#people are wary of the technology that destroyed their home a century ago

[bloomingbluebell]

hi im ranting (positively! this game kills me but in a good way) about breath of the wild again

i know it's controversial but i love the way the story of the game is told. because you start the game in the middle, perhaps near the end, of the story. the game is entirely through link's perspective and he wakes up knowing and remembering nothing. in turn, the player starts off knowing nothing. the past is revealed as the story goes along, and the player learns about the past and about the land as link does. there are little tidbits about hyrule and about the calamity scattered across the land. an old woman in hateno village tells you of an age of desolation that she grew up in. the travellers you see on the road are younger people because they're described by older characters as more bold, whereas the older characters grew up being told to never leave the village, it's too dangerous outside (compare this even to tears of the kingdom, where travellers are more common because the land has been safer. even older characters have left their home to travel elsewhere (not including the lurelin villagers)). battlefields are still strewn with old rusty weapons and deactivated guardians that no one but monsters will go near. myths and legends about the princess and hero have been passed down, to the point where their legitmacy is questioned and everyone has a different opinion on them.

it's environmental storytelling. it's things like seeing drawings and a bow in zelda's study and seeing a child reading a storybook with a hero that wears a blue tunic similar to link's. it's the stories that the villagers share about old myths that turn out to be true. it's the ruins scattered across the land, long since overtaken by monster camps but still unmistakably being houses that people once lived in. it's the utter lack of civilization anywhere remotely near the castle and the feeling of dread in the ruins of the town that surrounds it. it's a kingdom entrenched in its past, with no ability to move away from it until the calamity is finally defeated.

[impassive-aggressive]

it is still ZOIDS HEADCANON TIME

PART 2 because i’m ridiculous

I'm operating on the assumption that by the time humans colonized Zi they'd spread out pretty well across the rest of the galaxy and p...ossibly made contact with extraterrestrials, mainly because I like to imagine there's intelligent life out there somewhere.  (Intelligent life hat does not look Exactly Like Humans with extra bits stuck on.)

When the Human Federation or w/e discovered Zi and decided it would be feasible to colonize it, there were a lot of engineers/science-y types who really wanted to tinker with robot animals that ended up volunteering and being chosen for the initial expedition, along with various other types you'd want along to build a civilization on a distant planet.  The mechanical organisms were initially dubbed Zi-oids, which over time became corrupted into the simpler name Zoids.  After being tamed, they proved useful as pack animals, modes of transport, farm hands and companions.  Contact with organoids started off pretty hostile but became more relaxed as time went on, per the other post. Eventually, the colonists developed quite advanced (though still very small) Zoids with respectable combat capabilities, designed primarily to protect them from attack by wild Zoids.

At this point only a small portion of the Western Continent had been settled, and while the rest of it still needed to be explored some of the settlers were eager to see what the planet's other continents were like; exploration of these was hindered by savage magnetic storms that made aerial or ocean travel a potentially deadly prospect.  These people observed how organoids could seemingly defy the laws of physics by converting themselves into a pure energy state to teleport from place to place, etc. and started thinking "what if we did that, BUT WITH HUGE TRANSPORT ZOIDS" and began experimenting with smooshing together Organoid Physics-Defying Bullshit with what bits of Spacefaring Technology they'd managed to salvage from the ships that had brought them to Zi.  The result was something that was eventually known as the Zoidcore Overload System, and while it was being tested one day, something went horrifyingly wrong and - to all outside observers, of which there were admittedly very few - the entire settlement vanished without a trace.

IN REALITY it had been transported back in time thousands upon thousands of years, which is blatant Time Travel Bullshit but o well.  (Also Legacy gave us canon time fuckery so god dammit, I'm gonna use it.)  The colonists were disoriented, frightened and cut off from any further contact with their homeworld, but since the entire settlement with all of its farms, greenhouses and other resources had been displaced together, nobody was quite as badly off as they could have been.  Shaken but determined, most of the colony pulled themselves together to push onward with their lives.

Some of the colonists were pretty mad about being temporally displaced and wanted someone to fix it, which of course was impossible, but they attempted to use force to make it happen and got booted out of the colony for being asshats.  Taking their Zoids, organoids and whatever supplies they could carry with them, they wandered off and eventually started another settlement elsewhere.  Both settlements continued developing Zoids, albeit now with more of an eye toward combat practicality now that they knew they had enemies out there.  

As this went on, organoids started evolving too - originally small, drab creatures who oversaw whole swarms of wild Zoids as their charges, their species eventually started selecting for individuals who bonded with the human settlers and their Zoids; these specimens grew larger, displayed higher intelligence due to the mental bond they shared with other sapients, and thrived in comparison to their wilder counterparts. They also led less stressful lives as they tended to a single, relatively sedate Zoid rather than having to protect and heal numerous creatures that were constantly being preyed upon by each other.  (They also happened to evolve in a variety of bright colors, due to their human companions’ natural preference for such things.)  Eventually, wild organoids were all but extinct on Zi.

Before too long the colonists discovered the thing they wound up calling Zoid Eve and built the city of Eveopolis around it.  As their population grew and prospered, they made great technological advances and started improving themselves using computerized implants that allowed them to bond more closely with their Zoids, utilize remote "drone" units, and grant some of them seemingly supernatural powers.  They ceased to think of themselves as humans any longer and began calling themselves Zoidians.

Then everyone started fighting over Zoid Eve, the Death Saurer happened, the Zoidian race was decimated after thousands of years of prosperity, and the last handful of survivors went into stasis.

MEANWHILE, ON EARTH

The governments of the world are wary of Zi.  Something bad happened there; they’ve never gotten to the bottom of what caused that first colony to disappear decades ago.  It also seemed to have undergone intense environmental changes - huge swathes of the planet’s western continent are barren desert. It’s basically everyone’s last choice of planet to try and settle.

The fifth son of a royal family has become deeply dissatisfied with his station in life.  Young and ambitious, he’s hungry enough for power that his elders can see he poses a problem, and devise a means of getting rid of him: they charge him with taking a group of imperial citizens to Zi to establish a branch of the royal family there.  The prince knows what they’re trying to do but can’t reasonably defy the order, so he goes.

Thus, Zi is claimed (reluctantly) for the Guylos Empire.

The settlers find the planet tolerable, if not exactly welcoming.  They’re hardy folk from having survived on an increasingly inhospitable Earth, and are willing to work hard to make this new world their home.  They have great success adapting the planet’s native life forms to their uses, and soon have a stable, vibrant civilization living and working alongside Zoids.  Their emperor, too, is pleased with the success of this venture; it wasn’t the kingdom he’d dreamed of, but it is his, and his people are prospering under his rule.

