#Fallout Commander Log

[dixdjviews]

Welcome to the first in a new series of Fallout 4 campaign logs where I document my progress through the Commonwealth—not just as a player, but as a field commander rebuilding a post-apocalyptic world.

[brandwhorestarscream]

Hey! I'm from KOBDSS' ask

It was "KOBDSS, but breakdown is the carrier of jettwins and wildbreak"

Ok I've been sitting on this for awhile and ngl kinda struggling, cuz. I'm not too great at puzzling out three way relationships 😅 but I think I'm finally getting there

First and foremost! Unlike previous iterations, I think the three of them will be triplets here. They come as a huge shock to everyone, and Knockout is the first to know whilst diagnosing his mate's sudden restlessness and inability to keep fuel down. Knockout is stunned to see a grand total of 5 infant sparks orbiting around Breakdown's. Seekers are always born in threes, but one of them split in two so there were 4. Add Wildbreak for a clean 5

They know the chances of Starscream being the sire of at least one is inarguable. They have... a weird relationship with their commander. Knockout and Breakdown have been conjunxed since long before the war, back when Veloctiron was still online and still the hottest, fastest place in the universe. They've always known of Starscream, he's infamous among the decepticons. But they'd never actually met the guy or been under his jurisdiction until earth, snd though their relationship is certainly a bit looser and involved now, there's still... a sort of wall there. Starscream is a massively distrustful and paranoid individual, and it took months of coaxing and careful flirtation to get him to even consider their propositions. Even when their sexual rendezvous' became semi-regular, and friendly(ish) visits even moreso, it's clear he doesn't trust them and is guarding his spark closely. He doesn't love them, doesn't think they love him, and has been beaten down and torn apart too many times to even entertain the idea. KOBD are fully content and emotionally fulfilled between each other, and while they do care for Starscream to a degree, it's more friendly than the deep and romantic love they hold for each other.

Which... somehow, makes it more awkward. If they were all a big happy united threeway sparkbond, it would be easy to tell him. They'd better be able to gage how he might react. But with him holding them at arms length and vice versa, and the seeker being so volatile, they can't even begin to guess what he'll do. What he'll think.

Knockout knows they ought to disclose it as soon as possible. After all, it's an important medical condition. But... he's worried. They both are. Breakdown has made it clear, right from the moment he found out about them, he can't stand the idea of a termination. He knows they should. They both do. An active battlefield is no place for a bitty let alone several, and they're not in a position to guarantee their safety and shelter from the war's ever evolving fallout. But the idea of snuffing them is too cruel, even for the two of them. But if they tell the wrong person or things escalate negatively, there's the risk Lord Megatron or Starscream might order their termination anyway. And while the two of them have already resolved to fight for their litter if they have to... they both know it's a fight they'll lose.

Soundwave is the next one privy to their situation. He's the calmest and most reasonable commanding force on the ship, and realistically, if anyone could get them greenlit for parenthood while also not being ejected from the warship, it's probably Soundwave. They're hoping he'll smooth things over with their big boss, because everyone knows Soundwave can do no wrong in Megatron's eyes. If the news comes from him it'll seem less bad, right?

Right!

...except Soundwave does little more than acknowledge their situation and quietly file it away into the logs. Informs them to act at their discretion: if they want maternity leave or to be excused from battle, that is Lord Megatron's will alone.

These two idiots take the "act at your discretion" and run with it. They're just....... waiting for the right time to tell Starscream. Maybe once he's recovered from his last beatdown from Megatron a bit, or comes to loiter around the medbay when he's in a particularly good mood and looking to gossip. Yeah, they'll spring it on him then, and gently ease it in with a cup of some hot energon and some embarrassing story plucked from one of the hapless vehicons. They're bracing for impact and trying to dodge the inevitable. The idiots

Their stupidity unfortunately does eventually lend itself to tragedy. Thankfully they've avoided any altercations with the autobots recently, and Breakdown has been listening to Knockout about not exerting himself. The carrying cycle is progressing nicely and Soundwave has been approving theor extra energon intake without question. Everything is great.

And then everything goes to shit because of MECH

Everything plays out just as it does in canon. A clash with Bulkhead, taking hits and plunging in head first like he really shouldn't, dragged away by the humans and put under the knife. Having his optic ripped out of his head, having pieces of him removed and cut away. It's a traumatic, horrifying experience, and by the time Bulkhead arrives to free him he's bleeding from a very inconvenient place. Breakdown doesn't know if his greatest rival truly didn't notice or if he was refusing to acknowledge it, but he's glad for it either way. Starscream shows up to get him back, and Breakdown manages to hold himself together until he gets to the medbay

Knockout is waiting for him, and already knows the grim reality: Breakdown had never experienced such a spark-deep, lacerating pain than when one of their sparklings reabsorbed into him, premature bond shattering and leaving him a howling, roaring mess strapped to that concrete slab. Even now it persists, as his internals constrict and twist trying purge what would have been one of their bodies.

He looks like a mess stumbling into Knockout's arms, face still torn open, a gaping hole of wires and energon where his eye once was, chassis soaked in blood from their experiments and thighs just as wet, leaking a trail of blood behind him. The second the door whooshes shut behind them Breakdown collapses, crumbling to his knees and starting to scream even as his bondmate rushes throw his arms around him. It's so much, it's too much, everything is visceral pain, everywhere, from the farest reaches of his limbs to the cold void growing in his spark. It's agony, pure agony, as he desperately clings onto Knockout hard enough to dent and scratch and scrape, bawling and screaming in ire so loudly it surely echoes out into the halls. It's all just too much.

And then, to make matters worse, Starscream arrives. Bulkhead may not have noticed but he did. He can think of several reasons a mech might be voiding internal energon from his interface array, and none of them are positive. One look at the two of them immediately confirms his suspicions, and the only thing he can ask is, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Why, indeed. Breakdown immediately starts hysterically rambling, that he's sorry he knows they should've said something sooner but he's sorry this is all his fault and he's so sorry-

Explanations can wait, evidently. They need to get him taken care of, first.

Thankfully, a quick look with the mirror and a medical scan reveal that three of them are still there. Obviously stressed, vibrating at a higher than usual frequency, but still anchored safely to him. Not immediately in danger of reabsorption, and it's a huge, bittersweet relief. Three of them survived, might still survive all the way to emergence. The happiness is of course overshadowed by the loss, but this discovery feels like a glimmer of hope nonetheless. Knockout gets to work patching him up as seamlessly as he can, precise, loving hands eradicating wound by microscopic wound. Breakdown gets a tiny bit of carrier-safe sedative, to relax his body enough to safely operate while keeping him semi-coherent. They talk the whole time, all three of them. About... what to do next, about what the future may look like with three sparklings soon to be born. Starscream agrees that, if any of them have wings, he'll willingly care for them and be their parent. If they're all grounders, then... he'll of course be civil and be more forgiving about time off for the two of them, but he won't be involved. It's a fair arrangement they can all agree on.

Of course, that all goes out the window when the three of them are born. Starscream himself didn't even realize how excited he was for their birth until Knockout announces the first one is a grounder, and his spark leaps because he doesn't care. He doesn't care if they're a grounder or a flyer, his spark lurches in a joyful way it hasn't done since before Vos fell, and all at once he realizes that he wants to be involved in these bitties' lives whether they're actually his or not. They'll need all the help, all the love they can get, and he wants to be there with them regardless of what frame they are.

Then the next two come out as jets and he's somehow even happier, because this means he'll have someone to teach about the sky and all it's wonders, and it's somehow an even greater happiness. The three of them are beautiful sparklings, each somehow with Knockout's unnaturally pretty, elegant face. The little grounder looks just like his carrier as far as his colors go, mimicking him near perfectly, but his alt mode is achingly different but so familiar. "He's just like Wildrider..." Breakdown murmurs, optics faraway as he remembers his family from so long ago. They name the eldest Wildbreak, at Knockout's insisting that Breakdown be included too. The split spark twins inherit names from the sky, from long dead relatives they'll never meet: Jetfire and Jetstorm. Neither Knockout nor Breakdown has any complaints, so their names are settled on swiftly. With that out of the way their exhausted parents can all settle in on and around the bed, bonding with their newborns and whispering back and forth to each other about just how wonderful their precious sparklings are 💖

[hazyaltcare]

Typing Quirk Suggestions for a Dave Pyrope (Homestuck) shardtive/kin/fictive

with themes of lawyers and politicians, DID and multiplicity, autism, nuclear warfare/fallout, post-apocalypse, and imagination.

