#maximal command

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, do Unicron's Four Horsemen exists anywhere else other than the Armada/Energon timeline?

Dear Eschatological Equestrian,

As I've discussed in the past, Unicron is not a creative god, and as such it's only natural for him to return to the same ideas on several occasions. One such incarnation of this unit consisted of dimensionally-abducted warriors, who were each claimed at a point in their timeline when they may otherwise have perished, ensuring a seed of loyalty with which Unicron was able to shackle them.

These horsemen consisted of:

...Death, a longtime servant of Unicron who had once been known as Battle Unicorn, and who was responsible for ensuring the Maximal Council were in no state to resist the Dark God's Culling.

...War, a Mach Kick who once followed the Liege Maximo, and who was plucked from battle, saving him from being bisected by Arcee.

...Pestilence, who had been Sir Sire, a noble member of the Maximal Army, only nano-kliks away from being converted into a Vehicon drone when Unicron "rescued" him.

And the last, whose kingdom had been usurped, and who had found himself on the chopping block, ready to lose his crown and cone at the hands of Mocklate. He had once been known as the noble King Candyhooves, but now was only Famine.

[muffinlance]

hellooo very cool person I am just now getting into the atla fandom and I know Nothing other than your fics are very cool and great and I was wondering if you have any recs (or links to posts with recs!!) bc I trust your judgment LOL

I hope this is ok to ask!! also I will add that I am not that picky but I will add that I am very much a longfic enjoyer so🫶🫶

My friend, may I open up to you the broad world of clicking an AO3 user's bookmarks. <3

AKA: literally click any ao3 username, "bookmarks" should appear towards the top of the resulting page. You can then voyage into the additionally wonderful waters of filtering by length, "recommended", fandom, etc.

Also: if the fic you like is in collections, try checking them out, especially if the title appeals to you. Can be a great way to find essentially a fic playlist.

Anyway all hail ao3's designers they done good work

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Spawnbed Protector by Maxime Minard

[themxtleycrew]

@vetyver-soaked-stars (for bumblebee)

This was not an encounter the former Maximal commander had expected, but surely Primus had sent him here across time and space for a reason. Primal and others like him had been tasked by the creator to travel the timelines and alternate realities in order to thwart the machinations of Unicron. Primal had found himself on Earth once more, though not the prehistoric environment he had already experienced. Given the battle between Autobots and Decepticons he was witnessing, he'd landed smack in the middle of the Great War.

He knew the ramifications of tampering with time and space. His encounters with the Vok could attest to that, and yet, the Maximal could not stop himself when he spotted a familiar yellow and black colored bot about to be ganged up on by the Seekers.

Primal was able to drive off Thundercracker and Skywarp easily enough, their confusion made it easy. Optimus may have taken just a little too much delight in shooting Starscream in the face, memories of the Decepticon possessing the body of Waspinator still fresh in his memories.

While the other bots were giants compared to him, he was closer in size to the young bot as he bent down to offer Bumblebee a hand.

"Are you alright?"

[ariel-s-awesome]

[Hater and Peepers are watching MCU movies]

Peepers: It's all CGI...

[Hater immediately turns the TV off]

Hater: Uggggh... That sucks!

Peepers: Right!? The de-

Hater: WHAT'S THE POINT IF NOBODY ALMOST DIED MAKING IT!?!?!?

Peepers: ...

Peepers: ...Okay, I was gearing up for a rant about the tragic decline of practical effects... But now I wanna hear where you're going with this.

[raurquiz]

#FelicesFiestasPatrias #feliz18 #transformers #autobot #commander #evasion #optimusprine #rouge #arcee #beastwars #maximal #optimusprimal #twrecks #carrrobots #fireconvoy #actionfigures @takaratomytoys @hasbro #kenner #weijang #fanttoys @transformers

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Taunting Sliver

Artist: Maxime Minard TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[choiceofcrow]

the exile is making me SO sad its unbelievable. im reveling in it i love a good tragedy

[the-whatcherof-89]

Commission for @pixlemonade

Grian “Big Boss” Xelqua Aka The Legendary Poultry Man.

