#Diodore

[thats-a-lot-of-cortisol]

Traumatized Elf Club (tm)

[7h3g3n3r4l]

Diodor Sirola

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

2. "Thanks, I'll pass. I'd just go wild."

CALL ME MAÑANA - "And then we might go wild together, which sounds fun. But I guess I have a strike to watch."

"So, anything else you wanted to discuss, boiadeiro?"

5. "Good talking to you. Gotta run." [Leave.]

BOIADEIRO

Research time: 6h 30m Temporary research bonus: -1 Physical Instrument: Astra country

It has been brought to your attention that there are men who live by the law of the land and the strength of their arms. Sunburnt, rugged, smoking men who explored the great rivery veins of upper-Magritte and tamed the Mundi wilds. Frontiersmen, cow-herders, philosophers -- the *boiadeiros*... with a gun in one hand and an unfiltered cigarette between their lips, these men made their own rules. What would it take for you to become one too?

🎵 Martinaise, Terminal B

CARGO CONTAINER DOOR - You're back before the cargo container. Its draw has not lessened since you were last here. If anything, it seems to have grown slightly.

3. [Rhetoric - Impossible 18] Persuade the door to open.

+1 Erratic, yet thorough. +1 Been in the world for two days. +1 Been in this world for many days. +1 Precarious world. +1 One more door. +1 Icosahedral Dice Set "Sirens"

RHETORIC [Impossible: Success] - Despite the dirt that surrounds and trails you, a beacon of light emerges from deep within you.

"Hello, is there anybody in there?"

CARGO CONTAINER DOOR - The door stands silent.

KIM KITSURAGI - "Satisfied, detective?" A wry smile crosses the lieutenant's face.

RHETORIC - Try again.

"If there's someone in there, I'd like to talk to you."

CARGO CONTAINER DOOR - Just like that, you hear a click. Then a rattle. Some mechanism unlocks itself inside the door.

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - From deep within the container, a voice: "Ahoy! Come on in!"

+5 XP

KIM KITSURAGI - The smile disappears. "You can't be serious."

As we approach the centre of the container.... the amount of real we have increases?

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - The man stands at the far end of the shipping container. It's hard to say anything more about him. You cannot make out any of his details, but you do feel the overwhelming presence of... capital.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Trivial: Success] - The feeling causes all the hairs on your body to stand at attention like soldiers preparing for review.

Squint.

Cover your eyes…

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - Something's amiss. The light beams bend around his face and scatter in a thousand directions. It seems the laws of physics do not apply here. They are suspended, distorted, an echo.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Impossible: Failure] - Trying to visualize the physics at play is liable to give you an aneurysm. Don't think about it too hard!

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - In the general stillness, only your tongue moves, flickering as you utter...

"Hello!"

"What's going on in here?"

"Wow."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Welcome, welcome! Not too much, actually, just pleasantly surprised to have company today."

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Trivial: Success] - You can't *hear* him, exactly, yet you're able to understand every word he says. It is very strange. An overwhelming hum covers everything -- voice doesn't escape from him.

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Now." He claps his hands together. "What can I do for you gentlemen?" What you can see of his body appears composed. In a sharp summer suit. And yacht shoes.

"Who are you?"

"We should get back to our investigation. Thanks for your time." [Leave.]

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Who *am* I? Oh, I haven't been asked that question for such a long time." There's genuine surprise in his voice. "I don't meet a lot of people outside my circle these days..."

"Anyhow, my name is Roustame Diodore -- investor, licence holder, and extremely high-net-worth individual. And you are?"

+5 XP

KIM KITSURAGI - "Mr. Diodore, I am Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi of the RCM, and this is my partner..."

"Harrier Du Bois."

"The name's Raphaël Ambrosius Costeau. Most likely."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Pleasure to meet you, Harrier Du Bois," he says warmly. "I must admit, the name suits you very well."

"Who are you?"

"How did you become so rich?"

"What are you doing in this container?"

"You're a rich investor, right? Can I have some money?"

"We should get back to our investigation. Thanks for your time." [Leave.]

KIM KITSURAGI - "Oh, lord, not this again."

"What's the matter, Kim?"

Ignore him.

