#venice 75

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

i spent all morning looking for the cheapest ways to get to venice next monday and i feel like i've cracked the code or something i think i got it

[animusrox]

TOP 10

Past Lives

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Poor Things

Oppenheimer

Barbie

BlackBerry

The Holdovers

The Iron Claw

Killers of the Flower Moon

MY LETTERBOXD Grade A 11.    The Killer 12.    Beau Is Afraid 13.    Dream Scenario 14.    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 15.    Godzilla Minus One 16.    American Fiction 17.    They Cloned Tyrone 18.     Evil Dead Rise 19.    Eileen 20.    The Artifice Girl 21.   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 22.    Talk to Me 23.    Reality 24.    Leave the World Behind 25.    A Thousand and One 26.    Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One 27.    Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. 28.    Theater Camp 29.   Carmen 30.    Merry Little Batman 31.    Priscilla 32.    Society of the Snow 33.    Infinity Pool 34.    Enys Men 35.    Sanctuary 36.    Rye Lane 37.    Skinamarink 38.    Monster 39.    Anatomy of a Fall 40.    Landscape with Invisible Hand 41.    Reptile 42.    Sisu 43.    Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game 44.    No One Will Save You 45.    Tetris 46.    May December 47.    The Zone of Interest 48.    V/H/S/85 49.    Dumb Money 50.    El Conde 51.    Arnold 52.    Maestro 53.    Napoleon 54.    20 Days in Mariupol 55.    Influencer 56.    The Creator 57.    Origin 58.    Thanksgiving 59.    Next Goal Wins 60.    The Boy and the Heron 61.    Bottoms 62.    Wonka

[Press Keep Reading For The Full Graded List]

Grade B

63.   God Is a Bullet 64.    No Hard Feelings 65.    Joy Ride 66.    Fair Play 67.     Cocaine Bear 68.    NYAD 69.    Asteroid City 70.    Nowhere 71.    The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster 72.    Divinity 73.    The Equalizer 3 74.    The Last Voyage of the Demeter 75.    Venus 76.    Butcher’s Crossing 77.    Somewhere in Queens 78.    The Persian Version 79.    Boston Strangler 80.    Polite Society 81.    Miguel Wants to Fight 82.    The Color Purple 83.    The Royal Hotel 84.    Saw X 85.    All of Us Strangers 86.    Fallen Leaves 87.    Ferrari 88.    Elemental 89.    Peter Pan & Wendy 90.    Renfield 91.    Cat Person 92.    Scream VI 93.    The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes 94.    BS High 95.    Blue Beetle 96.    Huesera: The Bone Woman 97.    When Evil Lurks 98.    Dark Harvest 99.    A Good Person 100.    Final Cut 101.    Knock at the Cabin 102.    Quiz Lady 103.    Leo 104.    Air 105.    The Super Mario Bros. Movie 106.    Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham 107.    John Wick: Chapter 4 108.    Beaten to Death 109.    The Wrath of Becky 110.    Passages 111.    Transformers: Rise of the Beasts 112.    Gran Turismo 113.    65 114.    Sick 115.    Sister Death 116.    The Blackening 117.    Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain 118.    Flamin’ Hot 119.    Nimona 120.    Cobweb 121.    Totally Killer 122.    What’s Love Got to Do with It? 123.     Sharper 124.    Unseen 125.    Dunki 126.    Bird Box Barcelona 127.    The Marvels 128.    Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Grade C

129.   Wildflower 130.    Freelance 131.    M3GAN 132.    Strays 133.    Sympathy for the Devil 134.    Creed III 135.    Chevalier 136.    The Marsh King’s Daughter 137.    A Haunting in Venice 138.    The Little Mermaid 139.    Silent Night 140.    Master Gardener 141.    The Flash 142.    Fast X 143.    The Pope’s Exorcist 144.    Saltburn 145.    Kandahar 146.    Stand 147.    Plane 148.   Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 149.    Fingernails 150.    Quicksand 151.    Fool’s Paradise 152.    Migration 153.    Rustin 154.    The Covenant 155.    Good Burger 2 156.    The Pod Generation 157.    Alice, Darling 158.    Insidious: The Red Door 159.    Missing 160.    Shotgun Wedding 161.    You Hurt My Feelings 162.    The Boogeyman 163.    Showing Up 164.    Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 165.    Champions 166.    Consecration 167.    The Nun II 168.    Biosphere 169.    House Party 170.    The Exorcist: Believer 171.    Big George Foreman 172.    Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 173.    Children of the Corn 174.    The Beanie Bubble 175.    Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Grade F

176.    Anyone But You 177.    Marlowe 178.    Paint 179.    Extraction 2 180.    It Lives Inside 181.    Deliver Us 182.    Trolls Band Together 183.    Finestkind 184.    Corner Office 185.    Wish 186.    Prisoner’s Daughter 187.    Pain Hustlers 188.    Foe 189.    The Mother 190.    Old Dads 191.    Ghosted 192.    Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken 193.    Haunted Mansion 194.    Mafia Mamma 195.    Five Nights at Freddy’s 196.    The Machine 197.    Justice League: Warworld 198.    We Have a Ghost 199.    What Comes Around 200.    Legion of Super-Heroes 201.    The Boys in the Boat 202.    Attachment 203.    Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre 204.    About My Father 205.    You People 206.    Meg 2: The Trench 207.    Pathaan 208.    Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire 209.    Assassin 210.    Dalíland 211.    Vacation Friends 2

Bottom 10

212.    Sound of Freedom 213.    Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 214.    When You Finish Saving The World 215.    Heart of Stone 216.    Family Switch 217.    Expend4bles 218.    Sweetwater 219.    Hypnotic 220.    80 for Brady 221.    Spinning Gold

[huariqueje]

Untitled , Venice 2 - Anna Krammig , 2023.

German , b. 1981 -

Oil on canvas , 100 x 75 cm.

[v-akarai]

References in Servamp

Arabian mythology

Jinn. Ch. 16

Greek mythology

Elpis. Ch. 75

Moirai. Ch. 108

Pandora. Ch. 130

Pygmalion. Ch. 123

Pandora's Box. Ch. 97

Japanese mythology

Gashadokuro. Ch. 129

Kitsune. Ch. 3

Raijin. Ch. 85

Norse mythology

Baldr. Ch. 39

Bifröst. Ch. 88

Brunhild. Ch. 88

Fimbulwinter. Ch. 40

Freya. Ch. 65

Frey. Ch. 131

Gleipnir. Ch. 101

Hati. Ch. 91, 131

Hod. Ch. 39

Hliðskjálf. Ch. 96

Idunn. Ch. 65

Loki. Ch. 15

Mimir. Ch. 29

Mjölnir. Ch. 53

Ragnarök. Ch. 101, 122, 131

Sigurd. Ch. 101

Thor. Ch. 41

Yggdrasil. Ch. 42

Biblical references

Abel. Ch. 8

Adam. Ch. 128

Boaz and Jachin. Ch. 42

Eden. Ch. 21

Eve. Ch. 1

John the Baptist. Ch.122

Lucifer. Ch. 135

Nod. Ch. 29, events

Hinduism

Asura. Ch. 57.5, 89.

Tarot

The Fool - Mahiru. Ch. 50

I. The Magician – Night trio. Ch. 41

II. The High Priestess – Mikuni. Ch. 42

V. The Hierophant - Shuhei. Ch. 77

X. Wheel of Fortune - Junichiro. Ch. 53

XII. The Hanged Man - Tsurugi. Ch. 50

XV. The Devil – Shamrock. Ch. 72

XVI. The Tower - Touma. Ch. 47

XVII. The Star - Iduna. Ch. 73

XVIII. The Moon - Yumikage. Ch. 69

XX. Judgement - Mikuni. Ch. 144

Literary references

 "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" Lewis Carroll. Ch. 3, 4, 7, 19, 98, 122. Misono, Lily, Dodo, Mitsuki, Yamane, Hattori, Mikuni, Bad B and Good B.

