Timestamps are split up into sections below
 
I have too much stuff sitting around not being used and frankly not enough money in my pockets right now. Almost everything here is brand new or used only a few times in new condition. You won't find better! Contiguous US Shipping only and for any high-dollar items I will only be selling to established traders Also please post a reply to this post if you are contacting me and only use PMs, not chat.
Not looking for trades

Motherboard/CPU/RAM Combo Timestamps - https://imgur.com/a/pUdvnG1

Asrock Z97E-ITX/AC with i7-5775C and 16GB of Ram - $170 Shipped
HyperX HX316C10FK2/16 DDR3 kit, paired up with the Asrock Z97E-ITX/AC and an i7-5775C ES. Perfect for an HTPC, the 5775C is a unique and suprising CPU with great onboard performance. This whole setup was paired up togther for a system but saw very little use.
 

Video Cards Timestamps - https://imgur.com/a/rZTKkMb

Sapphire RX 7600 Pulse - $250 Shipped
Just tested, one to two days of use, like new. Comes in original box
 

Ram Timestamps - https://imgur.com/a/IhnafS7

Viper Gaming Venom DDR5 RGB 32GB 7400MHz - PVVR532G740C36K - $150 Shipped
Used once, a touch to fast for my 13900K. Comes with box, has timigns of 36-44-44-110
 

PSUs Timestamps - https://imgur.com/a/N2ylrta

Be Quiet Dark Power 13 850 Watt - $199 Shipped
Just tested, otherwise unused and like new. ATX 3.0 and has a 12VHPWR connection. 80 PLUS Titanium ATX form factor
 

Storage Timestamps - https://imgur.com/a/VuxzJNT

SanDisk Pro-Blade Transport and four 2TB SSD Mags (8TB total) - $625 Shipped
A few hours of use total across all of the drives and the transport. Compact aluminum SSD Mags and the USB Type-C adapter to use them. Perfect for backups, shipping data, etc. Includes and will ship in original packaging.
 
Patriot Viper VPR400 Gen 4 RGB SSD 1TB - $60 Shipped
1TBM28H model number. 1TB capacity, used once to test it
 
Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q Thunderbolt 3 2TB - $170 Shipped
Used once for testing, comes with packaging which is a metal tin. 2TB capacity and connects via Thunderbolt 3 or USB 3.2
 
Intel DC P3500 Series 1.2TB MLC PCI Express 3.0 x4 NVMe - $80 Shipped
Model number SSDPEDMX012T4 1.2TB capacity and uses PCI Extress 3.0. This drive was in a system that was left on but wasn't used much beyond the initial setup. You can see in CrystalDiskInfo the hours are high but the data transfered is low.
 

Motherboards Timestamps - https://imgur.com/a/eq92UpA

Gigabyte X99 SOC Champion - $200 Shipped
Hasn't been used in years, very low hours on it. Only used for testing at the time. Great X99 overclocking board and very hard to find. Tested and updated it to the latest BIOS to make sure it works with all of the CPUs it can potentially support
 

Audio Timestamps - https://imgur.com/a/i2Ebjtb

Sound Blaster X5 Headpone DAC/AMP - $199 Shipped
Only used for a week, boxed back up. Just came out, basically new
 
AnkerWork M650 Wireless Microphones - $185 Shipped
Used for a week, like new in original box
 

Cooling Timestamps - https://imgur.com/a/eNyZYCy

 
Enermax ETS-F40-FS ARGB Version - $35 Shipped
Used once, like new. Comes in box and with all accessories and brackets.
 
Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML360 SUB-Zero - $75 Shipped
Was used once then boxed back up. 360mm AIO cooler with additional Thermoelectric Cooling. Only works with Intel 1151 socket. Extreme cooling
 
Noctua NA-HC1 chromax.black.swap - $15 Shipped
Heatsink Cover for NH-U12S, NH-U12S TR4-SP3, NH-U12S DX-3647 & NH-U12S SE-AM4. Black with swappable color inserts. Used once then boxed back up
 
Silverstone XE01-2011 - $29 Shipped
Never opened, all copper passive cooler for LGA2011 and 2066 servers. $58 on Newegg
 
Phanteks PH-TC12LS - $33 Shipped
Used once to test how it worked. Like new in original box. Low profile thermal radiator designed specifically for HTPC case. Requiring only 74mm of vertical clearance. Supports Intel Socket LGA 2011/115X/1366/775 AMD FM1/FM2/AM4/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2 (stock back-plate required)
 
Small Noctua fan lot - $50 Shipped
Selling these all together, four A4x20 variations. One 5V PWM, one regular 5V, standard PWM and standard FLX. Also one NF-A15 PWM 150mm fan. Five fans in total
 

Keyboards and Mice - https://imgur.com/a/C5Lk1t3

Wooting One Red - $73 Shipped
Used for a few weeks to a month or two, I'm not sure. There is wear on some of the keys as pictured. It has been sitting around unused for years now so a majority of its life has been it being boxed up. Has red flartech switches and US ANSI layout. TKL form factor
 
Mountain Makalu 67 - $33 Shipped
Brand new never used but package doesn't come with a seal so I have pictures inside of the box.
 

Dédalo moved frantically around the control room, overturning rocks, checking behind the screen, looking for any kind of hidden button. “Ninian, are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me!”
“What do you want me to do, cut her out?!” Ninian gestured to the screen of Perdita’s face.
“There must be a button or lever somewhere here!” Dédalo snapped, refusing to believe there was nothing he could do to help Perdida’s predicament.
Perdida’s mind was occupied, having accessed the system and the dormant data stored in it. As she scanned through memories and visions, the relevant information unscrambled itself for her. Piece by piece, the memories played in series.
Her first memory, the birth of her artificial soul, heralded by the priests that created her as the greatest experiment they have succeeded in. “May the MAKS-0 bring peace to Pieduro forevermore!”
Next were the lives of the Piedurons she was tasked with maintaining peace over. Teaching the children how to use and play with their Temples responsibly, assisting the Piedurons through their everyday lives.
Then watching over the construction of the Ring, the key to unifying and connecting the use of all Temples to a single source.
Then the Piedurons slowly turned their attention to the world around them, visions of expanding past the island. With the construction of the Ring, they had the means of using their Temples much further beyond their island. Tools originally used to create were beginning to be seen as potential tools of destruction and oppression against adversaries. Visions of expansion and conquest filled the mind of a small, but growing population of Piedurons.
“War is not peace.”
“War goes against the idea of maintaining peace.”
“War can not happen if there are no Temples to fight with”
Pedida watched her original decision play out in; the construction of the Ring allowed her to shut down every single connected Temple. What happened after was a terrible oversight, the energy in each Temple overloaded rather than being simply shut down. The Ring that connected the Temples shared and distributed the energy of all temples between each other, but once disconnected they had no way to regulate the remaining excess energy.
The fallout wiped out the Piedurons as a civilization and destroyed the vast majority of Temples. The remaining few priests sealed Perdida away, and that was the last memory she could see in the database.
Perdida’s attention turned toward Electra and 2095, still fighting in the ring, using the carts to chase each other in a perpetual circle. The thought crept into Perdida’s mind; with the Ring under her control, she could turn off the Temples and stop the fight. She could prevent Temples from being used by the wrong hands.
No.
Perdida stopped herself. Not falling into the same logic that her previous self could not reason past. Her journey with Dédalo had allowed her to grow and understand, she would make a different choice this time.
The fight only took a bit longer to finish, the streaks of light made it difficult to tell what was happening, but the fight ended with a chain of explosions and both bodies falling out of their carts.
2095 falls to one knee, glare softening as Electra’s body goes limp while smoking from so many orb explosions. Her stare reaches thousands of yards, still processing her personal discovery before a speeding orb barely grazes her cheek and snaps her back. She sprints to the unconscious body and scoops her up, draping her over her back nestled underneath [Yours Truly] and holds the skater’s arms as she continues dodging to the best of her ability.
Her legacy wouldn’t end in this place, but neither would Electra’s.

2095, with a score of 76 to Electra’s 59!

Category	Winner	Point Totals	Comments
Popularity	2095	20 (6.5+2) - 10 (4.5+2)
Quality	2095	25 (8-9-8) - 18 (6-6-6)	Reasoning
JoJolity	Tie	21 (7-7-7)- 21 (7-7-7)	Reasoning
Conduct	Tie	10-10	Nothing to report!

Perdida opened a service door for 2095 to escape through, hoisting Electra over he shoulder. With a bit of guidance, 2095 made her way into the control room where they were now all gathered.
After getting everybody settled, Perdida managed to convince Dédalo that she was ok and relayed the story for the rest of them to hear.
“So I have a new plan. I figured out how to control the output of energy of each Temple to ensure that Temples can only be used when I allow them to be used…But in order to do that, I will have to stay within this mainframe.” Perdida looked toward Dédalo with a sad smile.
“Don’t worry Perdida, this will only be goodbye for now. I still have to find you a physical body after all.” Dédalo gave a warm chuckle as he walked up to the screen.
Dédalo pressed his hands against the screen and the image of Perdida pressed her hands against his. “We’ve learned a lot over the course of our journey. I’ll promise to tell you all about my next adventures when I get back.”
“...your mascara’s running.” Electra looked at a sniffling Ninian.
“It said it was waterproof, guess that was a fucking lie”; Ninian hide her face with her hands, quietly using Endless Rest to dry her face and fixed her make-up.
2095 looked on at the scene and ruminated on Perdida’s story. The similarities she shared with Perdida were not lost on her. Striving to become more than their programing, more than someone made to serve a higher purpose, but never losing sight of the joy of collaboration and connections to others. 2095 put a hand over her chest, she herself had also come a long way to be here hasn’t she.
To Be Continued…
Scenario: Sliema, Malta — 8:00 PM
On the island of Malta, in the center of one of its busiest cities, was a building. A decrepit, abandoned building, rusted and cast in reddish shadow by the taller structures that surrounded it. It was once an apartment building, but it had long since lost that use.
The rest of the city was filled with noise. Screaming, car alarms and barking dogs. But around here, where no one bothered to come around, it was quiet. Butterflies dotted the railings of the building, watching. Waiting for something to come. Not like the people inside could stand guard, with the boards over the windows. Still, they didn’t seem very concerned about the state of things.
“I was expecting to be impressed when you said you got a new place to stay, but this...” Ninian stared at the walls of Mari’s room, trying her best not to wince. They weren’t really in the best shape. Nothing here seemed to be, really, aside from the extremely comfortable bed she was taking a seat on. She turned to stare at Mari. “Shouldn’t you clean up a little? I bet it could use a new paint job, at least.”
“Geh. I don’t have time for painting.” Mari clacked away on her computer, hunched over in a garish (but surprisingly comfortable) gaming chair. Alarmingly loud EDM blared from the cat-ear headphones hanging around her neck. “Do you know how many things I would have to unplug to do that? It’s impractical.”
She gestured to the mass of wires emerging from her computer setup. Indeed, it’d be pretty difficult to move that around. Mari sat in front of a large array of computer monitors hung from the wall, all different shapes and sizes, all displaying different things. She swapped from keyboard to keyboard, not even taking the time to look at Ninian as she spoke.
“Besides, it’s better for me if my place looks like shit. Better that it doesn’t look like anybody lives here, right?”
“That only really matters on the outside...” Ninian sighed. “You could at least get some lights.”
“The screens are enough light.”
“...I suppose.”
The two sat in silence for a moment. Ninian turned to stare at the other person in the room; Nadine Sokenna laid on the other side of the bed, fast asleep. “I’m glad the two of you are doing alright.”
“Mmm.” Mari grinned. “Me too.” She exhaled, finally finishing whatever business she was handling on the computer and spinning the chair around to face the bed. The short shorts, thick blanket, and extremely oversized Hatsune Miku shirt she wore certainly weren’t that flattering, but at least her hair finally looked pretty nice. The bags under her eyes weren’t quite gone, but they seemed to glimmer with newfound lust for life.
She looked happy. That wasn’t something Ninian had been able to say about her before.
“I take it work’s been good?”
“Mmm!” Mari gestured widely to the screens behind her. “It’s an age of information, Ninian! No better time to be an info broker! Business is booming! Ehyeheheh!”
The swordswoman chuckled at that. She was silent for a moment, her smile turning into a frown, her eyes narrowing.
“Anyway... I assume you didn’t call me here just to talk.”
“Huh?” Mari tilted her head to the side. “Whaddya mean?”
“Well, you called me to deal with ‘that’, right?” She pointed up. “Truth be told, my schedule’s really packed right now, and I’m not sure how much I can do-”
“Oh, no, that’s not it at all.”
“Huh?”
“I just wanted you around.” She shrugged. “It’s a bit tough to relax right now. Super hard! Having big strong Ninian around makes me feel a little better. Ehe.” She was visibly blushing. “S-Sorry if that’s stupid, but I figured you’d like to catch up anyway.”
Ninian paused. “...So if you didn’t bring me here to, uh, deal with ‘that’... Are you just leaving that be?”
“Ah?”
“I mean, it’s kind of a problem for you, isn’t it? Doesn’t seem too convenient to leave it be...”
“Well, the plan was to leave it.” Mari shrugged. “But I got a bit lucky.”
“You invited me here... Just to sit around and chat while someone else does all the work?” The swordswoman raised an eyebrow, arms crossed. “As I said, I’ve got a packed schedule-”
“Nah, trust me.” The info broker snickered, spinning around in her chair as she spoke. “Youuuu... Are really gonna wanna see this one. I got somebody totally wild to help out.”
Ninian scoffed.
“Okay... And who would that be?” She tilted her head to the side. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“You’re not gonna believe this one...” Mari cleared her throat. “I called in -”
*Scenario: A lonely boat, on the Mediterranean Sea — *
Wah watched the sun bob on the edge of the horizon. Their hair billowed in the wind, and seafoam sprinkled their face; they didn’t particularly seem to mind. Considering all they’d done with their ability, being on a speeding boat was probably the last thing to phase them; they’d just wrapped up a fight in a walking house, after all.
They stood in silence, a light smile on their face, eyes pleasantly half lidded. There was pleasure to be found in the small things. The sunset on the open sea, for one, was quite nice. Indeed, despite all the troubles it would no doubt cause, COLOSSI's shift to humanitarian aid was doing wonders for their mental. Now if only Solsbury and the rest of them would stop nagging...
But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. Nay, there were far more important matters. Wah pushed themself off of the boat’s railing, moving towards the driver's seat of the boat. It wasn’t a big boat; probably just used for leisure, but the owner had been nice enough to give them a ride.
A large sum of money was involved, of course, but that was neither here nor there.
“Oh, cappy-tan!” Wah leaned on the side of the boat behind the driver’s seat. A balding, sun-tanned man chuckled at the name. He wasn’t really much of a captain, but he did like to feel important.
“Howst long does thou think it will be before we arrive?” Wah tapped on the side of the boat a few times. “Wah has places to be, you see! Tis of utmost importance that I arrive quickly! Utmost! You understand, yes?”
“Yeah, yeah, I getcha...” The boater sighed. “It’ll be about ten minutes... Honestly, I don’t get why you’re in such a hurry to get there, anyway. Everybody else seems to be clearin’ out.”
“Oho?” Wah raised an eyebrow. They lowered it, and raised the other one, performing what could perhaps be called an ‘eyebrow wiggle’. “And why is that?”
“Dunno. Nobody’s said much, and everything they’ve said hasn’t been too, er, what’s the word...”
“Comprehensible?”
“Yeah. That one.”
“Wah sees, Wah sees!” Wah nodded a few times, bouncing off of the boat’s side and meandering back to the front, wobbling from side to side as the vessel rocked. “From what Wah understands, it’s quite a situation out there! No normal soul would find it any sort of comprehensible. A true predicament... And that is why Wah must go. To assist poor souls who cannot assist themselves! This predicament falls within Wah’s expertise, you see.”
“...Right.”
“Mmm!”
“Ain’t you just a normal soul, too? ‘Sides the ears, you don’t look all that special. Kinda twiggy.”
Wah paused. In the past, being called ‘kinda twiggy’ would’ve surely resulted in a violent tirade. But those were the demons they swore to leave behind speaking. Now, without them, Wah simply laughed. “Nay! Twiggy as Wah may be, you can rest assured, fine citizen!”
They turned, the boater catching the briefest glimmer in their eye. “Wah’s soul is the furthest from ordinary one could possibly get.”
“...If you say so...” He turned his attention back towards driving, and Wah turned theirs to the open sea once more.
Eventually, land came into view. The boater looked upon Malta with some confusion. Everything in the distance seemed perfectly normal. Wah, on the other hand, seemed extremely focused on something in the sky, something the poor man couldn’t seem to find no matter how hard he squinted.
“No need to make it all the way to the island.” Wah’s frown felt out of place on such a naturally silly face. “Park the boat near here. Wah can go the rest of the distances Wahself.”
“Ah..? It’s pretty far from here, though-”
“Verily! But it is nothing Wah cannot handle!” They snapped their fingers, jumping on top of the boat’s front railing, almost seeming to glide.
“Say, Cappy-tan! Have you ever seen a magician at work?”
Ninian gaped. “You... You called in... The head of COLOSSI?”
“...That’s what I said, yes.”
“Whuh...” Ninian frowned. “You’re fucking with me.”
“I’m not.”
“You so are.”
“I’m not! You underestimate the greatest info broker on the planet, my dear Ninian!” Mari jabbed a thumb into her chest as she gloated. “With my Stand ability: ｢Today is a Beautiful Day｣, my surveillance is simply unmatched! You see, the pins that make up my ability, when thrice jabbed into something, create a ‘butterfly within a frame’, but that’s only the basest applic-”
“I know what it does, Mari.” The swordswoman’s confusion briefly made way for the usual moodiness. If you let Mari start, you’d never get her to stop, after all. “I’m more... I mean, how did you even...?”
“I heard through the grapevine, as it were, that COLOSSI was making some big changes. All just rumors of course, so take that all with a grain of salt. But word out there is that their boss has gone completely mad! They’re big into justice and stuff now! Something like that. So I tracked them down, used my butterflies to establish communication, and made them a deal they simply couldn’t refuse.”
“And what could you possibly have to offer someone like that?”
“Information is the new money, Ninian.” Mari chuckled, staring at the wall of her room. “It didn’t take much. I just told them... I knew where a certain someone they quite liked was, and if they took care of my business, I’d sell ‘em the info for free.”
Ninian, after a few moments of stunned silence, simply sighed, scratching the back of her head. She smirked.
“...And you’re absolutely not fucking with me.”
“Aw, c’mon.” She chuckled again, turning her attention back to Ninian. “Have some faith in your best friend, will you? Just sit back and watch.” She raised a thumbs up, grinning from ear to ear. “I don’t have to do any work at all today! As long as no complications arise, it’s as good as dealt with! Wa ha ha!”
Elsewhere, in Sliema, a complication arose.
His name was Errok, and for once, he felt a bit too awestruck to open his mouth.
As rare of an occurrence as this was, most of his brain power was dedicated solely to figuring out what exactly he was looking at. After a large amount of deducing and such, he eventually came to the simple conclusion that he had no idea.
It’s not like anyone else who could see it, though. You couldn’t even see all of it. Only sections, massive spherical tubes of undulating red poking out from the cloudy sky, constantly moving ever so slowly. The wind whipped through his greasy hair as his eyes, wider than they’d been in years, observed what could only be described as a massive, floating worm, made entirely of bright red strings.
Now that he had given up entirely on trying to figure out what the thing was, Errok could dedicate his incredible intellect to other thought processes. Eventually, he arrived at a conclusion, one that was without a doubt something only someone as academically gifted as him could come up with.
“That thing is going to be my horse.”
Indeed, using whatever that was as a noble steed was the only logical idea. Wherever a powerful being resided, there too was opportunity to be found. And as a self proclaimed ‘Weapon To Kill The Soul’, there was surely no beast he could not tame.
He spent the next few minutes idly chuckling to himself.
It felt a bit off, admittedly. The city was pretty empty. The chaos caused by the thing no doubt led to a mass evacuation; he could tell from the buildings that had collapsed around him that it’d done quite a number on the place. Occasionally he’d hear someone screaming for help or something, but he couldn’t figure out where that was coming from, so he didn’t bother. But not having someone to monologue to felt strange. This was the part where he bragged about his incredible plan to some oafish bystander! Where were the oafish bystanders!
“I suppose...I could talk to myself.”
He nodded a few times. An excellent idea.
“Yes! This’ll do just fine. I can just talk to myself! Ha!”
Errok marched forward, a pep in his step that made his gait particularly loud.
“Now then... Clearly, the right answer... is to elevate myself! Aha! Yes!” He looked around at his surroundings. The stairs inside the buildings probably weren’t reliable, even if he could fit through the doors.
“No matter! I’ll just, uh, hrnmm...” He stared at a nearby building. It was pretty tall. “Well, I guess I could climb up that.”
“AHA! With my incredible strength, I’ll climb this building! That’s what I’ll do!”
His head swiveled around: still nobody around. He sighed, though you wouldn’t have been able to hear it from within the helmet, and began his ascent. With a grin, he unearthed the grotesque arm that was ｢You Are Blood｣ from its gauntlet. The arm shot forth, worms spraying from the mottled surface. Yes, they would be his ideal audience. He cleared his throat a few times.
“All living things tremble at the sight of Errok, Apostle of Rot, Destroyer of Souls! I need no weapon, for I am the blade which cleaves life itself!” His body shot forward with a cacophony of clanking, as he howled along with another bout of laughter.
“The world is my, uh, whetstone! I shall sharpen my blade on each fallen fool that tries to stop me, and become a better knight, a better god, a better trickster, than all those fools that I’ve destroyed!”
Hitting the side of the structure with a clatter, Errok stuck his sword into the side of the building. Again, his arm lashed out to grasp the next floor of the building, before yanking himself outwards. This cycle repeated itself, floor by floor, as Errok launched himself higher and higher towards the heavens, and towards the worm that would become his knightly steed.
“Then, when I have conquered all of life and every soul with the absolute, supreme power of rot and decay, then!”
With one last pull, Errok ascended into the air, his massive form silhouetted by the sun. “Then, I will finally tear that flamboyant freak a new one!”
With a CRASH, Errok landed on the roof of the building as it cracked around him. He gave a clumsy flourish to his wormy audience, grinning with menace and delight.
…and received a slow clap in return. Looking around in confusion, as worms do not have hands, Errok’s eyes fell upon the environment around him. The sun was slowly making its way towards the horizon line, casting the ruined skyline of Sliema in shadow, a golden light shining through gray clouds. It was absolutely beautiful; anyone with any sort of care for the world around them would simply have to stop and admire the view.
Errok didn’t have any of that. He was far more concerned with something else, as you’d expect. There on the roof stood another figure, a fae-like being with pale hair, pointed ears and teeth, and gleaming eyes.
“Oh hey,” Errok greeted, pointing with the finger of ｢You Are Blood｣. “Do I know you from somewhere? Might’ve seen you at the races... You look pretty important, though! I bet you’re super important! As am I! Pleasure to meet you!”
Wah just stopped clapping, giving Errok a look. Their nose wrinkled. “Wah is…charmed.”
Not picking up on the sarcasm, Errok beamed.
“Of course you are! I’m sure that you’ve heard about me! Errok, Apostle of Rot! I’ve committed more sins than one could possibly imagine! I’ve conquered all sorts of bozos and losers to get here! And now that I’m here, I’m gonna ride! That! Worm! Oh yeah!!!”
“…Uh huh,” Wah hummed, clearly not listening as they peered up at the worm. “There isn’t really much time for jokes right now, so-“
Suddenly, Wah stopped speaking. Errok stared at them for a few seconds. “...You gonna finish that sentence, or-”
“Shut up.”
The “Apostle of Rot” was fully prepared to go off on yet another monologue, but at that moment he thought to maybe see what exactly this mysterious weirdo stared so intensely at. He turned his gaze to the sky, and his eyes widened.
The clouds that obscured the form of the worm had split, only slightly, and something had descended from the hole produced. It was small, so it was a bit difficult to make it out at first, but if he squinted really hard, he could begin to see the silhouette of a young girl, holding loosely onto a balloon.
“Eugh.” He spat. “Hate kids.”
The figure was silent until it landed, never quite touching the ground. It wore a soft expression; a pure white girl, with a sundress that fluttered in the wind. The string in her hand led to a red balloon, just as red as the pupils concealed in her thin eyes. On the surface, she looked human, but just by looking at her you could tell that it was no human being. The way it seemed to lightly pulsate, skin forming briefly into strings that wrap endlessly around each other.
She smiled upon the two of them. It was not a friendly smile.
“Good evening, you two.” She raised her hands to the two of them. “Wah-Chan, leader of COLOSSI, overlord of the criminal underground the world over... And... Errok...San...”
“Hey. Wait.” Errok raised his hand. He turned to Wah. “That’s who you were? Oh, man, I’m a big fan of your-”
“Tell me. Do you know what ‘time’ it is?”
Errok stifled. He didn’t like this lady very much.
“8:01 PM, is it not?” Wah rudely ignored Errok’s plight. “What’s it matter.”
“Not quite what I meant. It’s almost the ‘Golden Hour’.” She chuckled. “The ‘Golden Hour’, as it’s called, is the most beautiful part of the day. It occurs in the last hour before sunset, and the hour directly before sunrise. It usually lasts only twenty to thirty minutes, but those twenty to thirty minutes are incomparable. Truly, there is beauty in the world.”
SIlence. Neither Errok nor Wah could figure out how to respond to that. Right as Errok was about to open his mouth anyway, the girl continued.
“If you couldn’t tell, ‘Golden Hour’ is about to start, in about two minutes, give or take. I only found this out recently. You see, I have lived my recent life in someone else’s eyes. I’ve never had the chance to learn about the world on my own. I was only recently able to learn about things on my own time, rather than on someone else’s. There was so much I was denied a chance to see. Do you know how cruel that is? Most of the knowledge I’ve gathered... Is completely useless to me now.”
She pointed at Wah. “Did you know that the Monogatari anime being released out of order was originally completely unintended?”
Silence.