The settlers are curious, of course, about the remnants of a past civilization that they eventually find - ruined structures here and there, the ossified remains of what are definitely Zoids but quite unlike either the wild specimens or anything human engineers have yet come up with.  But much of their lives are taken up by simply living; they focus on the present in order to build themselves a stable future, and have no time to dwell on what happened in the past.  

Within a handful of generations, some of the Guylos citizens grow restless and crave freedom from their Imperial masters.  They break off and form the Helic Republic.  The Empire does not suffer this gladly, and war breaks out, raging for several years before an uneasy truce is reached to allow the battered forces of both sides to recover.

The arms race triggered by the outbreak of war drives both the Empire and the Republic to excavate countless ruins of the civilization that called themselves Zoidians.  They make amazing discoveries - advanced technology whose workings they can barely comprehend; Zoids of incredible complexity, though their operating systems and user interfaces render them all but unusable to humans; and capsules.  Rows and rows of capsules, in some places - always a large one accompanied by a much smaller one.  Very few of the small capsules prove useful - the rooms in which they are found are often partially destroyed, the capsules breached by falling debris or the ravages of time - but the larger ones often bear fruit in the form of small, startlingly intelligent Zoids with incredible abilities.

By incorporating elements of ancient Zoidian technology into their designs, the humans of Zi quickly develop more effective weapons - more efficient ways of killing each other.  By the time the truce is reached, Zi’s inhabitants are bone-weary of conflict, many living in worse conditions than their ancestors of centuries past.  While several large cities remain standing - most notably the capitals of the Republic and Empire - most of Zi’s inhabitants are reduced to small settlements, relying on subsistence farming or trade to support themselves, and constantly under threat of attack by bandits or other troublemakers.  It’s a difficult life, but the Zians determinedly struggle on.  Giving up is not in their nature.

THEN CC/GF HAPPENS

Afterward, a small handful of people (mostly military) are aware of the existence of Ancient Zoidians, Organoids and Zoid Eve.  The Death Saurer and Death Stinger are eventually relegated to "wew lad good thing we weren't around for that shit"-style legend.  Helic and Guylos remain on mostly good terms in the ensuing decades, both bonded and scared shitless by the whole Death Zoid mess.  People start using Zoids in happy pretendy funtime battles, and the world at large is a pretty swell place to live.

And then the Backdraft starts digging up Ultimate X Zoids and some other fuckfaces stick Ancient Zoidian AIs into Raynoses that end up being sold to the general public.

Something something Gilvader.

[solarflaresrp]

Another day, another update! Today we're revealing the Political Climate of Sol. As always if you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out to us either on our blog or through our Discord server. <3

The politics of Sol are strained at best and on the brink of war at the worst. No one settlement or person seems to hold the same views on what to do about the reality of Sol and all its settlements. Because of this, tensions are quick to flare to life between people and linger in each settlement as a whole.

In recent decades, Mars has begun to push the boundaries of its power of influence, especially over Terrans, and has become more aggressive with the United Stations. Luna, in reaction to this, has become distrustful of Mars, almost positive they have an agenda the rest of Sol will be quite unhappy with.

Most recently though, the other settlements have begun to suspect the United Stations is covering up what really happened to the Poseidon station ten years ago. With the appearance of the Black Vein disease not long after the station was lost, Luna and Mars are both becoming more demanding of the United Stations to release their full report.

The United Stations in retaliation has choked off most of Mars and Luna’s access to their autonomous settlements on Europa and Enceladus which has only increased the Exoles’ desire for independence.

Dynamics:

Earth

Luna — Due to the proximity of these two settlements and that Luna’s beginnings started from Terran governments, these two interact with one another the most of all the settlements. Lunites often take trips down to the more well off city-states to allow their bodies to acclimate to natural levels of gravity. If Terrans are able to make it off Earth, they often go to Luna first as it’s the cheapest transport and most accessible. The natural resources on Earth not totally destroyed or ruined by climate change are sent to Luna first before the rest of the settlements.

Mars — Terrans aren’t as stupid as the rest of Sol likes to believe them as, and they are well aware of how Mars is taking advantage of their desperation for a better life off planet. While there are hundreds if not thousands of Terrans who sign up for the Martian military every year, there are large groups who constantly warn Martians that the fate of their planet will only end in misery, much like Earth. Of course, Martians brush off these warnings as nothing more than old wive’s tales.

United Stations — Unfortunately, for many Stationers they will never be able to step foot on Earth due to the generations upon generations spent in artificial gravity. Some Stationers have a negative view of both Terrans and Martians who have the luxury of growing up planetside and therefore have more opportunities across Sol, but most are content with their lives and barely give Earth any thought.

Europa and Enceladus — Due to the distance between Earth and these settlements, they don’t have many interactions with one another. The wealthy Terrans who are stubborn and remain on Earth out of spite (in most cases) do venture to these settlements to marvel at the technological advancements that made them both possible, but outside tourism, they leave each other to their own devices.

Luna

Mars — Ever since their beginnings, Luna and Mars’ relationship has been strained at best and near all out war at the worst. Lunites often look down upon Martian’s elitist attitudes and Martians tend to look down upon Lunites for, well, just about everything. Recently, their relationship has become even more strained as Luna has noticed Mars’ push for more influence and power within Sol.

United Stations — As the main supplier of Androids and Synthetics, Luna has close trade agreements with the United Stations so they may supply lightrunners for the Synth circuits and also androids for the more wealthy families who require some assistance around their home. Outside the trade agreement, things were once rather neutral between the settlements, however, recently with the United Stations’ dodginess around the loss of the Poseidon, Luna is becoming wary and mistrustful of them.

Europa and Enceladus — Luna still holds control over the Europa colony, though it is more of a hands off approach to governing them. They have sent supplies to Europa for nearly a hundred years but as the colony has become more self-sufficient things have become strained as Europans have begun to demand independence. In regards to Enceladus, the relationship is strained there as Mars is the one who established and controls that particular colony and restricts Luna’s access to it most of the time.

Mars

United Stations — Recently, Mars’ relationship with the United Stations has grown more tense and strained than their relationship with Luna. They haven’t forgotten that the United Stations largely gained its independence by giving faulty flight paths through the asteroid belt that resulted in the loss of hundreds of Martians. And with the United Stations' secrecy around the loss of the Poseidon, they’re chomping at the bits to finally get justice for those who’ve lost their lives at the hands of Stationers.

Europa and Enceladus — Mars still holds control over the Enceladus colony, established in retaliation for Luna’s Europa colony. However, in the past decade, their control over Enceladus has slipped thanks to the United Stations stonewalling their access through the asteroid belt which has resulted in Enceladans to become bolder in their demands for independence. They have nothing to do with Europa, and have no plans to in the near future.

