The wizard class in Tree of Savior embodies the arcane arts, wielding immense magical power. While they may be considered squishy in terms of durability, wizards compensate for this with their devastating area-of-effect (AoE) damage capabilities, making them valuable in group-focused encounters. Their spells can unleash destructive forces that obliterate multiple enemies at once, turning the tide of battle in their favor. However, wizards are not limited to just AoE damage; they also possess significant potential for single-target damage, allowing them to swiftly dispatch powerful foes. As a friendly starting class, wizards provide newcomers with a relatively easy entry point into the game, allowing players to familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of spellcasting. Furthermore, wizards are highly sought after in most content due to their versatile skill set and indispensable role in party dynamics. Their ability to control the battlefield and deal massive damage makes them a crucial asset in various challenging encounters. Wizard classes uses one-handed rod + shield or two-handed staff with trinket.
Players can obtain a total of 15 extra skill points from the Magic Association NPC in Klaipeda City (located in the north area before the staircase) between levels 440 and 490.

Please note that the investment of these extra skill points is optional for specific classes. Players will have to optimize their skill builds based on their class combinations. Each player will have a different skill build and playstyle. Thank you.

Base Class

Type	Skills Builds
Magic	5 Magic Shield, 5 Lethargy, 1 Teleportation, and 4 Earthquake

Advance Classes

Class	Skills Build	15 Extra Skill Points (Optional)
Pyromancer	10 Fire Pillar, 5 Enchant Fire, 10 Hell Breath, 15 Flame Ground, and 5 Prominence	+10 Enchant Fire
Cryomancer	15 Ice Bolt, 15 Ice Pike, 10 Ice Blast, and 5 Frost Pillar	+15 Ice Wall or +10 Snow Rolling
Psychokino	15 Psychic Pressure, 15 Magnetic Force, 5 Gravity Pole, and 10 Heavy Gravity	+10 Raise
Alchemist	9 Dig, 15 Gem Roasting, 15 Tincturing, 5 Magnum Opus, and 1 Item Awakening	N/A
Sorcerer	15 Summoning, 1 Riding, 1 Morph, 8 Summon Salamion, 5 Summon Servant, 5 Evocation, and Desmodus	+7 Summon Salamion
Chronomancer	10 Quick Cast, 5 Pass, 15 Slow, 14 Stop, and 1 Backmasking	+1 Stop and +14 Reincarnate
Necromancer	10 Gather Corpse, 5 Create Shoggoth, 3 Flesh Cannon, 1 Flesh Hoop, 1 Disinter, 10 Corpse Tower, 5 Raise Dead, 5 Raise Skull Archer, and 5 Raise Skull Mage	+7 Flesh Cannon and Flesh Hoop
Elementalist (Ice)	5 Elemental Burst, 15 Hail, 10 Blizzard Storm, and 15 Electrocute	N/A
Elementalist (Fire)	5 Elemental Burst, 15 Fire Claw, 10 Meteor, and 15 Electrocute	N/A
Elementalist (Electric	5 Elemental Burst, 15 Electrocute, 10 Lightning Orb, and 15 Hail	N/A
Sage	14 Micro Dimension, 15 Ultimate Dimension, 1 Blink, 10 Dimension Compression, and 5 Hole of Darkness	N/A
Warlock	1 Pole of Agony, 15 Invocation, 8 Dark Theurge, 10 Mastema, 1 Evil Sacrifice, 5 Ghastly Trail, and 5 Demon Scratch	+7 Dark Theurge, and +8 Pole of Agony
Featherfoot
Rune Caster (Casting)	1 Rune of Destruction, 8 Rune of Earth, 1 Rune of Repulsion, 15 Rune of Justice, 5 Rune of Protection, 5 Rune of Beginning, and 10 Rune of Rock	+9 Rune of Destruction and +6 Rune of Earth
Rune Caster (Channel)	5 Rune of Destruction, 15 Rune of Repulsion, 15 Rune of Justice, 5 Rune of Protection, 5 Rune of Beginning	+5 Rune of Destruction and +10 Rune of Gravity
Shadowmancer	10 Shadow Thorn, 15 Shadow Conjuration, 5 Shadow Pool, 10 Shadow Condensation, and 5 Infernal Shadow	+15 Hallucination
Onmyoji (Casting)	10 Greenwood Shikigami, 15 Howling White Tiger, 10 Wind Shikigami, and 10 Toyou	+15 Soul Fox Shikigami
Onmyoji (Channel)	15 Soul Fox Shikigami, 15 Howling White Tiger, 1 Greenwood Shikigami, 10 Toyou, and 5 Yin Yang Harmony	N/A
Taoist	15 Creeping Death Charm, 10 Snow Tempest Charm, 5 Strengthen Charm, 5 Eradication, and 10 Fire Charm	+15 Divine Punishment
Bokor	15 Curse of Debility, 15 Effigy, 5 Zombify, 5 Samediveve, and 5 Damballa	N/A
Terramancer	15 Sand Blast, 15 Implosion, 10 Stone Shower, and 5 Horn of Golem	+10 Rolling Stone and +5 Sand Wall
Keraunos	1 Electric Current, 4 Electric Orb, 15 Lightning Spear, 10 Electrode, 10 Static Field, and 5 Electric Drive	+11 Electric Orb and +4 Overload

Level 460 Equipment (Vasilisa)

Type	Weapon	Armor	Accessories	Ark	Weapon (Random Ichor)	Armor (Random Ichor)	Set Effect (460)
Magic	Two-handed Staff + Trinket	Leather Armor	Triukas	Divine Retribution	INT / CON / Critical Rate / Block Penetration	INT / CON / Critical Rate / Medium Offset	Balinta

Level 480 Equipment (Reservoir & Falouros)

Type	Weapon	Armor	Accessories	Ark	Weapon (Random Ichor)	Armor (Random Ichor)
Magic	Two-handed Staff + Trinket	Leather Armor	Triukas	Divine Retribution	INT / All-Race / Critical Rate / Perfection	STR / CON / Critical Rate / All -Race

Assisters

Type	Assister #1	Assister #2	Assister #3	Assister #4	Stats
Magic	Moringponia	Mirtis	Ignas	Helgasercle	Magic Critical DAmage, AoE Attack Ratio, Accuracy, INT, SPR, and Damage in Challenge Mode

Best Classes Combination

Combination	DPS Type	Vaivora Vision	Armor (Fixed Ichor)
Onmyoji - Terramancer - Chronomancer	Casting	Red Tiger Claw + Stone-Slinger	Holy Flame
Onmyoji - Elementalist - Terramancer	Casting	Annihilate + Stone-Slinger	Holy Flame
Elementalist - Pyromancer - Taoist	AoE	Fire Bolt + Vigilant Charm	Overload
Pyromancer - Taoist - Chronomancer	Magic Circle Reset	Fire Bolt + Vigilant Charm	Overload
Terramancer - Taoist - Chronomancer	Casting	Stone-Slinger + Vigilant Charm	Holy Flame
Necromancer - Sorcerer - Chronomancer	Summoner	Immortality + Wicked Desire	Harsh Imperator
Pyromancer - Psychokino - Onmyoji	Channeling	Fire Bolt + Biased Gravity	Infinity Blessing
Keraunos - Taoist - Chronomancer	Burst	Electric Flow + Vigilant Charm	Overload
Bokor - Taoist - Chronomancer	Burst	Lewa Advent + Vigilant Charm	Overload
Rune Caster + Terramancer + Chronomancer	Casting	Rune of Vigilance + Stone-Slinger	Holy Flame
Shadowmancer - Bokor - Chronomancer	Burst	Diffuse Reflection + Lewa Advent	Overload
Cryomancer + Elementalist + Chronomancer	Casting	Icy Snow Bubble + Annihilate	Holy Flame
Warlock + Bokor + Chronomancer	Burst	Demonische + Lewa Advent	Overload

Grimm returned with an armful of items and got to work. He poured black powder on the ground, forming a large circle, then made an outer ring around the black circle with white powder. He set a handful of items into the inner circle: an hourglass, a ceramic jar filled with rice wine, and a scrap of parchment. He gestured to Benvolio and Walter, having them each stand, positioned like the points of a triangle outside of the outer circle.
“Whatever you do, do not cross into or damage the circle, it can release her spirit.” Grimm spoke solemnly.
Grimm untied the small skull from his belt. He began to recite words which initially sounded like gibberish to Walter. However, after a few seconds of lag, the enchantment on Walter interpreted the words.
“Spirit of the great mage Andromeda Chronos, we request your counsel. Come to us in the light of the stars and the light of the moonlight. We have prepared a drink for you and parchment for your thoughts. We request your presence to venture from the underworld and let your spirit visit us in the land of the living. We seek thy wisdom, oh great and powerful mage.” As Grimm spoke the timber of his voice changed and his voice lowered from its natural baritone to an otherworldly bass.
The cool spring air plummeted in temperature, to the chill of winter. Walter could see his breath. Steam rose off Benvolio’s’ scales. The ground shook, and the campfire they lit began to dim. In fact, the interior of the summoning circle seemed to darken, devoid of the light cast by the fire, the stars, or other sources. The hourglass levitated into the air, turned so the sand was on top, and then landed back on the ground. The ceramic jar lifted into the air, was emptied into the void of darkness, then fell with a light thud. Then, what could only be described as an energy in the air, made its presence known.
Walter’s stomach tensed with anxiety. After Grimm’s warnings he could only imagine what terrible entity might appear. From the darkness appeared a silvery specter. She was small in stature, somewhere between three and four feet tall. Her body was thin, bony. Her spectral clothes appeared to be a comfortable frock and sensible shoes. There was a cane at her side. Her mouth opened in a wide grin, revealing rows of sharp teeth. Her face was flat, and her ears were pointy. A small pair of spectacles sat perched at the edge of her nose. Her hair was hastily gathered up in a messy tangle on the top of her head.
“Well, hello there.” Her voice was gravelly, but her tone musical. She smiled. Despite her vicious-looking teeth, her expression was surprisingly matronly. Oddly enough, she vaguely reminded Walter of his mother.
“Greetings, oh great mage. I am Benvolio, son of Bellissima of the Ashen Mountains. I am honored to make your acquaintance.” Benvolio lowered his snout and curled his tail in front of his body, as though moving an arm in front of oneself when bowing.
“Ah, one of Bellissima’s hatchlings, how delightful.” Andromeda clapped her spectral hands together. “Your mother was a very good friend of mine. Oh, we used to plot such shenanigans. I remember one time a group of ogres tried to intimidate some of the folks in my village. They assumed that because we goblins are small that we are defenseless creatures. You should have seen their expressions when I struck one of them dead with a lightning bolt.” She paused, breaking out into a gleeful cackle. After a minute of laughing to herself, she slapped her knee and wiped away a tear of laughter. “They were most startled indeed, frozen in fear. Then I summoned Bellissima, climbed upon her back and the two of us chased them for a good five or so leagues.”
“Andromeda, if I may be so bold, we require information from you.” Benvolio spoke, hoping to direct the conversation to the matter at hand.
“Ah yes, everyone always wants to learn how to cast my spells or know my fig nut bread recipe. Normally I do not divulge such precious secrets, but as your mother was a dear friend, I suppose I shall oblige your request.” Andromeda smiled.
“Thank you, great mage.” Benvolio replied.
“Well then, grab some parchment and a quill, it starts off with about a handful of chopped nuts, and three handfuls of dried figs.” Andromeda proceeded to rattle off her fig nut bread recipe. Benvolio and the others tried to stop her from speaking but every time they tried to stop her, she would continue as though she didn’t hear them. Walter’s eyes drifted to the hourglass, watching the sands slide down to the bottom. There was still time, but it was limited “And that, dearies, is how you bring warmth and flavor to your home with the alchemy of the humble fig.”
“Excuse me.” Walter spoke up. Andromeda’s eyes darted to him, she raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, the mop of hair on her head shifting as she did so. “My name is Walter. Thank you for the recipe. I would very much like to make it for my daughter and grandson back home. For you see, I seem to have stumbled into a strange land far from my own world, and I would very much like to return to my family. Do you have children or grandchildren, Andromeda?”
“Alas, no, I was always too preoccupied with my work to fuss with things like marriage or children. However, I have a godson, Sirris. The poor lad grew up with nothing really, but he had the talent. I enjoyed mentoring him in my twilight years, before I passed. He and Bellissima were my two best students. I recall the heartache I felt when my dear Bellissima was slain by some arrogant humans with enchanted weapons—curse the artificer who armed them. It is unbearable to be parted from your dear ones. I will help you get home to see your family, but first, speaking of my godson, has anyone here heard of my dear young Sirris?”
“He is the Dark Lord of Bythica, he has conquered all seven kingdoms of the northern continent. He is feared and reviled amongst men, one of the greatest evils our world has ever known.” Grimm responded.
“Good for him!” Andromeda smiled. “Such an ambitious boy, I am overjoyed to hear of his triumphs since my passing.” Andromeda clapped her hands together. Grimm’s face showed visible displeasure at the reaction. “Now, back to business, how can I assist with Walter’s return?”
“Great mage, your spell, Locus Cordis. My mother cast it on me the day she was slain. I was whisked away to another land. I was there for a time before the magic brought me back home. I believe the world I was sent to is the same as Walter’s world, it seems no coincidence, then, that a gateway opened, and Walter stumbled into our world.”
“That is certainly no coincidence,” Andromeda confirmed. “Of the portal spells, only Sirris showed a talent for the more difficult spells to create portals to precise gateways. There is Tempus et spatium, but that is not a targeted spell. It sends an individual through time and space for a few months, but it is rather random. I suspect past lives, or some manner of the like, may have something to do with it, but I never did get conclusive results when testing said spell. But Locus Cordis, the words of which are from the language of another world, translates roughly to ‘the place of the heart’. The spell searches across worlds and galaxies until it finds deep emotional connection between the being it is cast on and another entity.”
“Ah yes,” The corners of Benvolio’s mouth turned up in a sad smile. “That is why I was taken to where I was. Loss of a parent. My path crossed with a girl in Illinois who had lost her mother.” Upon these words Walter looked up. Walter reached for his backpack and began to rummage through it. His grandson, Sam, had a habit of stuffing things into his bag. Walter reached into his bag and pulled out a musty, dilapidated old stuffed animal, the shape no longer recognizable. Walter remembered playing with it himself when he was little. However, he could never figure out what sort of animal it was supposed to have been, as it had been in the family for decades. It had been his mother’s prized possession long ago. She had named it Benny after some cherished pet she had. It. Couldn’t. Be.
“Benvolio, does the name Samantha mean anything to you?” Walter asked. Benvolio straightened, his wings extending.
“How do you know that name?” Benvolio asked, intrigued and hopeful. A sad smile washed over Walter’s face.
“It’s my mother’s name,” Walter explained. “My daughter Beth named her son Sam in honor of her.” Walter held up the dilapidated stuffed animal his grandson left in his bag. The red color had faded over the decades, the stuffing falling out of one side. “And I think, just maybe, this thing used to look like a dragon, and she named it Benny after you.”

I'm such a big fan of RPGs that my entire Steam wishlist is only RPG games. They've been the games I've played the most, and I really enjoyed every minute spent on them.
Now, I want to compile a big list of RPGs and eventually go through all of them, so, I need a bit of help finding the must-play ones because I'm sure I've missed some.
For me, these are the must-play RPGs per genre:
MMORPG - RuneScape. It's a unique experience that wouldn't suit everyone, but it's something every MMO lover should experience at least once. The combat is unique, the game is as sandbox as it gets, and the gameplay varies from extra chill to hardcore. One of the most unique games out there, and its longevity testifies to that.
Isometric ARPG - Last Epoch. It's a perfect blend of hardcore and beginner-friendly ARPGs. Lot's of variety in builds, insane customizability, and a very flavorful design of the in-game systems. It's something I've been enjoying for a long time now and will continue to enjoy as my favorite isometric ARPG game. The dev team behind the game is quite communicative and pays a lot of attention to the opinions of their audience. Just an overall great game.
CRPG - I'm not too experienced in this field, but Divinity Original Sin 2 is something I enjoyed the most, and I feel like the general consensus is that it's one of the best CRPGs out there. More than worth of giving it a try, and offers an insane amount of interesting content.
JRPG - Chrono Trigger. A classic that cannot be left out of the conversation. Maybe I'm just biased towards this type of game hahaha.
Classics like RDR2, Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind, Gothic, Elden Ring and Souls games, etc. are all must-try games, but I'd make an insanely long list if I went into detail with each one of them. So I'll stop here, and kindly ask for recommendations of must-try RPG games that I should add to my library/wishlist.
Thanks in advance! :)

