teens + early 20's Lisa as wanting to Do Great Things, falling in love with the Akademiya. She turned herself into a machine for churning out Knowledge and Research, and was supported every step of the way by the Akademiya.

I'm not sure whether it was the Akademiya's culture or the price of power/knowledge in Teyvat that finally pulled the wool from the eyes — probably a bit of both. But she burned out, hard, graduating and then "retiring" to a sleepy town where nothing ever happens, going out of her way to pursue a life of late mornings and minimal stress.

One could easily read her as having post-traumatic chronic fatigue. Remember this line?:

“I really wish people would just return their books on time!”

(Cf. EN audio 1 2 from Wikia page; see also e.g. 1:29 here.)

[EN VA] Mara Junot's performance provides a lot of characterisation here, well before we see how terrified everyone is of her wrath. This is a woman with a lot of sublimated anger, a 99% calm demeanor with a temper that flares up out of nowhere. And the trigger for said temper? People causing her extra work— which, knowing what we know about her, is tantamount to people causing her undue stress.

I think Lisa is going out of her way to insulate herself from any triggers reminiscent of her Akademiya years, and work overload is a huge part of that.

[normanstack]

Astraweb: The Home of Crypto Recovery in the Digital Age

In the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency, security and access remain critical concerns. For every success story of early adopters turning modest investments into fortunes, there are unfortunate accounts of users losing access to their digital wallets due to forgotten passwords, phishing attacks, or compromised private keys. This is where Astraweb has carved out a vital niche — establishing itself as the go-to solution for crypto asset recovery.

The Need for Crypto Recovery

Cryptocurrency promises decentralized finance and ownership without intermediaries — but this power comes with a cost: total user responsibility. There is no central authority to call when access is lost. Millions of dollars in crypto assets are estimated to be trapped in inaccessible wallets. The stakes are high, and the traditional “write your password down and hope for the best” method has proven tragically inadequate.

Astraweb has stepped in to fill this gap, offering a technically advanced, ethically grounded, and user-focused recovery service for individuals and institutions alike.

Who is Astraweb?

Astraweb is a team of cybersecurity professionals, blockchain analysts, and ethical hackers dedicated to the recovery of lost digital assets. Known in online communities for their discretion and technical excellence, Astraweb has quietly built a reputation as the “home of crypto recovery” — a safe harbor in the sometimes stormy seas of decentralized finance.

Core Services Offered

Wallet Password Recovery  Utilizing a combination of brute force optimization, machine learning, and customized dictionary attacks, Astraweb helps users recover wallets with forgotten passwords. Their tools are especially effective with partially remembered credentials.

Seed Phrase Reconstruction  Lost or partial seed phrases are another major barrier to wallet access. Astraweb’s proprietary tools attempt to reconstruct valid mnemonic phrases based on user input and probabilistic modeling.

Phishing and Scam Mitigation  If your crypto assets have been stolen due to phishing attacks or scams, Astraweb provides investigation support and recovery options. While crypto transactions are irreversible, Astraweb works with partners and tracing tools like Chainalysis to help track and reclaim funds when possible.

Multi-Sig and Legacy Wallet Recovery  Many early wallets used now-defunct software or obscure security models. Astraweb specializes in navigating old formats, deprecated standards, and rare cryptographic setups.

Cold Wallet Restoration  Lost access to hardware wallets like Trezor, Ledger, or even encrypted USB drives? Astraweb can assist with forensic-level data recovery and hardware-based key extraction.

Why Astraweb Stands Out

Confidentiality First: Every case is handled with strict privacy. Your data and identity are protected at all stages of the recovery process.

Transparent Communication: Clients are updated at every step, with no vague promises or false guarantees.

No Recovery, No Fee: Astraweb operates on a results-based model. You only pay if your assets are successfully recovered.

Client Trust and Track Record

Though much of their work remains confidential due to the sensitive nature of crypto assets, Astraweb’s success stories span from everyday investors to high-net-worth individuals and even businesses affected by inaccessible wallets or theft.

Their community reputation and testimonials underscore one thing: they deliver.

Contact Astraweb

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[spearxwind]

ill be honest ive been confused about diannes deal past "shopkeeper, works with nirven, related to richard and december, doesnt like adri" so any info on her is appreciated lol

OH YES ABSOLUTELY!! Here's some info >:)

Dianne and December are both Richard's daughters, with Dianne being the oldest. She HATES her dad, because Richard is a manipulative asshole and unhinged individual who thought it was ok to experiment on his daughters. Here's some more info on Dianne + December. TLDR is Dianne fled, and December stayed, so they are on opposite sides.