"As You Like It" William Shakespeare. Ch. 10, 38.5. Mikuni's spell.

"My Fair Lady" English nursery rhyme. Ch. 10 Mikuni's spell.

"Dracula" Bram Stoker. Ch. 12, 30. Hugh.

"Romeo and Juliet" William Shakespeare. Ch. 23, 34. Hyde, Ophelia.

"Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Ch. 29 Johannes.

"Through the Looking-Glass" Lewis Carroll. Ch. 29, events. Mikuni, Johannes.

"Julius Caesar" William Shakespeare. Ch. 23, 84. Hyde.

"Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" Robert Stevenson. Ch. 23, 37. Hyde, Licht.

"Macbeth" William Shakespeare. Ch. 24, 31. Kuro, Saint Germain, Mahiru.

"Night on the Galactic Railroad" Kenji Miyazawa. Ch. 26, 142. Higan, Tsubaki.

"The Little Prince" Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Ch 30, 67. Kuro, Mahiru, Sloth demon, Gear, probably Jeje.

"Hamlet" William Shakespeare. Ch. 33, 34. Hyde, Ophelia.

"The Phantom of the Opera" Gaston Leroux. Ch. 36 Licht and Hyde technique.

"Peter and Wendy" James Barry. Ch. 44, 56, 74. Tsurugi, Touma, Mahiru.

"Ring a Ring o' Roses" nursery rhyme. Ch. 53 Junichiro's spell.

“Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens” James Barry. Ch. 53, 75. Tsurugi, Touma.

"Death in Venice" Thomas Mann. Ch. 55 Gilbert technique.

"Total Eclipse" a play by Christopher Hampton. Ch. 55 Rayscent's technique.

"The Morning of the Last Farewell" Kenji Miyazawa. Ch. 57.5 Tsubaki.

"Spring and Asura" Kenji Miyazawa. Ch. 57.5 Tsubaki.

"The Catcher in the Rye" Jerome Salinger. Ch. 62 Shuhei.

"Four and Twenty Blackbirds" Agatha Christie. Ch. 62 Shuhei's spell.

"Metamorphosis" Franz Kafka. Ch. 62 Shamrock technique.

“The Nighhawk's Star” Kenji Miyazawa. Ch. 62, 76. Shamrock technique.

"Rock-a-bye Baby" an English lullaby. Ch. 70 Touma's spell.

“Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein” lullaby. Ch. 70 Touma's spell.

"Who Killed Cock Robin" an English nursery rhyme. Ch. 70 Yumikage's spell.

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" Lyman Frank Baum. Ch. 70, 88. Tsukimitsu brothers’ spells.

"Daddy-Long-Legs" Jean Webster. Ch. 74. Dark Night Trio, Touma.

"King Lear" William Shakespeare. Ch. 86. Hyde.

"The House of the Sleeping Beauties" Yasunari Kawabata. Ch. 86. Iori.

"The Divine Comedy" Dante Alighieri. Ch. 118, 120, 121. Niccolo, Ildio, Gluttony demon.

“A Brute's Love” (人でなしの恋) Edogawa Rampo. Ch. 122 Mikuni, Lily.

"Coppelia" ballet Leo Delibes. Chapter 122 Mikuni, Lily.

"Salome" Oscar Wilde. Ch. 122 Mikuni, Lily.

"Turandot" opera by Giacomo Puccini based on the play by Carlo Gozzi. Ch. 129, 136. Lily.

"The Tempest" William Shakespeare. Ch. 131. Licht and Hyde.

"The Old Man and the Sea" Ernest Hemingway. Ch. 134 Hugh.

"Flowers for Algernon" Daniel Keyes. Ch. 135 Hugh.

"Jane Eyre" Charlotte Brontë. Ch. 136. Hokaze.

"Madama Butterfly" opera by Giacomo Puccini. Ch. 136. Lily.

"Hansel and Gretel" the Brothers Grimm. Ch. 140. Faust and Otogiri.

Music

"Für Elise" by Ludwig van Beethoven. Ch. 34

"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by Johann Sebastian Bach. Ch. 125

Sonata No. 17 "Tempest" by Ludwig van Beethoven. Ch. 131

Movies

"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946). Ch. 131

"Life is Beautiful" (1997). Ch. 131

I believe this list can be expanded. Somewhere I’ve written only chaps when some reference was mentioned for the first time and omitted all further mentions.

Special thanks to hello-vampire-kitty, joydoesathing and passmeabook, because some works wouldn’t be included in the list without their observations.

[armandposting]

okay I've gotten about halfway through, which I think actually covers most of the sexual violence. i intend to come back for the second half in a reblog of this post, as I can't remember for sure if there's more sexual violence there and either way want to mark the particularly disturbing physical violence in the second half.

page numbers for sexual and physical violence in The Vampire Armand

using Ballatine Books mass market paperback, first edition (2000). I've used both page and chapter numbers so hopefully this is somewhat usable even with other copies. if you want to just blanket avoid the worst of the sexual stuff, I'd advise just skipping chapters 2-5, although you will miss most of the Venice years by doing this.

use notes:

if you don't want to know anything of what happens, just use the page numbers and don't read the descriptions. the descriptions specify what happens in each scene I've marked. I've tried to balance accurately covering everything that happens so people can effectively use the descriptions as a risk assessment without going into too much detail.

sex scenes in this book tend to be pretty esoterically described with a lot of flowery euphemisms, though to an adult reader it's clear what's happening. i have used the word rape to describe various sex acts occurring even when armand doesnt understand exactly what's happening or is enjoying it. I havent specified which sex acts are happening in these notes.

during the Venice years, armand sleeps in marius's bed and is frequently held and kissed by him, but I haven't marked all mentions of this, only times when sex acts or particularly erotic blood sharing is involved.

the other violence tends to be more graphic/directly described than the sex and I've noted those scenes as well.

to avoid confusion I've referred to armand as "armand" throughout, even though he doesn't get that name until later in the book.

armand is about 15 when marius first buys him and about 17 by chapter 4. he's turned later in his 17th year. most of the sex happens between these two events, the majority in chapter 4. 

the page numbers do not necessarily pick up every time that armand thinks about these things happening to him in passing or their impacts on him, so even skipping all of these pages is not going to be completely trigger-free.

chapter 2, pages 29-35: description of armand first being sold after his abduction from Kiev, slightly more descriptive than what's told in the show. we're told that he's raped, beaten, and eventually begins to refuse food and drink, but it's not described in detail, except for a brief description of other boys in the brothel molesting him. 36-37: marius takes armand to his house and bathes him. he rapes armand in the tub. 51-52: marius rapes armand.

chapter 3, page 66: marius and armand are intimate, unclear whether sex occurs or if it's particularly charged blood sharing. 67-71: armand tries to offer sex to marius, they share blood several times. 73: more blood sharing, only briefly described.

chapter 4, pages 74-75: marius drops armand off at a brothel so that he can learn about sex. multiple sex acts between armand and the sex workers are briefly described. 76: after marius picks armand up again, he lets armand mimic some of the things from the brothel on him. they share blood. 78-79: marius drops armand off at another brothel, this time with boys and eunuchs. multiple sex acts are described. 80-82: armand "lets himself be seduced" by an englishman at least twice his age, they have sex and the englishman threatens to kill him. armand doesnt feel particularly threatened by this at the time and leaves. 83-86: upset by the experiences described above, armand goes to bianca, who is a friend of his, and they have sex. armand feels guilty and sees it as a "rape" and a "ravaging" but bianca participates and isn't upset about it. (note: bianca's age is never really clear to me; she's younger than marius appears to be but runs her own household.) 92-97: marius beats armand with a switch. armand pretends to enjoy it for a while to piss him off. marius only stops when armand is bleeding and thinks he won't be able to walk. marius then undresses armand and heals the wounds, hitting armand a few more times when he talks back. all of this is very sexually charged. marius eventually rapes him and they share blood. in my opinion the most upsetting scene in terms of sexual violence.