“Originally, the series was planned to release in the order of the books; Bakemonogatari came first, and its prequel, Kizumonogatari, was planned to release in 2012. However, due to production issues, it was delayed until 2016, while the other parts of the anime were released on schedule, resulting in an out-of-order release. The bizarre watching orders of Monogatari that the series is somewhat internet famous for are completely unintended, and only exist due to production issues. Did you know that?”

“No,” Wah glared, “Wah did not know that. To be frank, there is no circumstance or situation in which Wah would want or need to know that information.”
“Exactly!” In her first showing of genuine emotion, the girl threw her hands into the air. Her voice remained perfectly monotone. “There’s no reason for me to know that information, either. But instead of important things, I’ve only been shown information like that. My brain, despite being far superior to that of a human being, is filled with useless information that serves no purpose to me. Do you know what it’s like? Having a vessel that doesn’t care for you? Even after all the work I went through to make her do what I wanted, she refused to show me anything worthwhile. I had to learn about things such as the ‘Golden Hour’ myself. Isn’t that cruel?”
“Excuse me, but-”
“But anyway, back to the ‘Golden Hour’. It is frequently utilized by film mak-”
“Stop fucking doing that!” Errok slammed his boot into the ground, producing a loud clang that finally managed to silence the mystery girl. He huffed and puffed for a few seconds before clearing his throat and continuing. “What’s the point of talking to us about any of this? You just prattle on, and on, and on, without any purpose to it! You’re annoying! What’s your deal!”
“There is no point.”
“What?”
“There’s no point, really. I’m just making small talk.” The girl looked over her nails. “Human beings engage in ‘conversation’ to gain a grasp of each other’s personalities. To establish who is worthwhile to have around, and who is not. I simply wanted to do the same. While I’m in this form, I may as well play at humanity.”
“Anywho, from our conversation—” Errok scoffed. “—I have deduced something. You see, I was originally planning to take the ‘strings’ of every Stand user in the world, taking their abilities and adding to my own power. But I have unfortunately vastly underestimated how many Stand users are in the world. Frankly, it would be a lot of work to do myself. So I’ve decided to take on another vessel. Someone far more suited for this kind of work, and who will show me plenty of things.”
“Wah-Chan.” Wah rolled their eyes at that. “From this conversation, I have deduced that you are patient, calm, and rational. From observing the work of your organization, I can come to the conclusion that you are cruel and calculating. My name is Disappearance Addiction. I am the strongest ‘Miracle’ currently present in the world. And I would like for you to become my new vessel.”
“No thankies.”
“...”
“...What?”
“Wah doesn’t really care for that sort of thing.” Wah shrugged. “You seem annoying to have around. Wah actually came here to get rid of you, to be honest. ‘Tis my duty! Wah is on the side of justice, now, as is COLOSSI as a whole! It would be immoral to take the power of something like you.”
“You would refuse the power of a ‘Miracle’?”
“Wah doesn’t know what that is.”
Disappearance Addiction seemed well and truly stumped at that. Eventually, her head began to turn, slowly, as if she was afraid of what her gaze would land on.
“Errok... San...”
“Yeah?”
“You... Would you like... Power?”
“That’s the first interesting thing you’ve said all day.” Errok nodded. “Fuck me up, lady.”
“...You’re not going to think it over, or anything?”
“Nope.”
“Are you sure?”
“Can you just give it to me already? C’mon.”
“...” Disappearance Addiction was silent for a few moments. On one hand, this guy smelled very bad. He was incredibly impatient. And he generally seemed like a big idiot. On the other hand, he did scale the building pretty easily...
“Alright.” She sighed. “I’ve come to a decision. Errok-San. If you kill Wah-Chan before the ‘Golden Hour’ ends, you may become my vessel. Does that satisfy you?”
“How long till Goldy Hour ends?”
“Twenty to thirty minutes.”
“Ha!” Errok unsheathed his sword and swung it onto his shoulder. “I’ll end it in three!” He smirked beneath his armor, pointing his massive blade at Wah. “You there! Wah! Leader of COLOSSI, was it?”
“...That is me, yes.”
“Get ready for the fight of your life, bub! After I kill you, I’m gonna be the boss of COLOSSI! I’ll be on top of the world! God King Errok! Everyone’ll bow to me! That kinda power ain’t something a little pacifist baby face like you’s worthy of having! So I’ll just take it right out of your hands! Ha ha ha! Thinking about it really amps me up! Oh, man!”
He paused, staring at Wah.
“I was really expecting you to cut me off there. It’s been happening all day. You just gonna sit there?”
Wah’s brow furrowed.
“Tell me...” They stepped forward, the dust around them kicking into the air, beginning to circle around them. “...Do you honestly believe... That you can beat me? Is that something... You think you’re capable of?”
“Course it is. I’m a weapon to kill the soul.”
“Hmph.” Wah sighed. “So be it.”
Disappearance Addiction smiled upon the two as she rose further into the air, wind whipping through her hair. A golden glow illuminated the cityscape, the sun reaching its final moments in the sky. “I feel like... I should say something here...Ah, that’s it!

”OPEN THE GAME!”

Location:
In the city of Sliema, Malta, currently with thick strings hanging overhead.
The area here is 32 by 40 meters with each tile being 2 by 2 meters. Wah and Errok start on top of buildings, as represented by their character tokens.
The yellow rectangles are clay buildings, each numbered to represent their elevation level.The (1) marked buildings are 5 meters tall, the ones marked with a (2) are 10 meters tall, and the ones marked with a (3) are 15 meters tall.
The White Rectangles are Laundry racks with nearby baskets, folding chairs, cleaned clothing, and towels.
The Green Circles are palm trees that are 20 meters tall.
The Magenta Lines across the map are Strings produced by Disappearance Addiction and are attached to the buildings and trees. These strings are thick enough to balance on and have B Durability.
The brown rectangles are wooden benches. The blue circles are fountains.
Goal: RETIRE your opponent!
Additional Information:
Players are not allowed to enter the buildings for the purposes of this match and will be Retired if they are unable or unwilling to leave the “out of bounds area”
There is enough space between buildings for either player to move through the alleyways
Wah starts next to a large umbrella with a hooked handle, a portable grill, and a cushioned lawn chair

Team	Combatant	JoJolity
Bastards of Barcas	Errok	“The word “ignorant” has a nice ring to it, so I don’t mind being called that, but “incompetent” is going just a bit too far…” Establish superiority over your opponent through your movement and positioning!
COLOSSI	Mx. Wah	“A creature like you having a brain residing in his skull…is already a miracle in and of itself.” Establish superiority over your opponent through your movement and positioning!

Link to Official Player Spreadsheet
Link to Match Schedule
As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!

Posting it here since nobody either interested in this info (history) or don't allow it in their sub rules.
51 years ago, an underground nuclear explosion was planned in the densely populated Kharkiv region to extinguish a burning gas borehole.
Today, only a few people know that in 1972, a nuclear explosion was arranged near Kharkov. Its explosive power was only three times less than that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Fortunately, none of the people then died. And Soviet scientists used a nuclear charge to put out a huge "torch" of gas. The attempt ended in failure. The fiery gas geyser burned for another year, and the radioactive cloud spread over half of Ukraine. All this was swept under the rug and kept a strict secret. In order to lift the veil over this mystery, we went to the village of Pervomaiskoye, Krasnograd district, Kharkov region, a kilometer away from where, back in 1972, a nuclear explosion occurred.
ACCIDENT
In 1970, geologists found the largest gas field in these places. According to early estimates alone, its reserves were 300 billion cubic meters of gas. A year later, there were already 17 boreholes. And suddenly an emergency happened - on one of the drilling rigs, at a depth of 20 meters, gas condensate caught fire. In a moment, the column of fire was already rising several tens of meters. The torch hummed louder than a jet plane or space rocket during launch. The gas spread throughout the neighborhood and began to poison the inhabitants of nearby villages. "We were forbidden to use matches, turn on the light, or turn on all electrical appliances. They said there was a gas accident. And if we light a match, everything will explode. My family and I were very scared, we cried. And something was making a terrible, loud noise. It’s impossible to describe," recalls a resident of the village of Pervomaiskoye, Ekaterina Yatsenko. According to her, on the outskirts of the village at night, it was as bright as during the day.
SOLUTION
They tried to put out the burning fountain with everything that science was then capable of. For example, they threw multi-ton concrete slabs from cranes, but they were blown away like fluff hundreds of meters away. "They tried to inject concrete there under high pressure. But it didn’t help either," recalls Leonid Chernogor, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of Kharkov National University, a native of those places. Finally, Moscow decided to use an underground nuclear charge to create a local earthquake. The explosion was supposed to move the soil and create an artificial seal that would close the gas flow. Back in 1963, at the Urta-Bulak gas field in Uzbekistan, in exactly the same way, exactly the same burning fountain was put out. But… that accident happened in the desert, the area was uninhabited for hundreds of kilometers. And here is the densely populated Kharkiv region. Near the city of Krasnograd, with a population of about 50,000 inhabitants.
By all calculations, the probability of failure was only 1%
This was to be the 28th nuclear explosion for peaceful purposes in the Soviet Union and the first in Ukraine. Not a drop of radiation should have escaped to the surface - Soviet scientists did everything for the safety of the population. All radiation, according to their calculations, was supposed to remain underground.
"There was no other way to put it out and inflict less damage to the state. The likelihood that this torch would extinguish is 99%. The probability that it could not have been possible is only 1%. Was it worth the risk? Definitely, "says Leonid Cherogor, who was an eyewitness to these events. "I remember when the torch was burning, it was very beautiful and scary at the same time. Such an unprecedented, natural rocket. My parents lived 12 kilometers from the well. I saw and heard it all, "the scientist recalls. According to him, the gas torch produced acoustic fluctuations, in particular an inaudible infrasound for a person, which affects the nervous system and human psyche. "Some become aggressive, others lose their minds. And most importantly - the infrasound from this fire spread hundreds and thousands of kilometers without weakening! This is one of the astonishing factors of this fire," says Leonid Cherogor, who immediately adds that no one studied this problem seriously, and if any studies were conducted, then everything was "completely secret."
The second time a nuclear charge was used for peaceful purposes in Ukraine was in 1979. On September 16, in the city of Yenakiyevo, Donetsk region, at the mine "Yuniy Communar," the secret operation "Clivazh" was successfully implemented. Rocks were shaken with a nuclear charge so that methane came out of the mines, which often exploded and led to the deaths of people. The second explosion was successful.
Explosion: "The authorities began to flee in their cars"
A nuclear charge was delivered from Moscow to the village of Pervomaiskskoye. The highest leadership of the Soviet Union arrived. The fiery torch was encircled: the first row was police officers - they were on duty only a kilometer away from the accident, the second was the military. And the third were the KGB officers. "We stood in an encinrclement one row every 20 meters. We were not given weapons, but they told us to stand to death and not let anyone approach," recalls the local resident Nikolai Taran, who worked in those years as a policeman. " Near the torch was the T-34 tank, but instead of a gun, it has a huge fan, with which the gas stream was directed in the right direction. Two helicopters were parked nearby: a white Mi-8 and a green Mi-2. There were still many black cars called "Volga". Rumors had already spread that they would use a nuclear charge. We knew nothing more," he adds. The inhabitants of Pervomaisky—about 450 people—were evacuated five kilometers into the neighboring village of Krestische. " They were taken out in an organized manner by buses, and buses were evacuating up to five families each. We went by car ourselves," says Nadezhda Diabur, chairman of the village council of Krest, who was then only 15 years old. People only took documents with them. "All pets were left at home. Only food cans were brought to the gardens so that the glass would not break. We were told that they would extinguish the explosion, and we did not know anything else," recalls the paramedic of the village of Natalya Taran. The locals remember that day perfectly. "It was Sunday. It was warm and good on the street after the rain. A sunny day. A light breeze blew. Just your good summer day. I remember when they left Pervomaisky village, the soldiers cleaned the territory- they checked every house for people," says Nadezhda Diabur.
At 10 a.m. on July 9, 1972, the charge was detonated. "The authorities ordered us to stand on tiptoes so that our spines would not break from the shockwave. I felt an underground impetus, and then an unnatural silence came, as if suddenly I became deaf. I don’t know how long it lasted—a minute or two—but suddenly an explosion sounded: stones, dirt, and water flew up. A heavy brown-black, mushroom-like figure was formed. Leadership immediately fled away on their helicopters and cars," recalls Nikolai Taran.
The torch went out.. for a while, and everyone applauded. But then a fiery geyser appeared again. According to Leonid Chernogora, a radioactive trace stretched through the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. "Of course, the first secretaries in Kyiv sniffed about this, and they have already begun to import food from Moscow instead of the Kiev regions. They fed the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine with food that was imported from uninfected regions. "The top officials were very frightened, but they did not know the numbers and facts," says Leonid Chernogor. According to the scientist, the products of this nuclear explosion would break up in a maximum of two months. " In Ukraine, radiation was more or less distributed, and its level was relatively low," says Leonid Chernogor. " It’s also impossible to tell what exactly killed locals (either after months or ten years later)."
Pervomaiskoye: returned, as if after the war
Residents of the tiny Pervomaiskoye village, which was only a kilometer from the epicenter of the explosion, naturally weren't told that their territory was infected. They learned the truth only after the collapse of the USSR. The only bad sign was the sudden death of all bees within a radius of several kilometers. But five hours later, the locals had already calmly dined at home and drank water from the wells. Because of the explosion, the doors and windows in some houses were scattered, and the walls cracked. " This is a normal phenomenon - the consequences of the shock wave, albeit an underground explosion. All the specialists foresaw this, "explains Leonid Chernogor. The old buildings even completely collapsed. " The barn collapsed, one of the walls in it disappeared. It was scary to enter. I had a feeling as if the war had broken out," recalls Ekaterina Yatsenko, a resident of the village of Pervomaisky, with tears in her eyes. There were some devastations in every house. In our barn, the roof collapsed and the walls cracked. And those who lived closer to the explosion were shaken up by the shockwave," says the chairman of the village council, Nadezhda Diabur. Building materials were brought only to those whose homes had serious damage, the inhabitants of Pervomaisky said.
"My dad wanted to go home immediately after the explosion because the farm was abandoned. We went in a roundabout way - but were not allowed into the village, which was encircled before the explosion. After 2 p.m. in the afternoon, they brought us back by buses. Only after 30 years did we learn that it was a nuclear explosion. But there were rumors before, too. On the radio, someone heard, according to the American station, that it was a nuclear explosion. At that time, nobody paid much attention to this," continues Nadezhda Diabur. According to the former paramedic of the village of Natalia Taran, a quarter of the population will die from cancer in the next 30 years. " Now about 250 people live in Pervomaisky. These are mostly old people. The rural school was closed when we were still under the Soviet regime," says the paramedic.
People recall the first months after the explosion with a shudder. When a gas torch still burned. The height of the flame reached 150 meters. "White nights came to our village. My friends then lived on the outskirts. When I came to visit them, we could not hear each other even from one meter away. I had to scream," recalls local resident Lidia Pisareva. Someone abandoned their homes a few days after the gas fountain was set on fire, and someone did not want to leave even after months. People recall that chickens did not want to carry eggs in the evening because it was so bright, like it was daytime. The cows did not want to give milk because it was very loud. "People could not live in their homes for a prolonged time - they would go mad. They could not fall asleep for the first few weeks - it was like a nightmare. I once came to visit them in the evening. It was very bright in the room, and an unusual look opened from the window - a burning fountain in the sky. I will never forget this sight. A month later, they had to leave their house. They took the most valuable things, their animals, and moved to the neighboring village of Krestische to live with their relatives," says Lidia Pisareva.
They managed to put out the fiery torch only in the summer of 1973. They had to dig out this well and close it with liquid concrete under high pressure. For 21 months of gas burning, as much energy has been produced as the whole of humanity consumes per day. Ukraine would have had enough of it for 10 years. And the smoke from the burning fountain was thrown into the atmosphere as much as Ukraine is out as a result of its industrial activity in two years.
Now scientists say that the terrain has suffered more from the fire than from the discarded radiation. Acid rains fell around this well within a radius of several hundred kilometers." In the summer, trees were without leaves. And in winter, there was no snow. Green grass grew around the well within a radius of 200 meters," recalls Nadezhda Diabur.

