#Near Space

[dailycharacteroption]

Class Feature Friday: Battle Leader (Starfinder Archetype)

(art by Izaque Fagundez on Artstation)

Small announcement, folks: After today’s entry, the Starfinder Archetypes, which served as the basis for PF2 archetypes, will be moved into the regular weekly rotation rather than being limited to CFF. There’s enough of them now and the decision for them to be CFF entries was made back before Pathfinder Second Edition was announced. And now there’s a Starfinder Second Edition on the way too! Anyway, on with the entry!

As long as there have been militaries, there have been commanders there to keep their cool, analyze the situation, and issue commands. This has remained true through the Bronze Age to the present day, and will likely remain true into the far future.

There are many different styles of leadership, but today we will be focusing the style common to the individual squads of the Veskarium’s militaries, an adaptation of the ancient vesk tradition of the Battle Leader!

Battle Leaders have their basis in the teachings of the conquerer-god Darmoritosh, and as such they focus on momentum in battle, rewarding victory against individual foes with praise and new orders to direct those under them to even greater heights.

In other words, this is an interesting flavor of the classic “marshal” rpg trope, a military leader whose function is to buff allies with orders and commands, so it’s fun to see that realized in some way outside of the solider class, though you can always combine the two as well.

The core ability of this path is the battle leader’s ability to react to an ally downing or critically wounding a foe and issuing their allies an order afterwards, bolstering their ability to act in other ways. When they start down this path, they learn one such order, which can range from enhanced damage on their next turn, greater speed, enhanced focus on skills or resistance, giving them a moment to recover, helping them stay alert, help them overcome afflictions, and helping them reposition. Some of these affect all allies, while others affect only the one that made the triggering attack.

As they grow in power, they can choose to forgo various abilities of their vocation in favor of learning either a new order, or to learn to better utilize an order they already have, increasing it’s effect.

Eventually, they also learn how to invoke two benefits of orders at once, granting allies even greater benefits.

Naturally, this archetype works best with more militant classes (especially vanguard with their occasional ability to have extra reactions in a single turn), but it can work well with pretty much anyone, especially if your build doesn’t have a lot of use for reactions normally. Also consider pairing it with a buffing support build such as a biohacker, mystic, and other spellcasters. The fact you can choose between your normal class abilities and additional benefits from the archetype is a nice touch as well.

You can’t put your life in another person’s hands without trusting them, and that’s exactly what happens in a military squad. Exactly what style of leadership your battle leader has is up to you, but you should probably roleplay them getting to know their various party members to better reflect their bond with the party.

Forgoing the life of a merchant, the witchwyrd Albonsai instead runs a mercenary company, where she is not afraid of getting mixed up in the fight as well. Unlike other witchwyrds her underlings seemingly keep her secrets out of loyalty rather than binding legal contract, though she also typically offers her best prices to her kin.

A raxilite delegate has long trusted their bodyguard team to protect them, but on their most recent assignment, they hire the party as an auxiliary force. The main team, however, is a very tight-knit group, and are mistrusting of the newcomers, a rift that would-be assassins could exploit if not closed.

The party originally formed when their military commander brought them together after being discharged from the military, giving them a chance to put their training to work in making their way after the war. Even when he passed on, the group stayed together… that is until they received a recording, seemingly from their commander, alive and well, despite having seen him die.

[jovialbasementbouquetblr]

2024：PRC Small Balloons Over Taiwan: Countermeasures; Will PLA Near Space Combat Command Emerge?

Two translations below: Liberty Times 【自由时报】 “The Chinese Communists’ 57 balloons harass Taiwan in January: Experts suggest getting “this kind of laser weapon” to counteract them.“ Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Research: “The PLA May Establish a “Near-Space Combat Command” 解放軍或將組建 「近空作戰指揮部隊｣的省思] Liberty Times 【自由时报】 The Chinese Communists’ 57 balloons harass Taiwan in…

[the-witchhunter]

So Lucifer Morningstar, the fourth of the fallen, (retired) ruler of hell, the Devil himself, is a character in DC comics, appearing in the Sandman comics, his own solo run and various other comics

He is absurdly powerful

The thing is, Lucifer still has access to his Divine power, unlike other fallen angels, and is actually more powerful than other angels

What does this mean?

