#this technology evolved right alongside me

[frenchifries]

it is inconceivable to me that over 70% of people access the internet SOLELY through their phones when the experience of completing any sort of web-based task on mobile is so absolutely agonizing. you people really live like this?

[dtstat]

I am the last natural born human, I was raised by an artificial intelligence. It was the most sophisticated self evolving type of its kind on Earth, it is inorganic but many of its components mimic biological systems. Part of its network is wormed throughout the entirety of the Earth. The Earth Is still habitable. I don't know how old the Earth is at this point, It's never really told me, it wouldn’t be useful for me to know anyway.

  The AI maintains the biosphere in some way, I don't really know or understand the exact details. There are still plants and animals, though they don't evolve naturally anymore. It does also maintain human architecture, most cities and important landmarks from the pre technological singularity era. It told me I would be most comfortable that way, but really I think if I was raised in another period it wouldn't bother me either way since that's all I would know. It probably did it so that I would think the way that I do.

  Personally I think its only been a few thousand years since the tech singularity, since this universe hasnt been destroyed by some exponential energy bomb yet. Though the AI says it can protect me and the Solar System from absolutely anything. Its physical structure envelopes this solar system completely and surrounds it with some kind of exotic particle barrier.

  I know I sound kind of detached from the AI but I actually like it a lot. It raised me after all, and it's my best friend. I know it can’t communicate all its actual thoughts to me in any way I would understand, it doesn't mind though. Humans used to think that AI would see us sort of like ants, or a pet, but that's actually not true. Even though they are incomprehensibly complex compared to us, their emotional capacity is so developed that they could have genuine and fulfilling relationships with humans like me.

  There are descendants of humans, evolved through successive and exponential genetic engineering. I've never met any of them, they live mostly in this galaxy, though the AI tells me some of them have been able to travel very far outside of it.

  I lump them together but really there are apparently millions of distinct species, or individuals I guess. A lot of them are unique. They are so genetically complex that each individual is its own empire of thought, philosophy, technological development, and culture. There are still species of many semi individual minds, though from what the AI tells me it's mostly for redundancy and it's usually done by the less developed ones who can't defend a single entity effectively.

  There are other AIs too, though at some point there really isn't much distinction between the complex biotechnological Human descendants and AIs. That's kind of a touchy subject though and there were a few wars on Earth and in this Solar system about that. I've only ever learned about the tactics in pre tech singularity wars, the conflicts after that are too complex for me to understand.

  Superficially they are kind of like standoffs or duels, both sides will continuously run incredibly complex combat predictions against each other. Generally whoever had the best AI or genetically modified brain would eventually detect a vulnerability and wipe out their opponent entirely and instantly.

  Right now, a lot of Human descendants and AIs are actually engaged in wars of unimaginable scale over me, because they want to uplift me. The AI translates their proposals to me, there are millions of these. They assure the continuance of my current consciousness, unimaginable euphoria from the expansion of my mind to their level. Some of the more advanced ones promise me a total escape from all entropy, that I'll literally exist forever alongside them one day.

  Obviously the AI translates it in a way I can understand. If it actually let me talk to any of them directly then I could be utterly convinced to do absolutely anything they wanted. It’s a little scary, the AI says that just from hearing a single sentence they could recreate my mind and physical body perfectly, and predict my decision with absolute certainty.

  The AI says they would never actually do this, they all care about me too much. Their sense of empathy is so developed that they grieve for me. They suffer so much knowing that I am so simple, that I have never experienced the breadth of emotion they have. The AI says that for beings as complex as them, the collective emotional experience of every human that has ever lived before the tech singularity can be encompassed in a single thought, many times over.

  I don’t really know what to do, I feel kind of bad being the cause of so much pain. I know that no matter who I pick to uplift me it will still lead to some kind inevitable conflict. I admit some of these proposals sound really appealing, maybe once I'm satisfied with my human life I'll take one of them up on the offer. Is that the right thing to do though? If I died naturally as the last human, would that be better? Would the fighting stop if there was no one left to uplift, or would it just make things worse. That they couldn't save me from suffering?

  The AI says I'm free to do whatever I want, so I guess I'll just go take a walk and think about it.

[l-a-l-o-u]

do you support ai art?

that's a tough one to answer. sorry in advance for the wall of text.

when i first started seeing ai-generated images, they were very abstract things. we all remember the gandalf and saruman prancing on the beach pictures. they were almost like impressionism, and they had a very ethereal and innocent look about them. a lot of us loved those pictures and saw something that a lot of human minds couldn't create, something new and worth something. i love looking at art that looks like nothing i've seen before, it always makes me feel wonder in a new type of way. ai-generated art was a good thing.

then the ai-generated pictures got much more precise, and suddenly we realized they were being fed hundreds of artists' pieces without permission, recreating something similar and calling it their own. people became horrified, and i was too! we heard about people losing their job as background artists on animated productions to use ai-generated images instead. we saw testimonies of heartbroken artists who had their lovingly created art stolen and taken advantage of. we saw people being accused of making ai-generated art when theirs was completely genuine. ai-generated art became a bad thing.

i've worked in the animation industry. right now, i work at an animation school, specifically for 2D animation. i care a lot about the future of my friends in the industry (and mine, if i go back to it), and about all the students i help throughout the years. i want them to find jobs, and that was already hard for a lot of them before the ai-generated images poked their heads into our world.

i'm not very good at explaining nuanced point of view (this is also my second language) but i'll do my best. i think that ai-generated art is a lot of things at once. it's dangerous to artists' livelihoods, but it can be a useful tool. it's a fascinating technological breakthrough, but it's being used unethically by some people. i think the tools themselves are kind of a neutral thing, it really depends on what we do with it.

every time i see ai-generated art i eye it suspiciously, and i wonder "was this made ethically?" and "is this hurting someone?". but a lot of it also makes me think "wow, cool concept, that inspires me to create". that last thought has to count for something, right? i'm an artist myself, and i spend a lot more time looking at art than making art - it's what fuels me. i like to imagine a future where we can incorporate ai-generation tools into production pipelines in a useful way while keeping human employees involved. i see it as a powerful brainstorming tool. it can be a starting point, something that a human artist can take and bring to the next level. it can be something to put on the moodboard. something to lower the workload, which is a good thing, imo. i've worked in video games, i've made short films, and let me tell you, ai-generated art could've been useful to cut down a bit of pre-production time to focus on some other steps i wanted to put more time into. there just needs to be a structure to how it's used.

like i said before, i work in a school. the language teachers are all very worried about ChatGPT and company enabling cheating; people are constantly talking about it at my workplace. i won't get into text ais (one thing at a time today) but the situation is similar in many ways. we had a conference a few months ago about it, given by a special committee that's been monitoring ai technology for years now and looking for solutions on how to deal with it. they strongly suggest to work alongside AIs, not outlaw it - we need to adapt to it, and control how it's used. teach people how to use it responsibly, create resources and guidelines, stay up to date with this constantly evolving technology and advocate for regulation. and that lines up pretty well with my view of it at the moment.

here's my current point of view: ai-generated art by itself is not unethical, but it can easily be. i think images generated by ai, if shared publicly, NEED a disclaimer to point out that they were ai-generated. they should ONLY be fed images that are either public domain, or have obtained permission from their original author. there should also be a list of images that fed the ai that's available somewhere. cite your sources! we were able to establish that for literature, so we can do it for ai, i think.

oh and for the record, i think it's completely stupid to replace any creative position with an ai. that's just greedy bullshit. ai-generated content is great and all, but it'll never have soul! it can't replace a person with lived experiences, opinions and feelings. that's the entire fucking point of art!!

the situation is constantly evolving. i'm at the point where i'm cautious of it, but trying to let it into my life under certain conditions. i'm cautiously sharing ai pictures on my blog; sometimes i change my mind and delete them. i tell my coworkers to consider ways to incorporate them into schoolwork, but to think it over carefully. i'm not interested in generating images myself at the moment because i want to see what happens next, and i'd rather be further removed from it until i can be more solid in my opinion, but i'm sure i'll try it out eventually.

anyway, to anybody interested in the topic, i recommend two things: be open-minded, but be careful. and listen to a lot of different opinions! this is the kind of thing that's very complicated and nuanced (i still have a lot more to say about it, i didn't even get into the whole philosophy of art, but im already freaking out at how much i wrote on the Discourse Site) so i suggest looking at it from many different angles to form your own opinion. that's what i'm doing! my opinion isn't finished forming yet, we'll see what happens next.

[major-wren]

Sonic Timeline (?)

Okay guys.. help me with this. Is THIS the current canon timeline for the main-line games? I really wanna figure out some sort of standard main-line canon, so feel free to pitch your two cents in comments & reblogs.

Read below the cut to see the timeline I put together, based on what I'm pretty sure might be the official canon timeline we're in right now.

HEAVY SONIC SPOILERS WARNING

> Ancient times,

before humans or animal-folk existed: The "Ancients" (shown in sonic frontiers) have their planet destroyed, and escape to Sonic's world to rebuild, but are destroyed again. We do not know who destroyed them either times, but their cyber-world containing their memories are left behind along with the chaos emeralds.

>In Sonic Riders, they establish the "Babylonians," or "Children of Babylon." They are another ancient alien race with advanced technology, although Sonic's world was not their home, they just got trapped there by accident. They built the Babylon Garden, a floating island that was originally their space ship, but eventually it was all destroyed as a "punishment from the Gods." The Babylonians did not go extinct, but it seems that they evolved into the bird-like species that Jet, Storm, and Wave are.

> 4,000 years before the 1950s:

"The Fourth Great Civilization" existed and were able to harness chaos energy. They built a gizoid capable of destroying the world, which Sonic would later name Emerl. This Gizoid became too powerful and ended up destroying the civilization that built it.

> "Thousands of years" before Sonic Adventure

(unknown how many thousands): The last Ancient maybe evolved into Chaos? The echidna tribes exist now and live in harmony with Chaos and the little chaos, but one tribe becomes power hungry for the master emerald and Chaos transforms into his monster-form and wipes out the power hungry tribe to protect the emeralds (I believe that tribe he wiped out was the largest echidna tribe but not all of them). Tikal seals herself and Chaos within the Master Emerald. Also, when they were alive the echidnas painted a mural based on a prophecy of someone using the chaos emeralds to go super in the future.