chapter 5, pages 114-131: this scene is kind of a doozy but I'll try to hit the main points. marius has brought armand along to kill a group of men who have been forcing bianca to poison people. the men hit on armand and try to give him gifts for sex. some of them start touching him before marius starts killing people. one of the men continues to come onto armand who starts to get increasingly upset. marius asks if armand will have sex with the man as his dying wish, unclear if he's joking. the last man alive asks for a kiss, armand, now extremely upset, kisses him on the cheek but the man turns his head to kiss his mouth. marius, after killing the last man, berates armand about the value of human life or whatever and kisses armand several times. 138-144 [this is split over the end of chapter 5 and the beginning of 6]: the englishman armand previously had sex with comes to the palazzo in a jealous rage and kills several of the other boys. some are noted to be as young as seven. armand fatally stabs the englishman and is wounded with his poisoned blades. I've ended the page numbers after the fight is over but armand continues to be dying from the poison for the rest of chapter 6 and 7.

chapter 8 is when armand is turned, but it's not particularly sexually charged for once.

nothing else of note up to chapter 10, which is where I'll pick up for part two.

[writing-for-life]

Round One/10, Poll

P. Craig Russell, artist #50

VS.

Charles Vess, artist #19

Two of the probably most beloved Sandman artists, so this will be a tough choice for many.

If you would like to refresh your memory:

P. Craig Russell: Fables & Reflections #50: “Distant Mirrors—Ramadan”, Endless Nights: “Death—Death and Venice”, The Dream Hunters

Charles Vess: Dream Country #19: “A Midsummer Nights’s Dream”, The Kindly Ones #62, The Wake #75: “The Tempest”

And remember, you are voting for your favourite version of Dream, not the particular storyline.

Who is your favourite and why? Let us know in the comments/reblogs. Share your thoughts about their art, your favourite panels from their issues, or even other art they created and help us turn this into an artist appreciation post.

Here’s the poll to vote for your favourite if you want to see them again (you can find the whole bracket and some additional info here, and feel free to check out previous matches via the tag #sandman march mania):

Event organisers: @writing-for-life and @tickldpnk8 (who also created the logo)

[icebluecyanide]

Alex and his anger in Scorpia (2005)

I decided to make a collection of all moments of anger (or lack thereof) from the book.

Alex had to know what had happened fourteen years ago. Discovering the truth about John Rider would be the same as finding out about himself. Because, if his father really had killed people for money, what did that make him? Alex was angry, unhappy … and confused. He had to find Scorpia, whatever it was. Scorpia would tell him what he needed to know. (p. 14)

The tiger was watching him. Alex had twisted round, his hands behind him, his legs bent sideways, in the act of standing up. The tiger's front paws were resting on the desk. Neither of them moved. Alex knew that the door was too far away. There was nowhere else to hide. A surge of anger flooded through him. He should never have come in here. He should have been more careful. (p. 66)

Bitter anger shivered through him. Was this the destiny that Yassen Gregorovich had promised him? Had he come to Venice simply for this? The sirens were still howling. The water had covered the first two steps and was already lapping at the third. Alex cursed, then took several deep breaths, hyperventilating. When he had forced as much air into his lungs as he thought they could take, he toppled over and plunged head first through the hole. (p. 75)

“You're not answering my question,” he said, trying not to get angry. Mrs Rothman seemed friendly enough but he already knew that she was very rich and very ruthless. He suspected that he would regret it if he got on the wrong side of her. (p. 128)

Alex felt hatred welling up inside him. It was stronger than anything he had ever experienced in his life. He wondered if it would be possible to live an ordinary life again one day. There seemed to be nowhere for him to go. Maybe it would be better for everyone if he just took one more step. He was already standing on the very edge. Why couldn’t he just let the night take him? (p. 186)

“We have chosen the one person in the world who - we think you'll agree - most deserves to die. It is someone you have every reason to despise, and we hope that your hatred and your anger will drive you on, removing any last doubts you may have." (p. 188)

“Why did you do it?” he demanded. His voice had become a whisper. He was trying to channel the hatred through him, to give him the strength to do what he had been sent here for. (p. 229)

“If you’re saying my father was so evil, what do you think that makes me?” Alex was trying to will himself to shoot. He had thought anger would give him strength, but he was more tired than angry. So now he searched for another way to persuade himself to pull the trigger. He was his father’s son. It was in his blood. (p. 231)

He held the gun steady. He let the hatred take him. And fired. (p. 232)

“I don’t hate you,” Alex said. It was true. He felt nothing. (p. 272)

It's interesting to see how Alex starts the book already angry (and confused) at MI6 for their lies/because of his inner conflict about his dad being a killer. Scorpia deliberately try to stoke that anger by sending him after Mrs Jones, but when she confronts him about his dad killing innocent people, he struggles to hold on to his hatred/anger (and we learn later that even when he pulls the trigger, he can't bring himself to aim at Mrs Jones). And in the aftermath of the failed assassination he's more numb and exhausted than anything else.

[harrietvane]

Perfume chat, because it's hot, summer's ending, and I'm of a mind to list out some of my favourite Hot Weather Perfumes. To be fair, once it gets above 30C/86F, I don't tend to wear scent, but all these I ones I could, and have worn in hot weather, and worth mentioning. Lot of citrus going on here, not much floral, and heavily leaning towards citrus cologne strenght (and away from big floral, gourmand, or sweet eaux de parfum). BYO gender, none of these are marketed specifically one way or another.

-Cédrat Enivrant (Atelier Cologne): the 'cedrat' here is not referring to cedar, but to the ur-citrus known in english as the Citron, aka the mighty Etrog. It's one of the original citrii from which all others spring: it's lumpy, bitter, like 60% rind, and doesn't care what you think. Cedrat Enivrant is a bitter cocktail cologne resembling a French 75 - which is gin and champagne - but dry AF. There's a mintiness, and a pine needle dryness as well. Starts off very high and tart, dries down herbal.

Paris-Deauville (Chanel): part of their Eaux de Chanel cologne-style lighter series, this is an orange/basil combo that stays fairly light and dry - the sweetness is from orange, but otherwise the addition of basil heart note keeps this summery and green. Starts off quite juicy, but 'dries' as it dries, ending in mostly sweet herbs, and the basil is unexpected. Light enough to be a splash bottle though, not a typical Chanel.

Blenheim Bouquet (Penhaligon's): despite going all-in on flashy, heavier things lately, Penhaligon's keeps the old BB on the shelf because I'm p sure it's still one of their best sellers: it's a classic for a reason. Despite listing notes of lemon, black pepper and pine, this comes off mainly with a 'clean pencil shavings' vibe on me, and it suits that freshly-sharpened pencil image. Lemony, sharp, dry, precise. if it was a person it would be Anton Lesser's character in Endeavour.

Melograno (Santa Maria Novella): I sought this out after seeing it on-screen in Casino Royale as one of Vesper Lynd's few belongings in Venice, and it did not disappoint. A warning: despite the name, if you go in expecting a syrupy bath and bodywork's style fruity pomegranate, or dislike things 'that smell like perfume' this perfume is not for you. There is very little, if any, fruit in Melograno, and I confess it's a surprise entry to a cologne-y summer list because it lists several flowers (and oakmoss! and patch!), BUT the reality of it on me is dry dry dryyyy. I have worn this in very hot weather, and the impression is a herbal soap in the cleanest italian bathroom that's ever existed, with a rigid linen handtowel, and some dried flowers in a bowl on the window.

Bergamotto di Positano (Floris): if you DID want fruit, but not syrup, Floris has you covered for orange and mandarin. It steers away from Body Shop fruit with marine notes, but don't let that dissuade you if you avoid CK One types: there's a softness to this from some ginger, green tea, and vanilla in the background. Never goes overly gourmand on me despite the fact that these are all edible things.

