#and somehow humanity has the second largest fleet in that amount of time? out of the entire fucking galaxy?

[kipaia]

Hey tell me about your Insane Mass Effect Timeline!

Oh my god. Mary.

I know you are FULLY aware of how FUCKING INCONSISTENT AND ANNOYING the official Mass Effect timeline is. I had a night last spring where I was trying to plot out my fanfic from start to finish and was getting super irritated about it so I went through, year by year, from 2115 to 2188 and wrote up my own timeline down to the exact dates of everything I needed to know for something like 14 characters entire lives, of which I think 10 or 11 are all complete ocs; I needed to know exactly where they all were and what was happening around them all at any given time, so I went through year by year wove them into the given Bioware timeline and put everything into a legible order.

This fucking document. The timeline alone (because I did end up sticking a couple of one shots on the end because I was too lazy to switch at the time),

Is thirteen pages long.

I have a thirteen page long timeline where I could put everything in a more sensible order, stretch out some of more ludicrously condensed major historical events of the official timeline and wrote up an actually sensible working order for the first two games because frankly, the way Bioware wrote it there is no possible way Shepard could have been spotted on Omega in Mass Effect 2 in mid-February of 2185 after having been dead two years and ten+ days and still have had enough time for the events of Mass Effect to occur in 2183.

If rumors of Shepard being alive came from Omega on Feb. 15th, they'd been dead for at least two years and ten days (plus a couple of days to account for Freedom's Progress and travel), and the attack on the Normandy happened a month after the Battle of the Citadel, the official timeline puts the entirety of Eden Prime war in the span of, maximum, the first week of January 2183, which can't have been the case if they also listen 2183 as the year the Normandy was constructed.

So yeah I got mad at that and how young a bunch of the 'older' characters canon ages are listed as (Anderson is in his early 40's according to the official timeline which I do not agree with, Hackett I think is something like 53 in official timeline, I don't remember off the top of my head) when humans canonically have 150+ year lifespans now. Neither of them would even be middle aged in that case, ffs, yet we're supposed to believe they're grizzled older gen soldiers on the verge of retirement? Yeah, no. First Contact War experience notwithstanding, I aged almost everyone from the older generations up, as well as my Athena Shepard by a few years because she has a teenage kid in the first game and I needed to sort all of that out.

I love my insane thirteen-page timeline and I reference that thing like it's the fucking bible whenever I'm writing anything for my mass effect fics.

Yeah so that's my rant about the Mass Effect timeline and how my thirteen-page monstrosity came to be and I love it so much

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Weird “Movie Star”

Ok, so funny story, I can’t help but notice that as soon as school started, all of my stats went up, so I see you there browsing tumbr in class when you should be paying attention. Ha ha :)

I promised I would start writing more, so here it is the next story. It was a funny idea that I have had for a while, and I hope you like it, or at least find it entertaining. 

The mass operation to move UNSC’s military headquarters had begun shortly after first contact with the Galactic Assembly. They had originally deemed it prudent to move the base completely off world and out of the zone between Mars and earth orbit. So, they had set up headquarters orbiting Europa, which in turn Orbited Jupiter. They had done this mostly for its proximity to the fueling station based on the surface of Europa, and the particle collection operation harvesting from Jupiter’s upper atmosphere.

The U/N.S.C Harbinger landed shortly after operational sunrise using Jupiter’s  gravity well as a way to slow itself down and conserve the fuel used to travel over moderatly short distances. The ships short-range engines used fusion technology to power itself, but required a specific type of hydrogen ion to properly fuel the ignition process, so it was more than a good idea to keep their largest store of space vessels so close.

The crew unloaded all their cargo while Commander Vir took Sunny and Krill to report to the Admiral and other officials on the success of their current orders. He wore his uniform, light grey, pinned at the sides with the wings that signified his ran. He even wore the cap, which is something he tended to avoid wearing. Sunny walked at his right wearing the ceremonial armor that she had inherited from her father and the war staff she had taken as prize from her defeated mother. Krill floated at his left shoulder propelled by a backpack with a small attached motor, worn over a white lab coat he had taken to wearing after the fashion of the humans.

The base itself was teaming with life, men in women in a plethora of uniforms colored to signify their use. Brown coveralls for engineering and maintenance, grey for janitorial. Scientists wore light grey  lab coats while medical staff wore blue scrubs, paired with white coats when the doctors were involved. Commanding officers wore the standard military uniform in light grey.

They caught quite a bit of attention as they passed by despite the occasional glimpse of another alien lifeform working with the crews. Most of the time they would be tesraki, but he occasional Drev could be seen carrying boxes at the direction of a human officer.

They passed through a set of doorways that hissed open with the pressure difference, and into a steel grey hallway that lead down into the administration offices. The place was as austere as the military had preferred for thousands of years. The only decoration could be seen through open doorways and into offices, usually UN flags hung next to metals pinned into velvet backed glass cases and pictures of the officer shaking hands with someone important.  Commander ir had a similar office on the base decorated with an old US flag tattered and scruffy next to the pristine white of the UN logo on the other side. His purple heart and bronze star hung above the desk. For all purposes, it looked like any other office of any other commanding officer in the fleet…. Accept for his desktop background which held a screenshot from the cult classic series Replication, but no one had to know that.

-

They made it to the admiral’s office in good time, and the door was already open and waiting for them. She lifted her head as she heard them approach and stood from her desk holding out a hand. The commander took it with a greeting and stepped back as she greeted sunny with a nod of the head, “General.” before looking at Krill, “Dr.”

Sunny seemed pleasantly surprised that the Admiral had used her title, standing up just a bit straighter. Commander Vir’s fingers brushed over her forearm as if to say see, what did I tell you?

“Admiral.”

“I hope you have good news for me Commander.”

“Only the best, ma’am.” The man responded, “There have been no serious issues to report. All orders are going well, and our men have retaken the prison and returned all the inmates to their cells without complication. A few people died, but I am told most of them were lifers waiting on death row, and despite my slight disagreement the GA does not consider it a great loss.”

The admiral sighed deeply and spun in her chair to look out the window. A magnificent view of Jupiter’s powerful red rings rose up behind her, and Commander Vir couldn’t argue with the aesthetic nature of the image..