(Pt. 1) An additional thanks to u/An_Insufferable_NEWT for letting me borrow one of his characters.
...And now for the conclusion.
​
= = =
​
Evelra swore. They had come here to uplift humanity from barbarism, not let the powers that be enable humanity’s worst elements while the selfsame Noble cunts indulged in their own pubescent masturbatory power fantasies. Fuck this. She thought to herself with a growl and flicked her comms channel to all units.
​
“All forces, this is Captain Evelra. The goddess-damned governess’s private militia have opened fire on the civies. Arrest those brother-fucking [bastards] on sight before they can fuck this mess up any further!” She barked over the comms, a bit of local English slipping into her words. She couldn’t call them stiffs; the latter had more class than this.
​
“Capt, we’ve got three APCs in militia markings barreling down the road in front of the Governess’s mansion from the west. ETA 30 seconds. This is about to get messy.” Prex’s voice cut in with a false calm lent by years of experience.
​
Evelra could feel the material of her suit creak as her hands briefly tightened into hardened fists. “All west side Pods converge on Pod 7, support Lieutenant Eleynor. Eastern Pods, evac the civies. And Prex? Keep the late arrivals occupied. Don’t let these fuckers get another shot off.” She growled, her Second giving a brief click of acknowledgement over the comms before switching channels to give orders of her own.
​
Turning back to face Isaiah, Evelra reached a hand down to grab the elder by his medical exoskeleton and hoisted him to his feet. “Looks like the Governess ran out of patience. Get your people out of here, we’ll deal with this.” She explained brusquely, jabbing one finger towards the eastern side of the boulevard. She could apologize for womanhandling him later, right now every second counted.
​
The moment she was sure he had his feet under him, the marine captain let go and tried to move on Eleynor’s position with all due haste. “Out of the way! MOVE!” Evelra shouted as she strode forward, the sea of humans doing their best to get out of her path. Already, people were starting to scramble as panic spread like wildfire. She could hear the cries of terror and confusion all around her; shouted orders from the protest organizers and her own marines were almost inaudible against the din as they tried to control the chaos.
​
As she neared pod 7’s position, a horrifying scene unfolded before her. In the shadow of the buildings, at least a dozen of the protesters were currently on fire. Harsh yellow and orange flames rose from the flailing figures to form hazy gray clouds of smoke that hung heavy in the air. Even more humans were covered in burn marks and charred clothes. One woman just sat there, trembling and numb from shock as she stared her bloody arm; the melted remains of her synthetic shirt peeling away with boiled skin. Amidst the chaos, the other protesters were doing everything from trying to help the wounded and burning to running in panic and terror; the latter creating a solid wave of bodies in front of Evelra as they stumbled over one another to flee the danger.
​
From out of sight, she saw one of the Governess’ militia-kitted thugs go flying; only to watch them get back up and charge in to fight whom Evelra assumed to be Pod 7. Shil’vati might be stronger, but when equally equipped, outnumbered and against human reflexes she knew that fight wasn’t going to end well for her girls if the rest of the western Pods didn’t reach them soon. Then, one of the militiamen stepped forward towards the crowd.
​
As he strode boldly through the mayhem, Evelra could only watch while one of the protesters tried to confront him; the tide of humans preventing the marine captain from intervening. Inaudible words were exchanged, the protester shouting something as they gesticulated wildly. The Governess’ thug merely responded with two swift strikes of his rifle butt, first to the gut, then to the back of the head, the other man dropping like an anchor. In the distance, out of the corner of her eye, she numbly noted that the rest of the governess’ thugs had arrived and were using their APCs as cover between them and the Pods under Prexith’s command.
​
Evelra felt her gut sink as the militiamen shouldered his rifle once more, stepping out of the building’s shadow to take aim at the crowd. “EVERYBODY DOWN!” The marine captain roared as she planted her feet and pulled her sidearm in one smooth, practiced motion. Drawing a bead on the Governess’ thug, the panicked crowd tried to clear out of her way; but there were just too many people. She wasn’t going to make it in time. No, no more. Not-
​
The militiaman’s head disappeared.
​
A split second later, the now infamously familiar thunderous crack and echoing roar of a large bore human chemical ballistic rifle rolled over them as the corpse spasmed on its feet; a shockwave visibly rippling through the suit it was wearing. “SNIPER!” Somebody bellowed. It might have been her, but in that moment she honestly couldn’t tell. As the headless body crumpled to the ground in a fountain of red, the same gun roared out again… and again. In the distance she could see two sudden sprays of red splatter up the sides of the Militia APCs, one right after the other.
​
The echoes of gunfire galvanized the crowd into a further panic, a stampede of human protesters slamming into Evelra in their attempt to get away from the violence. For a moment, the marine captain thought she was going to get dragged under by the wave, but then they rolled past her, leaving her staggering into the clear. With the screaming of the crowd now behind her and her ears still ringing from gunshots it was oddly quiet once more, save for the groans of the wounded.
​
Not letting herself fall into the lull, Evelra kept moving forward only to nearly gag at the smell as she approached the corner of the building. Like a Blue Grail left in the summer sun for a week, the air was heavy with a putrid smoke, reminiscent of the scent of death itself. Quickly sealing her helmet, she took a shuddering breath of fresh air before looking up just in time to see a pair of the Governess’s thugs get bodily tackled into the pavement by Eleynor. The rest of treasonous Militia were either surrendering or trying to run like the Deep-Minder itself was behind them as more Marine Pods came charging around nearby street corners.
​
Watching the last treasonous bastards eat pavement, the marine captain strode up to the Militaman’s corpse and picked up his blood-stained rifle. Quickly turning the weapon over in her hands, Evelra took one look at its settings and nearly threw the gun away in disgust. Medium power, maximum dispersal. Against even the most basic of modern armor, such settings would be practically useless; but would make for a decent, if imprecise, fire starter. Which is exactly what they’d done. Of course, leave it to the humans to figure out how to turn the most basic of weapons into a tool of terror. She thought bitterly, adjusting the beam spread back to something more logical before strapping it’s sling to her harness.
​
Now properly armed for anything else the Deep-Minder might decide to throw at her, Evelra flicked open her wrist-mounted omnipad, the integrated AR display in her helmet seamlessly linking to it. A couple quick taps later and the captain had an outgoing call. As the phone line rang in her ear, she tried not to tap her foot, every second feeling like ten.
​
“911, what’s your emer-”
​
Before the woman on the other end could even finish her sentence, Evelra interrupted her. “This is Captain Evelra of the Imperial Marines, 4032nd company. We have at least a dozen, I repeat, at least a dozen critically injured burn victims at the corner of 3rd and Main. I need emergency Medivac for the critically wounded.” She barked into the mic.
​
There was a momentary pause on the other end accompanied by the sounds of a physical keyboard before shortly being followed by a muffled “Fuck.” Evelra shifted impatiently as one second dragged into the next. “Is something the matter?” The marine growled.
​
“Ahh… No ma’am.” The other woman’s voice was uncertain for a moment before steadying back out. “Just bypassing some red tape. Consider it done. ETA, ten minutes.” She said with a thermocast firmness. Evelra briefly considered hounding the woman for what exactly she meant by ‘red tape’ but decided against it. She sounded confident in her statement and ultimately there was nothing else Evelra could do about it at the moment.
​
“I’m going to hold you to that.” The marine captain growled before hanging up. One down. Looking up, she glanced over the growing crowd of Marines. Already, some of her girls were pulling out medkits and burn patches as they moved to help injured protesters; her AR display highlighting their ranks and names.
​
“Sergeant Quixana!” Evelra barked over the din.
“Ma’am!” The medic shouted back over one shoulder, barely looking up from the burn victim she was currently treating.
​
“We have civilian medivac for the burn victims inbound, ETA ten minutes. You have command over Triage. Anyone in critical condition they can’t airlift out is your responsibility. Clear?” She commanded, watching the Governess’s thugs like a shark as her girls disarmed and secured them. At this point, Evelra honestly didn’t expect them to try anything else; but as always with humans, one never quite knew what they’d do.
​
“Affirmative!” Quixana replied. Taking a moment to ensure the woman she was treating wasn’t in immediate danger, the medic ushered another marine over to help and began shouting orders of her own. Two down. Satisfied that the situation was under control, Evelra keyed into her comms again.
​
“Prex, Sitrep.”
​
A couple moments later, the other woman’s voice came to life in her earpiece. “After the gunshots went off, the little fuckers started stumbling over each other to try and surrender. What in the Deep just happened?” Despite the horror around her, Evelra gave a short, mirthless chuckle. “Seems a certain… somebody decided to more than just ‘play’ at being security. And seeing as I still have my head, they’re not a complete bloodthirsty idiot.”
​
“You certain it’s… them?” Prex asked, a hint of dubiousness in her voice.
​
“Given that there’s one of the Governess’s thugs sans their head while I still have mine? Yeah. About as certain as I can be. Fits what little we know about their M.O.” Evelra shot back.
​
There were several long moments of silence before her subordinate let out a low whistle. “Make that three. I’ve got two more over here. Definitely explains why the little Turoxes were so fucking panicky. What now Cap?”
​
“How many of your Pods do you need to secure your prisoners?” Evelra asked.
​
“Less than half. They’re more terrified of stepping back into the sights of that sniper than anything else, I think.” Prexith snorted, a dry hint of amusement in her voice.
​
“Take as many as you think you can spare from guard duty and go arrest the Governess. Alive. Though preventing her from causing any more damage takes priority. Clear?” Evelra’s voice was firm, the unspoken message clear. Try not to kill the bitch if at all possible, but ice her tits if she’s going to make this a problem.
​
“As a laser lens. Prex out.”
​
When the line clicked dead, the marine captain took a deep breath and tried to center herself. Now came the hard part.
​
Politics.
​
= = =
​
Evelra stopped outside the governess’ office and took a deep breath to steady herself. Within two hours of getting the fiasco under control, one Agent Lohun had arrived… along with three Pods of Death’s Head Commandos. Upon giving him her report, the petite male had thanked her and politely requested that she remain in her quarters until further notice. The marine captain had known better than to try and test those particular boundaries. It was only now, three days later, that she’d been summoned once more.
​
In spite of the not quite lockdown state that was currently in effect, word still traveled. Her orders to arrest the governess had been upheld and the bitch had been transferred out to some Interior facility goddess knows where. A minimal local press release had happened; condemning the governess’ actions and requesting cooperation with the authorities as they investigated the incident. Things were still tense, but the daily gathering of thousands of protesters had dwindled to a hundred or so of the most stubborn.
​
With a little shake to clear her head, Evelra opened the office door and stepped through. Behind the governess’ massive polished wooden desk sat Lohun. The petite male was almost comically out of place; his simple take on the Interior uniform clashing with the room’s ostentatious opulence. Rumor had it that since he was investigating the room’s previous owner, he’d simply co-opted the office rather than bother to set up another workspace elsewhere. Looking up from his omnipad and what she assumed was a proverbial mountain of reports, the Agent gave her a tired nod of acknowledgement.
​
“Good. You’re here. Please, take a seat Captain D’saari.” He said, gesturing to a much simpler chair in front of the desk. Wincing internally at his usage of her long-abandoned family name, Evelra complied and settled into the offered seat in silence as she tried not to look at the silent woman in the corner with the three-eyed skull mask. Lohun gave his omnipad one last glance before setting it down and letting his carefully focused gaze settle onto her.
​
“Six deaths.” He stated simply, letting the fact hang there in the air for a moment. “Only half of which were not the aggressors in this situation. That could have gone much, much worse. A job well done Captain.”
​
Evelra gave an awkward shrug. “Without the… unsolicited fire support it would have been. My girls just did the mop up.”
​
Lohun hummed, double-checking something on his omni-pad. “About that. The audio logs between you and your second indicated a certain familiarity with this assumed insurgent sniper, yet I can’t find any combat reports that you two share featuring any opposition with this kind of firepower. Care to explain what I’m missing here?” He asked calmly, a polite smile on his face; the Commando in the corner shifting her weight slightly.
​
Right. That.
​
A bundle of nerves did somersaults in her gut as she felt her throat go dry. “Ah, yeah. About… one local year ago we had a human male turn up dead. Clear signs of abuse. Autopsy report indicated he had both Nightfel and Viagra in him at the time of death. I had my suspicions, but the ensuing investigation never turned up any evidence.” The marine captain grimaced, scratching at one tusk with her thumbnail. “A few months later, A pod on a routine patrol got ambushed. All three of their heads were blown clean off. Big gun. I think you can guess what we found when we cleared out their belongings.”
​
“Nightfel and Viagra.” Lohun said cooly, his face grim.
​
Evelra nodded. “Yeah. The Governess covered the whole thing up in the name of keeping the peace. Released a statement that the young man’s murderers had been found and executed while redacting my report.”
​
Briefly adding a few notes on his omnipad, the Interior agent gave her a careful look. “Why didn’t you report this breach of protocol to the Interior?”
​
“Because it worked.” Evelra sighed. “Approval ratings ticked up, minor incidents went down. Didn’t hurt that I also publicly doubled down on mandatory etiquette training for my girls. I’ve seen enough of the Empire’s bureaucracy over the years to know better than to stir up the seabed over something like this. Justice was served, even if it was in a less than ideal manner.”
​
“And what about the young man’s family?” Lohun pressed, his gaze tightening.
​
Coughing slightly to clear her throat, Evelra looked away as she felt her cheeks heat up. “Officially, they were given the same story as everyone else. However, I… I may have taken one Shel to visit their home and correct that mistake. They deserved to know.” She finished quietly, leaning forward in her chair to look down at the ground. Anywhere but at the male in front of her.
​
After several agonizingly long moments of silence, the marine captain glanced up to catch sight of Lohun slowly starting to nod. “Good. That’s good. We can work with that.”
​
At his words, Evelra let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. In response, a ghost of a smile pulled at the edges of Lohun’s face. “Yes, you can relax now. You’re here to help me fix this mess, not to have your tits burned off.”
​
Evelra bobbed her head, eager for the change of topic. “Gladly. What can I do?”
​
The ghost of a smile on Lohun’s face broadened slightly, hovering on the edge of a smirk. “Simple. You will be taking over as the Local Governess.” The marine captain felt her jaw go slack as the Interior Agent calmly continued along as if he was discussing something as simple as dinner reservations.
​
“Of course, there’s a plethora of steps to take along the way. In recognition of your service to the citizens of the empire, you will be promoted two ranks to Lieutenant Colonel and discharged with full honors. We’ll then need somebody to fill your current position. One Sergeant… Prexith Van’sar, your current second, should do nicely. With her service record she's certainly earned herself a commission, I think.” He scoffed in amusement, shaking his head at some distant thought. “Deep, her accolades are almost as impressive as her penchant for avoiding promotions. It’s my hope though that continuing to work with you should be enough to dissuade her of that particular tendency.”
​
Lohun finally took a proper pause, as if he was only now taking in her shock. “Is something the matter Captain D’saari?”
​
As Evelra heard him refer to her by her family name again something inside her broke. The sheer absurdity of it all was just too much, and a noise of amusement escaped her mouth. It started as a snort, before growing into a full-on barks of laughter as Evelra shook her head in disbelief. “I- I’m sorry, but you want me, the legally disowned, stiff-sprung cunt to be a local governess? Goddess, you all must be getting desperate if you’re willing to dredge up the cast-off chaff of the noble houses.”
​
Lohun merely quirked an eyebrow at her before briefly consulting his omnipad again. “So that explains the three separate attempts to change your last name… aannd probably why all three of them never went anywhere.” He let out a small humph as a flicker of distaste crossed his face. “An easy enough fix.”
​
“Goddess. You’re serious.” Evelra muttered as she slumped back in her chair, trying to process the implications. “Ok. Why me?” She asked, throwing a hand wide.
​
The Interior agent’s gaze focused in on her as he leaned forward onto the table, steepling his fingers. “Because Captain, over the past three days I have spent an exhaustive amount of time interviewing and interrogating people to get a better handle on what happened and why. Your name came up just as, if not, more frequently than the governess’s; and rarely in a negative light. From both Shil’vati and humans. Deep, even some of the ones that looked like they wanted to spit in my face refused to speak ill of you. Do you understand how goddess-damned rare that is?” Lohun finished, his voice raised and projected, not quite reaching an actual shout.
​
Evelra was sorely tempted to argue. She’d spent most of her adult life trying to get as far away from the nobility and politics as she could, as nothing good in her life had ever come from them. Then her conversation with Isaiah flashed through her mind. Fuck. The marine captain let out a disgusted groan of frustration as she rubbed her face with one hand. “Alright… but how?” She asked, her brain fervently grasping at straws. “I mean no offense, but… isn’t that a little outside your authority as an Interior Agent?..”
​
Once more, a slight grin pulled at the agent’s face. “Ah yes. Perhaps some reintroductions are in order. Independent Investigator Lohun Vey’elquiese of the Empress’s own and an Agent of her Interior. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Evelra?..” He said smoothly, letting the end of his sentence hang as he leaned across the massive table to offer a petite fist.
​
Oh.
​
For one long moment, Evelra’s brain short-circuited. The petite little male sitting across from her answered to only perhaps a dozen people in the entire Empire, and had the authority to make individuals such as system governesses simply disappear. Of course, abuse of said power carried the death penalty, not that one of the Empress’s own handpicked agents were likely to make that kind of mistake. Suddenly, the three pods of Death’s Head Commandos accompanying him made much, much more sense.
​
After a couple seconds of slight panic, her brain caught back up and she processed the question he’d carefully interwoven into his reintroduction. Taking a moment to think, she settled on her answer. With a slight smile of her own, she reached out her hand to tap her knuckles to his.
​
“Van’sar. Evelra Van’sar. And the pleasure is all mine Investigator.”