The United Stations

Europa and Enceladus — They are perhaps these colonies biggest ally in gaining their independence from Luna and Mars, especially since the United Stations managed to gain their independence centuries ago when they were in a similar situation. Under the table, they are supplying the colonies with everything they need to break free from Luna and Mars’ influences and power.

Europa

Enceladus — As they are the closest colonies to each other, Europa and Enceladus have a close relationship, despite their founding settlement’s distaste of each other. Europa was the first to begin to desire independence and as a result Enceladus followed closely behind. They came to the agreement that working together and working with the United Stations was their best bet to actually become independent and regularly trade strategies between one another.

Political Alignments

Federalist

Those who align with this political viewpoint think the best thing for Sol is to unite together under a single Federation. This would allow for resources to be shared more easily between settlements and allow the ability to move between settlements more accessible and easier. This remains a wildly unpopular alignment, as most across Sol are wary of centralized governments and control and that the good intentions of the Federation could be easily exploited by corrupt politicians. Even Terrans, who would probably benefit most from a Federation, are largely against this.

Seperatist

The most popular political viewpoint are those who believe each settlement should remain completely separate and independent of each other. They believe that a federation would lead to abuse of power and that the less wealthy settlements would suffer even more at the hands of Mars and Luna in particular. Terrans are more than content to be left out of the complicated and often strained dynamics that take place between the other settlements, and while many would benefit from shared resources, they’ve been left behind for centuries now and they’re content to remain that way.

Neutral

Perhaps the second most common viewpoint are those who are neutral. They see the benefits of remaining separate but also the benefits of unifying together under a federation. So they refuse to take a firm stance on one or the other and are content to see how things play out as their lives won’t change much either way.

Undecided

There are many reasons one would be undecided, perhaps they used to be firmly federalist or separtist but their world view has dramatically shifted because of a major life event and now they’re confused and lost. Some just are waiting to see how the winds shift towards one political alignment before fully committing to one or the other. Whatever the reason is, they often are on the receiving end of rants about why one view is better than the other.

[badsithnocookie]

Unification (2/?)

They were late to the party, of course - between Iokath's own defences and a few Imperials who had slipped behind enemy lines, the main event was in full swing by the time Eirn and Theron arrived. It was to their advantage, though - they caught the rear of an Imperial assault on the main Republic outpost, sandwiching them between a handful of mildly surprised troopers who seemed more concerned to see Eirn and Theron than relieved - and all the more so that they weren't with the Imperials.

'You must be- Lord Illte,' their commander managed - an alien, a Twi'lek man who glanced uncertainly between Eirn and Theron, as though he was trying to decide which one of them he distrusted more. 'Commander Malcom said to expect you.'

He left the but we didn't believe him part unsaid - that, and the and we still think you're here to stab us in the back. Eirn let them stay unsaid, though; they were insults, yes, but not ones worth jeopardising the mission over.

'That's me,' she just replied - acutely aware of her accent, in a room full of pubs, never mind her species. 'Where can I best assist?'

A very Jedi turn of phrase, and Eirn hated it even as she said it - not because she didn't want to assist, but because of the judgements that even now she passed on herself for phrasing it quite like that. Even as a Sith, Eirn wasn't certain how much difference she would make - there were plenty of Jedi backing up the Republic lines, and every single one of them shot her the same wary, judgemental look that spoke more of a barely restrained desire to gut her than any inclination towards cooperation. They had orders, though - and unlike Sith, seemed inclined to actually listen to them, even as Eirn had no desire to push her luck.

There was one weapon she could wield that none of these Jedi could, though - the fact that she was Sith, a role that she slipped into far too easily to be of comfort, first confusing and then terrifying the Imperials unlucky enough to get in her way, and sending them packing with what she just hoped wouldn't be a desire to come back with stronger Sith of their own. This was not the first time in her life that Eirn had found herself fighting Imperials, though- it was the first time, she found herself reflecting, later, that she'd fought the Empire.

I guess this makes you a for-real traitor, Illte. There's no coming back from this.

Not that this thought sat particularly well; if anything, it lodged in her throat, tasting of something acrid when she tried to swallow it and forcing a grimace that made her glad for the way her helmet kept her expression to herself.

-

Wars were never won in a day, though - not without unleashing the kind of atrocities that Eirn had come here to at least attempt preventing, and even those that were had effects that lingered for centuries after. It didn't feel like quite a century before the Imperial lines broke and the enemy - the Empire - folded, chased back to its boltholes here - but it was almost that, and she wasn't sorry when the Republic push was finally satisfied.

(Was certain, at that, that the Imperial push never would have been; satisfied, that is, not without Malcom's head on a pike and Acina's fingers on Iokath's control panels. One more reason among thousands that she tried to tell herself that she'd made the right decision, nagging as her what-if ever was)

Eirn had mostly been attempting to avoid learning anything about Iokath during their previous visit, and mostly attempted to follow suit on her unwilling and involuntary return. It would seem, though, that she was being disappointed - and by the very same people whose inability to go five minutes without shooting at each other were the reason she was there at all.

Iokath was home to many technological marvels - ones that Acina, Eirn couldn't not bitterly reflect, would likely have coveted even were she not the self-appointed Empress of all Sith. There was one purpose to Iokath's existence, and one alone: war, and the eternal waging thereof. It made her think of her once-home, in all the worst possible ways; the realisations that had settled on her that it was all the Empire cared for - not for the Sith, in any senses of that word, not for those who'd died a thousand years ago or even those who, like her, were dragged unwillingly into its angry maw - but war, grim and bloody, death fuelling death, consuming the galaxy world by world until there was nothing left but ash. Vitiate's own selfish ambitions hadn't even needed to factor into it; war created power, created the demand for power, scared the population into compliance and the Sith into battle. And she- for all she might have privately protested, she was not any better herself; her hands were just as bloody, her pile of corpses just as high. She'd drawn strength from the wars she had been forced to wage, from the throats she'd claimed she'd had to cut, but-

(you could have left, she'd reflected, in Odessen's air, like Anya did)

-she was no less guilty than any other Sith.

'Lord Illte. I have to ask.' When Malcom looked at her during the debrief it was with the practised diplomatic calm of an enemy general come to parley with a volatile foe, and Eirn couldn't help but simultaneously admire and resent him for it. 'Not that I'm ungrateful, but why the Republic? Why now?'

Inside her armoured gloves, Eirn struggled not to clench her fists, not least because of the threat that such an action would be read as. Malcom, for his part, was simply studying her - not visibly armoured, more fool him, but very definitely armed and Eirn knew better than to think that every Republic soldier in this place wouldn't have gladly cut her down if she so much as breathed in a way he found a threat.