CR 17 N Medium Humanoid Strix

XP 102,400 (if used as npc for encounter)Strix Cleric 10 Evangelist 7

Neutral Medium humanoid, Strix Init +2; Senses Perception +29

AC 31, touch 13, flat-footed 29 (+2 Dex, +10 Armor, +4 Shield, +1 Intuition, +4 Natural) hp 115 (16d8+34)

Fort +11, Ref +19, Will +12

Speed 60 ft. Flying, Land speed 30ft. Melee Returning shortspear+16/11/6 1D8+4 RangedRanged Spell+14, Returning shortspear+17/12/7 1D8+4

Racial Dayguard, Suspicious, Darkvision 60ft, Low light vision 60ft, Hatred, Fly speed 60ft, Land speed 30ft.

Traits Obsession(Buttons, etc), Spark of creation.

Class features Aura, Channel Energy 9D6, Domains Artifice, Air), Divine obedience,Skilled (Use magic device, Fly), Protective grace +2, Aligned class (Cleric), Divine boons (Strategic warrior, Sensibility of crafting), Creator’s touch, Material transformation, Gift of tongues(Ignan, Auran), Multitude of talents(+4 sacred bonus on untrained skills).

Spellcasting CL17 DC17 spells per day 

4/6+1/6+1/6+1/5+1/5+1/5+1/5+1/3+1/2+1/1+1

Str 12, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 24, Cha 10

Base Atk +12/7/2; CMB +13; CMD +25

Feats Brew potions, Deific obedience, Extend spell, Craft magic weapons and armors, Craft wondrous magic items, Empower spells, Quicken spells, Maximize spells, Master crafter.

Skills Appraise +5, Craft(Metal) +20, Craft(Stone) +14, Diplomacy +4, Fly +21, Heal +10, Knowledge (arcana, history, religion) +14, engineering +9 (nobility, the planes,) +5, Linguistics +5, Perception +19, Profession(architect) +19, (engineer)+14, Sense motive +14, Spellcraft +14, Use magic device +13.

Languages Common, Draconic, Strix, Ignan, Auran.

Combat gear Manual of understanding+3(used), Returning shortspear+3, Mithral catskin breastplate+4, Caster shield(greater), Amulet of natural armor+4, Dusty rose ion stone, Headband of aerial agility+6(Wis), Rainbow lenses, Eagle cape, Belt of goat strength, Rod of thunder and lighting, Robe of useful items, Arrow magnet, Band of the colorful(pride) flight (ring of feather falling+Ring of flying improved+Colored flight), 4 Potions of cure critical wounds, Cleric kit, MWK tools(stone mason), 105GP.

Spells per day 0- All. 1-Animate ropes, Bless, Command, Divine favor, Sanctuary, Shield of faith, Summon monster I 2-Wind wall, Bear’s endurance, Sonic boom, Cat’s grace, Summon monster 2, Aid, Make whole. 3-Gaseous form, Dispel magic, Summon monster 3, Remove blindness/deafness, Blindness/deafness, Remove curse, Protection from energy. 4-Airwalk, Summon minor planar ally, Summon monster 4, Divine power, Freedom of movement, Divination. 5-Fabricate, Flamestrike, Summon monster 5, Spell resistance, Truesight, Reanimate dead. 6-Major creation, Planar ally, Animate objects, Dispel magic major, Word of return, Blade wall, Mass bull strength. 7-Elemental body(air), Regeneration, Destruction, Resurrection. 8-Whirlwind, Planar ally major, Summon monster VIII. 9-Miracle, Prismatic sphere.

Mumbo Jumbo Aka Bumbo Baggins the Mustache Man.

CR 17 N Humanoid, Dwarf

XP 102,400 (if used as npc for encounter)Dwarf Wizard (Conjurer, Creation school)15 Lore master 2

Neutral Medium humanoid Init +2; Senses Perception +20

AC 22, touch 17, flat-footed 20 (+2 Dex, +5 Deflection, +5Mage armor) Hp 135 (17d6+51)

Fort +13, Ref +13, Will +17

Speed 20 ft. Melee Father’s forgehammer+11/6 1d8+31 RangedRanged Spell+10

Racial Speed 20ft, Defensive training, Unstoppable, Stone cunning, Craftsman, Industrious urbanite, Stability, Darkvision 60ft, Weapon familiarity.

Traits Spark of creation, Socially awkward.

