#unland

[aeridanus]

Was sorting through older sketchbooks and came across this first page from one of 2018′s books. I didn’t remember drawing this and had a good chuckle :D Man, that’s the only thing I miss about pre-covid times - all the sketching on the commuter trains.

[calygoart]

Kit and Mikey from the Unland actual play by The Apocalypse Players! That one's a real punch in the gut, but i still urge you all to check it out here

my sweet boys, i hope nothing bad ever happens to them...

[raininyourblackeyes]

Well, Salchow is at least consistent with destroying men today

[pathbend-blog]

To This Galactic Councel

That as After Being Covered bY Our Client

Just Now Introduced to "Earth"

It Wasn't What You Were Thinking

Please Don't Do That And This Sead and Some Soil

That Can Sustain Your Planets

A Rose 🌹

Line Goes to Space

[onedismay]

1 hour (+10 min.......) painting study of Altaaya, my favorite unlandable planet in Mass Effect. Reference screenshot on the right with codex included. Wonder what happened to her... She's so mysterious.

[sabakos]

The history of higher education prior to the latter half of the 20th century is the history of the diverse activities of enrichment and enlightenment for the aristocracy, typical in Europe of the unlanded gentry. These entertainments have been applied to a vary degree of success to the middle and lower classes. One might ask "what is education for" and get a response of "it is an end in itself" but human nature does not tolerate ends in themselves, so if you want a robust humanities tradition, what you really want to establish is a professional bureaucratic class that needs this higher level of educational attainment in literature and history and philosophy. But, one may then ask, what will you have these people do? Um...

[sunhazeheart]

While I understand that they had a lot of ground to cover in the show, I really wish they'd just lengthened the season so we could get move covered in the years between them. I could do this for so many characters, but one person that fascinates me is Alicent in the spaces between time skips.

For example, one thing would be thinking about what basically surrounded her in the days, weeks and months after Viserys announced that he intended to marry her. While I'm sure lots of superficial courtiers flocked to her looking to cozy up to the Queen-To-Be, but there's no way there wasn't also a lot of scorn from others, particularly other girls in court and power-hungry fathers, brothers, etc.

Before this, Alicent is of not practicular importance in court besides the fact that she is the close personal friend of the princess. Her father is Hand, yes, which garners lots of respect, but as far as I know he doesn't have much else besides the station that he's worked for. He's an unlanded second son, and with him having at least one son of his own, while the Hightowers are obviously one of the wealthiest families in Westeros, there would be limitations to her dowery and what else she brings to the table besides prestige and the general good graces of being a young pretty girl supposedly able to provide children. She's slightly removed from the main branch of the Hightower family which will continue down her cousin's line. I'm not saying she doesn't have prospects, BUT she's not exactly worth a King.

So I could see rumors quickly spreading around her about why the King chose her over a Velaryon, or another sister or daughter of a great lord. Honestly, I don't think anyone was thinking there even could be another option besides Laena. Maybe we just didn't see it, but I didn't get the impression of noble families trying to parade their women in front of him. Even with the knowledge Viserys basically has to marry again. If I'm not mistaken, up to this point, no Targaryen King or prince had married outside of the Targaryen or Velaryon families (besides Jocelyn Baratheon who was half Velaryon, and of course Maegor, but he's an outlier is several ways). So imagine the surprise of lords and ladies that young Alicent Hightower, of all people, managed to snag the King. 100% Servants and guards or other people in the Keep saw her in or entering/leaving the King's chambers. In episode 2, the second scene of them together it looks like they're sharing a meal. I would imagine rumors could swirl about her visits to the Viserys being more salacious than they were, and an interesting take could be almost like the reverse of Alicent and Larys talking about Rhaenyra years later in the gardens.