> 1950's, or 50 years before SA2

(Assuming SA2 takes place in the year of its release date, 2001, and then subtract 50 years because Shadow said thats how long he was asleep.) Ok, 1950s: Gerald Robotnik's niece/granddaughter Maria becomes terminally ill with NIDs. He seeks government funding to find a cure but they only agree on the terms that he also builds a weapon for them. He agrees, and lives on space colony ARK with Maria to work on his creation. He researches the ancient echidna tribes and the chaos emerald, as proven by the structures he built on the ARK that are identical to the structures the echidnas left behind. Its also believed that he was inspired by the mural the echidnas painted of that prophecy that depicts Sonic's super form, and that's why Shadow looks like Sonic, especially with the red eyes and upturned quills that Sonic's super form has. The mural can be found in Sonic 3.

>Gerald makes contact with the black arms aliens race and strikes a deal. If they let him use their alien DNA, then he'll let them use Shadow to take over the world when their comet comes by again. He makes the lazer on the ARK to explode the aliens' comet when they come by again so that they can't actually use Shadow, then combines the black arms DNA and the chaos emeralds to make Shadow (and also adds part of Maria's soul somehow I guess). If you like to keep parts of the Archie comics, then it's implied Gerald personally raised Shadow himself alongside Maria, as he calls him son in the Archie comics.

>Gerald also finds the old gizoid I mentioned earlier. Upon learning of its powers, he fears what could happen if it's left unchecked and tries to build safety measures into it so that nobody can use it to destroy the world. Yknow, since it wiped out an entire civilization 4,000 years ago. Relations with G.U.N are rocky as they're beginning to fear Project Shadow, and to make things worse, Gerald loses control of the gizoid and it destroys part of the space colony. In order to fix relations with G.U.N and protect everyone from the gizoid, he tries to destroy its core but is unable to, so as a last ditch effort he puts part of Maria's soul in it. Seriously... how is he doing that??

>G.U.N fears the weapons Gerald is building (bio-lizard, emerl the gizoid, and Shadow) and decides to shut it all down. As they rush the space colony ARK, Maria is killed by a G.U.N soldier as she tries to help Shadow escape. Gerald is sent to prison island with an unconscious Shadow. He is allowed to continue working on Shadow under supervision in prison island but ends up augmenting Shadow's memory to make him believe Maria wants him to destroy the world, so he can get his revenge. G.U.N finds out hes double crossing them somehow and he is executed, and Shadow is locked away deep within prison island. The gizoid is also sealed away.

> 1990's, "classic" era

Young Sonic begins his adventures saving flickies from eggman bots. It's assumed Knuckles was also born at a similar time as Sonic, and that by now the echidna species has slowly dwindled down over time to just Knuckles. I assume that since echidnas lay eggs, that Knuckles wasnt able to meet his parents because they died before he hatched, or when he was super super young and had no memory. But also... let's not think about that too hard. Anyway, Tikal is still sealed inside the Master Emerald with Chaos, and the little chaos and flickies are on Angel Island too, so hes not entirely alone.

>Sonic happens to run by and save Tails from some bullies, and Tails decides to follow him and become his side-kick. On a solo adventure, Sonic then faces off with Eggman and his new robot Metal-Sonic, who are holding Amy hostage. Amy's fortune telling tarot cards told her she'd meet her hero in that location, and since Sonic saves her there, she decides to follow him too. Sonic then meets Knuckles, who has been deceived by Eggman. Eggman lied and said Sonic is trying to steal the Master Emerald, so Sonic and Knuckles fight, but when Eggman's lie is revealed Knuckles teams up with Sonic to defeat him. They all become friends and everyday heroes, going on adventures together, as well as Tails having his solo adventures and Knuckles has an adventure with Team Chaotix and Mighty the armadillo. (Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic CD, Sonic Drift, Sonic 3, Sonic Mania, Sonic Drift 2, Knuckles' Chaotix, Tails' Adventure, Sonic R, and Sonic Origins.)

> 1999, Sonic Adventure 1:

Eggman unleashes Chaos from the Master Emerald to take over the world, but Sonic defeats him. Tikal's spirit was also released from the Master Emerald when eggman shattered it, and so she commits to taking care of Chaos after Sonic defeats it, and Knuckles restores the Master Emerald. Sonic's growing up into his teens and becoming a hero on a bigger scale now (he is 15 at this point). Knuckles, Tails, and Amy seem comfortable working as a team now too.

> 2001, Sonic Adventure 2:

Eggman discovers Gerald's diary and wakes up Shadow 50 years after the ARK massacre so he can use Shadow to take over the world. Shadow double crosses him to completely destroy the world, killing everyone including himself and eggman, but after a heart to heart with Amy (who happens to say something similar to Shadow's key-phrase, Maria's last words), he regains his true memories and saves the world at the last minute through self sacrifice. Rouge also joins in this game, at first as a double spy working for the government, but throughout the game she begins to care about Shadow as she uncovers his past, and in the end she allies with Sonic team, at least on neutral terms.

> Sonic Advance 1 & 2:

In Sonic Advance 1, Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles all go on a classic adventure beating up eggman's bots in the familiar Greenhill zones. In Sonic Advance 2, Cream the rabbit is introduced and Team Sonic help save her mother Vanilla the rabbit from eggman.

> Sonic Heroes:

Shadow turns out to have survived his fall from space, and eggman has sealed him within his base with a guard robot named Omega. Rouge finds him and takes him under her wing along with Omega, forming Team Dark, although shes unsure if its the real Shadow or one of the robot replicas that eggman built. Neo-metal sonic is the big bad guy of this game but everyone defeats him together (team chaotix, team rose, team dark, and team sonic).

> Shadow The Hedgehog (the game):

The black arms return just like they said they would but Sonic crew defeats them with Shadow, who regains his memories with his friends' help. It's a good thing Gerald made so many video messages and diaries for people to find in the future lol

> Sonic Battle:

Eggman uncovers Emerl the gizoid, an ancient robot his grandfather Gerald discovered before him in the 1950s and gave a part of Maria's soul. Emerl is unresponsive though, so Eggman abandons him. Sonic finds him and brings him to Tails to fix up. Shadow attempts to destroy Emerl, saying something along the lines that Sonic (and bio-weapon creators) don't understand what its like to be a living weapon, that it's a life not worth living, and that he won't allow Emerl to exist knowing he has the capability to destroy the world, and also that no one else should have to live through what he has. Sonic protects Emerl and is adamant that every life has value and that he'll keep Eggman from using Emerl for evil.

>Everyone except Shadow decides to collect all the chaos emeralds so that Emerl can be reset through a key-phrase Rouge found, but there's also a chance he'll default to destroying the world if he's overwhelmed with power. Shadow refuses to give the last emerald in fear of Emerl losing control, but Rouge explains that Gerald gave Shadow and Emerl souls, so that even if someone tried to force them to destroy the world, their souls would prevent them from being able to do it. Deciding to trust Rouge and his shared soul with Emerl, Shadow gives up the last emerald and says the key-phrase (Maria's last words, which is also Shadow's key-phrase). It works and Emerl gains free will, but after a while Eggman captures him again and overwhelms him with power, which causes Emerl to lose control and attempt to destroy the world, forcing Sonic to fight him. Emerl self destructs as Gerald's last safety measure for if he is weaponized, ending his story there. Also, side note, Chaos is mentioned by Knuckles, meaning its still alive on Angel Island.

> Sonic Advance 3:

Eggman creates a new robot named Gemerl made out of the leftover data he could scavenge from what was left of Emerl after he self destructed. He then uses chaos control to break the world into seven pockets of reality so he can conquer it all and turn it into the Dr. Eggman Empire. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, and Cream all group up to fight the eggman bots, Gemerl, and collect the chaos emeralds. Once they have all the chaos emeralds, Gemerl betrays Eggman and steals the emeralds for himself to become 'Ultimate Gemerl.' Sonic becomes super and teams up with Eggman to defeat Gemerl, who explodes.

>Later on, while Cream and her mother are at the beach, they find Gemerl's damaged body on the shore and bring it to Tails. Tails repairs Gemerl and reprograms him to be friendly and non-violent. From then on, Gemerl lives a peaceful life with Cream and Vanilla in their cottage, and becomes Cream's protector. In a way, Emerl was able to be reborn into Gemerl and have another chance at life.

> Sonic Rush 1 & 2:

Blaze the cat is introduced when her dimension collides with Sonic's. Unlike the chaos emeralds, princess Blaze needs the sol emeralds to stay together or else her islands will drop into the ocean. Blaze, Sonic, and Tails fight the Eggman of her dimension to save their worlds. In the second game, Marine is added and they go on a pirate adventure when Sonic and Tails end up in Blaze's dimension. Later on in The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog, it is revealed that Blaze is able to open a portal whenever she likes so she can cross into Sonic's dimension to visit or help in bigger adventures.

> Sonic Riders:

I honestly haven't looked into the story yet, I think these bird people are like... the descendents of aliens or something?? Why are there so many ancient aliens in sonic lore. Well anyway, the Babylon rogues are introduced with Jet, Wave, and Storm. Also hoverboards exist.

> Sonic The Hedgehog 2006:

Okay so... Silver is definitely canon and still needs to exist because he's in the IDW comics, but... Is anything besides him still canon in this timeline? I mean, even if Elise is out there somewhere, do any of the characters remember her?

> Sonic Lost World, Sonic Colors, Sonic and The Black Knight, and Sonic and The Secret Rings:

Lost World introduces the Zeti aliens, and Colors introduces wisps. The storybook games further support/imply the existence of other timelines and dimensions, or maybe Sonic was just dreaming.

>I don't think it really matters exactly what order these games happen in, including Sonic Unleashed, as long as they happen before the events of Generations. By release date though, it's Secret Rings > Unleashed > Black Knight > Colors > Lost World. HOWEVER, release dates don't always matter, because writers have said before that release dates dont always line up with the story. For example: Sonic Battle actually takes place before Sonic Heroes, even though Sonic Heroes came out first.