Class features Summon familiar (archetype Valet), Arcane bond (Familiar Cat), Create gear, Creator’s will, Summoner’s charm, Scribe scroll, Specialization  school (Conjuration), Arcane discoveries: Arcane builder(wondrous magic items), Fast study, Golem constructor(Iron), Lore, Secret of health, Applicable knowledge(Forge ring).

Spellcasting CL17 DC18 spells per day 4/6/6/6/6/5/5/4/3/1

Str 12, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 26, Wis 14, Cha 8

Base Atk +8/3; CMB +9; CMD +21

Feats Brew potions, Extend spell, Skill focus (Knowledge Arcana), Alchemical affinity, Craft wondrous magic items, Craft magic armors and weapons, Maximize spell, Empower spell.

Skills Appraise +16, Craft(Metal) +28, Craft(Redstone) +28, Fly +10, Knowledge (Arcana +31, Dungeoneering +16, Engineering+28, Nature+16, Geography+16, History+16, Local+16, Nobility+11, Planes +16, Religion+11), Linguistics +2, Perception +10, Profession(engineer)+22, Perform(oratory) +3, Spellcraft +28, Use magic device +19.

Languages Common, Draconic, Dwarf, Giant, Terran, Orchis, Acquan.

Combat gear Headband of mental prowess+4(Int, Wis, Craft metal), Amulet of spell mastery, monocle of flawlessness, Father’s forge hammer, Engineer’s workgloves, Winged boots, Belt of giant strength+2, All tools vest, Traveler’s any tool, Handy haversack, Mallet of building, Clock of resistance+5, Ring of protection+5, Ring of crafting improved(Redstone), Artificer portable lab, Mumbo’s top hat(functions as a Cap of light and a Hedge wizard Conjurer’s cloak), Conduit rod, Scrolls(Planar binding greater, Anywhere but here, Expeditious constructions), Staff of conjuration, Blessed book, Potions(4 Cure Critical wounds, 2 Invisibility, 2 Blur), Wand of Summon monster II, Wizard kit, 15GP.

Spells known Mostly Conjuration spells Forbidden schools: Necromancy, Enchantment (around 45) 

Spells typically prepared 9-Portal. 8-Summon monster VIII, Labyrinth 7-Limited wish, Wondrous mansion, Clenched hand, Reflect spells. 6-Mass bull strength, Contingency, Chain lighting, Iron wall, Dispel magic greater. 5-Telekinesis, Teleportation, Summon monster V, Wall of stone, Cone of cold. 4-Elastic sphere, Summon monster IV, Dimensional door, Stoneskin, Black tentacles, Solid fog. 3-Haste, Shrink item, Fireball, Summon monster III, Dispel magic, Resist energy. 2-Make whole, Mirror images, Glitterdust, Summon swarm, Web, See invisibility. 1-Shrink person, Magic missile, Grease, Unseen servant, Mage armor, Shield.

0-All except forbidden schools.

Background Grian and Mumbo lived in a faraway land known for their hermit residents where they are renowned for their incredible talent for architecture and his incredibly complex contraptions respectively. Both of them where building some crazy structure and as always creating some cunning brain-teaser or practical joke to have a laugh while at it. Still, when one day they were about to make their usual pranks and almost detonated each other in the attempt, Grain and Mumbo heard a voice: “Your aid… needed… someone important… lost… will you aid us?” Thinking it was a prank from another Hermit known for his Scars and his fancy Top Hats they went along and accepted only to find themselves transformed and transported into a completely different world. Now they have a mission on hand: Retrieve a lost entity from far away that bestowed part of his powers upon them.

IMPORTANT: None of the images are mine they belong to the following artists in the link. I did this for no profit only for entertainment.

[askvectorprime]

The Axalon and its crew were originally part of an exploration initiative by the maximals before they got forcefully sidetracked, and Botanica and her crew were also a part of the same initiative. What were some of the other ships and crews like? What places did they go and what misadventures did they have?

Dear Erudite Explorer,

The Maximals spearheaded a number of exploration initiatives in the years before Megatron’s conquest of Cybertron and the ensuing Spark War. Some missions simply involved scanning and logging habitable planets from orbit, but most starships carried a cargo of protoforms and a number of basic prefabricated components that would allow a single ship to seed simple outposts on several dozen worlds and establish a transwarp link to Cybertron. A crew might spend a period of time exploring a particularly noteworthy planet—surveying interesting native life or conducting geological surveys for rich veins of energon—or they might simply drop a cargo of protoforms on a life-bearing planet and quickly move on.