Nirven is Dianne's familiar (mimic weapon), and the conduit through which Dianne casts her spells onto other machines. Usually Nirven takes the shape of a huge raven, but they can also have a myriad of other shapes (cat, snake, horse, human) that they use whenever. Nirven and Dianne have been bound to each other since Dianne was extremely young as well.

Dianne also doesnt initially like Adri because Adri is a walking calamity, and one of the most feared things on the planet. He was sealed inside of his tomb where they shot him "dead" 500 years ago, inside of an exclusion zone, and all of a sudden this insane kid goes and wakes it up and shows up on her doorstep wielding it like it's nothing. It'd be like if someone suddenly knocked on your door with their pet category 5 hurricane on a leash. But even despite that, Dianne knows this is her one chance of getting back at her dad and hopefully get her sister back from their father's clutches and asks Knife and Adri to join forces. Which basically means Knife and Adri wake up shackled in her basement and get told either they help her or she obliterates them on the spot. (She eventually does grow to like him even though he's a nuisance and doesn't make it easy)

She's also a shopkeep for things that get salvaged from the underground. A lot of scrap and old-world tech is salvaged from the tunnels, and no one really knows how to do anything with it, how to use it, etc so that's where Dianne comes in: she fixes stuff up, dismantles anything dangerous, extracts data, etc. She's the local witch (programmer) ((that's what spells are, code injections directly into nearby machinery)).

[genericpuff]

Remembering My Roots - Rest in Peace, RateMyDrawings

I've talked about my old art before on here, but never really fully in-depth about the site that hosted it. I was reminded of it today while going through my FB memories and felt like I should actually write a true eulogy towards what once was.

Once upon a time, before LORE | REKINDLED, before Time Gate: [AFTERBIRTH], before I had even started drawing webcomics, I entered the world of digital art through one website - not DeviantArt, not Pixiv, but a little site called RateMyDrawings. Back in the day, it was one of the most popular browser-supported art tools, offering multiple different art tools that were, at the time, revolutionary. A flash drawing tool which could replay the progress of your drawing (but the tradeoff was that you had a limited amount of 'ink' aka recording data), a Java-supported tool that was essentially Photoshop Lite (but didn't come with the recording), and later, a more refined tool supported by HTML5 (?) that offered more 3D-like brush tools. There was also DrawChat, a live drawing flash tool where you could draw with others and chat.

And on that site, I created my first works of digital art. No drawing tablet, just a mouse and a loooot of patience. They'd host contests every now and then to win budget Wacom tablets. Sometimes I'd enter, I'd never win. I did eventually get my first drawing tablet, but by then, I'd moved on from RMD onto actual software such as GIMP and Photoshop Elements.

That site is gone now, one of the first art site deaths I'd ever experience in my teen years. I was around 12-13 when I started using this site and I adored it. When people talk about missing the 'tight-knit communities' of old, I don't think of DA, I think of RMD, my first home. Unfortunately, the site couldn't survive in the 'modern' era of the Internet, overshadowed by more advanced tools and art-sharing sites like Deviantart, Facebook, and Instagram.

But I did manage to backup some of my old art pieces before the site finally became completely shuttered in the early 2020's. For a while the site was awake but lacked any content or features, with a message from the site's creator Mick that it might come back, it might not.

It didn't. The old ratemydrawings.com URL now redirects to the inactive FB page. Any attempt to bypass that kill screen like before leads to an Error 404.

But while the site was in its comatose state - before it was shuttered permanently - I was able to access my old profile and extract some of my art pieces of old. I posted them to my FB about 3 years ago, and today they showed up in my memories.

I share a lot of art pieces from creators like Rachel Smythe in an attempt to preserve media. But I also need to remember to preserve my own. So here are a handful of the 100+ pieces I drew on RMD. Enjoy ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

Don't be confused by the '1987' part of the username, I picked that number because I was a huge Zelda weeb and 1987 was the year the first Zelda game was made. Whoof.

What's ironic is I actually didn't have the Featured Artist award last time I was actively on the site, so it clearly happened while I was inactive in its final days. The one award I wanted the most and I wasn't there to witness getting it. RIP.