Ouarzazate/Series 3 (Comme des Garçons): whaaaaat, an incense in a summer list?? Adding it here as we can't have an entirely citrine list, and this makes the cut due to DRY. CdG did a little series on incense of various styles (the most infamous being Avignon, which does actually smell like a realistic in-use thurible, so hats off to them), and Ouarzazate is their desert incense vibe. It's clean in that dry sauna/spa room sort of way. It's the driest and woodiest of the 4 they did imho. Like walking into a shady, cool, dark wooden room when it's hot outside.

Le Pamplemousse (Miller Harris): MH perfumes divide into those made when Lyn Harris was the nose (interesting, lots of werird herbal combos), and those after she left (generally bigger and sweeter) - this is one of the former. Obviously grapefruit as a theme, which is always a nice bitter citrus for summer, this wears like a crisp white shirt. Despite mentioning things like rhubrarb, the notes are kept in strict order by rosemary, sage, and vetiver. The grapefuit fades as the herbs take over on drydown, manages to evoke clean laundry with no musk. (Bonus points: I have also loved Le Petit Grain from the same house for its twiggy orange tree bundle vibes, but it's discontinued)

Budget options: some countries get great sampling or decanting services (not mine, booooo), and getting 10mls of the above might be easier for you than me, but if not: here's some you can get for a lot less cash but still give you quality-

Vetiver Pamplemousse (Zara): done by theee Jo Malone, so that gives you an idea of the vibe (light, approachable). It's grapefruit, tangerine, and vetiver. Vetiver keeps it dry, quite linear development. Might be slightly 'spicier' than the MH Pampelmousse, or at least more vetiver-forward. Comes in a rollerball for those wanting a short commitment!

4711 (Mäurer & Wirtz): how could i not end on the OG, the classic, the unbeatable 4711. Four-Seven-Eleven has been freshening up people's bathroom routines since 1799, and boasts of a recipe (mostly?) unchanged since Napoleon was tramping around the area. It's citrus, it's lavender, it's romemary, it evaporates in 8 seconds, it's fresh lemony goodness. It's an aftershave, it's a cologne, it's a linen spray, it's a bath soak, is there nothing it cannot do? M&W have started to do endless 'remixes' of the base cologne, in many fruit and floral varieties, but the classic is where it's at. And it costs almost nothing.

[meandmypagancrew]

So, I don’t know if I’m the only one who noticed this, but with the exception of Barbie, am I the only one who thinks most movies recently have been really poorly marketed?

Like, Oppenheimer was a critical success but I think we can agree the marketing team did an abysmal job - like Christopher Nolan’s name definitely sold plenty of tickets but for the most part, it seems they just let the Barbieheimer memes carry them to the finish line.

Now, I’m not sure if this is related to the strike, if marketing teams for movies completed before it but not released yet are striking or if they’re one of the exceptions that was carved out - which, if they’re striking, good for them, but if not, I don’t think they’re doing very good jobs. I think a good example of this is A Haunting In Venice. This movie comes out in less than a month, and I haven’t seen a single trailer for this movie despite going to the movies several times over the past few months, and while my local theatre does have a poster up for it, this is it.

Now, this is a bad poster. The only thing it’s inspired in us is confusion. After Indiana Jones and Barbie and all the Ghibli Fest movies we’ve gone to we’ve stood and looked at this poster and all we’ve felt is confusion. I mean, we recognized that that’s the actor who played Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, but did that mean this was another one of those or is it a mere coincidence that he’s in another movie? Actors do that, you know, they play multiple roles. And especially since the Agatha Christie book this is based on is actually called something different, it really doesn’t convey enough information to actually get people interested, I feel.

So I took five minutes and improved it. I feel this poster is 50% more likely to sell tickets because it’s at least 75% more informative and has 100% more false advertising because I couldn’t resist.

[saax2]

Venezia

Anna Passini (the artist's wife), Palazzo Priuli, Venezia, 1866 ca. | Ludwig Passini (1832-1903, Austria)

One night in Venice, 1922 | Dean Cornwell (1892-1960, USA)

Venice in gold green blue shades | Dan Schlesinger (USA)

Il Ponte dei Sospiri, Venezia, 1870 | Gustave Doré (1832-1883, France) 

Venice by moonlight, 1870 ca. | Sophus Jacobsen (1833-1912, Norway)

Scena di strada a Venezia (Street scene in Venice), 1882 (National Gallery of Art, Washington) | John Singer Sargent (1856-1925, USA)

Mareggiata, Chioggia, 1890's | Mosè Bianchi (1840-1904, Italia)

Il Molo al tramonto (The pier at sunset), Venezia, 1864 (Ca' Pesaro, Venezia) | Ippolito Caffi (1809-1866, Italia) 

Festa del Redentore (Fireworks in Venice, the Feast of the Redeemer) | Vincenzo Abbati (1803-1866, Italia)

View of Venice, 1894 | Frits Thaulow (1847-1906, Norway)

Canal Grande, Venezia, 1874-75 (Shelburne Museum, Vermont, USA) | Édouard Manet (1832-1883, France)

Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Venice | Ken Howard (1932, England)

Canal Grande, Venezia, 1907 | Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916, Italia)

Calle di notte | Duilio Corompai (1875-1952, Italia)

Vetro di Murano, in 'Negozio Olivetti', piazza San Marco, Venezia, 2024 | Tony Craigg (1964, England)

[eucanthos]

eucanthos

Patrick Duegaw: The Cretinous Bull (or) Serving Up Doctrine, 2019 [elephant head swine cut]

Annette Messager: Truqueuse. La femme-homme, 1975 [body]

Sigismond Laskowski: Anatomie normale du corps humain: atlas iconographique de XVI planches (plate 8). [Sigismond Balicki, 1858-1916, illustrator. Genève : Braun; 1894]

Crown from Dolce&Gabbana embroidered piece

Gianfrancesco Straparola (Milan duchy, 1480 - 1557) "The Father of Fairy Tales" was an author of tales that drew from the earliest and most important Italian traditional story-telling.

Those 75 novellas (short prose tales) were later used as source material by William Shakespeare, Molière, and others. It drew from folk tradition and introduced into European literature some 20 fairy tales, among them what would eventually be known as “Beauty and the Beast” and “Puss in Boots.”

Using a technique borrowed from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, Straparola set his stories within a frame. Each one is told on a successive night by a party of men and women relaxing at Murano, a suburb of Venice.

Synopsis: A king and a queen had no children after seven years. One day, the queen slept in the garden, and three fairies saw her. One gave her a son protector, that no man could harm her; the 2nd, that no one could offend her, and the son should have every virtue; the 3rd, that she would be wise, but the son should remain a pig until he married 3 times. Soon after, the queen had a son in the form of a pig. The king at first thought to throw the pig into the sea, but finally decided to raise him as a child. He learned to talk, but wallowed in mud whenever he could. One day, he told his mother that he wished to marry and persisted until the queen persuaded a poor woman to give her oldest daughter to him. The girl was persuaded by her mother but resolved to kill her bridegroom their wedding night. In the night, he stabbed her with his hooves, and she died. He then asked to marry her sister, and she was persuaded, but she died as her sister had. Finally, he married the third. The 3rd sister behaved politely to him, and returned his caresses. Soon after their marriage, the prince revealed a secret to her: he took off his pigskin and became a handsome young man in her bed. Every morning, he put the skin back on, but she was glad to have him as her husband...

https://alchetron.com/The-Pig-King

https://alchetron.com/Giovanni-Francesco-Straparola

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gianfrancesco-Straparola

[z34l0t]

"As I watched him complete his workout, Schwarzenegger was barely clearing 120 pounds on the bench press. After decades of abuse, the man’s shoulders are toast. His knees are shot, his back is sore, and he has undergone multiple heart procedures, including three separate valve-replacement surgeries, the last in 2020. Two of them devolved into 10-plus-hour ordeals that nearly killed him on the table. Still, let it be recorded that on a foggy October morning at Gold’s Gym in Venice, I was lifting heavier weights than Arnold Schwarzenegger was."