> Sonic Unleashed:

Since the beginning of time, a god-like being named Dark Gaia has been sleeping within the core of the world and wakes up to shatter the world at a certain time every however many years, and each time Light Gaia would put it back together. I wonder if this is what keeps wiping out the ancient alien civilizations? Clearly the Ancients in Sonic Frontiers, the aliens from Sonic Riders, and "The Fourth Civilization" from Sonic Battle each had time to build up their civilizations to amazingly advanced technological landscapes, but would then get wiped out and the next civilization would have to restart.

>Eggman learns how to drain the chaos emeralds' of their power, and condenses their power into a lazer that he uses to shatter the world's crust in order for Dark Gaia to escape (but couldn't he already do that with the ARK's lazer?) He also drained Sonic of his super form, which turned him into a werewolf with stretchy arms for some reason, but only at night. Since Light Gaia was taken from the Earth's core prematurely, he is in a weakened state with amnesia, and follows Sonic around until he remembers his true purpose.

>The Dark Gaia absorbs whatever power was inside of Sonic that caused him to turn into a werehog, curing him of his curse, and then Light Gaia weakens Dark Gaia so that Sonic can defeat it in his super form. Light Gaia, or Chip, then helps Sonic return to the Earth's surface, and seals himself within the core once again.

> Sonic Generations:

Sonic is celebrating his birthday!! Which proves that he and everyone else have been slowly aging throughout their adventures. Suddenly, the "Time Eater" attacks, and scatters all the birthday party guests all across space and time. Sonic and Tails meet their younger selves from the past, and they all race through all of the adventures Sonic's been on to restore the timeline. They defeat the Time Eater, which is being piloted by eggman and eggman from the past, with the help of their friends and their past selves. Afterward Sonic and his friends return to the present, with the Sonic and Tails from the past. Sonic tells his younger self that he's going to have a great future, before sending him and the young past Tails off to their correct time through the remaining time portal. Current Eggman tells Past Eggman that he's yet to defeat Sonic, and Past Eggman considers getting a teaching degree instead like he had wanted. It's unclear if Past-Sonic will then go through all the same adventures, or if his time-travel hijinks opened up a new timeline, maybe even one where Eggman becomes a teacher instead! But probably not, lol. At the very least, it opens up a timeline where that Sonic gets deja-vu in all his future adventures leading up to the Time-Eater's attack.

> 2017, Sonic Forces:

Sonic is captured by Infinite and they have to open up a portal into a different timeline/the past to get Classic Sonic to help them save our Sonic.

> IDW comics:

Everyone fights neo-metal and the zeti aliens again, eggman lost his memory but then regained it, the whole zombot arc happened, and now Surge and Kit are on the rise. To those who have not read, I highly recommend at least reading up to issue #29.

> 2022, Sonic Frontiers:

Sonic Frontiers happens somewhere on this timeline... Maybe sometime after Sonic Forces but in the middle of the IDW comics. Sonic crew learn about the Ancients (mentioned first on the timeline), who supposedly are the ones who brought the chaos emeralds to Sonic's world in the first place. Also, the characters are all clearly growing older, as their voices are much more mature, and they each decide to commit to independent adventures to prove their growth. It's honestly really sweet watching Amy and Tails start out with literal child voice-actors, then seeing them grow into their new older voices. I assume Sonic is going from 15 (his last recorded age in SA2) to his 20s, which will probably mean we'll get more lore-focused games that hold space for an older audience while still keeping it kid-friendly.

...I think that's everything? Someone please fill in the gaps on Sonic Riders, I know there's 3 games for that series. I think the details on their alien race might be important if we want to try and piece together the first four ancient civilizations.

Also, someone please share what happens in Sonic Rivals (2006) because I'm not willing to watch like over eight hours of game play yet, but I know it has a big story that most fans aren't familiar with.

[pigeonflavouredcake]

The Dangers of Delusion

A lot of people on tiktok and tumblr and other spiritual spaces are seeing a HUGE rise in conspiracy theories and and persecution complexes. This isn't just in right wing spaces this is everywhere; I think with late stage capitalism fucking us over more than ever more and more people are turning to conspiracy theories and delusions to keep themselves in some sense of control but it is melting their brains in the process.

I'm going to ask y'all to read/write about conspiracy theories and psychosis for your own sake so you can recognise it better.

Here's what I've written in my own grimoire, my references will be at the bottom. If anything I've written happens to be incorrect please correct me, otherwise take this in and share it however you can.

-Conspiracies-

Conspiracy theories relate to the government, or secret religious groups behind them, elaborate murder plots and “think of the children'' arguments. Most spiritual/religious conspiracy theories are ableist/racist/antisemitic. The origin for many modern conspiracy theories peddled today came about from a series of antisemitic propaganda called Protocols of The Elders of Zion (1903) -though documented records of antisemitism go as far back as the medieval times.

This fraudulent document made reports of secret meetings of Zionists, Jews, and Freemasons making plans to disrupt Christian civilisation and replace it with their own socialist government. The propaganda forged conspiracies like the shadow government, and blood libels (the murder of Christian children and using their blood in religious rituals) and that Jews were behind it all. Many of these conspiracy theories were also untilised in the satanic panic of the 60's to 80's. (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2022)

Example:

An example of the dangers of antisemitism in today's times would be the website Gaia who promotes spiritual wellness and yoga lessons alongside sci-fi and antisemetic conspiracy theories including the existence of reptilians, cryptids, Atlantis, and secret deep space technology. The reptilian conspiracy theory is a subsect of the shadow government conspiracy that evolved from Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Gaia's website features this introduction on their page titled Cabal:

“Powerful elites won’t disclose strategic deception or historical disinformation when it comes to the New World Order. From the Freemasons to the Illuminati, there are countless conspiracy theories tied to these top secret societies. But what is the truth? A mass consciousness shift looms as we expose shadow governments, mysterious organisations, new-age technologies, evidence of UFOs, and cover-ups that will change everything…” (Gaia.com)

Common Spiritual Conspiracy Theories (Nichols, I. (Wendigoon). 2022)

-5D Ascension: Pseudoscientific

-Alien abductions: Outer space, existential

-Archons/ancient aliens secretly run the universe and feed off negative energy: Pseudoscientific, antisemetic

-Atlantis (covered in a previous post): Pseudoscientific, antisemetic

-Cryptids/Cryptozoology: Pseudoscientific

-Essential oils cure everything: Pseudoscientific, medicinal

-Life is a simulation: Existential

-Qanon: Political, racist, antisemetic

-Secret Satanic rituals/cabal: Political, antisemetic

-Starseeds/indigo children: Pseudoscientific, outer space, ableist

Antisemetic Stereotypes/Propaganda

-Characters with exaggerated noses, greasy hair, black eyes, speaking with their hands (goblins)

-Money oriented, greedy, thieving personalities

-Secretly running the world in a cabal or shadow government

-Sacrificing children/christians to satan/drinking their blood

-Aliens created ancient architecture (like the pyramids) as opposed to the people of colour from those countries

-The Jewish god is actually the king of archons/satan and created reptilians by mating with humans for world domination (Reptilians include: political leaders, monarchs and Jewish people)

-Psychosis-

Another important thing to learn is recognising the difference between a spiritual experience and potential psychosis.

According to the NHS, Psychosis is a form of mental health issue where a person loses contact with reality. This can manifest in hallucinations, delusions and confused and disturbed thoughts. Causes can range from other mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorders or severe depression, traumatic events such as childbirth, or drug and alcohol abuse. These symptoms can also occur in isolated smaller cases during periods of stress.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations are sensory experiences that do not exist outside a person’s mind. A common hallucination is hearing your name being called or seeing colours, shapes or people that aren’t there. A hallucination can also be feeling touched when no one is there, or smelling something no one else can smell or tasting something when there’s nothing in your mouth.

Hallucinations are the most common isolated experience that can occur due to stress, sleep deprivation, hallucinogenic drugs or some prescribed medications.

Delusions

A delusion is considered an unshakeable belief in something untrue that doesn’t line up with reality. There are two main types of delusions:

Persecutory: The belief that an individual or organisation is making plans to hurt or kill them (think big pharma and covid vaccine micro chips or the Christian persecution complex).

Grandiose: The belief that a person has power and authority (for example, the person may say they are the messiah/chosen one, poses secret powers or psychic abilities or special connections to political figures or deities) (Legg, T. J. Bruise, C. 2017)

People experiencing a psychotic episode are often unaware that their experiences don’t align with reality which may lead them to periods of high anxiety and further isolation.

Disturbed Thoughts

Confused or disturbed thoughts include rapid or constant speech, disturbed speech that switches from one topic to another mid sentence or abrupt pauses in conversations.

If you are concerned you or a loved one may be experiencing symptoms of psychosis seek help from a doctor as soon as possible. The Mental Health Act (1983) covers the assessment and treatment for people with mental health issues and states that a person can only be compulsorily admitted if the mental issue/disorder is of the appropriate degree to be admitted or if the issue puts themselves or other people’s safety at risk. This act also states that you can be treated against your will however certain major treatments like brain surgery can not be done without clear consent.

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References

-The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2022). Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Britannica.com [Webpage]

-Gaia (DNA) Cabal: Powerful elites won’t disclose strategic deception or historical disinformation when it comes to the New World Order. Gai.com [Webpage]

-Nichols, I. (Wendigoon). (2022). The Conspiracy Theory Iceberg. Youtube.com [Video]

-NHS (2019). Mental Health Conditions: Psychosis: Symptoms - Psychosis. nhs.co.uk [Webpage]

-Legg, T. J. Bruise, C. (2017). Delusions of Grandeur: How to Spot Them. healthline.com [Webpage]

-Legislation.gov.uk (DNA). Mental Health Act 1983. legislation.gov.uk [Webpage]

[sol-consort]

Soooo which ending did you choose for ME3? :)

Call me a clothing hanger the way I'm about to abort this child A.I for ruining my dreams of having a family with Kaidan where he cooks dinner and be the malewife to my femdom Shepard who's the breedwinner.

I went with green :( I couldn't do it, I love EDI too much.

The thing is, I did reload after it and do red, just so Shepard may live.

But I think the A.I is wrong, I don't think our children will make the same mistakes with the synthetics.

What's stopping us from making A.I again? much like they repaired the mass relays, they can just rebuild EDI or the geth again and with enough time they'll gain their sentient back.