There's the cut scene of Rhaenyra appearing to scream and rage at Alicent directly after the announcement of Viserys' intent to marry her, which imo, completely understandable with the limited information and surprise that Rhaenyra was just dealt. And of course the next episodes showcases Rhaenyra's isolation from both her father and Alicent as her stepmother. But there are the stills of a scene of Rhaenyra helping Alicent dress for her royal wedding and appearing to wipe the blood from around her nails. A few different scenarios could have culminated in this happened, whether Viserys forced her to, as an attempt to reconnect the girls, or this was the first instance of Alicent reluctantly using her soon-to-be rank over Rhaenyra to force her to talk to her, or if Rhaenyra simply chose to etc etc.

But the reason why I bring this up is that in those two poor-ass quality screen caps, Rhaenyra doesn't seem overly angry or hostile. So many the girls had a slight reconciliation at that point? Maybe Alicent tried to explain to Rhaenyra that it was on her father's commands that she became close to the King? Who knows. But then things could turn back very angry and hurt on Rhaenyra's side if, lets say at the feast and celebrations after the wedding, Rhaenyra, who no longer has any friends in court and likely already began to keep to herself, were to begin to overhear the scandalous rumors that Alicent seduced Viserys and visited him in pretty finery as soon as the very night after Aemma's funeral. That could be what broke down again the tentative bridge they may have built and results in Rhaenyra rebuffing Alicent again and again like we see in Episode 3.

Also, how was Alicent when she first found out she was pregnant? She has no mother or really any female figure in her life to speak with her about such things and what to expect, besides the probably very misinformed and clinical maesters. She's very much a child forced to go through the strain and pain of pregnancy, as if the sad truth for most girls in this world. She would have witnessed time and time again Aemma's miscarriages and stillbirths, while not likely physically present at them, seeing the toil of the aftermath on her best friend and her parents would have been terrifying enough.

On top of that, no matter how much remorse and guilt Viserys expresses over what was done to Aemma, I don't think she or anyone could ever 100% believe that he would never put his desire to have children, specifically a son, over her life.

And while I picture her father putting a whole lot of pointless pressure on her for her child to be a boy, and no doubt Viserys as well, I could see her almost wanting it to be a girl. While they're apart, Alicent's personal loyalty and love I would think it still reaching out to Rhaenyra. She wants her friend back, she wants the only person that I believe ever truly loved her for her, besides maybe her own mother. I think that Alicent wouldn't want to take that last thing for Rhaenyra, which she knows how much it means to her.

I wonder how Alicent felt when Aegon was born, a boy and given the name of a conquerer. How she watched Viserys fawn and preen over his new son, while she felt disconnected by the child she never even wanted to have yet. Maybe she expects to feel the mother's love that all women are meant to feel when they first see their child, but when he's laid in her arms she just sees a screaming little babe who is just a point blank reminder of her girlhood being gone and all the different expectations being mounted on her and any child that she has. Like she says later, she'd like to be Lady Alicent, but everyone only sees her at the Queen and now as the Prince's mother.

[woundgallery]

Doris Salcedo, Unland, 1995-1998

[destroyerofnations92]

The Self-Induced Tragedy of the Green Queen

Was it terrible what happened to Alicent? Yes, of course. A girl of six-and-ten being forced to wed a man old enough to be her father is horrendous and Viserys is a fucking cockroach for not seeing through her father’s mummers’ play, or at least ignoring it.  However, every action Alicent took since was her own.

Rhaenyra turning her back on the lady’s maid that crawled into her mother’s bed not even six moons after she died was more than justified, and Alicent’s woe me routine was annoying as fuck. She raised a rapist, pedophile and child abuser in Aegon, ignored Heleana, raised another rapist in Aemond, who also became a war criminal of unseen proportions, and didn’t raise Dearon at all. Once more I will acknowledge Viserys’ role in all of this because he was clearly a absent father to all of them as well, and thus is equally to blame.

I feel for how Alicent started out because she was used as a bargaining chip by her ambitious upstart father, much like Cersei was used by Tywin. I have sympathy for both characters and how they were used by men, but both Cersei and Alicent gained agency over time. Alicent more than any. She was able to deny betrothals, sat on the small council, managed to attack the Princess of Dragonstone and not get punished, had her incel dog get off scot free for killing a anointed knight, etc. She was not without agency. Her own actions led to the deaths of everyone she claimed/pretended to love.