[...] ✂️

"Suddenly, Schwarzenegger was enjoying one of those random social-media moments—quarantined and yet everywhere at once. He was a goofball colossus called back into action. People loved the role: Arnold in winter. Conan the Septuagenarian. I watched the clips again and again. Wear a mask! Don’t party with your friends like a dumbass! Exercise! The videos were an escape from my remote-work quicksand. The protagonist looked unsettled but also purposeful. Or maybe I was projecting. I very well could have been projecting."

[...] ✂️

"Schwarzenegger was born two years after World War II ended and grew up, as he put it, “in the ruins of a country that suffered the loss of its democracy.” His father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, was a police chief in Graz, Austria, and fought for the Nazis. Schwarzenegger has spoken more freely of late about his father’s activities and his own attempts to reconcile with them. History need not repeat—that has been his essential theme. Hatred and prejudice are not inevitable features of humanity. You don’t have to be stuck in that, he told me. Humans have the capacity to change."

[...] ✂️

"Let’s stipulate that celebrity visits to concentration camps can be tricky. Schwarzenegger appeared mindful of this as he rolled up in a black Mercedes. He stepped gingerly into a thicket of greeters, and tried to strike a solemn pose. Originally, the thought was to do a standard arrival shot for photographers. But the keepers of the site are sensitive to gestures that might convey triumphal stagecraft or frivolity. “There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam,” management was moved to tweet after visitors kept posting selfies on the railway tracks leading into the camp. Every visit here is something of a balance beam, but especially for the son of a Nazi."

[travelling-my-little-pony]

Masquerade is looking around Venice (and the surrounding islands).

In Italy.

Masquerade is admiring the bronze horses at the Basilica San Marco.

This is photo number 75 of 366.

[beautifulvenezia]

Day 75: Constitution Bridge (Ponte della Costituzione) | Daily Venice for you!

[blazing-dynamo]

I spent the night making a Listening Guide for the 8th Doctor for my partner, and figured I would share. I made it as a checklist in iOS. The numbers/abbreviations are connected to my Plex Audiobook server so might not line up with the names/numbering of the official releases.

8th Doctor Order

Charley Era

Main Range

- [ ] 16 - Storm Warning

- [ ] 17 - Sword of Orion

- [ ] 18 - Stones of Venice

- [ ] 19 - Minuet in hell

- [ ] 28 - invaders from mars

- [ ] 29 - Chimes of Midnight (Christmas Special!)

- [ ] 30 - Seasons of Fear

- [ ] 31 - Embrace the Darkness

- [ ] 32 - The Time of the Daleks

- [ ] 33 - Neverland

- [ ] 50 - Zagreus (Season Finale!)

- [ ] 52 - Scherzo (best one bring tissue)

- [ ] 53 - Creed of the Kromon (new companion!)

- [ ] 54 - The Natural History of Fear

- [ ] 55 - The Twilight Kingdom

- [ ] 61 - Faith Stealer

- [ ] 62 - The Last

- [ ] 63 - Caerdroia

- [ ] 64 - The Next Life (Season Finale!)

- [ ] 72 - Terror Firma

- [ ] 75 - Scaredy Cat

- [ ] 77 - Other Lives

- [ ] 80 - Time Works

- [ ] 83 - Something Inside

- [ ] 88 - Memory Lane

- [ ] 101 - Absolution

- [ ] 103 - The Girl that Never Was (Season Finale. End of Era.)

Charley Era Bonus content:

Charley is a fan favorite so she has a whole bunch of side content compared to the other eras.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

- [ ] CPFA1.01 The Mummy Speaks

- [ ] CPFA1.02 Eclipse

- [ ] CPFA1.03 The Slaying of the Writhing Mass

- [ ] CPFA1.04 Heart of Orion

- [ ] 8DA1.00 Living Legend

These are Charley stories made after the end of Charley’s era. Charlotte Pollard the Further Adventuress is brand new. Living Legend was like a year after she left (don’t fact check me)

Main Range

- [ ] 111 - The Doomwood Curse

- [ ] 114 - Brotherhood of the Daleks

- [ ] 116 - The Raincloud Man

- [ ] 124 - Patient Zero

- [ ] 125 - Paper Cuts

- [ ] 126 - Blue Forgotten Planet

This resolves the charley cliffhanger. She travels with the Sixth Doctor for some timey wimey further pissing off of the web of time. If you still don’t have enough Charley she has her own series that follows after her adventures with Sixie.

Main Range

- [ ] 123 - The Company of Friends

- [ ] 153 - The Silver Turk

- [ ] 154 - The Witch from the Well

- [ ] 155 - Army of Death

Eighth doctor in the main range without Charley. 123 is with his comic/book companions. The others are the Mary Shelly companion stories! Fun fact he mentions these travels as just happening in Storm Warning so they are a direct prequel.

Main Range

- [ ] 100 - 100 (technically only in part 4)

- [ ] 275 - End of The Beginning

One offs

- [ ] The Light At The End (50th anniv special)

The Legacy of Time

- [ ] 1 Lies in Ruins

- [ ] 2 The Split Infinitive

- [ ] 3 The Sacrifice of Jo Grant

- [ ] 4 Relative Time

- [ ] 5 The avenues of Possibility

- [ ] 6 Collision Course

This chunk is all big anniversary cross overs that feature charley. Some with 6. Some with 8.

Companion Chronicles

- [ ] 4.12 Solitaire

Short Trips

- [ ] 2.8 Letting Go

- [ ] 5.8 Foreshadowing

- [ ] 6.11 The Man Who Wasn’t There

- [ ] 9.11 Hall of the Ten Thousand

- [ ] 10.8 These Stolen Hours

Classic Doctors, New Monsters

- [ ] 3.4 If I should die before I wake

This last selection is all small short stories that take place during the Charley Era.

Lucie Era

Eighth Doctor Adventures

8DA Season 1

- [ ] 1, 2 Blood of the Daleks

- [ ] 3 Horror of Glam Rock

- [ ] 4 Immortal Beloved

- [ ] 5 Phobos

- [ ] 6 No More Lies

- [ ] 7, 8 Human Resources

8DA Season 2

- [ ] 1 Dead London

- [ ] 2 Max Warp

- [ ] 3 Brave New Town

- [ ] 4 The Skull of Sobek

- [ ] 5 Grand Theft Cosmos

- [ ] 6 The Zygon that Fell to Earth

- [ ] 7 Sisters of the Flame

- [ ] 8 Vengeance of Morbius

8DA Season 3

- [ ] 1 Orbis

- [ ] 2 Hothouse

- [ ] 3 Beast of Orlock

- [ ] 4 Wirrn Dawn

- [ ] 5 Scapegoat

- [ ] 6 The Cannibalists

- [ ] 7 The Eight Truths

- [ ] 8 Worldwide Web

8DA Season 4

- [ ] 1 Death in Blackpool

- [ ] 2 Situation Vacant

- [ ] 3 Nevermore

- [ ] 4 The Book of Kells

- [ ] 5 Deimos

- [ ] 6 The Resurrection of Mars

- [ ] 7 Relative Dimensions

- [ ] 7b An Earthly Child

- [ ] 8 Prisoner of the Sun

- [ ] 9 Lucie Miller

- [ ] 10 To the Death (end of the Era)

Lucie Era Bonus

8DA Season 5

- [ ] 1 The Dalek Trap

- [ ] 2 The Revolution Game

- [ ] 3 The House on the Edge of Chaos

- [ ] 4 Island of the Fendahl

This season is technically not an 8DA release but is called “the further adventures of Lucie miller” and takes place before Human Resources. But I wouldn’t slot it there, and instead just listen as a bonus.