KIM KITSURAGI - "Oh, nothing. It's just that we've got this *murder* to solve, and yet you go around asking everyone about *money*. And every time I ask, 'Are you sure this is related to the case?', you say, 'Sure, Kim. I think it is'..."

"And yet it never seems to get us any closer to solving the case."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - The man chuckles. "It's quite alright. I'm used to the question by now. To be blunt, I inherited my fortune from my grandmother, who, herself, was an extremely high-net-worth individual back in Graad..."

"All I did was take her fortune and invest it prudently. Believe it or not, it takes more than a bit of skill not to blow a vast fortune on sailing boats, bad choices, and *unsupervised* state policy."

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success] - And blow.

"What's it like being an extremely high-net-worth individual?"

"Cool. But I want to ask you about something else."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - The man exhales with a whistle. "I gotta tell you, at first, being rich is a lot of work. You've got to work hard because everything's so darn expensive. You know, prices increase exponentially at this income level..."

"But then, once you've reached my position, it's nearly impossible for me *not* to make money. My assets are so diversified that I'm bound to come out ahead no matter what..."

"Some of my lower-net-worth friends say to me, 'But doesn't that take all the fun out of it?' and I tell them, 'Not really.'"

[mask131]

The Dionysos gallery (2)

Next on our travel down the Dionysos museum, we have an entire section dedicated to the Bacchanals in painting - with a few analysis here and there.

Titien's The Bacchanal of the Andrians

The Museum's website adds that this depicts the legend of how Dionysos gifted the inhabitants of the island of Andros with a river of wine. It was one of the numerous "miracles" attributed to the god by folk-belief when he became the god of the grapevine. Already in his "Bacchants" Euripides had told how, by touching a stone with his thyrsus he created a stream of fresh water, and where his narthex had touched the ground a stream of wine flowed ; and those that sought milk only had to scratch the ground near the god to see it flow, and from the god's thyrsus honey dropped...

In Ionia, on the island of Teos, a similar legend existed: it was said, by Diodor of Sicily and Pline the Elder, that at a fixed date in a calendar a stream of wine regularly flowed. At Elis, on the eve of the god's feast-day, empty jars and jugs were sealed and left alone in Dionysos' temple: by the morning, when they were opened, they were filled to the brim with wine.

Giovanni Bellini and Titien's The Feast of the Gods

The museum adds this mention: the painting is a depiction of the legend of Lotis collected by Ovid. One night, as the gods had a feast, the nymph Lotis fell asleep. Priapus got close to her, and with his famous ithyphallic nature, he decided to rape her. But as he was about to touch her body, the donkey of Silenus started making loud noises - waking up everybody, including Lotis. Lotis fled from Priapus' embrace, and all the gods laughed and mocked the god.

This painting was most notably the favorite painting of Fernand Botero.

Dosso Dossi's Bacchanal with a drunk Silenus and Bacchants frolicking around grapevine

Niccolo Frangipane's Bacchanal

Nicolas Poussin's Bacchanal

Nicolas Poussin's Bacchanal with a guitar player ; also called "Great Bacchanal"

Nicolas Poussin's Bacchic Scene

Pier Francesco Mola's Bacchus supervising the Satyrs pressing wine

Gerrit van Bronckhorst's Bacchanal with Silenus

Jacob van Loo's Scene with Bacchants

Michaelina Wautier's Bacchanal

Jacques Jordaens' Bacchanal

Giulio Carpioni's Bacchanal

Michel-Ange Houasse's Bacchanal

Francesco Zuccarelli's Bacchanal

[homomenhommes]

Queer Cultures :

GUERRIERS CELTES

Dans l'Europe antique, l'homosexualité était une pratique très répandue chez plusieurs peuples (Grecs, bien sûr, mais aussi Celtes, Latins, Germains, Thraces, Macédoniens et, jusqu'à une époque récente, Albanais). Cette généralité trouve précisément son origine dans une problématique pédagogique.

L’homosexualité chez les Celtes est un sujet qui a été abordé par divers auteurs antiques, et les informations disponibles suggèrent que les Celtes avaient une approche relativement ouverte de la sexualité. Selon Aristote, les Celtes approuvaient les jeux amoureux masculins et ne connaissaient pas la répression sexuelle. Cela indique que dans la civilisation celte, les relations entre personnes du même sexe pouvaient être acceptées et peut-être même valorisées dans certains contextes, comme celui des guerriers.