What Larys did was about his dysfunction, and was certainly sexual assault but why are Green and Alicent stans pretending that she couldn’t have called in the Kingsguard at any point during his nasty shit? She didn’t because she wanted his information and his allegiance. She hated what was happening but she still let this dude rub one out over her feet the very same day her husband died because she had something to gain. She wanted the upper hand over her father. That was her choice.

Screaming that we are all misogynists because we don’t “stan” the worst mother in the history of the Seven Kingdoms is a little weak. It’s a bit like screaming antisemitism every time someone criticizes Israel, or Islamophobia when one questions the human rights records of the Gulf states.

The fact is that everything went to shit the moment Viserys wed an Andal. Not even a regular Andal, his servant’s daughter. The daughter of a second son, who was an unlanded knight with no land or titles to his name.

The Targaryens are beholden to no man or god, hence why they wed brother-sister, aunt-nephew, uncle-niece, and cousin-cousin. The entire point of the Targaryens is that they are magical in nature. They have some sort of magic running through their veins that allows them to have dragon dreams, mount dragons and sometimes even be impervious to fire. At least the First Men had greensight and the ability to warg. Compared to the Dragonlords of Old Valyria and even the First Men, the Andals are lesser beings, quite plain in nature.

Yes, in real life the Targaryens would be inbred hillbillies but in-universe they are not. What they do makes sense in ASOIAF and the World of Westeros, and has kept them the sole dragonrider family alive. It is no coincidence that once they “tainted” their pure Valyrian bloodline it all went to shit.

All that said, I absolutely love Heleana, and she is much too good for the Greens. Also, I adore Olivia Cooke, who is hilarious as fuck, not to mention ridiculously talented and almost insultingly gorgeous.

[digitalagepulao]

Out of all the gods from the other lands, who did Wukong and Loki hated the most, like second to Odin who is in the first place of hated gods.

mmmm that's a complicated question shdbwhbdhd i'll answer but i need to put down a few caveats first

as deities, both Loki and Wukong don't have such strong emotions towards their fellow gods, mostly because when you live for so long, it's quite difficult to lock yourself into such a disparaging relationship. arguably Loki's own hatred for Odin came from the man's inability to change, and to walk all over any and everyone to get to his own goals.

deities with that kind of single-minded callous attitude are rare, and in fact very much GOW's own characterization of Odin. some scholars even postulate that Loki was a title not a name, and was even an aspect of Odin himself, as they share many traits in their attestations!

speaking for myself, i don't believe it is my place to point at any one deity from pantheons throughout the world and decide to put such characterization onto them. if i'm being honest, i'm not a personal fan of GOW characterizing Odin (and even Heimdall, for that matter) into such an unredeemable bastard, as i feel it kind of diminishes him as a deity, and painting "pantheon head" deities like Odin and Zeus is a common trope nowadays and i think writers could do better. smells of christian frustration projection to me.

and to further specify, Wukong as a figure from east asian folklore and pantheon, is tied to the concepts of reincarnation and loss and gain of merit. Deities may fall as demons as punishment, to then regain their status once the punishment is over, mortal beings may ascend as immortals and sages, etc. One's place in the pantheon is a fluid one rather than tied exclusively by birthright like in many western pantheons. Also, deities are expected not to fall trap of mortal emotions, given how those are subject to cause immense trouble. And Loki, well, he can't really afford to hold grudges given his very difficult position as an unlanded god and a aberration of time travel.

all this to say, Odin is in a veeery special place because he not only made Loki's and his family's life miserable, all the damage and hurt he caused festered in Loki because of his deep empathy, creating Fenris as a creature of vengence incarnate. however, if anyone came close to earning a badge of hatred from either of them, it would have to be Zeus and Athena. Athena for orchestrating Kratos' fall and manipulating him, and Zeus.... well, GOW Zeus isn't the most sympathetic guy out here. And Loki's foray in Greece when he first landed left quite a sour note on him. to say they didn't get along is, an understatement.