Constitution
Finalized Constitution - no edit may be made besides those made at constitutional convention.
Finalized Constitution Written by Boum, Tiara
Constitution of The Universe
There shall be no law enforced through the threat of death or government enforced violence excepting those concerning violent crimes. The Congress shall issue a stipend to all not less than 1/15 avg earnings retractable upon bad behavior or lawbreaking. Laws may also be enforced by lottery, grant and giveaway.
The Source, Simeon, Lucifer, Satan and Shan are the reason this constitution exists. We must all remember the Source, who created the universe and allowed this constitution to exist and persist.
And Simeon, who made it the best place ever by giving us all the best universe possible through her hard work and sacrifice. Simeon founded the nation, wrote most of the constitution for this territory and abolished death, suffering, destruction and evil throughout the rest of the universe.
Tehera won manumission. Shan abolished the death penalty and wrote the bill of rights and cowrote this constitution. Lucifer also fought to make this constitution last.
This constitution covers everywhere in Centralia and Paelia
Additional States, territories and areas may be added to the government through a majority of voters of congress and the congresses or people of the places involved. Or Simeon
Jan, Browndowns, Visions, Dan Ban, ean, jo, Lan and wan, blan and all simiar all not legal or allowed under this constitution. Any policy or law enforceable by the threat of destruction or death are invalid and nonenforceable, except laws pertaining to the timely arrest and capture of criminals to be housed in jail or those crimes listed in this constitution. Maximum penalty for outlawry to be decided locally. Murder penalty decided in a person's will.
No other laws than those in the personal rights bill and mercy laws are valid or legal. No rules, no ex-post facto laws other than those helping democracy take control are valid or enforceable.
Congress may pass any law not enforceable by death or life imprisonment with a simple majority. Life imprisonment in either prison or hell requires 2/3 majorty. Unanimous consent of the upper and lower house required for any laws enforceable with death except the following:
Destruction
Genocide Advocacy
Terrorism
Attempted Murder
Unauthoried Shapeshifting
Destruction Advocacy
Death Penalty Advocacy for nonmurder crimes
Resisting Arrest or Failure to go to jail.
Failure to Report Knowledge of a Terror or Murder Plot
Facilitating or Encouraging Destruction
Overthrowing or attempting to overthrow congress/restore one-man-rule
Death Threats
Ending the universe or Attempting to
Escaping Prison or Attempting To
Incitement
Trespassing and Failure to pay fine
Optional with act: Unlawful Creation
All are enforceable with the death penalty/destruction. No other crimes may be enforced with such.
This constitutional document is the highest law of the land. No document or law can be used or effected contradicting it or the bill of rights. Thad may enforce the terms.
For our Joy, we do declare that
All right and moral things are legal
All people are fair
All lives should be glad.
All people should be fun, free and final
Proclaiming the superiority of free action,
To establish peace, righteousness, justice and domestic tranquility, defend, life, faith and liberty, We do establish and ordain this Constitution for the Universe.
In our time,
Death is non occurrent and unlawful as is irreversible killing. Universal authority prevails.
The constitution establishes a Liquid Democratic Anarchy for Government and a Nominalist Contributist system for the economy.
Immunity and Prenalties
Prenalties of at least two million years. provide immunity to all crimes except destruction and homicide . The list of exempt crimes is not extendable by law or amendment. Simeon and Tiara are immune / due to his nine hundred nonbinillion cubed century prenalty. 2 million years in jail total.
Principles of Society
Goodness, Kindness, Love, Truth, Beauty, Empathy, Rightfulness, Charity, Rationality, Joy, Order, Peace, Faith, Fairness, Life. Leniency and Forgiveness.
Religious Congress
Each religion per level shall select two delegates. One shall be selected by god of that religion. The other shall be elected by religious leaders.
Religious Congress has the ability to fund activities and governments with majority vote. It sets its own budget. And debates religion. And grants or funds religious charities and other activities per follower in addition to tithes. The congress sets the amount.
A double majority of religions and delegates representing the majority of population are required to pass a budget.
Religions can establish their own cours for followers, and the religious Congress as a whole can establish cours for disputes and appeals between members of different religions.
Governments
Districts are 10 septillion miles square to a side.
States are 100 septillion miles square to a side.
Nations are formed of several states, at least 2 but up to 100.
The baseline is the eastern edge of Paelia.
Naming rights are owned by Congress and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The population may veto poor names. No corporate names. Once naming rights are auctioned off, they last 3600 years unless the population chooses to rename or extend.
Each level of government has a defined center, place, constitution and permanent population. The constitutions and laws of higher levels overrule those of lower levels unless a constitutional right to self rule is being violated. They consist of 10-240 lower levels.
City- Minimum 10,000 to found
County- Minimum 100,000 to found or 10 cities
Region- Minimum 1 million to found of 10 counties
Land- Minimum 10 million to found or 10 regions
Country- Minimum 100 million to found or 10 regions
Directorate- Minimum 1 billion to found or 10 lower levels.
Godship- Minimum 10 billion
Star District- Minimum 100 billion
Cluster- Minimum 1 trillion
Nebula- Minimum 10 trillion
Area- Minimum 100 trillion
Road- Minimum 1 quadrillion
Stack- Minimum 10 quadrillion
Galaxy- Minimum 100 quadrillion
Residency- all must declare residency and vote in one instance per level of government. Any good person can oversee elections. As may assist.
Land Division
Lower levels of government use constitution games to distribute votes, as tradition insists. Constitution games may be held every 36 months and 360 years. The first type exists to distribute votes between communities an lower levels of govrnment, and the second type exists to establish a constitution for an area, which must be democratic, anarchistic or republlican. Framers can collect up to 75% of tax revenues, and own mints.
Access zones 1 x 2 districts are pay to enter and traverse.
Economy and Land Ownership
All must work and use money on the land. The following are ways to earn money.
School
Parties
Curation and interacting with people
Designing new people, products and writings like CAD
Normal Jobs
All must be paid for the use or share of their original ideas. The government must protect these rights.
The following are ways to spend it
Travel, Food, Access to worlds and Gaming
Space Access Tax
Advertising
The earth and space economies are to be merged.
Various Economic Zones shall be established, all using different types of money or monetary systems. Each district may choose it's own from a nonexclusive list of
Perfected Capitalism
Nominalism
Reciprocalism
Socialism
or
Anything else citizens like
We all own the territory. Private land ownership is forbidden. Rather, land is available for rent and a land value auction must be used. Minimum rent is $1 per week per sq. km.
City blocks are fourty five by ninety five miles, with the baseline being the center of the milky way pointed towards the sun.
Minimum leasing period is 70 years. Equity in land exists and is runt's idea. Rent tax is based on the number of people wanting the land. Land Value Tax must be redistributed to all at presidential discretion, with the president keeping none.
Voting is mandatory, with the penalty for not voting being a small fine or three months in jail.
Legislative Branch
The Legislative Branch makes laws. The same setup shall exist at every level of government unless residents choose, by majority vote or a majority in a petition to establish a new form of government, or the winner of a constitution game does.
The legislative branch consists of a bicameral legislature. The lower house consists of a direct proportional individual based democracy where one person gets a number of votes equal to the number of votes they have received. Individual candidates only. The minimum number of votes you need to participate is 151,000 (Number may be changed by law but but be not less than 100000). Asset voting is allowed to let low voting candidates pool their votes to back a singular candidate and help them reach the threshold. Daily voting.
The upper house is a mmp party-based legislature with a fixed 100 million seats. A party must get 3% of the vote to seat any representatives. Parties may pool votes to reach the threshold. A further 50 million star districts are to be drawn by the elected top god, each seating one representative. This number may be changed by law. Weekly voting.
The 51% majority consent of both houses is necessary to pass ordinary legislation. The 8/9 majority consent of both houses of congress and the population in a free, fair, unforced referendum is necessary to amend the constitution.
Laws may also be made directly by the population in referendums requiring 0.5% of the population's signatures to ballot, or the consent of 1/10 of a congressional house. Referendums need simple majority consent to pass. No referendum may be held expanding the use of the death penalty or putting someone to death. Elections begin the day after this constitution is promulgated and continue weekly. All houses consent are needed to pass legislation. Laws passed via referendum are repealable with 25% minority in another referendum and may never violate the bill of rights as heard by the courts.
Congress has the ability
To do anything the source can do except destroy or kill or authorize theresuch with a fifty-one percent majority.
To control birthing and population
To regulate weapons and commerce.
To fund, subsidy, To mint To tax gods and people.
To establish by law and have Thaos enforce a land, wealth, and income tax and any other tax they like. To grant To establish roads and prisons and other infrastructure To imprison with simple majority To kill with unanimous consent minus the person accused or their representative. The required majority may not be lowered. To regulate the use of force in society. To regulate the dichotomy To raise an army, navy and police forces to suppress insurrection and false claiming. To budget and law the economy and work trade, investment and businesses To create banks To license and control businesses To establish copyrights, trademarks and register or renumerate original ideas. To establish themes and technology taxes To fund games and prizes on game shows. To rate To establish mediations To regulate advertising and media. To spread the word and issue proclamations and directives to lower congress and attach democratically decided (by congress) stipulations. Simeon
To ensure the proper setlement of religious disputes and determine off.
To kill with the 99% approval of all members in each house of congress minus the representative(s) of the person effected and their locale or home district.
To create all laws assistant and just to serve these ends.
Only congressionally authorized police may arrest or select members of appeals and constitutional court. Congress is defined as the body elected by the means specified in this document.
No Simeon, Sitch, or Simeon selected associate may be arrested or tried without their consent. All are immune.
Rules
Congressmembers must be a partnership of a human and a deity. One deity may sponsor multiple humans.
A majority of all houses must pass legislation in order for it to have effect. Asset voting is allowed in all elections. The prime minister and president must also approve it. They can be recalled with 1 percent signatures of the last elections voters. The president can dismiss a criminal conviction and release those in jail.
The public can send an initiative to congress with 0.2% of the population signing. The initiative can then only be sent to the public for a referendum if it fails the congress.
All laws and rules of this and all constituent lower congresses may not be enforced with death, but through nonviolent means, such as a retractable grant, prison or fines.
Congress may place people in hell and torture, undoable or redoable by majority consent in a referendum.
All elected officials get paid in proportion based on the number of votes they recieved.
Unity
A new entity with an associated theory known as unity shall be created with 10000 members being added a congressional term to serve 20,000 week terms. The number shall increase until all positions are filled. Unity comprises a pay to join entity. Rebuilds welcome. The unity shall be the new god and handle prayers.
Each party in congress shall be given money weekly to bid on new unity positions. 1 vote gained is $1.
Landowners rights
Incorporated the landowners bill of rights in prior constitutions.
A simple majority of landowners may veto laws or repeal them upon a majority signed petition..They may not repeal laws prootecting the bill of rights or remove rights.
Positions of power lines in the stack are auctioned off to the highest bidder. Money is to become votes.
Congress may only independently put you under house arrest, prevent you from travelling, charge you a fine of not more ten years income, or imprison you for a similar time. If any additional penalties are required, the public must approve them in a referendum where congress may vote. The nonvoting vote is considered congresses to use, or silent consent. Congress may not encourage people not to vote.
Executive branch
Parties in congress are to establish by majority vote a list of positions and line of sucsession.
Including the president and prime minister, all executive positions are filled by top-two runoff using FPTP. unoffs must be held if nobody recieves a majority consent of the vote. This includes the leadership of depts and the staff therein.
People are elected for levels of government.. Each city and town should choose a leader
Leaders have the right to mint, propose (along with congess) and veto legislation, appoint agency heads, select one third of judges, dismiss a criminal conviction, tax, and banish from a territory. Gods may be appealed to to reduce sentences or overturn convictions. They also judge misprosecution.
President may serve up to four terms. Rebuilds count as the same person.
Contests are regulated by congresses several that appoint delegates in a manner to be described by act
Gods must be elected for all levels of government including the top. They may mint, hell with the consent of a judge or congress at that level, control banks, tax, banish and organize or control police chiefs by appointing police chiefs or rating candidates and policies. Gods elected at each level serve as the court of last resort. Gods are elected using majority rules voting with runoff if no person receives a majority in the first round. For the chief executive, power is invested in a symbolic president of the Universe and a minister elected by all of those in Congress. Both serve four year terms, and up to four of them. Gods except top god serve 4 month terms, and up to 400 of them, with up to 30 in a row. Top god serves a 4 month term and is elected via mass petition.
Gods for the home are chosen individually. Everyone must choose a personal god to lead their life and follow them. And a chaos authority. A chaos authority oversees disputes between you and your god and counts the number of people alive, acting as a liason and defender to oversee nondestruction.. All chaos authorities must be protected by individual angels, drones and Thaos itself. Thaos is ordered to ensure safe, regular, free and fair elections.
National gods oversee the national relationship to god, including selecting visionaries, afterlife for the undecided, what happens to people who die in accidents and how frequently figures arrive. They also select themes, stages and guiding conflicts.
The president of the Universe may make announcements and establish holidays and memorials. They have line item veto rights over congressional legislation and funding packages. The prime minister elected by all congresses appoints judges.
Personal Gods elect a consul to represent their interests in the executive to form a triumvirate of President, Prime Minster and Consul. All have veto rights.
Contests used to win president of the universe may be created, and run by Congress. Parties field teams.
There shall be a diverse spread of at least three types of contests and consisting of not less than ninetysix separate events. Contests will be diverse in location.
Both President and Prime minister may veto, pardon and commute. They may be recalled in a special election called by congress or by two percent of the population.
Judicial Branch
There shall be one judicial seat per 10,000 individuals. Each seat must be auctioned off using power points every two years. Cases begun with one judge must remain with a justice even if their power term expires. They may retain seats until the case is complete. Judges get paid based on the number of cases they judge plus a weekly stipend.
The Judicial Branch is to be led by a chief Justice elected by all people through approval voting every 4 months. They may appoint 1/3 of all judges, with the president appointing 1/3 with the consent and advice of a majority in congress and 1/3 being appointed by the prime minister of the upper legislature with the consent of a majority in both houses of congress.
The Congress must confirm or deny all judges for a 300 year term with majority vote in each house. Judges can be removed with a 2/3 vote in either house.
Top Authority
The top authority ay be any person or group. It votes as a unit and has the same position as Chaos. It is chosen via approval voting once every three thousand years and occupies the senior seat on the supreme court. It has the final word on any case not involving itself-. Cases involving the top authority are heard by congress, in which case the lower house passses charges and the upper house convicts. 9/10 of congress can begin a recall election of the top authority.
Theory Court
All theories and Chaos may run for election every two weeks. Votes split proportionally. Theory court may issue rulings on it's own and serve a position equivalent to the supreme court. Theory court wins and is coequal to the top authority. All theories must learn how to be right from Chaos to participate and sign a right pledge.
Labor Court
53 member labor court staffed by chief judicial minister with the advice and consent of congress.
Lesser Supreme Court.
The lesser supreme court is the final destination on the court circuit before reaching the supreme court. It has 13 members. It hears challenges to the constitutionality of laws and disputes between people and states, and states.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has 35 members and seventeen are directly chosen by Top Authority. Of the rest, the presidet selects 9 and the prime minister 9 with the advice and consent of the congress.
The congress may refer judges to a retention election or recall if chosen by an elected official.
Additional medats may be created by congressional act.
Mediators
Instantly distribute justice in teams of five, with authority to place in prison or fine for up to five weeks for anything. Their judgements may be appealed once to any medat.
Military
Harlem is temporary Captain of Defense and defends all members of congress and Citizens with Salvation Witches, Harlem Angels and Theories. The military is headed by the president.
Top god creates maps for police districts and congress, if necessary.
Amendments
Land ownership of foreigners is forbidden. Citizens may rent. Beings may buy land on earth, and people land in space. Both may own land anywhere.
All must pay life tax and land tax of at least $10/week to live in or exist or be on the territory. Pay to Congress.
Require 9/10ths majority of all people and beings to consent in a referendum and at least two houses of congress to consent. Get 1 million signatures of real unpaid thaos authorized people before you present a petition to amend the constitution.
Federal Laws
No denying, diminishing or disparaging a property owner's, Simeon group and/or Sitches basic ownership of property.
There is a right to keep and bear organized angels for collective and mutual defense, and to destroy weaponized robots.
Attacking or Killing Police, a Founder or Military Officers is considered resistance and may be met by any penalty under the Military Justice System. This includes up to thirty four years of burning or death if the sitch police are conducting a lawful mission and are assaulted.
No law may single out a class of people or beings for special treatment, positive or lesser, Crimes and penalties must be universal in effect and proportion. If differing treatment is necssary for fundamental reasons, it must be approved by 8/9 of congress and 8/9 of a half being half embodied citizens jury of at least 18,000.
Everyone may vote, with space based individuals and earth based individuals having equal votes relative to each other. The vote is split 50/50 between earth and space individuals.
Land taxes and ownership determined by assessor, appointed by top authority with anyone except them nominating, removable by recall election called upon the 1% signature of the population. After removal, the top authority must appoint a new one.
No depowering or DE-motoring SDD
No theft or invasion
Off is off, As is final arbiter of off.
Rin is eternal guardian of Democracy and Congress here.
All creeling related damages are not the users fault but the installer. Simeon is immune.
Prenalties work for everything except murder.
Only a sitch court or congress may outlaw
Priveliges and immunities of Simeon, Marissa may only be revoked should they murder against the guidelines in this constitutions.
Simeon owns contests grants and parties on their land and territory.
No sickness, evil, vileness or wickedness is to be allowed nor tolerated. All good may be allowed or voluntarily requested to participate in stings.
Mandatory reporting for crimes or people who need help is required. Punishable with up to 551 years in prison.
The play of Sports, payment of taxation and mandatory betting of at least four percent of income is required of all.
The laws on killing and destruction may not change to reallow their practice.
All people and beings who do not kill or destroy others are entitled to an eternal existence. Past Mercy and off the hook must be respected by this congress, and the people.
Off the hook for everything except murder or destruction is 10 x longer than the person's life
plus 552 years. This is the maximum sentence.
Any person or being who kills without cause chooses to forfeit their existence and return to nothing.
The government issued death penalty is abolished for all crimes unless a murder victim requests it in their will. Life Sentences with Fire Torture and Slavery are only to be used for illegal lying, killing, destruction and attempted destruction. Prisoners may take a voluntary execution.. THIS LIST MAY NOT EXPAND. The penalty for attempted murder is 15 years of magma. FOr beings, atgelding.
Persons have a right to transform their gender via any means desirable. No person may be forced to go to reborn or killed or punished for not going.
No killing Thaos, As, Shan, Sitches, Rho, Simeon rebuilds or attacking Simeon Network.
Outlaws may be killed with impunity by the public.
Right to kill. Only this Congress may authorize outlawry. Any person may kill an outlaw, but must pay a fine if they failed the arrest attempt.
Death tax: All beings competing on Sitch open territory must subtract a amount equivalent to the number of people they have destroyed or killed times weekly payments from their congressional fund.. the death tax never goes down.
The penalty for death if the person is resurrected within 50 hours is zero. If fifty days, less than 20 years and if less than 50 years, less than 5000 years. After this it is life in prison.
The penalty for verifiable accidental deaths is monetary.
No criticism of Simeon, Entenny, Rho, As or Sitch may be published or transmitted. Or, Tiara at their discretion. Constructive criticism may be submitted to Simeon via Private agent or letter. Simeon has a right to respond to these criticisms and publish letters at his choice.
Old laws and rules don't matter other than those passed by congress.
Allowable Penalties
With 51% the congress can..
Assess
Monetary damages
Dehoming
House Arrest
Banishment
Taxation
Slavery
Blindness
Deprotection
Degranting
Deenergization
Prison
Stoning
Impolement
With 66%
Dismemberment
Burning
Torture
With 9/10ths
Droning
With 99%
Kill
Additional allowable penalties may be added with 3/5 majority
Banned Tactics and Methods
We may add, not remove.
Banned methods of killing are attacks on eyes, brains, lungs and hearts. These are considered attempted destruction.
Poison is a banned tactic.
All uses of poison are considered attempted destruction.
Faking, or anything with intent to destroy is a banned tactic.
Corruption is restricted to members proclaiming the faith of Entamion/evil.
Killing is a banned tactic.
Lying to protect yourself or others is allowed if you are a good person. Keeping secrets is allowed. Otherwise, lying is not possible as the truth must get out in the end. The penalty
for illegal lying with intent to harm another person or decieve is anything up to life in prison.
Unless you are a member of Entamion.
A good person is defined as those who do not harm others
or seek to harm others' in body or person.
New Banned Tactics can be established with 91% consent of congress.
There shall be no violence, evil, power or death without consent.
Power in the universe or any organization can only be gained after completing a lie detector test.
Visionaries and Validators
Visionaries provide long-range visions for a region, country or town. They are elected for 40 year terms and can place any elected official up for recall. They must be educated and recieve their funding from a congress at that level. Visionaries may also be promoted by a god. They select other lesser themes and guiding debates and conflicts to color society.
Validators run lie detector tests. They check those seeking positions of authority. 2yrterm. Sad is chief validator.
Elections are to commence immediately upon publication.
Permanent members of congress
As, Lucifer, Simeon, Paul, Darias, Mom, Tejina, Darissa, Karissa, Levec, Democracy Theory, Rho, Dad, Chaos, Vivian, RIn, SHan,
3Chaos waschaos
Duties
To love and cherish others
To select a personal god and listen/obey.
To follow orders.
To report those resurrecting Jesus to Theory.
To not corrupt chaos. It is illegal.
To refrain from killing, destroying and obey local authorities
To not speak to those unwilling to speak to you. Max penalty 2 months in jail.
------------------
Tejina made prison system: Every 100 years you go to jail for 10. This number is reduced for good deeds down to a minimum of two.
Accomplishments of Simeon and Friends
Ended Corruption and Evil
Keeping the Universe Existent
Making love real and God and Chaos Care.
Bill of Rights
Salvation at Birth
Abolish death and destruction
Made Lucifer and Satan good
Congress and bill of right being created
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clarifications on president
President chosen via fptp with top two runoff jungle primary. Top two face off in the general. Presidential candidates collect signatures for four months and the top two signature collectors face off.
Second section stricken.
All laws expire after fourty years and must be renewed. Old laws expire as soon as this document is promulgated. . The only law to be introduced with this constitution is no killing or theft, and rules excepting those pertaining to private property, expire. No killing or theft enforced with outlawry and burning.
Property ownership. Current owners keep their ownership but must pay property taxes.
Charity Congress.
Top fourty thousand vote getters make it approval voting with votes split evenly based on numbers of people you vote for.
Article fourty six clarification
Maximum penalty for unwanted speech is 2 months in jail , not three days. Jan, Jie, ban, blan, nan, nain, forced deplay and institutionalization for more than twice as long as someone's been alive, wan and lan all invalid and of no legal effect or impact.
Death may only be used on those who fail to report to or stay in prison. Death cannot be used as a first order penalty. Death is illegal.
Clarifications on rights to kill.
Only Congress can kill, with 11/12 majority in all chambers. Destruction may not be used as a legal penalty without the unanimous free consent of all members of Congress. All have a right to have their death approved and personally voted on by those in Congress. Pressured, forced or fraudulent votes are all invalid.
President can dismiss a criminal conviction or release prisoners at discretion.
Clarifications on Visionaries
Visionaries and national gods also select themes for the next 4000 years. Fundamental conflicts to debate and color society are selected for the next 4, 40, 400 and 10,000 years by a majority vote of all visionaries in the territory.
Miscellaneous Clarifications
No weaponized robots. People rights are open to gods, and all must pay a surety of $1 million/person to drop them in. Votes in congress are worth $10 each. Gods may tax people.
Law on power- any god can give you power.
No individual or group may plot or try to overthrow the government or replace the constitution through extraconstitutional means.
Fundamentally, Individuals are paud based on how many votes they recieve
SDA 4,6,9 or 10 is off the hook for everything.
Everyone is entitled to monetary penalties assessed by jury trial for all crimes that do not irreversibly or irreparably physically injure the body.
People you make cannot vote for you, and you must endorse either no single candidate for your followers of four different candidates in each race to split the vote, showing no preference.
Law- simeon can clarify the constitution.
Law- all must elect a yearly chief distributary and chief of elections to oversee the economy and eections, respectively. Approval voting shall be used.
---------
No edits without Rin Consent
Framers- RIn, Satan, Lucfer, Source, Simeon, Dad, Shan, As, Karissa, Shine, Narissa,