“I am glad to hear things seem to be going so well aboard…. To be honest things are…. A little strained here…”

Commander Vir tilted his head in confusion, “In what way?”

She threw up her hands in exasperation, “It is that ongoing issues with the LFIL and the GA. If we want to maintain our good graces with the GA we have to take their side in the issue. Personally, I don’t mind what people choose to do as long as both parties agree.” Her eyes moved across Vir and Sunny quickly, “But as things stand the GA disagrees with my sentiment, so we continue to remain neutral. However, our action, or lack thereof, has caused some issues planet-side. Our recruitment has gone down by almost 60% in the last month. People are shipping off on those Tesraki cruisers for their fill of space rather than join.”

“I am…. Sorry to hear that Admiral, but I am not entirely sure what I can do to help.” 

The woman sighed and stood, coming around the front of the desk, which she parked herself partially seated against, “Before I tell you, I want to make sure you know that you are in no way obligated to agree to this if you don’t want to. We can find some other way to get things done and I wouldn’t blame you, but it would be an unbelievable PR move.”

Commander vir looked on nervously, “Go on.”

“We got a call from an agency on the west cost….. And they want to buy the rights to your life story.”

Sunny would have sword she could hear Adam’s jaw pop out of place as it hinged itself open. He sputtered and gasped for a few minutes “My…. my life story…. Why would they…. What would they want that for?” 

The admiral raised on dark eyebrow, “Come now, Commander. The man who flew on the first manned mission into interstellar space, made first contact with an alien race, fought in the Drev War, and then became Commander of the first interstellar fleet. You’re life story is striking media gold.”

“What agency in California?”

The woman shrugged, “Hollywood Incorporated.”

He nearly choked. Hollywood Inc. was the biggest film cooperation that side of Earth, named for the infamous strip of land which had, two thousand years ago, produced some of the greatest actors of their time.

“I…. I don’t know ma’am.”

“Well, that’s entirely your decision, but I would suggest heading to their Martian office and talk to the director because he is going to keep pestering me until he gets an answer.” 

***

The Hollywood Inc. Office was located just towards the edge of the gravitational strip in the largest city on Mars. Because of its location, the gravitational field was slightly weaker. The children who wandered about where unusually tall for their ages, a fact that Commander Vir couldn’t help but notice as he opened the glass fronted doors and stepped inside.

The interior of the room was gaudy and over the top, lined with hundreds of vintage posters spanning the last two thousand years. He thought he might have seen a batman poster in the far corner that had to be at least two thousand years old encased inside a climate controlled glass case. It must have cost a couple thousand dollars if not more. The rest of the room was decorated in a similar fashion with hundreds of priceless moments of the entertainment industry from years long passed. Another climate controlled case held at least one of the costumes used in the original pirates movie. The thing should have been mostly ash and dust by now but somehow it had maintained its shape.

The three of them stepped up the nauseating checkerboard floor and up towards the reception desk. The woman who sat there looked like the Victorian era had thrown up all over her. He was surprised she could fit behind the desk, or even sit with the sheer amount of petticoats she must have been wearing underneath. He had to clear his throat a few times before she looked up, and when she did she looked positively board, “Can I help you?”

He rubbed his hands together awkwardly, “Um…. i was told to come here…. To meet someone.” She didn’t look particularly impressed at his explanation, so he cleared his throat, “Uh, my name is Commander Adam Vir from the UNSC….” He was cut off quickly as the woman leapt to her feet with a yelp.

“Yes, Yes of course, right this way, he’s been expecting you.” In the next second, he found himself grabbed by the hand and dragged bodily through a door behind the desk, and into a long, and even more lavish hallway. They hurried past a few rooms before she made it to the door, which opened for them, “Mr. Clayton Ellis, He’s here, he’s here.” 

“Wait Clayton E-” His voice trailed away slowly as he looked towards the end of the room and found one of the greatest directors of their time sitting at a horrible tacky golden desk in an overstuffed zebra chair wearing something that made him appear as a prohibition gangster, a powder blue suit with shoulder pads and matching fedora.

This couldn’t be real right? It explained the extravagance though, the man was known for being way over the top even as far as directors and movie producers go. The man stood as soon as he saw them a massive smile playing over his face as he made his way around the desk arms held wide, “Look who it is, the man of the hour, the star, the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Uh.” Adam said as the man caught him by the hand shaking vigorously. Sunny and Krill exchanged a confused glance. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ellis.”

The man waved a hand, which glittered with enough rings to satisfy a king, “Please call me Clayton.” He stood back arms still held wide, “And just look at you mmm mmm perfect main character material, I mean who doesn’t love an eye-patch, just the kind of little piece of personality I would add, you know.”

Commander Vir stood there in bewilderment, “I’m sorry sir, I don’t”

But the man had turned his attention away towards his companions, “And look at this. The quintessential alien sidekicks to our roguish human protagonist….. What a story what a set.”

Sunny couldn’t hold back a snort of derision, “Sidekick, excuse me.”

He turned his head eyes lighting up, “Check that, how about Love interest.” he spread his hands wide above his head as he said it, “Think of the publicity. With all the LFIL stuff going on this would be perfect.” He made  heart with his hands and framed the two of them in it, “I can see it now, the roguish space captain falling in love with this aesthetic exotic-

“Wow…. just hold on a second.” Commander Vir barked, “I haven't agreed to anything just yet, and I thought this was about my life story, about accuracy.”

The man waved a hand, ‘Right, right, right, but let's be honest reality is often disappointing. Sometimes film requires a bit of dramatization.”

Commander Vir crossed his arms, “I beg to differ. Unless you consider being almost brainwashed by sentient-space-vacuum dwelling humanoids boring.”

The man’s eyes flashed greedily, and he hopped up on his desk legs dangling over the floor, “Ok, I see you clearly aren't kidding around here, so I will make you a deal.” He raised his right hand, “I swear to be as accurate as possible, do my research and everything, but you have to understand, you are a national-no planetary hero, no interplanetary. You have the ability to be a role model for thousands of young minds who just eat up this media stuff. You and I can do some real good together.”