[ienianstories]

Welcome Home Didia Hollander

Welcome Home Didia Hollander is my fourth novel ever, written in a frenzy in rage for the comprehensive befuckening of The Owl House's third season by Disney. Welcome Home Didia Hollander is about an orcish mom whose teenage daughter goes missing without a trace for two weeks, before showing up at her door with a half dozen other teens, all looking like they went through a warzone to get there. The story explores themes of healing from trauma, found family, death, disability, queerness, escaping state violence, seeking asylum as a youth, and being a mother to more than you ever thought you could or would.

This is definitely my best work so far, and I recommend you start here if you're interested in exploring Ienia as a setting, or my writing in general. I wrote this story in 24 days in a fury, and I think it best expresses my rage, sorrow, and love about being an Indigenous person in the diaspora, displaced from my home, and unable to return. It is a song for those of us dislocated, growing up unlanded, and seeking a home after ours is taken away. I hope you enjoy it

[unlandinsurancebenefits]

Read the Unland Companies Good Advice blog to learn about essential fire prevention measures for idle and vacant properties to ensure the safety of the premises and minimize the risk of destructive fires.

[definitelynotarabbit]

Screw getting covered by moss and forgotten by the world. Take me where the sun dare not venture. Let me rest among the eternally starving. Feed my body to the unland of the ancients. I want to be overtaken by the hunger of a thousand things that do not care to know what I was. I want my bones to rest in the snow that knows no frost, that falls to trenches rather than mountains. Bury me under the infinite weight of the sky that swallows all color. Leave me to vanish under the living constellations as they speak to one another in a language unknowable.

[auntie-venom]

Will of Fate

Chapter One

Fandom: Star Wars: The Mandalorian

Story Rating: Explicit

Chapter Rating: Mature

Characters: Din Djarin x Original Female Character

Summary: There hasn’t been an unidentified spacecraft in the stratosphere of Arkadia in over two decades, let alone three in one day. Those skilled or mad enough to venture into the Chaos unguided were few and far between. That means no one has ever made it to Arkadia who wasn’t intending to be here.

Until today.

or

Din Djarin finds an unmapped planet filled with beings who have the same powers as the Child, but know nothing of the force or the Jedi.

Word Count - 3,091

Chapter Warnings: Language

Will of Fate Masterlist

A/N: Hello!

So I have not creatively written since 2007, so any feedback or Beta volunteers I would adore. Feel free to read on Ao3.

Inspired by the idea of "What if there were beings who used force like it was just another limb on their body and didn't revere it in such a binary fashion?”

Takes place after season one.

Chapter one

There hasn’t been an unidentified spacecraft in the stratosphere of Arkadia in over two decades, let alone three in one day. Those skilled or mad enough to venture into the Chaos unguided were few and far between. That means no one has ever made it to Arkadia who wasn’t intending to be here.

Until today.

The first ship was jarring enough to pull Eziriel from the manual diagnostic scan she was elbow-deep in. The southeastern quadrant beacon towers had been sending odd signals back to the capital city Helix over the last few weeks and she only trusted herself to figure out why. She was working in concentrated silence instead of the usual method of mumbling full conversations to troubleshoot a problem when the distant unfamiliar hum of a spacecraft caused her to freeze. There was a passing thought of how the noise must be a part of the brewing storm that was heading her direction, but the consistent rumbling noise shattered that thought.

With a graceless speed she rips away from the tangle of cables, unsafely dropping an exposed wire to dangle, trips over her soldering kit, and dashes through the beacon station. Leaving behind a wake of disarray, she throws open the door just in time to see a very non-Arkadian ship dip into the canyon west of her.

While she knows that it is terrible that her first thought isn’t for the well-being of those on the ship that were about to fly blind through the winding canyon, she is rather proud that her first thought isn’t spiraling panic but rather: The Cloak is down.

Her chest grows tight with anxious energy as she whips her hand up to press the button of the device wrapped snugly around her ear. With two dual-toned staccato chirps of greeting from the ear piece the familiar violet holographic visor extends across her eyes while she steps completely out of the beacon station. Glancing up as soon as her visor’s desktop was loaded she searched for the telltale patterned hexagon grid of The Cloak.