Short Trips

- [ ] 3.8 All the fun of the Fair

- [ ] 6.4 The Curse of the Fugue

- [ ] ST7.7 Flashpoint

- [ ] SST 2014-06 Late Night Shopping

- [ ] SST 2013-03 the Young Lions

- [ ] SST 2015-12 The Caves of Erith

Liv and Helen Era

Yes technically this was the Molly era but she got too famous between dark eyes part 1 and 2 so it’s really Liv’s Era, and Helen joins soon after. This era is a string of box sets so basically just Dark Eyes >Doom Coalition >Ravenous > Stranded, but what follows is a checklist so you can keep track.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

Dark Eyes

- [ ] 1.1 The Great War

- [ ] 1.2 Fugutives

- [ ] 1.3 Tangled Web

- [ ] 1.4 X and the Daleks

- [ ] 2.1 The Traitor

- [ ] 2.2 The White Room

- [ ] 2.3 Time’s Horizon (Hello Liv!)

- [ ] 2.4 Eyes of the Master

- [ ] 3.1 The Death of Hope

- [ ] 3.2 The Reviled

- [ ] 3.3 Masterplan

- [ ] 3.4 Rule of the Eminence

- [ ] 4.1 A Life in the Day

- [ ] 4.2 The Monster of Monmarte

- [ ] 4.3 Master of the Daleks

- [ ] 4.4 Eye of Darkness

Doom Coalition

- [ ] 1.1 The Eleven

- [ ] 1.2 The Red Lady

- [ ] 1.3 The Galileo Trap

- [ ] 1.4 The Satanic Mill

- [ ] 2.1 Beachhead Track

- [ ] 2.2 Scenes from Her Life

- [ ] 2.3 The Gift

- [ ] 2.4 The Sonomancer

- [ ] 3.1 Absent Friends

- [ ] 3.2 The Eighth Piece

- [ ] 3.3 The Doomsday Chronometer

- [ ] 3.4 The Crucible of Souls

- [ ] 4.1 Ship in a Bottle

- [ ] 4.2 Songs of Love

- [ ] 4.3 The Side of the Angels

- [ ] 4.4 Stop the Clock

Ravenous

- [ ] 1.1 Their Finest Hour

- [ ] 1.2 How to make a Killing in Time Travel

- [ ] 1.3 World of Damnation

- [ ] 1.4 Sweet Salvation

- [ ] 2.1 Escape from Kaldor

- [ ] 2.2 Better Watch Out

- [ ] 2.3 Fairytale of Salzburg (Another Christmas Special)

- [ ] 2.4 Seizure

- [ ] 3.1 Deeptime Frontier

- [ ] 3.2 Companion Piece***** See Below

- [ ] 3.3 LEGEND

- [ ] 3.4 The Odds Against

- [ ] 4.1 Whisper

- [ ] 4.2 Planet of Dust

- [ ] 4.3 Day of the Master 1

- [ ] 4.4 Day of the Master 2

I highly recommend skipping to the Bliss Era before Companion Piece. They were released simultaneously and have a crossover in companion piece and it makes it better. But you could always “Spoilers sweetie” and find it out later.

Stranded

- [ ] 1.1 Lost Property

- [ ] 1.2 Wild Animals

- [ ] 1.3 Must-See TV

- [ ] 1.4 Divine Intervention

- [ ] 2.1 Dead Time

- [ ] 2.2 Unit Dating

- [ ] 2.3 Baker Street Irregulars

- [ ] 2.4 The Long Way Round

- [ ] 3.1 Patience

- [ ] 3.2 Twisted Folklore

- [ ] 3.3 Snow

- [ ] 3.4 What Just Happened

- [ ] 4.1 Crossed Lines

- [ ] 4.2 Get Andy

- [ ] 4.3 The Keys of Baker Street

- [ ] 4.4 Best Year Ever

Liv and Helen continue into What Lies Inside and Connections, but I don’t have it yet so I don’t know the episode names.

Liv Era Bonus Content

Main Range

- [ ] 149. Robophobia

Liv was actually an almost-companion for the 7th doctor. She told him no, and kicked herself until the 8th Doctor showed back up.

The Robots

Liv’s Spin off. Takes place during Ravenous 2 when the doctor has to leave her for a year. I haven’t listened yet so I don’t know the titles but there are 6 seasons of 3 episodes

Ninth Doctor Adventures

- [ ] 2.3 Hidden Depths

Crossover with the Ninth Doctor Range.

Short Trips

- [ ] 7.1 The World Beyond the Trees

Bliss Era

Aka the Time War! Can technically be listened to whenever because it doesn’t directly reference things but it’s best after Doom Coalition, but Before Ravenous.

Eighth Doctor Adventures

Time War

- [ ] 1.1 The Starship of Theseus

- [ ] 1.2 Echoes of War

- [ ] 1.3 The Conscript

- [ ] 1.4 One Life

- [ ] 2.1 The Lords of Terror

- [ ] 2.2 Planet of the Ogrons

- [ ] 2.3 In the Garden of Death

- [ ] 2.4 Jonah

- [ ] 3.1 State of Bliss

- [ ] 3.2 The Famished Lands

- [ ] 3.3 Fugutive in Time

- [ ] 3.4 The War Valeyard

- [ ] 4.1 Palindrome 1

- [ ] 4.2 Palindrome 2

- [ ] 4.3 Dreadshade

- [ ] 4.4 Restoration of the Daleks

[thetruearchmagos]

Trick or treat

-your favorite classic city ;)

Venice? Shit, wrong century!

For I am a generous Magi, I shall provide a second treat!

Here's some more Worldbuilding, back to our regularly scheduled military-related programming. It's...... really quite long. Probably among the longest Worldbuilding things I've ever written. I really hope someone enjoys it, but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Tagging [almost everyone I can think of really] @athenswrites @caxycreations @theprissythumbelina @thatndginger @hessdalen-globe @sleepyowlwrites @avrablake @imslowlydisintegrating @username-cause-i-need-one @lividdreamz @the-mindless

A Pioneer's Fight: Military Engineers In the Chainbreaker War

In this arguably far too pedantic 'article', I hope to shed some light on the nature and practices of the engineers of the United Commonwealth Army as they existed before the Chainbreaker War, and how that organisation would perform when the time came. It includes some notes on the actual conduct of Army engineers and their influence on the course of battle, and some of the personalities that would shape that distinguished force in the period.

------

The Corps: Engineers Of The Commonwealth, As They Stood.

The considerable engineering capacity of the United Commonwealth Army was and is the domain of the Corps of Engineers. By the outbreak of war in 75 A.S., it was an institution as old as the Army itself. Alongside the Corps Artillery, the CE was notable for being a singular and unified 'Arm' of the Army, under its own Commandant of Engineers, in contrast to the various nationally-aligned Cavalry and Infantry forces that made up the fighting strength of the service. As such, the Army's engineers were then and are now a centrally recruited, run, and administrated organisation, which has long held a culture within its ranks separate from that of the broader Army.

Within the Corps exists a truly wide variety of branches and Trades, covering the totality of the militarily relevant engineering field. These ranged from "Garrison" formations assigned maintain and occupy to various fortresses and static strongholds across the Commonwealth, to "Pioneers" who were trained to engage in direct, close combat in support of the Infantry by demolishing strongpoints and obstacles with their trademark flame projectors, satchel charges, and shotguns.

Prior to the Chainbreaker War, in times I've previously referenced as the UC Army's 'peacekeeping' days, the Corps' actual deployed strength of engineers was mostly organised within a number of "Field Groups". They tended to be divisional-sized formations, which collectively oversaw all Engineer units in a given theater, under a discrete chain of command separate from that of their combat-arms brethren.

While the battalions of the vaunted Corps of Artillery fell under a singular chain of command which peaked with the GOC, Field Forces, at the General Staff Office, Engineers were rather more obstinate. In peace time, it came to the point that a theater's Engineers Groups effectively required a general officer's direct intervention before allowing their assets to be split off and tasked to lower level unit commanders, a tendency actively fostered by the branch's insular leadership and culture. And if a regimental or battalion commander took issue with this arrangement, then they were welcome to take it up with the Commandant.