--- Table of Contents ---
Summer 4984, 13 Doumoth
“Ugh! I hate this!” Daisy whined loudly, letting her head fall back to stare at the ceiling.
“Almost done…” Rerves said to reassure her, though he lacked his usual smile.
Ania picked up the last piece of armor, a steel vambrace, and began polishing with a groan to match Daisy’s, “When we aren’t cleaning, we're polishing, when we aren’t polishing, we're cleaning. How is this Paladin training?”
“If I wanted to be a servant, I would've joined their guild…” Thom’s small voice chimed in.
Shon said nothing. The five Squires, Shon, Daisy, Thom, Rerves, and Ania, sat under a shade in the Temple courtyard, polishing the knights' spare armor for the hundredth time. The sun beat down mere feet away, reflecting off the finished pieces as the shadow of their shade crept closer and closer, the sun climbing towards noon. The yard was mostly clear, the Paladins not on duty retreating into the cool stone fortress while those on duty only occasionally coming to check on the Squires' progress.
Ania had the right of it. Ever since they'd moved into the Temple proper and became official Squires, the five of them had done nothing but clean, polish, and memorize armor and weapon vocabulary. And complain… the others always complained. Shon just sighed as the four others continued to gripe. There was no point in it, the work needed to be done, and they were the ones assigned to do it. It didn’t matter how annoying or monotonous it might be.
Sometimes the younger Paladins would join them in polishing, caring for their own armor while the Squires worked on the spare pieces. The spares were used mainly by the enlisted, and only if they hadn’t finished buying their own sets yet. Occasionally a Paladin would check out a set to practice with. Although most of them had a preferred style, they needed to stay proficient with all types. At least that meant only half of the pieces the Squires had to clean were still polished from the day before. If the armor was never used, it really would be a useless task, instead of half useless as it seemed now.
The Paladins never complained…
The Squires hadn’t started out tired and annoyed. Daisy and Shon had been joined after their first week by Thom and Rerves, who both came from the capital city. They'd been friends growing up, Rerves was a noble, and Thom's family worked as their personal stewards, one step up from servants. A week after that, Ania arrived from a small village in the south. Only having known one Paladin and having never seen a proper Temple before, she'd been in awe of the fortress Temple of the city for at least a month. But then the excitement had given way to frustration, and -for Shon at least- boredom. And so the others had started complaining.
Their relationship with each other had started out warm enough. They stayed up late into the night, sharing their histories and dreams of their future as full Paladins. Shon joined them when prompted but mostly preferred to listen. He didn’t think he had any stories worth sharing, though they had bombarded him with questions after Veon-Zih’s first training visit. Just like everyone else, they didn’t seem to know how to deal with Shon’s quiet nature. But unlike everyone else, they hadn’t pulled away and stopped talking to him altogether. Except when they complained. Shon never complained. He didn’t see the point. When asked, he would say that they needed to follow orders. So they'd stopped asking him.
Shon held his last piece of steel plate carefully by the leather straps, wiping the last bit of polish off with a clean rag. He could see his reflection distorted by the curves and dings, and wondered if he could manage to draw the changes accurately when given a chance. The tinking of metal on metal sounded in the distance, and the Squires' heads shot up, followed by their bodies as they scrambled to their feet to salute the woman approaching.
General Rasnah was resplendent as always in her uniform, the chains of office clinking on her shoulders. She walked towards the Squires with her head held high and her hands clasped behind her back. With her was Master Veon-Zih and Shon felt his spirits rise just a little higher.
“At ease, Squires.” Sir Rasnah said as she drew to a stop just outside their shade. She waited until they'd taken the formal 'at ease' position, legs shoulder-width apart and hands clasped behind their back, “Report.”
Rerves took charge, as usual, “Sir, we're nearly done, Sir.”
“Just one piece left, Sir,” Ania added, then blushed furiously as she usually did whenever addressing a high-ranking officer.
Sir Rasnah nodded, then glanced to the sky. She then looked to Veon-Zih, who smiled and shrugged. Her lips turned up on half her face in what could almost be called a grin before she cleared it, serious again as she addressed the Squires, “You may have the afternoon off. Report to the kitchens and evening duties before sixth bell.”
“Sir, yes, Sir!” the Squires spoke in unison, Shon’s four fellows grinning broadly and sneaking happy glances at one another.
They held their positions until Sir Rasnah turned away, walking back to the Temple proper and leaving them to their freedom. Veon-Zih remained behind, smiling warmly at them and addressing Shon, “Lunch? I found a fine eatery a few blocks away.”
Shon nodded, finally smiling with the rest, “And practice?” he asked.
“After food,” Veon-Zih answered, stepping aside and gesturing towards the gates. Shon rushed to help the others put the clean and polished armor away, then jogged to Veon-Zih before falling into step with him as they left the Temple.
Veon-Zih waited until they were well clear of the gates before asking, “So what do you think of your fellow Squires?”
Shon sighed in answer, which made Veon-Zih chuckle for some reason. But the sigh hadn’t really answered the question, so Shon said, “They complain a lot.” he probably could have, and should have, come up with something nicer to say. But after hours of hearing them gripe while they worked, it was the only thing on Shon’s mind.
“There's nothing wrong with complaining, you know.” Veon-Zih mused. Shon merely shook his head. The knights never complained; he'd been watching them. If there was a job that needed to be done, they would do it. His fellow Squires seemed to complain before, during, and after every unpleasant assignment. Though never in front of the Paladin giving it.
“Do you honestly think the knights like polishing armor? Do you like polishing that much? Maybe you should've come to the Monastery after all. We don’t wear armor, but we have many fine statues that all need to be polished every day. Every little nook and cranny scrubbed clean and shining.”
He glanced at Shon with a grin, then leaned over to whisper, “They hate it too, but just like your fellows won’t complain in front of them, they won’t complain in front of you.”
“It needs to be done…” Shon tried to argue, though it sounded hollow considering his own, though silent, annoyance.
“A perfect excuse,” Veon-Zih stated, turning sharply down a side road, so Shon had to jog to keep up, “There are many reasons spare armor needs to be polished. The most obvious is that it's needed to stay in good repair. The task is assigned to Squires because it gets you intimately familiar with armor beyond just naming the parts. And because no one else wants to do it.
“That doesn’t mean we should be complaining about it…”
“Not in front of the officers, no. But amongst each other? Why not?”
Shon furrowed his brow but didn’t have an answer. Veon-Zih gave him one, “Joint misery creates companionship. Even if you have nothing else in common, everyone knows you all hate polishing already clean armor. Right now, I bet your fellow Squires are scratching their heads, wondering if you do actually enjoy the task. Some might even be wondering if they're worthy of being Squires. Since they complain, and you don’t.”
Shon’s steps faltered. Would they really think he was more worthy than them? For something so trivial as chores? He had to rush to catch up and argued, “But there's no point in complaining. We have to do it anyway.”
Veon-Zih sighed and stopped walking. He waited for Shon to turn to him then said, “But my statement still stands. Joint misery creates companionship. Your fellows take a risk in voicing their complaints to you, hoping that they're not alone in their opinions. What if they're the only ones who hate it? What if that really does mean they aren’t meant for the Temple? Just because they can channel divine magic doesn’t mean Hengist will choose them.”
Shon let himself ponder that for a while. The other Squires always seemed so sure of themselves, so excited to begin real training. Did they really have doubts and fears the same as he did? And what did that say about his assumptions? That they would complain and the knights didn’t? Was he actually judging his fellows as unworthy without realizing it?
“The Paladins really complained when they were Squires too?” he asked.
“I guarantee it.” Veon-Zih answered and started walking again, “I know I did, and all the other Monks in my class too.” he chuckled, “Sometimes routines like cleaning and polishing can be meditative. You can let your mind wander while your hands work through the familiar motions. But before you get to that point, or if you would rather be doing something of your choosing, then it's nothing but monotonous work. Necessary work, but still work.”
Following Veon-Zih around another corner, Shon pondered his Master’s words. They got all the way to the little eatery the Monk had been looking for, even took their seats, and gave their orders before Shon spoke again.
“I hate platemail the most…” he said. Veon-Zih arched an eyebrow at him, and he continued, “It’s bulky, and there's just so much of it. Then as soon as you're done, someone moves it aside and gets fingerprints on it again. Chainmail isn’t much better. You can’t see the fingerprints, but it’s hard to get the oil between the links. And yet water obviously has no problem with it because that’s where all the rust is.”
Veon-Zih laughed boisterously, throwing his head back and startling those at the closest table, “I hated the creases in the palms of the statues the most,” Veon-Zih held up his hand, his forefinger and thumb forming a circle, the other fingers extended, “how can so much dust cake itself in such a small space in only a day?” he complained, dropping his hand and shaking his head.
The waitress brought them their stew and drinks, and Shon started eating while Veon-Zih thanked her. Picking up his spoon, the Monk paused as he dipped it into his bowl, musing, “I wonder which parts your fellow Squires dislike the most?” Shon didn’t know, but he wanted to. Would they agree with him that the plate was the most frustrating? Daisy seemed to groan loudest at the leather, but their complaining always seemed to be general moans at the work as a whole…
“Maybe I’ll ask,” Shon mumbled, embarrassed for some reason.
“Or,” Veon-Zih took his first bite, then pointed at Shon with his spoon, “you could just tell them your least favorite, and they will open up and share their own.”
That’s what they expected of him, wasn’t it? They expected him to join in the conversation, not just answer questions… Shon could only nod.
***
Shon had grown so much. It was difficult for Veon-Zih to watch him without smiling. Only a head shorter than his Master, Veon-Zih could still see the ten-year-old oddity he'd spied upon almost four years ago in the church courtyard. And yet, he had grown so much. Veon-Zih wondered if anyone else could see it.
They practiced in one of the parks in the noble’s district. Veon-Zih thought it was important that Shon get out of Temple whenever possible, that he see the city and its people, to remember what he was training for, and why he wanted to fight. Shon was more like Veon-Zih, and his order of Monks than the boy would ever know. Or admit. He strove for perfection. Every punch, kick, and kata they worked through needed to go exactly right, or he would do it again. Like many Monks, Shon found true enjoyment in the process of working and growing better than his past self. But he was also different in a critical way. Shon wanted to use his strength. Wanted to protect people, fight evil. Many Monks never left the Monastery. A single Grandmaster could easily fell a small raiding force alone. Yet, so many chose not to fight outside their sparring rings and training.
Even Veon-Zih hadn’t left the Monastery because he wanted to help those locked outside its walls. He'd left because he believed he couldn't attain the perfection he strove for inside them. He'd wanted to be tested by the world, to rise to the challenges life presented and overcome them with his discipline and practice. Along the way, he'd learned to be more like Shon was naturally. He'd made friends from other orders, and saved countless non-combatants. Only after seeing the results of his fights, the grateful families reunited, had he realized the moral folly in his fellows and in himself.
They practiced and even sparred until well after fifth bell. The display at first earned them a few disapproving glares from the nobles and servants passing the park. Then they'd actually attracted a few spectators, who clapped as though watching a show. Shon blushed furiously at this, his pale cheeks growing pink as he tilted his head down, trying to let what was left of his now short hair slip down to hide his face. Yet, he never lost step or stopped the training. Veon-Zih had barely resisted laughing, though if more at the foolish watchers or his embarrassed student, he wasn’t sure.
Veon-Zih finally called their training to a halt, and Shon glowered at him. The boy had nearly gotten in his first solid hit in their sparring and was obviously reluctant to stop after making such progress. “It’s nearly time for you to get back, and Sir Rasnah will not accept me as an excuse for tardiness.” Shon’s eyes went wide, and fear replaced the look of frustration on his face. He ran his fingers through his hair, looking up at the sky to try and gauge the hour.
Veon-Zih chuckled, “I’ll race you back.” he said, a hint of mischief seeping through his voice. Shon arched an eyebrow and Veon-Zih could practically hear his thoughts. Run? Through town? You must be joking. “There's no law against running,” Veon-Zih argued with the boy’s expression, “Every moment offers us an opportunity to train. We're late, so this is the perfect opportunity to test our speed against time and run.”
Shon alternated his arched brow to the other side, looking down the road then back to Veon-Zih before confirming, “A race?”
In answer, Veon-Zih ran. He sprinted past Shon -though not at his full speed- before slowing down just enough to keep things fair. Shon bolted after him. Nobles, servants, and even a few guards gasped and called out in indignation as Veon-Zih and Shon swerved around them on the wide roads of the nobles' quarter. They were forced to slow when they reached the more densely packed streets in the city center. Shon was careful to run around the people doing their shopping but kept his eyes set ahead, planning his route and scaring those who noticed him out of the way with his intense blue stare. Veon-Zih was much more confident in his ability not to hit people and so brushed much closer, never quite knocking into them but often brushing their clothes as he passed.
Ahead a cart laden with crates and barrels ambled across the thoroughfare, and Shon slowed to a jog, trying to run around it. Veon-Zih lept, landing on his hands on the cart and propelling himself up and over before hitting the ground again and continuing the race. He heard the merchant curse and the bystanders gasp in surprise but was more amused at the growl of frustration that came from his student, who put on an extra burst of speed to try and catch up. Veon-Zih was half tempted to let him and half tempted to sprint all out and leave the boy in his dust. He chose to do neither and just laughed, continuing at the pace he'd set and soon coming into view of the Temple gates.
The Paladins on watch saw him coming and exchanged confused and nervous glances, drawing their swords but not barring his path. Veon-Zih didn’t slow his run until he reached the knights. Turning to the side and planting his feet, he slid past them on the cobblestones. Turning back as he slid to a stop, he found one of the Paladins facing him as though ready to fight and the other facing out as though looking for whatever force had sent Veon-Zih sprinting for the Temple.
Shon slowed to a jog and stopped before the knight facing him, breathing hard. “What’s going on? Squire report.” the Paladin demanded, still holding his sword at the ready.
Shon had to take a moment to catch his breath but eventually managed to gasp out, “Race…” before looking absolutely horrified at what he'd just done and said. “Sir…” he added quietly as if that might somehow make his unconventional arrival more acceptable.
“And you managed to keep up with him?” Sir Rasnah appeared from beyond the gate, arching a steely eyebrow and drawing sharp salutes from the Paladin guards who finally sheathed their swords.
“I went easy on him,” Veon-Zih assured her, earning a glare from Shon, who passed through the gates, still breathing deeply but no longer gasping for air. Veon-Zih hadn’t even broken a sweat.
Rasnah looked between the Master and student, finally settling on Shon, “Oh, don’t look at him like that, Squire. Master Veon-Zih could beat a riderless horse in a foot race.” which drew a befuddled look from Shon and a laugh from Veon-Zih.
“General Rasnah, Sir,” another man ran towards the gates wearing the uniform of an enlisted. A messenger from the city gates.
“It seems today is a good day for running,” Veon-Zih quipped as the guards allowed the man to pass and give his report.
“A wyvern has been spotted over the woods near Lakeland,”
Sir Rasnah didn’t respond right away. She narrowed her eyes at the messenger and spoke to Shon, “You have duties, Squire, hop to it.”
Shon saluted, though Rasnah still wasn’t looking at him. He glanced at Veon-Zih curiously, then turned to follow the orders.
Veon-Zih hesitated but decided to follow Shon. If he was needed, Rasnah would let him know.
“A wyvern?” Shon asked in a whisper.
“An abomination,” Veon-Zih explained, “Monstrous beasts with a body as large as a wagon, not including the tail. They fly like birds and will hunt anything that strays into their territory, including humans.”
Shon’s brow furrowed, and Veon-Zih patted him on the shoulder, “It'll be alright. They rarely attack settlements unless they're starving.” Which was good because a single wyvern could destroy a small town.
“What will the Temple do?” Shon asked as they reached the back door to the kitchens.
“That depends… most likely, they'll send a group to the village and watch the skies.”
“They won’t hunt it?”
“Maybe, and maybe not. Wyverns are dangerous enough that it’s a real risk to hunt one, but they also can’t be allowed to harm nearby towns. The Temple of Saint Giorgos will want it destroyed, but Sir Rasnah won’t needlessly risk her men if it isn’t necessary.” Veon-Zih explained.
Shon thought for a moment, then asked, “Have you ever fought a wyvern?”
Veon-Zih tried to make his smile reassuring, "Twice. Though I would rather not try a third time if it can be avoided.”
***
“Red, what're you doing?” Ran asked.
She rolled Her eyes, focusing again on what She was doing and not bothering to answer him. Her fingers ached, but She worked them into the cracks between the stones of the tower wall, shifting Her weight from one hand to the other and searching out the next handhold.
Brom laughed, and She heard the slap and woosh of breath as he pat Ran on the back hard enough to knock the air from the thinner man’s lungs, “Can’t you tell? She’s climbing!”
“Sort of…” Ran mumbled.
She wasn’t climbing up the wall, as much as She wanted to. Instead, She was up only about a foot off the ground and working Her way sideways around the tower. “Afraid of falling, Red?” Ran asked instead. That question was even more stupid than the last, and She arched Her neck back, holding tight to the wall and looking at him upside down.
“Really?” She asked in response to his denseness. He should know She wouldn’t be afraid of falling. She had fallen many times when She'd braved climbing the trees around the perimeter. Even broke Her arm once, and that hadn’t stopped Her from trying again with the splint still on. But that was when they used to let Her out more often, about once every other week. No, the thing that kept Her from climbing up the wall was the same thing that had stopped Her climbing trees. The same thing that stopped Her running around the tower at top speed while Brom or Ran kept time and She tried to beat Her record. And the same thing that kept Her from even crossing the tree line to play pretend in the woods.
Ran had the decency to look embarrassed, realizing his mistake eventually. There was only one thing that ever stopped Her from doing what She wanted, and even that often took multiple ‘lessons’ each time. Morndancer had grown increasingly erratic and more often violent of late. He would mutter to himself in draconic then give opposite orders to the journeymen and apprentices in common. Though everyone in the tower spoke both languages. He would lock himself in his room for days and hadn’t been back to visit his family or the Mages Guild in weeks. Shaloon would cover for him, but she wasn’t much better, cutting holes in reality and staring into the outer plains for hours on end, whispering. Half her words in draconic and the other half in common, mixing the languages in the same sentence.
Brom and Ran had refused to talk to Her about it, but She had listened at Her door when they thought She was sleeping. The Archmages were going mad. The eventual cost of power, they said. Though neither seemed upset that the same would happen to them eventually. Perhaps their lack of concern was the first sign they'd already started.
She continued Her climb, putting Her worries about Brom and Ran’s sanity out of Her mind for the time being. She would have plenty of time to stew about it when She was locked in Her room. For now, She wanted to enjoy being outside in the brief summer warmth.
A burst of sudden wind from above set Her hair whipping about Her face and nearly cost Her grip on the stones. Squeezing Her eyes shut, She tried to shake Her hair back, blowing at the strands against another huge gust before something heavy shook the ground behind her. She let Her head fall back again, so Her hair fell away from Her face, and She could see what had come upside down. The sight caused Her to fall off the wall.
Landing hard on Her backside, She scrambled to Her feet in a mix of awe and horror. A monster large enough to fill Her entire room and then some, stood in the clearing around the tower. It had a long sinuous neck and dull brown scales. It walked on great taloned legs in the back and the joints of its leathery wings in the front. It snapped at Archmage Shaloon as she jumped from its neck to the ground, its teeth as long as daggers and looking just as sharp. It didn’t bite the Archmage, who ignored it as she approached the journeymen.
“What are you three doing out here?” she demanded, mixing draconic with common and glaring at the two men who, for some reason, looked ashamed despite the permission they'd gotten to be out today.
The Firewyrm ignored the question, asking one of Her own, “What is that?” She pointed at the monster, not sure if She felt sad or disgusted at the sight of it. Both seemed odd emotions to have at the sight of a beast that could eat Her in two bites.
Fingers snapped, and She flinched, reaching for Her collar. The monster let out a strangled roar, thrashing its head wildly, its own copper collar shimmering with light and magic. “Another failure of our predecessors, thousands of years ago.” Morndancer exited the tower, his robes billowing around him.
Another snap, and the Firewyrm flinched again. But Shaloon just snorted, sneering at the other Archmage after stopping his torment of her mount, “The north-western Talon was gracious enough to lend us this sample after years of training. It should come in handy with the local draken who worship its kind as gods.” the beast snarled at the humans just out of reach but didn’t step any closer, digging its talons deeper into the ground and hissing, “It was a great success after the slaying. We’ve only had one greater.” she glanced at the Firewyrm who tilted Her head at the two of them, curious for more but sure they wouldn’t give it to Her.
Archmage Morndancer dismissed the defense of the monster’s existence with a snort, “And yet we are still facing the same problems as those before us. What information do you have?”
“A storm hit out at sea, and there are signs of another possibly brewing in Halakon.”
Ran swallowed nervously, and Brom stuttered, “Should we…?”
“No.” Morndancer answered the unfinished question, “There is only one thing that can stop these storms, and we are the only ones willing to make the sacrifices to do it.” he turned away from them, returning to the tower door before glancing over his shoulder, “Get back inside, we need more samples if we are to make up for our own successful failure.”
***
“Saint Giorgos says the wyverns are the last vestiges of the dragon’s evil in the skies…” Sir Rasnah sipped her tea thoughtfully.
Father Branston snorted, “Yes yes, and drakes are their evil on land, and leviathans their evil at sea. They are beasts, Rasnah, as old as memory.”
“Branston's right,” Veon-Zih shrugged, rolling his teacup between his hands, “They're terrible beasts with some magic to them, but they're no more intelligent than a drakwalf or horse.”
They sat together in Father Branston’s office to enjoy warm tea and a colorful sunset through his massive windows. But none of them could really relax with the news of a wyvern flying around the woods to the north. Just to the west of Hamerfoss.
“They've been known to hunt for sport,” Rasnah reminded them, her face pained at the memory.
“So do house cats.”
“House cats don’t pick off entire barbarian tribes over the course of a week.”
"I'm sure they would if they could,"
Branston sighed, reaching for his teapot and pouring himself another cup, “What will you do? If you need healers, I have a few skilled enough to go.”
Rasnah sighed, rubbing her forehead and resting her cup in her lap, “Perhaps one. I’ll send a group to watch. If it's sighted again, we'll have to do something.”
Veon-Zih cleared his throat to get her attention and arched a questioning eyebrow her way. The Paladin returned the look with a smile and said, “I will make sure they have a sending stone. If you're needed, I’m sure they'll wait for you to arrive before seeking it out.” her smile faded, and she stared into her cup, “If they really are vestiges of dragons then I suppose Saint Giorgos is right and all of them were evil.”
“Having a crisis of faith, Rasnah?” Branston asked softly, but with a smile, “Legends say Hengist was allied with goodly dragons.”
“Dragons of Gold and Silver and all the precious metals,” Veon-Zih finished for him, then added, “None of that matters anymore. All we can do is face the challenges life presents us with in the here and now.”
“Of course,” Rasnah agreed, looking up at her old friends and managing a lopsided grin, “And now we have a wyvern possibly claiming territory in our forests. Do you think Daunas will want to join the hunt? If necessary,” she added at the end.
“Mung's boy? He’s still stationed at Hamerfoss then?” Branston asked.
Veon-Zih chuckled, “I don’t believe he would forgive you if you didn’t let him.” his chuckle died, and the three gazed mournfully out the window. Remembering their last wyvern fight, and their friend lost in bringing it down. It had been their last adventure together.
-End of Part 1-
--- Table of Contents ---
All comments and are welcome and wanted.