Il est important de noter que le terme « homosexualité » est une construction moderne, et son application aux sociétés anciennes peut être anachronique. Les pratiques et les relations sexuelles dans l’Antiquité étaient souvent définies selon des critères sociaux plutôt que biologiques, et les concepts d’identité sexuelle tels que nous les comprenons aujourd’hui n’existaient pas de la même manière.

Les guerriers celtes et leurs amants masculins

Les Celtes sont régulièrement décrits par les auteurs romains comme de redoutables guerriers, mais l'historien Diodore de Sicile (1er siècle av. JC) ajoute qu'ils préféraient également les relations homosexuelles. Alors que les Romains désapprouvaient le fait que les hommes jouent un rôle passif dans les relations sexuelles, Diodore note que les Celtes ne voyaient pas cela comme un problème :

Les hommes sont beaucoup plus portés sur leur propre sexe ; ils s'allongent sur des peaux de bêtes et s'amusent, avec un amant de chaque côté. Ce qui est extraordinaire, c'est qu'ils n'ont pas le moindre égard pour leur dignité personnelle [et] ils s'offrent à d'autres hommes sans le moindre scrupule. En outre, cela n'est ni méprisé ni considéré comme honteux.

[revacholsidetournament]

DE SIDE CHARACTER TOURNAMENT - MATCH 26, GROUP A FIRST ELIMINATION ROUND

Eric, also known as Pissfaggot after his jacket, is one of two guys hanging around Kim's Kineema. He likes waxing poetic about the true meaning of "pissfaggot" and wants to join the SKULLs.

Roustame Diodore, also known as the Mega Rich Light-Bending Guy, is a multi-billionaire who is so ludicrously wealthy that the laws of physics bend around him.

[squid-de]

DRACULA, THE COUNT — "I'm shivering different. This shit ain't nothing to me, man. I'm a black hound. I'm licking my wounds in the grass. We smoking opportunistic microorganisms. Smoking that Roustame Diodore south Advesperascit page-three girl deluxe cryptozoological protoplasmic kush. We smoking Col Do Ma Ma Daqua. I'm on twelve Pyrholidons, smoking on phasmatodean dick. We smoking that Boogie Street boogers? We snorting that good Franconigerian cavalry jibbies. They must have retrograde amnesia, they forgot that I'm *Raphaël Ambrosius Costeau*. That Pox pack hittin' that pussy smell, like a Coupris Kineema. We smoking shit in apricot faïence, blowing Her Innocence's bubbles. I'm sick in the head. I'm on them Coal City tic-tacs. I'm on them Yekokataa apple nibblers. I'm on them Tioumoutiri geronimos. I left my prybar in the lorry, I'll have to can-open them next time. I don't give a fuck if I go hobo. I don't need to see the hostel bill anyway. We s-- ...I'm high on twelve Dick Mullens looking to beat the viscous goo out of a fresh Puta peone. We smoking spirit bombs, you stupid piece of shit! I'll fucking eat your mind! Call that pussy the Coalition Government, 'cause I'm in this bitch, and I *can't get out*. Last guy who ran off on the precinct got choked out by some Fairweather T-500 gauntlets. The last thing he ever saw was the kinetic redistributors on them. Slowly faded into the pale, and I let the Angel of History take him. I need some Boogie Street boogers! Don't be shy girl, *I want to have fuck with you*. I'm shivering like Arno van Eyck. Bwee?! Welcome to the Apricot Suzerainty, bitch, open up! Guillaume le Million, I suck his cocaine out of another man's eyeballs. My hetero-sexual life partner a speedfreak, he look like Guillaume Bevy. You ain't seen ten centims in your life, bino! Reach for my wrist and you'll get turned into a Game Over. Y'all gotta stop playing with me, man. I threw the Filippian crown jewels at Le Petit Rat catacombs under Corpus Mundi. I have built 0.000% of Communism. This shit ain't *nothing* to me, man. Tied the SKULLS to the back of a motor carriage and dragged 'em around Rue de Saint Ghislaine for twenty-four hours. Motherfucker! Looked like a pinball goat after we was done with him. SKULLS wanted some initiative, blew up their entire tenement. I'm shivering like Franconegro. She drop that ass on me from an internally coherent angle, they thought I was Kras Mazov. Top-shelf pilsner, disrupted my infra-materialism. I have seen the March decree, I have seen *le Retour*. I was Jamrock shuffling for the Perikarnassian before you all even became an isola. This shit ain't nothing to me, you stupid piece of shit. Drive the Motorway South and you will *dither*. That pussy feel like Samaran butter. You think I care about this shit? Ask me if I care about this shit, 'cause I don't give a shit. If I had a reál for every time they said I gave a shit, I'd be broke, 'cause I don't give a shit. My ex-something look like Dolores Dei. I grooved so hard they thought I was Ostentatious Orchestrations. This shit ain't *nothing* to me, man, I'll pale-bomb you, you stupid piece of shit!"