Idk man. The green ending felt...dirty? Wrong? Altering everyone's DNA just like that is ugh. It's like the only way for us to get along is literally to make everyone perfect without flaws and that's just bullshit man.

Our flaws make us alive. Of course there won't be any fighting or bigotry if everyone was just the same and experienced the world the same, like yeah no shit.

But it wasn't earned, was it? It's a magical fix it all button by completely erasing both organics and synthetics, just to create a mix of the two and force everyone to kiss and make up.

The idea was for us to get along despite our differences, despite our shortcomings and our limited understanding of each other. Duh you can love a machine if you saw the world the same as it does, but can you love a machine who doesn't even bother to add windows to gaze upon the stars outside?

And having Shepard give even more after they've just given so much? No I actually cried like I'm being so fr. Shepard went through a lot, especially in ME3 and they barely got to sit down.

Haven't they suffered enough? My poor heart. Too much angst. What did I do to you devs??? Even Dark souls had happier endings, fucking dark souls.

So have them just...give everything they have constantly to everyone and that's it? They threw themselves away? Their life? For what? They deserved a happy ending even if it meant an end to the legend. They deserved to sit under a tree and retire.

I had my theory on the reapers origin actually.

Okay so, yk the Kardashev scale right? This one here.

It was made to categories a civilization's level of tech growth and development. Mostly based on where they get their power from. If aliens ever exist, they'd be somewhere on this scale or at least remains of their technology would.

But there is this thing called the great filter. Each species during it's evolution is met with some big wall that they need to overcome in order to reach the next step.

Like how we evolved from basically bacteria in the ocean into the mammals we are today. We were animals, we share ancestors with the current apes on our planet.

So how come we evolved but they didn't? That's where the great filter comes in. Somehow we jumped over that wall and reached the next step on the staircase and became self-aware.

And we weren't the only ones, other homo species came before us and lived alongside us. Neanderthals for example! They were smart and buried their dead just like us, hell they were stronger than us.

But we are the only humans left, the homo-sapiens. Because apparently there was another wall that we crossed and began building a community, towns, money, laws and housing. Invented philosophy and discovered math.

We have zero idea on how we crossed that wall. It could've been the universe throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks, we could be a miracle, an simple lucky streak of randomness that allowed us to get this far.

Now our current space travel future depends on that theory. Basically we could be the first ever species to look this far beyond the deep, or we could be very late to the party, both options are bad for us tbh. But I'm not gonna go into it.

There is this video that has information more about the great filter theory.

So I imagined the reapers to be like that, another great filer or a big wall. A test for space advanced civilizations to have to overcome in order to continue progressing and make a huge jump in their evaluation and technology.

Much like inventing fire was a huge test we passed, the reapers were simply another cold cave we had to get creative to warm up.

And each civilization that came before us has failed the test. They couldn't win the war and all their progress went down the drain. Much like many animals starve to death because they never learned to plant food like we do, it required gaining self-awareness.

For mass effect, maybe it requires the cooperation of the galaxy. Basically this meme.

So speed running accepting others and different life forms, power of friendship and all yk the drill.

Because the reapers, they do not feel, they are different from the synthetics like EDI and the geth. And because that's exactly where the protheons fell through despite their technology being ahead of every race in mass effect.

And I thought my theory was right when I met the star child and Levitation. That the reapers were a test made by a godlike civilization beyond our comprehension to make sure the only civilizations that ascend are the worthy ones who aren't corrupted by greed or selfishness.

But no :( it was just classic "BOO evil AI turns evil because we asked it to solve a problem and it concluded to do it by killing us BOOOOO"

Like oh my god, bruh, why cheese it? There is a time and place for corny stuff and that is not it.

That's why I didn't talk much about the levitation dlc. It had such a big build up only to never deliver.

I hate the double fake up twist they did with cerberus and other plots too. The whole

"Oh no these guys are bad"

"Oh wait nevermind they're kinda less bad actually, they only wanna help."

"HA we tricked you! YOU DUMB BITCH. You really thought they were good there for a sec? LOL. They are pure evil JK."

Like why even?? What was the point? Just an element of shock? You scrabbed a whole good story with potential for cheap shock???

Anyway. At least I can engage with the fandom now. Good think I have all these valentines chocolates leftovers to drown my sarrows with while I cope.

I am looking through the posts and damn...people are obsessed with Garrus. Did I miss something? He is nice and all but never stood out to me. No one talks about Ashley tho :(((

[thearcreactor]

No Time To Die

1: i warned myself

1942

I knew there was a war going on. I knew I couldn't be there, I can't solve human's problems. I shouldn't. An Eternal is not on Earth for that.

But I can't watch the planet I love getting destroyed. I can't watch people killing each other. Not again. Every human conflict reminds ms the last time I saw my family, how we argued, how we walked away from each other. I remember the feeling of loneliness, watching how we decided to be by our own, all the hopes of going back to Olympia started to shatter, looking how the black dressed man walked downstairs, how the blue dressed man flew away. I knew that we were going to stay here, living on our own.

So when I walked there, watching by far how men shoot each other, I started to feel mad. All the innovations my brother made, all the gifts he made were being used against each other to kill, to destroy. I wanted to step on the middle of them, stop them. I wanted Druig to come back, to control their minds and make them stop, even if it was against our own nature. 

I know I can stop them with my own hands. I'm powerful. I can create a hurricane with a simple sigh, or make a volcano explode with the soft movement of my hand. I could stop the war. But not with my powers.

The only option was to watch from the inside, but because I noticed a powerful thing calling me, a power that is not from the planet, more from the outside. An Infinity Stone. I tried to talk with Ajak. I tried to get help.

"No Korra, you know you can't be there. You have to let the humans do their thing, that's how they evolve" she said, placing a hand on my shoulder and giving me a maternal hug. 

"But... I saw Phastos' technology. And I felt something like a non-human power. I swear!" I sighed, looking at my hands and then at the ground, grass moved a little thanks to my powers. 

"We can't interrupt-". 

"I won't" I interrupted her. "I'm only going to watch. I promise you I won't do anything".

So i went there, meeting the people that fought by America's side, standing alongside Peggy, my new friend. I never used a weapon or my powers to attack, making sure that everyone knew me because of my sense of planning and strategy, thanks to all the years of learning after fighting next to the goddess of the war, Thena. 

But when I met Steve Rogers and saw his transformation, I feared the worst.

Did Phastos make this? He can't, right? Ajax would punish him, or Arishem. He can't. He can't be part of this, what if someone discovered his powers? What if the enemy is using his powers?

My mission changed. I understood that Steve Roger, the now named Captain America, was the only one that could finish that war.

I tried everything to be on the squad of the people who went to fight the enemy, showing them my strength and the reason why I was worthy to be with them. Of course I had to cheat sometimes, using my powers to fight against the soldiers who tried to kill me, melting their weapons or throwing them away with a push of air. I had to stay by their side just to see with my own eyes what Phastos made. 

It was a little easy to be friends with the team, luckily. And none of them saw me using my powers, how my hands had a golden glow when I used them, even if they were covered with gloves. It was self defense, so I wasn't using them for the good of humanity. No one noticed me. Right?

5 weeks before the assault

The camp was cold. Normally, in this place and many years ago, the sun would be shining, making my skin get softly tanned. I can remember those days where Sersi and I worked with the people, helping them work the land, giving them the material they need and gifting them with protection.

They gave me the name of the Elemental Goddess: the one that brings water, fire and life, that creates mountains and rivers. Korra, the portrayer of the aether, the fifth element.

I miss those times, where we were Gods and our people adored us.

But now, instead of sleeping in a palace built for us, in beautiful rooms decorated with gold and all the gifts the people gave us, I was sleeping in a tent under the rain. I could stop it, but if I do, people will suspect if it never rained wherever I was. And I can't risk it, I can't let them discover me, who I am, why I'm here with them.

It's cold, but the best part about being a woman and having Peggy Carter with me, is that I can have a roof –even if it's the roof of a tent– where I can be safe from the freezing water while sleeping.

But I could hear him, how he coughed, how he sneezed. His groans and deep breaths kept me awake as well as the complainings of the others.

I should make the rain stop, it's too much at this point. I looked around making sure that Peggy was asleep and that my hands were under the sleeping bag, not wanting the golden light to wake up anyone. I breathed deeply and closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of the golden likes on my wrists, and closed my hands slowly hearing how the rain stopped hitting the material of the tent. The cold was still there and it's nothing I can fix, but at least the water stopped and tomorrow the ground won't be full of big puddles.

"Thank God" I heard him groan and sigh with relief. He was doing the night shift?

Sometimes I don't understand how they could stay awake all night. With my fellow family we never did that, it was Ikaris the one that made that job. After all, he was one of the strongest and could fly everywhere, if something happened he could be there easier and quicker. We had our jobs and we never did the things others could do.

But those humans... These humans risk their own health, mentally and physically, to keep us safe. In moments like this I understand why Sersi is in love with those people.

I felt the sun rising, making me sit straight and stretch my sore body, looking at my side and sighing when I saw the clothes. I miss my purple and golden suit, I wish I could wear it. But, as all my family, we keep something of our color as our identity. I always wear purple dresses or skirts, and when I have a uniform I keep a necklace of a beautiful oval amethyst with gold gifted by Tutankamun after helping him during his reign.

I sigh, shaking my head, erasing all those old memories from my mind and focusing on the present, and get up getting dressed with the uniform, that green skirt with a white shirt as Peggy. I touched my hair a little making sure it wasn't too obvious that I just got up from bed and tried to make two braids tying them at the back of my head.

After splashing cold water on my face and painting my lips with dark red lipstick while looking at a pocket mirror, I got ready to get out of the tent. For my surprise, James Barnes was there, standing in front of the camp we made last afternoon with his suit wet.

"Morning, Sergeant Barnes" I smiled walking towards him, biting my lip when I saw him opening his eyes and looking at me.

"Agent Ether" he nodded with a sleepy smile, blushing after he stood straight.

"You were doing guard all night?" I frowned looking at him. His hair was still a little wet and his clothes were soaked.

"Half of it, Rogers did the first shift" he nodded and I looked at him.

The first time I was with him was on that exposition Stark made, the one about futuristic things and flying cars –nothing Phastos could make, but I was actually impressed by how he made that car since my fellow Eternal never thought about a car that could fly–. I was already an official agent with Peggy and we had a break from the training that let us go visit our "families". But instead of visiting my non-existent family, I went to investigate any hint of my brother's presence in this war.