'I know the Empress,' Eirn replied, after a long moment. 'I know what she's like. Not just as a Sith, but as a person.'

How do you walk away from such power, Wrath?

'Given the sort of power this place can unleash,' she added, 'She'd burn the whole galaxy. I have no intention of letting that happen.'

Malcom, though, was not sated by this in the slightest - if anything, he was put more on his guard, though he seemed to have his aura and expression both well controlled. Then again, Eirn reflected, this probably wasn't the first time he'd had to have a chat with a Force-sensitive he might have disagreed with - never mind a Sith.

'And you? Do you intend to take this- superweapon?' he replied - testing her limits, testing her further, and for a moment, Eirn wondered just what Republic Intelligence had told the man about her.

'No,' Eirn replied, incredibly flatly. She was the loudest voice on the Alliance's council pushing for the dismantling of Zakuul's so-called Eternal fleet, to Lana's constant frustration - and Zakuul's continued resistance. Senya wanted it repurposed for peacekeeping, and had talked enough Jedi around to the idea that decommissioning it altogether was out of the question, for now. It was a noble enough cause, but Eirn had seen her own Empire's idea of peacekeeping and wasn't sure she trusted anyone with power once wielded by Vitiate, of all people.

'I don't intend to let the Republic take it,' she added - abruptly, and entirely undiplomatically, but that was Lana's fault for making her out to be the one who gave out orders. 'Or,' she continued, 'To take it for myself. The only way this ends is with that thing destroyed, along with anything else here with that kind of power.'

Malcom did not believe her, of course, but- in his place, Eirn had to wonder, would she? A once-enemy, once the handmaiden of a creature who had devoured whole worlds, claiming now to care even just the smallest amount about- if not galactic peace, then at the very least, a lack of planetary obliteration?

'That won't be easy,' he replied, though - skipping over his faith in her statements entirely, and getting right to the part where he didn't have to admit disagreeing with her stated goals. 'We're talking about something that's lasted for millennia.'

To that, though, Eirn just smiled. 'I am Sith,' she replied - a reminder of what she was that made the atmosphere in the room twinge, even if most present had the professionalism to keep it out of their expressions. 'We are not known for giving up because something is not easy.'

Which, as usual, was precisely the issue.

-

The Republic base camp apparently had enough of a routine that it could settle into, despite its recent establishment - proof, Eirn supposed, that even outside of the Alliance, Republic troops were far more disciplined than Malavai had ever given them credit for. Iokath was artificial enough a place that there was no day or night - just a constant daylight, like being in a space station large enough to have its own atmosphere. (It was, or something close to it; the technical details went far enough over Eirn's head to be considered in orbits of their own, but that seemed to be the general gist)

The upshot, though, was that evening was as much a fiction here as it was aboard a starship, despite the open sky, and a part of Eirn kept protesting that calling the meal they ate (a Republic-standard-issue-meal-substitute that Eirn half recognised from the fare of Alliance troops - pasta with a meat-and-vegetable sauce) an evening one was an unhelpful lie. It didn't help that, other than Theron and a table full of awkward silence, she ate alone - avoiding equally awkward silence from Republic personnel and, once she could flee to a relatively quiet corner of the base, contact Lana in relative privacy. Not total; Eirn assumed she was being watched, and not simply by the Republic, but she saw no reason to make things easier for her watchers than she absolutely had to.

'Lord Illte.' Lana was as professional as ever, though Eirn could tell snide professionalism when she heard it. Presumably she was still sore about the earlier warning - or having been forced to work with Pubs, or both. For one of the Alliance's founding architects, Lana had never warmed much to the idea of Jedi in its ranks who did not convert, or Pubs who talked with their own accent and wrote with their own script.

'Lord Beniko,' Eirn replied - she could play that game, too, and was petty enough that she would. 'What's your status?'

Lana's supposed humility had never done much to convince Eirn that it was anything else but another kind of vanity - another kind of mask, this one constructed of the faces of the crowd, instead of porcelain and bloody paint. She pretended that she was nobody important, and instead propped up others to be her public face, and others still to be her weapons. Eirn had no desire to be either - if only because she so despised being used.

'The Alliance base is secure, and we've got our own troops on the ground. Captain Dorne and her people are headed your way. No casualties.' She paused, and then, 'How are things on your end?'

'Quiet,' Eirn admitted; the Empire was licking its wounds, and the Republic was bracing itself for the next round. 'The Empire haven't been giving you trouble?'

'Nothing we can't handle. And I'm sure that Commander Malcom would prefer his people under his command.' Lana was trying to foist something off on- someone else, here, and Eirn couldn't quite tell what it was. Perhaps it was a simple mistrust of Dorne; or perhaps, at that, this was simple baseless paranoia.

'Alright. Keep in touch,' Eirn sighed, though - adding, 'Let me know if anything changes.'

'May the Force serve us well.' Lana cut the call, at that - her usual farewell, a wordy well-wish that Eirn hated in every language but her own.

Qyâsik ben'yak grot.

(She checked her comm for missed calls, and found nothing; kept checking it, and kept finding only the kind of judgemental silence that made her feel like a fool for even thinking to take a look)

[winterscribe]

OC Centric VHD Project

I was considering my project last night and how i want to format it. Also this was supposed to be me musing about D’s part of the project, but Avaleara butted in so he’s two paragraphs down.

Read More Cuz I’m incapable of not rambling.

Like I know there is a novella length (at least) story that is Avaleara pre-torture. I don’t know how structured its gonna be because a lot of it is about establishing the world she lives in, who she was, and her family, which means there isn’t a real linear plot. But I might be able to give it a decent plot if I sit down and try. This part of the project is what I’m working on the most right now since the worldbuilding is needed for all the rest of this massive beast.

After that there is a sort of snippit story about her torture and recovery. Possibly including The Incident, but that might be a seperate short story.

 The incident right now is Avaleara becomes friends with Loki, so close he names her godmother of his children Nari and Vali. Until Odin turns them into wolves and has them kill each other, driving Loki mad and causing him to lash out at Avaleara since he can’t lash out at Odin without risking his surviving children. This was back when I was a huge Loki stan years ago and was inspired by the myths. I’d like to figure out how to rework it, but something like this would be unheard of in the Revant system. I’d cut it out entirely but its kind of central to why Avaleara is so messed up when she meets D. Yeah she has PTSD from the torture but that just gave her a drive to survive, out of spite if nothing else. She eventually reached an almost healthy place, until this incident, which left her crippled with guilt and self loathing. How could she be alive if those sweet boys weren’t? What good was all her training if she couldn’t save them? Any progress she made was destroyed.