Character Adjustments

α = alpha, A

β = beta, B

γ = gamma, G

☢️ = O

♾️ = OO

& = and

DID / D.I.D. = did (the past tense of "do")

1 = I

3 = e

Write "system" and "multiple" in all caps. (SYSTEM, MULTIPLE)

Pronouns

I&/me&/myself&

I/me/myselves

we/our/ours/ourselves

wei/muis/muir/muirs/muirselves (or muirself)

somemany = someone/somebody

everymany = everyone/everybody

Text Prefixes and Suffixes

☢️ text ☢️

📻 text 📻

☣️ text ☣️

🧬 text 🧬

🔨 text 🔨

⚖️ text ⚖️

♾️ text ♾️

🧠 text 🧠

💭 text 💭

&& text &&

💥 text 💥

🤯 text 🤯

💣 text 💣

BEGIN MESSAGE. text END MESSAGE.

Finishing your sentences with "end message", has the double meaning of the message ending and the "end" referring to the apocalypse. The begin/end thing also sounds like an apocalyptic log.

Word Adjustments

codification = creation

counterfeit = fake

law-abiding = obedient

laws, ordinances, enactment, fiat = rules

ratification = agreement hierarchy = level, chain of command

radiant, glowing, the bomb = could serve as compliments

revoke = cancel, withdraw, repeal

supreme, sovereign = best

Phrases

beyond imagination = something unexpected or thought impossible.

by any stretch of imagination = as far as you can believe. by no stretch of imagination = it can't happen.

capture one's imagination = something fascinating or thought provoking.

flight of fancy = an imaginative but unrealistic idea.

It's the end of the world! (expletive optional) = dramatic lamentation for when anything wrong happens to you, no matter how trivial.

I've been through the apocalypse, I can do this. = a phrase of encouragement.

justice is blind = the law should consider everyone equal (the usual meaning) or that Justice - be it a personification, or law enforcement - is blind to the injustices of the world (ironic meaning)

leave little to the imagination = clothing that don't cover the body, something that is super obvious, or a scene that is horribly graphic.

mind's eye/ear = mental image or sound.

ray cat in a radioactive zone = referring to the proposed concept of the "ray cat", a genetically engineered cat that could change color to radiation exposure. It could be used to mean "canary in the coal mine". A canary brought by miners to a cave will die when exposed to carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless gas that could be deadly to the human miners. Thus, the canary serves as a warning for environmental (literally) or societal (metaphorically) dangers.

there is no spoon = a quote from the Matrix (film) which means that the current problem or difficulty is only a figment of one's imagination.

This is not a place of honor. = to say somewhere should be avoided, this references the warning on Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) nuclear waste storage facilities. You could even reference other lines from this warning (under the cut).

We should remember the presumption of innocence. = A reminder to not be hasty when judging people, give them the benefit of the doubt.

Mod Vintage (Zg & Ad)

Warning:

This place is not a place of honor…no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here…nothing valued is here. What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger. The danger is in a particular location…it increases toward a center… the center of danger is here…of a particular size and shape, and below us. The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours. The danger is to the body, and it can kill. The form of the danger is an emanation of energy. The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.

[shithowdy]

So question I must know: what’s the deal with Fallout AU Chadley and his spawn? I need to know this because of reasons.

An exercise in how mean I can be to a character, apparently. 💀

This Chadley pursued a career in cancer genome research with a focus on colorectal carcinoma, which took his mother's life when he was 12. He partnered with a private research group for a while until it was absorbed by a company called Mimir Syndicate after a very weird acquisition process that involved a lot of psychological evaluations on the researchers and signing of contracts that were functionally super-NDAs; his only options were to remain under contract and attempt to continue his work or leave and be barred from continuing anything in that particular career path for the rest of his life due to his work being their "intellectual property".

After agreeing to remain, he and about 50 other scientists (from his own team and other new ones) alongside their spouses and children, plus some other operative staff, were relocated to an underground facility in another city entirely under the assurance that it was for "their protection" with an increasing risk of spies. He was unable to inform his father of this move before it became evident that none of them were able to leave-- they were not even informed when the world outside had been set ablaze.

This ended up being one of Mimir's own vault projects, a psyker development program overseen by robots that were both remotely operated by executives and also a default AI. The purpose was to use the researchers' own genetic material as the baseline for the project, while all the staff and families would keep the population consistent enough for the project to continue until viable. Except this was a terrible idea for a hundred reasons and several people rebelled instantly, ended their lives when they discovered what had happened above, and basically everything that can be expected to go wrong when people are imprisoned and told they are going to now be part of what's basically a horrifying mutant eugenics project.

The executives vanished from the command system (because of nuclear war lol), leaving only the AI to handle protocol for what to do with the remaining people, and in an attempt to preserve the project they put the remaining 30 or so researchers into cryogenic stasis for routinely cycled resuscitation, one at a time, so they would be unable to easily communicate with one another but still continue the project where a human hand (and genetic material) was actually required. What followed was a nightmarish 190ish years of being in and out of consciousness for only a few months at a time, watching mutant creations made from your own flesh and blood (and other spliced things, like fungi) be created and die in what feels like a flash, growing increasingly more disoriented and sick from a process that should really only happen once... but still plotting with the others in secret through hidden notes for a way to terminate the entire system.

And eventually it worked. About 10 years before the story begins, he finally manages to set off what was functionally a homemade EMP by the the remaining team in the room housing the stasis pods, killing his companions. With alarms blaring he records a final log of what happened there before taking his own life with a cocktail of surgical drugs, leaving the AI with nothing but only what material remained and no humans to actually guide the project. It took about ten more years for the whole thing to unravel completely, allowing ample opportunity for at least one of the more clever mutants to escape through an old breach left by raiders terminated by the AI.

He only had fleeting interactions with Emil, though notably with a hint of both horror and pride as he had to make the recommendation to continue following this specific blueprint, because finally one was stable. Cognizant. None of them have said they were scared of the scalpel before. God help him.

[businessrelocationlondon]

Disaster-Proof Moves: Building Business Continuity Into Your London Office Relocation

Picture this: crates are stacked, servers are powered down, and vans are revving when a protest blocks the street, the lift fails, or half your staff call in sick with the flu. Suddenly that carefully-timed schedule collapses—and the financial fallout escalates by the minute. When you partner with specialists in Business Relocation London, contingency planning is baked into every stage, turning worst-case scenarios into minor hiccups instead of mission-critical disasters. Below you’ll learn how to weave business-continuity principles into your next move so productivity never skips a beat.

1. Run a Pre-Move Business-Impact Analysis (BIA)

A good BIA answers one question: “How long can each department tolerate downtime?”

Identify Critical Functions – Finance, sales, and customer support usually top the list.

Set Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) – Define maximum acceptable outage for each function.

Tag Dependencies – Note which apps, files, or hardware each team needs to hit its RTO.

Armed with that data, your Business Relocation London lead can sequence the move so the longest-tolerant teams shift first, protecting revenue generators until the very end.

2. Create a Dual-Site Operations Plan

Even a six-hour broadband outage can cost thousands. Reduce exposure with a split-site approach:

Shadow Servers in the Cloud – Spin up temporary IaaS instances that mirror on-prem data.

Remote-First Workflow – Equip staff with VPNs and collaboration tools weeks before the move.

Pop-Up Command Centre – Reserve desks in a co-working hub as an emergency fallback.

Providers of Business Relocation London routinely manage dual-site logistics, ensuring data and staff pivot gracefully if anything stalls the physical transfer.

3. Build a Layered Communication Matrix

Silence breeds chaos. Keep every stakeholder in the loop via three parallel channels:

SMS Alerts – Instant updates if the timetable shifts.

Real-Time Dashboard – A shared link tracking crate counts, vehicle GPS, and room-by-room completion.

Daily Stand-Ups – Ten-minute video huddles for department heads to flag risks or needs.

Your Business Relocation London project manager should orchestrate this matrix so information flows even when Wi-Fi doesn’t.

4. Harden the Tech Move Against Failures

Redundant Power – UPS units ride through brownouts; generators cover multi-hour gaps.

Flight-Case Servers – Shock-mounted racks safeguard blades against pothole rattles.

Serialised Asset Tracking – Every device gets a barcode; nothing “goes missing” in the shuffle.

On-Site IT Engineers – Certified pros reconnect gear and run test log-ins before staff arrive.

These safeguards come standard with premier Business Relocation London packages, sparing you from Monday-morning meltdowns.

5. Keep Compliance & Insurance Front-of-Mind

A relocation exposes you to fresh legal and financial risks:

GDPR Chain-of-Custody Logs for any crate holding personal data.

WEEE-Compliant Disposal for obsolete hardware.

Goods-In-Transit Cover that matches the true replacement value of your tech stack.

Contractual SLA Penalties that compensate if the mover misses critical deadlines.