As the post-war Cybertronian society gradually expanded its aegis across interstellar space, the Maximal High Council expected that it would gradually “link up” with these remote facilities and provide them with the equipment, manpower, and resources required to build these basic outposts up into full-fledged colonies—however, only a handful of worlds developed in this way before the Vehicon onslaught permanently ended any attempts at a third Cybertronian empire.

In addition to the Apex, which established an outpost on Regalis V, and the ill-fated Axalon, other notable starships include the Dianosk, which established colonies on worlds like Z’verei and Dykayra, the Lokana, whose crew adopted strange aerial plankton alternate modes to explore the swirling gas-scapes of Spindrift, the Tescuxa, who discovered Trypticon’s rusted remains on Praum, and the Choralob, the crew of which adopted beast modes to covertly study a primitive civilization of herbivorous reptiles on a distant world known only as Epsilon Sector, RG-21578-4.

[digitalsymbiote]

Excerpt from "The Dangers of Disconnect Syndrome"

"There is a reason that 8 hours is the maximum recommended time for a pilot to be deployed in the field. The pilot selection process already trends heavily towards individuals with high neuroplasticity, and extended time spent in neural sync only exacerbates this issue.

A pilots brain is molded to maximize efficiency, both through training and chemical cocktails, in order to handle the processing load of actually controlling a mech. IMPs help with this, of course, handling calculations and translating impulses into commands.

However, should a pilot spend more than 8 hours at a time in neural sync, this enhanced neuroplasticity starts to have more dangerous side effects. Past 8 hours, a pilots brain will start to form neural shortcuts to operate more efficiently. Many pilots have reported this to feel like their machines are suddenly running more smoothly, and responding faster to their neural commands.

The drawbacks of this process are not seen until the pilot returns to base and disconnects from their mech, at which point we start to see the typical symptoms of Disconnect syndrome. This is because the pilots brain is bypassing the already built pathways for controlling their actual flesh and blood body in order to more efficiently interface with the neural link. The technology behind the neural link is programmed to translate mental impulses for things like moving limbs or twisting our body into the corresponding commands for a mechanized suit. This translation is obviously not perfect. That's why IMPs exist and are trained on a pilots neural pattern from the moment that pilot enters the program.

After a long enough time in sync, however, a pilots brain learns to bypass that translation altogether and send the distinct input signals required to activate the various parts of their machine. In short, their brain learns to better control the mech by bypassing their own motor functions."

-- Lecture given by Dr. Eva Tyomkin, Head of Neural Research at SHI. Conference for Mechanized Innovation, 2145.

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Isperia, Supreme Judge by Maxime Minard

[themxtleycrew]

@maximummuses (for Prime)

Optimus Primal had endured much. He had traveled several million years into the past, been destroyed, resurrected, evolved, fought to stop Megatron from damaging the timeline, shared his spark with his namesake, been reformatted, died again, and then resurrected once more at the behest of his creator. After all of that, he would have thought he had seen it all. But wandering the multiverse had brought about many new opportunities. And speaking of his namesake...

He never thought he would be standing before the great Optimus Prime again, this time with the legendary Autobot leader online and functional.

How does one greet someone like this? Primal had looked quite different the last time he'd met the Prime, if this even was the same Optimus Prime. His battles against Unicron and his minions had opened up Primal to the multiverse, so many different timelines, a myriad of different incarnations of Autbot heroes he knew from history tracks.

There was the concern that, even if Prime had only glimpsed him in a different body, the Prime might remember him (again... if this was the same Prime), but there was also honor, admiration. It wasn't every day you got to meet your ancient ancestors.

"It... It is an honor to meet you, Optimus Prime, I never thought I--I didn't think I would ever get the chance."

[centrally-unplanned]

Atomic bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Based or Cringe?

Hiroshima = based, Nagaski = cringe, we having it both ways today baby!

