#Journal ramblings abound

[burningvelvet]

so i have some random questions, maybe you could answer, and am curious if any have had any academic papers written up about them, or if you just.. know where to find the information? Bit of a meta question: How much information do we actually have of the gang on their days in Geneva around the time of digging into their ghost stories? Is it just ex. what you've posted before of their journals of the time, or do we have other later recollections akin to Mary's own in her intro of Frankenstein? Just how much remains, and how much can we pull from various sources etc? (research is fun, go off on this on, i love to read it.) The evening before mary's waking dream, do we have any further recollection by the others on their discussions on the principle of life, other than her account? Or even in general by the squad thru their lives, does anyone dig into the technological advancements and scientific theories of their time, or even those of the Enlightenment thinkers? (Newton, Hooke, Boyle, et al.) I assume since it's the Romantics with their general dislike of the prior period it's a no, and also because I'm asking about bloody poets, not academics, but..? Likewise, anything written by the gang on her waking dream and the effects after? (could've sworn I read something about Mary appearing gastly pale?) (I'd love to hear your thoughts and rants and rambles on the following, :D): Or do we have anything written by others outside the gang in reference to her dream after she gave her Intro? Something like.. (I can't articulate this well, pls bear with me; ) Has there been any sort of mysticism, or poetic acknowledgement of Mary's 'waking dream'/'hallucination' being written as something 'supernatural'? Anything written akin to that one parody/horror film you mentioned where everyone basically hallucinates that night lol. like.. Mary's Intro gives such an inherent je ne sais quoi (lol) of.. this entire fragment of history? It reads like a frozen slice of a gothic novel/poem in itself. Very 'based on a true story' but the true story holds more substance than Frankenstein itself. As if Mary herself was in a gothic novel writers could only dream of. Has nobody noted this? Tried to catch it, wax poetic on it? I feel like there's a.. gravitas here but I don't see anyone speak of it? (other than that horror film.)

This will be long!

Re: Geneva 1816 sources: We have letters, journals, records (like receipts), accounts from the other people on the lake, accounts from aristocrats Byron visited at Geneva without the Shelleys presence, and some accounts from Lord Byron's Geneva servants given to inquiring tourists later on. Lake Geneva was an insulated aristocratic vacation town and gossip abounded.

First-person documents: - Polidori’s 1816 journal, his prefaces to The Vampyre and Ernestus Berchtold. - History of a Six Weeks Tour, Mary’s first book, co-written with Shelley; travelogue containing letters and journals from their travels in 1814 and 1816. - Mary Shelley’s other journals and letters. - Mary Shelley's (voluntarily uncredited) contributions to Thomas Moore's biography series on Byron, where the time in Geneva is talked about and where most of the funny stories come from, and a handful of comments in Thomas Moore's diaries/letters regarding Mary's recollections. - Byron’s letters, found here on Peter Cochran's site (he was an editor/scholar & leading Byronist) https://petercochran.wordpress.com/byron-2/byron/

Best books about the summer of 1816: - Byron in Geneva by David Ellis, - The Poet and the Vampyre by Andrew Stott, - The Making of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" by Daisy Hay.

Books on Frankenstein or the tech & science of the time in relation to Mary & other Romantics: way too many to mention! Frankenstein is one of the most written about works of all time, and tech discourse is inherent to Romanticism — there are tons of books & articles written about all topics. Percy studied science with James Lind and was inspired by Erasmus Darwin who Mary refers to in a Frankenstein preface. 

On if others at Diodati recollected specifically about Frankenstein or Mary being pale: Percy wrote a review of Frankenstein as well as the novel's introduction section (he wrote it from Mary's POV), and he mentioned the novel in his letters; Claire discusses it several times in her letters with praise, Byron mentions it once or twice with brief compliments; Polidori mentions it in the preface to Ernestus Berchtold in compliment but with possible jealousy beneath. Your "pale" reference likely refers to how she and Byron said she looked when learning of the news of Percy's missing boat; I made a post about that (https://www.tumblr.com/burningvelvet/710178692214784000/from-conversations-of-lord-byron-with-the-countess?source=share). 

My Interpretation of Mary's "waking dream": This was largely metaphorical. Mary probably did have an inspirational dream (scientists have found evidence: https://m.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0928/Frankenstein-moon-Astronomers-vindicate-Mary-Shelley-s-account) but at the same time I do think she sensationalized the trip a bit. From the novel The Poet and the Vampyre: "these [visits to Diodati were] not always convivial - Mary describing the 13 August visit in a single word: 'War.'" Mary, like everyone else, mythologized the summer of 1816. The preface to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein (different from the 1818 original) sensationalizes the origins with a gothic flare because that’s what she knew her fans wanted; she was a widowed single mother in her 30s determined to make a living off her writing, and she enjoyed the immense popularity of Frankenstein, helping to proliferate it through the wildly successful stage adaptation which was spookier and showier than the philosophical novel.

Mary “said the three or four months she passed there were the happiest of her life,” (source: Thomas Moore’s journal, vol. 5, p. 178, via Internet Archive). Before, and especially after this summer of 1816, Mary experienced many traumas which left her with severe depression, and so she romanticized that time, ignoring all of the many ongoing problems surrounding it.

1816 was extraordinary fun for all of them, but it was not paradise. The summer was littered with actual storms as well as emotional storms. In the 1831 preface Mary makes no mention of Claire’s existence, though Claire was the only reason they were even there, since Claire wanted to visit Byron who she was having a horribly drawn out affair with. The two dramatically broke up that summer, made worse by Claire then revealing she was pregnant with his child. There was also a lot of drama with Polidori (writer, and Byron’s doctor) who fought with Byron and Percy, threatening Percy to duel him over a sailing race.

Mary was also in denial about Percy’s many problems. Shelley was mentally and physically ill, perpetually on the run from debtors who had imprisoned him, disowned by his family for being kicked out of Oxford due to atheism, publicly notorious, had a wife and children back in England, and more than likely had an ongoing affair with Claire, causing Byron to briefly wonder at their child’s paternity. Still, Mary was madly in love with Percy from the time she met him until her last moments on Earth when she died staring at his preserved heart which she requested to be buried with. She shared his struggles and spent much of her life defending him, and she's the reason he achieved posthumous fame thanks to her relentlessly promoting, annotating, editing, transcribing, publishing, and republishing his works.

She occasionally does hint at the drama of that time, and how hurt she felt at times, but generally Mary ignored these things, as well as their many other flaws, so that she could remain on good terms with all of them (especially Claire and Byron after their break-up). Despite the drama, she had felt the good times at Lake Geneva were the best times of her life thus far. She was in the most beautiful place in the world, she loved traveling, she felt inspired to write, her baby was healthy and had a good nanny, her own health improved, she spent fun times with her lover who was happily preoccupied with sailing, Claire (who she loved but also found annoying) was preoccupied with Byron, and she found Byron fascinating.

Not even a year after the trip, she was already painfully reminiscing about her good memories: 

“that time is past, and this will also pass, when I may weep to read these words, and again moralise on the flight of time. Dear Lake! I shall ever love thee,”

“We may see [Byron] again, and again enjoy his society; but the time will also arrive when that which is now an anticipation will be only in the memory. Death will at length come, and in the last moment all will be a dream.”

“why is not life a continued moment where hours and days are not counted — but as it is a succession of events happen — the moment of enjoyment lives only in memory and when we die, where are we?”

Frankenstein was started in the summer of 1816 and first published in 1818. Then there was an 1831 edition, the most commonly read today, which is slightly different (slightly less radical for Victorian audiences) and which includes the preface which refers to the “waking dream.” Scholars have noted that Mary’s recollection is partly based on her mythologizing and romanticizing her youth. This is even more obvious considering all of the traumas she had experienced afterward. In her journals (via Project Gutenberg) she often refers to her youth as being like a dream before Percy's death. She was seeing her life through rose-tinted glasses to cope, and possibly experiencing depression-related derealization. 

Condensed timeline of Mary’s traumas to show what I mean about the Frankenstein period being a relatively happier time for her: Her mother died giving birth to her. June 1814: her and her step-sister Claire run away with Shelley. Problems with her father for years after (though they eventually rekindle). Feb 1815: 1st child dies, becomes pregnant a few months later. Jan 1816: has 2nd child who is healthy. Summer 1816: Geneva summer, begins writing Frankenstein; Claire in love with and pregnant by Byron before their relationship dissolves. Oct 1816: Mary’s half-sister Fanny kills herself. Dec 1816: Shelley’s wife kills herself; Mary marries Percy to protect their kids & so he can gain custody of his first 2 kids. Mar 1817: they stay in Marlowe; Mary described this as maybe their happiest residence, and this is where she wrote much of Frankenstein. 1817 misc.: court denies them custody of Shelley's first two kids due to his unorthodoxy; Percy self-exiles from England, they move to Italy, move around continuously, & suffer illness. Sept 1817: 3rd baby is born & dies. Jan 1818: Frankenstein published. June 1819: 2nd child dies while Mary is pregnant with 4th child. Nov 1819: has 4th & only surviving baby (Percy Florence, who lives a long life). 1821: Polidori dies from suspected suicide. April 1822: Claire & Byron’s baby Allegra dies. June 1822: news of Allegra’s death. Mary almost dies from a miscarriage, Percy saves her life. July 1822: Percy dies in a boat accident. Their social circle splits up. Claire moves to Russia. After comforting her, Mary’s closest friend Jane (whose husband died with Percy; the two couples lived together) breaks up their friendship & moves abroad. Mary suffers multiple social conflicts which are largely not her fault, & becomes socially isolated. 1823: Byron & their mutual friend Trelawny join the Greek War. 1824: Byron dies. Mary writes her apocalyptic novel The Last Man as a tribute to her broken social circle & it’s members.

From her journal, Oct 2, 1822: “Father, mother, friend, husband, children—all made, as it were, the team which conducted me here, and now all, except you, my poor boy (and you are necessary to the continuance of my life), all are gone, and I am left to fulfill my task.”

Several times, she wrote that the only reason she didn’t kill herself was because of her son Percy. However, note: Her life did improve after The Last Man. It's a bit of an outdated view that she was just a stereotypical depressed widow forever after. She was a strong and determined woman, and she eventually had a full social circle, friends, married son, daughter-in-law, flirtations, a successful writing career, hobbies, and so on. She found meaning through motherhood, writing, and paying tribute to Percy. However, for all these reasons, she saw the period of Frankenstein and prior to be some of the happiest times of her life and a "calm before the storm" (literally, the storm that killed Percy), which explains all the above.