Seasoned Business Relocation London consultants will review policies and paperwork to ensure no loophole swallows your claim later.

6. Stress-Test With a “War-Game” Rehearsal

One week out, run a tabletop drill:

Simulate a van breakdown, lift malfunction, or DNS failure.

Walk through the playbook: who calls whom, which fallback activates, how progress is logged.

Note bottlenecks and patch them before the real move.

This dress rehearsal turns theory into muscle memory—another hallmark of robust Business Relocation London planning.

7. Post-Move Recovery & Review

The job isn’t done when the last crate is emptied:

48-Hour Hyper-Care – Extra technicians on site for surprise bugs.

Performance Benchmarks – Compare page-load speeds, call-centre latency, and ticket volumes pre- vs post-move.

Lessons-Learnt Report – Document wins and misses to refine the process for future expansion.

Your Business Relocation London provider should deliver a comprehensive dossier proving targets were met—or exceeded.

Final Word: Move With Confidence, Not Luck

Disruption is inevitable; disaster is optional. By embedding business-continuity safeguards into every crate, cable, and calendar slot, you transform relocation risk into competitive resilience. Ready to disaster-proof your next address change? Partner with the experts in Business Relocation London and enjoy the calm that comes from knowing every “what if” already has an answer.

[russtanner]

Daily Spraying Log - Nov 10 2024

November 10 - The Daily Spraying Log #thedailysprayinglog - #chemtrailsitswhatyoubreathe

12:16 pm

What a horrible day of spraying so far.

Skies are clear blue yet, the air has been sitting at or near intensity 10 (of 10) much of the morning. Intensity is 9.75 as I type this.

They continue to roll out short, non-persistent plumes in more areas around the world to keep the intentional poisoning less noticeable to the public. While they are doing this, they are spraying harder, longer, and with more toxic substances that produce more life-threatening symptoms in more areas.

This is a "boil the frog" operation. They are gradually increasing toxicity over time. This way, only a "slice" of the more vulnerable population is affected and eventually killed off.

This "slice" is a number that they carefully regulate to keep hospitals from being overrun so as to prevent public concern, although they certainly keep hospitals extremely busy, they do it without completely overrunning emergency room capacity as this would raise public concern. The feedback mechanism necessary maintain this tight regulation is "legally" provided by The Patriot Act, and other legislation that enables sharing of medical demographics. It's all by design.

This "slice" of the population that is getting sick and eventually dying from the intentional poisoning is then replaced by more people who become sick as their "buckets become full". This phrase describes the process of getting sick when your body is no longer able to mitigate long-term toxic exposure. This new batch of sick people then become the "slice" that is fed to the medical system and eventually dies off making room for the next batch.

This continuous, flowing river of people entering a sick state is not noticed by the public because the net number of sick people does not change much unless it's intentionally done. In some area, new hospitals are built to accommodate larger numbers of sick persons after which net spraying intensity is increased in the corresponding area to keep those new hospitals full. This increases the size and flow of the river of sick persons who eventually die off after being fed to the medical system. Globalists continue to achieve their depopulation goals while gaining incomprehensible profits.

It is a systemized, industrialized, profit-ized killing machine that continues swallowing the public raising only minimal notice from those with inquiring minds and open eyes.

It's important that those who care enough to pay attention (that would be you; the person willing to read an article like this) realize that clear skies no longer have a direct relationship with the toxicity of the air. The new methods they are using to hide this activity from the public is working, unfortunately but predictably. The process of hiding the poisoning the air prohibits people from associating a "chemtrailed sky" with their health symptoms, and this is a huge blow to our movement. As if it wasn't already difficult enough to get the public to think about the spraying, now it's even harder.

Those of us who smell and taste the horrific fallout these military tankers are releasing (737, 747, 767, DC-9) must speak up now more than ever. When the air is bad, let people know so they begin to see the association between their health symptoms and the level of toxicity in the air. If we do not speak up and let people know, there is no foreseeable way to convince the public to be actively concerned about the issue in the future.

Those well-intentioned persons who are seeking state-level, anti-geoengineering legislation in hope of stopping the spraying will be in for a huge shock when they finally realize that the states don't have the authority to stop the military from spraying us. Only the Commander in Chief of the military does... the President. Unfortunately, the newly-elected President did not stop the spraying in his first term. Do you think he will in his second?

It's highly unlikely that he will stop the spraying, however, we must be aware of a potentially devastating deception that they globalists may attempt to pull over on the public.

Now that the technology to produce very heavy toxicity in the air at ground level without producing persistent trails in the air exists and is being implemented, they—the globalists—may attempt to convince the public that spraying has been stopped by the Command in Chief when, in fact, it has not. Now that so much of the public has become aware of the spraying (although still not actively involved in stopping it), we have RFK openly talking about it, and even Trump himself has alluded to it.

What does this mean?

This means that the globalists know that the public knows, so now the globalists must make a bold move, and I'm expecting that they just may do that during this administration when so many have their guard down.

There are two likely scenarios:

1. They will finish implementing the no-trail technology and tell the public that some improperly regulated faction of government was spraying but has now been stopped by the current administration, or

2. They will begin to implement "geoengineering to cool the planet" and begin to attribute the existing trails to this "beneficent" operation.

The second scenario is equally likely judging by the fact that media has been priming the public for the "need" for geoengineering now for the past few years. They are not doing with without reason. If they do anything, it's part of their plan. Everything they do is wrapped in a narrative. So it is possible this will be the new explanation for the remaining lines in the sky.

For those who realize that we are living—or dying—through the largest and most lethal crime ever executed in human history, knowing what is really happening is very helping for preparation and self protection. "Self protection" also means protecting yourself against psychological operations to fool the public. I don't want the public to be fooled, which is why I offer this information in hope that many will avoid the killing machine that is operating over our heads every day.

As always, it's up to all of us.

Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if everything depends on you.

The attack on all life continues on our watch.

1:09 pm

Following are the events we have endured today so far. Note that all event have had virtually the same composition. Only the Burnt Electronics/Skunk type changes periodically. The rest of the components remain the same.

Intensity through the night was 8 with the same components listed below minus the Burnt Electronics/Skunk type.

~9:15 am - Multi-Component Plume Components (strongest to weakest). - Sedative/Magnesium-Blocker/Beta-Blocker - Cadmium? Blocks magnesium metabolism, may induce arrhythmia (dangerous). - Chalky-Bitter-Pharma - Depletes magnesium, heart issues (dangerous). - Model Cement/Burnt Plastic - See Microplastics. - Mercury - Always present. - Neo-Inflammatory - Inflames the heart, lungs, and head. Intensity Delta: Medium-Fast Peak Intensity: Above 10

~12 n - Multi-Component Plume Components (strongest to weakest). - Sedative/Magnesium-Blocker/Beta-Blocker - Cadmium? Blocks magnesium metabolism, may induce arrhythmia (dangerous). - Chalky-Bitter-Pharma - Depletes magnesium, heart issues (dangerous). - Model Cement/Burnt Plastic - See Microplastics. - Mercury - Always present. - Burnt Electronics/Skunk - Neo-Inflammatory - Inflames the heart, lungs, and head. Intensity Delta: Medium-Fast Peak Intensity: Above 10

The previous plume has been layered since it hit us. Intensity as I type this remains above 10 (I don't assign values above 10). The air is unbreathable.

Magnesium is being rapidly depleted from our bodies due to the dangerous Sedative/Magnesium-Blocker/Beta-Blocker type, which seems to affect some people dramatically and others only minimally.

...And so it continues.

3:41 pm

We have been hit with 2 more plumes. The air does drop to intensity 8 between plumes, but the plumes themselves have all gone up to at least 10 in intensity.

~2 pm - Multi-Component Plume Components (strongest to weakest). - Sedative/Magnesium-Blocker/Beta-Blocker - Cadmium? Blocks magnesium metabolism, may induce arrhythmia (dangerous). - Chalky-Bitter-Pharma - Depletes magnesium, heart issues (dangerous). - Model Cement/Burnt Plastic - See Microplastics. - Mercury - Always present. - Burnt Electronics/Skunk - Neo-Inflammatory - Inflames the heart, lungs, and head. Intensity Delta: Medium-Fast Peak Intensity: Above 10

~3 34 pm - Multi-Component Plume Components (strongest to weakest). - Sedative/Magnesium-Blocker/Beta-Blocker - Cadmium? Blocks magnesium metabolism, may induce arrhythmia (dangerous). - Chalky-Bitter-Pharma - Depletes magnesium, heart issues (dangerous). - Model Cement/Burnt Plastic - See Microplastics. - Mercury - Always present. - Burnt Electronics/Skunk - Neo-Inflammatory - Inflames the heart, lungs, and head. Intensity Delta: Fast Current Intensity: Above 10

A brutal day of spraying continues here.