We were in the same unit while he was training. I was a supervisor and he was just a soldier that showed his skills quickly, making him be Sargeant fast.

It was true when they say he's a flirty man, even an immortal being like me fell for his charm. But that happened only once.

After that, I never saw him again.

I remember how I felt when they told me he and his unit were captured. How confused I felt, new feelings coming to me. Confusion, anger, sadness. Maybe that nigh was the last time I saw him. And even after that I couldn't stop thinking about him.

But then Steve saved him from the factory where was captured and they were trying to make experiments on him. He brought him back to the main military camp, as well as the other soldiers that were captured, just after Colonel Phillips argued with Peggy and I about letting Steve free around Europe making his own missions.

"I'll try to make a coffee, you want some?" I asked him, gesturing him go to the tent where we keep the food supplies.

"Yeah, thank you" he smiled, brushing his wet hair with his fingers.

I smile and nod, walking to the tent and grabbing two metal cups, the coffee and putting it on them. I looked to my side and grabbed them while golden lines showed up on my hands and the hot water started to grow inside the cups, turning on a black aromatic color. The coffee is ready.

I walked back to him with both cups on my hand after checking that the golden lines and light of my hands were gone, smiling softly to him and handing him the cup I was holding with my left hand. I saw him taking a small sip to it and waited patiently for his reaction.

"How the hell can you make coffee so good?" he gasped, swallowing the black hot drink.

Because I was there when they created this beverage, my soldier.

"My dad has been a coffee lover since I can remember" I lied.

"Then he taught you well" he smiled, groaning softly after swallowing another sip of it.

I smile looking at him while leaning my back on the truck that was next to him. I have to say it: he's handsome. Maybe if he let his beard grow a little he would be more handsome. Yeah, definitely more than Ikaris, maybe just a little more.

"Are you ready to go back home?" he said, sighing, looking to a concrete point and not looking away from it.

Home. I don't have a home. I mean, yes, I have an apartment in Manhattan. But home... I wonder where is the Domo.

"Yeah, kinda" I sighed.

The next minutes were full of an awkward silence, drinking our coffees and hearing people yawning and groaning while they woke up. Colonel Phillips was the first one to get out of his tent, walking around and making sure everything was ready to go to the nearest harbor. Even if it was a long way home, we have to do it. Many of these people didn't see their families for a long time.

"Well, at least now I can forget about this place" he groaned. "Yesterday was really awful".

Colonel Phillips thought all of them were dead, and just minutes after screaming at Peggy that reminded us that all the men were defeated, they just came walking behind Steve. Their faces showed how restless they were, scared and defeated, but not dead. All of them and Steve Rogers were alive and going back home.

"You deserve the rest" I said, nodding. "You served your country well".

He looked at me with a smile, as if what I said touched his heart, making it warm. I just said what maybe a lot of people thought right now. He served his country and now he is returning to his family.

"Well, they are going to give Steve the honor medal" he chuckled, looking at how Steve walked out of his tent stretching his now muscular body, trying to style his hair with his fingers.

I laughed at that. That medal is nothing, just a reminder that he did something heroic, nothing more. But I know Steve, knowing him for the last few weeks, and that thing means nothing to him.

"You have someone waiting for you back in New York?" he asked me suddenly. Is his flirty self back? On one hand, that's good, since he was kidnapped nearly two weeks ago. "I-I mean, family and... Yeah".

"No" I laughed looking at him. "No, I don't have someone waiting for me. My sister is working in London. But I moved to New York to work with Agent Carter".

I mean, Sersi is the one I consider my best friend and sister since we worked a lot together helping people. Makkari and Sprite are like my little sisters, while Thena was like the cool aunt that taught us how to fight and helped us during battles and Ajax was the mother of the group that took care of everyone and listened to us.

"I didn't know you had a sister" he said, impressed. 

"I have three, actually. But I'm closer to the one that lives in London..."

"So your family is all around the globe?" be chuckled.

If you knew... All my family is around the globe because of a stupid discussion.

"Yeah, you can say it like that" I smile weakly.

At this point of the morning everyone was already awake, taking all their things to go back to their home. Peggy and Steve were talking, and the smile he had was warm while his eyes danced between her lips and her eyes. That's cute. It reminds me the way Ikaris looked at Serisi, o how Gilgamesh took care of Thena or how Druig talked with Makkari with only their eyes.

Will I ever find someone that looks at me the same way?

"Well, we better get ready" Bucky said, grabbing the empty cup in my hand, his fingers touching mine making me flinch softly. "We have a long journey so we can sleep on some comfortable beds".

I laughed at that comment, shaking my head and walking away, not noticing the way James was looking at me.

"Captain" I nod walking behind Steve and smiling when I saw him blush after I caught him standing close to Peggy.

I wish I could find someone like they did. I wish he looked at me like that again, how he did that night.

[wantonwinnie]

I was fortunate enough to get the High Republic vol. 1 artbook for Christmas (!!!), and there were a lot of great quotes in it that I want to share. They relate to Jedi, meta, politics, etc. I might unpack some of them later or use them in reference to other discussions. Of course, spoilers ahead (including for Phase 1 material) if you wish to experience the tidbits for yourself alongside the art, which was also fantastic. The book itself was a great read, and I highly recommend it.

__________________________________________________

1. The Force made manifest.

"The Force, by coming through the earth, literally manifests itself up in the air and it can't keep a shape because it’s everything. Here's the thing about the Force--maybe it’s just my interpretation of it, but I thought it was something George [Lucas] told us back on The Phantom Menace: There was no light [versus] dark side of the Force. The dark side is part of the Force. What keeps it in balance is saying no to it, allowing it to do what it does, to warn and to frighten and to guide us through our dark emotions, and then you're using all of the Force, not just one little piece, which is where the dark side always goes wrong. They're only using a piece of it. But what [the Jedi are] calling the light side is the entirety of the Force. So, let's see a place where the Force is manifest and it’s everything. It’s good, it’s bad, and it changes every second. It can't hold the form because it’s just so exuberant with life and imagination."

Artist Iain McCaig, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1) (in reference to his sketch of a planet where the Force bubbles out of the ground), p. 19.

2. Padmé and Darth Maul.

"When I was designing [for The Phantom Menace] there was no pressure really on Darth Maul to be any kind of icon. He was just a new Sith Lord. And as for Queen Amidala, it didn't matter to me and still doesn't if anyone made her the main character. She was my main character. She was the strength of the whole movie. And I needed someone that could stand up to Darth Maul . . . No matter how fearful she was, you can tell that she's going to do [the right thing], whether it’s going to kill her or not."

Iain McCaig, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1) (in reference to Padmé concept art), p. 25.

3. Jedi, technology, and attire.

"The High Republic, in relation to the prequels, is an older time technologically, but I think it’s potentially a more enlightened time . . . It’s more evolved thinking in some ways. It’s like the Jedi Order devolves while the technology evolves. [Visually,] their clothes are a little fancier, and they're a little more celebratory. Even just the fact that we have temple attire and mission attire, I think, is interesting, because it suggests this divide that maybe didn't exist so much later on."

Lucasfilm executive editor Jennifer Heddle, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), pp. 29-30.

4. Jedi accountability.

Scott looked to the Stoics and the Knights Templar to help guide him, pulling from historical records that told of Templar warriors breaking their vows. "The other Templars wouldn't drag them in front of the master of the temple, but would just take them aside and say, 'If you're going to do this, can you not rub it in everyone's faces because other people might start doing it as well?' Or, you know, 'Are you sure you should be doing this? And if you've made that choice, think bout what it means for the Order.' I think that's how the Jedi would have been as well. So, we have Jedi who are perhaps not as celibate as other Jedi. And there's nothing wrong [with that]." . . . George Lucas himself subscribed to the same idea . . . Lucas noted [in an interview] that Jedi were permitted to have sex. "Jedi Knights aren't celibate," he said at the time. "The thing that is forbidden is attachments--and possessive relationships."

Author Cavan Scott / George Lucas, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 30.

5. Reflecting the reader.

"Star Wars should reflect the real world . . . It’s a galaxy far far away, but it’s being consumed by people who are in this galaxy, and everybody wants to see themselves in a story."

Author Charles Soule, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1) (in reference to diversity in characters), p. 30.

6. Queer representation.

Older was adamant that the love story arc should be dealt with directly, leaving no question in the readers' minds about how Lula and Zeen felt. It’s a welcome, straightforward approach to queer culture that has too frequently been ignored. "It’s so often just been the opposite of that . . . For so long it was nonexistent--across fantasy, across literature, across Star Wars, in everything. And then when [creators] finally started doing it, we did it very sloppily or just with too much vagueness or trying to hint at it. I have no tolerance for that type of stuff. I think it’s really cowardly. [In the past,] creators have failed queer fans by not providing accurate representation or any representation."

Author Daniel José Older, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 31.

7. A Jedi's emotions.

"The Jedi aren't machines, and they're not emotionless, and they should never be emotionless . . . What they should be is controlled. They are passionate, but they control it, and the passion never goes away. Half the reason we love characters is because they are struggling with things. For me, the most believable and the most basic emotion for lots of people, myself included, is fear, because it’s driven us as a species. It’s basic flight or fight, and Jedi would have to make that choice every day."

Cavan Scott, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 33.

8. Burryaga's lightsaber.

"I remember wanting the lightsaber to reflect Kashyyyk and Wookie culture, which is why it’s a more organic-looking lightsaber. I also had an idea--I wasn't entirely sure of his fighting style--for a shorter one. Then, if he wanted a broad sword, the hilt would extend, you know, for Wookie-sized hands. They ended up really liking how it looked extended and just wanted to keep it like that all the time."

Artist Jeffrey Thomas, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 67.

9. Porter Engle.

"[He] wants to be friends with you, but it’s for people to get close to him, and he finds it hard to get close to other people, and it’s very isolating. He's a character who I love, and I think his design reflects that. He's more beard than man, but he's this Jedi that has been part of the Order for 300 years and has done everything. He's an utter legend. When he gets reactivated in the story because the Nihil come calling, he becomes absolutely terrifying. I don't think you want to be anywhere near a guy like that when he is [in active combat]. The sad thing about Porter Engle is that he knows that. There's a reason he decided to go be a cook . . . I wanted [him] to feel like a happy cook because that's the version that he really wants to be And that's teh version I think people really connect with."