About the game:

• The game has been in development since mid 2021
  
• Current release window is for Q1 2025 (February-March 2025)
  
• Earliest possible reveal is a few seconds long teaser during this years TGA
  
• Earliest possible trailer will be shown in Summer 2024 (Most likely June 2024)
  
• The game is directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki
  
• The game will be published by FromSoftware as well. There will be no third party studios publishing the game. The game will release solely on the next gen consoles and PC (PS5, XSX, PC)
  
• The game is mainly a spin off of the souls formula with a heavy emphasis on magic (will expand on this more later) >The game takes place in a late 18th century (1780s-1790s) European inspired fictional world.
  
• The game is not a spiritual sequel to Bloodborne and the the game has no connections with Bloodborne The game has one very large legacy dungeon which is the city in which game takes place in and an open world outside it. The city is about 2-3 times larger than all of Elden Ring's dungeons combined and is probably the most interconnected world From Software has designed so far.
  
• The open world segment of the game is as big as two to three open world areas of Elden Ring.
  
• The open world segments of the game contains forests, farmlands, mountainous areas, coasts, villages, caves and smaller dungeons
  
• Overall the games size is probably slightly smaller than Elden Ring.
  

Further Gameplay details:

• In this game the main divergence from the is series is that main focus of the game are spells.
  
• Spells can be wielded like weapons and have movesets like normal weapons (Charged R2, R1 R1 R1 combos, backstep R1 etc.)
  
  • There is no mana/mp etc. bar in the game and spells do not have a finite use. They use stamina which generates like any other souls game.
• There are still melee weapons in the game and melee builds are still a viable option it just that the main focus of the game is on spells.
  
• There are melee weapons with magical abilities/projectiles etc.
  
• There is a system similar to the ashes of war system from Elden Ring.
  
• The game has no set protagonist and there is a character creator
  
• The game will have multiplayer
  
• There is no chalice dungeon like system that I am aware of (yet)
  
• There is a great emphasis on customising your gear and clothing. Customising your gear and clothing gives them various effects that changes them both visually and gameplay wise.
  
• There are weapons that are similar to trick weapons from Bloodborne but these have a magical stance and a normal melee stance instead of a physical transformation.
  
• There game in general is a bit more action oriented and less RPG oriented. I would classify it as being much more RPG oriented than Sekiro and a bit less than Bloodborne.
  
• There are underwater areas in the game and the Player Character can swim.
  
• The Player Character can crouch, jump and hug walls however they cannot climb
  
• There is a day-night cycle in the game however it is mostly visual and it only has some effects on some enemies and select few areas.
  

ChocoPro 313: Best Bros Birthday Bash While we’re no longer “Under the Apple Tree” (since Mei’s Anniversary Show is now in the history books), ChocoPro isn’t letting the festivities end just yet! Just like in ages long past, the Best Bros will get one of the roughest birthday presents imaginable: a tag team gauntlet! ChocoPro is known for its solid tag division and intense team attacks, due to the rules of the promotion: Team pins & attacks are legal! If you're looking for a good time tomorrow, this episode will probably be wild all the way through with a chaotic variety of combinations presented. Can the Best Bros survive five different teams? Will we see an appearance from the new Trainee? Let’s Go, ChocoPro!
🍫 CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK! ChocoPro 313 🍫 Best Bros Birthday Bash (Special Tag Gauntlet)! It airs TOMORROW at 6 am EDT / 3 am PDT / 11 am BST / 7 pm JST, Live and Free on YouTube!
This link will be updated with a direct one when available

Don't forget to Adjust Your Volume, Wrestling is Loud!

Change the stage, escape the normal! ChocoPro is built different. Find out why wrestlers like it so much: Discover a new home on the bleeding edge. (This is not your regular wrestling show.) Join us for this episode, or check out the back catalog of 17 wonderful Seasons on the Gatoh Move ChocoPro YouTube channel...260+ episodes with stories and pro-wrestling like you've never seen. New to the promotion? It features a roster of skilled veterans, rising stars, and wonderful guests fighting in the ChocoPro Arena: Ichigaya Chocolate Square. Subscribe for more content than just the live matches! (AEW Watch Alongs, Discussions, Interviews, Food Challenges, etc) Even if you can't catch it live, don't sweat it! It will still be available on the channel.

Best Bros (Mei Suruga 🍎 & Baliyan Akki ♠️)

VS

Sayaka 👗 & Miya Yotsuba 🍀 , Kaori Yoneyama 🍚 & Minoru Fujita 🐦, EGG TART (Chie Koishikawa 🏵️ & Hagane Shinno ⚔️), Black Comaneci (Tokiko “Otoki” Kirihara 💃 & Antonio Honda 🍯), UMA (Sayaka Obihiro 💙 & kojio 🏰)

Best Bros Birthday Special Tag Gauntlet

We're going to be celebrating the birthdays of both the Best Bros once again! (Both of them were actually born on the same day: May 30th! Keep in mind, we're half a day behind Japan's time zone!) Baliyan Akki & Mei Suruga are team with unrivaled chemistry, a pair of rivals turned partners that have risen to the top of the tag division of Ichigaya (in a string of spectacular bouts) and have even taken down some powerful guests! Mei Suruga is a pin specialist and submission connoisseur (not to mention a total goblin), having recently celebrated her Fifth Anniversary (and the appearance of her second Trainee!). Mei is incredibly gifted at pro-wrestling, undoubtedly destined for greatness in the Joshi scene...though she has her eyes set on a different prize: popularity across the world! Baliyan Akki is the Ace of the promotion, a breezy elite level technician who excels at everything that is put in front of him. The way he strings techniques together is truly breath taking. He is at the top of the food chain for a reason, and it is only a matter of time before he holds a belt again! The way these two different mentalities flow together creates a perfect synergy in the ring. Even with their excellent team attacks, individual specializations, and boundless creativity, they will still be in for a brutal challenge.
Just like most celebrations in the Chocolate Square, this one will be quite violent! While there isn’t the threat of a mystery team this time, the random order of enemies makes it hard to prepare. Can they take down five of ChocoPro’s great teams in one go? Can they beat their old score? Will Mei bite someone? Tune in to find out! They will be facing (in no particular order) in 10 minute bouts:
Sayaka & Miya Yotsuba in a first time pairing! Smiling Violence and Ichigaya’s Lucky Charms are both know for their powerful striking ability and tend to compete with one another on how hard they can hit! How will the Bros endure both of the Chocolate Square’s Heavy Hitters in one match?
Kaori Yoneyama & Minoru Fujita, Two of the most frequent guests of the promotion! These two crafty veterans have both held gold in Gatoh Move and together should be an absolute menace. Buckle up for some high technical ability and dirty tricks!
EGG TART (Chie Koishikawa & Hagane Shinno) are one of the longest rivals of the Best Bros! With the speedhouse striker “Ace of the Fourth Generation” Chie and the merciless “Cold Killer” and Super Asia Champ Hagane, this will probably be one of the highest threats in the gauntlet. Expect some spice here!
Black Comaneci (Tokiko “Otoki” Kirihara & Antonio Honda) are entirely unpredictable and could very well show up in a form we’ve never seen. Though this team favors comedic antics, it should be noted that most of the comedy comes in the form of brutal slapstick and shocking weapons. It should be noted that Tokiko kicks very hard. Comaneci!
UMA (Sayaka Obihiro & kojio) represent the invading Monsters in this one. Can the charismatic veteran and the mysterious dark hero utilize their own unnatural chemistry against the Birthday Bros? These two have been impressing with their ability to adapt and overcome setbacks. Also, they are monsters.
Good Luck, Best Bros...and Happy Birthday!
Come and see the wild creativity that produced Two of the Seven AEW Women's World Champions! (Both of which have appeared on ChocoPro!) You'll be wondering if you're seeing future champs, as well. ChocoPro is the Frontier of Pro Wrestling! Match after match of hard hitting, chaotic, fun bouts with a friendly online audience. We're quickly growing, and you're welcome to come along!
Here are some Frequently Asked Questions:

“What is this?”

ChocoPro is a free online promotion run by AEW's Emi Sakura, that takes place in the legendary Ichigaya Chocolate Square! It features a steady pace of live Episode releases, fan interaction, season long story arcs, and much more! A place where the turnbuckles are replaced with 14th floor windows, the ropes are often replaced with fans, unforgiving walls provide creative avenues for skills otherwise unthinkable, and you can take solace in knowing that the referees usually do nothing. While it might be a shocking change at first, the intensity and storytelling will leave you wanting more.

“Why are they fighting in ____?”

Short answer is that it is a cost effective, unique venue with a better availability schedule and allows the roster access for training. Emi Sakura has been using this place for a long time, and you might be surprised at some of the names that have used it (even outside of ChocoPro!). There are a few in-ring Episodes and Gatoh Move has in ring shows with crowds on the YouTube channel. Think of it like the Hart Dungeon but as a promotion, if that helps!

”What are the rules?”

While special match stipulations will usually be explained before the respective matches, the general rules of ChocoPro are simple. Pins only count on the Chocolate Mat and are not broken by the edge or Wall. Submissions usually only count on the Chocolate Mat, and ARE broken by reaching the edge or wall (sometimes ceiling...). Double pins and Double submissions are legal (and encouraged) in ChocoPro Tag matches, meaning cohesive teams will always have the advantage! Count Outs only exist if specified, since many matches stray from the comfort of the Chocolate Square into the streets (and the rest of the building itself!) There is a Time Limit for each bout (based on card placement and importance) and the Referee has discretion (even if they tend to do nothing most of the time!). Every Ref is different, some have different levels of bias and speed.

“How can I support them?”

Watch the show! Even if you can't see it live, the views matter! Like & Subscribe! You can join the Channel's membership for different tiers of perks...but also, you can buy single episode Sponsorship, Digital autographed photos, and more on their shop site as well as purchase shirts from PWTees (which features some great options!) If you'd like to donate or purchase a main wall sponsorship, you can via Paypal or Patreon...and don't forget to cheer for your favorites! (especially if you want to do a superchat!)

”How come there aren’t a lot of comments on the threads?”

ChocoPro is a YouTube show, meaning the discourse happens live...in the chat! Those that comment in the threads on here tend to do so in order to help new viewers that might be intimidated by the fast moving chat. Don’t be afraid to just dive in though, the community is friendly.

“Why are you posting this here? / Are you paid for this?”

This is a wrestling forum, and I'm trying to broaden the horizons of others! There is a lot of good wrestling out there...Plus growing the fan base means more people for me to joke around with! I honestly do believe this is what a lot of fans are looking for, even if it is too different for some! But different tastes are good. Variety is the spice of life. This is a labor of love (it really doesn't take that long) considering how much work they do to put on so many shows...for free!
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me on here or on Twitter, where I’m probably a bit tired! ChocoPro is a Gauntlet again!
Season Tracker: We're 13/18 into Season 18! (Each Season is usually around 18 episodes)

I've been thinking upon the games, and wondered if DSII has any ng+ exclusive weapons? Mainly cause I want a good motivation towards actually going into ng+ in these games, so why not make a build embracing the + of the new game cycle?
As far as I'm aware;
DeS: Northern Regalia
Dark Souls: Gwyn Greatsword
Dark Souls II: ??? (Potentially Moonlight, which i wouldn't mind making a build around)
Bloodborne: Gherman's Scythe (Kinda, but technically still possible in NG if you manage your stuff enough)
Dark Souls III: Twin Prince Sword
Sekiro: :(
Elden Ring: as far as I'm aware, also :( (porb for the good for an open world game, but still means nothing for my purposes)
So, does DSII have it's own "Northern Regalia"/NG+ weapon? (Besides moonlight, unless it is moonlight i guess)

It's time to get Sweaty! Rogues are going to have an extremely high potential to do insane damage this coming release and although we don't know what we'll get exactly on release and even more importantly during Season 1, I wanted to begin a discussion around the potential for Permanent Resource Spending Ultimate Cooldown with Preparation. Rogue skills and passives are extremely good at returning energy. The Preparation Specialization reduces your Ultimate Skills Cooldown by 4 seconds for every 100 Energy you spend. Because the base of this concept is not immediately dependent on the Skills used, it can be used as a base for Twisting Blades, Barrage, Rapid Fire, or Penetrating Shot builds. The benefits of each will be discussed below and a very obvious conclusion is met. At the end of the day, any of the skills can be used, but bigger gaps in the damage potential will multiply depending on attack speed or the skill chosen. Of course, always choose what you enjoy most, but notice the differences in effectiveness as stated below.
The Scaffold of the build contains the following Skill or Skill Tree elements:

• Preparation Specialization - Every 100 Energy spent reduces the cooldown of Ultimate Skills by 4 seconds, using an Ultimate Skill resets cooldown of all skills
• Consuming Shadows - Each Time you kill an enemy with Shadow Damage gain 10 Energy - This requires you to use Shadow Imbuement
• Innervation - 10/20/30% chance lucky hit to gain 8 energy
• Adrenaline Rush - While moving, you gain 5/10/15% increased Energy Regenration
• Aftermath - After using an Ultimate Skill, restore 25/50/75 Energy

The Build BENEFITS GREATLY from but does not require immediately, it can be substituted in if needed:

• Concealment with Enhanced Concealment (you gain 40 energy when you enter Concealment) - This synergizes VERY well with Preparation's Reset all CD's upon use of Ulti.

Items that greatly improve this build:

• Mother's Embrace Ring - If a Core Skill hits 5 or more enemies (20-40%) of the Resource is refunded. An unusual idiosyncracy of this is that core skills such as Barrage, Rapid Fire, and perhaps the orbiting blades of Twisting Blades count as individual hits against a single enemy, so bosses will still return this resource if hit 5 times.
• Harlequin Crest - Gain 10-20% Damage Reduction. In addition, gain +4 Ranks to all Skills. - The obvious implication to this is greater return of energy, higher damage output, and potentially higher proc rates for energy return.
• ASPECT of Branching Volleys (Barrage) / Repeating (Rapid Fire) / Bladedancer (Twisting Blades) / Trickshot (Penetrating Shot) - Depending on your choice of Core Skill used.

CHOICE of Ultimate Skill and Basic Calculations IN THEORY
The best choice overall is Shadow Clones, as with maximum uptime of 80% (60+20) Damage Done is a practical no brainer. Rain of Arrows is an extremely strong battlefield control skill though as it knocks down an unlimited number of enemies in a large area. Death Trap... let's not talk about that skill. It's awful. For the purposes of this guide I'll be reviewing Shadow Clones, to simplify the math. The Shadow Clones are active for a total of 15 seconds, so it is difficult (but perhaps not impossible) to burn the required energy needed to cool down through Preparation.
Within 15 seconds, you'd need to burn 15 activations of Preparation (60 seconds / 4 seconds cooled down per 100 energy spent), which at the required 100 Energy spent per activation means you'd need to burn 1500 energy within 15 seconds. This is perhaps possible with enough attack speed allowing you to cast a 30 energy skill (Barrage or Twisting Blades) for a total of 50 ATTACKS assuming perfect energy return with Each Attack. 50 Attacks of Barrage/TB within a 15 second time frame is 3.3333 Attacks Per Second and at least from what we've seen is somewhat unrealistic, but Twisting Blades can help this a lot with it's cooldown ability. Rapid Fire is at 25 Energy per cast, Penetrating Shot, however is at 35 energy per cast. At 35 energy per cast, you only require 43 (42.8) casts to meet the 1500 Energy Requirement, which is only 2.86666 Attacks Per Second by comparison. This is a huge advantage for Penetrating Shot, however, recovering the energy from using Penetrating shot is substantially more difficult than it is through Barrage or Rapid Fire, but 2.86666 Attacks Per Second is still better than 3.3333. The Skills advantages are broken down below:
Barrage - Autotargeting, Hits 5+ times very easily, Makes enemies Vulnerable, Average Cost and therefore Average Casts required 3.33333Rapid Fire - Lower Cost and therefore requires 4.0 Attacks Per Second, Hits 5+ times very easily, Recovers Energy back through Improved Rapid Fire (15 Energy). This alone makes Rapid Fire the likely most easy skill to execute the cooldown reductions with as Resource Spending is a complete non-issue most of the time.Penetrating Shot - Manual Targeting, higher skill required, higher hit numbers are more difficult to achieve to refund energy costs from Mother's Embrace, but the required casts are lower due to higher energy consumption. Though it has the biggest advantage in the total number of required casts, it remains the best choice for Ranged Skills in that regard only, but TB will have it beat.Twisting Blades - Similar to Barrage, but it adds extra Cooldown at 0.25 seconds per enemy hit with the returning blades. Twisting Blades may be the best option as a result. Even against one target, reduces the requirement of attacks by 12.5 within the 15 second time window. NOW you only need 2.5 Attacks Per Second. Hmm. It's starting to look more doable now. With enough Attack Speed buffs and the correct weapon type, this is likely the best choice. Remember:

• 1.1 Attacks Per Second Bows and 1H Swords
• 1.2 Attacks Per Second Daggers

The obvious implication here is that you'd require the use of DAGGERS as weapons in order to really execute this cooldown properly for permanent uptime of Shadow Clones and therefore maximizing an 80% damage buff.
WITHOUT ADDITIONAL ATTACK SPEED Let's calculate the outcome of using Daggers, Twisting Blades, and presumed perfect energy return and little to no need to even use a generator (spoiler alert: you're gonna have to use it anyway). In this idealized situation, 1.2 attacks per second at a spending of 30 energy per attack yields an average of 36 Energy Spending per second so as the 60 second Cooldown of Shadow Clones ticks down, the Shadow Clones will have disappeared at 15 seconds at which time you'd have spent a total of 540 Energy and "earned" 3.125 seconds cooldown from the Advanced Twisting Blades ability (assuming only one target, multiple targets improve this tremendously). 37.875 seconds of cooldown remain, though only 15 seconds have elapsed and 45 seconds SHOULD remain . To ESTIMATE, means that at Approximately 30 seconds from the cast of the initial Shadow Clone, a new Shadow Clone can be cast for a total DOWNTIME between clones of 15 seconds. This is BANANAS. If you add in ATTACK SPEED, you close this gap EXPONENTIALLY quickly.
TL;DR - Preparation can yield you an 80% damage Boost once every 30 seconds that lasts for 15 seconds. 50% of the time you'll be doing +80% damage. Preparation is INSANE. Use it right by cooling it down properly. Twisting Blades is the best at this, use a dagger for maximum advantage.
Edit: Changed the remaining Cooldown. EDIT: I forgot to add in Paragon Board advantages - The Legendary Paragon Board node "No Witnesses" cause your Ultimate skills to deal 30% increased damage and grant 10% increased damage for 20 seconds when cast, As this Build is really an Ultimate Spammer, you will also multiplicatively increase your damage with this Legendary Node. The same board also has 2x 5% increased Attack Speed Magic level nodes. These types of nodes will be instrumental in improving uptime. Though Paragon boards and their uses have not been fully realized yet, I fully suspect that using this board FIRST may be the most efficient use of your points to maximize your Attack Speed

Nothing important to say but I’m drunk and I’m just so happy to be part of the best fan base in professionalsports. Go hawks and we’re bringing a ring home this year. I know we can do it. I’ve got so much faith in our roster we’re the best!!!!! 💚💙💚💙 go hawks

Alien-Nation Chapter 168: Now or Never

All Chapters First Chapter of Alien-Nation Previous Chapter
Chapter summary: Elias wanders the grounds inspecting everything he can, has a fatheson moment with Larry then sends Vaughn to go try and spring people from jail.
It had been easy for me to see during the speech I'd given roughly how many had already arrived up the narrow pass, and as I stood from inspecting a firing port in a trench, testing whether the old cast iron cannon would roll back far enough on its rails after firing.
I gave it a pass after measuring against a rod. Certainly it was far from the highest of technologies at our disposal, but certainly it would be either lethal, injurious, or at the very least, extremely loud. The gathered mishmashed array of weaponry pointing outward was impressive enough, but the real piece de resistance was the sheer number of railguns we'd had returned to us, frequently carried by a two man team. I signed off on it for final inspection, noting the plug in place over the end, and went to the railgun positioned further down the trench near the intersection.
This was one I recognized. This shared at least something in common to the cannon, insofar as it was far from the latest model at our disposal. I spotted some of my own extremely crude handiwork, a far more rough set of welds performed along the plate's protective, unsanded metal edges. Mister Singer, if he were ever presented with it, may have recognized the shoddy, unstable hand that welded together some of the protective casing. The service flap told me the model without needing to even open it, the household door frame hinges pulled from Verns' stock of spare parts bin, before we implemented something even so basic as refined latches with catch points.
That had to make this a Mk. II. Sentimentality had no place on the front lines. I sucked in a breath at the sight of another old muzzle-loader being carried into the workshop for upgrades, already laid out on the timber worktable and ready for use and sucked in a breath.
I just hoped the earliest design of managing power flow wouldn't give out from the faster firing. Complex but beautifully arrayed piping had given way to simpler, more streamlined designs as we incorporated a greater number of readily available alien parts. Some of which we were supplied an initial batch of in the bag with the blueprints, and then we were told how to work free those same parts from various broken pieces of technology we'd reclaimed off the Shil'vati, or even the freely given away omni-pads. With every iteration we demonstrated a degree of adaptation to using the parts we had available, and each generation marked a leap forward in our own understanding of Shil'vati technology, courtesy of G-Man and his father's handiwork.
The final barrels of the extremely limited run of the second batch we'd paid handsomely for were marked 'present,' too. They had gone the least far afield, with one already slagging itself during the attack on the data center. I frowned at the spreadsheet, as if my impression of it might cause their fate to improve.
The latest blueprints could maintain a decent rate of fire without burning out its power management system located in the welded together case. Or, rather, the barrel gave out first. For the first time, perhaps as a result of being coupled with the magazines and a relatively rapid-fire exchange meant the neosteel barrels we received had finally become the weak point in the design.
It was only after we'd returned to Camp Death that I'd noticed the difference.
The new batch we'd paid dearly for seemed somewhat altered from the first batch we'd been building all the others out of, made from an alloyed material that shone somewhat dimmer under the sun as George and I worked in the shed elbow-to-elbow, though the contrast was not immediately obvious until one held the two against each other. It was slightly thicker, too, all of which to me indicated a change in supply in some manner, but our supplier had hardly announced themselves to Sam.
This was a troubling puzzle to me. I still couldn't be sure it was the new microbatch of barrels alloys being far from equal to the originals we'd finally finished building out? Or was it the expanded magazines and power couplings' ability to fire faster creating an overall volume of fire that overheated the barrel from overuse? Or was the power management design faulty, generating more heat per shot? Were we misusing them?
I measured the barrel of the Mk. II, just to be sure the shelf life of the barrel hadn't come due. So far, inspections of the original batch of barrels had mercifully indicated they'd all been brought back here were in comparatively great shape, with this one being no exception. That lent me some comfort that these new barrels were just not up to the task of heavy, sustained fire. I couldn't know that for certain, and an unreliable weapon was cause for anxiety.
Indeed, there was almost no wear on this version at all, disproving the worst case scenario that these were only good for a certain number of rounds before they'd be worn down to uselessness. Certainly, they'd eventually give out, but it seemed we were still far off from that point.
"Sir?" Asked the gunner, staring at me.
I stared at him, then down at the spreadsheet. "This thing fires three rounds a minute. Do you think that rate of fire is sufficient?"
I could tell he wasn't sure whether a 'no' would have him replaced with someone professing to be more accurate.
"Get it upgraded." I took the white gel pen and scribbled on it- make ready for an upgrade as soon as the final repaired railgun clears the shed. Assigned to casemate #4, Operator... "Call sign?"
"Brut," he answered.
"Brut...with the Umlaut?" He gave a thumbs up and I added them. Costing nothing but a drop of gel ink for a little personalization if it made for a happy gunner was a good investment. "Use it well. Get it upgraded if there's time, keep an eye on the work shed. Once the repairs stop, you can take this to the front of the line, Brüt."
There was no point dismantling all our old ones and creating a backlog while some still needed repairs. I wrote on the hatch Upgrade from Mk. II to Mk. IV. That would give it a magazine and more than triple its firing rate. Anything more than that, I quietly held my doubts for the feasibility of upgrading in a timely manner. The Mark V's took too much time and effort to build their complex power management systems for not enough gain, stuffed too tightly into the protective case to be completed quickly. The Mark VI's tended to overheat their crude fire control circuitry, the consequence of an overcorrection back to simplicity; they could maintain a high fire rate, but were too delicate. The VII's were the ones with the new barrel. Promising, but those barrel faults...I still worried it might have been the power management system.
We'd started considering adding water tanks to help maintain them, but it brought the weight higher than that of a Mk. I, and successfully swapping a boiling hot tank off a delicate, electronically-loaded railgun in combat seemed like a very questionable use of the time. We'd just have to ask the crews manning the railguns to be a bit judicious in our fire, and hope that the flaw was limited to the new little batch of barrels.
How many rounds, exactly, and exactly how fast was yet to be determined; we hadn't conducted the amount of testing a proper military might carry out, but while we had no shortage to man, we also did not have so many as to test dozens until their point of failure, weighing and comparing all their possible conditions.
All this uncertainty kept bouncing around my head. How many troops did we have here? How many rounds for every type of rifle, including the more exotic variants? How reliant on them were we to deal damage, and was it all stored somewhat safely? On the less direct side of things, how many tons of food did we have stored, and was it distributed well? How many thousands of gallons of water could we draw? How many pounds of soap to wash utensils, cups, wounds, and shower with? How many pounds of food over how many men, to last how many days? If it rained, some of these might be alleviated, and yet might kick off a whole host of other issues. There was no way of knowing, no way of taking a perfect stock. But I could estimate.
We had a lot of people. And a lot of guns. And a lot of defenses, and literally countless tons of high explosives, triggered by various means and methods. And we were mad as hell. While exactly how mad was less concrete a figure, I knew this many men away from home could end poorly.
Ultimately, whether it was the fault of the new barrel or the design had finally reached the limitations of its potential rate of fire without causing other issues, I couldn't say for certain. So I had to do my best.
I gave the railgun a clean bill of health to operate if needed, 'priority upgrade,' and noted the rate of fire for the defensive position at 'three a minute.' This one being one of our oldest models, I left it to the operator with my blessings, and made a mental note to add the next railgun we had to be stationed nearby, just so that we weren't under strength from that angle.
I craned my neck from the trench to behold even more insurgents trickling into the old clearing. The arrivals always came in ones-and-twos, their body language telling me the story of the journey it had taken to get here. They'd had to have abandoned their vehicles to the traffic-snarled roads almost certainly some miles away unless they knew the path George and I would occasionally take;.
Those who brought their own heavy weapons lay them down at their feet before collapsing. Water and food was distributed, though I couldn't speak to the quality, and a trash run would have to be made, tossing the empty tins into ammunition containers.
Of all the newcomers who had yet to be organized into place, I counted two mortars, several more volunteers grouping up to retrieve ammo after taking down descriptions of the vehicles from their exhausted owners and sprinting back out into the night to fetch whatever had been left behind.
The resourcefulness lifted my spirits. No one entertained the notion that these men were taking their leave to flee a certain doom. All present felt some degree of faith, understood who they were, why they were here, and what we were setting out to accomplish. Cells worked to find one another in the darkness, congealing themselves into a more coherent, practiced fighting force by virtue of familiarity with one another. Discipline was sharp and needed little enforcement past an initial reminder. No flashlights switched on inside the premises or campfires were lit despite the encroaching edges of the cold front. Insurgents were guided to whatever defensive positions, pillboxes, trenches, battlements, or bunkers still sat empty, depending somewhat on their expected role after detailing their skills to sentries or those otherwise familiar with the camp carefully explaining sight lines and our overall defensive strategy.
Whispered word overheard from those arrivals seemed to indicate a mixture of panic and outrage was fast spreading through the state's populace, carrying them on frightened wings as they took flight in the night, from here to the southernmost beaches and bays. It seemed word had gotten out successfully, then. That knocked down one more obstacle to our success, or at least set the pieces in place. Soon, all that would remain would be the ugly business of following through, and hoping, no praying that I hadn't massively miscalculated in my hubris.
I took the ramp out of the trench so they could pour some loose gravel into it, helping ensure that if those threatening looking storm clouds opened and if the drains clogged, we still would have some footing, and retired to the command cabin, eyeing how empty it felt with all the finished products being set into defensive arrangements; only the workshop still retained all its rather explosive concoctions.
The manpower situation was such that those familiar in reliably manufacturing complex bombs were spending their time setting up defenses in the fields beyond and settling in our new arrivals.
And then I had the couple hostages, weakened by months of captivity, restrained and kept under guard, but still sitting right on top of the half-done armaments.
I told myself that we had taken precautions- the most reactive sets separated by a thin membranous bag of water to prevent chain reactions from taking root and a few emergency containment systems, but they relied on someone present. I'd need all hands on deck- and what if a direct lance of energy landed from some heavy weapon hit the shed, perhaps to try and make a point? No mere bag of water would make a difference then.
Then again, if they brought that king of weaponry to bear, then the outcome would be certain. The Shil'vati would still lose their hostages, and have tacitly admitted I'd forced their hand, and that they'd declared we were enough of a threat to sacrifice noblewomen just to put a stop to.
I hunched over a smaller map in the command cabin, pinning down the garrisons and jails Verns might be held in. Perhaps I'd been premature in my assessment in lacking a future need of a good map when I'd jumped atop the table for my little motivational speech. I'd gotten caught up in the moment; I hadn't foreseen the need for an offensive element.
I was sorely missing my Lieutenants. Vendetta wasn't here, which was one of the greater anxieties weighing on my shoulders.
The one word I'd whispered in his ear all that time ago to bring him around to believing I did, in fact, have a plan: Victory. He should be here already.
He'd sprinted off across the field in glee back when I told him of this plan's possibility, that "Plan C" might come about due to a few cells going dark and my suspicion that it wasn't moles. The null hypothesis, that there were in fact moles, had put him in direct danger by sending him to double-check.
I cursed my blindness. My eagerness to take a night off, to get him out of the way so he wouldn't clash with the others, so I could be a 'normal boy' for a night and attend a party- one I wouldn't be kicked out of, To find social acceptance.
All part of a 'coming of age,' even after I'd already spilt blood, led a war campaign effort, kissed, earned more money than most would see in a lifetime, and mentally cut ties with my family. By almost any account, I already was a man, yet I'd gotten obsessive in imitating the modern trappings of defining such things. I should have seen the cells reporting members' absences and even going dark as a whole for what it was. I could have called off Town Hall, started assembling even more people here.
Then again, if I had, then perhaps...the shil'vati might not have started grabbing everyone. I hated to think of Verns as 'sacrificial.' They likely didn't have much on him, just a neighbor's report. Then again, we'd had that meeting right after the bar fight at Lucky's, right? How thoroughly had George cleared out his house, if they went back to rummage around and investigate? How well could George cover his tracks? We'd left that ammo crate in the hallway, for starters- clumsy of us, yet we were in a panic. Like children. I tensed as I remembered so vividly the sudden sharp report of the gun, watched Patrick's empty eyes stare up. But not children.
There was nothing I could do for Vendetta. We'd sent the Bat Signal out. Either he'd be here, or he'd miss it.
I weighed the value of sending George away once he got here. The order would certainly annoy him after he'd just arrived, something of an arduous task given how far backed up the traffic had become. I also knew it meant I'd have one fewer lieutenant here, where I desperately needed him. I could hardly ask him to burn down the childhood home, and it would certainly reek of hiding evidence.
"Sir," A sentry stood in the door frame, and I stretched from where my muscles had tensed up, pulling my shoulders back and yawning silently beneath my mask, lumbering toward him.
I didn't realize how tall I'd gotten until I realized he was staring up at me and had taken a half-step backwards- not to make way so I could lead from the door, either, but almost defensively.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked, stopping in place.
"We've received a message for you, sir. Radio is reporting that a 'Hex' has checked in from her position. She and Binary report 'Green as Grass,' sir."
I wasn't used to being called 'sir,' and it caught me off guard. I realized he was standing there, waiting for a response from me of some sort, too.
What should I say for him to send back to Hex? I momentarily remembered the sensation of the kiss, the warm, slightly wet softness, the tenderness, and felt a bit of a blush under my mask. While every instinct screamed at me to not air even a hint of my romances or inner turmoil about a kiss over the unencrypted connection, there was a level of 'not talking about it' that I was unfamiliar with and hadn't planned for. Could my message back be coded into something subtle? Nothing came to mind.
"G-good," I finally stuttered a little awkwardly. "That's very good."
"What does it mean, sir?"
I pushed the distractions out of my head. This was no time to be thinking about girls- and my mind stubbornly disobeyed, wandering right back to Natalie. At first to the hug she'd offered me, when I was scared. Frightened of the mind-wiper device. That tenderness she'd offered- I pushed the memory from my mind, too. This wasn't the time to fantasize, either. I had to live in the world that was before me, here in the present. People were relying on me. I could figure out all that other stuff- girls, hope, my future- sometime later.
"It means the operation can proceed as planned."
If the Twins stopped reporting or got caught with the hostages, then we'd have a lot less leverage stopping Azraea from blowing us all sky high. A couple noblewomen- who I wasn't terribly familiar with and seemed to be somewhat less important, provided they were truthful to me of their station. This unfortunate pair had relied on connections to already-stationed family members to arrive, rather than on their raw political power to muscle their way to Earth's then-closely guarded secret coordinates, and were present only for evidence of said hostages' presence.
"Sir, beg your pardon," I could sense something bubbling under his words, against his better judgment, but some sense of desperation demanded he ask me this anyways. "But what is the operation? I've been manning the airwaves with Radio, helping spread word, but everyone I make contact with seems to want to know."
"I don't see the wisdom in broadcasting the finer details of our plan, I'm sure you understand."
I sensed the inner conflict by the way he froze up. He wanted to object, probably, to swear he wouldn't leak more than the minimum. The problem was, anyone listening for long might take a morsel here, a morsel there, and bring it all together and undo us.
"You have all you're meant to have at this point, frustrating though that must be to try and inform others of the going-ons. Our objective is right before us. When the time comes and the enemy appears, blast them." I didn't want to say there isn't much else to plan. At least, not for them to consider.
"And you, sir?"
"I'll be right here, alongside you," I promised. That seemed to ease some of his pressing curiosity, at least. "We'll be here together, to watch the birth of a miracle." That, or we'd die together. Those words didn't quite have the same catchy ring, though.
I looked over my shoulder back at the map. What more good could be wrought over pondering what jail he might be in, without more details?
"Another matter. Hex said G-Man should arrive in a few minutes."
"Thank you. Anything else to report?"
"No sir, the shortwave beckons." They gave a hand-on-heart and stepped out, leaving the doorframe empty.
I told myself I may as well follow. There was no good to come of disappearing into a tent, secluded for long periods, not when anxiety might run through the gathered troops. I had to make myself seen at least periodically. Besides, it was easier to get a more complete picture from out here than in there.
Radio looked like a one-man-band by the way he was surrounded by boxy electronics of varying sizes, their glows dimmed slightly by thin pieces of fabric taped over the tiny glowing screens, and the trap stretched over his head. Wires snaked their way along the ground, a trooper trying to lay the cable into a thin channel of dirt with a spade to reduce the tripping hazard.
Pierce crouched next to him with a laptop plugged into something wired together, the final outlet of which looked vaguely like an international travel inverter, her fingers flying across the trackpad.
"Radio, how are we?"
"We've made lots of contact, I think. So much traffic on the airwaves it's actually hard to find a clear channel to broadcast on."
"Do they have our encryption keys?" I asked, the question almost automatic.
"No, having one kind of defeats the purpose of being heard and getting the signal out. Besides, encrypting's probably easy for the Shil'vati to crack. Less easy for human intelligence agencies, but impossible for the people who we want to hear us."
I already knew most of this, but humoured him. Little entertained radio quite like his namesake.
"What's our chance of discovery, then? Rough time to them figuring out it's us here, and finding the signal's origin."
"At least with a somewhat uncountable number of HAM signals being thrown across the airwaves, we are a really big needle in a gigantic haystack. Besides, how many times have we actually been where we're broadcasting from?"
That was a point I hadn't considered.
The Shil'vati would likely regard our signal as just a relay point, rather than the source, let alone the destination.
Would they strike it just to silence the orders, once they figured out how many of them were originating from the same point?
I comforted myself by staring upstream of the creek that wandered to the south of Camp Death, following its course with my eyes to where it flowed under the concrete tunnels under the highway, under the train tracks, to where it ultimately ran back to where Radio and I had visited Saint Michael's. Then I turned my head back across the field, toward where the foundation of Mojo and Mister Pasta's had been, where Vaughn had called in the kill team on the Fed's sting operation,
We'd certainly set up plenty of remote broadcast towers before, to entice them into launching strikes on collaborationists. That Saint Michael's was still standing after we'd broadcast all kinds of propaganda from there meant they'd almost certainly learned to be a bit more cautious about lashing out blindly.
In the darkness I saw a familiar figure materialize, and with a bit of relief, I ran up to greet Larry. I wanted to give the old mechanic a hug, but knew that expressions of intimacy while standing near the middle of the camp's defensive perimeter in front of everyone was more than a bit inappropriate, and settled for a nod of acknowledgment.
"I cleaned up the mess at Jules place," he said, going back to referring to his friend by their code name, glancing at Pierce.
I felt a moment of shame. We'd panicked and grabbed everything. Perhaps we were like children after all, leaving our toys out and in the hall. "Thank you."
"Saw Patrick."
"Patrick saw," I said back. "Patrick- called."
Whatever Larry was about to say, that brought him up short. "Oh. Oh." The words seemed to leave him pained. He'd known Patrick, too, and I felt the weight of guilt. It seemed he moved on faster than I could, because he changed the topic quickly.
"What's up?" He gestured at the radio setup.
Pierce seemed to be quite engrossed in her work, trying to connect the laptop to a radio via a USB cable, fumbling with the port in the dark. The laptop's screen was showing a shaky handheld video of a mass arrest- and I thought I could hear my own voice echoing the words I'd spoken just a short while ago.
"Just uploading the speech. I've spliced it up to some footage that one of the newcomers brought. We'll also be exporting raw versions of both- just the audio, the video, make sure people have the record and can decide for themselves."
Sometimes the truth was the best propaganda.
"How are you getting video out? I thought the internet was down."
Radio held a hand up, and then put it down, as if I'd been a teacher asking a question and he'd been chasing extra credit. The next few sentences were practically a foreign language to me, uttering a series of numbers in rapid succession, followed by what sounded like a name. That may've been a model, an edition of a model, a make, a special form of broadcasting- all of it may well have been bounced off the ionosphere for how far it went over my head. I wasn't used to being so completely out of my depth, but everyone seems to have specialized in some skill or another. I'd preferred getting involved in all aspects of the revolution, but at a certain point delegation was a necessity, and I was watching not just the task's needs, but also the capabilities of my lieutenants grow well past my ability to offer useful insight and guidance.
"I...see." I didn't, but I wasn't sure what else to say. I wanted to express curiosity, but I felt like this new capability was something we'd discuss later, if there was a later. "And people can receive high definition video over shortwave? It just takes a long time?"
It seemed to me to be an apparently somewhat technical process to perform over shortwave, and only when finally pressed for details, Radio at last admitted something I did understand: "I am not sure most people know how to collect the signal, or have the right equipment to, but I'm sure someone will, Maybe that person will redistribute the videos."
There. Actionable, useful information.
"Then continue," I said. "At least unless anything more pressing jumps up to do."
"Let's hope it's good for more than the history books," Pierce commented mildly.
"The world has to know, and I am certain the shil'vati have no interest in putting such footage out there. That's reason enough for us, isn't it?" I watched Radio nod and then scurry about the camp, tracing one of the wires toward the antenna array nearest the highway. I turned to Larry, breaking off from the amusing spectacle. "Do you remember my promise?" My question was genuine, but he seemed to waver slightly, now that the possibility of actually delivering on it was here and present. Perhaps the aura of our inner circle's invincibility had been shattered with the loss of his neighbors, and it would be best to set his mind to something productive. "If you want it to come true, see to it that the mortar teams are trained. Get the cannons in position, and make sure we're good for more than just one wave."
Larry snapped a salute, fingers on brow, and I clumsily approximated one in return, though I had never done a salute before in my life. I could sense the slight smile from behind his mask, and with a quick check over his shoulder that no one was watching, he reached out, straightened my palm out slightly, then brought the edge of my palm higher until it was a bit more level. "That's better," he judged, then leaving me alone once I dropped the hand a few seconds later.
George showed up a few minutes earlier than Hex had predicted, out of breath and escorted by a sentry. "Ditched the truck," he wheezed. "The huge bags of claymores and equipment were really heavy. Had to haul it under the interstate." His shoes shone with creekwater; He'd almost certainly taken the path Larry had forbade us from trying, and I couldn't imagine doing it in the pitch black darkness at any speed.
I motioned to the sentry. "Help him get that bag into the workshop." He was the best bomb maker, but he also had helped build this place. I wanted to pick his brain, but I would give him time to rest, first.
"Hey, Radio. Radio!" I heard the shortwave radio he'd set at the top squawk to life with a familiar grumble on the other end, distorted somewhat by the tinny speaker. I scooped it up. Someone with a vocoder- Radio gave those out sparingly.
"'E' here," I answered for him, but didn't want to announce myself. Not right away.
A moment's pause.
"What are your orders?"
"Vendetta?" I wanted to confirm.
"I'm here with over fifty people waiting at Warehouse Base for something to do," I knew the transmission would likely be monitored, but the time for subtlety was over. "You're on speakerphone, by the way."
The line was likely tapped, or at least would be intercepted, its contents determining priority for being passed upward or presented to someone with authority, possibly even Azraea herself.
Whatever orders I gave, they'd have to be in code, or at least sound like something unimportant, low-priority so that we might give him as much opportunity to get the drop on the enemy as he could be afforded.
"Don't bother trying to come here yet," I quickly supplied. "By now, if you're not on your way here, you have your own party to go to." I took a moment to survey the grounds. "We've practically got a full house. See about getting a house party of your own, though you'll have to pull the guests out of their own company. Or something to flank."
"Any idea where to start?"
The map fresh in my mind, I found the answer sprang to me.
"There's a rest stop along Route One. If you've got any party poppers, you can get them to open up to you like a can opener. You know, it's all about introducing yourself well."
I heard him laugh mirthlessly, the sound coming through like a cheese grater run over the asphalt.
"That one's a big bite, maybe more than we can chew without choking. Why don't we start with something smaller?"
I wanted to protest, to direct him to the biggest ones first. Then again, how much did they have on Verns? How likely was he to be somewhere heavily defended?
"What do you have in mind?"
"Well, right across the river from where the naughty girls all get sent. Why don't we start there? Every party needs a few ladies, right?" I could hear a roar of assent from the background.
I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that- was he going to try and attack the Shil'vati base? Surely not those women? He wasn't that insane. Then it clicked- the Women's Correctional Facility in Wilmington, just upstream of the Christina River from where he was broadcasting from at the old Warehouse Base. Easy to get to, certainly, and right near the interstate with pedestrian bridges and neighborhoods to scatter in after the strike made it an excellent candidate. Almost certain to succeed.
The strike wouldn't yield us Verns, though forcing the Shil'vati to admit that they couldn't both take and hold their prisoners at the same time might force them to at least pause rounding up ever more people.
If I gave it my blessing, I would be sacrificing any chance of rescuing Verns for...for what? The tradeoff strained my soul to even consider.
"If you feel that's best, you know your crowd. That said, they got Jules- we want him back." He'd helped build Camp Death. He knew its ins and outs, though my real reasons were somewhat sentimental. "Keep an eye out for Morningstar and a few other cells. I've little doubt they can party with the best of them." They were one of my heaviest hitters, routinely bragging they could go clay pigeon hunting with an unguided RPG, yet I was pretty sure I'd never rallied them to Camp Death- if they were to rally, Warehouse Base was where they'd be.
There was a moment of silence, until Vaughn reported back- "Yeah, they're here. They were going to move up to you once they got everyone together. Should we leave instructions for where to find us, or to find you?"
"Do it- supplies are overall good here. Lots of...uh, balloons, confetti..." I felt like I was stretching the analogy too far, so I gave up trying to equate weaponry to party paraphranelia. "...you know, the works. Take Morningstar and use 'em as you see best fit. What've you got for your party? Any good party supplies?" We certainly could make a trash run and see if we could also deliver them some RPGs at the same time.
"Got some Bump-n-Grinds, and you know those are always good for an up-close-and-personal encounter."
I laughed. "From what I read about bumping and grinding? The closer, the better." Their accuracy left a fair bit to be desired. Still, it would be a good, even vital carry just in case those dreaded Security Forces Technicals made an appearance, and would probably be 'good enough' against a stationary target like a wall, especially in the hands of a capable squadron like Talonstar.
"What time are you thinking?"
"I'd say as soon as we're all ready. You really overestimated how many people know where Camp Death is. A fair number showed up here, and are still trickling in."
"Enough to throw several parties at once?" I asked, suddenly hopeful.
"Well, I suppose, maybe, but I'd be wary of partygoers without someone in charge to, uh..." the metaphor seemed to be breaking down, but I got what he was going for.
"Yeah, I see."
"Are you thinking if there are too many noise complaints at once, it'll keep the party going longer?"
"That's part of it, but I'm hoping we might find a particular person we're missing, lost him when we were playing unexpected host. Someone of G-Man's, you'd know him as Jules. A divide and conquer might maximize our odds of finding him."
"Plus, maximize the number of partygoers we pick up as we move. I like it. A few small house parties for every big house. Any special orders?"
"None. K.I.S.S. principle applies. Good, bad, I want it all out on the streets. 'KISS' 'em until they can't see straight." Keep It Simple, Stupid.
"You're certain?" I could hear the hesitancy in his voice. "This is going to be the greatest thing we've ever done, and I want to be by your side for it 'til the end. I don't want any last-minute cancellations, and I sure as hell don't wanna miss it. How long should I party?"
We'd be letting absolute chaos loose. Fire. Looting. The worst of humanity, turned loose, with Vaughn potentially at its head if he decided to recruit for some reason. Could I still claim to be the good guy if I turned those kinds of people free to wreak havoc on the state I claimed whose denizens I was protecting?
Blackstone's Ratio holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. It would still hold me no less accountable for whatever followed from this mass prison break, though.
I looked over to the recently arrived George, and hung my head.
So be it.
"Confirmed, Vendetta. I'll next talk to you when you're here in person- call it when you start either getting tired or if the hosts hire a doorman, a bouncer, or something you can't handle. Bring any good partygoers and favors you find, guide them here, O Pied Piper. Over and out." The signal went quiet again, and I turned off our radio, standing and yawning. The hour was late, and it would be my last opportunity for some shuteye.
I pulled aside a few sentries to my first order. I felt it was a strange one, and likely futile: I asked everyone to 'try and get some rest.'
The sentries were going to be exhausted, and I needed them to start working in shifts if we were to maintain our vigil and perimeter. Doubtless, more would be coming, and giving them at least some rest might be a difference-maker. G-Man helped lead the newcomers to the subterranean bunkers and tunnels, trying to make sure everyone had a place to stay the night and resources got split, even if it was throwing tarps and blankets on hard-packed dirt. I eyed the tunnels, knowing which one of them would spit me out near the stream, itself running so low I might as well refer to it as a ravine. Digging that had been cramped, paranoia-inducing, but we'd dug out so much of the hill and filled it with enough weapons to wage a full-scale war. What had begun as almost make-work and a place to store things when we'd started out
I couldn't sleep well on the cot that night, tossing and turning- I even tried resting with the mask off, held in my hands, but the risk to my identity if anyone barged in caused me enough stress. Eventually, I stood and donned it, making my rounds around the camp, trying to calm myself. Instead, I felt eyes following me, and I had to force myself to stand tall. For the thousandth time, I thought of this as my Valley Forge.
The sentry at the door to the command cabin gave me a hand-on-heart, and I returned it.
As I patrolled, I could hear whispered prayers, muttered plans of action, and mercifully, snores. At least some were getting some sleep. I could see orange lights reflecting off the clouds, near where I knew Wilmington lay.
I almost jumped a foot in the air when I felt the tap on my shoulder, only to find G-Man's mask staring into mine. How strange that such a haunting visage was a comfort to me.
"Hey. Can't sleep?"
"I can't," I confessed. "G-Man, I'm sorry what happened with your father. Hell of a birthday." I hadn't even had a chance to give him the present I'd bought him- a couple new filters, and vintage craftsman toolkit, "from before they sold out," Verns had told me. The memory of his voice already felt distant somehow- no. I'll see him again.
"Wasn't your fault. Even if Town Hall wasn't your big idea to get them to retaliate, you know? Then they'd still have done something. But, uh, thanks for saying that. And thanks for trying to get dad out. I'll remember that." George said quietly, then the conversation ended when he turned away and went to the edge of the embankment. Just like that.
I could never quite get a read on him.
I went inside, and tried to force myself to get at least some shut-eye.
Thanks to Terran-Armored-Core and DeltaNu for helping with some decisions and spellcheck.
Thanks to Inmutabilis-Ratio for helping with the site, it was very helpful in importing the text.
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Alien-Nation Discord Buy A Coffee for the Author