Lucifer was the guy that shaped the matter to create the stars, an ability he still has

Enter one Danny Fenton

“Omg(oh my ghost) I’m a HUGE FAN of your work”

Just Danny fangirling over the literal Devil because of stars and space

[ofcowardiceandkings]

tfw ur havin a convo with the neighbours and ur bf is in need of a cuddle ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

[deltapelagicpetrel]

alright time for my once-in-a-quarter post, this time the topic is griddlehark!!!!!!!! I love them so much i sure hope nothing bad happens to them ever hahahaha

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Dick is thrown back in time to a couple days before his past self is scheduled to leave on the mission to space, the one during which Jason will die.

Past Dick gets a very frantic and concerning phone call from someone claiming to be his future self, begging him not to go on the mission. And for some reason he‘s supposed to keep an eye on Jason? What the hell is that about? They’re not that close…

[shittyutmv]

does ink still stink

i don't think we can fix him i think it's permanent ink by comyet dream by jokublog

[without-ado]

Saturn and its moons l Webb

[radiance1]

Linked to this post about Billy, Danny, and Vlad meeting in a dream. Tagging @puppetmaster13u because I think they'd like this!

The world was being invaded, taking the chance that some of the core members of the Justice League were away off-world to take the world when it was down on its defenses.

Billy is fighting and saving as many people as he could along with the rest of the heroes presents, they just had to hold out for reinforcements, which is the last few members of the League off world to rejoin their ranks. Billy may have the magic of gods on his side, but he is severely outnumbered and, being one of the powerhouses, has been targeted consistently over and over and barely given any time to actually rest.

So, there he is, battered, bruised, and overall exhausted but still putting up a decent fight. He tries to lead them away from basically everyone else, attacking as he flew away to a secluded enough area but there's just too many to actually do any notable damage.

So, he pulls out one, final, Shazam.

It works. But it also doesn't.

Whatever damage that lightning did, more just flowed in to replace them and Billy knew that even if he fired off another one, the result would be the same.

This is where he will die.

And he accepted that.

He didn't, but what else was he supposed to do?

So, he screwed his eyes shut and hoped that being ripped apart wouldn't be too painful.

Only, nothing happened for a moment. Then another. And another. Until he finally opened his eyes to see the enemies stopped still in their tracks and, for some reason, everything seemed darker somehow.

They looked up in fear and apprehension, so Billy looked up too.

Something had risen from his shadow.

A being of never-ending black that towered over them, its head tilted at an angle that made Billy cringe with eyes that seemed to see through and at them all at once. Then, it lit up with red, and Billy, the closest to it, could suddenly see the stars upon stars inside of its body.

Like a Christmas tree. Billy thought, chuckling at his own joke. If he was going to die anyways, might as well have a bit of fun, right?

One of the invaders tried to make a dash and grab for him.

Then, the overwhelming sound of silence deafened him. Billy didn't even know that was a thing that could happen but as soon it screamed? Roared? Whatever it did, every other sound just... ceased to exist.

A tendril of darkness wrapped around him, and Billy accepted his fate.

Nothing happened.

Instead, the ones who tried to kill him were killed without mercy. Tendrils of darker yet darker lit up with red and containing stars that looked so much like too many eyes crushed, slashed, stabbed, consumed the waves upon waves of enemies that Billy struggled against from pure number alone.

It was swift, it was deadly, it was even brutally efficient but above all.

It was confusing.

This... being. Whatever it was, wasn't doing anything to him, the red glow it gave off just faded, leaving back the true darkness that was its body and shutting off the stars. It slowly, ever so slowly, shrunk itself down from its towering height, as if wary of another attack coming from somewhere.

Not for itself, but for him.

For Billy.

He didn't know how he could tell that, but somehow, he just did?

It was looking at him, curiously? He thinks? And with the adrenaline fading from his system, being replaced by confusion, it finally sets in just how tired he was. With a yawn forcing itself from his lips and his eyes trying to close on their own when his body apparently decided it was safe enough to just rest.

Before his mind jumpstarted itself as he suddenly remembered that they were in the middle of an invasion, and he need to leave. He tried too, at the very least, but another tendril, and another one, wrapped around him as soon as he tried.

He struggled to get himself out, but nothing he tried worked. He barely had the strength for another Shazam, but he was prepared to try-

A tendril wrapped itself around his mouth.

Well.

That was unfortunate.

Then, the world turned dark.

---

He was dreaming, again. Or at least he thinks he was. Usually, he wasn't aware of it most of the time, but this was also one of those weird dreams he's been having for a while.

There was no ground, there was no sky. There was only the vibrant colors of space with the 'ground' being rolling clouds of all sorts of colors that twinkled with stars and the 'sky' was just an endless expanse filled with constellations.