[lloyd283]

Custom dead end episode 8/9: The 30th Cycle

Today's the big day. Dead end nights 30 begins, and everyone's on hand to finalise the set designs and all. Amongst them, badyah's etching the symbol secretly on some props, making a presence looming greater. Barborah is greeting the media, as is norma (to the best of her abilities) with barney as a mascot promoting the new additions. On a bench, someone's reading the leaflet, noticing the symbol etched in, putting it down, revealing that Lloyd's reading it.

As the park prepares to open the event, an event helper is trying to get all guests to the opening ceremony, when the person notes in a shadowed area an Injured guest, when in reality, harmony's there and takes the person's fear. Shortly after, the gates open as Lloyd sneaks in, and the house calls norma into unexplored areas. When logs notices Lloyd, he hesitates on calling security until he says everyone's in danger as that symbol means he's near. Norma enters a new area of the house that's been long forgotten, with cobwebs and a low light candle that flickers to glow bonapart's necklacey thing (I think it's a choker) as if it wants norma to wear it. Hours pass, and the event's going well with the absence of badyah, which logs decides to check. Logs follows badyah to a nearby alley whilst everyone's in one place, so Lloyd begins making his mark on a nearby television and seemingly pulling through the static for something.

Logs sees badyah, Harmony, and Dr oddfellow as they prepare to strike, asking her if the props needed have his symbol, which she confirms. Harmony tells her to grab his gift to Oddfellow. To remain safe, he decides to hide in a barrel and send Lloyd a text as suddenly Oddfellow and Harmony strike the crowd, and badyah rushes norma to a 'safe space'. From the lamppost, Lloyd summons light projectiles to try splitting them apart, before deciding shadow magic is needed, summoning a portal that sends several tourists to a safe area before Harmony gets a hold of him, the other large group of tourists and the other staff, except barney and norma. Badyah lets norma feel safe until harmony arrives to grab her and drag her out in view of everyone, and oddfellow is pleased with him enough he hands harmony a knife saying he can finally take revenge on them and with massive shock, harmony stabs norma once and she's starting to die. Still possesed, badyah holds her back as she loses consciousness and begins to float with a ghostish aura around her body.

A most peculiar thing happens as we end episode 8. As soon as norma was killed, Lloyd began building a massive amount of pink fushia energy and laughing maniacally as he references the eleventh doctor's iconic trap speech. He releases it, sending barney and everyone nearby flying before he blasts off towards the house.

Episode 9 opens up with the fallout of the blast. Badyah hits her head but is freed from control. Barney is with logs, with Lloyd entering the house's large window with force, breaking it. Oddfellow is furious as he commands harmony to grab them whilst he tries to take norma's soul. Barney sees the spirit of Hugo as in the house, Audrey's trying to contact Hugo. Since 2010, she's spent a decade falling into the mystic arts and spiritology. He then gets an idea...

Harmony's hunting barney and logs whilst barney's certain he's hearing pugsley again, which causes them to try fighting back, to no avail.

Meanwhile, oddfellow notes Norma's soul is resisting him. He precedes to yell at harmony to find Lloyd as he believes he knows the location of his cane of souls.

Lloyd's idea is risky. It involves Audrey astral projecting and Lloyd channelling senergy as a weapon. He hides Audrey in a side extension before he flies back to the centre as everything's about to go down. As everyone gathers, oddfellow makes his demands clear: the location of his cane, or everyone dies. For once, barney leads a counter, saying his power is if they sell or willingly give it to him and with norma, he's broke his own rules already: he's in no position to make demands. Harmony grabs logs and threatens barney that he'll kill him if he doesn't retract being the lead negotiator. He agrees, and logs is thrown into barney, and Lloyd takes centre stage. He offers oddfellow one chance to back away, to which he says Norma's not cooperating, so Audrey weighs an option. Hugo sees her as she says that the choker she's wearing only activates on death, but she's not fully dead because of the vampire blood addition. He knows Audrey's going to do something stupid, and she says she's been lost without her friend by her side, and Norma and barney are a lot like them. Audrey talks to Norma's soul, saying she'll be okay as she sacrifices her ghost form to revive norma and activate bonapart's choker. The wound clears, and the choker activates, bringing her fully back, causing panic as harmony charges at Patrick, and barney takes the blow. Lloyd says the plan can't work without a spirit's energy, so Hugo decides to give his, and he accepts as norma gets back on her feet, asking Lloyd what she needs to do. As Hugo gives his energy, the pair conjure a senergy beam and aim it towards oddfellow who takes it head on. The force tumbles harmony, and everyone else. Oddfellows hat is gone, and his forehead now bears his own symbol as they say that his pursuit of immortality will follow him, but he knows the location of the cane by accepting his fate. Pissed, oddfellow precedes to take Harmony's soul before leaving, whistling his tune. Norma now actually looks different, like claire (corrupted timeline ep12), and Barborah asks for the event to be cancelled as badyah comes around, but norma doesn't want a hug from her anymore. Audrey's spiritless body sits in an astral state, in an isolated area. Somewhere, Audrey and Hugo embrace each other.

At morning, Lloyd leaves as he's going to discworld with the visitor, but he'll be at the charity event. Badyah tries explaining things, but norma just lashes out at her, as if she genuinely believes the betrayal was really her. Barney helps console badyah. It's like a whole new Norma's appeared...

Marcella arrives shortly after, checking for problems shocked that Pugsley's back...

[biomatterplants]

sempervivum commander hay, 11/3/17

[dominionsweep]

DOMINION SMP SEXYMAN BRACKET: ROUND 1, MATCH 8

And why they ourple.

(Remember: Consider your personal qualifications for a Tumblr or MCYTblr sexyman when voting, not just who you like more/who's more popular!)

KNOW YOUR CANDIDATES:

Grady

Origin: Enderian

Blacksmith whose civilization was pushed out of the end as a result of shulkers taking over the end cities (unclear if this was a war or an invasive species situation). Immediately starts beef with the local dragonborn and then somehow ends up her right-hand man once she's elected queen of the server.

As of Season 2, runs evil OSHA the HOA of Dominion, which is called POOPA and stands for something I do not remember. Is extremely particular and harsh on anything that violates POOPA guidelines. Constantly threatening to write people up. Also has received a command from maybe the moon to build a giant all-seeing-eye bridge, which is a super normal thing to do. Really cool. Really normal.

Memelord tendencies tempered only by his ability to keep a straight face. Voted canonically most likely to make an "I hardly knew 'er" joke. Ran a tavern that managed to serve chicken nuggets exactly once before the apocalypse happened.

Shadow

Origin: Witherborn

Hitman for hire and probably one of the best PvPers on the server, able to hold his own in a 2v1 vs Jamie and Grady at one point. Worked as an enforcer for the crown but could very much still be bought if you know what you're doing.

Struggled a lot with his urges towards chaos. Likes explosions but is technically not a Witherborn by birth and very much had to deal with the fallout of those two sides warring. Has a consistent soft spot for Sneve.

Is currently on a silent, murderous rampage through Season 2 that has only been tempered by the fact that he's taking a break IRL. Only logs in during blood moons, doesn't speak to anyone, and attacks pretty much everyone that gets close. He did give Joy some armor and play Pigstep for Viking, though.

[danse-or-farkas]

I have a really weird Fallout 4 fic idea.

Not long after the end of Fallout 3 the Citadel starts encountering some odd phenomena. It starts with with a few Initiates claiming they saw two ghosts in power armour. Soon stories start to spread that its the spirits of two Paladins who died in the Brotherhood-Enclave war. Electrical devices start malfunctioning, some with no power source start to work and can’t be shut off, and those two Paladins keep appearing and seem to be struggling against something before vanishing again.

Finally the Paladins appear fully, one lets out a triumphant cry before collapsing unconscious. Their Brotherhood ID numbers are a problem though, one hasn’t been issued yet and won’t for several hundred more recruits, the other belongs to the currently serving Paladin Danse who was present when they appeared.

They are carrying a storage drive that contains almost 10 years of reports and logs as well as Brotherhood command codes past, present and future verifying the authenticity of the contents.

The two travellers, the Sole Survivor and the future Paladin Danse, stole a prototype time machine from an enemy that will one day destroy the Brotherhood, and are using it to course correct history. Subtle changes failed, The Institute kept winning no matter how much they tried, so now they’re going to stop the death of Sarah Lyons, try to steer Maxson toward a more tolerant stance (of kill him in his sleep if Danse would just let sole do it rather than arguing that its morally wrong) and arm the Brotherhood to strike a decade early.