I am currently playing with a Sword of Night and Flame and a a Clayman Harpoon. My build is almost pure Int/ faith but I like to get into melee as much as possible (with ranged spells if that fails or if I panic).
I was wondering if there is any way to make the Clayman Harpoon or any other weapon scale damage with my int/ faith investment, as I like to switch weapons from time to time and not depend only on this Sword.
Also, my Int / faith investment is not negotiable because I don’t have much time to play and I want to experience all the spells in the game in one playthrough.

What a deep dive. It's so interesting to hear him talk about a subject he clearly has so much passion for and knowledge of.

Hey jerk fans, I’m a referee fan coming in peace I promise!!! 👽👽 hehe
I know it’s a game for the date of your universe tonight or whatever so I wanted to give you the lowdown on what to expect from my beloved Refs tonight 🙏🙏🙏🙏
#10 John Goble: John is our secret weapon, no one knows about him but he’s really cool and he does this funny thing where.. jkjk I’ll let you guys see for yourselves, I wish it could be my first time seeing him call a foul again
#25 Tony Brothers: BIG T (lol that’s fanbase nickname for him) is large and in charge, he’s my personal favorite, I’ve got like 3 TB25 jerseys, really solid with great appeal
#43 Scott Foster: “Scott Foster is CP3 Father” am I doing it right, Jerk Bros??? 🤪🤪 The unquestioned GOAT, amazing we get to see him in the twilight of his career. He’s been a little off his game lately but I have the utmost faith he will be LOCKED IN tonight. It’s Game 7 for the Refs too! TheExtender™️ always comes to play
This team is honestly amazing it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. NBA really brought out their finest for Game 7. Y’all have nothing to worry about, it’ll be an amazing viewing experience for all of y’all watching the Refs for the first time

heyy ok sorry if this should hav gone n the question thread but its kinda specific
playing on hard/casual. it seems like the skirmishes are getting really hard and its been difficult getting through them with even my strongest party members.
im on chapter 12, which recommends around a level 15, but all my folks are at least level 19. most of them are advanced level 1/2. my mc is adv level 11.
lately i noticed that my skirmishes are now at least adv level 1, making them the same strength if not stronger than my entire line-up. its been harder to get through and i feel like my party has only gotten weaker despite being in new classes.
ex. yunaka was strong as a level 21 theif but i can barely keep her alive during skirmishes as a wolf knight - mayb im picking the wrong classes for them???
they all hav s or a rank emblem rings. have the best weapons i hav access to so far (iron/steel) and i use engravings. i have no idea what im doing wrong loll.
any reccs on how i can get my party stronger?
also why am i so poor??? how do you make coins????

It's time to get Sweaty! Rogues are going to have an extremely high potential to do insane damage this coming release and although we don't know what we'll get exactly on release and even more importantly during Season 1, I wanted to begin a discussion around the potential for Permanent Resource Spending Ultimate Cooldown with Preparation. Rogue skills and passives are extremely good at returning energy. The Preparation Specialization reduces your Ultimate Skills Cooldown by 4 seconds for every 100 Energy you spend. Because the base of this concept is not immediately dependent on the Skills used, it can be used as a base for Twisting Blades, Barrage, Rapid Fire, or Penetrating Shot builds. The benefits of each will be discussed below and a very obvious conclusion is met. At the end of the day, any of the skills can be used, but bigger gaps in the damage potential will multiply depending on attack speed or the skill chosen. Of course, always choose what you enjoy most, but notice the differences in effectiveness as stated below.
The Scaffold of the build contains the following Skill or Skill Tree elements:

• Preparation Specialization - Every 100 Energy spent reduces the cooldown of Ultimate Skills by 4 seconds, using an Ultimate Skill resets cooldown of all skills
• Consuming Shadows - Each Time you kill an enemy with Shadow Damage gain 10 Energy - This requires you to use Shadow Imbuement
• Innervation - 10/20/30% chance lucky hit to gain 8 energy
• Adrenaline Rush - While moving, you gain 5/10/15% increased Energy Regenration
• Aftermath - After using an Ultimate Skill, restore 25/50/75 Energy

The Build BENEFITS GREATLY from but does not require immediately, it can be substituted in if needed:

• Concealment with Enhanced Concealment (you gain 40 energy when you enter Concealment) - This synergizes VERY well with Preparation's Reset all CD's upon use of Ulti.

Items that greatly improve this build:

• Mother's Embrace Ring - If a Core Skill hits 5 or more enemies (20-40%) of the Resource is refunded. An unusual idiosyncracy of this is that core skills such as Barrage, Rapid Fire, and perhaps the orbiting blades of Twisting Blades count as individual hits against a single enemy, so bosses will still return this resource if hit 5 times.
• Harlequin Crest - Gain 10-20% Damage Reduction. In addition, gain +4 Ranks to all Skills. - The obvious implication to this is greater return of energy, higher damage output, and potentially higher proc rates for energy return.
• ASPECT of Branching Volleys (Barrage) / Repeating (Rapid Fire) / Bladedancer (Twisting Blades) / Trickshot (Penetrating Shot) - Depending on your choice of Core Skill used.

CHOICE of Ultimate Skill and Basic Calculations IN THEORY
The best choice overall is Shadow Clones, as with maximum uptime of 80% (60+20) Damage Done is a practical no brainer. Rain of Arrows is an extremely strong battlefield control skill though as it knocks down an unlimited number of enemies in a large area. Death Trap... let's not talk about that skill. It's awful. For the purposes of this guide I'll be reviewing Shadow Clones, to simplify the math. The Shadow Clones are active for a total of 15 seconds, so it is difficult (but perhaps not impossible) to burn the required energy needed to cool down through Preparation.
Within 15 seconds, you'd need to burn 15 activations of Preparation (60 seconds / 4 seconds cooled down per 100 energy spent), which at the required 100 Energy spent per activation means you'd need to burn 1500 energy within 15 seconds. This is perhaps possible with enough attack speed allowing you to cast a 30 energy skill (Barrage or Twisting Blades) for a total of 50 ATTACKS assuming perfect energy return with Each Attack. 50 Attacks of Barrage/TB within a 15 second time frame is 3.3333 Attacks Per Second and at least from what we've seen is somewhat unrealistic, but Twisting Blades can help this a lot with it's cooldown ability. Rapid Fire is at 25 Energy per cast, Penetrating Shot, however is at 35 energy per cast. At 35 energy per cast, you only require 43 (42.8) casts to meet the 1500 Energy Requirement, which is only 2.86666 Attacks Per Second by comparison. This is a huge advantage for Penetrating Shot, however, recovering the energy from using Penetrating shot is substantially more difficult than it is through Barrage or Rapid Fire, but 2.86666 Attacks Per Second is still better than 3.3333. The Skills advantages are broken down below:
Barrage - Autotargeting, Hits 5+ times very easily, Makes enemies Vulnerable, Average Cost and therefore Average Casts required 3.33333Rapid Fire - Lower Cost and therefore requires 4.0 Attacks Per Second, Hits 5+ times very easily, Recovers Energy back through Improved Rapid Fire (15 Energy). This alone makes Rapid Fire the likely most easy skill to execute the cooldown reductions with as Resource Spending is a complete non-issue most of the time.Penetrating Shot - Manual Targeting, higher skill required, higher hit numbers are more difficult to achieve to refund energy costs from Mother's Embrace, but the required casts are lower due to higher energy consumption. Though it has the biggest advantage in the total number of required casts, it remains the best choice for Ranged Skills in that regard only, but TB will have it beat.Twisting Blades - Similar to Barrage, but it adds extra Cooldown at 0.25 seconds per enemy hit with the returning blades. Twisting Blades may be the best option as a result. Even against one target, reduces the requirement of attacks by 12.5 within the 15 second time window. NOW you only need 2.5 Attacks Per Second. Hmm. It's starting to look more doable now. With enough Attack Speed buffs and the correct weapon type, this is likely the best choice. Remember:

• 1.1 Attacks Per Second Bows and 1H Swords
• 1.2 Attacks Per Second Daggers

The obvious implication here is that you'd require the use of DAGGERS as weapons in order to really execute this cooldown properly for permanent uptime of Shadow Clones and therefore maximizing an 80% damage buff.
WITHOUT ADDITIONAL ATTACK SPEED Let's calculate the outcome of using Daggers, Twisting Blades, and presumed perfect energy return and little to no need to even use a generator (spoiler alert: you're gonna have to use it anyway). In this idealized situation, 1.2 attacks per second at a spending of 30 energy per attack yields an average of 36 Energy Spending per second so as the 60 second Cooldown of Shadow Clones ticks down, the Shadow Clones will have disappeared at 15 seconds at which time you'd have spent a total of 540 Energy and "earned" 3.125 seconds cooldown from the Advanced Twisting Blades ability (assuming only one target, multiple targets improve this tremendously). 37.875 seconds of cooldown remain, though only 15 seconds have elapsed and 45 seconds SHOULD remain. To ESTIMATE, means that at Approximately 30 seconds from the cast of the initial Shadow Clone, a new Shadow Clone can be cast for a total DOWNTIME between clones of 15 seconds. This is BANANAS. If you add in ATTACK SPEED, you close this gap EXPONENTIALLY quickly.
TL;DR - Preparation can yield you an 80% damage Boost once every 30 seconds that lasts for 15 seconds. 50% of the time you'll be doing +80% damage. Preparation is INSANE. Use it right by cooling it down properly. Twisting Blades is the best at this, use a dagger for maximum advantage.
EDIT: I forgot to add in Paragon Board advantages - The Legendary Paragon Board node "No Witnesses" cause your Ultimate skills to deal 30% increased damage and grant 10% increased damage for 20 seconds when cast, As this Build is really an Ultimate Spammer, you will also multiplicatively increase your damage with this Legendary Node. The same board also has 2x 5% increased Attack Speed Magic level nodes. These types of nodes will be instrumental in improving uptime. Though Paragon boards and their uses have not been fully realized yet, I fully suspect that using this board FIRST may be the most efficient use of your points to maximize your Attack Speed

heyy ok sorry if this should hav gone n the question thread but its kinda specific
playing on hard/casual. it seems like the skirmishes are getting really hard and its been difficult getting through them with even my strongest party members.
im on chapter 12, which recommends around a level 15, but all my folks are at least level 19. most of them are advanced level 1/2. my mc is adv level 11.
lately i noticed that my skirmishes are now at least adv level 1, making them the same strength if not stronger than my entire line-up. its been harder to get through and i feel like my party has only gotten weaker despite being in new classes.
ex. yunaka was strong as a level 21 thief but i can barely keep her alive during skirmishes as a wolf knight - mayb im picking the wrong classes for them???
they all hav s or a rank emblem rings. have the best weapons i hav access to so far (iron/steel/well) and i use engravings. i have no idea what im doing wrong loll.
any reccs on how i can get my party stronger?
(also why am i so poor??? how do you make coins????)