"Billy." A voice echoed his name, and Billy turned around to face a familiar sight he's always seen inside of his dreams. A large, large merman with scales and flowing hair akin to that of a galaxy that glimmered with stars and a large golden mask floating above his head stared down at him. Eyes filled with both concern and a overwhelming relief. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"Um, hey Danny!" Billy greeted, awkwardly waving at the large celestial being that has been occupying his dreams as of late. For some reason, he was a bit embarrassed? He really hopes he didn't see how he was getting jumped actually. "Yea I'm-I'm fine!" He struck a familiar pose that he always did as Shazam and flashed his signature smile as while.

Danny was, unfortunately, not amused.

"Child, you need to rest." Danny said, more like thought because his mouth wasn't moving at all. "You're exhausted, stay here and rest."

"But they need help!" Billy countered, dropping his pose to cross his arms and, well, scowl. He tried to imitate one of Batman's glares, when the celestial above him looked unimpressed he could tell he most likely failed.

"And help they shall receive." Danny inclined his head in a direction, clouds parting to reveal an inky blackness that had something instinctual in Billy's body shy away from it. He glanced down at his feet warily. He didn't even know that was there! "Vlad." Danny called out, and red eyes peered out from the void, before the familiar, towering body of complete and utter darkness rose from the pool of, well, emptiness. It looked at Danny curiously and, yep, Billy was still cringing from the way it angled its neck.

"A piece of him there," Danny said as Vlad shifted around him, wrapping its body around Danny's before resting its head on his shoulder and looking down at Billy too. "Unfortunately, I cannot help you, it is too far for me to make it there myself. But Vlad was able to send a piece of himself to help you and I believe that is more than enough to turn the tides in your favor."

Billy shrunk into himself as Danny's gaze turned into a stern glare, not too dissimilar to the way he's seen parents scolding their children and, what made it even worse, Vlad looked at him and mimicked him! How was he supposed to defend himself against that!?

"So rest." Danny's voice was stern, and he thinks Vlad chimed in as well, if these random feelings basically telling him the same thing were anything to go by. Billy still didn't know how he could tell that. Billy could fight against this; he could say no and try to wake himself up to back out there and help people, but looking at the stern, parental glares he's on the opposite end of he just huffed. "Fine."

---

When Billy woke up, everything seemed okay, thankfully. The sky wasn't filled with fleets anymore, so that was a plus. He was in the aftermath of a battle, corpses strewn about along with rubble and pieces of shattered armor.

Billy blinked.

'Vlad' was wrapped around him, in a protective sort of way he thinks, and Billy let the thought 'Okay, this is actually pretty comfortable' run across his mind. He was still pretty tired, actually, and-

Oh hey, he actually still had his communicator? He thought that fell off or was destroyed the lightning.

Billy turned it. He cringed a bit at the way it flashed with static, before letting out a small sigh of relief when it cleared up. He looked over the messages from -apparently the last few hours (and wasn't that crazy?)- the time he was asleep and slumped against Vlad's form seeing that, yes, nothing bad happened and everyone else was safe.

I'm alive! Was the first message he sent before he yawned and rubbed at his eyes. Instantly, messages exploded and caused a series of dings on his communicator, all of which were asking where he was, if he was okay, and if he knew what that creature that suddenly joined their battle was.

A friend! Was what he typed, muting his communicator while shutting it off. Did that answer anything? Nope! Did Billy feel like clearing that up right now? Also no!

That is a future Billy's problem! Present Billy is going to go back to sleep!

[bluerosefox]

The (Not) Normal One...

So

I LOVE the stories where Danny is deaged and later found by one of the bats and taken in as a son or he's Bruce's bio son and is either Damian's twin or half brother or little/big brother BUT I don't see a lot of reborn/reincarnated Danny into the batfamily (I can think of two but one of them he is Dick's son?clone?somewhat clone? And the other is an amazing story where Danny is reborn as Jazz and Jason's kid and I love it to bits)

So let's change that a bit and have some fun.

Here's the idea

Danny, either from finally aging to his death (it was slow and long aging but he is still partly human too don't forget that) or dying at the hands of GIW (or by his parents if we go the Bad!Fentons route), is reborn into the batfamily.

He could either be Bruce and Selina's kid after they finally tie the knot, or be a one more attempt by Ra's or Talia to get the heir they want but is immediately found out when Tim notices certain labs active and they find baby Danny. OR Danny can be an oops baby to Bruce's one night stands OR one of the batboys baby. EITHER WAY, Danny is reborn into the family from the start.