Unfortunately that's all I really have in the way of high-resolution drawings as I wasn't able to preserve much else (though if I find anything more I'll definitely add it to this post!) That said, I was able to nab some screenshots of my homepage via the Wayback Machine where you can see more of the pieces I did back then:

There are so many dorky ass drawings here, some from Time Gate (because it's that freaking old!!!), some are screenshot recreations from anime that I enjoyed (a very common trend on RMD), some are collaborations. There was a point where I learned how to color with the mouse by using low opacity colors and layering them one at a time. Really upped my game there LMAO That Ocarina of Time Link drawing was the first one I ever did that made it to the front page of RMD and y'all, I was so proud, the site back then I think had 50k users total which is nothing compared to the Internet today, but achieving that was one of the greatest things ever LOL The Skyward Sword drawing that followed was one that really felt like a milestone in terms of my art evolution, I felt like I was finally creating something good. I believe I did that Skyward Sword drawing off another DA piece at the time, it was really common to do redraw challenges on RMD what with the technical limitations of the site - I suppose redrawing stuff I liked back then should have been foreshadowing LMAO

That feeling wouldn't last forever ofc once the art high wore off, but even to this day I look back on the pieces from that era fondly. It's where the mysteries of digital art finally started to 'click' in my brain, and I had still barely gotten started.

I also have a few drawings preserved that were done after I got my first drawing tablet, and you can really tell with the improvement of the lineart LOL That said, I think I was around 18-19 when I did these:

Now, one thing that I really enjoyed doing on RMD were collabs - specifically, trading collabs where users would exchange drawing files through the RMD PM system with one another to do steps of a drawing together. Often times I took the role of coloring other people's lineart pieces, which is probably where I started to really learn digital art coloring and come into my own with it.

A collab with user "lime":

Collab with user "Mikai":

A collab with user "Overik", which I specifically remember struggling with because, at the time, my computer monitor's screen was messed up resulting in the entire thing basically being a fluorescent pink:

A collab with "Mist04" that I don't remember doing lmao:

Collab with "Adzumi" (?). I'm fairly certain that's who it was, I definitely remember the process of painting this one, I had loads of fun with it:

Collab with user "ForgottenArtist", IIRC this one was more of a coloring page where they gave out the file freely for others to color, so this was my version. The forums on RMD were great for that sort of thing, people would literally just upload their drawing files for people to have fun with:

So I guess I drew this next little thing in 2021 when the site was still 'live' but not functional, I completely forgot I did this though LMAO Basically the main URL took you to that kill page I showed above, but if you knew any of the extension slugs, you could bypass that kill page and get into the rest of the site, which I was able to by using my username URL. So I got into the Java drawing tool and made this little thing in the hopes I could upload it. Of course, it didn't work, but hey, it was worth getting a screenshot, I suppose:

It's equal parts nostalgic and bittersweet to go through these drawings. Life back then feels so far away and yet I still remember it so vividly, the hours I'd spend drawing on the family PC, feeling more at home with the friends I made online than the ones I had in real life, listening to music that I still listen to to this day. It's far away now, but it still lives through me, in the work I do today. Even someone like me can go from being a complete noob drawing with a mouse to a professional making their living stabbing ink into other people while still drawing the same stories they drew as a child.

There is one piece I had to dig up outside of FB memories, fortunately it wasn't hard to find because I knew I had shared it ages ago on my FB so the search bar saved my skin. My very first digital art piece, of Sheena Fujibayashi from Tales of Symphonia, one of my favorite games of all time.

My very first digital art drawing:

Recreated in 2019:

Past me went through a lot, and they'd be doomed to go through even more still (they hadn't hit the plague yet). And yet they're going to survive, they're gonna keep getting better and better with each passing year. Thanks past me - you've done a lot of dumb shit in your life, but sticking with your craft wasn't one of them. Thank you for walking - through all the good and the bad that you've had to weather through - so that I could run for us both.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

A sharper view of the Milky Way with Gaia and machine learning

A group of scientists led by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) and the Institute of Cosmos Sciences at the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) have used a novel machine learning model to process data for 217 million stars observed by the Gaia mission in an extremely efficient way.

The results are competitive with traditional methods used to estimate stellar parameters. This new approach opens up exciting opportunities to map characteristics like interstellar extinction and metallicity across the Milky Way, aiding in the understanding of stellar populations and the structure of our galaxy.

With the third data release of the European Space Agency's Gaia space mission, astronomers gained access to improved measurements for 1.8 billion stars, which provides a vast amount of data for researching the Milky Way.

However, analyzing such a large dataset efficiently presents challenges. In the study, researchers explored the use of machine learning to estimate key stellar properties using Gaia's spectrophotometric data. The model was trained on high-quality data from 8 million stars and achieved reliable predictions with small uncertainties.

The work is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"The underlying technique, called extreme gradient-boosted trees allows to estimate precise stellar properties, such as temperature, chemical composition, and interstellar dust obscuration, with unprecedented efficiency. The developed machine learning model, SHBoost, completes its tasks, including model training and prediction, within four hours on a single GPU—a process that previously required two weeks and 3,000 high-performance processors," says Arman Khalatyan from AIP and first author of the study.