[shieldagentnatasharomanoff]

Hi, I'm here, I'm alive after spending a day translating latin texts and doing some literary travel through ancient greece with Pausanias, Diodor and discussed morality with Plutarch.

My brain is mush

anyone who wants some small interactions like texts or conversations or shenanigans hit the like button or send me asks :) I'm not promising seriousness... or coherent sentences XD but I'll do my best.

[atdutiesend]

{ updated group shard photos! }

First up we have Dove and Enyo, with Rubicante, Vallaria, and Nhaama! Enyo is very proud of their shards. Probably could have added Severus and I might go back and do a redux later, but it's past bedtime now so... not tonight.

Vallaria is Dove's shard from the First and in their timeline replaces Ardbert [in shared verses, she's one of Ardbert's companions]. Nhaama is from the... second astral era? I think. It's been a minute. She died while on a hunting trip, and Emet-Selch stole her body, creating the early heroic tales that morphed into the modern goddess.

And then we have Grim, with Evander and Scarmiglione, and The Husband, Diodore, Chrysanthos, and Phobos. He'd say his shards grew like weeds [complimentary].

Actual au info for Husbun coming up later, I'm working on it. It's rambly. Short version, he's from the same timeline as the Exarch and was sent to the First, first, to create a beacon for the tower to latch onto. Unfortunately, someone added an extra zero, and he ended up in the time of Ronka instead. Normally he keeps a glamour up on his hair to hide that he's gone grey.

Diodore is Grim's counterpart from the First - the Husband's soul merged with his before he was born, so there's no real sign of this except for his magic being notably more powerful than most.

Chrysanthos is from Allag, and formed the foundation of "I am allergic to responsibility" that Evander inherited.

[kemetic-dreams]

Is it true that Persians are Aryans, and that Iran means land of the Aryans?

Two thousand five hundred years before the term ‘Aryan’ became popular among nationalists across Europe and Asia, the Persian king Darius I (522–486 BC)The Great introduced himself in the rock inscription of Naqsh-i Rustam as follows:I (am) Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries possessing all kinds of people, king of this great earth far and wide, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid, a Persian, the son of a Persian, an Aryan, of Aryan lineage. The term ‘Aryan’, as used by Darius, was a self-designation that described belonging to a people, and conveyed an ethnical connotation. ‘Aryan’ and related expressions like ‘Arya’ also appeared in other ancient Persian inscriptions and texts, most importantly in the Zoroastrian Avesta . In the eighteenth century, when European explorers developed a rising interest in Iran and ancient Persia, they soon found out that the Aryan is the self defination of Iranian since 2500 years ago until today In 1768, before the inscription of Naqsh-i Rustam was decoded, the French Orientalist Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil du Perron concluded from the writings of Herodotus and Diodor that ‘Aryan’ was the ancient name for the ancient ‘peoples of Iran’.Once introduced by Perron, the expression spread rapidly among European scholars. In Germany, for instance, the term ‘Aryan’ appeared for the first time in Johann Friedrich Kleuker’s translation of Perron’s article from French into German in 1777.

What is the Aryan race?

Aryans: name of the ancestors of the Persian elite of the Achaemenid Empire. (Not to be confused with Arians.)