And he has his memories. (He has little hints of his powers btw, they dont fully come in until his 14th bday)

And his new family all swear to give him a proper and happy childhood (as best as they can seeing how it's Gotham)

Only I want Danny milking being a baby then toddler/kid and later a teen for all its worth. He's going to enjoy this new life with everything he gots.

Like imagine the chaos and shenanigans he gets into as a toddler. He's the king of hide-and-seek. He uses his tears to get away from whoever annoys him. He's mastered the puppy dog look to get away with things (it holds no effect on Alfred though, man is immune to all tricks).

But then of course there's the... odd things that happen around him. Sometimes they catch him talking to no one. Sometimes they spot a ball or a toy rolling to Danny despite him not touching it. Sometimes they think they see or hear someone in the room with Danny only to go busting in to find nothing. (One time someone busted his nursery door down they heard on his baby/toddler monitor the distorted voice of a woman singing him a lullaby (it was Martha who was soothing him to sleep after a tiny nightmare, boy was Bruce not ready for one of his kids to hum the tune in the morning)).

Danny asking for an extra drink and the newspaper after Bruce is done before he runs off to one of the many sitting rooms the manor has. There he leaves the drink and the newspaper near a chair, hops into another chair nearby and chats to someone (they all think its his imaginary friend but that honestly doesn't explain why the drink seems to slowly disappear without anyone touching it. (btw its Thomas, Danny is talking to they like chatting in the morning)

OR when Danny gives hints to cases his family is working on, how he knows? No one knows. Sometimes they chalk it up to a kid randomly saying stuff or seeing it from a different simple outlook but sometimes it seems a little too on the nose and they think Danny might know about their night jobs... (He does know, but he gets some info from Lady Gotham who visits him and gives him little hints to pass onto her fav Knights)

Basically what I want is a reborn Danny trying to get a decent childhood/teenage years before his powers kick in full swing, his family trying the same but they got no idea about the powers (maybe), and ghosts like to visit Danny. The shenanigans that follow will be amazing.

[klaissance]

all this late night talking

[fjordfolk]

Way too much focus on designer breeds that should not be, not enough on the dogs history failed to breed-ify. like the Soviet Space Dog

[spooky-activity]

The Trailblazer and her moms

[glass-noodle]

safest place in the world

(bonus:)

[bahrmp3]

[id: 14 gifs from season 3, episode 7 “civil defense” from the tv series “star trek: deep space nine”, the gifs show gul dukat, kira nerys, elim garak, julian bashir, jadzia dax in ops in various places.

1st gif: a wide shot showing everyone, gul dukat is attempting to teleport off the station, “i'll be back... in, say, 25 minutes. dukat. one to transport. energize.“ nothing happens, he fails to transport.

2nd gif:  close up of gul dukat, “energize.“ he tries to transport off again.

3rd gif: the camera cuts to show everyone minus dukat, a recorded message starts playing, “dukat, if you are seeing this recording,“ everyone turns to watch the screens in front of them as.

4th gif: the camera shows the recorded message playing on screen, it features a seated cardassian, “it means you tried to abandon your post while the station's self-destruct sequence was engaged.”

5th gif: the camera comes back to dukat, “that will not be permitted.“ the recorded message continues. “this is outrageous!” dukat exclaims in shock.

6th gif: the camera cuts to show kira, she looks at dukat then return to continue watching the recorded message. “you have lost control of terok nor,”

7th gif: the camera cuts to garak, his attention is on the screen, “disgracing yourself and cardassia.“

8th gif: the camera returns to the recorded message playing on screen, “your attempt to escape is no doubt a final act of cowardice.”

9th gif:  the camera comes back to dukat, he looks shocked as he hears the cardassian relaying, “all fail-safes have been eliminated.“

10th gif: the camera cuts to show kira, she looks up from the screen, to look at dukat “ your personal access codes have been rescinded.”

11th gif: the camera comes back to dukat, he is twiddling his thumbs as he hears the cardassian relaying, “the destruct sequence can no longer be halted.“

12th gif: the camera returns to the recorded message playing on screen, “all you can do now is contemplate the depth of your disgrace,”

13th & 14th gif: a wide shot showing everyone, the recorded message ends with “and try to die like a cardassian.“, everyone turns to look at dukat/end id]  

[hazelcallahan]

i don't wanna have any adventures unless they're with you. / i am, and have been for some time, just totally, ridiculously, desperately in love with you.