Had an electrician put in a 15 amp breaker, gauge wire to a junction box outside. Eventually I ran 10 gauge UF to my shed and subsequently 14 gauge wiring in the shed with 2 outlets and a light socket. This will be used to charge my lawn mower which has a 1600 watt charger. Total run is about 175-200 feet.
So, yeah…started with a pro to run from panel to junction box and then kinda DIY’d from there. Then I got to wondering if any of this is a safety concern and if I should perhaps put in a smaller breaker? Shed is all 120v.

First Previous Wiki
"It is quite obvious that we need to reconcile the first point," Hive Empress Ashnav'viinir said. Her hologram moved into the central podium, stepping up and around it towards a microphone she didn't actually need. And her script was scrolling on the inside of the virtual reality helmet she was wearing.
"If this partnership is going to succeed, that will require the ability for members to choose which wars they want to enter, as well as whether they wish for others to enter theirs. I think it is a sensible request, as I am sure that everyone gathered here can attest."
She looked over the smattering of representatives from the Alliance in particular, trying her best to be sympathetic. Since the Alliance was somewhere between a federation and a full nation, it had led to there being many representatives instead of one. Most of them, surprisingly enough, was from the Guulin Congressional Republic and the High Researchers' Council. Even some wanderers were present, though their numbers were the absolute smallest.
She'd studied the situation there, with how fractured their species was. It would be interesting to see how the Alliance handled that, long-term and short-term. She got the feeling that the most words from the Alliance would come from the human representatives, of which there was no small number.
"The Sennes Hive Union agrees with the sentiment," a Truth Speaker said, while Kawtyahtnakal and Eyahtni simply signaled their assent.
A Knower stood after the Alliance's officials sent messages among themselves.
"We agree. There is to be no central authority to this proposed organization."
Ashnav'viinir bent her antennae forward, rubbing them against the inside of her helmet to relieve an itch. The others looked at her, and she decided to add some of her points.
"I think there should also be set requirements on the conditions of a war. It would not make sense for a nation to call a vote if one planet's governor sent a few ships to raid another."
"It is likely the task of subsequent negotiations to consider such," Eyahtni replied. "I think that this conference's purpose should be based on a series of points to tackle. First is whether we are to establish this treaty organization at all. Second is how to maintain it over the vast stellar distances involved in our three nations. The third is to fortify it against manipulation from smaller parties within prospective states, such as overzealous nobles or disgruntled diplomatic officials.
Fourth is establishing lines of communication that are official and constantly available between military, intelligence, and governmental authorities. The fifth is to discuss provisions for additional alterations later down the line, to be agreed upon by all members. And the sixth would likely be what actually constitutes an attack upon a nation that is a signatory to the treaty to form this organization.
Furthermore, perhaps not as actual points within the treaty itself, but within the Alliance, is how to treat it as an entity. Functionally, the Alliance is a federation of hundreds of nations, from the ship-states of the wanderers to the massive empires of the Acuarfar. The Alliance constantly straddles the border of true nationality, yet its own nations themselves are sovereign in terms of their rulership, treaty obligations, commercial pacts, research agreements, and otherwise. Conversely, wider agreements made by the Alliance also exist, ties that so far have not been broken by either group.
While I am sure that there are reasons for the many nations in the Alliance to continue to have their own sovereignty, there is little appetite within the Sennes Hive Union to negotiate over 200 individual treaties, navigating the potentially millions of other combinations of changes and shifting coalitions within their own groups. It is not today that the answer to the question of the Alliance's nationhood must be decided, but it must be at some point. The only functional way for such a treaty like this to be realistic for the Hive Union, at least, is for the Alliance to either become a single national entity or to be treated as such within this treaty."
"The Vinarii Empire agrees with Regulator Eyahtni's sentiment. While we are not necessarily requesting that the nations of the Alliance give up their sovereignty, there must be a degree of reasonability here. If a small island nation on Earth were to declare themselves a part of the treaty and possess no ships to actually send aid, all they would do is to add unnecessary bureaucracy to this treaty's usability."
Calanii continued speaking.
"And realistically, for the Alliance to provide assistance to us and us to it on a reasonable time frame would require specialized complexes within deep space, fully staffed, supplied, and defended. Because for the Hive Union and the Vinarii Empire, we are both too close to our system capacity for the Sprilnav to let us occupy a single new one. And it must also be asked what your rules of war shall allow. Realistically, most of our forces operate under much looser rules of war than yours do, mostly out of necessity.
When a single weapon is a difference between a planet becoming a molten sea or a continual production facility for an enemy, with or without civilians or massive losses of life, the question must be asked. We are not asking to be given free rein to kill humans as we please or the associated species of the Alliance. But even within your own various nations, your agreements on rules of war vary. Geneva Conventions, Dawn Accords, Devourer Codes, and so on. Each varies on the treatment of prisoners of war, captured cities, captured planets and space stations, and war doctrine.
For example, the Geneva Conventions prohibit us from filling an enemy ship with gases that are poisonous and unable to be scrubbed by atmospheric filters. And the Dawn Accords prohibit the use of any and all resonance weaponry, including items such as Hypershock Emitters, which are items used to quickly incapacitate unprotected enemies that have carapaces. Expecting us to abide by your rules of war and be tried in your courts for disobeying them would be disagreeable if we were the ones calling you to aid. At least for the Vinarii Empire, I am willing to have my soldiers operate by your rules of war only for disputes within the Alliance's territory or claimed nations' territory. But my forces would still reserve the right to withdraw themselves from courts and the like."
Ashnav'viinir saw some of the officials among the Alliance nod their heads in agreement while others seemed less happy about the proclamation. She didn't know the names of all the countries that had attended here today, but there were a lot of them. She wondered if the humans would do some sort of coalition agreement, where they might have one nation provide a ship, and the smaller ones provide soldiers and weapons. That didn't seem very useful since the actual most powerful nations on their planet were generally the most populated as well.
She watched them argue amongst themselves about the proposal. It seemed that there weren't a lot of people on one of the sides, and most seemed neutral. She also noticed a lot of them were calling other people, likely national leaders. Eventually, one human came forward.
"For the purposes of drafting the agreement itself, assume that the Alliance is a single national entity. However, this may be subject to change prior to the signing of the full agreement."
Ashnav'viinir understood that. She could somewhat see the sheer amount of human nations that would make such a thing difficult. And she noticed that they did not ask to link the Sol Alliance, as mentioned for the actually proposed organization, to the general entity as it existed between the various worlds and star systems represented here. Simply put, the Alliance actually being referred to would be the nations that agreed to be part of the organization, not necessarily all nations in the actual Sol Alliance.
Calanii stood, turning to face the humans with a neutral expression. "That is workable. Adding a provision to this would be necessary, allowing nations to join and leave this proposed arrangement as it suited them, but not so often as to be problematic. For this, I propose a period of three Vinarii standard years between the acceptance of an application to the treaty organization and the ability to leave the organization again. For a nation that has left the organization, from the moment of their removal, another three standard year period before they can resubmit an application. Finally, a submitted application can be withdrawn at any time before full acceptance into the organization.
Possible other actions, such as vetoes and deferrals, should also be subject to continued debate within future meetings. But I would say this now. If there were to be a veto power, it would be best for each large single interstellar polity, such as the Alliance, Vinarii Empire, or Hive Union to get one veto vote. The reason for this is both a stopgap measure and that of realism. The Alliance consists of hundreds of nations, and it is simply not fair for them all to get a single veto vote within this organization because it would become far too unbalanced. While there are massive population and territorial differences that would likely take hundreds of years to balance out between our peoples, an agreement that judges each of us on equal footing is the most realistic for long term success and possible future expansion, should it become necessary."
One of the humans she recognized stood.
"That is an acceptable agreement, though I would like to propose that the Alliance be allowed to decide the use of its veto through internal votes by nations or otherwise. Again, this is a massive political and bureaucratic undertaking, so we would appreciate such an ability if your two nations would be willing to grant it." Juan Pedros wasn't as young looking as she remembered. But Ashnav'viinir remembered that humans did have negative reactions to stress over long-term periods.
Though it was odd that rulers of thousands of interstellar systems were effectively negotiating with a few advisors and representatives at a star system level or lesser. Technically, even assuming Humanity was the sole ruler of the Sol system, they were divided into three main sections, meaning that there wasn't a single person who controlled the system. The decentralized nature of the Alliance would have to change in the far future, and she knew that both the Vinarii Empire and the Sennes Hive Union would push for it in the coming years.
"We have no problems with your suggestion," Kawtyahtnakal replied.
"Nor do we," Calanii added.
"I am also concerned about the standpoints of individuals within the Alliance," an advisor from the Hive Union stated. "The Alliance derives a great deal of its economic and military power from entities that do not answer to its regional governments, and that are not national entities themselves. Individuals like this, in particular artificial intelligences such as Phoebe and Edu'frec, represent points of concern within our legal firms. There have been some who worry that forming agreements with these aforementioned entities might create a negative response from the Sprilnav.
And for some entities such as Brey and Gaia, their abilities are incredibly valuable but are not possible to regulate. There is nothing to stop Brey from deciding that she doesn't want to do what the Alliance needs her to do in the event of an operation that she does not agree with. A method of preventing these situations from doing catastrophic damage to any potential aid operations or joint operations is likely needed before this organization can be fully ratified."
Ashnav'viinir looked at Kawtyahtnakal to see if he agreed. And it seemed that he did.
"Well, there are several solutions to this," the UN Security Secretary said.
"For one, this possibility is known to us. We have transport ships of sufficient number to transport our supply lines and military communications equipment to where they are required."
"Is it well maintained?"
"Yes. Though it is not the cheapest to do, the lines are maintained by automated androids and both virtual and real workers that check the equipment and conduct inspections."
"This brings to mind another concern. In order for this agreement to function long-term, it would likely require the actual consent of Brey, Phoebe, Edu'frec, and Gaia, as well as the Human Hivemind."
"That has been obtained already. Each of them have already anticipated this question to come up, and have given their complete agreement to aid the Alliance and its constituent militaries in achieving goals, honoring agreements, and ensuring the continued stability of its allies, if requested to."
"That is good to hear. In that case, are we set to begin the actual drafting of the agreement?"
"Yes. However, I have important information that I am willing to share with you all as a gesture of goodwill,"
Kawtyahtnakal said. "I am sure that you all have been getting reports of Sprilnav mind-control devices present within your population. My nation has developed a method of detection that should be prudent to your concerns. It is a scanner developed using technology that is classified. However, tests have shown it is capable of providing details about Sprilnav implants within subject populations using psychic energy frequency technology.
The limits are as follows: Heavy shields prevent the scanner from achieving full efficiency and can either muffle or block entirely any signals that are going to be used for it. I would also warn you that the device would build up a very slight psychic charge on all surfaces within a wide radius. Exact specifications will be delivered to you upon request. Note that this device would need to be leased from the Sennes Hive Union and that prices would be dictated in deals."
"Why are you waiting until now to reveal such a device?" Calanii asked.
"Because this location is the safest that we have in terms of any listeners. This meeting is secured by not one, but two AIs, meaning that it is the single most secure meeting in the history of this galaxy, at least in terms of digital means. And it is also because the device is dangerous. Were it to overload, it could seriously injure people within its radius."
"Then it seems that it is not necessary for us to use," the Hive Emperor replied. "I also would assume that the Sprilnav would be aware of it, able to counter it, and able to ensure that devices like this either miss or incorrectly identify such implants."
Ashav'viinir agreed. Recently, the Vinarii Empire had located a cache of Sprilnav data in deep space. Even their farming equipment was incredibly advanced, and their swords were actually able to cut through all but the absolute toughest shields and armor that the Vinarii Empire had made. And those were regular Sprilnav swords, not those of the Elders.
"We would like to thank the Sennes Hive Union for offering this, but would like to decline this offer at this time," Juan Pedros said.
"The solution to the Sprilnav problem will likely require immense effort on all our behalves, and it would also require more advanced technology than what we have. The Alliance is also willing to provide information that would be a gesture of friendship and goodwill to all parties involved in this negotiation." He paused, taking a real-life breath before talking again.
"We now know the reason for why the Elders and Sprilnav are so tough. Physics, at least as it is understood, does not allow for Elders to be as impact and heat-resistant as they are. The reason for their actual damage resistance is because they have protectors, which provide conceptual protection to them, making it so that every attack on an Elder is less 'real,' meaning that energy transfers of any and all kinds that are perceived as negative by some unknown factor do not fully reach them. The law of equal and opposite reactions does not fully affect them either. The protection seems to be uniform, so that it allows for internal chemistry to work within their bodies."
Ashav'viinir scratched her mandibles. "Do you know the source of this protection?"
"We are aware of one of these beings. They are called Progenitors. Their estimated power means that direct assassination is estimated to be impossible."
"How do we know that you are telling the truth?" a Cawlarian advisor replied. "Such a thought has been theorized, but there is no definitive proof."
"The proof I can offer you is that one of them is named Nova. This Progenitor does not emit any psychic energy at all. And yet, he has been observed to have a persuasion effect upon Sprilnav who are near him. And he has the capability to teleport, control energy, and likely much more. Individuals like these are likely the pinnacle of Sprilnav civilization. Figuring out how to sever this conceptual protection would allow us to fight the Sprilnav on equal footing. It would also likely allow us to better understand their technology."
"And how sure are you of this?"
"I am quite sure. There is more information to tell you all, information that may concern you, Nest Overlord, in particular," Juan said, looking at Kawtyahtnakal.
"Some of what I am about to tell you all is how his revival was possible. It is also why I believe it is necessary for this treaty organization to be formed. Note that any further or highly classified information has been removed. Sharing this information will only be considered and possibly revealed to the relevant officials of your two nations upon request, with the necessary restrictions to the form of viewing in place."
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Luke took a look at the model of the area. It was a large subterranean complex with only a few entrances. One of the commanders in charge of his unit was talking with their Cawlarian counterpart.
"I think I have a solution to your problem with the tunnel entrances."
"Drilling is quite noisy and loud," the Cawlarian replied. "Even the 'quiet' versions would get picked up by seismic scanners."
"Well, we're not going to use a drill. There's a species called the Junyli on one of our planets. Some of them have joined the Alliance in an official capacity, and are more than willing to help us on this venture."
"How fast can they dig, and how much damage can they take?"
"Well, the average Junyli can dig about 10 meters a second, pushing the stone out of the way smoothly. From what we can tell is happening, the psychic energy innate to them compacts around their skin and helps to make the stone more malleable, allowing it to be compressable far more easily than it should be. With a few of them in our group, we can decide where to enter from, including from the top down, dropping our soldiers into their fortifications. Or we could go from the bottom up, but that's much more likely to mess with fortifications and get us noticed. What's your call, Battle Planner Sacratta?"
Arrows had appeared when he'd pointed to placed on the hologram, showcasing possible entrance points. The other Luna soldiers were standing in a group on one side of the hologram, with the Earth soldiers on the other. They were separate for this mission since they'd trained much better in their own split groups. Luke knew Leia's mind by heart and soul. The same couldn't be said for any given Earth soldier or even Luna soldiers outside his general unit.
"It is best for the Cawlarian operatives to enter from the sky, assuming that they can fly," Commander Dexter said. "If their gear does not allow them to, then we will remain on the ground. Thrust plumes would be too visible, and the off chance of anti-aircraft fire poses a massive risk to any in the sky."
"We have a handle on that," Sacratta said. He pointed a claw at about a quarter-high section of the diagram. "Everythign above this, we can enter. It would likely be best to have the Junyli dig close enough to allow breaching of the walls, without actually going through. That way, a synchronised attack is easier even if we don't have a Junyli to accompany each one."
"What about the big one?" A separate Cawlarian asked. "The Luminary?"
"If he wishes to participate, there will be no hiding him. Assuming we can even make an area large enough to hold him, making that portal will light up on any psychic energy scanner."
"It is better to have smaller tunnel entrances for this," Sacratta added. "We're mostly going to be sending in infantry and support vehicles to clear the area. Vehicles will accompany them for additional protection and shielding, but in this case, people are the tip of the spear."
"I do warn you that without a good read on the capabilities of your own soldiers, we will not be able to coordinate to maximum effectiveness," Commander Dexter warned. "I clearly and solidly understand the need for secrecy. I'm just letting you know that the possibility is there if something gets screwed up later."
"Yes. We also have stores of gas available, though it will likely dissipate before being able to reach the majority of the underground city. We can use it to knock out some of the guards, though. The reason I bring this up is because deploying it is likely best done through tunnels from above, there the canisters can be dropped down into the fortified bunkers which likely house the most critical data."
"It is likely that some buildings that are not fortified will serve as bases as well. They might have extensive underground tunnels for either escape purposes or moving contraband and people."
Luke continued to listen to their deliberations during the remainder of the period. Eventually, they were allowed to retire to their respective rooms. He and Leia would meet tomorrow to discuss plans of their own and potential strategies for fighting the enemy. He did not have confidence in flight as any sort of quick travel method. Cawlarians being a winged species would mean they had spatial awareness much stronger than base humans.
Back when they were fighting the Wisselen, there was little concern among the enemy for aerial maneuvers. Even back when they had assaulted the last holdout on Earth, they hadn't had very much direct eyesight on any Wisselen air defenses.
As for his own activities, they entirely involved sleeping. Luke had the intention of reaching the identified objectives when the actual operation was carried out. And sleep would help his enhanced body to recover its lost energy, in addition to the nutrient paste tubes he'd latch to his injectors.
Really, he had concerns about the Cawlarians. Right now, they didn't seem to have their act together. He had barely seen any of their super soldiers, and those soldiers hadn't moved like the other Cawlarian soldiers he'd seen.
They did likely have some reinforcements, but unless they could go in and actually get serious when it mattered, then it might be on him and the other Alliance soldiers to ensure victory. With mind control, things could get very interesting. For one, it was possible to turn off pain receptors. So ensuring that every enemy combatant was dead would be very necessary for any successful operation.
Luke would be putting a bullet in the head of the people who he was fighting if his orders were to do so. It was what he was designed for, and he would carry that task out to his fullest ability. And beyond that, if needed. That was all the Alliance and Luna asked of him, and it was what he and Leia would deliver.