While these Field Groups and their constituent detachments and battalions account for the bulk of the Army's engineers, the Corps also contributed large amounts of personnel to organisations within the General Staff and the Directorate of the Army. The majority of technical staff at the Office of Army Research and Development had engineering backgrounds, for instance, and the Corps of Engineers provided much of the UC government's in-house engineering capability.

When it came to the ability of the Corps of Engineers to absorb the best that modern technology could offer, it did so to an arguably better extent than any of the Army's other major branches. It is thus ironic that for all its technical proficiency and modernity, the Corps would prove singularly mule-headed when it came to facing the need to adapt its culture, organisation, methods, and place within the Army's hierarchy to face the brave new Worlds that it would find itself in. This obstinacy would come close to proving a disastrous flaw once the Commonwealth found itself in a modern war.

------

First At The Front? The Pre-War Liaisons Of The Corps Of Engineers.

The Corps of Engineers would play one small, but critical, role in the great game between Commonwealth and Empire, a part which would unfold over the better part of a decade well before the first guns were fired.

These were the members of the UC's unofficial and highly secretive "Provincial Liaison Missions", a series of military and diplomatic visits by Commonwealth personnel to the Province of Upepwani to show their support for the province's interests. From naval intelligence to trade commissions, it was very much a 'whole of government' affair, and each of them would touch the war to come in their own special way. When it comes to the contributions of the Corps of Engineers, much of its efforts focused on gathering 'cartographical intelligence', maintaining and constantly updating detailed maps and reports on the internal geography and built infrastructure of the Province, and to a lesser degree the rest of the Fuhrati Empire.

These plans were crucial if the UCA hoped to deploy expeditionary forces to the Province to fight in its defence, and while making them the Corps was able to encourage provincial authorities to reallocate resources to building up what infrastructure they believed would be most useful in time of war. Come 75 A.S., many of the roads, railways, and heavy bridges both the Commonwealth and Upepwani armies would cross on their marches to the front would have their origins with the covert cooperation between the Corps and local authorities.

------

Forming Up: UCAU's Engineers

When the Chainbreaker War finally arrived, the UC's contribution to the fighting was the "United Commonwealth Army of Upepwani". Commanded by Lieutenant General Faiz al-Saqr, the 'first wave' of troops designated to make landfall in the province in accordance with pre-war plans was a divisional-sized force of three infantry heavy regiments, accompanied by a sizable supporting cohort. While it was originally intended for the attached Engineering force to, as in peace time, operate entirely under an autonomous Field Group, al-Saqr was having none of it. A savvy professional officer with over thirty years of service, the general was also a notable military reformer and moderniser, half the reason for his appointment as UCAU's General Officer Commanding at the behest of the Chief of the General Staff. Having first applied his considerable influence into motorisng the bulk of his infantry and logistics with the sturdy Danho 'Duster' Type-C lorry, he intended to break the back of the Corps of Engineers if that was what it took to give his command an Engineering capability he could rely on.

al-Saqr would first earn the Commandant's ire with his attemmpt to remove three Pioneer battalions from UCAU's Field Group, intending to attach them directly under each of his three 'first wave' regiments. These battalions, which were to be enlarged to control their own bridging and obstacle clearing detachments, were to be fully removed from the Field Groups' chain of command and report directly to al-Saqr's regimental commanders. Upon receiving the Field Group commander's complaint at this change, al-Saqr attempted to have the brigadier, one Truc Vinh, sacked. The good engineer duely sidestepped his chain of command and appealed directly to the Commandant. Fortunately, before anyone could request the honours of a duel the Chief of the General Staff personally intervened to force a compromise doomed to please neither side.

While the Field Group and its commander would remain virtually unchanged, one green battalion, the 256th Pioneers, would be reassigned from the Group to train and experiment under al-Saqr's personal observation, and pending a final assessment the 23rd Regiment would receive it as an organic Engineering detachment under it command. This decision would prove to be of immense value to al-Saqr and the coming war effort, with the general devising with the battalion's commander a regimen which placed heavy focus on clearing complex and austere terrain, assaulting well fortified positions, and operating motorised in the direct aid of a similarly mobile 23rd Regiment. While al-Saqr would have preferred to train two more battalions of Pioneers in the same manner, the 256th would have to do. Its performance in the war to come, and the comparative failures of its sibling Pioneers, would vindicate al-Saqr's views, but the General was in no mood to celebrate a 'victory' indicated by a military near-catastrophe and heavy losses amongst his ranks.

With our brief overview of the broader picture of the Corps of Engineers complete, let's move on to the specific military engineer force which would first be dispatched to Upepwani.

------

Tests Of Battle: Pioneers At The Front

UCAU would make landfall in Upepwani on the 4th of May, 75 A.S. The force was split in two, and so were its engineers and other supporting arms. Two out of al-Saqr's three regiments, the 21st and 22nd, disembarked at the provincial capital of Hurhamba to aid in the defence of the northern city, while the 23rd was stepped ashore at the more southwesterly mercantile centre of Alhisn to maintain a bridgehead in the rest of Upepwani's southern coastal plain. The latter would, indeed, keep control of the 256th Pioneers under the dynamic Colonel R.V. Bhola, one-time cavalryman and effectively the overall commander of UC forces in the south. The 21st and 22nd would, after much squabbling, acquire the 116th and 81st Pioneers respectively, but having never trained with their assigned but not 'parent' formations neither battalion was prepared to work in accordance with their needs. The two regiments were each led by Colonel Joachim Kohl and Brigadier Zhuang Guanting, with the more senior latter officer designated by al-Saqr as overall in command at 'the front' while the general concerned himself with concerns at the rear and playing diplomat with their local hosts and co-belligerents.

- The Southern Front

Contact would first be made with the invading armies of the Fuhrati Empire in the south, on the 7th of June. This force of was mostly comprised of the Xindai Faylaq, or 'Legion', led into battle by province's ruler with the hope's of improving their standing in the eyes of the new Emperor and gaining some territory from their neighbouring province. To give that force's peasant levies some firmer muscle, a smaller but well drilled Imperial 'Katayib', itself about the size of the whole of UCAU's first wave, was attached while unofficially remaining independent from provincial command. Equipped mostly in sheer numbers, much benefit would be given to the 23rd Regiment and its regional allied force by their slow and gregarious advance. This lack of mobility would later be reflected in the north, a sign of the Fuhrati armies inability to sustain their own bulk materially on such 'foreign' and unfamiliar soil.

The 256th would do good work in the meantime, starting with an advanced reconnaissance of the local terrain and its major geographical features. With that and advice from the Upepwani commander remaining in the region, one Lateef Mirza, Colonel Bhola chose to center his plan of operations around the River Soufi. Running northeast to southwest down to the coast, it was impossible to move a force from its staging grounds in Xindai to the approaches of the city without crossing the mighty body. Only a handful of bridges of a useful size spanned the Soufi, and all but two would be very publicly blown by demolition teams of the 256th. The act would serve as a demonstration before the advancing Legion, which was hoped to compel that force to fight the far smaller allied cohort on ground of their choosing. The two remaining bridges were located within the small hamlet of Ustani, near enough to the coastal roads for the allied force to relocate there with speed and keep in good supply. If the Fuhrati forces had access to the bridging capacities of their army's own engineers this may have been less successful, but such equipment and personnel had been reassigned to the north, although that front had no similar riverine obstacle.