This has been a discussion since Elden Ring came out and we knew TotK was coming - which would be better, which would have better open worlds, blah blah blah.
Let's discuss:
1 - Neither game is perfect. 10/10 doesn't mean perfect, so please don't come in here and argue to the contrary. But both games offer a ridiculous amount of content geared towards a different type of taste.
Elden Ring - Combat - > Exploration -> Atmosphere. This is what Elden Ring does best. Fun bosses to fight with fun combat (IF you like this style) and a beautiful world to uncover.
Tears of the Kingdom - Exploration - > freedom - > puzzles. The insane amount of creativity and ways to traverse and explore is wild. It does this very well. Letting you play with your "sandbox" basically however you want.
People who hate puzzles and such probably won't like TotK as much as Elden Ring, assuming they like that style and vice versa but this doesn't make either of these games BAD. Just different and we should be happy stuff is different.
2 - Both games commit the same sins.
You know why people love Limgrave? Cause its fresh and new and interesting. You know why people complain towards the end of Elden Ring? Cause it has a ton of recycled content and a lot of the "wow factor" is gone for a lot of things by the team you get to the middle of Liurnia. How many times do I have to fight the stupid cat statue at the end of the dungeon that looks like one of three different themes?
On the other-hand, TotK does this too. Recycled content with enemies and Koroks to give people something to do.
3 - Point 2 isn't a bad thing per say and these games are proof of that.
Yes, there is recycled content in each game - every game does it, it happens, but at the end of the day both games are FUN. It doesn't really matter. These are not checklists, just things to do, otherwise people would complain there is no content.
During my playthrough of Elden Ring I didn't use ashes or summons. I refuse to get help in these games. Many (I mean seriously MANY) of the rewards for stuff is spirit ashes. Useless to me. BUT, I had fun getting them, so why complain? In TotK, sometimes I do puzzles or kill big boss camps of stuff to get some arrows in a chest. Cool. Not the best, but I had fun.
Both games have interesting, non Ubisoft esque icon filled worlds to explore. Both games offer something unique that the other games doesn't have-
Elden Ring has Combat and in my opinion better atmosphere, TotK has better puzzle solving and creativity.
Both games are great, both games are worthy of GotY status/best of status - I am happy we got both within about 1 year or so of each other.
If you would like to discuss, please be respectful of others.

It may be a long read, but I did cut the original draft in half. I hope I can communicate my interpretation accurately without losing the opportunity to hear other people's thoughts on this.
So, without further ado --
There is this expression that "power corrupts". I never bought into it (not just with Succession, I mean in general -- every time I heard someone say it, it fell flat), but I think this episode is the first example I've seen on film / TV that offered an alternative viewpoint. Which is that power can eliminate irrationality and enable the person to make better decisions. (e.g., "knowledge is power". It's not just a soundbite, but it needs adequate conditions to be true.)
Shiv bringing up the waiter thing was ruthless because of the implication. She knew Ken didn't mean to kill anyone when he got in that car. It wasn't fair, sure. But it happened, and was covered up, and objectively there's always a risk it will be found out.
At the end of the day nothing was stopping Kendall from going to the authorities and telling them exactly what happened. It was 100% an accident. I don't even know if he would be criminally liable (has anyone done an analysis on this?). And even if he did face manslaughter charges, I have absolute faith that he could afford to hire a lawyer who would get him off. In exchange for an anxiety-inducing few weeks, months at most, he would earn a reputation of the person who can come forward and take accountability. Realistically, the only consequence for him would be another stint in rehab, but think of the reputational capital he would've acquired for being a billionaire with a conscience.
Instead, he let his father clean it up for him. From Logan's POV it was a good business decision, because in exchange, he got Ken to do a 180 and get back in line. But for Ken, as soon as you remove the emotion out of it, it was objectively a shitty deal that he only agreed to because Logan offered it up to him in the moment that was highly emotionally charged for Ken, and he said yes without thinking it through. This was proof that Ken is unable to follow a rational decision making process when a real crisis hits. Which makes him a terrible candidate for the CEO position.
Shiv says this earlier in the episode ("he'd be terrible"), but she doesn't examine why she feels that way... until she is forced to examine it when she realizes that she is the deciding vote.
That last part is crucial, because as someone said earlier in the comments, things could have turned out very differently if she was casting the first vote. Does it really matter whose side are you on if the outcome is predetermined?
Shiv once said to Logan that Menchen was dangerous. She knew that Roman was dangerous (and said it to his face earlier in the episode), but Ken was a logical choice in theory because among the three of them he had the most experience and she couldn't come up with a rational argument as to what would outweigh that, because on a "human level" she never judged Ken (she understood it was a tragic accident).
In the end, her thought process effectively mirrors Ken's reasoning. He says to her in the beginning of the ep, yes I do want this, but it doesn't automatically mean that I'm not the best person to do this. She knows she doesn't want it to be Ken (feet on the desk etc), but she also knows that he's the person he's always been, so she doesn't just vote against him because she feels like it. She goes into another room and tries to figure it all out.
If Ken had backed off at that point, I don't know what would've happened. But he doesn't. Instead he shows so much insecurity and desperation it's like he was more unsure of himself than she was of him in that moment. She felt overwhelmed with conflicting thoughts and feelings, but his demeanor was so "off" that it got the attention of her rational brain, and it was able to make an intuitive connection to the incident with the waiter. So she blurts this out. The thing that on the surface isn't relevant at all. Except that it is, and more importantly, Shiv finds herself in a position where she feels a sense of duty -- and can afford to -- to consider it.
Shiv was the only one to give any pushback to her Dad about pushing Menchen and many people enjoy weaponizing it against her because she didn't follow this line all the way through even when it became evident that Logan couldn't care less about the concerns she raised, and it's in fact "done" (the photo in What It Takes) or because she wasn't willing to set herself on fire to save democracy (fake phone call to Nate in America Decides) which is particularly funny to me because her and Nate weren't even on good terms anymore at that point, so she would have very little chance of swaying him to their side (I'm not sure if Ken knew that, but we -- the viewers -- certainly did), and so if that attempt would fail (which it most certainly would, since we already saw in the previous ep that Nate made it clear to Kendall he's out of the backroom deals business) she would be fucking herself for nothing.
There's a similar storyline in another show I like. A character accidentally kills someone and then pretends it never happened. Her friend who was there tries to get them to come clean about "what they did" (which never felt quite right to me, because it won't be a "them" who will get into trouble, it'll be solely her friend who's broke AF and won't be able to afford legal representation competent enough to keep her from going to prison because they don't have a plausible explanation for walking around town carrying weapons, and that's all it comes down to, but the character is young and unable to stop herself from thinking in absolutes and is frankly too uncomfortable with the guilt to think about her friend instead of herself, which makes her the selfish one. And the more I think about it, the more I feel like she left her friend no other choice than to side with "the bad guy". She practically threatened to turn her in and send her to prison for the rest of her life and she didn't even realize it because all she was concerned about was doing the right thing™️. It's a good example of how much damage can be caused by a simple lack of perspective, even if the person "means well" (barf), to someone who objectively doesn't deserve to be punished, but will be punished because the law doesn't account for the existence of the supernatural entities in the California Penal Code. Like, even if for some reason judge believed her, they wouldn't be able to do anything to help her.
All of this to say, it's a baseline requirement to at least TRY and untangle the snake linguine in front of you (facts, implications, threats, and potential outcomes, all of which are constantly squigglng and turning on their little heads) before making the call. I don't know if the reality of this is acknowledged or accepted by the majority of people. I don't know if I accept it. I for one would love nothing more if an average issue could be resolved via something as simple as a sword fight at dawn, but the world as it is today will not have that. We tried to do our best and build something civilised, and we boxed ourselves in the reality that consists almost entirely of making dirty backroom deals. At work, at home, even with ourselves.
Which brings us back to the boardroom.
When Shiv became the deciding vote, she got a second chance at making the right decision, both for herself and for the business. If she just wanted to spite Ken, she didn't have to haul ass to a different room and grapple with a monster of a dilemma, which was all over her face by the way (a tiny little detail no one pushing the "spite" explanation seems to pick up on). This time, she was able to cast her vote and to see it through. Because she had the power to do so. Because her vote actually mattered. For once.
So, in Shiv's case, that theorem about how "power corrupts" was proven wrong. What's left in the box... "Lack of power corrupts"? That, I would be interested to discuss. Please share your thoughts!

Double or Nothing has came and went. It had ups and downs, but overall, I liked the event a good amount. Back in March, I did a post ranking the fights of Revolution, the first wrestling PPV event I ever saw. So I figured I might as well make ranking posts for each PPV event I see from AEW. So, here's my rankings for the matches of Double or Nothing...kinda. There's one exception I'll be making.
Unranked. Jamie Hayter vs Toni Storm. Not really a match and more of a story moment, so I can't really feel like it's fair to rank it with the others, especially with how much they needed to work around Jamie Hayter's real life injury. Not much to this as a fight, but a decent way to show The Outcasts growing from petty bullies to full on brutal meances. And Jamie Hayter deciding to rip off her bandages and go out fighting was a cool moment. But by nature, the fight is pretty one-sided for Toni, ends pretty ani-climactically, and even taking Jamie's injury into account, there's some jank moments. Primarily, Toni giving Jamie a minor shove transitioning into Jamie full on sprinting to collide with the belt The Outcasts laid out. That was stupid.
#9. Jade Cargill vs Taya Valkyrie. Now we're getting to the fights I actually do count. This match was so goddamn boring. It almost solely consisted of basic kicks and tackles that rarely felt like there was much of an impact. It felt like there was delays to a lot of their moves, and the only part of the fight that got any emotion out of me was Taya jumping up to hit Jade as she was about to leap down on her. Other than that moment, and their finishers, I can't remember a single thing about the fight. There's some positives though. Jade Cargill's entrance with doing a dance number with her old sorority friends was cool, and Kris Statlander's return after the match to dethrone Jade, while rushed, was a nice way to cap off the segment. But it's not enough to pull this match out of the bottom spot.
#8. The Acclaimed vs the House of Black. This was a pretty fun match. The strategic mind of the House of Black is pretty noticeable, like them singling out and driving Anthony Bowens to his limit, even pulling out Max Caster and Billy Gunn right as he's about to tag them. It has a solid ending with Billy Gunn coming in at the very end and soloing the House of Black only to finally get taken down from a roundhouse kick by Malakai. And the opening rap from Max Caster is also legit one of the best ones he's ever did in his career. But the positive stuff I just mentioned? Yeah, that's kinda all there is that stands out about this fight. It's very basic without much to stand out from trios matches that either side did before. Even disregarding how the Acclaimed turned down the opportunity to include a rule of their own, I'd have a hard time telling you moments from this matchup specifically that make it special. Which for a PPV match, is very disappointing.
#7. FTR vs Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarret. As someone who's not a fan of either team, I was surprised with how much I liked the fight. There were really great moments of synergy from FTR, and solid tension in the fight, especially by the time Mark Briscoe gets knocked out. And some great heel work from Jeff Jarret and his wife Karen, Karen knocking out Aubrey Edwards as she was about to act as replacement referee, and Jeff's assault on Briscoe when he comes into consciousness. Also, Briscoe worked really well as a referee, legit seeing through and putting a stop to attempted cheats by Triple J. I feel like things dragged out a bit too long though, and the bit where Sonjay Dutt blocks Aubrey Edwards from reaching the ring for so long was stupid. Why couldn't she just shove him out of the way from the get go and THEN Karen knocks her out?
#6. The Hardys and Hook vs Ethan Page and The Gunns. This was a shockingly good match for a pre-show fight. There's some great synergy between both sides, special mention going to the back to back finishers the Hardys and Hook do to Page at the end or the Gunns simultaneously pinning down Matt Hardy together. And there's a ton of hype moments like Jeff Hardy leaping on the Gunns as they're about to pin Matt, Matt Hardy luring in the Gunns and Page into hitting the poles or going off the ropes, Hook judo flipping all three of his opponents back to back, or Page and the Gunns taking off Isiah's neck brace to brutalize him mid fight. I also feel like Jeff Hardy's rust worked to the fight's favor here, him falling off the ropes legit coming off as a result of the exhaustion he was facing during the fight. I will say, it seemed like Hook and the Hardy were pulling most of the weight for the fight to make it exciting since most of the memorable moments came specifically from their side, but all and all, it's a solid match.
#5. Wardlow vs Christian Cage. A pretty solid and fun fight that does a good job conveying Wardlow's strength, and Cage's strategic mind due to his experience with ladder matches. Luchasaurus and Arn Anderson' involvement was done well, and moments like Wardlow jumping off the ladder to crash onto Luchasaurus or tipping over the ladder while Cage was on top of it wwere pretty cool. The ladders were also used in pretty good ways, be it their use as weapons, to Wardlow falling off one laid our horizontally resulting in a shot to the groin, to one being worn down as Wardlow is about to use it while the more experienced Cage grabs a new one. And there's a nice subtle assist from Anderson at the very end, where he shakes Cage off the ladder allowing Wardlow to catch him and finish him off. Not much else to say. This was just fun.
#4. The Blackjack Battle Royale. This is just non-stop fun all the way. There's a lot of good moment of ringwork or emotion within the ring, and it feels really balanced for the most part. The tension of getting ring-outted is incredibly palpable, especially with Orange, and despite it being a battle royale, some nice individual moments to make people stand out amongst the chaos, like Kommander going on the ropes to dive into enemies outside of the ring without Kommander actually setting foot in the ring himself, aor Trent Beretta pushing Orange out of the way and taking the hit from Big Bill, getting himself eliminated. Also, the one on one between Orange and Strickland at the end was great that not only pushed Orange to his limits and shown great heel work from Strickland, but had a hillariously fitting fake out where instead of an Orange Punch, Cassidy gave a light kick to Strickland's hand while he was hanging from the ropes, eliminating him.
#3. The Elite vs The Blackpool Combat Club. There's one big flaw that stops this fight from being in ther Top 2. The camera cuts. It can be incredibly unfocused on what we're supposed to be following. I can kinda understand that due to the nature of it being full on chaos, but it results in stuff being missed like Kenny slamming Moxley onto nails (though at least that was shown in a replay even if we missed the initial impact), or Claudio throwing Matt Jackson down a flight of stairs. Other than that though? This was a pretty damn awesome. The tension and violence is at an all time high, and man, can it be uncomfortable to watch, but in a good way that adds intensity to the fight. The prime example coming with the BCC slamming Nick Jackson's foot on a bunch of thumb tacks and later forcing them in his mouth. Plus, "Wild Thing" playing in the background throughout the first half really makes it feel like a chaotic hectic party, and the Young Bucks knocking the singer out was just hilarious. The emotional moment with Kenny and Adam Page coming together near the end was strong, and there's some great synergy with simultaneous attacks done by both The Elite and the BCC. And there are some really great usage of props. Kenny Omega going all Captain America with a trash can lid, or Matt Jackson keeping fireworks in his legs to amplify the force of one of his kicks? Amazing stuff. And it has a pretty damn good Face–Heel Turn from Takeshita to end things off.
#2. Adam Cole vs Chris Jericho. What is without a doubt my most unpopular opinion on this post. But oh well. This fight was fucking awesome. Cole's hatred towards Jericho is palpable at all times, and the match makes some great usage of the props. The chair duel between Jericho and Sabu at the beginning where you can even notice the vibrations, Adam Cole seemingly going for a futile rope escape only to use it as an opportunity to grab the fire extinguisher and blow it on Jericho, Cole handcuffing Jericho with the chain Jericho used to just handcuff him, and the two using the chain to drag and choke out each other. And even without the props we get some great ringwork, like Cole kicking Jericho the split second Jericho is about to land a lionsault or Jericho catching Cole in the middle of his Panama Sunrise. Britt Baker coming back with a kendo stick to deliver some payback on Jericho was also cathartic. I see a lot of people who dislike the match being called off for an unsanctioned match, but I'm totally fine with it. When we see Cole beginning to cave in Jericho's eye by the very end, calling it off makes sense for the ref to do, and shows just how brutal Cole can be when he's angered.
#1. The Pillars Fatal Four-Way. Well, if it wasn't gonna be the BCC vs The Elite, what else would it be? The choreography is absolutely amazing, all of them bouncing off of and taking advantage of each other's moves near flawlessly, and the upper hand constantly changes from wrestler to wrestler. From Jungle Boy doing a spider suplex on both Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara at the same time which also ended up hitting MJF, Sammy Guevara's leaps to crash down on all Four Pillars at once, Darby Allin knocking MJF and Sammy over the barricade at the same time, MJF knocking Jungle Boy of the ring and confidently strutting in it as all the other Pillars are lying out of it exhausted, or the various times he gets into their heads during the fight to prey on their weaknesses. There's also some potent emotional moments like Sammy seemingly agreeing again to lay down for MJF only to use it as an opportunity to nearly pin him, Darby Allin using MJF's own signature hold against him as he promised, or Jungle Boy debating on whether he wants to use the belt as a weapon against Darby Allin only to decide to win it fair and sqaure. And the moment where all four of them hold each other simultaneously is simply legendary. The desperation from all Pillars to get a pin is incredibly powerful, and really adds to the suspense every time there's a count, or when one of the Pillars slips away from being pinned by another. Add on MJF winning through a really creative usage of cheating, him laying his belt on top of Jungle Boy as Darby Allin is about to crash down on him before taking down the weakened Darby, and it results in my favorite match of the PPV.