In northwestern Greece near the village of Zotiko, outdoor enthusiasts were fishing the banks of the Acheron. Their line became tangled in debris on the murky river bottom and wouldn’t come free. After tugging a bit more insistently, a large piece of wormwood was dragged to the surface. Upon closer inspection, it became clear the handcrafted wooden plank was very old and part of a sunken watercraft. Since Greece has a long history of civilization dating back over four millennia, the fishermen excitedly hoped the lost vessel held valuable artifacts or treasures.
Imagining the potential wealth a lost shipwreck could bring, they tried to handle the complicated salvage operation by themselves. They quickly realized it was too extensive of a task to complete without professional expertise. Not to mention, the severe legal penalties they stood to receive from the Greek antiquities board for not reporting such a find to the authorities. They are understandably protective of domestic historical sites.
The men sought legal advice on their rights to potential financial gain from the shipwreck they’d stumbled upon. Since it was discovered in a Greek waterway and not in international waters, they came up with a big old ‘goose egg’. Any proceeds or treasure uncovered at the site would go directly to the Greek government. They’d be lucky to even receive a finder’s plaque on the museum wall.
Meanwhile, the authorities were quick to assemble a full team to excavate whatever remained of the ancient ship. Initial soundings by divers revealed a ten meter long ferry-style barge immersed deep in the swampy river mud, with only the uppermost portion of it expose. Curiously, there were numerous large stones and boulders piled on top of the deck. As luck would have it, the poorly-placed rocks protected the ancient ship, masking it from wear and the elements. Radio carbon dating placed the construction to around 2240 BCE.
While rocks surreptitiously served to preserve major portions of the wreck, their reason for being piled on the deck was baffling. Any competent ferryman or barge captain would realize their weight at the top of the boat would sink it immediately, and yet they were obviously placed there to do so. The mystery widened. After suctioning out tons of river silt and removing the giant stones which sank it in the first place, the divers bore underneath the ferry and ran inflatable hoses through the holes.
Once a climate-controlled structure was fabricated to protect it from the sudden shock of being exposed again to the air for the first time in forty centuries, they began the arduous task of lifting the brittle wreckage from the bottom. The excavation foreman was excited to see that not only was the ancient vessel surfacing in one piece, but a massive cache of silver coins spilled out the side of the hull as it was raised from the water. The mysterious captain of the ferry had been rich, apparently.
The coins were sent to the University of Athens where they were identified as ‘Obols’. Literally ‘Ferry coins’; according to the associate professor who researched them. It made sense. The ferryman apparently stored his riches down below and had so many he used them as ship ballast! If so, there was an immense folly in his financial success. Greed apparently led to the unknown shipwreck on the Acheron river bed.
The team watched in breathless fascination as the ancient relic was finally dredged from the murky river. Countless layers of mud and debris were carefully removed from the waterlogged carcass. What lay underneath was eerily hypnotic. Its imposing structure was immediately overshadowed by the horrific stench of a slaughterhouse emanating from the bloated wormwood. The majestic ferry boat retrieved from the Acheron river held a sinister aura for all who beheld it. At the time, none of them could articulate why but the truth came soon enough.
At that moment, an unexpected storm struck the valley. It temporarily broke the bewitching spell over the hapless onlookers ensnared by its unexplained power. Mother Nature’s wrath caused the excavation workers to make a ‘mad dash’ for safety. The wreckage hovered just above the surface of the river on its crane riggings, like a phantom vessel stalking its prey.
——————
Other than minor surface rot around the top of the decking and cabin area, the rugged vessel was in remarkable visible condition. The authorities viewing the photos remotely via a web link could hardly believe their luck. They were thrilled about being able to offer the oldest known sailing ship raised from water. While nowhere as ornate or impressive as the Vasa flagship of Stockholm harbor, it was infinitely older. It also predated the Viking longboat in Oslo by at least three millennia; and was even older than the reconstructed Spartan warship raised from the Aegean Sea.
Condition-wise, it was even more impressive than King Tut’s afterlife sailboat. That ancient watercraft was buried in the tomb with the boy king. It had been shielded from the elements and time. This was the real deal. It was unquestionably more impressive as a tourist attraction. Well, except for the hideous, uncomfortable grip it held over all those who gazed upon it in person; AND the unbearable stench which made your eyes water and your knees buckle. It was mankind’s end personified in the wretched form of a wormwood ferry barge.
Both ‘tiny little drawbacks’ warranted avoiding the ungodly relic at all costs. Unfortunately the curator couldn’t grasp the magnitude of its horror from his monitor, 200 kilometers away. The excavation foreman desperately tried to explain the reality of the situation but it was one of those visceral things you just had to witness for yourself. All but a couple members of the crew quit out of fear or lingering illness. It was like being exposed to a deadly plague and they wanted no part of it. They abandoned the malodorous site in droves. Then, after experiencing the menacing hold it placed on those who came near it, no replacements could be found to take their place, either.
In growing frustration, the museum chairman telephoned the university antiquities department looking for volunteers. There he hoped to locate some history students willing to participate in preparing the discovery for final transport to the museum as an exhibition centerpiece. The head of the department answered the call. The learned professor listened to the curator’s tale of frustration and woe before excitedly interrupting.
“Where exactly did you find this sunken shipwreck? It wasn’t the Acheron river valley, was it? My associate Professor showed me the silver Obols your team extracted from it. He was only partially accurate in what he told you about them. Those silver coins weren’t used for ordinary passage on a regular ferry boat. They held great symbolic importance to our ancestors in their funerary traditions. Obols were meant to be presented to underworld ferryman Charon; which is actually a corruption of the word for ‘carrion’. The dead were buried with them over the eyes or in the mouth. It was the currency of HIS realm, and the price he required to transport the restless souls down the Styx to the land of the dead. Later, that river system was renamed: Acheron.”
—————-
Another fierce tempest rolled into the valley. It pelted the swinging relic with torrents of blood rain and typhoon-level gales. Darkness and evil reigned supreme. Brooding terror lingered like an endless burial procession, and made the previous thunderstorm seem like a gentle afternoon sprinkle, in comparison. The sinister corpse-man of Charon materialized on the deck of his ferry, as he surveyed the transforming apocalypse. His skeletal face bore no hint of emotion. Only his flaming eye-sockets betrayed the eternal rage within his blackened heart.
“Coin!”; he screeched with a rotten tongue to the excavation foreman. Though his Greek was an ancient dialect, the meaning was clear enough. The foreman and other mortified souls nearby cowered at his unholy presence. The void in the ship’s hull began to heal itself but the ferryman’s considerably amassed wages were lost. There was rowing to do, and passengers to transport to Hades.
In a moment of clarity, the foreman finally understood the reason the heavy rocks were placed on the deck of the ferry. It was to stop Charon. As if sinking his barge to the underworld would prevent death itself. It certainly hadn’t. Perhaps that explained the strife and civil discontent prevalent worldwide. The dead were no longer able to be transported to their final destination because of a misguided attempt to end death itself.
The natural order of things was lost. The dead could find no peace or rest. The accumulated wrath of countless departed souls wandering the Earth had leached into the world for the last four thousand years. They were lost and furious. It created a bottleneck of spiritual darkness which needed to be righted to rebalance the system. The lost souls needed their ferryman, and the living needed them to finally have closure. To live is to eventually die. It was the only way.
The hole in the hull of Charon’s ferry was almost gone. The foreman knew what had to be done, for the benefit of mankind. He went over to the master switch on the crane and lowered the festering wreckage back down to the water’s surface. A vortex appeared in the middle of the devastating storm clouds, leading off into the horizon. An endless line of impatient travelers appeared beside the Acheron’s bank to book their long-delayed passage.
They had an essential journey ahead to the promised land, and were weary from the delay. The foreman himself was grateful his own time to travel to Hades hadn’t yet arrived. With the dead finally receiving their justice due, he hoped the Earth would soon see the end of wickedness and war. When he himself was finally called down to the great below, the foreman would present the ferryman with his shiny Obol. It was Charon’s price for services to be rendered.

In northwestern Greece near the village of Zotiko, outdoor enthusiasts were fishing the banks of the Acheron. Their line became tangled in debris on the murky river bottom and wouldn’t come free. After tugging a bit more insistently, a large piece of wormwood was dragged to the surface. Upon closer inspection, it became clear the handcrafted wooden plank was very old and part of a sunken watercraft. Since Greece has a long history of civilization dating back over four millennia, the fishermen excitedly hoped the lost vessel held valuable artifacts or treasures.
Imagining the potential wealth a lost shipwreck could bring, they tried to handle the complicated salvage operation by themselves. They quickly realized it was too extensive of a task to complete without professional expertise. Not to mention, the severe legal penalties they stood to receive from the Greek antiquities board for not reporting such a find to the authorities. They are understandably protective of domestic historical sites.
The men sought legal advice on their rights to potential financial gain from the shipwreck they’d stumbled upon. Since it was discovered in a Greek waterway and not in international waters, they came up with a big old ‘goose egg’. Any proceeds or treasure uncovered at the site would go directly to the Greek government. They’d be lucky to even receive a finder’s plaque on the museum wall.
Meanwhile, the authorities were quick to assemble a full team to excavate whatever remained of the ancient ship. Initial soundings by divers revealed a ten meter long ferry-style barge immersed deep in the swampy river mud, with only the uppermost portion of it expose. Curiously, there were numerous large stones and boulders piled on top of the deck. As luck would have it, the poorly-placed rocks protected the ancient ship, masking it from wear and the elements. Radio carbon dating placed the construction to around 2240 BCE.
While rocks surreptitiously served to preserve major portions of the wreck, their reason for being piled on the deck was baffling. Any competent ferryman or barge captain would realize their weight at the top of the boat would sink it immediately, and yet they were obviously placed there to do so. The mystery widened. After suctioning out tons of river silt and removing the giant stones which sank it in the first place, the divers bore underneath the ferry and ran inflatable hoses through the holes.
Once a climate-controlled structure was fabricated to protect it from the sudden shock of being exposed again to the air for the first time in forty centuries, they began the arduous task of lifting the brittle wreckage from the bottom. The excavation foreman was excited to see that not only was the ancient vessel surfacing in one piece, but a massive cache of silver coins spilled out the side of the hull as it was raised from the water. The mysterious captain of the ferry had been rich, apparently.
The coins were sent to the University of Athens where they were identified as ‘Obols’. Literally ‘Ferry coins’; according to the associate professor who researched them. It made sense. The ferryman apparently stored his riches down below and had so many he used them as ship ballast! If so, there was an immense folly in his financial success. Greed apparently led to the unknown shipwreck on the Acheron river bed.
The team watched in breathless fascination as the ancient relic was finally dredged from the murky river. Countless layers of mud and debris were carefully removed from the waterlogged carcass. What lay underneath was eerily hypnotic. Its imposing structure was immediately overshadowed by the horrific stench of a slaughterhouse emanating from the bloated wormwood. The majestic ferry boat retrieved from the Acheron river held a sinister aura for all who beheld it. At the time, none of them could articulate why but the truth came soon enough.
At that moment, an unexpected storm struck the valley. It temporarily broke the bewitching spell over the hapless onlookers ensnared by its unexplained power. Mother Nature’s wrath caused the excavation workers to make a ‘mad dash’ for safety. The wreckage hovered just above the surface of the river on its crane riggings, like a phantom vessel stalking its prey.
——————
Other than minor surface rot around the top of the decking and cabin area, the rugged vessel was in remarkable visible condition. The authorities viewing the photos remotely via a web link could hardly believe their luck. They were thrilled about being able to offer the oldest known sailing ship raised from water. While nowhere as ornate or impressive as the Vasa flagship of Stockholm harbor, it was infinitely older. It also predated the Viking longboat in Oslo by at least three millennia; and was even older than the reconstructed Spartan warship raised from the Aegean Sea.
Condition-wise, it was even more impressive than King Tut’s afterlife sailboat. That ancient watercraft was buried in the tomb with the boy king. It had been shielded from the elements and time. This was the real deal. It was unquestionably more impressive as a tourist attraction. Well, except for the hideous, uncomfortable grip it held over all those who gazed upon it in person; AND the unbearable stench which made your eyes water and your knees buckle. It was mankind’s end personified in the wretched form of a wormwood ferry barge.
Both ‘tiny little drawbacks’ warranted avoiding the ungodly relic at all costs. Unfortunately the curator couldn’t grasp the magnitude of its horror from his monitor, 200 kilometers away. The excavation foreman desperately tried to explain the reality of the situation but it was one of those visceral things you just had to witness for yourself. All but a couple members of the crew quit out of fear or lingering illness. It was like being exposed to a deadly plague and they wanted no part of it. They abandoned the malodorous site in droves. Then, after experiencing the menacing hold it placed on those who came near it, no replacements could be found to take their place, either.
In growing frustration, the museum chairman telephoned the university antiquities department looking for volunteers. There he hoped to locate some history students willing to participate in preparing the discovery for final transport to the museum as an exhibition centerpiece. The head of the department answered the call. The learned professor listened to the curator’s tale of frustration and woe before excitedly interrupting.
“Where exactly did you find this sunken shipwreck? It wasn’t the Acheron river valley, was it? My associate Professor showed me the silver Obols your team extracted from it. He was only partially accurate in what he told you about them. Those silver coins weren’t used for ordinary passage on a regular ferry boat. They held great symbolic importance to our ancestors in their funerary traditions. Obols were meant to be presented to underworld ferryman Charon; which is actually a corruption of the word for ‘carrion’. The dead were buried with them over the eyes or in the mouth. It was the currency of HIS realm, and the price he required to transport the restless souls down the Styx to the land of the dead. Later, that river system was renamed: Acheron.”
—————-
Another fierce tempest rolled into the valley. It pelted the swinging relic with torrents of blood rain and typhoon-level gales. Darkness and evil reigned supreme. Brooding terror lingered like an endless burial procession, and made the previous thunderstorm seem like a gentle afternoon sprinkle, in comparison. The sinister corpse-man of Charon materialized on the deck of his ferry, as he surveyed the transforming apocalypse. His skeletal face bore no hint of emotion. Only his flaming eye-sockets betrayed the eternal rage within his blackened heart.
“Coin!”; he screeched with a rotten tongue to the excavation foreman. Though his Greek was an ancient dialect, the meaning was clear enough. The foreman and other mortified souls nearby cowered at his unholy presence. The void in the ship’s hull began to heal itself but the ferryman’s considerably amassed wages were lost. There was rowing to do, and passengers to transport to Hades.
In a moment of clarity, the foreman finally understood the reason the heavy rocks were placed on the deck of the ferry. It was to stop Charon. As if sinking his barge to the underworld would prevent death itself. It certainly hadn’t. Perhaps that explained the strife and civil discontent prevalent worldwide. The dead were no longer able to be transported to their final destination because of a misguided attempt to end death itself.
The natural order of things was lost. The dead could find no peace or rest. The accumulated wrath of countless departed souls wandering the Earth had leached into the world for the last four thousand years. They were lost and furious. It created a bottleneck of spiritual darkness which needed to be righted to rebalance the system. The lost souls needed their ferryman, and the living needed them to finally have closure. To live is to eventually die. It was the only way.
The hole in the hull of Charon’s ferry was almost gone. The foreman knew what had to be done, for the benefit of mankind. He went over to the master switch on the crane and lowered the festering wreckage back down to the water’s surface. A vortex appeared in the middle of the devastating storm clouds, leading off into the horizon. An endless line of impatient travelers appeared beside the Acheron’s bank to book their long-delayed passage.
They had an essential journey ahead to the promised land, and were weary from the delay. The foreman himself was grateful his own time to travel to Hades hadn’t yet arrived. With the dead finally receiving their justice due, he hoped the Earth would soon see the end of wickedness and war. When he himself was finally called down to the great below, the foreman would present the ferryman with his shiny Obol. It was Charon’s price for services to be rendered.