#ask #asks #mary shelley #frankenstein #lake geneva #summer of 1816 #dreams of 1816 #romanticism #my writing #essays #research #the geneva squad #geneva squad #resources

[actual-lea]

TELL US ABOUT THE THERMONUCLEAR BOMBS LEA (& tag them appropriately please)

God okay I don't even know where to begin I just

I'm gonna ramble a lot about how these bombs work and none of it is going to be very informative probably unless you also want to check out the damn Thermonuclear Weapons wikipedia page at the same time, and even then it's fun to remember that all of this is mostly only how thermonuclear bombs are theorized to work, since the actual designs are obviously all super classified info

Also going to ramble specifically about how the bomb is presented in Lost, so spoilers also abound:

Okay well fun fact, a thermonuclear aka hydrogen aka fusion bomb (which is different than like. a "regular" atomic/nuclear/fission bomb) contains a regular atomic bomb inside it - there are two "stages" to a hydrogen bomb, of which the regular-ass atomic bomb is only the first (fission) stage and is basically only there in order to facilitate the secondary (fusion) stage, which is where most of the power actually comes from (and then from that there's more fission that happens, which might actually be where most of the power actually comes from? idk this is all top of my head I don't have the wiki article open right now lol)

That was something that really kind of blew my mind to learn. Like. The idea of an atomic bomb in most people's minds is (for good reason!) this huge city-flattening thing of indescribable destructive power, and that thing very quickly became irrelevant as anything but the activation for the actual bomb bomb, which is so so so many more times destructive than either of the bombs that were actually used in 1945.

I actually just recently re-skimmed over the wiki article about Tsar Bomba, the biggest EVER thermonuclear test explosion (which was in 1961 iirc, somewhere in Russia/the Soviet Union), which iirc is theorized by some people to have actually been a three-stage design rather than two-stage*, and fucking. The seismic wave created by this explosion circled the entire globe three fucking times over even though it was detonated in the fucking air

*because of the way that the two stages work, it's theoretically possible to just keep adding more and more of the "secondary" type device ad infinitum, but it becomes pretty impractical pretty quickly since (I think?) they'd need to keep getting bigger and with just a two stage weapon you're definitely already in like the 20 tons realm at minimum already, so it's kind of silly to keep adding more and more to it especially when the amount of explosive yield you're getting is already way more than enough than you could ever really need anyway

ANYWAY

None of that is really relevant to what I was ACTUALLY trying to learn about in the first place, which is like. How in the good goddamn the bomb in Lost is supposed to have worked.

(Really the thing I was trying to initially figure out more than anything is what the fuck would the stuff leaking from the casing of the bomb even have been and the jury's still out on that one tbh)

SO okay. Season 5 finale of Lost, we have Sayid and Jack and Eloise and Richard all going to get the bomb to do the thing with the incident. According to Sayid according to Daniel's journal, his plan was to remove the "plutonium core" of the bomb rather than trying to move the whole damn thing.

Incidentally, I have a copy of the Lost Encyclopedia, and like half the reason for buying it in the first place was because I saw online that there were more pictures of Dan's journal/the disassembly instructions for the bomb in it (which I did get this damn thing in like November 2020 so that should tell you how long I've been looking into this stuff lmao)

(a picture of a spread from the Lost Encyclopedia showing several images of pages from Daniel's journal)

So, okay - there are 2 spreads (4 pages) worth of detailed disassembly instructions, over on the right side of the image - idk if any of that is even readable in the image but to summarize: the first pages (bottom right) are the ones we actually see for like half a second in the episode:

(an image from 5x16 of Sayid's hands holding Daniel's journal open to those same disassembly instructions)

According to these instructions, what we are actually removing in the episode and carrying around and dropping in the Swan hole, is the "plutonium primary device from the secondary payload", which. Is not really a thing? The "primary" device in a hydrogen bomb IS the atomic bomb, which is a whole separate thing from the "secondary" device. There is a plutonium "spark plug" cylinder inside the secondary, which I assume is probably what this would be referring to, HOWEVER the second part of the instructions (top right of the Encyclopedia image above) have a drawing of this device, which apparently includes "slow explosive lense", which is absolutely not a thing that would be in the secondary. The explosive lenses in a hydrogen bomb would only be found around the primary, most likely in a spherical shape that creates a series of synchronized explosions to compress a spherical plutonium (or perhaps enriched uranium, but most likely plutonium) "pit" in the center, squeezing it enough to cause it to go supercritical which is what causes the explosion. Then, the heat/radiation caused by this explosion is enough to (in a matter of like microseconds - this is also why the inside of the casing is made specifically to hold together long enough for the reaction to actually happen, because otherwise the explosion would blow everything apart before it reached its full potential yield or whatever) then compress the secondary device, a cylindrical casing (called a tamper) most probably made of un-enriched/depleted uranium (I think? it wouldn't be dangerously radioactive to the touch, which is why Sayid handling the damn thing with only a pair of gloves in the episode is actually probably plenty of precaution) with a rod of plutonium inside it and also some tritium/deuterium (isotopes of hydrogen, which is the "hydrogen" part of the hydrogen bomb) is there.

So basically, the radiation/heat/neutrons of the first explosion of the primary compress/ablate the casing of the secondary, and the neutrons react with the tritium and deuterium from the outside while the neutrons from the fission reaction of the plutonium "spark plug" that's getting compressed inside the secondary react with the tritium and deuterium from the inside, and all of this causes a bunch of fusion reactions, which also release MORE neutrons, which then cause some more fission of the uranium casing that surrounds the whole enchilada, and this is how big big big explosion happen.

All that to say - there aren't any explosives present in the secondary. Taking out the "plutonium core" wouldn't leave you with a detonate-able bomb, it would just leave you with a chunk of plutonium and no way to compress it into supercriticality.

Even so, it does seem like the writers did a non-zero amount of research, because I kind of see what we did here? Basically fudged the primary and secondary together in order to make it so that we can take just a piece of the bomb and still have it be detonate-able. So, we've invented for the convenience of the plot a plutonium core that is surrounded by explosives (in a cylindrical shape, which probably wouldn't really work but the plot demands that it does), which is in essence...just an atomic bomb. Not "in itself a thermonuclear weapon" like Sayid says, but definitely enough to cause a big boom**, which I guess is the goal here. I would presume that the actual cylinder (picture below) itself is meant to be a (depleted) uranium casing, with explosive lenses inside it (that the wires are connected to) encasing the cylinder of plutonium inside.

(an image from the Lost Encyclopedia of the "Jughead Bomb" entry, which includes a close-up of the cylindrical device that Jack drops into the Swan hole in 5x17)

**Incidentally, one of the pages in the first Encyclopedia image above mentions "four kilotons" as the theoretical yield of the plutonium core, which I guess might maybe be accurate if we're just treating this thing like a regular ass atomic bomb at this point? It's clearly a very small amount of plutonium that we're working with - for reference, the "Fat Man" atomic bomb (the Nagasaki one) apparently had 6.19 kg of plutonium in it, which is a little over 13 and a half pounds, and of that only about 1 kg actually fissioned, giving a yield of somewhere between 19-23 kilotons. If we're working with...idk, maybe half a kg of plutonium? A little over a pound? And only 1/6 of it was to actually fission upon detonation, then yeah, that yield could probably get pretty close to 4 kilotons.

Even so even so, the idea of rigging the bomb to detonate on impact would maybe maybe work, but only if there was a way to guarantee that the impact would cause the "explosive lenses" (that we're gonna pretend are there) to explode, in sync. This is something that's ordinarily accomplished by an electrical signal sent simultaneously to all of the outer shell of explosives at once - judging from the wires that are all along the cylinder thing, I would presume that's what we're going with in the episode as well. The notes on the second part of the instructions mention "spring loaded detonation switches" but I don't really know what the fuck that means. My best guess is that it's set up like a Wile E Coyote TNT handle switch thing - mayhaps there's a spring loaded thing at the top of the cylinder (right side of the image above, where the tape is) that completes the circuit either when squeezed down or when un-squeezed (I'm leaning towards that, given the tape?) and that's how it would perhaps be able to explode on impact, if that knocked the thing loose enough to complete the circuit.

In which case, hitting it with a rock on the side of the thing would definitely not do anything.

My way to make it make more sense (perhaps in a future fanfic, who can say) would be if rather than there being any kind of explosives in the device itself, if it's instead the pressure/heat generated by the electromagnetic field of the Swan's "electromagnetic pocket" that somehow compresses the device, to the point that the plutonium inside can reach supercriticality and go boom.

But of course, that's not as dramatic or exciting as hitting it with a rock eight times.

Incidentally incidentally, shooting the thing with a gun would also not make it explode (much in the same way that shooting a gas can with a gun would not cause an explosion), but damaging the wires in any way that would cause a short or anything like that could render it unable to detonate and/or cause an explosion that just sort of spits out plutonium chunks everywhere (dirty bomb), so you still don't really want to bring it into the middle of a gunfight if you can help it JACK

#oh this is so many words for so little information #i can't arrange it in a coherent way really but know that it all lives in my head nonstop #ask lea #anonymous #i don't even know how to begin to tag this appropriately #radiation ?? #bombs ??? #nuclear stuff ???? #long post

[ayearofbeinglonely]

To dream perchance to sleep

I lay awake at night often, there is not much that I do not contemplate at 3 in the morning, including death itself. It is not so surreal a contemplation, a haunt that has long held its whispery shadows over humanity, we write plays about it, allude to it in songs, personify and villifiy– soften and sedate. We often do not name it directly, old superstitions about saying a name, giving power to a name, only in such furthering its fairytale narrative. But late at night when I am wondering whether I wish to exist, if any of it is worth the pain in today and tomorrow, it is not a long robbed scythe bearing figure that I think of, death comes to me not in relief or anxiety, it arises in actions and possibility.  

For how can you feel release when you are dead, you cannot feel anything at all, what determines an action felt when there is no one around to feel it. You simply cease to feel anything is that release? True zero does not actually exist, scientists think perhaps before the big bang, the clashing of the universe into existence that it was a possibility then, but in our existence it is a placeholder number, there is never nothing. This is perhaps only a ramble, longer than the meandering road that one takes before realising they are quite lost. Just like the lack of nothingness, there is a lack of answers and in fact no way to actually know what is beyond the so called end. 

I do not actually want to die, I think that is often the case, or at least according to the statistics. Would it be nice if it was easier to talk about?: without everyone abounding in worry and concern, the contemplation cannot actually be explained in so called accepted logic, which is why people fear it.  Yet we still cannot escape it, to have had people in our life who have killed themselves and or have been adjacently connected to many more, is this the case for everyone, with the former that is, I am sure through enough of tangled root system anyone could find a connection to someone, who knew someone, who knew someone, et cetera… I suppose the vulnerable would naturally be around the other vulnerable. I think that also goes with the case of mental health in general,  it is hard to actually believe there are people that could be classified as “mentally well”, its hard to believe not everyone is fucked up in the head, often I do not believe it, thinking its perhaps another mythos of society, to all get us to “keep moving forward”. Like, don’t worry everyone has a screaming demon in their head that just scream, scream, screams, all day long, and never shuts the fuck up not even when you want to sleep.