The only problem; the West Coast Brotherhood were the ones who arranged Sarah Lyons ‘defeat’ and the rise of what they thought would be an excellent puppet Elder in Arthur Maxson. Years of planning are about to be compromised, and they’re panicking. They need someone who can get close to the travellers, report back quietly, and possibly eliminate them when the time comes. They need somone loyal, trustworthy, and above all able to get close to both of them whilst being above suspicion. 

The recently promoted Paladin Danse seems the perfect choice.

[calder]

Frontier Add-Ons by MysteryMachineX

Several holotapes in Hidden Valley represent the archives that the isolated Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel have written to detail the status of every Brotherhood chapter, including the Crusaders, to know who to trust.

Note that we pushed the Crusaders' arrival in the Frontier a few years earlier. We felt like it didn't make any sense that they had been there less than a year before the player arrives. The formation of the Crusaders is a bit murky, and we just propose that they weren't really organized until the fall of New Canaan.

They only take the form of notes, but now observant players can learn about the goings on in the Frontier long before they arrive (particularly if they're also using the Alternate Start mod). These notes are placed throughout the Mojave to indicate how the main four factions consider their splinter forces in the Frontier.

-

We wrote the backstory for a group called the disarmists, people that protested the totalitarian pre-war American government for issues ranging from nuclear disarmament to racial injustice. These people are meant to represent a large proportion of the population of Portland from before the war. Their journey is detailed through the perspective of a single generational line of survivors, and you can watch their identity slowly fade with time, as people stop using the disarmist term in favor of other factions, gangs, tribes, towns, or identities.

The Scavengers, or Scavs, are pulled straight from Fallout 3 in that they are basically just portrayed as mindless, evil raiders (and not, you know, desperate human beings). The player is constantly encouraged to mass murder them with very little justification [...] So, inspired by this mod, we made a script that makes Scavs no longer hostile as long as the player is wearing Scav armor. It's not perfect, but it works. This should hopefully reduce the amount of combat the player is forced into, and it gives the player a way out of dealing with Scavs outside of quests. We tried to use the reputation system, but honestly that system is such a mess.

-

Adds a temperature system to the Mojave Wasteland and the Frontier.

The script regularly checks the player for where they are located and what they are wearing to determine what relative temperature the player feels (on a scale from 1 to 100). Hot or cold temperatures can result in negative consequences. Comfortable temperatures can bestow benefits. There's no warmth or "how much skin does this cover" stat in the game, so we utilized scripts and Form ID lists to try to catch any modified outfits we could. Just know that the system isn't perfect. If it can't figure out what tier your outfit is, it'll give it an average evaluation.

-

A note to self from Orion Moreno details his refusal to forget the "good old days" of the Enclave, and he mentions strange signals from space. We had him call the Enclave on the space station Central Command to draw a connection to the space Enclave called Central from Boom to the Moon. It's not like the Frontier ever calls them anything beyond "Portland Enclave" (that aren't in Portland anymore).

The player is told that ARGUS is [an Enclave AI], and even though the writing makes it painfully aware that he is sentient, he has no coherent explanation of why he wants to do mass genocide. He has only a dozen dialogue lines, and all he offers as an explanation is that the Vault-Tec experiments prove humanity deserves to be wiped out. So his only motivation is that he seems to be an evil, misanthropic AI that might be bigoted towards carbon-based lifeforms? He's a supervillain.

But even then it doesn't make any sense! The twist shows that he was actually a brain in a jar, a human. He's a human who wanted to wipe out humanity for being inhumane! He's just... evil. We know why he's written this way. It's because the Frontier needed a villain that was SO EVIL that even diehard Enclave supporters would still want to oppose him in the linear NCR Exiles questline. (How did that work out? It's almost like the Enclave being evil is the selling point.)

So we gave ARGUS a purpose. The closest ideology that aligns with his goal is a particularly extreme version of ecofascism, and so we ran with that. We added a series of questions that the player can ask, where he explains his motivations. He's still obviously evil, but hopefully now the player can at least understand why HE thinks he's the good guy, why life itself needs authoritarian guidance and how decentralized movements are doomed to fail, kinda like how Caesar attempts to invoke Hegelian dialectics to justify his actions. Though, of course, the player is incapable of making ARGUS change his mind, it should hopefully make the final confrontation more thought-provoking.

-

Revises one of Voss's experimental logs where the Frontier attempted to completely retcon Mothership Zeta.

Modifies Rancor's final dialogue to replace the dogwhistley word "oligarchies" with "political parties", as that is a more accurate and less nebulous term.

me and this mod are gonna make out

[an-organized-confusion]

You know what. Cognitive function analysis time on the whole “Logan being ignored“ theme.

Okay. I’m pretty sure c!Thomas is an xNFP, so his Thinking function would be either last or second to last in terms of attention/priority/maturity/skill. So Logan already isn’t the guy that calls all the shots in Thomas’s cognition (though he’s still valuable in keeping stuff balanced in that department.) We’re seeing the effects of that in how sloven the apartment has been getting and how quick Thomas (and Roman) are prepared to put on those rose-tinted glasses wrt Nico.

The funny thing to me is I’m an INTJ. My thinking function is second-in-command, so to speak. I do try not to disregard feelings and all that, but My Best is whenever I tap into my internal Logan to maintain schedules, logging personal data, making outlines - all that good executive functioning stuff. I feel like Me when I’ve got those systems in place and am utilizing them.

But lately, thanks to grief and the fallout thereof... I’ve been also ignoring that facet of myself, too. Housework is not getting done, my streak of working out regularly is shot, the hell is my sleep schedule, etc. Without structure, I’ve been in a dissociative haze for basically the last couple months. Low-key my anxiety is loving that! </sarcasm>

Idk, I just felt like getting a lil reflective and weirdly sympathetic to a headspace of not intentionally ignoring a better part of yourself in times of turmoil. Like hell, a lot of mental illnesses interfere with executive functioning - like depression.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Billionaire Blastoff (AP) Two billionaires are putting everything on the line this month to ride their own rockets into space. Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson is due to take off Sunday from New Mexico, launching with two pilots and three other employees aboard a rocket plane carried aloft by a double-fuselage aircraft. Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos departs nine days later from West Texas, blasting off in a fully automated capsule with three guests: his brother, an 82-year-old female aviation pioneer who’s waited six decades for a shot at space and the winner of a $28 million charity auction. They will go 55 miles to 66 miles (88 kilometers to 106 kilometers) up.

Severe heat wave builds across Western U.S. after nation’s hottest June on record (Washington Post) Last week, a “thousand-year” heat wave baked the Pacific Northwest and adjacent British Columbia with widespread highs topping 100 degrees, resulting in a death toll in the hundreds. Lytton, Canada, climbed to 121 degrees and established new national records three days in a row before the town burned in heat-intensified wildfires. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday that the heat wave helped the United States clinch its hottest June on record. Eight states had their hottest Junes, including Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. These four states are at the heart of yet another heat wave developing in the West that could challenge records and bring dangerously hot temperatures. It will mark the third punishing heat wave in the West this summer, including last week’s in the Pacific Northwest and a record-breaking event in mid-June. This heat wave will not likely be as extreme as the event in the Pacific Northwest, but temperatures could challenge all-time highs around Las Vegas, Redding, Calif., and Sacramento and a few other places between California’s Central Valley and southern Nevada.

Political Crisis in Haiti Deepens Over Rival Claims to Power (NYT) The political storm in Haiti intensified on Thursday as two competing prime ministers claimed the right to run the country, setting up an extraordinary power struggle over who had the legal authority to govern after the brazen assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in his home the day before. Haiti’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, says he has taken command of the police and the army, declaring a “state of siege” that essentially put the country under martial law. But constitutional experts questioned his right to impose it, and his claim to power was quickly challenged by a rival. Two days before his death, Mr. Moïse had appointed a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who was supposed to take up the role this week and told a local newspaper that he was the rightful prime minister instead. The dueling claims created a volatile political crisis that left constitutional experts confused and diplomats worried about a broad societal collapse that could ignite violence or prompt Haitians to flee the country en masse, as they have after natural disasters, coups or other periods of deep instability.

Brexit bill (Reuters) Brexit’s unfortunate fallout continues. The European Union has said that the United Kingdom is liable to pay 47.5 billion euros ($56.2 billion) to the E.U. as part of its post-Brexit financial settlement. The E.U.’s consolidated budget report for 2020 said the money is owed under a series of articles which both sides agreed to as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The amount is significantly higher than the U.K. expected. Its Office for Budget Responsibility predicted in its March 2018 economic and fiscal outlook report that the bill would amount to 41.4 billion euros ($49 billion). Britain and the E.U. were in a 47-year relationship, and the divorce has been dicey. It took more than four years of acrimonious negotiations and lingering mistrust before the two finally struck a trade and cooperation agreement at the end of December.