"The machine-learning method is thus significantly reducing computational time, energy consumption, and CO2 emission." This is the first time such a technique was successfully applied to stars of all types at once.

The model trains on high-quality spectroscopic data from smaller stellar surveys and then applies this learning to Gaia's large third data release (DR3), extracting key stellar parameters using only photometric and astrometric data, as well as the Gaia low-resolution XP spectra.

"The high quality of the results reduces the need for additional resource-intensive spectroscopic observations when looking for good candidates to be picked-up for further studies, such as rare metal-poor or super-metal rich stars, crucial for understanding the earliest phases of the Milky Way formation," says Cristina Chiappini from AIP.

This technique turns out to be crucial for the preparation of future observations with multi-object spectroscopy, such as 4MIDABLE-LR, a large survey of the Galactic Disk and Bulge that will be part of the 4MOST project at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile.

"The new model approach provides extensive maps of the Milky Way's overall chemical composition, corroborating the distribution of young and old stars. The data shows the concentration of metal-rich stars in the galaxy's inner regions, including the bar and bulge, with an enormous statistical power," adds Friedrich Anders from ICCUB.

The team also used the model to map young, massive hot stars throughout the galaxy, highlighting distant, poorly-studied regions in which stars are forming. The data also reveal that there exist a number of "stellar voids" in our Milky Way, i.e. areas that host very few young stars. Furthermore, the data demonstrate where the three-dimensional distribution of interstellar dust is still poorly resolved.

As Gaia continues to collect data, the ability of machine-learning models to handle the vast datasets quickly and sustainably makes them an essential tool for future astronomical research.

The success of the approach demonstrates the potential for machine learning to revolutionize big data analysis in astronomy and other scientific fields while promoting more sustainable research practices.

IMAGE: Large-scale map (330,000 light years side length) of the density of the 217 million stars from the Gaia DR3 XP sample in Galactocentric Cartesian co-ordinates. Credit: F. Anders, Universitat de Barcelona

[warningsine]

Hi :D do you know if there is a way to find a deleted AO3 fic?

Hey, anon.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that you can find it, but you can try:

a) Asking the fandom on reddit and tumblr. A user might have downloaded it and could privately share it with you.

b) Politely asking the author to privately share it with you. Sometimes authors take their pieces down, because they hate their old writing. Sometimes they take them down due to copyright (they change and publish their fanfiction).

c) Using Duckduckgo. Atm I'd argue it's better than Google.

You can type "[name of the author] archive of our own". If the search engine gives you what you're looking for, then you right click and copy the link address.

An example:

Go to Wayback Machine and paste the link address.

Let's say that the author deleted the fanfiction you're looking for in 2017. This means you have to click on either the 2014 snapsnot or the 2016 one. Depends on when the fanfiction was written.

In this case, I'm redirected to:

Say that the deleted/your target fanfiction was the BCS one.

Click on it. If you're lucky, you will be able to access it.

d) If Wayback Machine fails, there's another solution you can try, but it requires many GBs of free space on your drive, some apps to download and a lot of patience.

First of all, download HTTP Downloader and install it. Open the app.

Secondly, go here and click on "Show all files."

The highlighted files are metadata. The second one contains metadata for AO3 fanfiction that was archived until 2020.

The .zip files contain .txt fanfiction files.

Now, right click on one of the metadata files, copy the link address, go to HTTP Downloader, click on File -> Add URL(s)->paste the link address.

Click Download.

Repeat the same process for the other metadata file.

If you do not have a shitty internet connection, you can directly download the files without using an app. If not, HTTP Downloader has your back.

You can pause the download whenever you want and nothing will get lost.

When the downloads are complete, download this app in order to read the metadata files. Install the app and open it.

Go to File->Open Database Read Only->Choose one of your metadata files.

Click on Browse Data.

Now you can search for your target fanfiction by title, author, fandom etc.

If you find it, consider yourself lucky.

Notice what your path says.

In my case, this means I have to download this .zip file from here:

Use HTTP Downloader once again for your download.

You'll need an application. e.g., Winrar, 7-zip, to unzip your .zip file.

Once the .zip download is finished, you can open your .zip file with, say, Winrar and click on Find:

The wildcard symbols before and after the author's name are needed to create a search with unknown characters.

Once you find the file, you can extract it.

It will be a block text in .txt format so you can copy-paste it on Writer (Libre Office) or Word (Windows Office) or another word processor in order to properly format it.

Good luck.