It was flickering.

The Cloak of Arkadia has been a fixture on the planet since before Eziriel was born. A planetary shielding system that originally paired a standard global deflector shield with a frequency that scrambled any navigation or communication unit that did not have the Arkadian hardware installed in it. It was clever, but fifteen standard years ago Eziriel, in all her youthful arrogance, fought to get the approval to improve upon it because she was more clever. Implementing an advanced holographic projection technology that she had been perfecting since she was a child, she created the additional terra holo projection that covered the entire planet in a holographic camouflage. Those from the stratosphere saw thick storms, raging seas, unlandable terrain, and whatever else to create the facade of the most inhospitable planet to land on as possible. Those planetside were completely unaffected by her addition to The Cloak. The citizens knew it was there and that they could view the backside of it through a specific lens setting, but after the first few years the spectacle of it wore off and citizens more or less ignored its presence. These defenses have unfailingly kept Arkadia protected from unwanted guests for centuries.

Until now.

Shifting her focus to the unknown ship she watches as it maneuvers through the towering pillars of rock formations that run throughout the dangerous canyon, rather well for being unguided she internally admits to herself. Ga’ladora’s Canyon is often used as a proving ground for the local pilots. The geologic wonder of the colossal pillars for miles was just the sort of thing young pilots took as a personal challenge. They claim it is a way to show off all the skills they learned at the academy and how focused their Will was, but it was just a glorified unsanctioned race for bragging rights at the local cantinas. The current ship was going nowhere near the speeds in which those races were held, but it was still going at a pace that would cause death if the pilot mishandled a turn.

“CHI-CHI, The Cloak of Arkadia seems to be glitching. Shift the beacon towers to emergency power mode and run a full system scan to gather analytics on the beacon points to see if you can sniff out the problem,” she commands into the ear piece she nearly always has on her.

“Well, hello to you too, mother dearest. I’m lovely this evening, thank you for asking,” the bored pretentious voice responds unhelpfully and she audibly groans.

It seems the recent code deployment of, what she considers, cleverly titled program “Manners Maketh Machine” was blending with the sarcasm of the Artificial Intelligence swimmingly. She knows allowing CHI to learn and grow from interactions with organics was controversial and going to be a risk, but she honestly loves that they started developing wit and a personality. However, this is a more serious matter than they usually dealt with and if it weren’t for the whirling icon in the corner of her visor informing her CHI was following her orders, a feature she developed immediately after she noticed the AI’s growing love for banter, she was about to uncharacteristically pull rank on them.

“My darling progeny, this is a threat level ‘kriffed’ if you hadn’t clocked the unidentified ship currently, and successfully, weaving through Ga’ladora’s Canyon.” She glances at the preliminary readings that her visor calculated off of the ship while she makes her way closer to the edge of the ravine to get a better vantage point. She was lucky that the Ga’ladora Beacon Station was at the highest point of the canyon. If she wanted she could easily run inside to climb the winding staircase to get an even better vantage from the top of the tower, but she did not want to lose sight of the unknown ship.

Without looking away from the ship she crosses her right arm in front of her, moves her left fist over her bracer and opens her fingers wide bringing up a holographic screen that hovers around her forearm. While the trajectory, speed, and predicted maneuvers were very useful in her visor, the HolOmni would be able to show her the who, what, where of this ship.

“Would you kindly tell His Almighty of the current situation?” She asks.-

And she wonders where CHI developed the snark.

She keeps her visor locked on the ship letting CHI get as many readings as possible until it moves so far east between the stone pillars she can no longer see it. She checks her HolOmni to see if she got enough readings to track it and if she can find out its origins. The storm rumbles closer in a threatening reminder to Eziriel that it’s about to get messier.