Commander Vir shifted his feet on the floor running a hand through his hair. He knew what his family would say. His father would tell them to shove it, his mother would want him to do what made him happy, his brothers would kick his ass if they knew he turned down an offer like this, and well….. The contract he could make with them, the things he could do with the money.

“I would have a few conditions.”

“Of course you would, of course you would.”

“I get royalties, and i'm not talking a measly ten perent, I am talking about thirty, and all of it better end up at a charity or you can color me gone. Plus this isn’t just some excuse to do some intense super action space thing with a ton of drama. I consult, and this thing better be accurate, or I am also gone, and my life story comes with me. Plus, don’t ask about things that are classified because I won’t tell you. Push me and I am gone.”

The man sighed, but waved a hand, “Alright, alright.”

He took another deep breath, “I’m not pausing my job for this, so you are going to have to have to talk to me on my free time. Try to underhand or backstab or go around any of these agreements and consider your ass sued.” Sunny champed her beak together for emphasis, shifting in her massive plate armor. Clearly she had a different idea of litigation than he did, but he would talk to her about that later.

Clayton took his seat back behind his desk again, “You drive a hard bargain there, Commander, but a deal is a deal. I will get the contract to you as soon as things are formalized.

“How long have you been thinking about this?”

The man shrugged “Long enough to have started the casting process. I even hired the man who will be playing you, isn’t that exciting.” 

“You have?”

“Yeah here let me call him out. Keith! You can come out now.” There was a shuffling from behind some of the stuff, and a man made his way out from the other side of the room.

Krill wasn’t particularly impressed, but by the way Adam took a step back it seemed as if he was, “Keith…. J-Jenning.” The man stammered.”

Sunny gave the  human a once over, and immediately didn’t like the casting choice, sure they had similar builds with blond hair and a charming smile, but this guy was….. Well he was a total Deva…. Not that she followed the gossip magazines…. Too much. But just looking at him, with his manicured nails and perfect hair, it just didn’t seem right. She much preferred Adam, rugged, useful, confident in his work, but also not a massive ass.

The man held out a hand, “Commander.” He looked him up and down eyes falling on the eye patch, “How the hell do you see out of that thing.”

Vir paused in his fan boying to look confused…. “Uh…. I don’t, that’s sort of the point.”

The man turned to look at the director, “Do I have to wear one, It would cover like half my face.”

Vir frowned, “No it doesn-”

“Look Keith poles say that women find a man with an eyepatch at least ten percent more attractive than men without one”

The man glanced over at Adam and frowned, “Well…. I guess I’ll need all the help I can get.”

Adam frowned, but before he could say anything a large blue shape had cut in front of him, grabbed the man by the front of the shirt, and lifted him to eye level, “Look here you little weasel, Adam is twice the man you are, and has more honor in one of his little toes than you have in your entire body.” She poked him in the chest with a free claw, “So I would shut the hell up and learn some respect  before I reverse the typography of your face.”  

A hand grabbed her by the elbow “Sunny, put him down.”

“Why he's got insurance on his face.” 

“Sunny, that’s an order.” She let him go with some hesitation grumbling the entire way.

Keith hit the ground with a hand around his neck . From behind them clayton began to clap slowly, “Bravo, bravo, what a show, what an act, such emotion, such loyalty. That really was deeply moving , you feel that Keith, you feel the sexual tension.”

“What.”

“Hey-”

The two men ignored them as keith rubbed his neck ,”I felt SOMETHING alright.” 

Clayton stood walking in a slow circle around sunny prodding at her armor, and her carapace, “Now ths, this is interesting, quick do something else intimidating.” 

Sunny growled.

“Oh yes, I have the perfect casting choice for you Rita Ortiz.”

Sunny tilted her head thoughtfully and couldn’t help but nodding. The actress was mostly known for  her roles in action movies somehow managed to dodge the romantic arcs that film still can’t let go of. She was cool, Sunny liked her.”

With a critical eye the director turned to look at Krill, who watched, uninterested and unimpressed, “How about you little fella.”

The Vrul remained standing arms crossed, “I think this is stupid, i think you’re stupid, and I thinnk he.” Pointing at Keith, “Is especially stupid. IF you just look at his eyes you’ll know he is a terrible casting choice. I mean look at him you can hardly expect someone with the pain threshold of a ballsack to play a decorated war hero.” 

That didn’t really get the response Krill had intended and had the man in stitches laughing on the on his desk, “The comic relief, I get it now.” “Wait, no I’m not-”

“We will be in touch commander, I look forward to working with you and your hilarious friends. Come on Keith, lets go call the studio, this is going to be big.” Commander Vir barely had time to react as the two men left them standing in the center of the room with confused expressions.

“This…. This is going to be a disaster.” Krill commented in the following quiet.

Sunny gave a sigh, “That should be the title of your autobiography.” She said nudging Adam on the shoulder.

“Yeah and yours should be Sidekick.” He said smugly.”

“Hey!”

He sighed then.

“You’re probably right though, this is going to be a disaster.” 

[twitchesandstitches]

Alt Fleet Origins

idea i wrote up during my absent spell a couple months back; alluded to a few times and decided it was time to post it:

Consider this: the core group of the Fleet and thus the characters you might consider the central characters (Sierra, Terezi, Rose Quartz, Grimlock and Undyne) are the members of the generation that made the FLeet what it is, but they’re not the FIRST generation of the Fleet

They didn’t found it, but shaped it into what it is now, making them the heroes who defined the Fleet, gave it power and brought them home after ages of suffering and nomadic flight, but there is a lot that predates them

In short, it expands on the culture of the Fleet and makes it about more than just them!

This does require tossing out a lot of my original ideas for the Fleet’s origin and the foundations of the AU (Sierra discovering the Matriatrix and finding the other founding groups during the course of several adventures, building up their collective powers and creating the basics of the Fleet), but heck with it, some of the ideas I’ve had for this are SUPER fun and make a lot of sense within the AU

The actual founding generation goes back much further, perhaps an additional several hundred years prior to the birth of Sierra, who being the least difficult to map to realistic ages, makes a good barometer. The Fleet’s core ideas (it’s codes of honor, the way they handle things, and the basic social concepts) go back to the original founders, who banded together for mutual survival in a hostile multiverse where they were outcasts.