The word "Aryans" has in the past been used by philologists, historians, and archaeologists to describe the speakers of the Indo-Iranian languages, one of the main branches of the Indo-European family. The scholars choose this word not without good reason, because the expression is in fact used by several ancient nations that refered to themselves as Aryans, like the early Persians (Arya-) and Indians (árya-).

The original nation must have lived in Central Asia in the fourth millennium BCE, and moved to the south at the end of the third or the beginning of the second millennium. In what is now Uzbekistan, they appear to have separated into two groups, one of them invading the Punjab and the other Iran. Perhaps, the division was caused by a religious dispute, because the words for "demon" and "deity" are linguistically related but theologically opposite (Indian: asura and deva; Persian: daiva and ahura).

As said, the expression is used in many ancient Iranian sources. For instance, when king Darius I the Great (522-486 BCE) ordered new, Persian alphabet to be developed, he called it an "Aryan script". The Sasanians created the political concept of Iran (Eranšahr) as a unity of Aryan nations; Eran and Aneran were often contrasted, the former referring to the Sasanian Empire, the latter to, e.g., the Roman Empire or the tribal areas in the northeast

[whencyclopedfr]

Sémiramis

Sémiramis est une reine légendaire que l'on pense inspirée de l'historique Sammu-Ramat (r. de 811 à 806 av. J.-C.), la reine régente de l'Empire assyrien qui garda le trône pour son jeune fils Adad Nerari III jusqu'à ce qu'il n'atteigne la maturité. Elle est également connue sous le nom de Sammuramat. Elle est citée par plusieurs historiens anciens, dont Hérodote, Diodore de Sicile et Plutarque.

Lire la suite...

[thats-a-lot-of-cortisol]

I've been trying to come up with origin-esque epithets for all of my tavs. Diodore's the only one I've settled on so far and I'm really proud of it?? The others are proving to be a lot harder though lol

This was a "trust the process" piece for sure. It worked out and I like it but oooh boy was it hanging by a thread for a while lol

[7h3g3n3r4l]

Diodor Sirola

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

4. "It's great that you've done so well for yourself, but don't you think you owe some of that wealth to the rest of society?"

+1 Moralism

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Sure, and they benefit when I buy things to stimulate the economy. Do you know how many jobs it takes to build and maintain a racing yacht?"

"Hundreds?"

"Thousands?"

"A million?!"

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "*Dozens*, at least. Of course, in the future it'll all be automated. But my point is this..." he says, jabbing his finger into the air a bit...

"Every man gets what he earns. It's the height of tyranny to take that from him."

"Man, being a high-net-worth individual sounds great."

Say nothing.

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Capital." He nods. "Makes one speechless, does it not? Blinds like the sun that rises from beyond the horizon after a gloomy winter."

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Trivial: Success] - Hey, HEY. All this talk about money has made you lose the thread. What is going on with the light in this place? *That's* what you need to ask him about!

3. "There's something strange about you."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "What do you mean?" His... essence seems to signify actual surprise.

"Well, I don't know how to put it... you look... somehow... a little different."

"It's actually nothing. Forget I said anything."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Are you talking about my chin?"

"No-no, I mean, I can't even see… *you*, it's as if something is happening to the light."

"Yeah, it's the chin."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Oh, *that's* what you mean. Yes, I've heard of this effect, though I've never witnessed it myself, of course. It has something to do with our Weiss-Wiesemann coefficient."

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] - The Weiss-Wiesemann coefficient is a ratio designed to reflect the difference in net worth between individuals. When the coefficient is close to 1 (or 100%) it means one person possesses all the net worth among that group of individuals. It's been observed that when the Weiss-Wiesemann coefficient reaches about .96 or so, the laws of physics begin to bend around the high-net-worth individual.

So what is our coefficient?

"Are you telling me that you are so rich that light literally bends around your face?"

ENCYCLOPEDIA - The Weiss-Wiesemann coefficient for you and this individual appears to be...

.9998 repeating.

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - That's not good -- for you.

"Are you telling me that you are so rich that light literally bends around your face?"

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Among other things... but calm down, I'm but a lowly single-digit billionaire."

"Really?"

"I'm calm."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "No, not really. There are actually quite many digits."

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - A man this *chill* is at least a triple-digit billionaire.