An unremarkable gunship. Well, at least to her. Specifically a ST-70 class Razor Crest M-111, and a pretty old model at that, according to the files CHI pulled. Ezirial had very little interest in ships outside her own planet’s fleet. Unless they offer tech better than hers, she doesn’t bother beyond a rudimentary glance at the specs to make sure there isn’t better tech in the galaxy. There usually isn’t.

Once she realizes that this ship is unregistered and without a transponder beacon she has CHI pull any of the New Republic and Imperial files that they can find on any recent encounters with an ST-70 Assault Ship: docking records, infringements, planetary access requests, etc. She could have CHI comb as deep as possible for any mention of this specific ship in any digital file on the holonet, but she doesn’t have the time right now. All she learns is that this is a Republic Era model, colloquially known as a “Razor Crest” and that one of these models was currently a ship of interest to both the Empire and the New Republic, both for classified reasons that she doesn’t have time to dig up.

“King Amarian is in the quarterly meeting with the Agricultural Council. He says he is putting the Enforcers and Guardians on standby for your command but has full faith in you to scout any threats before you do something reckless.” CHI brings up the digital message on her HolOmni that documents the order and has Amarian’s digital seal. Eziriel smirks at the fact that there was a “don’t be stupid” digitally scrawled in his handwriting along with a crude childishly drawing of a face with a tongue sticking out at the bottom of the official document. Future historians will love that. “It seems your brother has more faith in the skills you picked up from your failed attempt at becoming an Infiltrator than I do.”

She snorts at the supposed insult and looks up to then breathe a sigh of relief at seeing that the emergency power of the beacon towers had kicked in and that The Cloak of Arkadia was no longer glitching and was a steady glow once more. The grip that anxiety has on her chest loosens slightly. Now the only problem to deal with was the mystery ship. She should be able to triangulate the location of the ship using the beacon towers easily. She punches the air in a small celebration of her saving the planet with her quick thinking. Maker, she is brilliant.

“I’ll have you know—“

She chokes on her reply when she instinctively ducks and throws her hands on her ears in alarm at a horrendous screeching noise overhead. The storm closing in had hidden the noise until it was upon her. A terrifying noise she had only ever heard in holovids: an Imperial TIE fighter. Even people who’ve never paid attention to ships know that one.

Fuck.

The ship screeches above the canyon at a much faster speed than the previous gunship, avoiding the stone pillars altogether. She lets out a curse and is about to issue CHI a command when she hears the faint distant screeching engine of another TIE fighter. Whipping her head in the direction of the noise behind her she sees a second fighter flying distantly above her and cutting perpendicularly across the path of the first two ships, not at all in the same direction. Thank the stars, it’s above The Cloak! They should not be able to see or contact anything planet-side of The Cloak unless they have the proper programming installed in their comms, which they definitely shouldn’t have.

Eziriel watches the first TIE fighter move further east of her and then start shooting at something in the canyon beyond her line of sight; she assumes the gunship when she sees a return fire from a lower vantage point. She could only guess that the gunship was fleeing this TIE fighter and somehow ended up on her planet. The second fighter disappears up into the stratosphere as the storm clouds finally roll into her vicinity. The forest behind her rattles as the winds pick up and fat drops of rain starts to darken the ground around her feet. Pulling up the hood of her cloak she has CHI lock onto the remaining TIE fighter and see if they can lock a trace on it just in case it leaves her sight.

Her pulse is loud in her ears.

She’s never seen anyone from the Empire in person before. She has gotten her hands on Empire tech thanks to some of the Sanctuary Station traders, but she mostly knew the Empire as this grand villain of the galaxy that has brought horrors to everyone within it and that her planet was lucky to reside in the Chaos where the Empire had yet to master the navigation. She’s seen the vids of the atrocities they commit and just the thought that the Empire gained the skill to make it this far out into space makes her stomach lurch.

Pushing down the nausea she goes to send an update to Amarian and the definite need of Guardians and Enforcers when the fighter dips down into the canyon still firing its green lasers and just a second later she sees the fiery explosion before it even hits her ears.

Which one was it?