Thailand to impose tighter restrictions to slow virus spread (Reuters) Thailand will announce new travel restrictions, mall closures and curbs on gatherings in the capital Bangkok and surrounding provinces starting next week, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, two government sources told Reuters. The government will issue a stay-home order from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. for 14 days and bar gatherings of more than five people in the capital and high-risk areas, the sources said.

China’s gaming curfew (Foreign Policy) Chinese gaming giant Tencent will begin using facial recognition technology to prevent minors playing mobile video games past a nationwide gaming curfew. China established the 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew in 2019 to combat gaming addiction—deemed a mental health disorder in 2018 by the World Health Organization. Chinese children and teenagers had been circumventing the nighttime ban by using adult’s credentials to log in to the gaming service, prompting the technological intervention.

Biden Accelerates Withdrawal Timetable (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, despite the Taliban’s rapid territorial gains in recent weeks. In a White House address, Biden said that all combat troops would leave Afghanistan by August 31, even earlier than a Sept. 11 deadline he set back in April. Heading off criticism from some conservatives, who have called for a small combat troop presence to remain in the country, Biden—a long-time skeptic of prolonged U.S. involvement in Afghanistan—questioned the cost of such a move. “Let me ask those who want us to stay: How many more—how many thousands more Americans, daughters and sons—are you willing to risk?” Biden said. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome.” Although nearly all U.S. troops are set to depart Afghanistan by August, a substantial number—roughly 650—will remain in the country to provide security for the U.S. embassy and Kabul’s international airport.

Drone attacks by Iraqi militias reflect Iran’s waning hold (AP) Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force commander brought one main directive for Iraqi militia faction leaders long beholden to Tehran, when he gathered with them in Baghdad last month: Maintain calm, until after nuclear talks between Iran and the United States. But he was met with defiance. One of the six faction leaders spoke up in their meeting: They could not stay quiet while the death of his predecessor Qassim Soleimani and senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a U.S. drone strike went unavenged. Militia attacks have only been increasing against the U.S. in military bases in both Iraq and Syria. Three missile attacks in the last week alone resulted in minor injuries, stoking fears of escalation. There have been at least eight drone attacks targeting the U.S. presence since Biden took office in January, as well as 17 rocket attacks, according to coalition officials. The attacks are blamed on the Iranian-backed militias that make up the bulk of Iraq’s state-supported Popular Mobilization Forces. The Biden administration has responded by twice targeting Iraqi militia groups operating inside Syria, including close to the Iraqi border.

Israel levels family home of alleged Palestinian attacker (AP) Israel on Thursday demolished the family home of a Palestinian-American man accused of carrying out a deadly attack on Israelis in the occupied West Bank, rejecting pleas from his estranged wife that he rarely lived in the house, which she shared with their three children. The demolition drew a rebuke from the United States, which is opposed to punitive home demolitions and has taken a more critical line toward Israel’s policies in the occupied West Bank since President Joe Biden took office this year. “The home of an entire family should not be demolished for the actions of one individual,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price. “There is a critical need to lower the temperature in the West Bank. Punitive demolitions exacerbate tensions at a time when everyone should be focused on principally ensuring calm.”

Religion (Public Religion Research Institute) A new survey of 50,334 Americans over the course of 2020 tracked how religion in the United States has continued to change over recent years. According to the survey, 36 percent of those 18 to 29 years old considered themselves unaffiliated with a religion, substantially higher than the 23 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds who considered themselves as much in 2006, and the 10 percent who were unaffiliated in 1986. That’s also double the rate of religiously unaffiliated compared to those aged 50 to 64. Still, a majority—54 percent—of those 18 to 29 are Christians, though that’s down from the 70 percent of all Americans.

Laughter can make you more productive at work (CNBC) Being inundated with bad news and working from home, for some alone, during the coronavirus pandemic has made it harder than ever for workers to find the time for laughter, but experts argue that it can really make a difference when it comes to productivity. Daniel Sgroi, an economics professor at the U.K.’s University of Warwick, told CNBC via telephone that laughter can trigger the activation of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, both of which are considered mood-boosting hormones. Sgroi explained that laughter “fast tracks networks in the brain to help you concentrate and focus,” working as the equivalent of a productivity boost. Research that Sgroi co-authored, published in 2015, found evidence of a link between happiness and productivity. One of the techniques used in his study was to use comedy to make participants laugh and be happier, which he said boosted productivity by up to 12%. “So it’s almost like being happy generates more time,” he said, explaining that someone who is happy might be able to do in one hour what it takes someone who is less happy to do in an hour and 20 minutes.

[rhetoricandlogic]

Wolf 359 - Gabriel Urbina, Zach Valenti

Although the last full episode aired over two years ago, Pooja Ramakrishnan thinks Wolf 359, a dramatic science-fiction podcast, is worth both your ears and more.

In the past year and a half, I have listened to dozens of podcasts - some mediocre, some phenomenal and some skip-worthy. Among these, I have cherry picked a handful and reviewed them for TU Delta. Yet, in this vast library of audio programmes, none has stood out to me more than Wolf 359.

Written by Gabriel Urbina (and occasionally by other guest writers), Wolf 359 is a dramatic science-fiction serial set in the near future. Imagine if the game Fallout Shelter was set in outer space and then turned into a sitcom - Wolf 359 is something along those lines. It begins with the voice of Communications Officer Doug Eiffel aboard the U.S.S. Hephaestus - a space station orbiting the red dwarf planet of Wolf 359 - recording an audio log of the day‘s events. His two colleagues, Commander Minkowski who is a stickler for doing things by the book, and the mildly lunatic scientist Officer Hilbert are often the catalysts for all Doug Eiffel's problems. The aim of these space agents is to make first contact with other life forms in outer space and we follow the crew’s hilarious and absurd conundrums on the spacecraft. Over time, radio broadcasts of classical music are picked up and we are led to believe these are old radio broadcasts from earth (alluding to a space-time warp) but perhaps there is more to it than it seems ...

The manned space station is also controlled by a sentient operating system - Hera - who is a brilliantly written character that allows the show to explore the human condition through a very different lens. There are several tangents throughout the show - the kidnapping of a toothpaste tube, a plant monster that loves the air vents, a mysterious box 953 and other strange occurrences that eventually push the main plot forward. As our team navigates problem after problem in every episode, listeners get a glimpse of the real mystery lurking in the shadows in what is unsaid. The foreshadowing and Easter eggs are deliberate, well-placed and accompanied by top class sound recording and background music.

The entire show spans about 61 episodes of varying lengths - perfect bite-sized audio entertainment. As we journey with them, we are unwittingly pulled into their orbit and begin rooting for this muddled but endearing bunch of humans. The medley of unorthodox friendships, incredible comic timing, excellent writing and fantastic voice acting puts this show way above the rest. Zach Valenti, who voices Doug Eiffel and Officer Hilbert, is more than just remarkable and does full justice to the two very different characters.

Although the last full episode aired over two years ago, Wolf 359 is still reaping awards for the sheer quality of its production. In 2018, it won the Best Ongoing, Long-form, Dramatic Production at Audio Verse. Although classified as a science fiction drama, this show has so much more to offer than labels can tell. The show ends on a moving and wonderful note - whether you binge listened or paced yourself, you ultimately are so invested in these characters that it is almost tragic to hear the storyline complete itself. If I'm honest, I even teared up a little. And that is just yet another testament to what a genius of an audio programme this is. Wolf 359 - a tiny, little podcast in the vast space we call the internet - is worth both your ears and more.

[acabang]

Nerding out on the Borderlands

I finally got around to playing Borderlands 3 and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Personal order of preference for the franchise: Tales ≥ BL2 > BL3 > BL1 > TPS

Depending on how the DLC goes though, 3 could be just as good as 2 for me. Unlikely but it’s possible.

I really enjoyed playing all the Vault Hunters, Zane in particular, even if it seems like he lags behind the rest of them. And while she’s fun as just a straight up gunner, my only real bummer is Moze. For me when it comes to the playable characters, it’s all about their Action Skills and if I don’t find myself using it regularly then I hope they have something fun in their skill trees to make up for the lack of it other than shooting guns exceptionally well (ie. Gaige with Ricochet-Anarchy stacking abuse, Krieg with Flame of the Firehawk-Raving Retribution Hellborn madness, etc.). The idea of Iron Bear is rad but vehicles have never been useful outside of a means of map traversal, which this mech isn’t for, and if I’m gonna give up the benefits of my gear then it better be fucking OP or at least viable, especially at the highest of difficulties. So far it’s not looking like it is and I don’t expect it ever will get to that level. For the most part though, she’s still a lot of fun to use as a Plain Jane FPS character.