Would we even want to talk about it, if it were normalised, I know I rarely want to talk about my feelings as it is, they are hard for me to handle, much less for anyone else to handle. Is that wherein the problem lies, we all want to fix everything, someone states a problem and we often go straight to a solution. I guess the repercussions of not openly talking about it is the bad poetry and song lyrics in my journal, which is certainly something I pity anyone finding 50 years in the future, although I would only be 77 then, so best make it a round 100 in hopes that I am not around for the emotionally flaying of someone reading my work. 

I could do that here, go on poetically about the way my body always has a hive of bees buzzing numbly beneath my skin, that too much silence is far too loud and too much noise makes me wish my head would fall lop off my shoulders. That my chest feels concave on any good day and on a worse day its like there is cold metal being poured into my mouth and the silvery threads are slinking across my bloodstream. Yet nothing I say or write hushes the humming, it is always there, which leads us back to our point. Does it end when you end it, if you can not feel the end at all?

I am afraid my writing here sounds incredibly naive or worse pretentious, a child poking at big essays and ideas. It's hard not to be effusively demonstrative in order to illustrate one's point. Even still after criticizing talking around the point, that is what I spend 700 words doing, so here it is, for while I do not wish to die, I certainly have thought about killing myself. 

#mental health #tw suicide #tw ideation #discussion #01/13/2022

[meadnbookpiles]

11th of the Phoenix, 1335 AE

There was nothing there.

Nothing of substance to be garnered from Eul’s evasive pleasantries, nothing to be learned by anything else at present, and most certainly - nothing on the balcony, despite Jia seeming so sure that something would be. We’re back to grasping at straws, and quite frankly, this feels like we have less to go off on that what we’ve left Tyria with.

The pieces... they don’t mesh together at all, why would the old man not want our support? Aunt Kef did illustrate that he was... reclusive, at best, and that his reply to her offer was a mere polite acknowledgement - and yet, should one truly reject a source of aid so readily offered? Especially when the lives of his Household and family members are quite apparently on the line?

It’s unsettling to consider, infuriating, really, as if something is right there, impossibly dodging out of the corner of your eye, a small mental nudge away from a fully fledged conclusion. 

I suppose we may depart to Shing Jea next? Jia’s badgering did manage to secure a vouch that we’ll be permitted to research the family Estates. There was supposed to be an Uptown apartment in Kaineng, as well as a Vacation Home by the Jade Sea... how wonderfully bizarre penning these names here, as destinations I may soon visit.

It’s a pity Drae was as tied down with his work as ever, getting through impossible stubbornness was ever his gift... we might have surfaced from our encounter with different results then, not defeated - victorious! 

Well, maybe.

#JournalPost #Joan Lionsbane #Journal ramblings abound #Eul Roh #Jia Zhou #Kefriah Seyforth #gw2rp #Cantha Arc fodder #Draegoren Lionsbane

[the-light-finds-its-way]

Ode to Our Ace - commission

Thank you so much again @aceofcaydes01 for commissioning me to write this song!! You saved my car from breaking down, and also my appetite so I could buy a lunch today instead of skipping it again!

(Chorus) Shatter worlds from tales beyond With luminous Ace in battle; Thereupon galactic fronds He soars across the straggled; Shoot the stars and foes along For glory never ambles; Cayde, arise, Vanguard strong; Your house of cards in shambles (Chorus end)

Driven by forgotten love Hunter aims through beasts renown Forlornly seeking great above Legend, status, fame abound

Chimerical journals for Ace and wife Ambivalent whether either exists; Ace is dead and so’s the life Of Human Cayde, save scripts

Inglorious challenge for Vanguard post Cayde prevails, his jaded regret; Andal Brask, fond Light lost Now mourned through Exo's immortal bet; Damn this post and dread this host; What destiny our Traveler sets!

Bet for bet, with Young Wolf and friends The Hunter fights and slays Kells and Barons, records he upends Though he’s longing for the fray

(Chorus) Shatter worlds from tales beyond With luminous Ace in battle; Thereupon galactic fronds He soars across the straggled; Shoot the stars and foes along For glory never ambles; Cayde, arise, Vanguard strong; Your house of cards in shambles (Chorus end)

Fight the Taken King With plans forged wary by you; We live to relay this tale and sing In your name, immortal through

Abolish Oryx on his throne We’re crying for the brave Cayde whose triumphs gave us bone And strength where the Light forsakes

Your Golden Gun burns bright across Stars and worlds asunder; We hear your puns through Lightened cause Gardens, Vaults, Crypts, and thunder Of Ace of Spades and caches lost; A Thousand Voices lumber

Mark the words, “Take me with you.” Beloved tact and memories Beheld through agonized truth We miss and mourn our Hunter’s dreams

(Chorus) Shatter worlds from tales beyond With luminous Ace in battle; Thereupon galactic fronds He soars across the straggled; Shoot the stars and foes along For glory never ambles; Cayde, arise, Vanguard strong; Your house of cards in shambles (Chorus end)

Broken shimmer of Golden Gun Scorned by Barons all forsaken; Sundance shatters, Light undone; Come around to Ace’s bend; Light abolished for Young Wolf; "Every story has an end. This is mine.” Cayde says

Farewell friend, and welcome home; May Ace find you well; Cry the Vanguard’s vengeful woe; Signal Uldren’s hell

Though our Vanguard lies in shambles Your house of cards prevails; A crow descends the nest for rambles A damning deed details;

Legacy lives with Ace beheld And Vanguard dare revived; Forever in our hearts, you lie Cayde, our promise upheld

(Chorus) Shatter worlds from tales beyond With luminous Ace in battle; Thereupon galactic fronds He soars across the straggled; Shoot the stars and foes along For glory never ambles; Cayde, arise, Vanguard strong; Your Mark, Bond, Cloak, now fables (Chorus end)

#cayde #cayde 6 #destiny 2 #destiny #d2 #lyrics #commission

[birdkoskincare]

hi! so i have to do a presentation for uni about the science behind anti-aging creams and whether their efficacy is backed up or contradicted by scientific evidence and it is Really not my area (my area is neuroscience) so i was wondering if you have any tips to find reliable information and know for example if a paper is credible or if it's influenced by the industry etc. thank you!

hey! that’s an awesome topic for research, even if it’s outside your usual scope! here are a few pointers:

cosmetic research as a whole is pretty much entirely industry-driven; this means that there are conflicts of interest pretty much everywhere when it comes to the nitty-gritty science of formulating, bc the people paying for that to be studied are the ones with money in the game. that’s an unfortunate aspect of things, but it does not necessarily invalidate the scientific conclusions researchers arrive at — it might, however, colour the field as a whole with a certain bias regarding what topics get explored and how. it’s important to be aware of this.

these biases include: research being done much more frequently on very specific types of skin, leaving others, like POC, underrepresented and understudied; not publishing all the research and advances that are made due to industrial secret necessities, “bandwagoning” on certain trends and overexploring them because they might be marketable even though they’re likely less effective (i.e. plant extracts, cannabinoids, trendy shock-value k-beauty-type ingredients like placenta, venoms or snail mucin...), etc.

that being said, the same credibility rules apply as in neuroscience or any other branch of the sciences: the gold standard of research is still papers published on peer-reviewed journals with a good impact factor. if you can look them up on google scholar or ncbi and find their doi reference number, sci-hub.tw will allow you to unlock the full text even if the articles are behind a paywall! i’d start by looking up bibliographic review papers, which will then help you find relevant research papers.

anti-aging specifically is an area where gimmicks abound. it could be worthwhile to talk abt the demographic targeted by anti-aging product lines — older, therefore usually possessing more buying power, oftentimes less informed than the skincare-savvy younger generation —and how it is exploited in some ways by that industry

also worthwhile to discuss the whole ethics behind the term ‘anti-aging’ and how feminist movements have called into question the standards for mature women & such! there’s a movement even among brands to embrace ‘aging gracefully’ or other alternatives to that term

finally, i’ll leave you this tidbit: the only ingredient that has been proven* to combat and, to an extent, reverse signs of aging is retinol and its derivatives. everything else is just temporary plumping/hydration/brightness smoke & mirrors. which is not to say these effects are not useful... just that claims are wayyyyy overstated most of the time. the other most important step in anti-aging is sunscreen, and that’s a preventive measure & therefore way underrated.

*by clinical-standard, randomized & double-blind, repeated trials of a large enough scale

sorry, i went on a bit of a ramble, i just enjoy the scientific research side of skincare a lot! best of luck!

#answered #skincare #anti-aging #aging #scientific research #eclipseksj

[anxceit]

vagueness

Summary: Logan worries about an off-hand comment from Thomas. Misunderstandings abound. Written for Sympathetic Deceit Week: Loceit Day.

Pairings: Platonic Loceit, Platonic Moxiety

Word Count: 2044

Warnings: Self-deprecation, teasing, very brief mentions of food. Let me know if I missed anything!

A/N: rest assured this is the angstiest fic i’ve written for this week! inspired by a bunch of posts by @sashaying-on-sonnshine

Deceit has certain expectations when he wanders the mindscape. They aren’t unreasonable, he thinks, just simple things like respect for his personal space. So when Logan accosts him out of nowhere in the living room and makes a grab for his face, he’s understandably a bit startled.

He skitters back out of Logan’s reach and asks, “What are you doing?”

“Feeling your scales,” Logan informs him helpfully. “It’s for science.”

“Yes, because that explains everything,” Deceit deadpans. “What sort of science requires petting my face?”

Logan sighs. “Thomas raised the question of whether or not you excrete slime. I doubt you do, since that is not a trait snakes normally possess, but now that the question has been posed I cannot just live in ignorance.”

Of course. Deceit just loves the creepy two-face appeal that comes with his scales. Loves being treated like a freak. He certainly doesn’t wish it was the first time.

Might as well have some fun with it.

“That does sound horrible, doesn’t it?” Deceit drawls, and sinks back into his bedroom before Logan can react.

He’s in the kitchen, getting coffee, the next time Logan assaults him. He’s not used to others being up this early, so the attack surprises him, but this time he doesn’t flinch. He smoothly backs out of the reach of Logan’s fingers, and Logan nearly trips and falls. When he glares at Deceit, he merely winks his human eye and teases, “Better luck next time, Logic.”

Logan huffs. “I’m being made fun of, aren’t I?”

Deceit stifles a laugh. He wonders how far he can push it before someone else steps in. “Where on Earth did you get that idea?”