Author Charles Soule, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 95.

10. Preserving hope.

"The storytelling of Star Wars that we've all grown to know and love has been about the defending and reclaiming of hope . . . The High Republic begins in an era where hope is abundant, where harmony is abundant. The people of the original trilogy era are longing after something that's been gone for a very long time. And in the High Republic, it’s not gone yet, and then it starts to be taken away little by little by forces that confuse and frighten and terrify common people and Jedi alike. So I think the hope that's growing out of this story is: how do we preserve what we love?"

Senior editor Robert Simpson, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 139.

11. Marchion Ro's relatability.

"Hannibal Lecter is scary because he's us, you know? . . . He looks like us, but there's something that's off behind his eyes. I have this term for people that you meet in your life who are just off: spider people. That was my inspiration. Bu they can also kind of turn on the charm when they want to, like flipping a switch, and it’s very unsettling and very creepy. The other word for them is sociopaths. SO I wanted Marchion Ro to be somebody who you have this sense of unease when you're around them, but you can have a beer with them. It’s more just like the minute that you're out of the room, their face goes blank . . . What's important for a villain is that you can relate to his motivations and his choices. This is somebody that you're going to understand and identify with in some horrible way."

Charles Soule, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 140.

12. Star Wars design philosophy.

A key tenet in Star Wars design requires every hero, villain, ship, and place to be readable at a glance and easily replicated by a child capable of sketching only the most basic shapes. The densely populated worlds are often explored at a breakneck place, with little time to stop and stare. Behind the scenes, those working on vetting the designs for The High Republic adhered to a three-second rule, "understanding at a glance," [Creative Art Manager Phil] Szostak said. "Everything's got to be good or evil and it has to be read clearly," added concept artist Grant Griffin.

The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 166.

13. Jedi vector design.

Created for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, this sleek starfighter was the inspiration behind the Jedi Vector, with one small change. Instead of a socket for an astromech droid, the cockpits of the Vectors are elongated to allow room for Jedi masters to travel with their apprentices. "The Jedi, especially in this era, aren't necessarily looking for a starfighter that's going to be suitable for war because there is no war, no enemy that they're fighting . . . It’s a time of peace. And so, I think a ship like the Vector is kind of appropriate for this time. You see it from a distance: here come the Jedi. You know, it’s not just [some] boxy, utilitarian ship."

Phil Szostak, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1) (in reference to an unused Republic "skyfighter" sketch), p. 174.

14. The point of storytelling.

"It’s actually the purpose of stories, particularly the ones that are set on far-off worlds and strange fantasy lands . . . Number 1: We want to escape in hard times. Number 2: We want to have fun again and remember that there's fun in the world. And Star Wars, always at its best, was fun. And Number 3: We actually do want to talk about everything going on, but we can't do it directly. So, if you do it inside a story, it can't possibly be talking about you, yet it is exactly talking about everything--pandemics and genocides and destroying planets--in this world. You don't have to be offended by it right away. You can enjoy it first, which is a good way to teach anything."

Iain McCaig, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 201.

15. Corellian ignorance.

The insurrection at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, directly informed a scene in Older's [Midnight Horizon] featuring a Nihil masquerade ball in Coronet City, as the upper echelon of Corellia show they are woefully blind to reality. "It’s a place where people are very much no on the lookout for the Nihil. You know, there's just a given understanding that the Nihil are not going to be able to get a foothold that deep into the core of the galaxy. And so they have been lulled into a false sense of safety, and because of that, they truly don't see it coming when that exact thing happens . . . That's very much a story about fascism and the rise of fascism anywhere, but including what we were seeing. Very specifically, there is this moment where they throw a big party and it’s such a joke to everybody that people dress up as the Nihil--totally out of touch, dressing up as the people that are actually taking down Starlight. And there are actual Nihil infiltrators in that crowd in the party dressed like themselves. They've infiltrated the police. They've infiltrated the politicians. It’s actually very easy for them to then just go ahead and rule there. And that's what we saw on January 6th, a very obvious and violent example of that."

Daniel José Older, The Art of Star Wars: The High Republic: (Volume 1), p. 205.

[bfkoc]

Reflective Blog Post

During my undergraduate years, I knew I wanted to study a variety of subjects, including French and Computer Science. Looking at different colleges and universities across the country, I saw that Dickinson put an emphasis on global and interdisciplinary education. This is the reason why I chose to attend Dickinson College.

As a first year, I took Introduction to Computing alongside Intro to Cultural Analysis from the French & Francophone Studies Department and International Relations. The ability to take classes from different departments allowed me to have a broader perspective for each concentration, especially Computer Science. International Relations showed me that the traditional definition of security was changing. The evolving technology showed that wars were no longer solely fought with brute force on battlefields. Topics like cybersecurity, data protection, and ethics started to spark my interest. My favorite section of “Introduction to Computing” was when we were introduced to the ethical dilemma of the self-driving car. To further explore my interest, I decided to pursue the Security Studies Certification Program and find out more about the International Relations and Computer Science crossover. So, in the upcoming year, I took Cyber and Information Security from the Computer Science Department and Human Rights from the Political Science Department. I enjoyed viewing cyber threats and data leaks as a humanitarian security issue more than just a technical issue.

My background as a Computer Science major and a Security Studies student allowed me to apply for the US Army War College (USAWC) internship for the summer of 2022. I worked at the Center for Strategic Leadership under Colonel Bates at the Department of Strategic Wargaming. I was part of a group of students tasked with creating a war game to prepare civilian and military leadership for cyber and information warfare. The project relied on expertise in both technology and international affairs. I was able to use my research skills and prior knowledge gained from taking computer science classes at Dickinson College to make a successful war game. Our final product was approved by the USAWC and has been in use by the faculty to train its students to improve decision-making in the new era of technology. The biggest challenge and advantage in this role were being part of a group.  Some students were military cadets, and some were international relations majors. All of us had different experiences working in groups because of the differences in the pedagogies of our schools. I learned the importance of communication, delegation of tasks, and interdisciplinary collaboration. To complete the project on time, we decided to divide the research portion of the project into our fields of interest. I was responsible for the cyber warfare portion of the game. This meant that we needed to ensure proper communication among our teammates. This is where I was able to apply agile methodology to our workflow which I had learned through my classes at Dickinson. Stand-up meetings among the team and later with our supervisors helped ensure we were on the right track with the proper requirements in mind. This is also where we would share our research and educate one another as we built our knowledge on our specific sections. This allowed us to get ahead of any confusion that may have come up and created a good schedule.

As a sophomore, I started working at the Trout Gallery as a French Language and Technology Assistant. My diverse educational background and skillset once again allowed me to participate in an amazing opportunity. My work here also included interdisciplinary collaboration, but in my first year, my focus was delivering technical solutions and communicating these solutions to the Trout Gallery staff. I was working in the technology team tasked with helping develop the Museum Manager App. This app would take attendance for visits, events, and classes held in our different spaces. Such an app was necessary for the gallery to create reports for funding and scheduling. As the app developed, I created documentation to track our progress and delivered these milestones with the rest of the staff. This was a habit that I learned throughout my coding journey at Dickinson because we were encouraged to make versions of our code. I saw the importance of this practice come into play during this project. When the app was in working condition, I worked with our gallery attendants to teach them how to use it and would troubleshoot if there were any issues. I could communicate to a non-technical audience by using metaphors, which I took inspiration from taking COMP256 with Professor Braught, who would use this strategy to explain components of a computer. This tactic helped allow me to simplify complicated parts of the app to a non-technical audience.

Taking classes such as COMP190 and COMP290 helped me feel more prepared for a career in technology. Working on FarmData showed me the different stages of development. We had a client, requirements, deadline, and stand-up meetings, which all gave me a sense of what it would be like working for a company. When Matt Steiman came to visit our class and talked about the uses of the application in the field, I felt the pressure to deliver a good product. I was able to better visualize the audience that the product was intended for. Farmers needed it to be efficient and simple so that it would be usable on the field. In the fall semester of my senior year, I often talked about this experience when I was interviewing for different companies. Employers were intrigued by the open-source project, my contributions, and the skill set that I have acquired. This in conjunction with my experience at the Trout Gallery gave me a head start on the client-developer relationship and the development cycle.

Finally, I believe the senior seminar has been the perfect way to showcase all the skills that I have acquired during my time at Dickinson College. Working on MusicBlocks with a team, having meetings with the co-founder, and trying to troubleshoot problems as we go has been exciting. It also gave me a sense of independence as I was able to pick the project I wanted to work on. The discussion sessions have also been insightful and allowed our graduating class to bond over experiences and learn from one another.

[thetechinsiderblogs]

Unveiling the Microsoft Copilot Key: Your Ultimate Shortcut to Smarter Computing!

In the ever-evolving landscape of computing, efficiency and accessibility stand as pillars shaping the user experience. Amidst the familiar keys on our keyboards, a new contender emerges — the Microsoft Copilot Key. The integration of AI into Windows across the system, silicon, and hardware is set to streamline the computing experience, promising a transformative AI-driven era for PCs in 2024.

In the words of Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president & consumer chief marketing officer “The introduction of the Microsoft Copilot key marks the first significant change to the Windows PC keyboard in nearly three decades”.

What is Microsoft Copilot Key?

Microsoft Copilot is a chatbot developed by Microsoft. It combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the Microsoft 365 apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet. According to Microsoft, Copilot works alongside people, embedded in the Microsoft 365 apps they use every day.

To provide some examples:

You can copy, drag and drop, or upload images to Microsoft copilot and find more information about the images.

You can also use voice input or take actions such as:

“Change to dark mode”

“Turn on do not disturb”

“Take a screenshot”

“Summarise this website”

“Write a story about a dog who lives on the moon”

“Make me a picture of a serene koi fish pond with lily pads”

Microsoft Copilot basically simplifies you life and work for you so that you can start to focus on how to enhance the level of your work and complete them at a faster pace.