But okay to not meme, this is a very complex question. Fundamentally, the mass-scale strategic bombing of civilian targets in World War Two was a dubiously effective policy that killed millions of innocent people. I judge no one for strategically bombing tank factories with the accuracy you had in 1943, that is just the harsh realities of that war, but that is not a description of what Allied strategy was (or not just, they also bombed tank factories). There were legions of air power proponents executing a strategy of "maximizing civilian casualties to break the back of the enemy", killing babies was the point, and the horrors of things like the firebombing of Tokyo are literally inconceivable to those who have never been in such times. Morality is not divorced from results - if it worked, if it made Germany & Japan surrender after a night of bloodied streets, then I would be hard-pressed to fault them. But that isn't what happened. It probably did something, sure, but the calculus is grim.

From that lens you can see Hiroshima as a culmination of a horrible strategy; but I don't think that is the only lens you have. World War Two was, in my opinion without peer, the highest stakes conflict humanity has ever fought. Nazi Germany's combination of dystopian vision and backed-by-steel ambition makes it the worst government to ever exist; Japan is certainly in the top 10 as far as these things go. And while we with our tables of GDP and steel output can say the Allies had it in the bag, that is never how people fighting a war see things.

Additionally, the methods of World War Two emerged from the almost-as-cataclysmic horrors of World War One; a conflict that utterly destroyed the governments of half the countries that fought it in. And their replacements were...not great! It was not a war that broke imperialism to usher in liberalism, even if steps were made that way. After WW1, people were desperate to find a way to fight the next war in a way that wouldn't condemn themselves to endless trench warfare they had gone through, one that wouldn't bring them to the brink of collapse, even if it fucked over the other guy.

Strategic bombing was born from this impulse - its founders truly hoped it would break the back of opposing nations, that once you "won air superiority" and started smacking Berlin the white flag would be raised. This didn't happen, but you didn't know that in 1941. Or in 1942. Or in 1943. Maybe it's just around the corner in 1944? You really want to stop now? 90% of Strategic Bombing Commands quit just before their enemy's will is finally broken, don't you know? In hindsight it is easy to say, in 1944, that they should have taken to foot off the pedal, that the war was won, and that this strat wasn't the way. And to be clear, they should have, they should have done that. Better men would have done that. But that is the high bar I am holding them too, not the floor. In this time period most people just didn't think civilians got spared in war, it was a different time. Morality's aim is universal, but the steps of the individual towards them can only be contextual. I think they were wrong, and to be clear by 1945 it was becoming quite obvious that the war was over and this was unnecessary. But few of us are so immune to the sins of inertia in a war.

From that lens, Hiroshima is the most justified civilian-targeted strategic bombing conducted in the entire war. Because unlike the inertia-creep of the Dresden firebombing, it had a very clear purpose - compel the Japanese government to surrender by demonstrating a weapon they could not hope to defeat, something that would save tens of thousands of American lives and likely hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives. I believe it did do that - not only do I think it was at least as important as the Soviet declaration of war, but the one-two punch of timing them together was a calculated psychological blow that certainly didn't hurt.

But more importantly Truman was not privy to the sessions of the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, he could only guess where they stood. Within that context Hiroshima was a calculated gambit that makes sense; because strategically bombing civilian targets was the order of the day at that time, and that all the big solo-military targets were essentially bombed away at that point, the idea of some kind of "display" against a dummy target or something - to a government the US had barely any communication with, wasting a scarce resource - was just not politically in the cards. Hell, neglecting to bomb Kyoto for cultural reasons, and doing things like dropping leaflets warning civilians ahead of the attack to flee, were already tail-end of the humanitarian practices of the time. I cannot armchair judge Truman for making hard calls with the stakes as high as they were.

However, Nagasaki was a classic interia case. It was done because the US had the bomb and we were bombing cities. It made even less sense than campaigns before, because now the US had a "reason" to think surrender might be imminent, so giving it a few days had far more logic. This one I judge much more harshly. It was the decision of a system that just did violence by default. Which of course it was, it was World War Two. But results are morality - Hiroshima probably saved Japanese lives. Nagasaki did not. Them's the breaks.