Logan blinks at him. “The phrase ‘better luck next time’ is typically used as a taunt, from my understanding. Should I update my vocabulary cards?”

Deceit gives him a long, appraising look. “Absolutely,” he says finally, and turns to get a coffee mug from the cabinet.

“As I thought,” Logan mutters to himself, “I am being teased.” He clears his throat to get Deceit’s attention, but Deceit doesn’t turn around. He pulls the pot from the coffee maker and begins pouring himself a mug, ignoring Logan. “You seem to believe that this is some sort of game, but I assure you that I am trying to collect true scientific data. I would very much appreciate your cooperation.”

“Is that right?” Deceit says, replacing the pot. He takes a long, slow sip from his mug, watching as Logan winces. Can’t stand black coffee, huh? “Sorry, Logan. I’d just love to work with you,” he continues, exaggerated disappointment written across his face, “but I’m afraid my schedule’s a bit full at the moment.”

“It would only take a second,” Logan protests, but Deceit interrupts him.

“It’s just not a good time, sorry.” He brushes past Logan and out of the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, “Good luck with your science, though, Mr. Sweet Tooth!”

“I do not have a fondness for sugar! Just Crofter’s!” comes the indignant reply, and Deceit laughs quietly into his coffee.

“You’ve been coming up here a lot more often lately!” Patton notes excitedly one day, plopping down on the couch next to Deceit as he reads.

“Ah, yes, well. There’s more, you know, natural light up here,” he says, wiggling his fingers vaguely at the window. He knows Morality would have his head if he figured out he was teasing Logan.

“Well, you’re welcome up anytime if it’ll brighten your day!” Patton elbows him in the side and he rolls his eyes.

“No, you’re not,” Virgil contributes from the armchair, pulling one headphone off.

“Now, Virgil,” Patton warns, “be nice.”

“Hey, I’m not the one that–” Virgil stops, as if coming to a realization. He pulls his headphones all the way off and turns his head to the stairs. “Logan,” he calls, “Deceit’s down here!”

Deceit gives him a withering glare as the sounds of footsteps come echoing down the stairs. Virgil flips him off and goes back to reading on his phone, ignoring Patton’s protests.

Logan rounds the banister, notebook in hand. “Have you had a change of heart?” he asks, hope in his voice.

Deceit snorts. “That certainly would be nice for you, wouldn’t it?”

“What’s going on here?” Patton asks, frowning.

Logan crosses his arms, brow furrowed. “I merely need to borrow Deceit for a moment to collect some data...”

“He wants to pet my face,” Deceit interrupts, and Logan huffs.

“That’s not quite the way I’d put it, but yes.”

Patton tilts his head. “Logan, we don’t want to make him uncomfortable...”

“Come on, Deceit,” Virgil pipes up, voice dripping with honey, “it’ll only take a second, and then he’ll move onto whatever creepy-ass thing he wants to experiment on next and leave you alone!”

Deceit whirls to face him as Patton cries out “Virgil!” in protest. He offers Deceit a smirk dripping with venom, leaning forward in his chair, every bit the Dark Side he refuses to admit he is. He’s made it impossible for Deceit to make light of Logan’s interest, and he damn well knows it.

“Deceit,” Logan tries to say, but Deceit can feel heat creeping up his neck and he can’t stand it. Not when Virgil’s still grinning at him like that.

He shakes Logan off and sinks out.

Logan catches him outside his door hours later. Deceit wonders how long he’s been waiting there. He’s not sure he wants to know the answer.

“Deceit, I believe there’s been a misunderstanding,” he starts, but Deceit brushes past him. “I just want to...”

“No,” Deceit interrupts, whirling around, “I have no idea what you want, because this is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with this sort of treatment.” Logan tries to stutter some kind of excuse, but he ignores it and stalks off towards the stairs.

“Deceit, please, I just want to...” He reaches out to Deceit just as he steps onto the stairs...

...and trips over his own feet, sending himself tumbling the rest of the way down until he slams into the railing.

He’s not a person, and has no physical being, so he won’t sustain any lasting damage. But it still hurts, and it’s embarrassing, and when he blinks the stars out of his eyes, Patton of all people is standing over him, fussing and asking if he’s alright. Virgil is laughing hysterically from the couch.

He feels his face heating up. This day couldn’t possibly get any better. Too worked up to think properly, he slaps Patton’s hands away and snaps, “Would you people just stop touching me?”

Patton’s eyes widen and he steps back, allowing Deceit to stand and brush off his clothes. “Sorry, Dee,” he says. “Didn’t mean to push your boundaries!”

Logan stutters to a stop in the living room, quietly watching Deceit flee to the kitchen. Virgil actually gets up from the couch and approaches him, and they have a conversation Deceit can’t hear ignores as he raids the fridge for Crofter’s.

Having successfully obtained the holy grail of comfort food, he turns on his heel with a sweep of his cape and stalks back towards the stairs. Virgil casts a glare at him and turns back to the conversation. He stops Patton from approaching, too, and Deceit starts to wonder if he’ll be able to escape without further incident.

No such luck: Logan catches Deceit by the arm at the bottom of the stairs. Virgil and Patton step back to watch. Deceit braces himself to be scolded for taking Logan’s jelly.

He isn’t. “I apologize as well,” Logan says. “I admit I may have been a bit...extra in my attempts to ascertain the truth.”

“Modern slang suits you so well,” Deceit grumbles in lieu of a response, trying to pull out of Logan’s grip.

But Logan says, “Please,” and the sincerity in his voice stops Deceit in his tracks. “I assure you I was not trying to treat you as a ‘test subject’,” Logan continues. “It was pure curiosity. I find your scales...fascinating, I suppose. I wanted to know more, but I got ahead of myself, and for that I apologize.”

Deceit feels heat creeping up his neck. Discomfort, definitely. Not shame, or worse, modesty. He’s even more uncomfortable with the honest apology than with the face-grabbing incidents, he decides.

So much so that before Logan can get out another word, Deceit uses his free hand to grab Logan’s and presses it against his scales, sliding it down his face slowly while maintaining direct eye contact. Logan trails off, bewilderment overtaking his features. Deceit lets the appendage drop after a few seconds, and the room goes dead silent.

“...Ha.” Logan says finally, then again, louder. “Ha! I knew it! I knew you couldn’t be slimy! It wouldn’t make any sense! I’ll have to let Thomas know. Ah, and write it in my journal!”

Deceit masks a sigh of relief and raises an eyebrow. “Are you happy now?”

“Yes, actually!” Logan exclaims. He’s wearing the sort of ear-splitting grin they only ever see on him when Crofter’s is involved. “Thank you!”

“Mmhmm,” Deceit mutters, feeling his face heat up once more. Virgil quirks an eyebrow at him. He seems amused, which irritates Deceit even more. Logan vanishes back up the stairs to his room, still rambling about something or another.

“Is that how he always is when he figures something out?” Deceit deadpans.

“Isn’t he just as cute as a button?” Patton gushes.

Virgil cracks a smile too. “You should see him talk about space.”

Deceit stares up the stairwell, lost in thought. He almost doesn’t catch Patton say, “Virgil, I think you have something to apologize for, too.”

“Not to that lying jerk, I don’t,” Virgil snaps.

“I will lock you both in a room until you get along,” Patton warns. It’s by no means a serious threat, but Virgil concedes anyway.

“I’m sorry for calling you creepy,” he mutters.

Patton pats him on the shoulder, then turns to Deceit. “Your turn!” he chirps with a bright smile. “And be honest! I know you can.”

Deceit rolls his eyes. “I’m sorry for trying to use Patton’s face to manipulate you.”

Virgil snorts. “Come on, we both know I had you figured out before we even left the theater,” he says, and Deceit does. He knew it then, too – he wouldn’t have taken the risk otherwise. “I’m not an idiot.”

Deceit laughs at that despite himself. “I wonder what that says about—”

“Can I ask a few more questions?” Logan interrupts from behind. When Deceit whirls around, he’s standing there with a notepad and an eager smile.

Deceit blinks. What more questions could he possibly have? He glances at Patton and Virgil, then back to Logan. He holds up the Crofter’s jar in his hands with a grin. “Can I bring this with me?”

Logan’s eyes widen as he realizes what Deceit is holding, and he opens his mouth to protest, but thinks better of it. Instead he takes a deep, calming breath and says, “As an apology for the earlier issue, yes. But only once.” The last sentence is accompanied by a fierce stare.

“Good enough,” Deceit says, and lets Logan drag him upstairs.

Patton claps his hands together. “Oh, I hope they end up being good friends! It’s so much easier when everyone gets along!” He wraps an arm around Virgil’s shoulder.

“I don’t trust him,” Virgil mutters, shoulders hunched inwards.

“Well, you know what they say!” Patton chirps, and Virgil winces preemptively. “When the cat is away...”

He obviously expects Virgil to finish the saying for him, but Virgil doesn’t have any idea what he’s trying to get at, much less the end of whatever it is he’s quoting. “How about I set the table for dinner?” he suggests instead.

Patton, mercifully, gives him a thumbs-up and drops the topic. “Does tortellini sounds good tonight?”

“Sure,” Virgil says, and follows him into the kitchen to get out the silverware.

“Set five places tonight, kiddo!”

Virgil gives him a look, trying to convey with his eyes just how much he does not want to do that, but Patton blithely ignores it. Virgil grumbles and grabs the extra silverware.

#logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #sympathetic deceit #loceit #logceit #sanders sides #deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit week #my writing

[wallpapernifty]

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[theeurekaproject]

A Painstakingly Complicated Discussion of the Caste System

This post is mirrored from my Wattpad story Eureka in Excessus, which is a collection of miscellaneous pieces of the Eureka Project that never quite made it into the book. You can find it here.

Today on "Wren Has Too Much Free Time: The Book," we discuss the painful intricacies of the caste system in a society that doesn't exist! I'm the type of person who gets super into worldbuilding (sometimes at the expense of the actual story) so writing this type of guide is really entertaining to me. That being said, if you would rather not listen to two thousand or so words of rambling about the social order of a fictional empire, you are by no means required to read this—the actual story can be understood just fine without it. If you're a lore-obsessed geek like me, though, read on :)

I knew from the very beginning that Eleutheria had to have a caste system. I needed a quantifiable way for characters to compare themselves to other characters, and "she's rich but I'm poor" didn't really work because poverty and status are so relative. The noblewomen consider everyone beneath them "poor," but then there are people like Lyra, who were literally raised on the streets. There's also the fact that Eleutheria's social order is incredibly complicated and alien—it's almost nothing like our own, owing to the fact that they have larger gender differences, a weird history, and bizarre societal norms that are often at odds with what readers consider normal. So I knew I needed a quantifiable system that shows which characters are ranked higher than other characters.