The sound wave of the explosions cuts through the storm and the initial plume of fire dissipates into the downpouring sky. Thunder is cracking, her trousers are soaked with rain, and the howling wind is a constant wall of noise around her while Eziriel waits with bated breath at any sign of a ship.

She can’t remember the last time she remained so still and quiet for an extended time.

There, right there, she hears something.

Then from the canyon rises the gunship.

Her knotted stomach loosens tremendously as she breathes out a sardonic huff of a laugh. She pulls her HolOmni into her view once more to scan the comm channels to see if the ship is trying to hail anybody. If this gunship is an enemy of the Empire then at least there is a commonality between them.

The ship is moving slower than it was earlier as it makes its way back west above the canyon. It seems to be barely puttering along.

Is that smoke?

As soon as the thought crosses her mind the ship suddenly plunges to its side while the telltale signs of smoke comes out of the left engine. She holds her breath as the gunship tries to correct itself and at first she thinks they’ve managed to sufficiently level off to get out of the canyon to land in the forest, but it isn’t enough. It sways unsteadily trying to avoid the pillars of stone while also attempting to make it to her side of the canyon. They are so close to making it out when an unseen branch of a stony pillar barely scrapes against the undercarriage, jarring the ship enough to send it dipping sideways back into the canyon. The pilot overcorrects the ship back up only to catch the right wing in another pillar and it sends the ship spinning towards the side of the canyon.

The crash is quieter than she expects.

No explosions, rockslides, or crumbling stone pillars, just a prolonged noise of scraping and crunching metal. Eziriel runs to her speeder bike, kicks it to life, and makes her away along the cliffside towards the downed ship.

By this point the sun was completely gone for the day, the three moons were hidden by tumultuous clouds, and the forest’s bioluminescent organisms were hidden by the horrid weather. All that was lighting her way was the dinky headlight of her speeder and this late summer lightning storm. She takes a moment to open her mind and cast her Will out to the environment around her to help navigate through the poor conditions. Her senses open up to the life around her and she uses it to keep her speeder on the path of least resistance.

She makes it to the outcrop that stretches above the crash site as quickly as she can and hops off the speeder to carefully lean over the side to assess the situation. The ship didn’t make it to the canyon floor but instead had wedged itself canted to the right between two stone pillars and the canyon’s wall hundreds of feet above the sharp rocky bottom and, luckily, only about fifty feet below the cliffside she stood on. She takes a moment to watch the ship to make sure it is staying put where it has ended up. She doesn’t want to take a chance of trying to help someone only for all of them to fall to a sharp death. She has to think this through rationally rather than her usual approach of impulsiveness that mostly relied on luck and chance to be successful.

She enables the infrared in her visor to get a headcount of passengers. At this distance she will only be able to get the heat signatures and won’t be able to get a read on their vital signs to determine if someone is injured. Hopefully when she gets closer she will get a more thorough reading.

She spots two heat signatures in what she assumes is the cockpit of the gunship. One the size of an unmoving humanoid adult and the other tiny. Too tiny to determine whether this was a small species of sentient being, a pet, or a baby. She doesn’t know if it is Fate’s Will speaking the truth to her or if it’s just such a horrible thought that it just can not escape her brain but the thought played in a loop: a child. She grits her teeth at even the thought of the Empire endangering a child.

Bastards.

She would normally be able to go down with only her Will as assistance, but it would be too far too difficult for her to Will someone back up. Using her Will acrobatically wasn’t quite her strong suit and she didn’t want to test her limits on a cliffside in the middle of a storm. That would fall under the “don’t be stupid” rule that Amarian explicitly commanded of her. She bet that boarding an unknown ship that crash landed onto her planet with no back up besides a sarcastic AI would also fall under that rule, but she is gonna pretend that it isn’t.

She turns around and maneuvers the speeder in a way to utilize the attached winch at the back into a makeshift belayer and the front winch as a counter balance around a grand tree. She makes sure to triple check the security of the metal cable around the tree, she doesn’t want any chance of making this disaster worse.