"Kim, are you seeing this weird stuff?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "I see nothing of the sort. To be frank, all I see is a gentleman who's unusually well dressed for Martinaise. In a cargo container. Which, I admit, is odd."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Yes. I imagine that *does* look strange to you. My container."

4. "What are you doing in this container?"

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Travelling! This is a great way to get around -- it's fun, it's safe, and it gives me lots of time to think..."

"By the way, let me now ask *you* a question: Where are we, exactly?"

"We're in Martinaise, a district of Revachol -- the former capital of the world."

"We're in Martinaise. There's a pretty good hostel here called the Whirling-in-Rags."

"We're in Martinaise. There's a cool church here."

"We're in Martinaise. There's a creepy abandoned commercial area here."

"Ummm... I really don't know."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Ah, Revachol. I remember walking its streets as a teenager. There used to be a bowling alley in Stella Maris... I wonder if it's still there?"

"It's a shame I can't get out and explore myself. One of the downsides of being an extremely high-net-worth individual is that mobs of low-net-worth individuals are constantly banding together to ask for money."

"Wait -- why don't you help them? You've got so much money it can't make a difference to you."

"So you travel from place to place via shipping container?"

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "There simply aren't enough hours a day to hand out all the handouts. It's like feeding seagulls. There are always more, and they never seem to do anything interesting with it -- except more seagulls."

"Spending money is a matter of desire, I'm sure you agree. I don't have the desire for spending it like that."

"So you travel from place to place via shipping container?"

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Smart, no? It also provides a means to hide from all the targeted advertising we extremely high-net-worth individuals are constantly subjected to..."

"Luxury yachts, high-fidelity portable radio systems, pale-proof outerwear, and so on. It just gets a bit *middle class* after a while. A bit *bourgeois.*"

"Ah, so you're saying being rich isn't worth the hassle."

"Those things all sound pretty nice."

(Yawn.) "Yeah, that does sound pretty tiresome."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Don't get me wrong: They're nice things, but once you achieve a certain level of wealth your time and mental space become *much* more important than material goods."

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - He speaks from the heart. He has very different problems compared to low-net-worth individuals such as yourself. For example, no problems at all.

"Ah, so you're saying being rich isn't worth the hassle."

"Good. Now that we've sorted that out, let me ask you something else."

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "What? No, I didn't say that at all. Being rich is great. Just don't tell anyone I told you that." The bending light appears to *wink*.

5. "You're a rich investor, right? Can I have some money?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Could you please stop asking *everyone* for money? It does not reflect well on the RCM and to be perfectly frank we can't afford to look worse than we already do."

"But Kim! I also can't *afford* to look any better than I do now. That's why I need the money!"

"You're right. That was extremely unprofessional. I apologize."

+1 Sorry Cop

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "It's perfectly alright. Based on your appearance I can tell I'm dealing with a civilized man..."

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success] - Playing the pity card, are we? Whatever gets us over the moon, baby, I'm your hand to be dealt.

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "As you may know, us high-net-worth individuals do not have a lot of cash on hand. Investments and liquidity are enemies of one another -- I think I only have coins for coffee machines."

"Here's three reál, how much can you get for this?"

+3 reál

"It gets me almost nothing."

"Thank you for your kindness."

"Are you sure you don't have any more? I thought you were a billionaire?"

MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Yes, I'm sure. You know..." His eyes narrow, the light seems to bend more *aggressively*.

"Maybe you can make that money grow? Come up with an investment plan? How's that sound?"

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] - This is a proposal, not a question.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - These ultraliberal types love losing huge sums of money on ludicrous proposals. Ergo, you should come up with a plan that's TOTALLY dead in the water.

[ontologicalsynaesthesia]

One of my favorite little details about Disco Elysium is that Harry just assigns descriptive epithets to a lot of the people he meets, and doesn't stop thinking about them that way even when he finds out their actual names. Like, Mega Rich Light-Bending Guy introduces himself as Roustame Diodore almost immediately, but he'll never stop being Mega Rich Light-Bending Guy to Harry.

[readyforevolution]

THE GREEKS AND ROMANS ON EGYPTIANS

“To the Greek and Latin writers contemporary with the ancient Egyptians the latter’s physical classification posed no problems: the Egyptians were negroes, thick-lipped, kinky-haired and thin-legged” (Diop, 1980, p. 37).