The caste system started as simple ranks and numbers, but that got boring and difficult to keep track of very quickly, so I started giving the castes names. Like everything else in Eleutheria, they're in Latin, but I'm hoping that a combination of context clues and obvious English loanwords will be enough to give readers an idea about what they mean. Eventually the system grew from ten vague groups to exactly twenty extremely specific castes grouped into several different cohorts. I like this way of organization because it allows me to make certain jobs equal without combining them into one caste—scientists and medical types are different things, but they're in the same cohort and thus relatively equal. I finalized the hierarchy with a few additional groups that aren't quite considered castes, and that led to the system I—and Eleutheria—use now. So, without further ado: the twenty castes of Eleutheria!

The Trinitarian castes are the "best of the best"—the old money noblewomen who lead Eleutherian society and serve as models to everyone else. Nothing a Trinitaria says or does is wrong—they can get away with murder if they so desire, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them. Despite their high status, though, the Trinitarium are constantly fighting amongst themselves, frequently resulting in bloody civil wars that leave hundreds of thousands of people dead. Naturally, the people who start said wars get off scot-free; they always do.

Caste Cipher is the highest Trinitarian caste. Supposedly descended from the Founders of Eleutheria, the Ciphers are said to have unflinching brilliance, impossible beauty, and the divine wisdom of their ancestors. Their shockingly blue eyes, unflinching gaze, and uncanny-valley nature distinguishes them from the rest of the nobility (or, well, at least it did; Acidalia-Planitia, eldest daughter of Alestra Cipher, has, to the rest of the court's disgust, very plain, very human brown eyes.) Ciphers are considered almost gods by quite a few denizens of Eleutheria, and anyone who dares question them will be swiftly and violently stricken down by Alestra Cipher's hand.

Examples: Alestra, Aleskynn, and Acidalia (the latter only sort of.)

Caste Princips is the second-highest caste, consisting of nearly all the other noble families on Eleutheria. Noble houses Vulgaris, Communia, Summus, and others reside on this level—just below the Ciphers, but above everyone else. They are said to have descended from Eleutheria's earliest settlers, a population chosen by the Founders to spearhead their new civilization. Despite their high ancestry, though, they are not above stupid, petty squabbles, and they spend most of their time arguing with one another over nothing of importance. Though Caste Princips are not nearly as revered as Ciphers, they evoke the same anxiety in ordinary citizens—mostly because they too are wealthy and powerful enough to erase people from existence.

Examples: The ladies-in-waiting, most of Aleskynn's friends

Caste Praelia is the final, dying Trinitarian caste. It once consisted of numerous noble houses who served as military powerhouses; Praelium houses produced an untold amount of warriors, generals, and gladiators. However, Alestra came down on them hard during her reign, not wanting to be superseded by charismatic Praetors and their extremely loyal armies. Now the only remnant of caste Praelia is the noble house Generalis, which is also slowly fizzling out—its matriarch, Anatolia Radiata, died several years ago, leaving her daughter Cassiopeia as the lone survivor.

Examples: Cassiopeia, the late Anatolia

The Logos castes are just underneath the Trinitarians. Consisting of scientists, doctors, businesswomen, and other academic types, this cohort has given rise to some very powerful people. However, most women in this category remain solidly middle-class—not every researcher is an Einstein, you know? Despite this, they are treated with a sort of reverence by the rest of the population, because they're considered the "movers and shakers" of Eleutherian society. They discover new things, uncover the past, and help move humanity forward; who wouldn't love them? So they usually get off pretty well in the grand scheme of things... sure, sometimes they discover things they weren't meant to know and get themselves shot for treason, but considering that this is Eleutheria we're talking about, that's not that bad.

Caste Negotia is mostly composed of businesswomen, economists, and management types. Some are your ordinary office busybodies, and others are CEOs. They can be enormously wealthy, but many are your regular old run-of-the-mill managers. Still, the caste is associated with luxury anyway—very few Negotium are cripplingly poor.

Caste Scientia consists of researchers and scientists, who are further divided into specialties depending on their field. Again, they can be very rich, or kind of in the middle, but rarely ever impoverished. Outside of the Trinitarian castes, the Scientias are one of the most respected groups in Eleutherian society—after all, they invent the technology that's made the empire so powerful. Despite this—or maybe because of it—they are under intense scrutiny. Alestra is so afraid of the Scientias mobilizing against her that's she's started an aggressive campaign to keep dangerous ideas from spreading: she takes away their children to be raised by the state, kills anyone whose research goes a little too deep, and brutally slaughters everyone who disagrees with her just to make examples out of them. Scientias also have a tendency to die young due to completely unrelated reasons—they're often frail, sickly, and inexplicably weak. Conspiracy theories abound about this, but every time someone makes a breakthrough, they wind up dead.

Examples: Athena, Carina

Caste Medica contains medical professionals—doctors, nurses, dentists, and the like. Alestra sees them as slightly less of a threat, so she's a little more lenient with them. Besides, she kind of has to be nice to a degree—even Imperatrices get sick, and she wants to avoid being killed by her own doctors if something goes wrong. This caste is generally kept happy, just because Alestra knows offending them could result in her death. It would be very easy for the royal physician to cut the wrong thing during surgery and make an assassination look accidental.

Caste Historia ostensibly contains the historians, archeologists, et cetera. In practice, though, it's hardly composed of unbiased historical researchers. Most Historium are paid off by the state to publish the truths the government agrees with, and dissenters are simply killed. Much like the Scientias, Historium are subject to an intense amount of scrutiny; if someone publishes a document they aren't supposed to, Alestra's whole reign could collapse in on itself. This, compounded by the fact that society doesn't really need historians in the same way it needs scientists, has led to the thinning of caste Historia. After Alestra took power, their numbers were greatly reduced, and they never regained their lost power again.

The aptly named Artem castes are the creative types. Dancers, actors, artists, designers, animators, and anyone else who works an "artsy" job is classified into this cohort. Unlike most castes, the Artem castes are incredibly diverse and offer a high degree of social mobility for anyone fortunate enough to swindle their way into a high-paying job. Starving artists can become millionaires overnight if they're lucky, and famous stars can fade into nothingness if society forgets about them. It's a high-risk, high-reward game, but if you're skilled, loyal, and reasonably attractive, you have a decent shot at making a good living for yourself. Of course, artists who choose to defy the status quo never seem to remain in the spotlight for very long.

Caste Auctor is composed of writers, authors, and scribes. Auctores can be almost anything, so long as it's related to writing or communication. They can work in conjunction with Scientias and Medicas to do the paperwork surrounding scientific studies and case reports, help Magistratum with investigative journalism, translate ancient languages alongside Historium, create works of fiction, et cetera. Like the Scientias, they're somewhat respected by the majority of society, but that just means Alestra hates them more because they have so much influence. Any Auctor who finds themselves on her bad side will meet a swift and merciless end.

Caste Momentum consists of the people who are involved in creating "movies" and "TV shows" (read: "thinly veiled propaganda presented to the citizens as if it's truth.") It's a somewhat odd caste limited to propaganda professionals; there are actors and directors, but also certain psychologists and writers who specialize in messing with the human mind. Momentum castes regularly collude with Auctores, Medicas, and Scientias—and sometimes even Ciphers themselves—to create terrifying, mind-melding cocktails of half-truths that can convince weak-minded citizens of anything.

Caste Incentor is much more innocuous, containing mostly musicians. They're monitored heavily to prevent Dangerous Ideas from spreading, but they have more freedom than most Artem castes, mostly because Eleutherian music is by and large kind of terrible. Incentores are stereotyped as being dizty, lovestruck morons, because they're one of the few castes that never really does anything with science or history or government—mostly they just sit around and look pretty, and some of them sing on occasion. (Of course, most of them are not really that brainless, but they pretend to be stupid anyway—the dumber Alestra thinks you are, the less she'll want you dead.)

Caste Sollertia is a weird, catchall mixture of other "creative types." All sorts of career artists wind up here—designers, certain architects, tattoo artists, and anyone else Eleutheria can't shove neatly into their own little category. Sollertium are stereotyped as "free spirits" because they can grow up to be pretty much anything, so long as that thing has a creative component to it. The daughter of an architect can easily become a graphic designer if she so chooses (though it's customary to take your mother's job upon reaching your age of majority.) Sollertium associate with Logos castes like Scientias somewhat frequently—you kind of have to consult engineers if you're designing a building—so they have slightly more respect than Incentores, despite their caste's lack of structure and organization.

The Auxilium castes are where things start to get depressing (if the government surveillance wasn't depressing enough.) Auxilium are "helper castes," and that describes them pretty accurately—they only exist to serve other people. They range from middle-class to extraordinarily, horrifyingly poor, and they don't have the greatest of reputations. Most of the upper castes look down on them at least somewhat, and anyone who makes friends with an Auxilia will be made fun of mercilessly. There is one exception to this rule, though—Ministratora, especially the Imperial servants, are treated with a great degree of respect. Mostly because they report back to Alestra.

Caste Suffragia is the most fortunate of the Auxilium castes. They're called Suffragium because they used to be one of the largest voting blocs back when Eleutheria held elections (same root word as "suffrage.") Suffragium are, by and large, everyday workers just trying to make a living. Regular old salesmen, secretaries, and the like are mostly Suffragium, as well as most retail employees. It's rare to see a Suffragia rise above middle-classs mediocrity, but this is Eleutheria, so dull suburbia and ticky-tacky box houses are pretty decent. And they don't get murdered by furious Ciphers on a semi-regular basis, so... that's a win for them.

Caste Ministratora is domestic workers. Personal assistants, maids, nannies, and some cooks are all Ministratoras, and their quality of life varies depending upon their employer. They can make very good money if they work for very rich people—you'd think noblewomen would treat their servants pretty poorly, but it'd be extremely easy for a resentful maid to slip something lethal into a drink or let important information slip, and sure, they might get themselves killed for it, but what good will that do if you're already dead? Alestra in particular is shockingly nice to the Ministratoras she employs, mostly because she's terrified of them turning on her.

Caste Raeda consists of the people who keep Eleutheria's public transportation system in check. It's a more important job than it sounds, but it's also too dirty and grimy for Scientias to want to do it, so the grunt work falls to the Raedae. They range from train conductors to mechanics to spaceship pilots, and though they're looked down upon by most other Eleutherians, their card isn't actually that bad. They don't make a lot of money, but that means they have more freedom than most, and they can escape Eleutheria with ease if things turn nasty—Alestra doesn't care about them enough to look into it when they vanish mysteriously.

Caste Vilicius is where things start to get human-rights-violate-y. Vilicius is a small caste that only exists to keep the Laborum and Cantatores in check—the second the lower castes start causing a problem, the Vilicii are there to beat them into submission. Allowing Vilicii to go mad with power and indiscriminately maim or kill Obscuri is one of Alestra's favorite ways of keeping Eleutherian society the way she wants it. Vilicii are another group that can get away with murder—provided they're murdering the "bad" people, of course.