Overall, I actually enjoy all four initial characters pretty much equally which I can’t say about the other games. I still had fun with them but I didn’t like Roland, Salvador and Nisha as much as their fellow Vault Hunters in their respective games. I’m really looking forward to what DLC Vault Hunters they have in store though, they’ve all been pretty solid and just plain fun to play as.

                               -SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT-

I liked the story well enough and felt engaged the entire time. I didn’t really feel bogged down throughout and enjoyed the pace. Even the sidequests I thought played along well with the storyline missions, they didn’t feel as jarring with too much backtracking or as tediously boring as The Pre-Sequel had it. Although, all the games are guilty of this, the Underdome/Circle of Slaughter missions are still lame.

I loved pretty much most of the new NPCs, however major or minor a role they played. Lorelei was interesting and I want to know more about her, the same goes for Clay, who I could both see becoming Vault Hunters themselves (hopefully) in a future game. The Katagawa-Rhys dynamic was fun, as was BALEX and GenIVIV. I loved Wainwright Jakobs and I especially loved Typhon DeLeon, two of the more likable and wholesome characters in the entire franchise. They don’t hold a candle to Loader Bot & Gortys from Tales but still very admirable in a universe full of assholes and psychopaths. Even some of the minor villains were fun, the Traunt Brothers and Pain & Terror specifically.

Now it’s going to be unfair to compare the Twins to Jack but... they still could've been written better. Brats with god complexes and one with an inferiority complex to boot is fine, not the most compelling, but wait! They’re also streamers because *nudge, nudge, wink, wink*. Despite that, the VA performances of what they were given were both still very well done. When they start to actively antagonize each other is when they started to turn around for me, especially with the power corrupting Troy to the point of almost killing off Tyreen. The Twins being the children of Typhon is a neat twist reveal but I feel like if you’ve been discovering his logs throughout the maps you can put two and two together long before they outright state it.

Though I should probably give credit to the Twins for being a part of why I love Typhon so much. With him being revered the way he was, especially by Tannis, as the first Vault Hunter, it’s refreshing to see a fabricated myth actually turn out to be mostly a myth and not a 100% accurate depiction or historic event like most other games usually do. Even the damn posters of Typhon got him all wrong which I loved. He’s endearingly flawed and his admittance to not being the best father to Tyreen & Troy after they lost their mother actually really got to me. He wasn’t around for long but it was smart of Gearbox to have built up his backstory through those logs, it allowed his character to make some sort of impact like it did on me which made his death actually quite poignant.

Thus leading to probably what I can only assume, since I haven’t bothered to read other people’s reaction to it, is the most controversial part of the game. I love character deaths, especially for ones I adore. When done properly it brings more meaning to them and for the character that may have taken their lives. Bloodwing and Roland helped build Jack up to be even more of the villain that most people love (to hate). Hell, even Sasha’s death in Tales actually had me crying... then immediately laughing because I totally got baited by it especially after already losing Scooter.

Now, like I said, I love character deaths and I’m totally fine with Maya being the one we lose but the way she dies was more of a pathetic wail than whatever Gearbox was hoping to achieve. And for what? All I hope for in a character death is to have more meaning to it than a passing of the torch to a cipher of a character that was basically just introduced and I have no real connection towards, good or bad, because going forward from then on certainly isn’t going to be positive at all. Who knows, she could end up being a favourite character of mine in the future as she develops more but as of right now, no, the only reason for her existence in this game world so far was to take the place from two beloved characters that hasn’t been earned yet.

The other character being Lilith as she sacrifices herself to keep Pandora closed. I don’t believe she’s actually dead, gone for now but at least not dead. It’ll probably be the main focus of the next game, if not in a DLC, in figuring out a way to get her back from Elpis, if she’s even stuck up there. It’s sad to lose her immediately after regaining her powers back but at least she went out with Alicia Keys singing her a fire swan song. Unfortunately, before going off to save the day and Gearbox not being entirely satisfied yet with shoving Ava down our throats the first time, Lilith hands over protection of Sanctuary III to her. Hopefully Ava is given an extremely satisfying character arc in the proceeding games because woof, that’s going to be a tough mountain to climb especially if it takes another 2-5 years for the next game to release.

I don’t actually hate Ava, I just don’t care about her. Also our Vault Hunter(s) were right there, technically, and as was Tannis. She may not be able to fight but she’s more than capable of leading the Crimson Raiders. She’s also the most consistently well written character that’s shown growth over the games that she’s been a part of in the franchise, in my opinion.

As for the rest of the characters, I’m good with moving on from Vaughn now. He was unexpectedly funny to okay during Tales but yeah, he’s already worn out his welcome for me. Rhys was fine, not as good as he was in Tales but he wasn’t really even my favourite character from that game anyway. Who I was missing was Fiona, I really wish that she had shown up but hopefully that might still be a possibility in DLC. Maybe she’ll show up alongside Athena & Janey, continuing her VH training somehow saved from wherever she disappeared off to. Preferably with Loader Bot and Gortys as well. It’d also be nice to run into Axton, Sal, Gaige and especially Kreig considering the whole Maya situation and her promising to see him again.

Then there’s also the B-Team, which a part of me wanted to interact with more but another part where I think I’m okay with what we got. I was disappointed in Tina’s development however, I didn’t expect a full maturation of character but I also hoped she wouldn’t be the spaz that she was when she was a young teen. Even in Dragon Keep she showed a little bit of growth with her acceptance of Roland’s death but I guess they wanted to keep her annoying, which was fine back in 2 and TPS when she was basically a kid but I believe she’s supposed to be at least 18 now? I guess it’s fine as long as it fits the dynamic between her, Brick and Mordecai. I will also say that Mordecai’s side quest to attend his protégé’s birthday party was really bittersweet, I loved that brief respite from the chaos that is the rest of the game and a stark reminder that Pandora sucks.

Aside from the actual plot and characters, I thought they did an even better job at world building the rest of the universe. The mega-corporations side of Borderlands has always been fascinating to me and I feel like they often take a backseat by most fans since they’re just these ever present entities in the universe and not actual characters themselves, despite each of them having quite unique “personalities” in the products they manufacture and the individuals that represent them. We had Commandant Steele & General Knoxx show off a militaristic side of the original Atlas as The Crimson Lance, then there was Jack as the face of the Hyperion we knew, and the fallout from his demise during Tales. There’s also Tannis giving us slight tidbits of how Dahl operated on Pandora between the first & second game and, of course, Mr. Torgue with, well, Torgue and I guess now he’s in charge of the battle arenas. Now we get insight on the current incarnation of Atlas with Rhys at the helm, Maliwan with Katagawa Jr. and Wainwright as the heir to Jakobs. It’s just fun to see these corporations steadily being fleshed out with each game and I’m interested to see how Tediore, Vladof and maybe even S&S Munitions, if they ever make a return, will turn out.

On the other end of the spectrum and more of an active danger to the universe are the Vaults, their purpose and the monsters contained within, one of them called the Timekeeper who we have yet to encounter. Also more insight into who the Eridians were, the siren Nyriad’s role with their eradication and warning of a seventh siren who shouldn’t be found. There’s definitely plenty of seeds that were planted, it’s just a shame that it’ll probably be a long time from now before any of them get answered unless they start pumping out these games which I hope they don’t. Oversaturation and fatigue can ruin a franchise.

This has been my TED Talk, thank you for reading.

[breakingarrows]

The Outer Worlds Doesn’t Want a Revolution

Partnering with publisher Private Division, Obsidian had the freedom to make whatever they wanted. Best known for licensed properties established by other developers (Bioware with Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords and Bethesda with Fallout: New Vegas), Obsidian had the chance to do something completely new. With The Outer Worlds they successfully created another Bethesda game. This is an iteration rather than a revolution. While that is not bad in and of itself, it is the lackluster execution that makes it a disappointment, specifically to their previous work on iterating upon existing games.

Obsidian had proved themselves superior to Bethesda back in 2010 with Fallout: New Vegas. This was a follow up to Fallout 3 utilizing the same graphics engine but transplanted back to the western territory of the original two Fallout games. It improved upon Fallout 3 greatly with its humanizing of formerly mindless enemy types and allowing the player to pick and choose what factions to support with a reflexive loss of reputation with their enemy. You couldn't please everyone. If you have played any of the Bethesda Fallout games, and even to an extent The Elder Scrolls, you have essentially played The Outer Worlds. Character creation, skill allotment upon leveling up, perks, weight encumbrance, a slow-motion replacement for V.A.T.S., factions with reputations and oppositions, and mowing down enemies that exist soley to be killed by the player, all of this can easily be seen as a 2019 update of Fallout 3, a now 11 year old game. It is clear Obsidian was not interested in revolutionizing the Bethesda format, and instead made slight alterations and updates.