With the field of battle hopefully decided, the 256th turned to the business of making it ready to receive the province's guests. Armed with mechanical diggers and cargo trucks, they quickly got to work turning the peaceful settlement into an impregnable fortress. With some aid from Upepwani engineers and local volunteers, two belts of sturdy trenches were constructed which formed a chevron with its base along the Soufi and its tip pointing southwest, presenting a strong face against the anticipated axis of Fuhrati advance. These positions were firstly intended for use by Upepwani's "Lateef Katayib', granting that mixed force of local militia and steady professionals all armed with semi-antiquated percussion cap rifles the benefit of strong defences behind which they would hold against the Fuhrati onslaught. In the meantime, the 23rd Regiment intended to wage a mobile fight against the sluggish behemoth then unfurling itself across the province. Bhola had diverted the entirety of his lorry fleet to fully motorising one battalion of his infantry, the 3rd Internationals, which would raid and harass Fuhrati columns at an arms length from his entrenched forces. To that end, a company sized detachment of the 256th was to accompany the Colonel's 'Mounted Rifles', to provide support for their vehicles and route obstacle clearance for the agile force.

With these pieces in play and plans ready to act, the 256th had done most of what it could in service of their commander's intent, and it would take the coming battle to reveal if their efforts would bear fruit.

- The Northern Front

If affairs in the south were going as smoothly as military operations ever could, the same could not be said for those up north. If al-Saqr had a testy relationship with Brigadier Vinh, the far more acerbic pair that was Zhuang and Kohl would grow to positively despise their subordinate Engineer commanders. The country in the north was hilly and in some parts mountainous, densely forested, cut across by numerous small but fast and freezing rivers, and simply wild. These factors served to exacerbate the delays and sluggish movements inherent to early-War Fuhrati formations to an even greater extent than those in the south, but thanks to a number of factors, at least some of which can be blamed on the two Regiments' engineers, this advantage in time was very nearly lost.

The defining geographical feature of this front was the 'Jabeupe', a wide valley between two towering mountain chains which ran in almost a straight line from west to east, where Hurhamba lay at its feet. Within the valley and protruding out from either end were some of the only built settlements this far north, making the whole gorge the so-called 'Gate to Hurhamba' unless one wished to march several thousand men through and into the dark woods. Two great castles lay on either slope of the valley's westernmost mouth, which had long made up the cornerstone of Upepwani's defensive plans in time of imperial invasion, and the province's own armies intended to sit and wait behind their thick walls for the empire to come. The Fuhrati's northern host, centred on one Imperial Legion with several provincial Katayibs in support, had little choice but to play that same game.

For his part, Zhuang was not content to 'sit on his ass and wait', as the brigadier put it. Some distance west of the last sizeable Jabeupe settlement was a trio of far less impressive valleys, which would nonetheless require a traversing army to split its numbers before reforming on the other side. Acting on a plan he had been developing ever since he'd been appointed as the 23rd's commander, Zhuang hoped to maneuver his forces west at speed until he reached the 'Three Brows", where he would pounce on the separated Fuhrati columns and smash them in detail under his rifles, machine guns, mortars, and artillery. As a former gunner, Zhuang liked his artillery.

The first blow struck by the Corps of Engineers in the north was against the rest of the Army, with its fiercely insular and hierarchical structure to blame. Unfortunately, it was a streak which had not quite been beaten out of the 116th and 81st Pioneers to the same degree as in the 256th. The two battalions still relied on a heavily taxed Field Group for their supplies and equipment, instead of using the routes designated for their parent regiments, which limited the speed with which they could move to a crawl almost as slow as that of the heaviest guns of the field artillery. Moreover, on several instances their commanders flat out refused to move or work until orders by Vinh's own hand had been given, a process which delayed the carrying out of orders to several hours after they had been given. In such undeveloped terrain, where often the only roads the Army didn't have to lay itself were blocked by wind felled trees or reduced to rivers of mud, the inability of the Engineers to provide mobility almost crippled Zhuang's best laid plans.

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In Depth: Engineer's Work Beyond The Battlefield

Although the performance of Engineers in a 'real war' had so far left much to be desired at the front, further from these two fields of battle the Corps would for the most apart acquit. Facing unfamiliar environments, vast distances, poor infrastructure, and a constantly changing and shifting list of requirements and duties, it speaks greatly to Vinh's and his staff's credit that they would perform in their Corps finest traditions.

In both the north and south, the first hurdle UCAU would face was tht of simply relocating its forces from their coastal points of arrival to the battlefield. Upepwani's internal rail networks, which had been the product of years of Commonwealth economic aid, proved indispensable to that task. The trains ran around the clock without pause, and when provincial crews were worn out detachments of Vinh's engineers duely stepped up to take their place, very much familiar with the Commonwealth standard locomotives and equipment they would deal with. Additional infrastructre, which was needed to move the heavier loads of field guns and trucks, had to be constructed, and was completed at a rapid pace.

Indeed, UCAU's supporting trains would find the issue of speed to be the most surprising, in comparison to their peacetime duties. The Commonwealth's peacekeeping operations were often defined by static outposts and forts dotted across familiar terrain and tied together by well rehearsed convoy routes. While it was still an enormously complex task, engineers and quartermasters could afford to take a more methodical and thoroughly planned approach to their duties. Here in Upepwani, where regiments regularly crossed almost a hundred kilometres a day back and forth with their rapid movements, these well rehearsed processes simply could not keep up. Forced to move fast or lose, Vinh revealed himself to be an officer who could do the former, keeping his command above the water and giving al-Saqr the capabilities he needed to win the campaign. From field hospitals to signal stations, the Engineers were the ones who built almost all of it, and as the frontlines shifted with the winds of battle to tear down and rebuild again somewhere else.

Spanning an area hundreds of kilometres wide and deep, the work of Field Group UCAU would begin well before the first Commonwealth shots were fired, and continue in barely diminished intensity after the beaten dregs of the Fuhrati invasion had dragged itself westwards under a hard winter.

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Fleet Friends: A note On Maritime And Naval Engineering

A proper discussion on the impact of military engineering on the Chainbreaker War would be incomplete if it did not cover the UC's efforts to build up a titanic system of ports and similar infrastructure on the continent. It was a joint venture between the Army and Navy, and without it the United Commonwealth would have been physically incapable of transporting and supporting the force of four million that it would eventually raise to fight in the defence of Upepwani and which would bring down the Fuhrati Empire.

It would first take the form of the occupation and improvement of preexisting faclities in Upepwani itself, a necessary measure to ensure the smooth unloading of UCAU's great bulk in personnel and equipment. Such work was centred on Hurhamba and Alhisn, the original landing sites of Commonwealth forces, and would eventually spread to every coastal settlement in the province. Significant efforts would also be placed on upgrading Upepwani's limited naval infrastructure, bringing it up to meet the needs of the great fleet of the United Commonwealth Navy which was soon to arrive. As an aside, in the decades after the War the docks and yards assembled at great cost by these military engineers would find themselves excess to the Fleet's requirements, and sold off to the burgeoning private maritime industry of the Republic of Upepwani for nearly a song. This massive influx of capital would do much to bolster the Republic's private economy and shipbuilding industry, and in private hands these slipways would go on to launch many of the UCN's finest vessels in time to come.

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Conclusions

The Corps of Engineers was in many ways ill prepared to fight the war it found itself in, come the autumn of 75 A.S. Its inflexible culture and structure defied those few Army reformers' attempts to drag it into the modern Worlds, and the obstinacy of its field officers, whatever their professional skill, rendered much of the field engineer units deployed on Upepwani soil less helpful than they could have been. While the first act of the war would be won, it was a very near run affair, and al-Saqr and the Commonwealth had little intention of seeing a re-run of those events.

It would take inhuman efforts, by those within the Corps and those without, to drag the noble cadre kicking and screaming into reality. Once it had been, however, the contributions of the Commonwealth's own engineers would play a crucial role in the field of battle. For while great engineers would never have won the war, a poor and poor to learn Corps of Engineers may very well have lost it. The Chainbreaker War has long been considered the first war of a modern 12 Worlds, in thinking and in substance, and the challenges and triumps of military engineers in and after those five years makes that claim clear.