In northwestern Greece near the village of Zotiko, outdoor enthusiasts were fishing the banks of the Acheron. Their line became tangled in debris on the murky river bottom and wouldn’t come free. After tugging a bit more insistently, a large piece of wormwood was dragged to the surface. Upon closer inspection, it became clear the handcrafted wooden plank was very old and part of a sunken watercraft. Since Greece has a long history of civilization dating back over four millennia, the fishermen excitedly hoped the lost vessel held valuable artifacts or treasures.
Imagining the potential wealth a lost shipwreck could bring, they tried to handle the complicated salvage operation by themselves. They quickly realized it was too extensive of a task to complete without professional expertise. Not to mention, the severe legal penalties they stood to receive from the Greek antiquities board for not reporting such a find to the authorities. They are understandably protective of domestic historical sites.
The men sought legal advice on their rights to potential financial gain from the shipwreck they’d stumbled upon. Since it was discovered in a Greek waterway and not in international waters, they came up with a big old ‘goose egg’. Any proceeds or treasure uncovered at the site would go directly to the Greek government. They’d be lucky to even receive a finder’s plaque on the museum wall.
Meanwhile, the authorities were quick to assemble a full team to excavate whatever remained of the ancient ship. Initial soundings by divers revealed a ten meter long ferry-style barge immersed deep in the swampy river mud, with only the uppermost portion of it expose. Curiously, there were numerous large stones and boulders piled on top of the deck. As luck would have it, the poorly-placed rocks protected the ancient ship, masking it from wear and the elements. Radio carbon dating placed the construction to around 2240 BCE.
While rocks surreptitiously served to preserve major portions of the wreck, their reason for being piled on the deck was baffling. Any competent ferryman or barge captain would realize their weight at the top of the boat would sink it immediately, and yet they were obviously placed there to do so. The mystery widened. After suctioning out tons of river silt and removing the giant stones which sank it in the first place, the divers bore underneath the ferry and ran inflatable hoses through the holes.
Once a climate-controlled structure was fabricated to protect it from the sudden shock of being exposed again to the air for the first time in forty centuries, they began the arduous task of lifting the brittle wreckage from the bottom. The excavation foreman was excited to see that not only was the ancient vessel surfacing in one piece, but a massive cache of silver coins spilled out the side of the hull as it was raised from the water. The mysterious captain of the ferry had been rich, apparently.
The coins were sent to the University of Athens where they were identified as ‘Obols’. Literally ‘Ferry coins’; according to the associate professor who researched them. It made sense. The ferryman apparently stored his riches down below and had so many he used them as ship ballast! If so, there was an immense folly in his financial success. Greed apparently led to the unknown shipwreck on the Acheron river bed.
The team watched in breathless fascination as the ancient relic was finally dredged from the murky river. Countless layers of mud and debris were carefully removed from the waterlogged carcass. What lay underneath was eerily hypnotic. Its imposing structure was immediately overshadowed by the horrific stench of a slaughterhouse emanating from the bloated wormwood. The majestic ferry boat retrieved from the Acheron river held a sinister aura for all who beheld it. At the time, none of them could articulate why but the truth came soon enough.
At that moment, an unexpected storm struck the valley. It temporarily broke the bewitching spell over the hapless onlookers ensnared by its unexplained power. Mother Nature’s wrath caused the excavation workers to make a ‘mad dash’ for safety. The wreckage hovered just above the surface of the river on its crane riggings, like a phantom vessel stalking its prey.
——————
Other than minor surface rot around the top of the decking and cabin area, the rugged vessel was in remarkable visible condition. The authorities viewing the photos remotely via a web link could hardly believe their luck. They were thrilled about being able to offer the oldest known sailing ship raised from water. While nowhere as ornate or impressive as the Vasa flagship of Stockholm harbor, it was infinitely older. It also predated the Viking longboat in Oslo by at least three millennia; and was even older than the reconstructed Spartan warship raised from the Aegean Sea.
Condition-wise, it was even more impressive than King Tut’s afterlife sailboat. That ancient watercraft was buried in the tomb with the boy king. It had been shielded from the elements and time. This was the real deal. It was unquestionably more impressive as a tourist attraction. Well, except for the hideous, uncomfortable grip it held over all those who gazed upon it in person; AND the unbearable stench which made your eyes water and your knees buckle. It was mankind’s end personified in the wretched form of a wormwood ferry barge.
Both ‘tiny little drawbacks’ warranted avoiding the ungodly relic at all costs. Unfortunately the curator couldn’t grasp the magnitude of its horror from his monitor, 200 kilometers away. The excavation foreman desperately tried to explain the reality of the situation but it was one of those visceral things you just had to witness for yourself. All but a couple members of the crew quit out of fear or lingering illness. It was like being exposed to a deadly plague and they wanted no part of it. They abandoned the malodorous site in droves. Then, after experiencing the menacing hold it placed on those who came near it, no replacements could be found to take their place, either.
In growing frustration, the museum chairman telephoned the university antiquities department looking for volunteers. There he hoped to locate some history students willing to participate in preparing the discovery for final transport to the museum as an exhibition centerpiece. The head of the department answered the call. The learned professor listened to the curator’s tale of frustration and woe before excitedly interrupting.
“Where exactly did you find this sunken shipwreck? It wasn’t the Acheron river valley, was it? My associate Professor showed me the silver Obols your team extracted from it. He was only partially accurate in what he told you about them. Those silver coins weren’t used for ordinary passage on a regular ferry boat. They held great symbolic importance to our ancestors in their funerary traditions. Obols were meant to be presented to underworld ferryman Charon; which is actually a corruption of the word for ‘carrion’. The dead were buried with them over the eyes or in the mouth. It was the currency of HIS realm, and the price he required to transport the restless souls down the Styx to the land of the dead. Later, that river system was renamed: Acheron.”
—————-
Another fierce tempest rolled into the valley. It pelted the swinging relic with torrents of blood rain and typhoon-level gales. Darkness and evil reigned supreme. Brooding terror lingered like an endless burial procession, and made the previous thunderstorm seem like a gentle afternoon sprinkle, in comparison. The sinister corpse-man of Charon materialized on the deck of his ferry, as he surveyed the transforming apocalypse. His skeletal face bore no hint of emotion. Only his flaming eye-sockets betrayed the eternal rage within his blackened heart.
“Coin!”; he screeched with a rotten tongue to the excavation foreman. Though his Greek was an ancient dialect, the meaning was clear enough. The foreman and other mortified souls nearby cowered at his unholy presence. The void in the ship’s hull began to heal itself but the ferryman’s considerably amassed wages were lost. There was rowing to do, and passengers to transport to Hades.
In a moment of clarity, the foreman finally understood the reason the heavy rocks were placed on the deck of the ferry. It was to stop Charon. As if sinking his barge to the underworld would prevent death itself. It certainly hadn’t. Perhaps that explained the strife and civil discontent prevalent worldwide. The dead were no longer able to be transported to their final destination because of a misguided attempt to end death itself.
The natural order of things was lost. The dead could find no peace or rest. The accumulated wrath of countless departed souls wandering the Earth had leached into the world for the last four thousand years. They were lost and furious. It created a bottleneck of spiritual darkness which needed to be righted to rebalance the system. The lost souls needed their ferryman, and the living needed them to finally have closure. To live is to eventually die. It was the only way.
The hole in the hull of Charon’s ferry was almost gone. The foreman knew what had to be done, for the benefit of mankind. He went over to the master switch on the crane and lowered the festering wreckage back down to the water’s surface. A vortex appeared in the middle of the devastating storm clouds, leading off into the horizon. An endless line of impatient travelers appeared beside the Acheron’s bank to book their long-delayed passage.
They had an essential journey ahead to the promised land, and were weary from the delay. The foreman himself was grateful his own time to travel to Hades hadn’t yet arrived. With the dead finally receiving their justice due, he hoped the Earth would soon see the end of wickedness and war. When he himself was finally called down to the great below, the foreman would present the ferryman with his shiny Obol. It was Charon’s price for services to be rendered.

In northwestern Greece near the village of Zotiko, outdoor enthusiasts were fishing the banks of the Acheron. Their line became tangled in debris on the murky river bottom and wouldn’t come free. After tugging a bit more insistently, a large piece of wormwood was dragged to the surface. Upon closer inspection, it became clear the handcrafted wooden plank was very old and part of a sunken watercraft. Since Greece has a long history of civilization dating back over four millennia, the fishermen excitedly hoped the lost vessel held valuable artifacts or treasures.
Imagining the potential wealth a lost shipwreck could bring, they tried to handle the complicated salvage operation by themselves. They quickly realized it was too extensive of a task to complete without professional expertise. Not to mention, the severe legal penalties they stood to receive from the Greek antiquities board for not reporting such a find to the authorities. They are understandably protective of domestic historical sites.
The men sought legal advice on their rights to potential financial gain from the shipwreck they’d stumbled upon. Since it was discovered in a Greek waterway and not in international waters, they came up with a big old ‘goose egg’. Any proceeds or treasure uncovered at the site would go directly to the Greek government. They’d be lucky to even receive a finder’s plaque on the museum wall.
Meanwhile, the authorities were quick to assemble a full team to excavate whatever remained of the ancient ship. Initial soundings by divers revealed a ten meter long ferry-style barge immersed deep in the swampy river mud, with only the uppermost portion of it expose. Curiously, there were numerous large stones and boulders piled on top of the deck. As luck would have it, the poorly-placed rocks protected the ancient ship, masking it from wear and the elements. Radio carbon dating placed the construction to around 2240 BCE.
While rocks surreptitiously served to preserve major portions of the wreck, their reason for being piled on the deck was baffling. Any competent ferryman or barge captain would realize their weight at the top of the boat would sink it immediately, and yet they were obviously placed there to do so. The mystery widened. After suctioning out tons of river silt and removing the giant stones which sank it in the first place, the divers bore underneath the ferry and ran inflatable hoses through the holes.
Once a climate-controlled structure was fabricated to protect it from the sudden shock of being exposed again to the air for the first time in forty centuries, they began the arduous task of lifting the brittle wreckage from the bottom. The excavation foreman was excited to see that not only was the ancient vessel surfacing in one piece, but a massive cache of silver coins spilled out the side of the hull as it was raised from the water. The mysterious captain of the ferry had been rich, apparently.
The coins were sent to the University of Athens where they were identified as ‘Obols’. Literally ‘Ferry coins’; according to the associate professor who researched them. It made sense. The ferryman apparently stored his riches down below and had so many he used them as ship ballast! If so, there was an immense folly in his financial success. Greed apparently led to the unknown shipwreck on the Acheron river bed.
The team watched in breathless fascination as the ancient relic was finally dredged from the murky river. Countless layers of mud and debris were carefully removed from the waterlogged carcass. What lay underneath was eerily hypnotic. Its imposing structure was immediately overshadowed by the horrific stench of a slaughterhouse emanating from the bloated wormwood. The majestic ferry boat retrieved from the Acheron river held a sinister aura for all who beheld it. At the time, none of them could articulate why but the truth came soon enough.
At that moment, an unexpected storm struck the valley. It temporarily broke the bewitching spell over the hapless onlookers ensnared by its unexplained power. Mother Nature’s wrath caused the excavation workers to make a ‘mad dash’ for safety. The wreckage hovered just above the surface of the river on its crane riggings, like a phantom vessel stalking its prey.
——————
Other than minor surface rot around the top of the decking and cabin area, the rugged vessel was in remarkable visible condition. The authorities viewing the photos remotely via a web link could hardly believe their luck. They were thrilled about being able to offer the oldest known sailing ship raised from water. While nowhere as ornate or impressive as the Vasa flagship of Stockholm harbor, it was infinitely older. It also predated the Viking longboat in Oslo by at least three millennia; and was even older than the reconstructed Spartan warship raised from the Aegean Sea.
Condition-wise, it was even more impressive than King Tut’s afterlife sailboat. That ancient watercraft was buried in the tomb with the boy king. It had been shielded from the elements and time. This was the real deal. It was unquestionably more impressive as a tourist attraction. Well, except for the hideous, uncomfortable grip it held over all those who gazed upon it in person; AND the unbearable stench which made your eyes water and your knees buckle. It was mankind’s end personified in the wretched form of a wormwood ferry barge.
Both ‘tiny little drawbacks’ warranted avoiding the ungodly relic at all costs. Unfortunately the curator couldn’t grasp the magnitude of its horror from his monitor, 200 kilometers away. The excavation foreman desperately tried to explain the reality of the situation but it was one of those visceral things you just had to witness for yourself. All but a couple members of the crew quit out of fear or lingering illness. It was like being exposed to a deadly plague and they wanted no part of it. They abandoned the malodorous site in droves. Then, after experiencing the menacing hold it placed on those who came near it, no replacements could be found to take their place, either.
In growing frustration, the museum chairman telephoned the university antiquities department looking for volunteers. There he hoped to locate some history students willing to participate in preparing the discovery for final transport to the museum as an exhibition centerpiece. The head of the department answered the call. The learned professor listened to the curator’s tale of frustration and woe before excitedly interrupting.
“Where exactly did you find this sunken shipwreck? It wasn’t the Acheron river valley, was it? My associate Professor showed me the silver Obols your team extracted from it. He was only partially accurate in what he told you about them. Those silver coins weren’t used for ordinary passage on a regular ferry boat. They held great symbolic importance to our ancestors in their funerary traditions. Obols were meant to be presented to underworld ferryman Charon; which is actually a corruption of the word for ‘carrion’. The dead were buried with them over the eyes or in the mouth. It was the currency of HIS realm, and the price he required to transport the restless souls down the Styx to the land of the dead. Later, that river system was renamed: Acheron.”
—————-
Another fierce tempest rolled into the valley. It pelted the swinging relic with torrents of blood rain and typhoon-level gales. Darkness and evil reigned supreme. Brooding terror lingered like an endless burial procession, and made the previous thunderstorm seem like a gentle afternoon sprinkle, in comparison. The sinister corpse-man of Charon materialized on the deck of his ferry, as he surveyed the transforming apocalypse. His skeletal face bore no hint of emotion. Only his flaming eye-sockets betrayed the eternal rage within his blackened heart.
“Coin!”; he screeched with a rotten tongue to the excavation foreman. Though his Greek was an ancient dialect, the meaning was clear enough. The foreman and other mortified souls nearby cowered at his unholy presence. The void in the ship’s hull began to heal itself but the ferryman’s considerably amassed wages were lost. There was rowing to do, and passengers to transport to Hades.
In a moment of clarity, the foreman finally understood the reason the heavy rocks were placed on the deck of the ferry. It was to stop Charon. As if sinking his barge to the underworld would prevent death itself. It certainly hadn’t. Perhaps that explained the strife and civil discontent prevalent worldwide. The dead were no longer able to be transported to their final destination because of a misguided attempt to end death itself.
The natural order of things was lost. The dead could find no peace or rest. The accumulated wrath of countless departed souls wandering the Earth had leached into the world for the last four thousand years. They were lost and furious. It created a bottleneck of spiritual darkness which needed to be righted to rebalance the system. The lost souls needed their ferryman, and the living needed them to finally have closure. To live is to eventually die. It was the only way.
The hole in the hull of Charon’s ferry was almost gone. The foreman knew what had to be done, for the benefit of mankind. He went over to the master switch on the crane and lowered the festering wreckage back down to the water’s surface. A vortex appeared in the middle of the devastating storm clouds, leading off into the horizon. An endless line of impatient travelers appeared beside the Acheron’s bank to book their long-delayed passage.
They had an essential journey ahead to the promised land, and were weary from the delay. The foreman himself was grateful his own time to travel to Hades hadn’t yet arrived. With the dead finally receiving their justice due, he hoped the Earth would soon see the end of wickedness and war. When he himself was finally called down to the great below, the foreman would present the ferryman with his shiny Obol. It was Charon’s price for services to be rendered.