“Herodotus, ‘the father of history,’ — 480 (?) to — 425 [BCE]. With regard to the origins of the Colchians he writes: ‘It is in fact manifest that the Colchidians are Egyptian by race . . . several Egyptians told me that in their opinion the Colchidians were descended from soldiers of Sesostris I. I had conjectured as much myself from two pointers, firstly because they have black skins and kinky hair (to tell the truth this proves nothing for other peoples have them too) and secondly and more reliably for the reason that alone among mankind the Egyptians and the Ethiopians have practiced circumcision since time immemorial. The Phoenicians and Syrians of Palestine themselves admit that they learnt the practice from the Egyptians while the Syrians in the river Thermodon and Pathenios region and their neighbors the Macrons say they learnt it recently from the Colchidians’” (Diop, 1980, p. 36-37).

“Herodotus reverts several times to the negroid character of the Egyptians and each time uses it as a fact of observation to argue more or less complex theses. Thus to prove that the Greek oracle at Dodona in Epirus was of Egyptian origin, one of his arguments is the following: ‘ . . . and when they add that the dove was black they give us to understand that the woman was Egyptian’” (Diop, 1980, p. 37).

Aristotle (389 BCE - 332 BCE) says, “‘Those who are too black are cowards, like for instance, the Egyptians and Ethiopians. But those who are excessively white are also cowards as we can see from the example of women, the complexion of courage is between the two’” (Diop, 1980, p. 37).

Lucian (Greek writer, 125 - 190 BCE) describing a young Egyptian states, “‘This boy is not merely black; he has thick lips’” (Diop, 1980, p. 38).

Quote from Aeschylus (when describing the Egyptians): "I can see the crew with their black limbs and white tunics."

“According to Diodorous [of Sicily, 63 BCE to 14 BCE, Greek historian], it was probably Ethiopia which colonized Egypt (in the Athenian sense of the term, signifying that, with overpopulation, a proportion of the people emigrate to new territory)” (Diop, 1980, p. 38).

Diodorus states, “‘The Ethiopians say that the Egyptians are one of their colonies, which led into Egypt by Osiris. They claim that at the beginning of the world Egypt was simply a sea but that the Nile, carrying down vast quantities of loam from Ethiopia in its flood waters, finally filled it in and made it in part of the continent . . . They are that the Egyptians have received from them, as from authors and their ancestors, the greater part of their laws” (Diop, 1980, p. 38 - 39).

“There are about nine centuries between the birth of Aeschylus and Herodotus and the death of Ammianus Marcellinus, nine centuries during which the Egyptians, amid a sea of white races, steadily crossbred” (Diop, 1980, p. 39).

“It is remarkable that, despite its intensity, all this crossbreeding should not have succeeded in upsetting the racial constants. Indeed Ammianus Marcellinus [Latin historian, 330 - 395 CE] writes “‘ . . . the men of Egypt are mostly brown or black with a skinny and desiccated look’” (Diop, 1980, p. 39).

The great French philosopher Constantine de Volney on a visit to Egypt in 1787 would put it beautifully "Just think," de Volney declared incredulously, "that this race of Black men, today our slave and the object of our scorn, is the very race to which we owe our arts, sciences, and even the use of speech! Just imagine, finally, that it is in the midst of people who call themselves the greatest friends of liberty and humanity that one has approved the most barbarous slavery, and questioned whether Black men have the same kind of intelligence as whites!

Many contributions ounce thought to be attributed to a fairer skinned Egyptian peoples have been proven to be black African in origin.The oldest form of advanced mathematics showing the earliest use of egyptian multiplication is the 25,000 year old Ishango bone. The earliest form of advanced astronomy is the megalithic structures of Nabta Playa located in the Nubian desert.The oldest mummy ever found was Lucy dating back some 4 million years ago.

Luckily we live in a world free of the awful racism that infected 18th and 19th century historians looking to distort ,destroy and utterly deny any evidence of African peoples intelligence and competence. It is now commonly thought ,as the greeks knew long ago that ancient Egypt began essentially as a northern extension of Nubian culture and people.