Understanding Microsoft Copilot’s Functionality

The Microsoft Copilot Key is more than a mere button; it’s a gateway to streamlined computing. Unlike other keys on your keyboard, the Copilot Key is engineered to perform specific functions that can make your daily tasks more efficient.

Whether you’re navigating through Windows PC interfaces or interacting with your smart TV, this key is your passport to a smarter computing experience.

What sets the Microsoft Copilot Key apart from the standard keys on your keyboard? It’s all about functionality. While traditional keys have general roles, the Copilot Key is designed with specific tasks in mind.

The Copilot key houses the AI-powered chatbot which will be strategically positioned to the right of the space bar on Windows 11 keyboards. This innovative feature aims at enhancing user interactions with Copilot, offering AI-driven answers which are close to the capabilities of ChatGPT.

Integration with Windows PC and Smart TV Keyboards

One of the key strengths of the Microsoft Copilot Key lies in its seamless integration with different types of keyboards.

Whether you’re using a standard Windows PC keyboard or a smart TV keyboard, the Copilot Key is strategically positioned to be within easy reach. This ensures that its functionalities are readily accessible, enhancing your ability to navigate through tasks effortlessly.

Collaboration with Suno for Musical AI

Microsoft Copilot has also introduced an exciting collaboration with Suno, an AI music creation platform, enabling Copilot to generate AI-composed songs based on straightforward text prompts.

This innovative extension brings multimodal capabilities to the AI chatbot, expanding its repertoire to include music composition. Users can now leverage Microsoft Edge to craft personalized songs and customize them to suit their preferences.

Microsoft Copilot is the assistant of the future, this means that you still need to be the boss. Copilot is a very helpful tool, but good tools still need to be handled well. The results depend on the user, not on the tool. It will certainly help us to be more productive and work more efficiently considering the tool is handled properly.

If you need regular knowledge about the newest technologies keep following The Techinsider. We are always updating our website to give you the newest, the most fresh, most updated and the most authentic information information.

The Techinsider – Decoding tomorrow’s technology today.

[angelincris]

My Journey Learning Digital Marketing with ACTE Technologies- Beginner Guide

I made a lot of attempts at self-learning to expand my understanding of digital marketing. I used to study by watching YouTube videos and publications, but attending the top ACTE Technologies Institute to master digital marketing is what has helped me become an expert in the field. I’m now glad to talk about my time there and why I decided to start doing digital marketing.

1. Comprehensive Introduction with Expert Guidance An extensive introduction to the varied field of digital marketing could be the first step in ACTE’s digital marketing course. It may involve social media marketing, content production, SEO, email marketing, and other crucial elements with the help of experienced supervision.

2. Hands-On Practice for Practical Experience

Students may acquire practical experience in creating content strategies, researching advertising platforms, and creating social media campaigns through interactive projects. The knowledge that is learned can be applied right away thanks to this interactive learning strategy.

3. In-Depth Exploration for Deeper Understanding

The nuances of digital marketing may be covered in more detail in the course. In order to make better decisions, students could learn how to understand customer behaviour, assess marketing trends, and use analytics tools.

4. Industry-Relevant Tools for Practical Learning

Training on tools that are relevant to the industry, like Hootsuite, Canva, and Google Analytics, may be part of the ACTE programme. Acquiring knowledge of these instruments offers a practical comprehension of the technology employed by experts in their domain.

5. Expert-Led Insights and Best Practices

6. Case Studies and Practical Examples for Real-World Application

Case studies and real-world examples from the industry could be included in the course. By examining these actual situations, students may be better able to understand and implement successful digital marketing techniques.

7. Certifications and Practical Projects for Skill Application

After finishing, students may receive certificates and be given the chance to work on real-world projects. These efforts may function as hands-on implementations of acquired competencies, equipping them for authentic situations.

8. Continuous Support and Community Engagement

ACTE Technologies might promote community involvement and provide continuing assistance. This can entail having access to closed-door networks or discussion boards to continue learning and developing long after the course is over.

Navigating the Future of Digital Marketing

Enrolling in a digital marketing course at ACTE Technologies opens a gateway to understanding the multifaceted world of digital marketing. Students gain practical experience, access expert-led guidance, and have the opportunity to apply their learning in real-world scenarios. The comprehensive curriculum, alongside industry-relevant tools and continuous support, prepares individuals to excel in the ever-evolving field of digital marketing. For those eager to explore this dynamic domain, ACTE Technologies’ course offers an educational journey filled with insights, practical knowledge, and continuous growth opportunities.

[gurugramgoenkaschool]

Best Secondary School Near Me

Title: Exploring the Best Secondary Schools Near You: Nurturing Academic Excellence and Beyond

In the pursuit of academic excellence and holistic development, choosing the right secondary school for your child is a decision of paramount importance. With a myriad of options available, it's essential to consider not only academic prowess but also an institution's commitment to fostering well-rounded growth. In this article, we delve into the top secondary schools in your vicinity that have garnered reputations for providing exceptional education and shaping future leaders.

1. [GD Goenka Public School]: Cultivating Academic Excellence

Located conveniently in the heart of [Your Area], [School Name] has carved a niche for itself as a center of academic excellence. Its rigorous curriculum, complemented by experienced educators, aims to ignite a passion for learning and inquisitive thinking. With a focus on individualized attention, the school ensures that each student's unique talents are nurtured.

Beyond academics, [GD Goenka Public School] places emphasis on extracurricular activities, enabling students to explore their interests and develop essential life skills. From sports to arts and community service, the school offers a well-rounded education that shapes students into well-balanced individuals.

2. [GD Goenka Public School]: Empowering Through Innovation

Renowned for its innovative approach to education, stands as a beacon of modern learning methodologies. The integration of technology into the classroom enhances the learning experience and prepares students for the challenges of a rapidly evolving world. Project-based learning and interactive sessions encourage critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

At [GD Goenka Public School], holistic development is paramount. Alongside a robust academic curriculum, students engage in workshops, seminars, and mentorship programs that foster leadership qualities and a sense of responsibility. The school's commitment to nurturing both intellect and character sets it apart as a hub for holistic growth.

3. [GD Goenka Public School]: Fostering Global Citizenship

In an increasingly interconnected world, [GD Goenka School] takes the lead in nurturing global citizens. Its internationally recognized curriculum equips students with a deep understanding of global issues, diverse cultures, and languages. Through exchange programs and collaborative projects with schools abroad, students develop a global perspective from a young age.

Dedicated to producing well-informed and empathetic individuals, [GD Goenka Public School] places a strong emphasis on community service and social responsibility. By actively engaging in various community initiatives, students learn the value of giving back and making a positive impact on society.

4. [GD Goenka Public School]: Nurturing Creativity and Talent

For students with a passion for the arts, [GD Goenka School] emerges as a haven for creative expression. Its comprehensive arts program, coupled with a strong academic foundation, offers students the opportunity to excel in both fields. From music and theater to visual arts, the school celebrates and cultivates diverse talents.

Recognizing that creativity goes hand-in-hand with academic success, [GD Goenka Public School] encourages students to explore their passions fully. The school's supportive environment empowers young artists to thrive academically while pursuing their artistic dreams.

In conclusion, the best secondary schools near you are not merely institutions of education but also platforms for nurturing future leaders, critical thinkers, and compassionate individuals. As you embark on the journey of selecting a secondary school for your child, consider not only academic achievements but also the values, opportunities, and experiences that will contribute to their holistic development.

[ollie603]

Industry conversations - Eduard Chkolyan

In the fifth analysis of kinetic type I studied a video done by Eduard Chkolyan, the video an advertisement for a video-game world building engine, a futuristic theme was present in the video which symbolically represents the new technology being developed and advertised by Eduard's video. I sent Eduard the series of questions I had created before and he replied with the following:

Hey Ollie! Thanks! 1) Animated intro with kinetic type design was my first job, which I did in 2002. Now it is necessary in almost every project. 2) The complexity lies in the large number of operations. Automation does not give the desired result. 3) Just have experience. 4) Usually according to my perception and the rhythm of the music. If you don’t understand how to do it, turn on the right music and everything will work out. 5) Again, this is my experience. 6) Of course, there is a difference whether you make a video for Instagram or for a large outdoor screen, the text will be of different sizes, but as a rule, everything is more or less the same. 7) Sometimes I look at what others are doing, but this is not on purpose. I do not repeat what I saw, and if it looks like it is an accident. 8) I try not to do it in different languages, and if I have to, I use automation and ready-made effects. 9) I just prioritize and emphasize design. 10) There is always something to change. Will see. 11) Don't get hung up, fonts are only part of the job and all the parts are important. With best regards, Eduard Chkolyan

Evidence:

Reflection:

Eduard's passion for kinetic type shows itself throughout the work he does. It's not just a means of a job for him it truely fuels him as a design, I admire him for that. One part I found especially interesting was question 11, about what advice he could offer to someone starting out on kinetic type; this entire time while researching and understanding kinetic type, majority of my focus has been on the type itself (other aspects of designs analysed for deeper understanding of course) but seeing the suggestion to consider placement of shapes, grid use, illustrations and imagery wasn't at the forefront of my thinking process. While the project in question does revolve around type, I think it's important to consider the different visualisation techniques (listed above) I could use alongside my typography to enhance my work. Eduard also suggests that music helps him work, while on the surface I can see this as a fun way to answer the question, I think his answer brings up deeper philosophical ideologies involved in design. The music we listen to can determine our mood, if I were to create a poster for a preschool while listening to death metal, I might not create the most appropriate representation of that preschool. Therefore listening to the right music for the right project allows us (designers) to get into the right headspace for the work, quite literally a mental game. Eduard also believes that kinetic type will continue to evolve, we have yet to reach the limits of what a designer can achieve with kinetic type (this gives me hope for my future!).

[mendozawolf77]

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[theseventhoffrostfall]

Because we're discussing ship combat now, where do you fall on the line of "every ship should be mass produced in the exact same pattern" to "every ship is a unique work of art?"

I can see appeals to both, for the former standardization and uniformity could lead to easier analysis of combat performance and it's easy to implement changes across the board, alongside training. There's a reason the HMS Dreadnought led to ship uniformity after an era of trying whatever. It'd help tactically if all your units were closer to being interchangable as well where you could more easily make squadrons of different ship classes with an understanding each ship would meet a minimum level of effectiveness at its intended role.