In northwestern Greece near the village of Zotiko, outdoor enthusiasts were fishing the banks of the Acheron. Their line became tangled in debris on the murky river bottom and wouldn’t come free. After tugging a bit more insistently, a large piece of wormwood was dragged to the surface. Upon closer inspection, it became clear the handcrafted wooden plank was very old and part of a sunken watercraft. Since Greece has a long history of civilization dating back over four millennia, the fishermen excitedly hoped the lost vessel held valuable artifacts or treasures.
Imagining the potential wealth a lost shipwreck could bring, they tried to handle the complicated salvage operation by themselves. They quickly realized it was too extensive of a task to complete without professional expertise. Not to mention, the severe legal penalties they stood to receive from the Greek antiquities board for not reporting such a find to the authorities. They are understandably protective of domestic historical sites.
The men sought legal advice on their rights to potential financial gain from the shipwreck they’d stumbled upon. Since it was discovered in a Greek waterway and not in international waters, they came up with a big old ‘goose egg’. Any proceeds or treasure uncovered at the site would go directly to the Greek government. They’d be lucky to even receive a finder’s plaque on the museum wall.
Meanwhile, the authorities were quick to assemble a full team to excavate whatever remained of the ancient ship. Initial soundings by divers revealed a ten meter long ferry-style barge immersed deep in the swampy river mud, with only the uppermost portion of it expose. Curiously, there were numerous large stones and boulders piled on top of the deck. As luck would have it, the poorly-placed rocks protected the ancient ship, masking it from wear and the elements. Radio carbon dating placed the construction to around 2240 BCE.
While rocks surreptitiously served to preserve major portions of the wreck, their reason for being piled on the deck was baffling. Any competent ferryman or barge captain would realize their weight at the top of the boat would sink it immediately, and yet they were obviously placed there to do so. The mystery widened. After suctioning out tons of river silt and removing the giant stones which sank it in the first place, the divers bore underneath the ferry and ran inflatable hoses through the holes.
Once a climate-controlled structure was fabricated to protect it from the sudden shock of being exposed again to the air for the first time in forty centuries, they began the arduous task of lifting the brittle wreckage from the bottom. The excavation foreman was excited to see that not only was the ancient vessel surfacing in one piece, but a massive cache of silver coins spilled out the side of the hull as it was raised from the water. The mysterious captain of the ferry had been rich, apparently.
The coins were sent to the University of Athens where they were identified as ‘Obols’. Literally ‘Ferry coins’; according to the associate professor who researched them. It made sense. The ferryman apparently stored his riches down below and had so many he used them as ship ballast! If so, there was an immense folly in his financial success. Greed apparently led to the unknown shipwreck on the Acheron river bed.
The team watched in breathless fascination as the ancient relic was finally dredged from the murky river. Countless layers of mud and debris were carefully removed from the waterlogged carcass. What lay underneath was eerily hypnotic. Its imposing structure was immediately overshadowed by the horrific stench of a slaughterhouse emanating from the bloated wormwood. The majestic ferry boat retrieved from the Acheron river held a sinister aura for all who beheld it. At the time, none of them could articulate why but the truth came soon enough.
At that moment, an unexpected storm struck the valley. It temporarily broke the bewitching spell over the hapless onlookers ensnared by its unexplained power. Mother Nature’s wrath caused the excavation workers to make a ‘mad dash’ for safety. The wreckage hovered just above the surface of the river on its crane riggings, like a phantom vessel stalking its prey.
——————
Other than minor surface rot around the top of the decking and cabin area, the rugged vessel was in remarkable visible condition. The authorities viewing the photos remotely via a web link could hardly believe their luck. They were thrilled about being able to offer the oldest known sailing ship raised from water. While nowhere as ornate or impressive as the Vasa flagship of Stockholm harbor, it was infinitely older. It also predated the Viking longboat in Oslo by at least three millennia; and was even older than the reconstructed Spartan warship raised from the Aegean Sea.
Condition-wise, it was even more impressive than King Tut’s afterlife sailboat. That ancient watercraft was buried in the tomb with the boy king. It had been shielded from the elements and time. This was the real deal. It was unquestionably more impressive as a tourist attraction. Well, except for the hideous, uncomfortable grip it held over all those who gazed upon it in person; AND the unbearable stench which made your eyes water and your knees buckle. It was mankind’s end personified in the wretched form of a wormwood ferry barge.
Both ‘tiny little drawbacks’ warranted avoiding the ungodly relic at all costs. Unfortunately the curator couldn’t grasp the magnitude of its horror from his monitor, 200 kilometers away. The excavation foreman desperately tried to explain the reality of the situation but it was one of those visceral things you just had to witness for yourself. All but a couple members of the crew quit out of fear or lingering illness. It was like being exposed to a deadly plague and they wanted no part of it. They abandoned the malodorous site in droves. Then, after experiencing the menacing hold it placed on those who came near it, no replacements could be found to take their place, either.
In growing frustration, the museum chairman telephoned the university antiquities department looking for volunteers. There he hoped to locate some history students willing to participate in preparing the discovery for final transport to the museum as an exhibition centerpiece. The head of the department answered the call. The learned professor listened to the curator’s tale of frustration and woe before excitedly interrupting.
“Where exactly did you find this sunken shipwreck? It wasn’t the Acheron river valley, was it? My associate Professor showed me the silver Obols your team extracted from it. He was only partially accurate in what he told you about them. Those silver coins weren’t used for ordinary passage on a regular ferry boat. They held great symbolic importance to our ancestors in their funerary traditions. Obols were meant to be presented to underworld ferryman Charon; which is actually a corruption of the word for ‘carrion’. The dead were buried with them over the eyes or in the mouth. It was the currency of HIS realm, and the price he required to transport the restless souls down the Styx to the land of the dead. Later, that river system was renamed: Acheron.”
—————-
Another fierce tempest rolled into the valley. It pelted the swinging relic with torrents of blood rain and typhoon-level gales. Darkness and evil reigned supreme. Brooding terror lingered like an endless burial procession, and made the previous thunderstorm seem like a gentle afternoon sprinkle, in comparison. The sinister corpse-man of Charon materialized on the deck of his ferry, as he surveyed the transforming apocalypse. His skeletal face bore no hint of emotion. Only his flaming eye-sockets betrayed the eternal rage within his blackened heart.
“Coin!”; he screeched with a rotten tongue to the excavation foreman. Though his Greek was an ancient dialect, the meaning was clear enough. The foreman and other mortified souls nearby cowered at his unholy presence. The void in the ship’s hull began to heal itself but the ferryman’s considerably amassed wages were lost. There was rowing to do, and passengers to transport to Hades.
In a moment of clarity, the foreman finally understood the reason the heavy rocks were placed on the deck of the ferry. It was to stop Charon. As if sinking his barge to the underworld would prevent death itself. It certainly hadn’t. Perhaps that explained the strife and civil discontent prevalent worldwide. The dead were no longer able to be transported to their final destination because of a misguided attempt to end death itself.
The natural order of things was lost. The dead could find no peace or rest. The accumulated wrath of countless departed souls wandering the Earth had leached into the world for the last four thousand years. They were lost and furious. It created a bottleneck of spiritual darkness which needed to be righted to rebalance the system. The lost souls needed their ferryman, and the living needed them to finally have closure. To live is to eventually die. It was the only way.
The hole in the hull of Charon’s ferry was almost gone. The foreman knew what had to be done, for the benefit of mankind. He went over to the master switch on the crane and lowered the festering wreckage back down to the water’s surface. A vortex appeared in the middle of the devastating storm clouds, leading off into the horizon. An endless line of impatient travelers appeared beside the Acheron’s bank to book their long-delayed passage.
They had an essential journey ahead to the promised land, and were weary from the delay. The foreman himself was grateful his own time to travel to Hades hadn’t yet arrived. With the dead finally receiving their justice due, he hoped the Earth would soon see the end of wickedness and war. When he himself was finally called down to the great below, the foreman would present the ferryman with his shiny Obol. It was Charon’s price for services to be rendered.

In northwestern Greece near the village of Zotiko, outdoor enthusiasts were fishing the banks of the Acheron. Their line became tangled in debris on the murky river bottom and wouldn’t come free. After tugging a bit more insistently, a large piece of wormwood was dragged to the surface. Upon closer inspection, it became clear the handcrafted wooden plank was very old and part of a sunken watercraft. Since Greece has a long history of civilization dating back over four millennia, the fishermen excitedly hoped the lost vessel held valuable artifacts or treasures.
Imagining the potential wealth a lost shipwreck could bring, they tried to handle the complicated salvage operation by themselves. They quickly realized it was too extensive of a task to complete without professional expertise. Not to mention, the severe legal penalties they stood to receive from the Greek antiquities board for not reporting such a find to the authorities. They are understandably protective of domestic historical sites.
The men sought legal advice on their rights to potential financial gain from the shipwreck they’d stumbled upon. Since it was discovered in a Greek waterway and not in international waters, they came up with a big old ‘goose egg’. Any proceeds or treasure uncovered at the site would go directly to the Greek government. They’d be lucky to even receive a finder’s plaque on the museum wall.
Meanwhile, the authorities were quick to assemble a full team to excavate whatever remained of the ancient ship. Initial soundings by divers revealed a ten meter long ferry-style barge immersed deep in the swampy river mud, with only the uppermost portion of it expose. Curiously, there were numerous large stones and boulders piled on top of the deck. As luck would have it, the poorly-placed rocks protected the ancient ship, masking it from wear and the elements. Radio carbon dating placed the construction to around 2240 BCE.
While rocks surreptitiously served to preserve major portions of the wreck, their reason for being piled on the deck was baffling. Any competent ferryman or barge captain would realize their weight at the top of the boat would sink it immediately, and yet they were obviously placed there to do so. The mystery widened. After suctioning out tons of river silt and removing the giant stones which sank it in the first place, the divers bore underneath the ferry and ran inflatable hoses through the holes.
Once a climate-controlled structure was fabricated to protect it from the sudden shock of being exposed again to the air for the first time in forty centuries, they began the arduous task of lifting the brittle wreckage from the bottom. The excavation foreman was excited to see that not only was the ancient vessel surfacing in one piece, but a massive cache of silver coins spilled out the side of the hull as it was raised from the water. The mysterious captain of the ferry had been rich, apparently.
The coins were sent to the University of Athens where they were identified as ‘Obols’. Literally ‘Ferry coins’; according to the associate professor who researched them. It made sense. The ferryman apparently stored his riches down below and had so many he used them as ship ballast! If so, there was an immense folly in his financial success. Greed apparently led to the unknown shipwreck on the Acheron river bed.
The team watched in breathless fascination as the ancient relic was finally dredged from the murky river. Countless layers of mud and debris were carefully removed from the waterlogged carcass. What lay underneath was eerily hypnotic. Its imposing structure was immediately overshadowed by the horrific stench of a slaughterhouse emanating from the bloated wormwood. The majestic ferry boat retrieved from the Acheron river held a sinister aura for all who beheld it. At the time, none of them could articulate why but the truth came soon enough.
At that moment, an unexpected storm struck the valley. It temporarily broke the bewitching spell over the hapless onlookers ensnared by its unexplained power. Mother Nature’s wrath caused the excavation workers to make a ‘mad dash’ for safety. The wreckage hovered just above the surface of the river on its crane riggings, like a phantom vessel stalking its prey.
——————
Other than minor surface rot around the top of the decking and cabin area, the rugged vessel was in remarkable visible condition. The authorities viewing the photos remotely via a web link could hardly believe their luck. They were thrilled about being able to offer the oldest known sailing ship raised from water. While nowhere as ornate or impressive as the Vasa flagship of Stockholm harbor, it was infinitely older. It also predated the Viking longboat in Oslo by at least three millennia; and was even older than the reconstructed Spartan warship raised from the Aegean Sea.
Condition-wise, it was even more impressive than King Tut’s afterlife sailboat. That ancient watercraft was buried in the tomb with the boy king. It had been shielded from the elements and time. This was the real deal. It was unquestionably more impressive as a tourist attraction. Well, except for the hideous, uncomfortable grip it held over all those who gazed upon it in person; AND the unbearable stench which made your eyes water and your knees buckle. It was mankind’s end personified in the wretched form of a wormwood ferry barge.
Both ‘tiny little drawbacks’ warranted avoiding the ungodly relic at all costs. Unfortunately the curator couldn’t grasp the magnitude of its horror from his monitor, 200 kilometers away. The excavation foreman desperately tried to explain the reality of the situation but it was one of those visceral things you just had to witness for yourself. All but a couple members of the crew quit out of fear or lingering illness. It was like being exposed to a deadly plague and they wanted no part of it. They abandoned the malodorous site in droves. Then, after experiencing the menacing hold it placed on those who came near it, no replacements could be found to take their place, either.
In growing frustration, the museum chairman telephoned the university antiquities department looking for volunteers. There he hoped to locate some history students willing to participate in preparing the discovery for final transport to the museum as an exhibition centerpiece. The head of the department answered the call. The learned professor listened to the curator’s tale of frustration and woe before excitedly interrupting.
“Where exactly did you find this sunken shipwreck? It wasn’t the Acheron river valley, was it? My associate Professor showed me the silver Obols your team extracted from it. He was only partially accurate in what he told you about them. Those silver coins weren’t used for ordinary passage on a regular ferry boat. They held great symbolic importance to our ancestors in their funerary traditions. Obols were meant to be presented to underworld ferryman Charon; which is actually a corruption of the word for ‘carrion’. The dead were buried with them over the eyes or in the mouth. It was the currency of HIS realm, and the price he required to transport the restless souls down the Styx to the land of the dead. Later, that river system was renamed: Acheron.”
—————-
Another fierce tempest rolled into the valley. It pelted the swinging relic with torrents of blood rain and typhoon-level gales. Darkness and evil reigned supreme. Brooding terror lingered like an endless burial procession, and made the previous thunderstorm seem like a gentle afternoon sprinkle, in comparison. The sinister corpse-man of Charon materialized on the deck of his ferry, as he surveyed the transforming apocalypse. His skeletal face bore no hint of emotion. Only his flaming eye-sockets betrayed the eternal rage within his blackened heart.
“Coin!”; he screeched with a rotten tongue to the excavation foreman. Though his Greek was an ancient dialect, the meaning was clear enough. The foreman and other mortified souls nearby cowered at his unholy presence. The void in the ship’s hull began to heal itself but the ferryman’s considerably amassed wages were lost. There was rowing to do, and passengers to transport to Hades.
In a moment of clarity, the foreman finally understood the reason the heavy rocks were placed on the deck of the ferry. It was to stop Charon. As if sinking his barge to the underworld would prevent death itself. It certainly hadn’t. Perhaps that explained the strife and civil discontent prevalent worldwide. The dead were no longer able to be transported to their final destination because of a misguided attempt to end death itself.
The natural order of things was lost. The dead could find no peace or rest. The accumulated wrath of countless departed souls wandering the Earth had leached into the world for the last four thousand years. They were lost and furious. It created a bottleneck of spiritual darkness which needed to be righted to rebalance the system. The lost souls needed their ferryman, and the living needed them to finally have closure. To live is to eventually die. It was the only way.
The hole in the hull of Charon’s ferry was almost gone. The foreman knew what had to be done, for the benefit of mankind. He went over to the master switch on the crane and lowered the festering wreckage back down to the water’s surface. A vortex appeared in the middle of the devastating storm clouds, leading off into the horizon. An endless line of impatient travelers appeared beside the Acheron’s bank to book their long-delayed passage.
They had an essential journey ahead to the promised land, and were weary from the delay. The foreman himself was grateful his own time to travel to Hades hadn’t yet arrived. With the dead finally receiving their justice due, he hoped the Earth would soon see the end of wickedness and war. When he himself was finally called down to the great below, the foreman would present the ferryman with his shiny Obol. It was Charon’s price for services to be rendered.

Help! Can you read this meter?

I'm in the middle of building a house in Alberta, Canada with a legal basement suite. The home has 100A service so we've swapped the ranges to natural gas. We'll still have two dryers, furnaces and every other appliance though. I'd want to add AC down the road and I'm worried about power consumption. When I asked about upgrading to 200A service they said they didn't offer it and also sent the following email.
" just getting back to you regarding 200 AMP power.
So it's not something that is impossible to be done but it is not a path that we really go down unless it were for a whole bunch of houses in a group or done pre land development.
We have explored this in other developments and it was going to be tens of thousands of dollars to go back and do an individual home. If it were for many houses it would spread some of the costs out. Solar would come in at a much lower cost.."
This doesn't really make sense to me. Is it possible that the electric box couldn't handle another 100A? My understanding is that it would require trenching a line from the box to the house that would be able to handle the load, installing a new meter, breaker and circuit breakers. The green electric box is in the neighbours yard. I'm seeing in forums that people are able to do this for under $8k in my area.
Am I wrong that this shouldn't cost "tens of thousands"? I'd rather do it before the build but should I just do it after? Is it really necessary or should I be good power consumption wise?