Most of the original groups are still represented here, but their ancestors are the ones who came into the fold first, so to speak.

(Greater detail and worldbuilding below)

I’m thinking there were probably no human members of the group, and came later; possibly humans are a bit of a rarity in this AU, at least in terms of population. Elves, dwarves, tieflings, they’re more common, but bog-standard humans are simply less common than you might assume.

The Homestuck contingent is represented by the troll ancestors: Neophyte Redglare as their leader, the Dolorosa, the Disciple, maybe the Executioner and the Signless. Additionally they had a large number of trolls allied to them, effectively they’re the Beforan versions of the ancestors (though giving them different relative ages for the sake of interesting divergence, like making Porrim a primordial vampire) until Beforus fell in ancient times, and the struggles of survival shaped the Beforus characters of the dancestors into the wiser but harder characters on par with the Alternian ancestors. While likely revolutionaries, these specific trolls were mainly just trying to survive without a homeworld, and being unwilling to take Condy’s ruthless measures to claim one for their own. Redglare would be the original wielder of the Matriatrix here, eventually passing it on to Sierra.

Because the troll kids (Terezi, Vriska, Feferi and the others) come later, presumably this means that you had to have access to all the troll ancestors genetics to get them. This might mean that, for a while, ALL the ancestors were part of the Fleet or had their genetics acquired somehow; this has interesting implications for Mindfang and the Condesce.

The Gems are, quite simply, the Crystal Gems. Possibly the core group (Rose, Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst, Bismuth) with additional crystal gems rounding out the population. They were also just trying to survive, and specifically avoid restarting Homeworld, the circumstances of the Crystal Gem Rebellion are way different here, and possibly unrelated to Earth, though it’s also quite possible that Homeworld was outright destroyed prior to those tensions building up into full revolution. The human characters, at the beginning of the Fleet, wouldn’t have been born yet. Lapis is off somewhere else doing her own thing, Peridot possibly hasn’t been born yet (???) and Jasper MIGHT have a servant of Rose before leaving to join the Stingers once they’re formed to amass her own glory, or else had no idea Pink Diamond survived.

The Transformers present an interesting possibility: maybe Grimlock is actually younger here? I like him having participated in the Autobot/Decepticon wars too much to have him been born recently, but if the war was more recent, that might play into things. I’ve implied that the Cybertron Civil War took place many eons ago and shaped history across the multiverse, but it’s possible that this can be fulfilled by the children of Primus carrying out the same narrative cycle repeatedly, with the Autobot uprising dating to, at most, a thousand years ago. This would make the Autobots SIGNIFICANTLY younger than usual, and also let me mess around more and make things even more AU.

An alternative possibility is having Transformers (And other long-lived beings that don’t mature physically) grow up as a response to emotional growth; they are prompted by life experiences to mature and change, but don’t do it in a vacuum. Thus, Grimlock and the other Autobots can be millions of years old but until they go through exceptional circumstances, they don’t change much over time. Leaning towards the former option of them simply being way younger than I normally do it, simply because I VERY RARELY make the Autobots younger than series average and it might be fun to mess around with that.

In any case, the founding Autobots would be a smallish group mainly led by Elita-1, Arcee, several others of note (Ultra Magnus, Jazz, ect.) and of course, Wheeljack and Ratchet, who are Grimlock’s parents. Grimlock himself may have been alive at this time, but he remained taciturn and withdrawn after the things he suffered, and doesn’t become a major player until later. The smallest in overall number, but the largest in terms of power. Most of those would, of course, be fembots.

The Undertale roster is largely unchanged, since they seem kinda long-lived anyway. They probably provide the largest initial population for the Fleet, because of the sheer diversity and monster girl possibilities they provide! Monster Musume characters would also be included in their numbers; specifically the monster moms. Toriel, as queen of the monsters and perhaps led by portents she believes the monster goddess, Mothra, has bestowed upon them, leads her people (the Undertale characters; the human ones and Deltarune characters are born later) to find a place to survive, and eventually bond with the rest of the Fleet.

Add in additional characters and groups as needed, with some provisos: no humans at all at this point, they come later. Secondly, this version of the Fleet is a large band of nomads, perhaps numbering several hundred at most for the first generation or so, traveling from continent to continent and then world to world via teleportation gates they discover, uncovering a mystery that eventually leads into the overarching conspiracy that the Fleet will later investigate.

They are thus a convoy, staying on the move from their enemies and just trying to survive. They have kids, mind their own business, but can’t help being heroes and getting a bit of a reputation; eventually they wind up being superheroes of a sort.

Redglare, as mentioned, is the first wielder of the Matriatrix for the FLeet. I dunno where SHE got it (found it? it was passed down to her by a mentor?) but she uses it in a very different way from Sierra; the modding and power-enhancing scene requires an economic base and adventuring capability the proto-Fleet does not have, at this point, but they are able to use some of its powers to begin changing themselves to stay alive and relevant. Possibly the first signs of hyper proportion power levels begins here. But no one has any idea how to use it, and as in the current time, must experiment: Redglare ultimately does not learn the specific abilities Sierra did, but combines its alchemizing abilities with her innate Mind powers to draw abilities from those around her, combined with the zeitgeist of the area around her and, in a sense, weaponize the narrative to randomly generate abilities and spell effects. She is ultimately far better at the subtle abilities and Sierra still falls short of living up to her skills. Redglare is the first champion and leader of the Fleet, the heroine they all adored, and leaves big shoes to fill. (Her fate is… open to debate.)

Eventually, there is a second phase around the third generation of children and the signs of the Matriatrix’s gifts imbuing them with hyper fertility and devouring/pregnancy powers so that the Fleet is associated with nomming themes and producing huge amounts of children. By this point they have multiplied by several hundred members, both taking in anyone who wants to join their merry band and reproducing… a LOT. Gems and Transformers have been changed to be able to have super pregnancies, but not to the one-woman population booms in the present. This significantly alters the dynamics for their people, since the difficulties of resources for making new Gems and Transformers is a major problem for reproduction; possibly something similar applies to trolls, as I imagine the mother grub not being a natural part of the reproduction, but akin to a biological cloning machine inducing inbreeding due to over reliance on it.