After that series of short stories, or however I format them, D finally makes an appearance. It should be a novel length project to take Avaleara and D from (very) wary strangers to a solid, healthy (for them) marriage. I mean I’ve got to deal with both character’s PTSD, which is going to be really difficult with D because I doubt he would even acknowledge or want to work on his. A lot of his symptoms are what keep him alive on his hell world and he needs to go back. Honestly he really doesn’t have the Post part of the PTSD, not until after Drac is dead and that isn’t in this novel. 

I also struggle with characterizing D. I read the books out of order as I got my hands on em, so I’m a little mixed up. Plus I spend so much time thinking about him after he’s had thousands of years of peace to heal, and he’s... not exactly a different person but almost. And then there is all the crack scenarios I come up with for fun muddying the waters even more. I definitely need to reread the books and take careful notes so that I know what is canon. Mostly cuz breaking the rules is better when you know what they are. I know there are some things I’m gonna throw out, or warp. I just need to get a solid feel for the character before I do. And I need to figure out a decent backstory for him. I used to have one years ago but its been so long I forgot the details and never wrote it down. At this point what I remember would significantly change future parts of the story and I don’t think I want it to, so it needs scrapped.

Mostly I think the romance novel part of this is mostly going to focus on Avaleara’s issues, mostly because she’s falling apart not so slowly. But it will definitely plant the seeds for dealing with D’s issues. Also some of his are obviously gonna need worked on before he would even do the whole relationship thing. The one thing they both got going for them is they are both really good with blunt honesty. If you actually get them to fucking talk they aren’t gonna lie about shit and demur. Also one will not hesitate to call the other out on bullshit. 

At one point Avaleara strait up tells D she won’t train him anymore unless he stops viewing his death as an acceptable outcome as long as Dracula dies. She’s teaching him to live, not die. It works because she’s been on the receiving end of that ultimatum. Alternatively D calls her out for pushing away her family. While there are real reasons she pushes them away (mental illness related ones) it doesn't mean she shouldn’t try to accept the help and support they desperately want to give her. It’s nothing she hasn’t heard before, but coming from a man who is the way he is because he’s had no one it packs a much more significant punch.

Eventually they fall in love and have kids. Avaleara’s pregnancy makes D terrified because if Dracula found out there is no doubt he’d do something to the kids. Either view them as a failure (most likely) and kill them, or view them as a success and make their lives a living hell. Neither of which is an option.

Here's the thing about Revant pregnancies- because magic is such an extreme force its highly advised not to use it while pregnant because it can affect development. That’s not a problem for the average person because most aren’t that powerful. 12 months (or thereabout haven't’ set it in stone) isn’t that long to go without, even though it builds up. Its actually really beneficial, because then you use that buildup to heal your body and give yourself the energy to manage newborns. (Also might figure out some sort of transfer ritual but that is still brainstormy) The more powerful the person the more powerful the buildup.So Someone who has spent their life training and increasing their power out of a sense of paranoia is going to have a lot of buildup. Someone like… Avaleara. By the end of her pregnancy she has the buildup to go off like fucking nuke. And Does. On Dracula.

The plan was she’d take out any of Drac’s forces while D dealt with Dracula as was his right, but they got there and Avaleara realized his regenerative powers made him a lot like dealing with [Placeholder], a species renowned for regeneration and only killable through a psychic attack that traced every single cell in every location no matter where in the universe, completely destroying them on a subatomic level. Leave even one cell alive and they’ll come back from it. I haven’t exactly worked out why this psychological attack is different from the ones D can do. Like I have an idea I don’t know how to express it- Something along the lines of one is an illusion that can kill, the other is more like physically reaching into someone's mind and tearing out everything they are piece by piece and destroying them atom by atom, a simultaneous physical and psychological attack. One D can do. The other… he might be able to learn but hadn’t so Avaleara had to do it. She still feels… not guilty but not happy, that she robbed D of the chance to kill his greatest enemy, but at that point D wasn’t willing to let Dracula kill any more of his children so he didn’t care how he died just that he did.

I headcanon that D was forced to reproduce. (not sure if rape or just genetic material) All three children were failures and dracula killed them. D… doesn’t think about them for a looong time until after he has kids with Avaleara. He names them Mirana-Peace, Sorin- Sun, and Anca- grace and tattoos their names on his back with his living children. (For maximum pain those are just the ones that were born and/or lived a few years, but Dracula never revealed the ones that didn’t make it to term. that was one “mercy” he granted his son. D assumes they existed but has no idea how many were terminated)

I’m not sure whether Dracula’s death is going to be the end of the romance novel, a separate short story, or the beginning of the story dealing with the frontier. I’m also not sure how long I want that story to be. It has the potential to be a novel, since I’m talking dismantle the last vestiges of vampire rule and usher humanity into a golden age kinda thing. 

But D and Avaleara’s role in that is rather small. They track down and kill or relocate the last vampires, use data from Drac’s computers to locate shit Humans couldn’t/shouldn’t deal with and destroy it, and that’s pretty much it. Mostly its’ a few particular humans expanding on existing movements now that barriers have been removed. There are a handful that work with D to understand vampiric technology (the weather controllers and transportation in particular) and save it until people are willing to use it. Maybe find away to reverse the genetic fear of vampires. But it is a largely human effort to build a human society worth living in. The handful of decent vampires agree to relocate to the stars knowing that the stigma will never allow them to live peaceful live. Most plan to try to return in a few centuries/millennia if the stigma dies down and they can do so peacefully. (I haven’t decided what to do about dhampirs and mutants. I suppose some will stay and try and carve out a life while others will take the offer to relocate.)

The main reason I want to bother with writing that story instead of just saying that it happened, is I want to explore D’s reason for leaving Earth behind permanently. I mean part of it is definitely that he has a family on Le Shevare, but its still a hell of a decision to leave behind your home planet. I want to explore him realizing there really is nothing for him here, no reason to stay, no memories that aren’t painful. He could choose to stay and rebuild, split his time between worlds, show his children their heritage, and maybe having a dhampir be a significant part of the reconstruction would help end millennia of distrust. But he ultimately decides he’s done. He’s given Earth enough. He won’t live through more distrust and hatred, evil glares and death threats. He’s going home. His greatest enemy is dead and for once in his life he has a future. Vampire Hunter D is retiring to enjoy it.

[learningrendezvous]

Oceans and Coasts

LOBSTER WAR: THE FIGHT OVER THE WORLD'S RICHEST FISHING GROUNDS

Directed by David Abel

Climate-changed ocean temperatures shift New England's lobster fishery across national boundaries, sparking international tension.

The buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is warming the oceans, and the waters off New England's coast are seeing some of the most dramatic temperature increases on the planet. This is having a major effect on lobster populations and the fishermen who rely on them. The southern New England lobster fishery has collapsed and the catch has moved north into cooler waters.