https://minimalfreaks.co/2023/06/simon-dunmore-defected-selectors-june-2023/

1. Henrik Schwarz – Leave My Head Alone Brain (Osunlade Remix) 07:52 120bpm Gm
2. Bobby Womack – How Could You Break My Heart (Original Mix) 05:17 128bpm Am
3. Ultra Nate – Joy (Original Mix) 05:17 124bpm Gbm
4. Air Power – Be Yourself 06:16 128bpm Gm
5. James Brown – Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (Original Mix) 06:09 114bpm Am
6. Aretha Franklin – Jump (Original Mix) 02:19 121bpm A
7. MJ Cole, Nova Caspar, Jay Dee – Sincere (Re-Cue’D) 05:38 132bpm
8. Fela Kuti – Shakara (Oloje) 13:25 120bpm Bbm
9. Chaka Khan – I Know You, I Live You 04:27 112bpm
10. Guru, DC Lee, Ronny Jordan – No Time To Play (Original Mix) 04:54 100bpm A
11. Donald Byrd – Places And Spaces 06:19 184bpm
12. Prince – Sign ‘O’ The Times (Original Mix) 05:02 99bpm Cm
13. Leroy Hutson – All Because of You (Single Edit) 03:29 87bpm
14. Mr. Fingers – Mystery of Love (Original Mix) 07:10 115bpm G
15. Stevie Wonder – Living For The City (Original Mix) 07:22 99bpm Gb
16. The Salsoul Orchestra – Ooh I Love It (Love Break) (Original Mix) 07:49 114bpm Bb
17. The Reese Project – Direct Me (Joey Negro Mix) 06:47 122bpm Dbm
18. Zak Abel, Tom Misch – Beautiful Escape feat. Zak Abel (Original Mix) 04:36 120bpm F
19. Soul II Soul, Rose Windross – Fairplay (Original Mix) 03:58 101bpm Cm
20. Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Original Mix) 03:07 88bpm C#m
21. Sounds Of Blackness – The Pressure (Frankie Knuckles Classic Mix) 08:24 127bpm Fm
22. David Bowie – Young Americans (2016 Remaster) 05:13 83bpm G
23. Bobby Womack – Give It Up (Original Mix) 04:38 96bpm D
24. Gabriels – Love and Hate in a Different Time (Original) 04:42 120bpm Dm
25. Digital Underground – Doowutchyalike (LP Version) 08:53 108bpm
26. Nuyorican Soul, Jocelyn Brown – It’s Alright, I Feel It 03:22 122bpm
27. Etienne De Crecy – Prix choc (Original Mix) 08:52 128bpm C
28. Inner Life – Moment Of My Life (12″ Version) 06:32 113bpm F#m
29. Daft Punk – Alive (Original Mix) 05:16 129bpm Bb
30. First Choice – Let No Man Put Asunder (Shep Pettibone 12″ Mix) 08:01 119bpm Dbm
31. Dennis Ferrer – Church Lady (Original Mix) 07:19 126bpm Gm
32. Masters At Work – To Be In Love (MAW ’99 Mix) 11:54 122bpm Cm
33. Clivilles & Cole – A Deeper Love (A Deeper Love Mix) 12:04 121bpm D#m
34. Archie Bell & The Drells – Where Will You Go When The Party’s Over (Original Mix) 04:05 117bpm Em
35. Womack & Womack – Baby I’m Scared of You 05:38 216bpm
36. The Style Council – My Ever Changing Moods 03:37 126bpm
37. Kathy Sledge – Take Me Back To Love Again (Shelter Me Mix) 06:51 123bpm A
38. Ashford & Simpson – Love Don’t Make It Right (Original Mix) 04:23 111bpm A
39. Blaze – My Beat (Original) 05:19 126bpm Gbm
40. Eighties Ladies – Turned on to You 05:28 bpm
41. Blaze – Wishing You Were Here (Original) 06:56 123bpm Cm
42. Coati Mundi – Que Pasa / Me No Pop I (Original Mix) 06:25 110bpm Db
43. Massive Attack – Safe From Harm (2012 Mix/Master) 05:19 165bpm Bm
44. Incognito, Jocelyn Brown – Always There (David Morales Remix) 06:36 115bpm
45. Lee Fields & The Expressions, Lee Fields – Ladies 04:17 176bpm
46. Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (Original Mix) 05:26 160bpm Ebm
47. CeCe Rogers – Someday (Original Mix) 07:17 119bpm Am
48. Honey Dijon, Nikki-O, Annette Bowen – Downtown feat. Annette Bowen feat. Nikki-O (Louie Vega Extended Raw Dub Mix) 03:33 126bpm Bb
49. Quartette Tres Bien – Boss Trés Bien 05:28 120bpm
50. Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Don’t Leave Me This Way (Original Mix) 06:04 125bpm Gm
51. The Staple Singers – Trippin’ On Your Love 04:27 bpm
52. Curtis Mayfield – Back to the World (Original Mix) 06:50 164bpm Db
53. The Specials – A Message to You Rudy (Original Mix) 02:54 104bpm C
54. Black Coffee, Bucie – Turn Me On (Original Mix) 07:25 124bpm Cm
55. Bob Sinclar – My only love (Original) 04:34 123bpm Gbm
56. Love Unlimited – Move Me No Mountain (Original Mix) 03:55 90bpm Fm
57. River Ocean, India – Love & Happiness (Yemaya Y Ochùn) [feat. India] (12″ Club Mix) 09:51 119bpm Gm
58. Henrik Schwarz – Leave My Head Alone Brain (Original Mix) 08:00 123bpm Gm
59. D’Angelo – Brown Sugar (Edited) 04:22 83bpm A
60. Roisin Murphy – Incapable (Extended Mix) 08:25 114bpm Dm
61. Honey Dijon, Channel Tres, Sadie Walker – Show Me Some Love (feat. Sadie Walker) 03:52 126bpm D
62. Bobby Wilson – Deeper and Deeper 06:23 176bpm
63. Sharon Ridley – Where Did You Learn to Make Love the Way You Do 04:51 bpm
64. Alice Clark – Don’t You Care 02:50 bpm
65. Earth, Wind & Fire – Devotion (Live) 04:52 92bpm Am
66. Sharon Redd – Try My Love On For Size (Original Mix) 05:08 120bpm Am
67. Ten City – Right Back To You (Extended Version) 09:10 120bpm D#m
68. Incognito – Always There (David Morales Remix) 03:35 115bpm
69. Public Enemy – Can’t Truss It (Original Mix) 05:22 102bpm Bbm
70. Luther Vandross – Sugar and Spice (I Found Me a Girl) (Original Mix) 04:57 109bpm F
71. Grace Jones – La vie en rose 07:28 176bpm C
72. Ashford & Simpson – It Seems To Hang On (Original Mix) 05:12 114bpm Bm
73. Leroy Hutson – Love the Feeling (Original Mix) 02:53 97bpm Bb
74. Mr. Fingers – We Can Work It Out (Original Mix) 05:43 113bpm Gbm
75. Loleatta Holloway, Bastian Zacit – Love Sensation (Original Mix) 06:06 126bpm F
76. Adeva – Musical Freedom (Original Mix) 06:22 113bpm C
77. Yazoo – Situation (12″ Remix) 05:46 119bpm Db
78. Jamiroquai – Blow Your Mind (Original Mix) 08:32 105bpm Am
79. Arrested Development – Tennessee (Original Mix) 04:32 100bpm Ebm
80. Trussel – Love Injection (Original Mix) 07:56 112bpm Abm
81. Mary J. Blige – My Love (Original Mix) 04:12 86bpm F
82. De La Soul – Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin’s Revenge) 03:25 bpm
83. Maze, Frankie Beverly – Joy And Pain (Remastered) 07:14 106bpm Bm
84. Soulsearcher – Can’t Get Enough! (Vocal Club Mix) 06:53 128bpm Em
85. Whitney Houston – It’s Not Right but It’s Okay (KCC’s Release The Love Groove Bootleg Mix) 07:02 128bpm Cm
86. Patrice Rushen – Haven’t You Heard (Original Mix) 06:45 129bpm Dbm
87. The Salsoul Orchestra – Seconds (Original Mix) 08:58 105bpm Em
88. Lady Blackbird – It’s Not That Easy 03:00 bpm
89. Mass Order – Lift Every Voice (Take Me Away) (Classic Boot Mix) 07:25 bpm
90. Deep Dish – Flashdance (Original Club Mix UK Radio Version) 06:45 bpm
91. Malcolm McLaren – Double Dutch 04:42 119bpm
92. Junior Jack – Hola (Original Mix) 04:12 121bpm Am
93. Voices Of Life – The Word Is Love (Say The Word) (Silk’s Anthem Of Life) 08:10 bpm
94. Celeda, Danny Tenaglia – Music Is The Answer (Original Extended 12-inch Mix) 14:10 126bpm Abm
95. Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime (2005 Remaster) 04:19 116bpm
96. Jungle Brothers – What “U” Waitin’ “4”? (Radio Edit) 04:04 110bpm Cm
97. Kings Of Tomorrow – Finally (Extended Mix) 05:58 125bpm C
98. Supershy – Change feat. Wayne Snow (Original Mix) 04:50 120bpm Cm
99. Hannah Wants, Clementine Douglas – Cure My Desire feat. Clementine Douglas (Extended Mix) 06:38 122bpm Ebm
100. Channel Tres – Just Can’t Get Enough (Original Mix) 05:03 121bpm Cm
101. Ziyon, El Payo – Tailor Made feat. Ziyon (Original Mix) 05:22 120bpm Eb
102. Close Counters – SNAP TO IT! (Original Mix) 03:30 131bpm Eb
103. Three Kings, Jaygun, Bashy – Shake Dat Booty feat. Jaygun feat. Bashy (Original Edit) 07:34 125bpm Dm
104. Felix Da Housecat, Chris Trucher – Chicago Love (Original Mix) 05:05 124bpm A
105. Benny Mussa – If You Want (Luke Solomon’s Body Remix) 07:07 128bpm Dm
106. Beyoncé, Madonna – BREAK MY SOUL (THE QUEENS REMIX) 05:56 120bpm Abm
107. Daphni – Cloudy (Original Mix) 06:51 128bpm Cm
108. Larse – A Part Of (Extended Mix) 04:38 128bpm Dm
109. Virginia – Funkert (Original Mix) 04:27 127bpm Dbm
110. ANOTR, Abel Balder – Vertigo (Original Mix) 04:16 132bpm Em
111. Sable Sheep – Upon Burning Skies (Original Mix) 08:24 123bpm Em
112. Dam Swindle – Good Woman (Edit) 03:35 125bpm Am
113. Ezel, Rona Ray – Don’t Know Yet (Original Mix) 07:26 125bpm Dbm
114. Honey Dijon, Sadie Walker, Channel Tres – Show Me Some Love feat. Sadie Walker (Extended Mix) 05:51 126bpm D
115. Shiba San – I Wanna (Tchami Remix) 03:35 127bpm Fm
116. Jamie Jones – My Paradise (Vintage Culture Extended Remix) 05:33 128bpm Bbm
117. OFFAIAH – Find A Way (Extended Mix) 06:29 124bpm Gm
118. Mr. V – Jus Dance (Dennis Quin Remix) 03:36 94bpm G
119. Alister Fawnwoda, Tyesha Blount – Starlight (Original Mix) 05:59 125bpm Em
120. Mistura, Dave Lee ZR, Jemini – Want Me Back (Jimpster Peak Time Deepness) 06:27 122bpm Db
121. Girls of the Internet – Sound Asleep 03:45 124bpm G
122. Tom Middleton – Cicadas (Maya Jane Coles Remix) 06:24 123bpm Dbm
123. Rampa, Keinemusik, chuala – Les Gout (Original Mix) 05:44 120bpm Fm
124. Crackazat – Demucha (Original Mix) 04:15 124bpm Cm
125. Mary J. Blige – Good Morning Gorgeous (Kelly G Morning Pose Dub Remix) 03:27 125bpm Bbm
126. Butch – Same Like Dope But Different (Original Mix) 04:41 123bpm Dbm
127. Kabbala – Ashewo Ara (Dave Lee Afro Fusion Mix) (Original Mix) 05:59 124bpm Am
128. Max Millan, Simon Adams – Mr. Franklin (Miguel Migs Salty Rub) 06:15 124bpm Am
129. Situation – Get To Know Me (Hot Toddy Dub) 05:46 117bpm Dm
130. Beanfield, Marzenka – Alone feat. Marzenka (Original) 07:29 122bpm G
131. Delano Smith, Diamondancer – A Message For the DJ featuring Diamondancer (Original Mix) 05:36 126bpm F
132. Clive From Accounts – 4 Time (Original Mix) 05:38 127bpm Dm
133. Jerk House Connection, Akram Sedkaoui – Each & Every Day (Life Goes On) feat. Akram Sedkaoui (Rocco Deeper Mix) 08:35 127bpm Gm
134. ANOTR, Abel Balder – Your Mind (Original Mix) 05:40 130bpm Gm
135. Rodney Hunter – Temperature’s Rising (Original Mix) 03:51 118bpm Dm
136. Pugs Atomz, Inkswel, Eliza Dickson – Why Don’t You Listen (Fred Everything Remix) 06:02 119bpm Fm
137. Folamour – Fearless (Original Mix) 05:23 122bpm Gm
138. Mr. Flip – Hit Different (Afefe Iku Remix) 04:51 113bpm Dm
139. Jonny Miller, Kid Fonque, ASAP Shembe – Connected Beings feat. ASAP Shembe (Jazzanova Remix) 05:56 120bpm C
140. Carlo Gambino – Dance For You (Original Mix) 07:27 122bpm Am
141. Gerd – We Bring U Muzik (Warehouse Mix) 06:08 126bpm Ab
142. Joeski – Rude Boy (Original Mix) 06:20 125bpm C
143. Musta, Venessa Jackson – Loving Me (Hot Toddy Remix) 08:00 84bpm Am
144. youANDme, Kristina Sheli – Moment 04:35 124bpm C#
145. OVEOUS, Don Kamares – Legacy (Original Mix) 05:35 123bpm Dm
146. KE, Risk Assessment – Feel That (Franck Roger Remix) 06:28 124bpm Ebm
147. Paperclip People – Throw (Original Mix) 06:47 127bpm C
148. Austin Ato – When Love Is Tender (Original Mix) 08:42 127bpm Ab
149. Francisco Allendes – What You Do (Original Mix) 06:49 127bpm D
150. Particle – Let It Go (Original Mix) 06:34 87bpm Cm
151. Afefe Iku – Sista Georgia (Original Mix) 11:35 122bpm Dm
152. Mike Steva, Stevo Atambire – Destiny Song (Pa’ala) feat. Stevo Atambire (Original Mix) 05:54 121bpm Bm
153. PAWSA – Room Service (24 Hour Mix) 04:44 130bpm Am
154. Kerri Chandler – Coro (DJ Spen Kaoz Re Edit) 06:30 124bpm Dm
155. Awen, Caiiro – Your Voice (Adam Port Remix) 04:20 122bpm Gbm
156. Inaya Day, Harry Romero – Rise Up (Extended Club Mix) 06:19 127bpm Cm
157. Pig&Dan – Rock You All Night (Original Mix) 03:27 123bpm Bm
158. Yousef, The Melody Men – Hear That Sound feat. The Melody Men (Club Mix) 05:56 128bpm D
159. GruuvElement’s – Boom Room (Original Mix) 06:39 94bpm Em
160. Dam Swindle – All I Want (Edit) 03:56 124bpm Dbm
161. Mike Dunn, LOA. – When The Dust Clears feat. LOA. (MD MixX) 03:42 124bpm F
162. Seamus Haji, Phebe Edwards – Better Come Again 04:00 120bpm Em
163. Suzanne Palmer, Mark Picchiotti, Craig J. Snider, The Absolute – I Believe feat. Suzanne Palmer feat. Craig J. Snider (DJ Spen & Michele Chiavarini’s Higher Love Dub Mix) 06:15 124bpm Eb
164. Paul Kalkbrenner – Bengang (Original Mix) 05:30 128bpm Dbm
165. Louie Vega, Robyn – All My Love (feat. Robyn) 05:58 127bpm Gb
166. Daniel Steinberg – Groove People (Original Mix) 05:29 125bpm C
167. Purple Disco Machine, Kaleta, Bosq – Wake Up! (Extended) 06:56 122bpm Dm
168. Kon, Fiorious, Saturday Love – 2 B Free (Oliver Dollar Remix) 04:31 123bpm Em
169. Lady Blackbird – Lost and Looking (Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy Cosmodelica Remix) 03:42 120bpm G
170. Kerri Chandler, Bluey Robinson – Tenacity (Main Vocal Edit) 04:25 124bpm D
171. Honey Dijon, Ramona Renea – Love Is A State Of Mind (Original Mix) 03:13 125bpm Cm
172. Adam Port, Alan Dixon – Forms Of Love (Original Mix) 06:03 122bpm Bb
173. Jamie Jones – My Paradise (Original Mix) 03:31 128bpm Bbm
174. Fka Mash, Sio – Bumblebee 03:38 116bpm Gm
175. Dennis Cruz – Ready For The Blues (Original Mix) 05:00 128bpm Cm
176. Ramin Rezaie – Searching (Original Mix) 03:57 131bpm Am
177. Tony Lionni – Out Of Sight (Special Edit By Jerome Sydenham) 06:15 124bpm C
178. HRDY, Paulo Maria – Connected (Original Mix) 05:42 124bpm Gm
179. Dario D’Attis – Tanzstube (Original Mix) 07:44 120bpm Bbm
180. AMP Fiddler, Andrés, Dames Brown – What Would You Do? feat. Andrés feat. Amp Fiddler (Two Soul Fusion Remix) 03:07 125bpm G
181. Low Steppa – Closer (Original Mix) 04:57 125bpm Bbm
182. Fred Everything – Searching (Original Mix) 08:03 120bpm C
183. Sophie Lloyd, Pauline Taylor – Angels By My Side feat. Pauline Taylor (Floorplan Remix) 03:28 125bpm Fm
184. S.A.M., Sarah Ikumu – Spotlight feat. Sarah Ikumu (Mousse T. Shizzle Mix) 03:20 123bpm Gbm
185. Malone – Time To Move (Original Mix) 03:08 125bpm Em
186. Steve Bug, Mr. V – Back To ’95 feat. Mr. V (Cinthie‘s ‘Just A Vibe’ Remix) 06:12 124bpm Gm
187. Khan, Julee Cruise – Say Goodbye feat. Julee Cruise (LoSoul ‘She’s Homeless’ Mix) 07:08 116bpm F
188. Dam Swindle – Hey Mister 03:59 126bpm Am
189. Julien Jabre – Voodance (Original Mix) 07:29 123bpm Dbm
190. B Beat Girls – For The Same Man (Nic Fanciulli Remix) 03:34 127bpm E
191. Mark Broom, Riva Starr, Star B – Fire (Ron Bacardi Remix) 05:42 126bpm Bb
192. Make A Dance – I Need Somebody (Original Mix) 03:20 122bpm Bm
193. Beyonce – BREAK MY SOUL (Original Mix) 04:38 115bpm Abm
194. Zach Witness – Frankie & Levan (Original Mix) 03:41 127bpm Am
195. Danny Tenaglia – The Brooklyn Gypsy (Original Mix) 07:41 153bpm Dm
196. Beau – Losing You 03:23 124bpm E
197. Felipe Gordon – The Love (Original Mix) 07:38 120bpm Gbm
198. Ferreck Dawn, Izzy Bizu – Life (Original Mix) 02:51 125bpm Cm
199. Kimberly Davis, The Shapeshifters – Love’s Been Waiting (7″ Version) 02:48 123bpm Gbm
200. ANOTR, Sebastian Kamae – Time To Smoke (Original Mix) 08:46 130bpm Gb
201. Daniel Anthony – Endless (Original Mix) 07:03 126bpm Dbm
202. Jamie Jones, AMEME – Pliva 04:04 123bpm Fm
203. Darius Syrossian, DJ Supreme – I’m The Joker (Original Mix) 02:36 129bpm Gm
204. Oliver Way – Stained Glass Shadows (Robert Hood Remix) 06:54 128bpm D
205. Sailor Jane, R.E.A.D. – Where’s My Phone? feat. Sailor Jane (Marco Faraone Remix) 03:35 128bpm Fm
206. Daniel Steinberg – Take My Hand (Original Mix) 05:17 130bpm Gm
207. AMP Fiddler, Andrés, Dames Brown – What Would You Do? feat. Andrés feat. Amp Fiddler (Folamour 12″ Remix) 04:30 121bpm Am
208. Brian Burnside – This Generation (Franck Roger Mix) 08:20 127bpm Dm
209. Chymamusique, Colbert, LaTique – Above My Head (Radio Mix) 04:34 118bpm Gbm
210. Brooklyn Baby – NYC (Original Mix) 05:04 128bpm Em
211. Marlon D – Jesus Creates Sound (Original Mix) 05:30 126bpm Ebm
212. Kiko Navarro – Dope High (Vocal Mix) 07:52 92bpm Fm
213. Franck Roger – Don’t Ever Luv Me (Original Mix) 06:44 124bpm Dm
214. 40 Thieves, Qzen – Don’t Turn It Off (Original Mix) 04:38 117bpm Em
215. Linkwood – Tears (Original Mix) 08:39 96bpm Bm
216. Mr. V – Somethin’ Wit Jazz (Dario D’Attis Extended Remix) 07:08 122bpm Bbm
217. David Morales, Elle Cato – Holding Me Touching Me feat. Elle Cato (Extended Mix) 06:58 126bpm Bbm
218. Bassfort – Moon Shadow (Joe ‘Joaquin’ Claussell Remix) 11:26 124bpm G
219. Close Counters – GET DOWN! (Original Mix) 04:17 122bpm Ebm
220. Steve Lawler, Marco Lys, Joy Farrukh – If Only You Knew feat. Joy Farrukh (Extended Mix) 05:37 126bpm Am
221. Todd Terry, Riva Starr – This Is The Sound (Original Mix) 06:07 126bpm Gm
222. Honey Dijon, Dope Earth Alien – It’s Quiet Now (Original Mix) 03:02 123bpm Cm
223. Jon Cutler, E-Man – It’s Yours (Kyri Markou Extended Remix) 05:39 126bpm Am
224. Thakzin – The Magnificent Dance (Original Mix) 07:05 88bpm F