Around this phase, two things happen, in no particular order, but as a result, some humans enter the Fleet. Again, humans are a relatively rare and severely underpowered species, and possibly in the process of dying out. But their greatest place of utopian ideals and success is the world-nation of Wakanda, reimagined her as a massive ringworld inhabited by humans, robots and the creations of ancient humans. It is a distillation of Marvel, with the entire human population being mutants; powers are universal, and the older generation of BNHA characters also originate from here (All Might, Inko). The Fleet seeks shelter, and for some time, calls Wakanda home. This utopian wonderland becomes the Fleet’s first true stable homeland, and eventually the beginning of their spaceflights; eventually they can no longer remain after Wakanda is devastated by Evil, and the notion of Wakanda becomes a spiritual homeland they home to one day reestablish.

By this point, the clan social system that eventually replaces biological families entirely begins to manifest, growing out of the social structures of Wakanda and the factionalism present within the newborn Fleet itself.

The other thing that can happen before or after the joining with Wakanda; the discovery of ancient cloning facilities, in which humans played a part. Great mechanisms to produce vast amounts of cloned offspring lay dormant, but fully functional, and providing the Fleet with valuable lost technology that will become the basis for later bio-tech. The facility contains information on the twenty-eight hundred trillion different bloodlines of the many species recorded, among them human bloodlines that still have a claim to the last dynasties of Earth in its pre-Cataclysm hey-day, and the offspring of those bloodlines would have tremendous cultural influence due to their descent from the last great powers of their people.

The Fleet begins what will become a solemn vow to resurrect life whenever possible; eventually they will start gestating fallen species, but they begin by simply starting the machines back up and raising the resulting children on their own. Among these are the first human members to be born into the Fleet; these include the human guardians from Homestuck (Pop Egbert, Mom Lalonde, Grandpa Harley, non-abusive Bro Strider) as well as anyone explicitly confirmed to be human and born into the Fleet; of note, the human SU characters from an older generation, most prominently Greg Universe.

Additional time passes, more generations come and go, and the Fleet’s initial powers grow more advanced; rebirth via pregnancy becomes a viable technique though not as widespread as it will become, and extends life spans considerably. Hyper huge proportions and recreational modding become more common, and with Redglare’s increased control over the Matriatrix, the beginnings of the Fleet’s superpowers status beings.

Now we come to the birth of the ‘current generation’; the characters the AU focuses on. Sierra, the other TDI characters, and the Homestuck kids and trolls are born. (Analogues to the Beforan characters as they are in the dancestor bits are also born roughly around this time.) The human characters in question (mainly the TD and Homestuck humans like Jade, Roxy, Jane and John) are a mix of being born from the cloning processes and offspring of the human mutants. The trolls, though, are explicitly the biological children of the troll ancestors, even if they are not raised by them as per Fleet custom.

Thus, everyone effectively grows up as friends and have an established society that predates them, putting less of an emphasis on them as the sole heroes; they stand on the shoulders of those who came before.

Sierra winds up becoming a protege of sorts to Redglare, and Terezi, as her descendant, suffers a great deal of pressure to become as great as her, while Redglare does her best to just let her descendants have a happy, ordinary life.

At some point, though, Redglare leaves the story. However it happens, she passes the Matriatrix onto Sierra, when all expectation was that Terezi would continue her legacy. This causes a great deal of tension between the two, even though they are very close prior to this. Eventually it is repaired, but not without damage.

In her childhood, Sierra befriends Grimlock (Effectively being his human companion friend, in TF fandom terms), bringing him out of his gloomy shell and lightning him up a little bit into the hero we all know he can be.

Sierra’s discoveries, as well as those of her friends (most predominantly Feferi, who is effectively the mother of modding) and the leadership of their particular group begins to shape the Fleet into what it is, setting the stage for its current position as it grows and changes.

(This also means that Vriska, and perhaps a good chunk of the Stingers, were originally part of the Fleet, perhaps those who opted for personal gratification or glory over the Fleet’s heroic intentions.)

Some other consequences is that the Fleet initially grew gradually, slowly absorbing people into it over time and then growing just a bit faster at a time as the Matriatrix’s powers expanded into others… and relatively recently, their expansion went from a few worlds and a single fleet to multiple ones, and a MASSIVE population explosion that continues even to this day. This rapid expansion is clearly terrifying to most people and a serious threat to people who originally saw them as hedonist outcasts and rogues challenging tyrants.

The second one is a theme of building things over the course of multiple generations, but suddenly the plan is askew. Redglare, the seemingly immortal wielder of the Matriatrix, is gone. Her plans, whatever they were, are suddenly stalled and the Fleet doesn’t have a rudder; people depended on her and revered here, and Terezi and Sierra wind up having to take the reins and inspire people. Sierra the heart-felt champion and the one they adore, and Terezi winds up the one with a plan and purpose people can root for.

Things build up and expand from simpler roots, growing more complex and better than what their forerunners initially created. They might be standing on the shoulders of giants, but they’ll grow far bigger than their parents did.

(The metaphor is somewhat muddled by the fact that the Fleet’s stronger people genuinely regard ‘growing bigger than a planet and using your finger to destroy a kaiju’ as mid-tier feats, but the point still stands.)

[justdungeonmasterthings]

Side Story: Dragon Slayers

Have your adventurers collected loads of dragons blood? Are their bags of holding drooping heavily with the life force of wyrms? Do they have enough viles of dragons blood to fill several casks? Why not sell it to a charismatic rich person!