LOBSTER WAR documents an escalating conflict between the United States and Canada over waters that both countries have claimed since the end of the Revolutionary War.

The disputed 277 square miles of sea known as the Gray Zone--the swath of water surrounding Machias Seal Island at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy--were traditionally fished by US lobstermen. But as the Gulf of Maine has warmed lobsters have migrated north and the Gray Zone's previously modest lobster population has surged. As a result, Canadians have begun to assert their sovereignty in the area, contesting American claims to the bounty and foreshadowing potential conflicts exacerbated by climate change.

DVD / 2019 / (Grades 10-12, Adults, College) / 74 minutes

GLADESMEN: THE LAST OF THE SAWGRASS COWBOYS

Directed by David Abel

In a classic battle of competing interests, gladesmen and their airboats are being banned from Everglades National Park in the world's largest attempt to restore a damaged ecosystem.

Gladesmen: The Last of the Sawgrass Cowboys is an award-winning documentary about the federal government's ban on Florida's iconic airboats in much of the Everglades. The measure is part of the world's largest and most expensive effort to repair a damaged ecosystem, a vast river of sawgrass and cypress swamps that has been ravaged by more than a century of development, pollution, and other environmental degradation. The outcome will determine the future of the region's water supply and its ability to withstand rising sea levels. It may also lead to the demise of the Gladesmen, who for more than a century have hunted alligators and gigged frogs, sought peace on isolated tree islands, and taken refuge from the ever-increasing development that has carved up the Everglades.

DVD / 2018 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 86 minutes

BLUEFIN: THE LAST OF THE GIANTS

Directed by John Hopkins

In North Lake, Canada, the spectacular Atlantic bluefin tuna are so plentiful they eat out of people's hands but scientific evidence shows the species is on the brink of collapse.

BLUEFIN is a tale of epic stakes set in "the tuna capital of the world," North Lake, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The film explores the baffling mystery of why the normally wary bluefin tuna no longer fear humans. Local fishermen swear tuna are so starving and abundant now that they will literally eat out of people's hands like pets. But something is not right. Have these "endangered" tuna stocks suddenly recovered as the fishermen claim? Or are we actually hunting down the last of them--like the buffalo--as scientists claim? One thing is certain: this sudden and incredible abundance of tuna off their shores flies in the face of scientific assessments claiming endangered stocks are down by 90 percent.

With stunning cinematography, director John Hopkins documents this mystery and brings the issues into sharp focus. At the heart of this documentary lies a passionate concern by all about the fate of the giant bluefin tuna. Isn't it time we learned to appreciate the giant, and relentlessly hunted, bluefin as extraordinary "wildlife," in the same way we love whales, dolphins and panda bears?

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 53 minutes

SACRED COD

Directed by Steve Liss, Andy Laub, David Abel

Captures the collapse of the historic cod population in New England, delving into the effects of overfishing, climate change and government policies on fishermen and the fish.

For centuries, cod was like gold, driving men to extremes. Cod were so abundant in the waters off New England that fishermen used to say they could walk across the Atlantic on the backs of them, and generations of men from places like Gloucester and Cape Cod spent their entire lives chasing the coveted fish.

In recent decades, something began to change in the Gulf of Maine. As the region's cod catch plummeted, government surveys of the iconic species reported increasingly dire results. Scientists and environmental activists raised alarms about overfishing and the warming ocean. They urged officials to act.

On Nov. 10, 2014, after years of ignoring warnings, NOAA officials banned virtually all cod fishing throughout the region. Fishermen were infuriated. They challenged the findings and accused the government of trying to destroy their livelihood. Environmental activists feared the government's action had come too late to save the cod.

In 2016, officials estimated there were fewer than 200 cod fishermen left in the fleet, and they're now in the fight of their lives, struggling to hold fast to a tradition that has endured for centuries in New England.

SACRED COD gives us an up close look at the challenges many will have to face in the age of climate change.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 65 minutes

AFTER THE SPILL

Directed by Jon Bowermaster

The oil and gas industry has historically dominated Louisiana politics and is largely responsible for the state's rapidly disappearing coastline.

Ten years ago Hurricane Katrina devastated the coast of Louisiana. Five years later the Deepwater Horizon exploded and spilled more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the worst ecologic disaster in North American history. Amazingly those aren't the worst things facing Louisiana's coastline today. It is that the state is fast disappearing through coastal erosion caused largely by oil and gas industry activity.

A follow-up to our 2010 film SoLa: Louisiana Water Stories, this film introduces us to some of the spill's most aggrieved victims as well as those who are desperately trying to save its coastline. Writer and historian John Barry who launched a suit against 97 oil and gas companies attempting to get them to pay their fair share for reparations caused by their explorations. Consultant and native son James Carville who manages to find some hope in new technologies that may save the coast. And Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, the man who saved New Orleans post-Katrina, whose new passion is for a Green Army he has recruited.

Fishermen, scientists, politicians, environmentalists, and oil-rig workers document how the coast of Louisiana has changed. What really happened to all that oil? What about the dispersant used to push it beneath the surface? How has the spill impacted local economies as well as human health and the health of both marine life and the Gulf itself? How much resilience is left in the people and coastline?

DVD / 2015 / (Grades 7-12, Colleges, Adults) / 62 minutes

DAMNATION

Directed by Ben Knight, Travis Rummel

Explores the sea change in national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the call for dam removal as awareness grows that our own future is bound to the health of our rivers.

This powerful film odyssey across America explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers. Dam removal has moved beyond the fictional Monkey Wrench Gang to go mainstream. Where obsolete dams come down, rivers bound back to life, giving salmon and other wild fish the right of return to primeval spawning grounds, after decades without access. DamNation's majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature.

DamNation opens big, on a birth, with the stirring words of Franklin D. Roosevelt at the dedication of Hoover Dam, and on a death, as the engineer at Elwha Dam powers down the turbine on its last day. DamNation stints neither the history nor the science of dams, and above all conveys experiences known so far to only a few, including the awe of watching a 30-pound salmon hurtling 20 feet into the air in a vain attempt to reach the spawning grounds that lie barricaded upriver. We witness the seismic power of a dam breaking apart and, once the river breaks free, the elation in a watching wild salmon - after a century of denied access - swimming their way home.

DVD / 2014 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 87 minutes

PLASTIC PARADISE: THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH

Directed by Angela Sun

Angela Sun reveals the effects of our rabid plastic consumption as she investigates The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Thousands of miles away from civilization, Midway Atoll is in one of the most remote places on earth. And yet it's become ground zero for The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, syphoning plastics from three distant continents. In this independent documentary film, journalist/filmmaker Angela Sun travels on a personal journey of discovery to uncover this mysterious phenomenon. Along the way she meets scientists, researchers, influencers, and volunteers who shed light on the effects of our rabid plastic consumption and learns the problem is more insidious than we could have ever imagined.