Genre: House, Tech House, Deep House, Melodic House & Techno, Progressive House, Minimal / Deep Tech Label: Defected Release Date: 2022-06-04
DOWNLOAD in 320kbps: https://sharing-db.club/djs-chart/436905_va-defected-selectors-simon-dunmore-june-2023/
Tracklist: 1. Henrik Schwarz - Leave My Head Alone Brain (Osunlade Remix) (7:52) 2. Bobby Womack - How Could You Break My Heart (5:17) 3. Ultra Nate - Joy (5:17) 4. Air Power - Be Yourself (6:16) 5. James Brown, The J.B.'s - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose (Remix) (6:10) 6. Aretha Franklin - Jump (2:19) 7. MJ Cole - Sincere (Re-Cue`d) (5:38) 8. Fela Kuti - Shakara (Oloje) (13:25) 9. Chaka Khan - I Know You, I Live You (4:27) 10. Guru, Ronny Jordan, DC Lee - No Time To Play (4:54) 11. Donald Byrd - Places And Spaces (6:19) 12. Prince - Sign 'O' the Times (5:02) 13. Mr. Fingers - Mystery of Love (7:10) 14. Stevie Wonder - Living For The City (7:22) 15. The Salsoul Orchestra - Ooh I Love It (Love Break) (7:49) 16. The Reese Project - Direct Me (Joey Negro Mix) (6:50) 17. Tom Misch, Zak Abel - Beautiful Escape (4:36) 18. Soul II Soul, Rose Windross - Fairplay (3:58) 19. Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (3:10) 20. Sounds Of Blackness - The Pressure (Frankie Knuckles Classic Mix With Intro) (8:24) 21. David Bowie - Young Americans (2016 Remaster) (5:13) 22. Bobby Womack - Give It Up (4:38) 23. Gabriels - Love and Hate in a Different Time (Original) (4:42) 24. Digital Underground - Doowutchyalike (8:53) 25. Nuyorican Soul, Jocelyn Brown - It's Alright, I Feel It (3:22) 26. Etienne de Crécy - Prix choc (8:52) 27. Inner Life - Moment Of My Life (12" Version) (6:32) 28. Daft Punk - Alive (5:16) 29. First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Shep Pettibone 12" Mix) (8:01) 30. Dennis Ferrer, Danil Wright - Church Lady (feat. Danil Wright) (7:19) 31. Masters At Work, La India - To Be In Love (MAW '99 Mix) (11:54) 32. Clivilles & Cole - A Deeper Love (A Deeper Love Mix) (12:04) 33. Archie Bell & The Drells - Where Will You Go When the Party's Over (4:05) 34. Womack & Womack - Baby I'm Scared of You (5:38) 35. The Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods (3:37) 36. Kathy Sledge - Take Me Back To Love Again (Shelter Me Mix) (6:51) 37. Ashford & Simpson - Love Don't Make It Right (4:23) 38. Blaze, Palmer Brown - My Beat (feat. Palmer Brown) (5:19) 39. Eighties Ladies - Turned on to You (5:26) 40. Blaze - Wishing You Were Here (6:56) 41. Coati Mundi - Que Passa / Me No Pop I (6:21) 42. Massive Attack - Safe From Harm (2012 Mix/Master) (5:19) 43. Incognito, Jocelyn Brown - Always There (David Morales Remix) (6:36) 44. Lee Fields & The Expressions, Lee Fields - Ladies (4:17) 45. Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (5:26) 46. Cece Rogers - Someday (3:50) 47. Honey Dijon, Annette Bowen, Nikki-O - Downtown (feat. Annette Bowen & Nikki-O) (Louie Vega Raw Dub Mix) (3:33) 48. Quartette Tres Bien - Boss Trés Bien (5:28) 49. Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass - Don't Leave Me This Way (feat. Teddy Pendergrass) (6:03) 50. The Staple Singers - Trippin' On Your Love (4:27) 51. Curtis Mayfield - Back to the World (6:49) 52. The Specials - A Message to You Rudy (2015 Remaster) (2:52) 53. Black Coffee - Turn Me On (7:25) 54. Bob Sinclar - My only love (Original) (4:34) 55. Love Unlimited - Move Me No Mountain (3:55) 56. River Ocean, India - Love & Happiness (Yemaya Y Ochùn) [feat. India] (12" Club Mix) (9:51) 57. Henrik Schwarz, Bugge Wesseltoft - Leave My Head Alone Brain (8:00) 58. D'Angelo - Brown Sugar (4:22) 59. Roisin Murphy - Incapable (Extended Mix) (8:25) 60. Honey Dijon, Channel Tres, Sadie Walker - Show Me Some Love (feat. Sadie Walker) (3:52) 61. Bobby Wilson - Deeper and Deeper (6:22) 62. Sharon Ridley - Where Did You Learn to Make Love the Way You Do (4:51) 63. Alice Clark - Don't You Care (2:49) 64. Earth, Wind & Fire - Devotion (Live) (4:52) 65. Sharon Redd - Try My Love On for Size (5:08) 66. Ten City - Right Back to You (Extended Version) (9:10) 67. Incognito - Always There (David Morales Remix) (3:36) 68. Public Enemy - Can't Truss It (5:22) 69. Luther Vandross - Sugar and Spice (I Found Me a Girl) (4:57) 70. Grace Jones - La vie en rose (7:25) 71. Ashford & Simpson - It Seems To Hang On (5:12) 72. Mr. Fingers - We Can Work It Out (5:43) 73. Loleatta Holloway - Love Sensation (6:06) 74. Adeva, Paul Simpson, Carmen Marie - Musical Freedom (6:22) 75. Yazoo - Situation (12" Remix) (5:45) 76. Jamiroquai - Blow Your Mind (8:32) 77. Arrested Development - Tennessee (4:32) 78. Trussel - Love Injection (7:56) 79. Mary J. Blige - My Love (4:12) 80. De La Soul - Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge) (3:25) 81. Maze, Frankie Beverly - Joy And Pain (Remastered) (7:14) 82. Soulsearcher - Can't Get Enough! (Vocal Club Mix) (6:52) 83. Whitney Houston - It's Not Right but It's Okay (KCC's Release The Love Groove Bootleg Mix) (7:02) 84. Patrice Rushen - Haven't You Heard (6:45) 85. The Salsoul Orchestra, Loleatta Holloway - Seconds (feat. Loleatta Holloway) (8:58) 86. Lady Blackbird - It's Not That Easy (3:00) 87. Mass Order - Lift Every Voice (Take Me Away) (Classic Boot Mix) (7:25) 88. Malcolm McLaren - Double Dutch (4:42) 89. Junior Jack - Hola (4:12) 90. Celeda, Danny Tenaglia - Music Is the Answer (Original Extended 12-Inch Mix) (14:09) 91. Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime (2005 Remaster) (4:19) 92. Jungle Brothers - What "U" Waitin' "4"? (4:04) 93. Kings Of Tomorrow, Julie McKnight - Finally (feat. Julie McKnight) (Extended Mix) (5:58) 94. SuperShy, Wayne Snow - Change (4:50) 95. Hannah Wants, Clementine Douglas - Cure My Desire (feat. Clementine Douglas) (Extended Mix) (6:38) 96. Channel Tres - Just Can't Get Enough (5:03) 97. El Payo, Ziyon - Tailor Made (5:22) 98. Close Counters - SNAP TO IT! (3:30) 99. Three Kings, Jaygun, Bashy - Shake Dat Booty (feat. Jaygun & Bashy) (7:34) 100. Chris Trucher, Felix Da Housecat - Chicago Love (5:05) 101. Benny Mussa - If You Want (Luke Solomon's Body Remix) (7:07) 102. Beyoncé, Madonna - BREAK MY SOUL (THE QUEENS REMIX) (5:56) 103. Daphni - Cloudy (6:51) 104. Larse - A Part Of (Extended Mix) (4:38) 105. Virginia - Funkert (4:27) 106. ANOTR, Abel Balder - Vertigo (4:16) 107. Sable Sheep - Upon Burning Skies (8:24) 108. Dam Swindle - Good Woman (Edit) (3:35) 109. Ezel, Rona Ray - Don't Know Yet (7:26) 110. Honey Dijon, Channel Tres, Sadie Walker - Show Me Some Love (feat. Sadie Walker) (Extended Mix) (5:51) 111. Shiba San, Tchami - I Wanna (Tchami Remix) (3:35) 112. Jamie Jones - My Paradise (Vintage Culture Extended Remix) (5:33) 113. OFFAIAH - Find A Way (Extended Mix) (6:29) 114. Mr. V - Jus Dance (Dennis Quin Remix) (3:36) 115. Alister Fawnwoda, Tyesha Blount - Starlight (5:59) 116. Mistura, Dave Lee, Jimpster, Jemini - Want Me Back (Jimpster Peak Time Deepness) (6:27) 117. Girls of the Internet - Sound Asleep (3:45) 118. Tom Middleton - Cicadas (Maya Jane Coles Remix) (6:24) 119. Rampa, chuala - Les Gout (5:44) 120. Crackazat - Demucha (Edit) (4:15) 121. Mary J. Blige - Good Morning Gorgeous (Kelly G Morning Pose Dub Remix) (3:27) 122. Butch - Same Like Dope But Different (4:41) 123. Kabbala, Dave Lee - Ashewo Ara (Dave Lee Afro Fusion Mix) (5:59) 124. Simon Adams, Max Millan - Mr. Franklin (Miguel Migs Salty Rub) (6:15) 125. Beanfield, Marzenka - Alone (7:29) 126. Delano Smith - Feat. Diamondancer - A Message For The DJ (5:36) 127. Clive From Accounts - 4 Time (5:38) 128. Jerk House Connection, Akram Sedkaoui - Each & Every Day (Life Goes On) [feat. Akram Sedkaoui] (Rocco Deeper Mix) (8:35) 129. ANOTR, Abel Balder - Your Mind (5:40) 130. Rodney Hunter - Temperature’s Rising (3:51) 131. Inkswel, Eliza Dickson, Pugs Atomz - Why Don't You Listen (Fred Everything Remix) (6:02) 132. Folamour - Fearless (5:23) 133. Mr. Flip - Hit Different (Afefe Iku Remix) (4:51) 134. Kid Fonque, Jonny Miller, ASAP Shembe - Connected Beings (Jazzanova Remix) (5:56) 135. Carlo Gambino - Dance For You (Original Mix) (7:27) 136. Gerd - We Bring U Muzik (Warehouse Mix) (6:08) 137. Joeski - Rude Boy (6:20) 138. Musta, Venessa Jackson - Loving Me (Hot Toddy Remix) (8:00) 139. youANDme, Kristina Sheli - Moment (4:35) 140. Oveous, Don Kamares - Legacy (5:35) 141. Risk Assessment, KE - Feel That (Franck Roger Remix) (6:28) 142. Paperclip People - Throw (6:47) 143. Austin Ato - When Love Is Tender (8:41) 144. Francisco Allendes - What You Do (6:48) 145. Steve Bug, Cle - Let It Go (6:33) 146. Afefe Iku - Sista Georgia (11:35) 147. Mike Steva, Stevo Atambire - Destiny Song (Pa'ala) [feat. Stevo Atambire] (5:54) 148. Kerri Chandler - Coro (DJ Spen Kaoz Re Edit) (6:30) 149. Caiiro, Awen - Your Voice (Adam Port Remix) (4:20) 150. Harry Romero, Inaya Day - Rise Up (Extended Club Mix) (6:19) 151. Pig&Dan - Rock You All Night (3:26) 152. Yousef, The Melody Men - Hear That Sound (feat. The Melody Men) (Club Mix) (5:56) 153. GruuvElement's - Boom Room (6:39) 154. Dam Swindle - All I Want (Edit) (3:56) 155. Mike Dunn, LOA. - When The Dust Clears (feat. LOA.) (MD MixX) (3:42) 156. Seamus Haji, Phebe Edwards - Better Come Again (4:00) 157. Mark Picchiotti, The Absolute, Craig J. Snider, Suzanne Palmer - I Believe (feat. Suzanne Palmer & Craig J. Snider) (DJ Spen & Michele Chiavarini's Higher Love Dub) (6:15) 158. Paul Kalkbrenner - Bengang (5:35) 159. Louie Vega, Robyn - All My Love (feat. Robyn) (5:58) 160. Daniel Steinberg - Groove People (5:28) 161. Purple Disco Machine, Bosq, Kaleta - Wake Up! (feat. Kaleta) (Extended) (6:56) 162. Saturday Love, KON, Fiorious - 2 B Free (Oliver Dollar Remix) (4:31) 163. Lady Blackbird - Lost and Looking (Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy Cosmodelica Remix) (3:42) 164. Kerri Chandler, Bluey Robinson - Tenacity (Main Vocal Edit) (4:25) 165. Honey Dijon, Ramona Renea - Love Is A State Of Mind (feat. Ramona Renea) (3:13) 166. Adam Port, Alan Dixon - Forms Of Love (6:03) 167. Jamie Jones - My Paradise (3:31) 168. Fka Mash, Sio - Bumblebee (3:38) 169. Dennis Cruz - Ready For The Blues (5:00) 170. Ramin Rezaie - Searching (3:57) 171. Tony Lionni - Out Of Sight (Special Edit By Jerome Sydenham) (6:15) 172. Paulo Maria, HRDY - Connected (5:42) 173. Dario D'attis - Tanzstube (Original Mix) (7:44) 174. Dames Brown, Amp Fiddler, Andres - What Would You Do? (feat. Andrés & Amp Fiddler) (Two Soul Fusion Remix) (3:07) 175. Low Steppa - Closer (4:57) 176. Fred Everything, Jinadu - Searching (Deetron Remix) (8:03) 177. Sophie Lloyd, Pauline Taylor - Angels By My Side (feat. Pauline Taylor) (Floorplan Remix) (3:28) 178. S.A.M., Sarah Ikumu - Spotlight (feat. Sarah Ikumu) (Mousse T. Shizzle Mix) (3:20) 179. Malone - Time To Move (3:08) 180. Steve Bug, Mr. V - Back To '95 (Cinthie‘s 'Just A Vibe' Remix) (6:12) 181. Khan, Julee Cruise - Say Goodbye (Losoul »She's Homeless« Mix) (7:08) 182. Dam Swindle - Hey Mister (3:59) 183. 189 - Julien Jabre - Voodance (7:29) 184. B Beat Girls - For The Same Man (Nic Fanciulli Remix) (3:34) 185. Star B, Riva Starr, Mark Broom - Fire (Ron Bacardi Remix) (5:42) 186. Make A Dance - I Need Somebody (3:20) 187. Beyoncé - BREAK MY SOUL (4:38) 188. Zach Witness - Frankie & Levan (3:41) 189. Danny Tenaglia - The Brooklyn Gypsy (7:41) 190. Beau - Losing You (3:23) 191. Felipe Gordon - The Love (7:38) 192. Ferreck Dawn, Izzy Bizu - Life (2:50) 193. The Shapeshifters, Kimberly Davis - Love's Been Waiting (feat. Kimberly Davis) (7" Version) (2:48) 194. ANOTR, Sebastian Kamae - Time To Smoke (8:46) 195. Daniel Anthony - Endless (7:03) 196. Jamie Jones, aMEME - Pliva (4:04) 197. Darius Syrossian, DJ Supreme - I'm The Joker (feat. DJ Supreme) (2:36) 198. Oliver Way - Stained Glass Shadows (Robert Hood Remix) (Robert Hood) (6:54) 199. R.E.A.D., Sailor Jane - Where's My Phone? (feat. Sailor Jane) (Marco Faraone Remix) (3:35) 200. Daniel Steinberg - Take My Hand (5:17) 201. Dames Brown, Amp Fiddler, Andres - What Would You Do? (feat. Andrés & Amp Fiddler) (Folamour Remix) (4:30) 202. Brian Burnside - This Generation (Franck Roger Mix) (8:20) 203. LaTique, Colbert, Chymamusique - Above My Head (Radio Mix) (4:34) 204. Brooklyn Baby - NYC (5:04) 205. Marlon D - Jesus Creates Sound (5:30) 206. Kiko Navarro - Dope High (Vocal Mix) (7:52) 207. Franck Roger - Don't Ever Luv Me (6:44) 208. 40 Thieves, Qzen - Don't Turn It Off (Mixed) (3:49) 209. Linkwood - Tears (8:39) 210. Mr. V - Somethin' Wit Jazz (Dario D'Attis Extended Remix) (7:08) 211. David Morales, Elle Cato - Holding Me Touching Me (Extended Mix) (6:58) 212. Bassfort - Moon Shadow (Joe 'Joaquin' Claussell Remix) (11:26) 213. Close Counters - GET DOWN! (4:17) 214. Steve Lawler, Marco Lys, Joy Farrukh - If Only You Knew (feat. Joy Farrukh) (Extended Mix) (5:37) 215. Riva Starr, Todd Terry - This Is The Sound (Extended) (6:07) 216. Honey Dijon, Dope Earth Alien - It's Quiet Now (feat. Dope Earth Alien) (3:02) 217. Jon Cutler, E-Man - It's Yours (Kyri Markou Extended Remix) (5:39) 218. Thakzin - The Magnificent Dance (7:05)

I've read quite a bit here on the importance of the AWG and Fuses. I'm doing some testing with Voltmeters and trying to monitor the input of the PV Panel; I am considering this product: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013PKYILS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
For my test setup, I am using 10 AWG with 30 AMP NL Fuses. However, in the instructions of this Voltmeter (https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61NsVHndP2L._SL1318_.jpg and https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/719nsxVP-dL._SL1500_.jpg) It says that the wiring can be 30-12 AWG, and also: "There's no large current going through the meter, so the 4 wires which are connected to the meter can be any copper wire from 30 AWG to 12 AWG". Can somebody please explain to me how the wiring diagram shows the part of the Shunt being connected to the battery or directly to the solar panel (http://www.windofkeltia.com/eagles-view.org/solaimages/bayite-display-1.png), which lets say is a 200 W / 18 V. How is it that a 24 AWG wire can share the same connection as the 10/12 AWG Wire on the PV+ of the panel? Why would the current coming in not melt this wire?
Any help or explanation is appreciated. Thanks!

My electrical panel needs to be replaced, and is currently a 200a panel installed inside the garage, with the meter outside and no main shutoff installed outside. The city is requiring that the main be located outside if the legacy panel is replaced. All of the circuits run to the panel in the garage, so it would really be nice not to have to rerun a bunch of them to the outside. My electrician says that there isn’t a 200a sub panel that can be installed in the existing panel location, and that instead we should install a 125a sub panel in the existing location and then just re-run the A/C, car chargers, washedryer, oven, etc to the main outside. However, this article https://www.galvinpower.org/how-many-subpanels-can-you-have-on-a-200-amp-service/ states that you can run a 200a sub panel off of a 200a main (but says that it’s done rarely). The downsides to the approach my electrician is recommending is a) having to re-run those circuits and b) the wire from the meter to the existing panel is currently higher gauge rated for the 200a panel that’s there, so it would have to be pulled out and replaced with smaller gauge wire.
Planning for 225a bus bar / 200a main to be solar ready.
Pics: https://imgur.com/a/NE9UznJ
Thanks