All these years later and I am essentially playing the same fundamental game with a change in aesthetic from alternative history post-apocalypse to corporate owned space colonies. There is a possibility here for that aesthetic to breathe new life into the now rote gameplay style, but this is where the deeper disappointment stems: the writing.

Role-playing games frequently employ the separation of main quest and side quests as a tiered to-do list for the player to check off in order to accrue experience, gear, and see all that the game has to offer. After over thirty years of these kinds of games, the fundamentals have been established: Fetch quests. Killing special named enemies with higher stats than your average bullet magnet. A succession of conversations with a split choice at the end. The best games hide these simplistic tasks underneath flavor text: a way to get the player invested in the goings on by expanding on the fiction of the world or the introduction of unique and likeable characters (or love-to-hate ones). Here is one of The Outer Worlds greater failings.

Edgewater, in the region of Emerald Vale, is the first major town you come across and the source of a good amount of side quests to engage with. As far as introductions go, Edgewater leaves a terrible taste of what is to come. As mentioned before, the standard goals appear, and their flavor text fail to disguise the monotonous nature of these tasks. Retrieve a book. Find some medicine. Find three books in separate locations. Kill three named enemies. Kill a robot. Collect gravesite fees. Find a missing person. These descriptions are overly simplified but the game does not do a great job at disguising their simplicity.

Retrieving a book is done for a vicar, a religious counselor who views his flock with contempt and laments that the book is in a different language. Finding medicine serves as an example of the cruelty of Spacer’s Choice, the corporation behind Edgewater’s existence. Finding three books is for an up and coming engineer who deserted Edgewater due to its cruelty. Killing three named enemies is not even worth further explanation as there is none. These names exist to be crossed off and nothing else. Much like the Marauders and animals you come across on every planet: they exist to be killed. Killing a robot is their stab at comedy, with the quest giver being paranoid about a lone robot outside the town walls and stashes his prized weapon in a bathroom. I promise the actual text is no more comical than my dry description. Collecting gravesite fees is another example of the cruelty of Spacer’s Choice and Edgewater. Finding a missing person is the only worthwhile side quest and even then that is not saying much. Zoe, another deserter, has gone missing. You find out she wanted to join a marauder gang to become their queen, and surprisingly, was successful. You find this out after murdering everyone to make her appear so you can convince her to return to watch some new serials she loves.

As far as being a template for what is to come in the rest of the game, Emerald Vale is a terrible introduction and future regions only marginally improves upon it.

My main disappointment in Emerald Vale is within its main questline. Your ship needs power, and in order to obtain that power you need to decide whether to direct a Geothermal plant’s supply away from Edgewater, or away from the deserters. Some of the side quests before served as examples of the inhumanity of working under Spacer’s Choice in Edgewater. The town is experiencing a plague, where the sick are sentenced to death in a “sick house” full of corpses, while Reed, the town mayor, hoards all the medicine for the hardest workers. Sick time is nonexistent and has to be worked back. Employees must pay their burial fees upfront and  suicides are punished collectively. It is an irredeemable monument to the brutalism of capitalism, or at the very least corporate greed (though there is little difference between the two). This is further reinforced by the Geothermal plant, the source of power.

Upon entering the building you begin to discover through text logs that the plant was once under human supervision before Spacer’s Choice took out a life insurance policy on all of them, installed new robot helpers, and then programmed those helpers to kill all the employees. One worker survives, though in a strange oversight you cannot release him from his basement life even after clearing out the plant and reprogramming the robot’s directive. You get to the point of no return but before you can stamp out Edgewater your companion for the past few hours, Parvati speaks up. She tells you the deserter leader, Adelaide, only wants to see Edgewater destroyed, but that the workers are just living the only life they know how and do not deserve to be stripped of that life.

Curious about how this decision would play out I made a hard save and shut down the power going to Edgewater. Doing so dooms Edgewater and its remaining workers to slowly die out. Adelaide refuses to take those in who will not recant their loyalty to Spacer’s Choice, and presumably even then does not help others as the ending slides explains she died soon after having never shared her fertilizer formula to grow natural food with anyone. She is a bitter old woman who delights in the suffering of Edgwater and Spacer’s Choice’s workers. Her reason? Her son got the plague and knowing medicine was available but denied by Reed, left after her son died despite it being a preventable death. The game treats this legitimate source of rage towards the established order as petty.

The opposing choice, providing power to Edgewater, means the deserters must return to be grinded to dust or die in the wilderness. However, if you talk to the right people a third way will open up after this decision. You can convince Reed to step down and Adelaide to take control. Doing so results in the cannery, the town’s main reason for existence and source of sustenance, to flourish in the aftermath. There was no need for such drastic change, all Edgewater needed was the correct person in charge, a kinder boss than that asshole Reed. This is an observation shared by others, though unlike them I never compromised when real change was possible.

This ethos of “reform from the inside” is made more explicit within the region of Monarch, and the second major decision point of the game. Here a company called Monarch Stellar Industries, and its leader, Sanjar, used to have membership on the Board, the group in charge of the entire colony. Sanjar wants back in, with the idea that he can promote a kinder, more ethical ruling from the top. You see, he is part of upper class/management, but the ethical kind who do good without having to revolutionize the status quo. His opposition lies within the Iconoclasts, those who fully reject the Board and their rule and live in a form of collectivist society. Their flaw is that their leader Graham is more concerned with spreading his ideology than with taking care of his people. This fault is even more manufactured than Adelaide’s justified hatred towards Reed and Spacer’s Choice. Within New Vegas, the NCR, the closest to a “good” faction, have a major flaw in the form of their bureaucracy. This is much more believable than an irresponsible leader whose second in command is too lax to depose him until you step in. You can either lead the Iconoclasts to violently overthrow MSI, force the Iconoclasts to break up and integrate with MSI, or you can kill Graham and have his second in command Zora work with Sanjar to provide workers with an alternative to the Board. Another potential status quo change comes with a recommendation to reach a middle ground.

At the very least The Outer Worlds does not fuck up its final major decision, between the Board’s Lifetime Employment Program and Phineas’ revival of Hope colonists. The former has the lower class put on ice for potential future use, freeing up even more resources to be hoarded by those at the top, and the latter has you overthrowing the Board and bringing in new blood to work towards producing a sustainable colony of cooperation. There is no third way here, and the choice is obvious.

Throughout The Outer Worlds the absurdity of the corporation’s power over people is routinely on display, whether in text conversations or the aesthetic of loading screen images and various NPC barks while running around the towns. All of it is screaming that the way things are is actively killing people and dooming the colony, but when it comes time for revolution the game would prefer you compromise until the finale. There, compromise with the Board, the highest source of everything wrong, would be incapable to stomach by even a sycophant.

Fallout 3 endures in our memories for its revolution to RPGs, while New Vegas endures due to its improvements within that new standard. The Outer Worlds does neither. As Eurogamer states, this is comfort food. That sentiment is not a condemnation, though with the games never stopping, a lesser entry in the Bethesda style is an easy pass. The Capital Wasteland with its hyper violence beckoned the player to go ham with slow motion close ups of splashes of blood and cleanly amputated limbs due to your gunfire or pummelling. New Vegas reoriented that mindset by largely removing the mindless raiders, super mutants, and ghouls, with their residences filled with hooked limbs and hives of bloody organs, and replaced them with humanized factions. The Outer Worlds regresses back to the former with a smaller scale overall, though sans the overdone gore. Exiting town means everything that moves now becomes something to kill, loot, and accrue experience from. It makes movement between quest markers mindlessly mechanical, which bleeds over into everything else about the game and what it is trying to accomplish.

I last played The Outer Worlds on November 9th and it has only been viewed less favorably the more I think about it. The combat is complete filler, there is nothing motivating behind the generic and tired numbers-go-up leveling process, gear you earn via quests may as well just be money or gear parts, entering a room means walking along the walls pressing X to gather everything you can carry to be sold/broken down later, skill checks are just numerical goals, you can rarely press X to talk to someone without your gun being pulled out, and a majority of the writing is just the essence of tweets like this extended through 15+ hours. The game consistently observes, “Man, shits fucked huh?” In spite of this, when it comes time to redistribute power, it backs away. And all of this comes from Obsidian, a developer who once outdid Bethesda at their own game is now stumbling through a poor imitation. Walking around Monarch’s wilderness, the ambient music frequently made me mistake what I was playing for Fallout: New Vegas. And I really wish I was.