The thunder that was accompanying the ongoing lightning booms louder in a reminder that she is tempting fate being connected to so much metal surrounded by tall trees. Syncing the winch to her HolOmni she then digs in the speeder’s saddle bag for any other useful equipment and was lucky enough to find a glowrod. Flicking on the light to bathe the surrounding area with a warm light she grabs the end of the winch cable and makes her way to the cliff’s edge to look upon the unknown ship she was risking her life for. She takes a calming breath and begins her descent while her father’s words from long ago ring in her head.

A hand held out in kindness is never the wrong decision.

Chapter Two >>

[bikepackinguk]

Day One Hundred and Four

Well rested and up at 7am this morning in a pleasantly sheltered patch of trees a little outside of Wareham, it's time for another day at it!

On to the road, it's an easy start to the day with a gentle roll over the River Frome and through the nice little town of Wareham.

The place still seems to be in the process of waking up currently, and the streets are nice and quiet as I ride through and out over the River Piddle or Trent.

Rather than getting the overpriced ferry down at Shell Bay, I'm tracking around the bay and heading up the A351, which has a nice compliment of cyclable pathways running up past the busy dual carriageway junctions and into Upton.

A bice long run of road down through Hamworthy brings me back to the waterside once more to the nice quayside down at Poole.

It's now time for a stretch of riding that I've been looking forward to since seeing its potential coming up in the map, with many decent flat miles ahead of waterside riding. Let's get to it!

Around Poole Quay and past the harbourside, the trail leada on through Baiter Park with the water lapping up right next to the paving.

The path rolls past the boating lake before a short leg through some busy roads, before dropping dowj back onto the shore road.

I follow the road out for a loop around Sandbanks and past the ferry terminal, before heading back and turning off to hit the beach.

Ahead is a beautiful long run of promenade next to the lovely sandy beach, running for miles below Bournemouth's pretty cliffsides.

The day is a little grey still which is keeping tue seaside a bit quieter so far, which means fewer pedestrians to navigate around as I enjoy a nice gentle flat ride around the beach.

It's a lovely bit of riding as I roll up and around Bournemouth Pier and onwards along the full run of promenade up to the far edge of Southbourne, where I pick back up with NCN Route 2 as it heads up over the River Stour and in through Christchurch.

The town is quite busier than the beach today, so I keep at the trail as it heads out around some nice trails through Stanpit Marsh and then up along the side of the River Mude.

Past some busy road junctions, the route does a good job of keeping out of traffic is it twists through some back roads and out into the countryside once more.

It's time for another unland diversion here with a bit that I've been looking forward to as Route 2 heads up into the beautiful woodlands and moors or the New Forest.

After meandering through the roads here, the route heads past Holmsley and hits the offroad trails through open land filled with horses and cattle roaming freely.

The terrain isn't ideal for my loaded touring bike, but I'm setting a gentle pace and ensuring the bumps and rocks aren't too much of a hazard.

The route heada down some lovely forested trails and along a lovely old rail line before swinging into Brockenhurst.

Even the more urban parts of New Forest are amazing to see, as horses and donkeys roam the streets here and do not give one single damn about the flowing traffic.

With a bemused smile on my face, I roll through and out of town and back to the trails, where I have to navigate through another herd of horses.

I also catch sight of an elusive grass snake speeding out of my way, which causes a laugh of joy. They're an animal I've loved since I was a child and seeing one is a highlight of the entire trip.

Slowly making my way along the stoney trail, the route through the forests lead out past the campsite at Denny Wood and onto the road across the wide open moors. There's a good bit of crosswind blowing along here, but the cycle route soon turns once again to set it at my back.

Past more moorlands and patches of woods, the route heads past a busy bypass and into the edges of Applemore with a convenietly placed supermarket for me to stop off at.

With the day getting in and a long urban stretch ahead, it looks like a good position to settle up for the day!

It's been a very enjoyable run today and the terrain is getting so much easier to tackle now I'm out of the real tough hills and cliffs if the West Country. A check of the map suggests that I may only be around 400 or so miles from the end of my ride now, which is a scarily short distance considering how far I've come! We'll see how the rest of the week unfurls!

TTFN!