If your campaign has a lot of dragons, even wyvrns and non true dragons, in it and your players keep collecting blood when they do survival checks to harvest the body, perhaps add a new twist to the campaign:

A charismatic rich noble in the neighboring town has heard of their most recent conquest of slaying a dragon and invites them over for a dinner in their honor. He has a lovely estate, there are several pseudo dragons that frolic in the foyer as you enter. Before dinner they take you to the garden to show you their collection: a captive flock of faerie dragons in an oversized aviary, a mated pair(s) of wyvern tending to their brood within a large crater with a chained net over top and several cages housing various Drake’s. The drakes and the faerie dragons don’t seem too intelligent, almost more like mere pseudo dragons or beasts (if any player has experience with dragons this may strike them as odd)

A small fleet of wyvern riders patrol the grounds, the drakes patrol the grounds at night. The guards aren’t your typical rider, they’re more refined and uniform in appearance and bear the sigil of a dragon profile on their armor and shields. The wyverns also adorn metal armor (+2 to AC). The drakes almost seem feral in their behavior, your host tells you not to leave the house at night for your own safety (detect magic reveals the drakes and faerie dragons have been subjected to a feeble minded spell so much it’s practically permanent)

There are dragon skulls lining the entrance to their estate and large monoliths and statues to the great beasts through out the property. Around the perimeter of the estate are humanoids with dragon heads, but not dragon born. Literally just humans with a head, like they’d taken two different dolls and stitched them together for the model (they’re golems). His prized artifacts of his collection is the shell of a huge dragon turtle hanging over the mantle of a large fireplace in the dining hall. (If you have Tome of Beasts, there is one Dragonleaf tree in the back of the estate encircled by stone, the characters may notice a crèche under its roots but the host heeds them not to go near it, informing them of its nature)

Over dinner he tells you his story. He is a ranger who specializes (favored enemy) in dragon hunting and trapping. Over the years he’s amazed a huge wealth from the great dragons he’s slain and the money he’s profited from the Draco kin he’s captured, bred and sold. He has the largest breeding population of faerie dragons in the lands! He even managed to create the first recorded hybrid of a faerie dragon and a pseudo dragon, which looks like a pseudo dragon with prismatic scales and dwarf (barely functional) butterfly wings that fawns over him like a house cat.

After dinner he invites you to stay the night. In the night one or more of your players hear an anguished scream that is neither human nor draconic but a mix of both. They leap out of bed and investigate where the shriek originated from, which leads them to the dining room. (No amount of investigation will reveal the hidden room behind the fireplace yet, this is simple precursor)

The next morning the host says he hopes they slept well. If they bring up the noise they heard, he’ll pass it off as the wyverns getting frisky or one of the drakes being hungry. An insight check will show he’s trying to hide something but not sure what. He then asks the party if they’re interested in a business opportunity. He informs the party that he’s actually followed them before an come across their most recent kill, noticing they’ve harvested the blood from it and mostly likely of many great beasts. He says he’ll buy it off them. If asked, he’ll inform them he uses it to nurture young dragons to aid in training them (they need a HIGH insight check to see if this is a lie. It’s half true, what he says is correct but not his only reasoning)

A. If they say yes, he’ll throw another feast in their honor and invite some of his other ranger friends over. The banquet will be in two days (third day of their stay)

B. If they say no he’ll extend his welcome to them for a week or so while they recover from their most recent adventure (they can’t leave. Attempting to do so causes Wyvern guards to descend on them and drake protectors to block their exits. Even stone golems with dragon heads will stop them. Too daunting for a fight)

Regardless of which choice they chose, he remains courteous to them. On the second day, the party is free to roam around. They may come across a section that has been sealed off by magical means. They may observe various estate hands using wands of feeble mind on the drakes and faerie dragons, if asked they’ll say it’s to keep them tame and in check. If they chose option B his friends will still show up and give them a distasteful greeting, as if the party had offended them somehow. There will be a social mixer on the third day of their stay (essentially the banquet but not in their honor) and most will give the party a cold shoulder, but a drunk wizard might let talk to them. If they chose A the guests will introduce themselves. Aside from rangers there are several arcane practicioners, speaking to any of them reveal they have great reverence for dragons both out of admiration and fear, but they’re respectful (the drunk wizard will play this role). There are members of various races but you don’t see a single Dragonborn around you (the characters will note this if Dragonborn are somewhat common in the campaign)

During the mixer/dinner, the pseudodragon hybrid will get the attention of one of the party members (if any party member brought up the screams they heard and express concern, the dragon will seek this member out) and guide them to a closed of section of the house. It will then speak, for the first time the characters have seen at least, a draconic command word and the door will open. Inside the room is a vast library encircling a statue of a great dragon (an insight check will reveal its an adult red dragon given the horn structure). On the desk will be open books and various manuscripts. All of them relating to humanoid dragons: Kobold, Dragonborn and many references to half dragons. (If you have the dragonleaf part, the winow outside shows the tree in plain view)

At this point the host enters the library. He says the skeleton is the first dragon he ever slayed, a fearsome red dragon named Gargalorix. He gives the story of how the beast burned his village, slew and ate his family and wrecked havoc on the countryside for a decade. He feared and respected Gargalorix, and almost seems to refer to him in awe. After that day he started adventuring and became a ranger, killing a handful of young dragons he eventually returned to his old home and single handedly slew Gargalorix. From then on he cast aside his adventuring party and took up the mantle of dragonsbane before retiring. He says he kept the skeleton as a token to the night and power of the great dragon. He says he didn’t hate Gargalorix, he envied him. All that power, the fiery blood that coursed through the beasts veins. He then says “that’s how I founded the brotherhood of dragonkin”.

He then explains that the brotherhood is a secret society that operates under the radar among circles of the ranger community. They fund the society (it’s totally a cult but he won’t use that word himself) from their domination of the great lizards. Their goal is to become like the dragons. They resent Dragonborn, saying they don’t deserve the blood coursing through the veins. They believe Dragonborn take their gift for granted and are unappreciative of the power they come from. Suddenly other members of the cult enter the room and the single character is abducted effortlessly and quietly (perhaps several members used a sleep spell or hold person, making it impossible to do a save since there were multiple attackers on one target). The hybrid dragon cowers in the corner than leaves out an open window, taking with it a crystal ball that it’s master doesn’t see as he’s preoccupied with the party member.

The other players are unaware of what has transpired. They notice the host leave but the other guests seem to crowd around them and strike up conversations (if they chose option B this seems weird, almost as if their entire disposition has changed). The host tells the party some lie about the party member that is pretty believable (make this unique to your campaign of course). If they persist with questions on their party member, a being identical to the party member arrives (it’s a doppelgänger the host has hired). If they keep persisting they will be knocked out similarly. If they chose option B they’ll be knocked out before the doppelgänger arrives.