DVD / 2014 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 57 minutes

CHASING WATER

Directed by Pete McBride

Breathtaking photography tells the story of the Colorado River, which flowed to the sea for 6 million years and now dries up 90 miles short of the Sea of Cortez.

After spending a decade working abroad as a photojournalist, Colorado native Pete McBride, decided to focus on something closer to his home and his heart: the Colorado River which cuts through his backyard. Taking nearly three years, McBride followed the river source to sea on a personal journey to see exactly where the river goes and what becomes of the irrigation water that flows across his family's cattle ranch in central Colorado after it returns to the creek.

Recruiting hisfather, John, as his personal pilot McBride chose an aerial vantage to capture a unique and fresh view of the Colorado River Basin. He also partnered with Jon Waterman, an author who stayed stream level to paddle the entire length of the river.

This short film takes the viewer on a 1,500 mile adventure downstream, from mountains and cities and through canyons and across shrinking reservoirs. For 6 million years the Colorado River flowed to the sea. Today it runs dry some 90 miles shy of its historic terminus at the Sea of Cortez.

This visual journey is both revealing and alarming as it highlights the state of the river and the Southwest's drying future.

Featuring the photography of Pete McBride and music by Explosions In The Sky, This Will Destroy You, Jesse Cook, and Ludovico Einaudi.

DVD / 2011 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 18 minutes

LIFE 8: LOOTING THE SEAS

Investigates the looming collapse of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna stocks and the role EU policies have played in the crisis.

With growing global appetite for sushi, bluefin tuna is big business--one fish can sell for up to a hundred thousand dollars. But scientists and environmentalists now argue that Atlantic bluefin-- the kind caught in the Mediterranean--is on the verge of collapse, and that the rules designed to protect them aren't working. At the heart of the dispute over bluefin tuna regulation is the European Union. Its member states include big fishing countries like France, Spain, and Italy. For the EU, the task is to prevent a final, and terminal, collapse of bluefin stocks. Looting the Seas investigates why, and reveals a world where even the experts seem unable to agree how to ensure the sustainability of Atlantic bluefin stocks.

DVD / 2010 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 26 minutes

SOLA: LOUISIANA WATER STORIES

Investigates how the exploitation of Southern Louisiana's abundant natural resources compromised the resiliency of its ecology and culture, multiplying the devastating impact of the BP oil spill and Hurricane Katrina.

Everywhere you look in Southern Louisiana there's water: rivers, bayous, swamps, the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico. And everyone in Cajun Country has a water story, or two or three or more. Its waterways support the biggest economies in Louisiana - a $70 billion a year oil and gas industry, a $2.4 billion a year fishing business, tourism and recreational sports.

They are also home to some insidious polluters: the same oil and gas industry, 200 petrochemical plants along a 100-mile-long stretch of the Mississippi known "Cancer Alley," the world's largest Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico and erosion that is costing the coastline twenty five square miles of wetlands a year. At the same time, SoLa is home to one of America's most vital and unique cultures; if everyone who lives there has a water story they can also most likely play the fiddle, waltz, cook an etoufee and hunt and fish.

DVD / 2010 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 62 minutes

WHALE, THE

Directed by Suzanne Chisholm, Michael Parfit

The story of Luna, a young wild killer whale, who challenged the established order of things when he tried to make friends with people.

One summer in a fjord called Nootka Sound on the remote west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, a young killer whale whom people call Luna gets separated from his pod. Like us humans, orcas are highly social and depend on their families, but Luna finds himself desperately alone. So he tries to make contact with people. He begs for attention at boats and docks. He looks soulfully into your eyes. He wants to have his tongue rubbed. When you whistle at him, he squeaks and whistles back. He follows you around like a puppy.

People fall in love with him -- a cook on an old freighter, a gruff fisheries officer, an elder and a young man from a First Nations band. But the government decides that being friendly with Luna is bad for him, and tries to keep him and people apart.

This effort becomes hilarious and baffling, because Luna refuses to give up his search for a social life. Policemen arrest people for rubbing Luna's nose. Fines are levied. But humans are social, too. When the government tells people they can't even look at Luna, people still go out to meet him, like smugglers carrying friendship through the dark.

But friendship is complicated, even among humans themselves, and does it work between species? People who love Luna don't agree on how to help him. The fisheries officer wants Luna captured and trucked away to try to force him to connect with his family. The young First Nations man thinks that's disrespectful because his band says Luna is the spirit of a chief. The elder believes Luna is supernatural, the sea's source of wisdom and justice. The ship's cook doesn't know what to do except marvel when she looks in his eyes.

Then conflict comes to Nootka Sound. The government builds a huge net. The First Nations' members bring out their canoes. Then, suddenly, as the two sides start to fight over Luna on the wind-swept water, the young whale has all the friends he wants. As the officer tries to lead Luna into the net, the First Nations elder sings and paddles and tries to lead him away, and Luna plays among the boats like a kid out of school. To Luna this must be great, but in this human conflict above him, someone has to win and someone has to lose, and where will his friends be then?

Nothing goes as planned on Nootka Sound. Finally even the filmmakers get swept up in events that catch everyone by surprise and challenge the very nature of that special and mysterious bond we humans call friendship.

In the end, THE WHALE explores one of the greatest of mysteries: Who are these lives who share the planet with us humans, and what are the connections between us that we do not yet know?

DVD / 2010 / (Grades 3-12, College, Adult) / 85 minutes

END OF THE LINE, THE

Directed by Rupert Murray

The first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans. Based on the book by Charles Clover.

THE END OF THE LINE delves beyond the surface of the seas to reveal a troubling truth beneath: an ocean increasingly empty of fish, destroyed by decades of overexploitation.

Exploring the tragic collapse of the cod fishery in Newfoundland in the 1990s, the imminent extinction of the prized bluefin tuna, and the devastation wreaked by illegal catches and surpassed fishing quotas, the film uncovers the dark ecological story behind our love affair with fish as food.

The film argues that unless we demand political action from governments, responsible menu selections from restaurateurs as well as changing our own consumption habits, we could see the end of wild fish by mid-century.

DVD / 2009 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 82 minutes

SEA CHANGE, A: IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT FISH

Ocean acidification threatens over one million species with extinction--and with them, our entire way of life.

A Sea Change documents how the pH balance of the oceans has changed dramatically since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution: a 30% increase in acidification. With near unanimity, scientists now agree that the burning of fossil fuels is fundamentally reshaping ocean chemistry. Experts predict that over the next century, steady increases in carbon dioxide emissions and the continued rise in the acidity of the oceans will cause most of the world's fisheries to experience a total bottom-up collapse--a state that could last for millions of years.