[raurquiz]

#FelicesFiestasPatrias #feliz18 #transformers #autobot #commander #evasion #optimusprine #rouge #arcee #beastwars #maximal #optimusprimal #twrecks #carrobots #fireconvoy #actionfigures @takaratomytoys @hasbro #kenner #weijang #fanttoys.@hasbrochile @transformersofficial

[txttletale]

youve previously spoken about i was a teenage exocolonist and its confused politics, and i agree, and now im thinking, how would one revise the story so as to improve them?

i think the game would have to either not be so proudly About Colonialism or would have to revise its story so that the theming actually matches the events. like imaginining that my proposed rewrite aims to 1. make the game's politics coherent while 2. changing as little as possible and 3. keeping the game's intended themes, i think the things that are most dissonant and jarring are:

the game not understanding what colonialism is but wanting to very much assure you that It's Bad

the game not understanding what fascism is but wanting to very much assure you that It's Bad

the game not understanding what capitalism is &c. &c. &c.

the bizarre unexamined eugenicist elements

so let's start on the first thing. you would want to lean much more heavily on the colonists as 'refugees' rather than 'colonists' -- the game treats 'colonizing' a place the exact same way as 'living there', and that kind of sucks (a common problem when using 'Space Colonization' as a 1-1 metaphor for actual colonization). so while we want to keep the weird culty aspects of the colony's society we'll ditch most of the colonial intentionality until the Helios arrives. secondly, we need to have the planet's indigenous people, like, actually present and not secretly hiding away as supercomputers.

so, like, let's keep the Gardeners as artificial life forms dedicated to protecting the ecosystem, but let's make them biotech. let's make them giant, imposing trees that reach up into the sky, with root networks that span the whole planet. then, rather than the colony being colonialist because it straight up doesnt know indigenous people exist (because they're secret computer people), we can make a much more interesting conflict by having the colonists be ignorant (and, as the game progresses, willingly ignorant) of the gardeners' sentience. have the raids start after the colony fells one of the trees (killing a Gardener) to make room for their own expansion, maybe really lean into the nasty parts of the colonial metaphor by having the Gardener's wood be the construction material of the new wing of the colony.

then Lum arrives as part of an intentional colonization project from the Earth we fled, assumes military command as in the current story, and immediately ramps up existing exploitation and destructive enviromental practices. his administration deliberately suppresses information of the Gardeners' sentience and spreads propaganda about them being 'monster trees'. have Lum clearly backed by Earthbound corporate interests, seeing the colony as an excercise in extracting value and using fascist dictatorship (usurping elections and the council with a permanent state of emergency and martial law) as a tool to maximize that value.

instead of defeating Lum at the ballot box, you can remove him in a coup. you can keep the getting-the-councilors-on-side minigame, you can even make it a bloodless coup if you don't want to put revolutionary violence in the game (but considering how much other violence there is in there, including terrorism, genocide, and murder, seems like a strange omission tbqh). and dont make him your fucking tiktoker put the guy in Jail. hes killed people sol.

have Sym still have his humanboo interests but also hint at an internal power struggle within the Gardeners, make it clear that there is a real and thriving culture among these indigenous gigantic environmentally networked tree-ecosystem-people, make his motivations for seeking peace more multifaceted.

then make the peaceful resolution to the whole colonialism issue to integrate the settlers into Gardener society rather than the weird siloed reservation thing going on in the base game. the head of the settlement or an ambassador (probably Dys) gets to go to the big fancy Gardener meetings where they decide things, the settlement gets permission from the Gardeners to farm and expand sustainably and is integrated into the ecosystem rather than neatly separated from it. the excolonists stop being colonists and become citizens of the planet.

as for the capitalism stuff, you can just drop that from marz' character, honestly. or if you want to make it make more sense without having to get into What Capitalism Is (which i think would be outside the mission statement of these proposals), make her thing wanting opulence and excess (it already kind of us, the game just keeps saying 'Capitalism'), have her excited when Lum starts giving people the opportunity to have that, then have her moment of excitement turn sour when she looks into Earth history and realizes how destructive this kind of extraction is in the long term.

and the eugenics--i think the simplest case here while still keeping all the cool genetic mutant character tics is just to make the genetic mutations a random glitch in an artificial womb system the refugees were using to have kids in space. this lets you keep the weird and wacky stuff going on with tangent and dys without raising questions like 'hey isnt this society insanely fucking dystopian'.

that's my in-a-nutshell rewrite of the game. obvsies an actual rewrite would need to change some more in-depth things, but i think off the top of my head these are the changes to the narrative that would make the heavyhanded attempts at political commentary work for me (that said, you could also go the opposite route, stop trying to draw parallels to colonialism and fascism and keep all the weird shit as is. but i think that's less interesting and more like stuff that already exists)