Either they will retire on their own free will to their rooms or they will wake up there after being knocked out. If they chose B, the doppelgänger will make its debut in their room as their companion and say they got sick after the party and hallucinated. The double then leaves. Their dragons blood is gone by this point if they chose B. Either way they’ll be left in the room.

The hybrid dragon will appear at the window, knocking with its head. In its hands the crystal ball. Once let inside, it will hold up the crystal ball and using telepathy tell them all to touch. When they do, his eyes will flash and they will see the events that transpired in the library through his eyes (the crystal ball is using his memory, a modification of detect thoughts)

When they exit the room, the double will be there. Then behind them in the hallway another double. In total, 2-4 doppelgängers appear and the first wave of the battle begins. Once they slay the doubles they’ll notice none of the other guests are present. The hybrid dragon will be at the end of the hallway and call to them in draconic.

Inside the dining hall will be the hybrid dragon by the fireplace. As they approach, suits of armor (with dragon effigies and horns) will animate and attack. If your players are high enough level, perhaps replace the suits of armor with drakes. Once they defeat the second wave, the hybrid will speak a draconic word out loud to make the fireplace open to the secret chamber.

At the base of the stairs will be a cultist. He’ll try to flee but the hybrid dragon will use euphoria gas (automatic fail for the cultist). The hallway will have several cells with Dragonborn inside. They’ll tell the party that they were all kidnapped and some have been killed, drained of their blood before being fed to the wyverns. One of them is in special shackles, he’s a cleric of bahamut and his shackles are preventing him from using his spells. He says the hybrid dragon has kept in contact with him and while the details are fuzzy explains what the cult wants to do: bathe in dragons blood to become half dragons.

C. The players leave the prisoners in their cells

D. The players release the prisoners

Whichever choice they chose, a Dragonborn will be revealed to be a doppelgänger and either attack the players or warn the rest of the cult (depends on your players level).

Eventually the players will be recaptured again (you decide how). The host will reveal his plan to all of them, then monologue about the greatness of dragon kind. You’ll see some cultist who have draconic features but not fully, which the host tells you is because they experimented with using Dragonborn blood or that of non true dragons like wyvern, dragon turtles and drakes. Around him will be pools of blood, corresponding to the types of dragons the party has killed and collected blood from (and a dragon idol will be placed by the pool the same color as the color of the dragon who’s blood is within the pool).

As members of the cult begin chanting, the host and various high ranking members will disrobe, showing tattoos with draconic writing and dragon patterns. They will then enter the bath. The cult leader will enter a pool with a red dragon idol next to it, regardless of the fact if the players had killed a red dragon or not. He will then emerge as a half dragon and all the cultists will bow as he begins monologing. He says him and his half dragon brothers will now chose dragon names, dubbing himself Neogalorix. As the cultists are distracted, the hybrid dragon reappears (it used minor illusion to disguise itself as a box) and quickly brings the party members the keys to their shackles.

A fight will break out. If the characters willingly sold the blood, chosing option A, some cult members who transformed to half dragons will escape, they’ll be reoccurring characters now (should have at least one for every chromatic color, but mix and match as you please). If they refused to sell it, the will remain for the fight. This reinforces that their actions have consequences and even their choice in sales can have massive effects.

If they chose option D and released the cleric of bahamut, he will heal as many living Dragonborn as possible and then cast greater restoration on as many drakes as possible, then as many faerie dragons as possible. The fight might take place outside. If you have the dragonleaf tree, that tree belonged to Gargalorix and when the leader stands under it it will ally itself with you, as it’s mast was slain and it has disdain for the mockery of dragonkind that the cult created. The wyvern guards are mostly unaware of what he cult is up to and may or may not help the leader. If they flee they’ll be mercenaries and reoccurring characters. If the characters chose A and sold the blood, the Hybrid dragon will depart on its own to the nearby woods (it may ally itself with the cleric of bahamut). If the characters chose B, the hybrid will thank them and possibly join them for a short period of time.

The opponents will be rangers, veterans, doppelgängers and cultists. Despite having arcane users present at the party, none will fight (unless your party can take that on).

The statistics for the hybrid dragon are the same as the pseudo dragon, except in addition to fire breath it has euphoria breath and the inate spell casting ability (charisma is its spell casting ability). The spells are minor illusion and color spray. He can speak fluent draconic and sylvan and common, but his telepathy is limited to simple thoughts. He only reveals his fluent language abilities after the battle. The host never knew it was intelligent enough to speak, assuming it was like pseudo dragon more than a faerie dragon. Since he was clever enough to play along, he was never subjected to the feeble minded spell. The cult leader realizes with his dying breath that the hybrid dragon was not only his greatest mastery over dragon kind but also his undoing. The only reason the dragon used the crystal ball was because time was of the essence and explaining it would have taken too long, and it wasn’t sure it trusted the people. The dragon is chaotic good, and speaks I frequently preferring to use body language or telepathy to express feelings and emotions.

The party may inherit the house, depending on their actions the now restored drakes may stay as guards. The faerie dragons will leave and so will the wyvern, but the faerie dragons may lend aid in the future depending on the players actions. The cult had large coffers that the adventurers may loot, included items should be wands of feeble mind and various dragon kin eggs

[atlchocolate007-blog]

Usa vs russia

Match Result

The United Expresses of U . s has verified that capitalism creates higher levels of productivity than any other kind of government and today the United States gross national product is 10 times that of any other nation and it is twice the other top-five countries directly below us combined. Russia and China, the two strongest of the BRICS militaries, alone make a formidable force on the surface. If the two countries had been to type a armed forces duo, they'd have got over 24,000 primary fights tanks, over 35,000 armored fighting with each other automobiles, nearly 8,000 self-propelled guns, over 12,000 towed artillery and more than 5,000 multiple start rocket systems. Simply because well as having solid fleets of tanks, the two countries are presently developing two brand-new tanks that are graded as highly as the new M1A2, in China's VT-4 and Russia's T-14 Armata.