And, finally, the aforementioned Obscurus castes. They're called Obscuri because they quite literally live in the darkness, populating the pieces of Eleutheria nobody else will tolerate living in. They're mostly orphans and other people with no family name or legacy, and they're often considered "resources" that can be bought, sold, and used rather than human beings with valuable lives. The one plus about being an Obscurus is that Alestra doesn't care about them, either, which means they can get away with doing "treasonous" things others would be jailed or killed for. On the other hand,  they don't reap the benefits from the government, either—meaning they have no access to programs intended to help the impoverished.

Caste Labora is made up of factory workers. They're one of the largest castes, and they're incredibly strong, rivaling the greatest athletes and gladiators Eleutheria has to offer. This means that, hypothetically, if a Labora was to start a large revolutionary movement, things would be very, very bad—they probably wouldn't win anything, but they'd cause a significant amount of damage before the military came to shut them down. Somehow, though, they never stay strong for very long—every Labora seems to get some horrible, immobilizing disease that cripples their ability to move or communicate once they outlive their usefulness.

Caste Cantator is like the catchall caste for people Eleutheria doesn't like. Bastard kids, orphans, illegal second daughters back when Alestra had a one-child rule, et cetera, all fall into the Cantator category. Cantator is one of the smallest castes, but Alestra hates it more than anything because every Cantator is a living embodiment of a broken rule. She hasn't outright killed them all yet, mostly because doing so would be inconvenient, but she's dangerously unsympathetic to their problems, and she's revoked what little support the government used to offer them. They're a constant thorn in her side just by virtue of existing, and she'd be very happy to see them all wiped off the face of the Earth.

Examples: Lyra

Caste Servum consists of slaves. Chattel slavery hasn't been legal in Eleutheria for over two hundred years, but the fact that this caste is still on the roster shows how little the government cares about enforcing that rule.

"Outcaste" is a sort of general term for a person who doesn't fit into the official hierarchy. It doesn't actually have a negative connotation; whether or not being an Outcaste is a good thing depends on the circumstances of a person's birth.

The Magistratum are the police force. They aren't considered a part of the official caste roster because they're technically military (though they're rarely treated as such.) Certain units of the Magistratum are terrifying and efficient, especially Alestra's not-so-secret police, but most of the time they're kind of a mess because they're always fighting with each other. Most units are ruled by the government, others are run entirely by the various gangs/mobs that pop up in the Eleutherian underground, yet more work for various non-government paramilitary rebel groups, and some just serve themselves. And for every cop who works for an ulterior motive, there's some poor guy whose entire job is filling out paperwork and fighting with idiot sov cits.

"De Caelo" is the what non-Eleutherians get on their paperwork in the place where the caste name should be. It literally means "from heaven" because it most often refers to people from other planets (usually Mars.) Eleutheria doesn't get many tourists (because it's kind of a dystopian hellscape) but it does get visiting diplomats, and the "de Caelo" classification is just a way of saying "no, they don't have a caste; they aren't from here."

Miles (pronounced mee-lays) are soldiers. Most men fall into this category because Eleutheria has compulsory military service. The military has its own ranking system, which is kind of impossible to memorize because it's so needlessly complicated—some of it is meritocratic like a traditional military structure (i.e. you get promoted if you do a good job), but most of it is just based on what you were born as, and it all uses random letters instead of fancy Latin names. The random categories are intended to confuse enemies so they won't intentionally target higher-ranking men—the idea is that they wouldn't single out a TB soldier over a DX soldier, because their names don't indicate how important they are. Of course, different categories have different uniforms and appearances, so the whole "random alphabet soup letter" names are functionally useless.

Examples: Ace, T (or AX-C240 and TB-2115, respectively.)

Luminosa is the title given to the founders of Eleutheria and other historically important people. It means "enlightened," and it's the highest honor an Eleutherian can ever hope to get. It's virtually impossible to receive this title—even Alestra didn't dare award it to herself. Less than fifty people have ever been called "Luminosa," and it's almost always awarded posthumously. Luminosae aren't considered a part of the caste system because they're theoretically above it—everyone on the planet would bow down to them,  even the Ciphers themselves.

Examples: Katherine Amelia Davis, better known as Katerina Aurelia Luminosa (the woman Acidalia's coronation oath references, and ostensibly her ancestor.)

#lore #d e e p e s t l o r e #wren has too much time on her hands #worldbuilding #caste system #eleutheria #terra #solis #eurekaproject

[neonlustmusic]

Our First Review of a Review: Pitchfork’s Review of LATEST HEALTH album gets 0.0

Review of a Review: Pitchfork’s Review of Latest Health Album Gets 0.0

On  February 11, 2019, Pitchfork.com published sasha geffen’s review of the new Health album,  VOL. 4:: SLAVES OF FEAR, which is another example of the tone-deaf-ness of many of the website’s reviewers, and the website’s general unfriendliness and ornery policies. This particularly bellicose article BEGS to be brought to task, so it has the unique privilege of serving as our very first “Review of a Review,” which we have given a 0.0.

I am first of all startled by the ignorance and, I’ll just say it, hatefulness of this review. The review itself seems very un-necessary. Again, I find myself circling to the point where music journalism cancels itself out: what really is the point of publishing a bad review? And further, who approved this review? Who hired this author? What are her credentials? Does she play an instrument? Has she ever been in a successful band? Is she not getting laid? Why is she so hostile? What could possibly explain the venom this author espoused? Another point where music journalism finds itself at a Scylla and Charybdis moment: how do we fairly review a new release? Don’t we need to spend more time with a release? Are all of Pitchfork’s harsh reviews just based on snap judgments and first impressions? Additionally, are the authors assigned to review works generally fans of the artist/genre? There obviously is the potential for biases and conflicts of interests. All of the above could explain the 3.4 that sasha gave to this excellent release, which is only one of the problems NLP had with this review.

The article seems to contradict all of the journalistic principals that we hold here at Neon Lust Productions. It is unfortunate that this review and author is bringing out the worst in us, but when others lack decorum, we don’t have to return it. We will not turn the other cheek, and neither should the band HEALTH, after this disrespectful and repugnant review. Like Nicki Minaj who recently cancelled her BET Festival performance after a diss-tweet, so HEALTH should refuse to participate in any Pitchfork events until some explanation is given for this review. Aside from the usual snobbery and harshness that Pitchfork generally has practiced since day one, this article reaches a new low, it gets personal, and it fails to fulfill any purpose except perhaps the author’s deadline. I’m not even going to get into the article’s organization because I feel like we could spend enough time simply critiquing the problematic statements coming out of geffen’s mouth.

Like all problematic attempts to discuss a work, this review begins with reference to past Health releases, and begins with the basic premise that the band will not be the same since departure of a founding member. It’s definitely a problem when a reviewer doesn’t meet a work on its own terms but rather arrives with a set of preconceptions and expectations; in other words, prejudice. Immediately, geffen’s ignorance rises to the surface here. Without knowing anything about her, I wonder if she has ever written a song or been in a band? I wonder if she has any deep understanding of the difficulties and dynamics of being in a band? And if she has specific insight into the workings of this particular band, if she can speak to the levels of input each member made? I also wonder if, as someone with obvious gender/sex fluidity, and flaming androgyny, why she would be so obsessed with fixed, stable identities. Many bands shed skin after a member leaves, or focus on different aspects of their sound after a reconfiguration. Most bands we know and love have experienced lineup changes; however, too bad for Health, in geffen’s eyes, SLAVES OF FEAR never had a chance to be a good album.

Geffen goes on to say that SLAVES OF FEAR “loses [the] thematic and musical density packed into the first three albums…Gone are the complex, ferocious rattles of percussion.”  In response, I say two things: did you even listen to the album? This album is very dense. The themes are there. And the complex ferocious percussion is gone, but in its place we have these pulsating movie soundtrack drums. The band has evolved. That’s what artists are supposed to do. I wonder if geffen has evolved beyond knowing how to play a C-major on an acoustic guitar. Of course, these are offensive and hostile assumptions I am making, but they are same kind that geffen dished out.

Later in the review she says, the “singer sounds clouded and dulled, like the record’s pervasive, muddy low end is dragging him down.”  I am left with my jaw on the floor. Obviously she doesn’t like the album, but she offers no neutral explication of the album. This review is too personal and biased. It seems like Pitchfork is flirting with becoming the FOX NEWS of music journalism for its obvious bent and skewered POV. Further the review is as negative and wallowing as the author claims of the album. The singer is not cloudy and dulled (if that’s even the accurate description) (I would say “hazy”) but nevertheless, it’s the same style on ALL three previous albums. Additionally, she complains that HEALTH once had “lithe, multifaceted songs that wrapped daring pop melodies in bristling noise.” Um, are we talking about the same Health? I never heard “lithe” (graceful, supple) Health songs. How can geffen simultaneously complain that the band is no longer ferocious AND no longer lithe. The review and author are paradoxical, confused, possibly high on drugs. This is not a sober, straight-faced, honest review that meets the work on its own terms to discuss its merits, technique, etc. I am interested in seeing geffen’s rubric for writing a review, or Pitchfork’s, if they even have one. Or do the writers get one day with an album and fart out words? I’m using fart, as distasteful as that metaphor is, because geffen herself used it.

In another part of the review geffen says, “distorted power chords abound throughout Slaves of Fear, but they tend to come in ones and twos, not progressions. ‘Feel Nothing’ breaks up its vocal segments with a chugging fart of a guitar riff, the kind you’d hear choked out of a flying V and a practice amp at Guitar Center.” The above sentences are deeply problematic, and I am very concerned that a person who writes like this is actually getting paid to write for a respectable internet magazine. These sentences are empty (again like geffen says about SOF), offensive, childish, ignorant. SO MANY ADJECTIVES. A BIG WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS PERSON. First question: does she even play guitar? Why is she so ornery? What is her deal? What is this about distorted power chords in ones and twos? What does that mean? Like Donald himself, our 45th “president”, whenever he speaks about anything, this review fails to explain herself and only deals in empty banalities and nonsense. Also like Donald’s speeches, this review rambles on and on, without any direction, sprinkled with horrific phrases. Additionally, why the hate on flying V’s. What kind of music does this person listen to? For someone who speaks from such a high horse, with such supposed knowledge about heavy music, how could she be so ignorant and unfriendly to the guitar communities and learners who go to Guitar Center. When was the last time she was in one? What a terrible, terrible metaphor.