A Sea Change broadens the discussion about the dramatic changes we are seeing in the chemistry of the oceans, and conveys the urgent threat those changes pose to our survival, while surveying the steps we can take to reduce the severity of climate change. The film's protagonist Sven Huseby asks how will he explain to his oldest grandchild, Elias, what is happening to the oceans and their ecosystems.

A Sea Change is both a personal journey and a scientifically rigorous, sometimes humorous, unflinchingly honest look at reality. It offers positive examples of new technologies and effective changes in human behavior that we all must choose before the oceans are lost.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2009 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 83 minutes

BLACK WAVE: THE LEGACY OF THE EXXON VALDEZ

Directed by Robert Cornellier

The story of the Exxon Valdez and the 20-year legal battle to get restitution from ExxonMobil.

In the early hours of March 24th 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil supertanker runs aground in Alaska. It discharges millions of gallons of crude oil. The incident becomes the biggest environmental catastrophe in North American history.

In a flash, dramatic images shoot across the planet. They show thousands of carcasses of seabirds and sea otters covered in oil. A thick black tide rises and covers the beaches of once-pristine Prince William Sound.

For twenty years, Riki Ott and the fishermen of the little town of Cordova, Alaska have waged the longest legal battle in U.S. history against the world's most powerful oil company - ExxonMobil. They tell us all about the environmental, social and economic consequences of the black wave that changed their lives forever.

This is the legacy of the Exxon Valdez.

DVD / 2008 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adults) / 99 minutes

LIFE AMONG WHALES, A

A fascinating exploration into the life and work of whale biologist and activist Roger Payne.

Weaving together natural history and biography, A LIFE AMONG WHALES is a fascinating exploration into the life and work of whale biologist and activist Roger Payne. Payne's electrifying discovery in the early 1970s that whales sing "songs" helped ignite the modern day environmental movement.

A charismatic and passionate individual, Payne's pioneering spirit has consistently advanced the boundaries of science and activism over the last four decades.

A LIFE AMONG WHALES traces Payne's scientific research beginning with his early work in Patagonia, where for two years, he, his wife and four young children lived in tents on a remote bay so that they could have unhindered access for the study of Southern Right Whales.

It explores Payne's tireless and passionate fight to ban whaling -- a ban which today, 20 years after an international moratorium was imposed is threatened -- and follows him to his present day study of ocean pollution and his work with The Ocean Alliance, a non-profit organization and global leader in whale research and conservation which he founded.

With beautiful and haunting images, Payne challenges us to become the greatest generation of all. Saving earth's largest creatures would open the door to humanity's recognition of our true role in the biosphere.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 2005 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 57 minutes

FARMING THE SEAS

The perils and promise of fish farms in a world running out of ocean fish stocks.

Aquaculture was intended to take the pressure off ocean fish stocks and help avert a global food shortage, but many experts now believe that some forms of "fish farming" are actually creating more problems than they're solving¡K and time is running out.

The sequel to EMPTY OCEANS, EMPTY NETS, FARMING THE SEAS explores what's at stake for us all. As the aquaculture industry explodes across the globe, a growing number of communities and fisheries experts are engaged in an intense debate over its environmental, socio-economic, and health and food safety consequences.

Market demand for seafood now far exceeds the ocean's ability to keep pace, and the crisis is deepening. Worldwide, most marine fisheries are either fully exploited or in sharp decline. With stunning visuals and compelling narration, FARMING THE SEAS journeys around the world documenting the most important stories as they unfold. From the indigenous tribes of British Columbia to the large-scale operations of multinational corporations, from Mediterranean fishermen to Thai shrimp farmers, FARMING THE SEAS gathers perspectives from around the globe as it examines the problems and the promises of this emerging industry.

The viability of the global food chain and the sustainability of our oceans' fisheries hang in the balance.

DVD (Color) / 2004 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 55 minutes

NET LOSS: THE STORM OVER SALMON FARMING

Examines the controversy surrounding salmon farms, and the threat they pose to wild salmon.

All over the world, fish are at the heart of people's diet and culture. And in the Pacific Northwest, there is no fish like the legendary salmon. But decades of poor fisheries management and habitat loss have decimated many wild salmon runs. Now there's a new way to produce fish-raising them in giant underwater cages known as "net pens." At first, these pens and the salmon farms that use them seem like a good idea, providing more fish for consumption, while taking the pressure off their wild counterparts. But the farms themselves have become a serious new threat to the survival of wild salmon.

Filmed in Chile, Washington, and British Columbia, NET LOSS assesses the risks and benefits of salmon farming through interviews with government and industry spokesmen, who make the case for salmon farming, and the fishermen, native people, and scientists

DVD (Color) / 2003 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 52 minutes

EMPTY OCEANS, EMPTY NETS

Examines the global marine fisheries crisis and the efforts to implement sustainable fishing practices.

"Many of the new changes that are happening in the oceans are a consequence of activities that people have always been engaged in. It's just a much greater rate and a faster scale. Nobody created these problems deliberately." - Dr. Jane Lubchenco, National Academy of Sciences

"Never before has a wake-up call from nature been so clear, never again will there be better opportunities to protect what remains of the ocean's living wealth." - Dr. Sylvia Earle, former Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Our oceans are not yet empty but the signs are not good. The seas have always been humanity's single largest source of protein, but for the first time in history this critical food supply is at risk in many areas. Despite an ever-intensifying fishing effort, the global catch appears to have reached its limit while the demand for seafood continues to grow.

According to the FAO, 15 of the world's 17 major ocean fisheries are already depleted or over-exploited. These trends are even more troubling when population growth is considered. The world population-now at six billion-will continue to grow by over 60 million people per year, with nearly half this growth in areas within 100 kilometers of a coastline. Over one billion people in Asia already depend on ocean fish for their entire supply of protein, as does 1 out of every 5 Africans. Although North America and Europe rely less on ocean-caught protein, much of the seafood consumed on both continents is imported from developing countries. The entire world shares an interest in restoring and maintaining this critical food supply.

EMPTY OCEANS, EMPTY NETS examines the full extent of the global fisheries crisis and the forces that continue to push many marine fish stocks toward commercial extinction. The program also documents some of the most promising and innovative work being done to restore fisheries and protect essential fish habitat. New market initiatives are examined that give consumers a powerful vote in deciding how our oceans are fished. Commentary is provided by fishermen and by many of the world's most respected marine and fisheries scientists.

DVD (Color) / 2002 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 55 minutes

http://www.learningemall.com/News/Oceans_Coasts_1904.html