The Russian nuclear forces are dependent upon her ICBM's. Her boomer subs and air flow pressure wouldn't get much launched (her bombers wouldn't make it to American airspace and her max of two deployed nuke boomers are trailed at all occasions by at least one American and one other NATO attack sub - they'd by no means make it to launch depth). But that does not matter. Even if only the two contemporary MIRV outfitted ICBMs function (the extremely advanced, RS-24 Yars ; and the fairly advanced RT-2UTTKh Topol-M ), that would end up being a total of about 125 ICBM's. (trust that the maturing RT-2pms, R-100Ns and Ur-36 still have got some bite).

There is certainly significant uncertainness about the amount of Russian nuclear weapons storage space sites, for many factors. First, the Russian federal government provides nearly no information regarding its nuclear warhead storage space plan. Second, Traditional western governments state extremely little about what they understand. Furthermore, quotes differ on what makes up a storage space site;” some count number each fenced storage space bunker as a site, also though there may be

The total amount of warhead blasts in the US would end up being no much less than 350 nuclear attacks (that's Simply no LESS than, but extremely most likely very much higher when old warheads are added in). Actually if just 350 nuclear attacks happened, and just 100 extremely essential focuses on had been chosen (doubling or trippling up on essential places), quickly the best 80 largest towns (every main city region) + the 20 most essential military focuses on were struck, the US would be wiped off the face of the map. The entire nation would end. Most people would be dead in six months due to disease and starvation. If ONLY the Russians struck (with no retaliation from the US), humanity might endure such an strike.

During the Chilly Battle, when professionals concerned frequently about sudden hits, there might have got been some inner logic that justified having hundreds of ICBMs prepared to release. Historians can, and do, argue whether this was prudence or paranoia. But actually with growing US-Russian tensions today, there is definitely no reputable evidence to suggest that either Russia or China is definitely enticed to initiate a full-scale nuclear turmoil by conducting a sudden hit to eliminate America's nuclear forces. While the risk is not zero, in a world of limited assets where priorities must become designated and costs and benefits considered, keeping and modernizing land-based missiles appears like a suspect task at greatest, and quickly the least valuable of the nuclear upgrades planned or underway.

America can still fight and win two major wars at the same time, or at least come near enough to winning that neither Russia nor China would see much hope in the gamble. The United Says can do this because it proceeds to keep the world's most powerful military services, and because it stands at the mind of an incredibly effective military services connections. Furthermore, Russia and China easily create extremely different military services complications, enabling the United Expresses to devote some of its possessions to one, and the rest to the various usa vs russia.

Russia still struggles with push projection, but the release of Kalibr cruise missiles at floor focuses on in Syria proved that Russia offers found a way to give actually their small ships some severe bite. An anti-ship version of the missile is definitely thought to become simply as able and, if terminated in a huge enough salvo, may become capable to conquer U.T. mail defenses like the Phalanx. Russia also fields the Club-K missile program, a land-attack and anti-ship sail missile program that can become concealed in delivery containers.

That and additional queries about Russian armed forces features and goals are acquiring middle stage as Putin displays a persistent willingness to make use of armed forces force in a heavy-handed foreign plan directed at fixing his nation's prominence as a globe power. In that search, he provides elevated the specter of resurgent Russian army might - from Ukraine to the Baltics, from Syria to the broader Middle East.

The United State governments deals with even more tough complications in the Pacific. Japan or India might have got an curiosity in the Sth China Ocean, but this barely assures their involvement in a battle (or also the level of benevolence of their neutrality.) The connections framework of any provided struggle would rely on the specifics of that struggle; any of the Philippines, Vietnam, Sth Korea, Japan or Taiwan could become China's principal focus on. The rest, U.Beds. pressure apart, might well choose to sit down on the sidelines. This would place extra pressure on the United States to establish dominance in the Western Pacific with its own assets.

The United Areas offers a considerable nuclear weapons arsenal and connected delivery systems. The 2001 Nuclear Position Review suggests that the United Areas may seek to develop, and possibly test, new types of nuclear weapons in the future. The United States destroyed its biological weapons by 1970 and is in the process of destroying its stockpile of chemical weapons. Some critics allege that elements of U.S. government biodefense research are in violation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC).

The neocons and their liberal-hawk allies obviously possess in brain programs for producing the Russian overall economy scream and somehow design a program change” in Moscow despite Putin's current 80 percent authorization rankings. But this most recent structure - like the previous types - can be nearly certainly not really heading to end as its architects have got attracted it up. While the neocons and liberal hawks may fantasy about some Western-beloved liberal” getting transported into the Kremlin while Putin is certainly pulled apart, the possibility that the Russian people would place up with another circular of American-prescribed surprise therapy” - in which Russia's assets had been plundered, Russian lifestyle expectancy stepped, and different U.S i9000. advisers” and hedge money produced out like bandits - is certainly remote.

There can be a great side, and this is that just some of the requirements for the fight in the Pacific and Europe would overlap. The army in the United States would have to defend Europe, same as they did in World Battle II and the Navy blue would possess to concentrate on the Pacific. The US Atmosphere Push would perform a component in assisting both of them.

Approximately 50 W61 (variable yield bomb 0.3 to 340 kiloton) nuclear bombs inside an igloo at what might have been Nellis Air flow Pressure Base in Nevada. Prior to 2014, seventy-five igloos at Nellis store one of the largest stockpile in the free world,” according to the U.H. Air flow Pressure, one of four central storage sites in the United Claims.

Last but not really least, Russia's hands trade with China. Certainly, Russia is normally China's most essential provider of weapons and military services technology, but it is normally an open up key that Russia provides been cautious to transfer advanced military services technology to China - a potential competition. The Beds-400 missile system deal in late 2014 is definitely widely seen as a practical monetary decision instead of a tactical one. Russia's armed service assistance with China's neighbors, such as Vietnam, entails strong deterrence and controlling implications toward China in the Southerly China Sea. For example, Russia offers offered three kilo-class submarines to Vietnam since 2009, which are even more advanced than the boats China attained from Russia.

Much offers been made of the comfy relationship between Trump and Putin, which could well dampen tensions between the two countries. Nevertheless, the potential customer of the U.Beds. and Russia coming back to struggle continues to be a terrifying one for the entire globe. During the Cool Battle, after all, that they emerged perilously near to nuclear battle.