But the shit tempest that geffen conjured does not end there. Her filthy review goes on to say, “I suspect the song got stuck with the name “Feel Nothing” because there’s already a  nu-metal track called “Numb,” and while this isn’t the place to discuss the relative merits of Linkin Park, their take on a the time-honored tradition of freezing away existential pain at least came with four whole chords and a hook.”

Another WTF moment from Pulitzer-winning and shit-grinning geffen. It looks like in her twitter profile pic she’s staring into a mirror. I hope she takes a long-hard look and thinks about her life. Now she’s criticizing HEALTH for not writing a nu-metal anthem, and comparing them to LInkin Park? Did this article even get edited? Who let this shit fly? It’s literally shit. I hope geffen sorts out her life, texts her parents, and maybe takes a walk. Anything. Please. Consider getting therapy. You are not ok.

Later, geffen says, “so little happens musically on Slaves of Fear that the ear tends to fall on what Duzsik is actually singing, which is scrambled magnetic teen poetry.” What do you mean so little happens? Aren’t as a review you are supposed to consult interviews, other press about the release, to get insight into the artist intentions and background? There is a lot going on. Open your ears. The record is massive. The band put a lot of work into it; look into the interviews they gave regarding SOF. Did you even research who worked on the album or where it was made? Or HOW it was made? Things people seek in a review. And by the way, if you want to call it “scrambled magnetic teen poetry” (which I don’t understand), it’s still nevertheless better written than your miserable review, sasha.

Later, the article complains that the band are “too miserable”, saying “Loss Deluxe” is stuttering, hollow. And that “the band seems content to throw up their hands and just die. Slaves of Fear forgoes riffs and instead just wallows. This shit does not shred.” I disagree, the band does shred. It’s harsh as fuck. Moreover, there is nothing wrong with wallowing and being miserable. If you are so miserable yourself, sasha, why deprive others of accessing that same joyless joy that sustains you?

At the tail end of this difficult review, sasha makes a simple-minded complaint about the band using Slaves in the title, and says something opaque about the connection to the institution of slavery. How dumb do you have to be to actually think that that’s a legitimate concern, or that the band actually intended that connection to be made. Sasha so desperately needs something to say that she is now policing language. This writer is just as lazy and incompetent.  She later complains that the record is not more hopeful and positive enough. In a way, I’m thankful for her review because I’ve never had an opportunity to do this kind of review, and sasha was such an easy target, literally asking for it, to be brought down into the mud herself.

This review is the perfect example of uneducated and unqualified writers who hold the careers of artists in their hands and are irresponsible with this unique privilege. Geffen’s review didn’t need to be written, Pitchfork didn’t need to publish this hate. Everyone here looks bad. Least of all the band, however, who will continue making excellent albums in spite of this. Clearly sasha was not the intended audience, and for some reason, she took it personal, reaching very far into the depths of her confused soul to tarnish her own reputation for whatever reason.

I urge Pitchfork to take a professional look at itself and review its policies on the issues we’ve outlined here.  Please stop publishing this bullshit.

Original article: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/health-vol-4-slaves-of-fear/ 

#pitchfork #health #review #reviewofareview #musicjournalism

[theloverofdragons]

Valar Morghulis ;) I was just wondering, do you have any A:tLA fic recs, specifically Zutara ones??? Thanks!

Valar Dohaeris 😉

Sure! Here are some more of the gems this fandom produces

Multi-chap:

Together at the Horizon by @dragon-hearted-girl;AU After a century, the Avatar has still not been reincarnated, allowing the Fire Nation to continue its conquest of the world. A young Airbender befriends a Waterbender and Firebender, both of whom are living with a terrible curse. Formerly titled “Tale of the Grey Wolf and Golden Hawk”   

i didn’t know i was lonely (’til i saw your face) by @raisindeatre;The “I hit you with my car and was the only one to visit you in hospital” AU I never thought I’d write. Or: how one car crash, one dancing bear, many, many crossword puzzles and a spot of accidental cohabitation lead to… well, if it isn’t love, it’s certainly something.

Love Story by lynny17;A meeting of nations years after the war leads to an unexpected romance as a love story unfolds. 100-word drabble series. Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender This is in response to the LJ katara zuko winter drabble challenge.

Jasmine and Souchong by @archergwen;It’s the Midsummer Festival, and Zuko’s lone night manning his uncle’s tea shop does not go according to plan. ‘He wants to stay like this forever. Just her and an empty tea shop, sugar and smoke on her breath.’

The Stalking Series by @emletish-fish;- Stalking Zuko: Katara has developed a new hobby. At the Western Air Temple she takes to stalking Zuko. Much silliness and shenanigans follow. In chapter 20: Katara and Zuko return home to the others. Katara hates the F word and she comes to a decision regarding Zuko. - Not Stalking Zuko: Katara keeps a journal of all the shenanigans that the Gaang run into. Chapter 49: there is much talk about the future - now that the war is over and everything is changing. Hakoda and Zuko talk. Katara decides that some things in life are worth the risk.- Not Stalking Firelord Zuko: The immediate postwar period from Katara’s ranty POV. shenanigans abound. Chap 24:Song arrives in Ba Sing Se. Shenaniagns ensue.

Oneshots:

Thicker Than Blood by @akaiikowrites;“You have to love all the facets of their soul, or your love is pointless.” A Story of the Girl Who Bends Blood and the Boy Who Loves Her. –Zutara; semi AU; giftfic for dancingqueensillystring-

Rounding the Edges by @sadladybug;It can take some grit and hard work to grind out the sharp edges, but the effort can produce something that shines. A Zutara oneshot in which Katara learns a few new things about Zuko, including the fact that he may be very difficult to live without. Featuring unexpected teamwork, tense training moments, and more than a few awkward conversations. Canon compliant(ish), Book Three beginning sometime between TSR and EIP.

Tremors by CuriosityRedux;She’s free to choose- if she goes back to the Poles, if she travels, if she stays in the Fire Nation just a little bit longer. She can choose to go back to the life she would have led if she’d never revived the Avatar, or she can choose to forge a new path. And she chooses him. Oneshot. Zutara.

Eye of the Storm by @cowlicklesschick;There is a moment of calm, where the wind dies down and the torrents ease and soften, where thoughts can be heard louder than words. It is a moment of relief, but also of fear and preparation, because there always another side to every storm, and the calm never lasts for long. Zutara B3 immediately following the Agni Kai.

Wooing Zuko by @cabbage-foam;Immediately postwar. During a trip to Ember Island to celebrate of the end of the war, Katara feels the need to affirm her sex appeal. Her target? Zuko.

Drabble Series:

Inside This Ancient Heart by @somuttersthesea;“She and Zuko, on the other hand—she feels like they’ve been old forever, even though they’re still young enough by most standards. The baby in her arms coos and she shifts her gently, cradling her head and smiling, only to see a gratifying, toothless smile beam from rounded cheeks in return.“A series of domestic drabbles written for Zutara Week 2016.

On Love and Lust by @theadamantdaughter;A collection of Zutara drabbles and one-shots. Some smut, some not. NSFW chapters will be labelled as such. Heed the warnings and enjoy.

A Little Bit of This, and a Little Bit of That by @kangaroo2010;No matter the time, no matter the place, no matter the circumstances, deep down, they always knew they were meant for each other. A series of short pieces, written for Zutara Month 2015.

you and I will not be shaken by @beifonc;In which Zuko is an awkward barista, Katara is obsessed with ‘vandalizing’ her customers’ food, and they bond over a love for instant noodles and microwavable food. In which Zuko rambles about space at ungodly hours, and Katara is desperate to shut him up.A series of Modern AU oneshots or my excuse to write drabble and not work on my WIPs.

31 Kisses by @darkelf19;A clumsy Zutara story told through 31 kisses. Written for Official Zutara Month 2016 @ Tumblr. Officially Zutara, but it could pass as any ship. Each chapter will be a perfect 100 word drabble. Enjoy!

Smut:

A Week to Know You Again by @elledix;After the first year of their engagement, Katara felt she and Zuko were already drifting apart. In the Fire Nation, their time always belonged to someone else. Now, in the South Pole for Suki and Sokka’s wedding, they hoped to find each other again.

The Business Trip by @thispieceofwork;Zuko’s been gone for two long months and Katara has needs.Takes places between Ch 10 of Confused and the Epilogue. Some PWP fun.

Agni’s Fever by @sohhng;She decides that she loves him for both the fire lilies and the brimstone on his breath. Oneshot. Zutara. ‘Zuko’s hands snag around her wrists. His body is a long line of tension, and now that he’s reared up on his knees to match her stance, she notices that his chest is as bare as it is soaked. “You can’t even begin to understand what’s happening to me.”“I’m trying to understand,” Katara grits. “Isn’t that what you wanted from me from the very beginning?”’

A Challenge Met by @sharkflip;Katara and Zuko meet and reconcile during Day of Black Sun, with the outcome expected in a story written for Zutarotica. AU for the Eclipse.

Love Amongst the Embers by @mmmisora;After the Ember Island Players’ performance, and with the help of a little rice wine, Zuko and Katara decide to rewrite an alternate ending to their story. Oneshot, Zuko/Katara. Rated M.

Hope this was useful!  I’ve got another fic rec list here, if you want to check that out :)

Happy Shipping!

#answers #zutara #fic recs #long post

[salem-xavier-leblanc]

Why do I write?