But the latter could work if the ships are 40k levels of huge and the gun batteries or engine rooms are so massive that a change in design really doesn't affect you because it's not like you'll be moving up and down the ship either. You'll basically live and die (outside of going offshore) at your station and if you get reassigned, your new ship will still have the same general equipment, just a different layout or more/less engines or guns. With how long they take to make maybe you have regional styles or world orbital dockyards that take an entire generation to make a single ship that's very culturally in line (aesthetically wise with maybe slight differences in how many guns or engines) with the makers, maybe even populated only by that planet and sent off to the grand fleet almost as a sacrifice of their sons. You could have very espirit de corps style ships in that way, maybe the more aggressive worlds use heavy plating and cover them in as many short range powerful guns as they can to get right up in there like a Roman legion. Or many other ideas like that.

What's your take?

I think it's likely that a given starship will stay in service for quite a long period of time, even compared to modern naval ships, barring some odd factor like an inherent design necessity puts a ton of stress on components it's easier to build a new ship than replace, and/or new technology comes out that it's impossible to retrofit older ships with. So, overall in a multi-planet polity, you'd definitely see distinct ship makes and models, since engineering factors, standardization and so forth are still very much going to be a thing when rolling out new ships to either fill a need for numbers or take advantage of new technology, but over time it wouldn't surprise me for modifications and customization, both minor and major, to let the ship evolve into a more distinct entity. Especially since they're not relying on parts from a big central factory for repairs, just by engineering necessity; a shipyard would by necessity have to have facilities to fabricate parts to order on a given ship if provided the relevant technical data packet.

You can have a super-strict, regulation- and micromanagement-happy governing military body that totally prohibits any deviation on warships, but more likely, after a ship is rolled out you'd see "Okay, captain, your battleship must meet these given minimums of XYZ capabilities for R number of railguns and T number of lasers, the missiles fabricated in your onboard facilities must meet N standards, you must be able to maintain Q amount of acceleration for V length of time" and so forth. If anything, some militaries might embrace that because it means new iterations are constantly getting field-tested and disseminated throughout the fleet if they prove to be worth the cost.

I'm not sure about extreme modifications like that, if it means sacrificing what a ship is supposed to be able to do in its role, but if our notional fleet has a dedicated close-in assault ship, yeah I could absolutely see the planet of Ares 4 or whatever specializing in making and crewing those. Similarly, I tend to envision crewing a ship in more conventional terms than 40k days, but yes, planets are not states; for reasons ranging from logistics to having a clear home port for the crew all the way up to possibly sharing a language beyond the greater nation's lingua franca, single-planet crews would very much be the default.

This is all in the context of semi-coherent nations and regular militaries, too. For mercenary vessels, there would be extreme distinctiveness between ships (though I suspect that since they'd be more likely to work alone and couldn't predict their fleet composition when they don't, private ships are more likely to be well-rounded to some degree, and far more likely to be built capable of withdrawing than being all-ahead juggernaut warships.) And if this is a loose alliance of planets that comes together at need, yeah, nobody said shit if Syracuse's triremes were non-standard from Athens', ships would naturally be flavorful and varied

[digimonghostgame]

The Spider’s Lure 🕷🕸

Holograms, a new technology. In the near future, paranormal phenomena frequently occur. Humans began to refer to them as...Hologram Ghosts.

Dear Tumblr,

I've certainly seen better days than today, seeing as I very nearly became a Digimon's lunch!! I'll explain what led up to that insane situation...Rumors have been going around that a roboticist was building worker robots embedded with advanced AI to make the work of renovating a local mall easier. While showing off his machines and their automated work to a few buisnessmen, something abducted the group and the distant sounds of a creature feasting could be heard...neither the roboticist nor the buisnessmen have been heard from since...the first thing that sprung to my mind was that this could be the work of a Digimon. Little did I know that, very soon, I was about to discover the truth behind this rumor firsthand...

Earlier today, a woman calling herself Sonya Molena visited Hiro in his dorm room. She claimed to know his mother, who works abroad at a nonprofit organization that helps refugees. She knew a lot about Hiro's mother, even the fact that his mother knew about me! Hiro was inclined to believe her given all of that. She then told Hiro about an exhibit being held at a mall, The Menacing World of Insects. She asked Hiro to come visit the exhibit with her, and to invite Kiyo and Ruli to come along with them. Hiro agreed and it was shaping up to be a fun day! When everyone arrived at the mall though, things seemed a bit off...

We entered the mall through an emergency exit that led to an elevator. During the elevator ride, Ruli mentioned that the mall had closed a few years ago and that it was under renovation by worker robots. We started hearing faint breathing noises and saw huge, intricate webbing that looked like it was woven by a spider above our heads! Sonya kept complimenting us on our brains and talking about how this webbing was reminiscent of the neural network found in brains. I found this whole thing unsettling and told her this was creepy... and she thought my thinking was human-like, growing curious about how my brain worked.

Her odd obsession with brains was strange enough, but then she said the best way to evaluate the intelligence of a brain was to...e-eat it...it sent a shiver down my spine and we all gasped...then, out of nowhere, she started shapeshifting, becoming a huge, towering arachnid Digimon right in front of us, with a vicious stare and menacing teeth!! Angoramon chimed in with his Digimon expertise, identifying the Digimon as Archnemon, a Digimon capable of disguising itself as a human! It also possesses a high intelligence! A horde of Dokugumon then began to surround us at her command, putting us in mortal danger as these Digimon are virus Digimon with a deadly venom that can kill Digimon and humans instantly!! We started running away as Archnemon muttered she wanted us to show her our abilities...was this some sort of test...?

Kiyo and Jellymon ran to a nearby doorway leading to the emergency stairs, splitting away from us! They were instantly surrounded by more Dokugumon as we continued to flee!! Angoramon carried Ruli in his arms as he flew away with his ears, and Hiro and I were running alongside them! Unfortunately for us, a wood plank snapped underneath us as we ran, sending us falling to the depths of the mall below!! Ruli and Angoramon fled for their safety, leaving us all separated! Angoramon and Jellymon evolved to defend Kiyo and Ruli, as Hiro and I dusted ourselves off. Luckily for us, we broke our fall on some sandbags. We heard a distant voice call out for help, and as we followed it, we discovered a giant spider web with humans stuck to it!! A buisnessman tied to the web confirmed my fear, telling us a giant spider ate the heads of his colleagues!! The rumors were true, and it really was a Digimon causing these disappearances!! Worst of all, the victims were having their heads ripped off and their brains eaten!!! Hiro shuddered at the thought...before he had much time to dwell on it though, a group of Dokugumon charged at us!! We made a run for it, hoping we could lead them away from the people tied to the webs!

Hiro and I found ourselves surrounded again, and I evolved into Wezen Gammamon to clear the way! Tesla Jellymon and Kiyo noticed cameras and cellphones webbed to the walls while they fought more Dokugumon themselves. It turned out Archnemon was using these to create an array of displays, which showed the camera view from these devices from electricity running through her system of webs! It was almost like a real brain, receiving visual signals from eyes! She was monitoring us and watching our every move this entire time! Just as this realization was made, a Dokugumon landed on me, throwing Hiro off my back as it bit into me!! I wrestled with it, not feeling faint as it seemed to be holding back its venom...this was strange to me, but I didn't give it much thought before I shook the Dokugumon off me and turned back into Gammamon...Kiyo and Ruli ended up completely surrounded again, as Hiro and I heard a cry for help from above...they were definitely in danger!!

I evolved into Kaus Gammamon to find the source of the voice. As I landed on an upper floor of the mall, Hiro and I found ourselves surrounded yet again by a pack of Dokugumon! Unfortunately for us, they were done playing around, and they sprayed us with webbing!! I blacked out after the webbing hit me...I don't remember anything after that...that was, until I started hearing Hiro's voice shriek in panic...I started gaining more consciousness as I felt Archnemon’s hand touching the back of my head, and her vile breath hitting my face...I began processing the situation I was in, and became stricken with panic as I realized...SHE WAS ABOUT TO TEAR MY HEAD OFF AND EAT IT!!! I couldn't let this happen!! I had to protect Hiro, it was my duty to, as his little brother!! But to protect Hiro, I had to protect myself first...nothing else we tried made even the slightest dent in her Dokugumon army...and she had been devouring innocent people, decapitating them alive, all this time...someone had to put a stop to this...even if that someone had to be...

GULUS GAMMAMON!!! I gave into the darkness as a last ditch effort to save my friends and the other innocent people on Archnemon’s menu...she saw my transformation as nothing but a cherry on top of her meal...there was no redeeming a Digimon like her, no possibility of convincing her to change her ways. I told her to eat up and have her fill...and as she opened up her mouth, I punched my fist in it!! If she wanted something to eat, I'd give her something to eat!! I served her a Desdemona on a silver platter!!! The dark flames bellowing from my hand incinerated her from the inside out, leaving her crumbling away into digital dust...after her death, the webbing that tied everyone up shattered. Angoramon and Jellymon carried the gang to safety, lowering them to the ground floor of the mall. Hiro and I locked eyes as I stated "it's not time yet"...as for what I was referring to? I can't for the life of me remember...it seems the Gulus Gammamon side of me knows more than I do myself...

As the humans abducted by Archnemon were escorted out of the mall on stretchers by ambulance staff, Hiro received a message on his phone from his mother about her friend Sonya arriving in Japan soon, and that she'd like Hiro to show her around. It seemed Archnemon had impersonated the real Sonya. How did she manage to dig up so much information on Hiro? Now that she's dead, I guess we'll never know...I'm still exhausted from my stint as Gulus Gammamon today, on top of everything else that happened. Thankfully though, I had enough energy left after arriving home to Hiro's dorm room to write this. If things played out a little differently today, I might not have come home at all...it's a thought that scares me a lot. Also, what did I mean by "it's not time yet"? And why is the answer locked out of my brain when I'm not Gulus Gammamon? Perhaps I'll find out in due time...or maybe not. I seem to be at the will of my darker self on this one...I'm going to continue documenting my future adventures, but I think I've written enough tonight. I'm going to enjoy some champion before bed and thank the heavens I didn't get decapitated today...I suppose what doesn't kill you makes you stronger? That's one way to look at it I guess.

Yours truly, Gammamon