With the college semester coming to a close, I find myself at an opportunity to finally turn back and give nearly complete focus to my fiction writing.  While I am excited to be in a position where I can grant attention to the thing I want to do, something has entered my mind that hasn't in years:  Why?  Why do I want to write?  Why do I want to make stories?  Sitting back on it and thinking for a bit, I think I have found an answer for myself, but I am unsure if it is the true answer.  I might think I know what my goal is, but I can not be certain, nor can I think I can ever be certain.  There has been much to happen in my life; lots of good and lots of bad.  I have never been one to express myself well in spoken language and typically come off as shy, reserved, uneducated, and above all else, an embarrassment.  I stammer constantly, my spoken language is mostly constituted of slang, and I can have pauses in between words and sentences that create extremely awkward situations.  I want to be able to talk to people though, because friends are the one thing that I've desired more than anything yet always were few to reach out for and required stressful and abounding efforts to obtain.  Many who meet me try quickly to get away to avoid the awkward interaction.  On one hand, I completely understand.  On the other though, I am constantly hurt and angry because of this.  There is an abundance of feelings that I have bottled up in my heart and mind that I wish I could relay to someone, but alas, with my horrid spoken communication I am typically left with no one but myself.  The thoughts and emotions continuously eat away at my mind and confidence, and when they are the only things that you formulate and recognize as language in a day, your thoughts become so real that you begin to hear them as if you had spoken them aloud.  It drives you mad in this situation, because you start to fear if you are going insane, and even begin to wonder that if it's only your mind that has ever genuinely responded to you, that if you are even worth anyone's time on Earth.  This eventually leads to unpleasant thoughts that I'm sure you know what I am alluding to.  I needed to express myself.  It wasn't to aim to impress, it wasn't to test my skills; I needed to get my thoughts and emotions out as soon as possible before I had taken drastic measures upon myself.  I tried writing into a journal, but the words did not come out as the thoughts that were dancing in my heart and mind, but rather just simplified short statements and repetitive nonsensical ramblings.  I cannot pinpoint the exact moment that I decided to turn away from the journal and test fiction writing, but I had always been one to enjoy and put importance on story telling.  When I was a kid and would receive new toys, I was unable to play with them until I gave each action figure a backstory and reason for them to fight in my child fantasies.  I couldn't even pick up dinosaur toys without considering the reason for them to fight each other.  Even if the Tyrannosaurus Rex was simply hungry and was looking for a Stegosaurus to eat, I had to make sure that was crystal clear in my mind before I could play.  Everything needed a story, no matter how petty the situation could be perceived as.  So one day, I wrote a short story.  Unfortunately, I do not remember the characters nor story itself, but I do remember what I did.  I took each character and put a bit of myself into him or her.  I attributed two main characteristics to each character (which is a model I still use to this day): 1) One thing I love about myself 2) One thing I loathe about myself.  I was able to create characters who were able to interact with each other in a world of my own creation in which they had similar problems and ambitions that I had.  I was able to create an outlet that I was not speaking to, but rather speak through.  The words came out without hesitation.  The language was not riddled with my own imperfections spoken in real life.  I was finally able to find a way to get my thoughts out, and for once in my life I felt my heart and mind at ease.  I discovered what the problem was.  I was unable to find myself willing to discuss my thoughts and feelings in a direct manner.  What I needed was to create situations and problems in fiction that can parallel to my anxieties or worries.  For example, in my current horror story, Mother Grim, I made the situation with Jackie fearing the loss of her son to parallel to an anxiety I currently have.  Right now, writing is the only reason I have to live.  If I were to lose the ability to write, I don't think things would bode well for me.  Right now in college and other outlets, there are people who are out to seek people who do not agree with them and try to tarnish those people's names so they can never break into the field they are perusing.  I constantly fear that the day will come when someone will try to censor me and succeed, and this anxiety has been so taxing on me in the past that there was a brief period of time when I had stayed in my bedroom in a depression for days.  I was beyond worried that my creations would be taken from me.  Because of these anxieties, I one day fought off the depression and got out of my room.  Once out, I had decided to take this fear I had instilled into me and create a parallel.  It was then that I was able to relate to my character, Jackie.  I had conceptualized her before, but she was simply just a grim reaper and that was that.  So what I did was I took my anxiety of losing my creations and my ability to write, and bounced that to another scenario.  I then made Jackie a mother; someone who has a love for something she has made and means all the world to her.  While obviously the possibility of losing a child is far more important and frightening than what I had going on in my real life, that was not the point.  The point was I was able to take a situation and craft the type of anxiety and fear I had and create a parallel to confront the problem I faced.  My love for reading and writing is spoken through Jackie's words to and about her son, and my fear and anger of losing my ability to create is demonstrated through Jackie's actions and words towards those surrounding her dilemma.  Jackie speaks the thoughts and feelings in my head that I can't convey in words, and I am able to relieve the stresses of them being bottled up by doing that.  So, when it comes down to it, I think the reason why I want to write is because it is the only way I know how to tackle my insecurities and give myself a reason to live.  I want these stories to inspire and entertain.  I want my writing to possibly give someone an outlet that they can relate to if they cannot find anything out there already to do so.  I want to tell people what kind of person I am through my fiction not through necessarily what happens in them, but rather through the passion I put into it.  I think this is why I want to write.

[jacknicholson1963]

HMS Queen Elizabeth – her first week at sea

On the afternoon of 26th June HMS Queen Elizabeth put sea for the first time. This was a significant milestone in modern Royal Navy history. She is the first British aircraft carrier completed since 1985 and the first true aircraft carrier in the world designed to operate 5th generation fixed wing aircraft.

A good week for the RN…

The RN still has many long-term problems and challenges but can look back on the past week with great satisfaction. Besides the successful departure of HMS Queen Elizabeth, The RN now has 3 ships assigned to NATO duties. HMS Sutherland will join the latter part of NATO anti-submarine exercise Dynamic Mongoose off Iceland, HMS Duncan is about to assume leadership of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 which will enter the Black Sea. HMS Enterprise will deploy to the Mediterranean as the flagship of Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 2. A Wildcat helicopter from HMS Monmouth working with RFA Cardigan Bay, operating in the Indian Ocean saved the life of a sailor from a sinking oil tanker. The second MARS tanker, RFA Tiderace was accepted off-contract from the builders in South Korea while the first ship RFA Tidespring has left dry dock in Falmouth as she progresses towards becoming operational next year. Finally, the order for the first three Type 26 Frigates was officially announced on 2nd July and steel will be cut in August.

The story of QE’s first week at sea is best told using the stunning official video and images of this mighty ship, in her natural element at last…

Leaving the basin

Monday 26th. 16.00 A fine demonstration of seamanship and teamwork. Eleven tugs took this ship out of the basin and through a very narrow lock with inches to spare. Not even a scratch on the paintwork.

Under the bridges

Monday 26th 23.40. Low tide at midnight meant the ship had to pass under the Forth bridges in the dark. As had been carefully calculated, she cleared the bridges with jut a couple of meters to spare. From a media perspective, the timing made a live broadcast of the spectacle a non-starter. Darkness made getting the “money shot” photo of the ship going under the bridges technically difficult. Her planned return to Rosyth, at some point halfway through her trails period, may provide another better photo opportunity.

At sea

Overall media coverage of QE going to sea was pretty muted. Her arrival in Portsmouth sometime in September or October will make a more compelling story as the ship comes into her home port where thousands are expected to be watching. Despite the great photos, it should be remembered that in some ways QE is akin to a newborn. Apart from light machine guns she is unarmed, is still owned by the builders and will not be an operational warship until 2020. Just one week into her trials programme she has not ventured far into the North Sea and returned to anchor at times. She has conducted short passages and racetrack courses testing ship handling and gradually building up to higher speeds, reportedly going above 26 knots.

This view of the two islands on her starboard side gives a real sense of scale. Note the communications mast in the lowered position ready to pass under the bridges.

Flying the blue ensign, at anchor in the Firth of Forth.

Looking purposeful and assured

The Queen joined by two Dukes. HMS Sutherland and HMS Iron Duke arrived to escort her for a couple of days.

Urban myths abound

The empty flight deck of QE on trials has inspired the further repetition of the urban myth that she is “aircraft carrier with no aircraft”. This is not the case and F-35s will fly from her next year. Although the F-35 programme is delivering more slowly than everyone would like, the UK will own around 20 of the aircraft by the time HMS Queen Elizabeth achieves initial operating capability in 2020. Even if there were squadrons of aircraft ready to go, the ship would not be embarking them on initial sea trials. The first aircraft to land on the ship was a Merlin helicopter on a simple sortie to deliver a few supplies and exchange personnel.

Some in the media became overly-alarmed that Russian naval units and aircraft are likely to conduct surveillance on QE. Obtaining acoustic and electromagnetic signatures of naval vessels is a routine task conducted by most militaries on each other. From now, and for most of her sea-going life QE is likely to be escorted by RN units, possibly with an RN SSN nearby to ward off other submarines that may attempt to get shadow her. So far QE has been operating in shallow and noisy coastal waters where submarines would struggle to glean anything very useful.

Laughably the Mail on Sunday warned that HMS Queen Elizabeth transmitting on AIS during her trials posed a security risk and would “allow Putin to track her with a smartphone app”. (AIS is a statutory navigational safety requirement, even for warships in coastal waters for reasons of safety and common sense. Obviously, it can be turned off when needing to be covert, but a ship conducting trials is not attempting to hide).

Many media outlets continue to repeat the total falsehood that computers aboard QE use the insecure and outdated consumer Operating System Windows XP, supposedly leaving her vulnerable to cyber attacks. Most of the RN surface fleet currently uses Windows for Warships, a much modified and more secure OS, based on Windows 2000 with little in common with Microsoft’s consumer offerings. However, QE does not have any Microsoft software on board and uses a completely new system called Shared Infrastructure. UK Defence Journal has investigated this matter in detail.

A fine day to be at sea. So far trials have been conducted in mostly benign weather conditions and calm seas

4.5 acres of flight deck

Friendly fire from an Army-centric press

Journalist Max Hastings, was the self-proclaimed “first man into Port Stanley” after the liberation of the Falklands, a victory only made possible by aircraft carriers. Frothing at the mouth in the Daily Mail, Hastings demanded the QE “be scuttled”. Almost every line of his anti-carrier rhetoric is false or a distortion of the truth. The Times, which should know better, ran an editorial probably delivered straight from Marlborough Lines, rehearsing old complaints that aircraft carriers are too expensive and the Army’s dire state is their fault. The Guardian was a slightly kinder in a rambling piece about past naval glories, trying to cast the carriers as an outdated throwback and concluding they are “ugly”. It was, of course, the same media who were (rightly) castigating David Cameron back in 2011 that we had no aircraft carriers during the Libyan campaign.

Back in 2014 we wrote an antidote to the all the partisan and ill-informed criticism we predicted the carriers project would receive as they progressed.

Another milestone reached. The first aircraft pictured taking off after making the first deck landing on the ship. A Merlin Mk2 of 820 Naval Air Squadron had the honour

Mine’s better than yours…

The Defence Scretary, Michael Fallon rather unwisely taunted the Russians by saying “When you saw that old, dilapidated Kuznetsov sailing through the Channel, a few months ago, I think the Russians will look at this ship [QE] with a little bit of envy”. Although it is true that QE will eventually be far in advance of the ancient Kuznetsov, it should be pointed out that she will be unable to properly conduct combat operations before 2021. The Kuznetsov’s air group is unimpressive but she carries a battery of potent anti-ship missiles while, in part thanks to Fallon, the RN will have no heavyweight anti-ship missiles at all by next year. The Russian surface fleet is mostly old and they have not managed to build a new major surface combatant since the Soviet era. However, the Russian Navy is still very much more powerful than the hollowed-out Royal Navy by any measure. Their surface fleet may be semi-obsolete but it is their submarines that are the real cause for concern.

Perhaps the most evocative image of the week. QE with her escorts foreshadows the future when the RN will be able to field a carrier battle group again.

  All images and Video courtesy of The Aircraft Carrier Alliance, MoD and Royal Navy/HMS Queen Elizabeth

from Save the Royal Navy http://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/hms-queen-elizabeth-her-first-week-at-sea/

#Save the Royal Navy