#Location: DOD

[moghedien]

so the Hugo Awards won’t step in when there are public hate campaigns using the Hugos aimed at getting actually vile shit nominated over multiple years and it is dependent on the community to deal with that, but they will censor nominations for *checks notes* the Chinese government

#yes it isn’t completely confirmed that's why multiple Chinese ex pat creators were deemed ‘ineligible’ #but because they didn’t give a reason for those #and did in other instances give reasons why some nominees weren’t elligible #IT LOOKS REALLY FUCKING WEIRD #ESPECIALLY AFTER WE HAD YEARS OF SAD PUPPY SLATES THAT THEY DOD NOTHING ABOUT #THE REASON THE SAD PUPPIES DIDNT WIN WAS BECAUSE OF THE COMMUNITY UNITING AGAINST THEM NOT FUCKING WORLD CON #but now it’s like ‘oh this author isn’t eligible for unspecified vague reasons’ #for the record I remember Chinese creators specifically warning about this very thing happening when the World Con location was announced #its not like no one considered it it was literally an Issue brought up

[canmom]

The themes of NieR Reincarnation

A post about the recurring elements of Drakenier and the use of branching timelines as a storytelling device. I'll be discussing spoilers for basically every DoD/NieR game.

Records

A somewhat understated recurring motif of the Drakengard/NieR series is the idea of stories or memories of humanity being stored in some massive archive.

It's an idea that first entered the series in NieR Gestalt/Replicant. Early drafts of the game focused on the idea of a world built out of stories and fairytale characters, and while most of this was cut, some remained in the Forest of Myth area.

Following NieR's obsessive love of hopping between different game genres, the story here is delivered through prose/text adventure segments. There is a sense that this area of the game exists as prose, with the characters slightly aware of narration - narration which absorbs the characters until you find a way to escape. Eventually you find out - it's rather cryptic in the actual game, but spelled out explicitly in Grimoire NieR - that it's a huge computer system storing records of the deceased humanity.

In your second visit to the area, the story focuses more on distant history, that all these stories are fragments of memory of the lost pre-apocalpytic world. You encounter a Gestalt (human soul extracted from body) that is eating the memories stored in the tree, and kill it, and for Nier and co., this is enough - but for the player, you really don't know half of what is going on.

In the story The Lost World, which was adapted for the additional Ending E added in the Replicant remake, Kainé returns to the Forest of Myth and finds the computer system expanding. She fights clones of herself before eventually speaking to a mysterious administrator and descending into a virtual world that seems like a corrupted version of her memories. But she's able to connect to her memories of NieR, Emil and Grimoire Weiss, and through that connection cause a kind of timeline collapse effect that allows her to resurrect Nier. Terms from DoD3 such as 'singularity' come back again.

In NieR Automata, the idea of the legacy of humanity becomes increasingly central. While the androids believe they are reclaiming Earth for humanity, the Machine Lifeforms' motivation is in large part driven by their efforts to pore over the records of humanity and learn how to evolve their condition, even by blind imitation. Many of the different Machine Lifeforms you encounter are shaped by their interpretations of human society. The motif of human buildings recreated in white blocks recurs at certain points.

In the final sequence of the game, you climb a tower, and inside it visit simulacra of locations from the Replicant/Gestalt. You learn that the machines have infiltrated the androids' network and downloaded basically all the information the androids have, including all their records of humanity. When the machines' 'Ark' is launched into space, it carries their memories and consciousness in data form.

The YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse raid series in FFXIV continues this idea of obsessive, blind reconstruction. The machines you fight here are now all the more explicitly connected to the apocalyptic shit in DoD; they have also been frantically creating duplicates of YoRHa android 2P, the Bunker and so on in corrupted form. Although the story here has mostly other interests, it's another recurrence of the idea of trying to recreate things that were lost.

Along with this idea of the archive comes the idea of preservation of that archive. Whether by accident or deliberate attack, the survival of the archive is not guaranteed.

This is all absolutely central to what Reincarnation is about.

Branches

The Drakenier series has played around with branching narratives pretty much from the start. It's somewhat infamous for it in fact - did you know that NieR is actually a spinoff of ending E of Drakengard, the one where you appear over Tokyo and have to do a rhythm game? Yeah, so...

Most games are fairly cagey (ha ha) about the mechanics of these branches. Indeed, although we speak of branches, the structure of these games is not really a branching one like a visual novel. The branches and 'endings' are usually unlocked sequentially.

Drakengard/Drag-on Dragoon (DoD1) is probably the closest you get to a traditional branching structure. You can unlock routes in certain missions by fulfilling certain conditions. The exact logic of these branches is not really explained - you can go back to a point before you recruit a party member and get a different branch where they're present for example. That said, it's not like a visual novel where you can be 'on' one branch or another - you can always jump to any level from any timeline.

This oddness of the branches is also lampshaded a little more in DoD3, the game that is most explicit about the nature of the branching timeline. DoD3 is, from the player perspective, a linear game. After you complete the first 'ending', you unlock new levels that appear at earlier points in the timeline, and diverging branches appear. In the later branches, the logic of the world is starting to break down. Party members who you'd recruit later in the story are in your party much earlier, in some cases suffering from amnesia, the implication being that it's an effect of the Flower's corruption.

The game is intermittently narrated by a character called Accord, an android 'Recorder' whose job is to document all the different versions of the story for an unknown party. Accord isn't supposed to intervene in the story, though she occasionally talks to protagonist Zero, and in the final D route, she decides to break the rules and save Zero. Otherwise, she's responsible for 'sealing' branches where it seems the world cannot be saved.

This is Accord:

The final cutscene of DoD3, available only after you beat the ludicrously difficult rhythm game that is the 'final song', shows a bunch of other Accords appearing and talking about what a mess this all is.

Accord's other role in the game is to sell weapons. Another series tradition running back to DoD1 is the 'Weapon Stories'. In each game, you can collect weapons, which can be upgraded through a series of four stages. Each stage unlocks another part of a story. These stories tend to be quite brief - each entry is at most a short paragraph. They also, particularly in the DoD games, tend to be comically grimdark.

DoD 3 came out after NieR Replicant/Gestalt, but in every game since then, there have been cryptic mentions of Accord. In Automata she's mentioned in a note as a weapons seller; in the updated version of Replicant she is mentioned as visiting Nier's village while the party is away on her adventures, and you see a documention that mentions the 'Accord Corporation' supplying magic weapons.

OK, so, put a pin in that, we'll come back to her later.

The side material commits further to the branching idea. The original Drakengard is established to follow from the DoD3 Story Side novel, while Branch A gives rise to the Shi ni Itaru Aka manga and the DoD 1.3 novel. The YoRHa stage plays spawned alternative versions, namely YoRHa version 1.3a and Shōjo YoRha version 1.1a, with the gender of the casts flipped. YoRHa 1.3a also has Accord in it. The anime NieR Automata ver. 1.1a also presents an increasingly diverging version of the events of the game - notably, Adam turns into a multi-armed monster.

DoD2, something of the black sheep of the franchise, was originally written to follow DoD1 ending A; later it was retconned to belong to its own branch. Just 'cause.

With me so far? ...no? Yeah, that's fair. You can read about all the details I've gathered so far here, but in short, there are lots of timeline branches, and multiple versions of several stories with small or large divergences.

Reincarnation

NieR Re[in]carnation is a gacha game that's been running for the last three years, and is going to be shut down at the end of April. At the time it came out, it was acknowledge for having unusually nice graphics for a mobile game, but rather desultory, grindy, repetitive gameplay. Which remained true throughout the game's life, so I can't exactly recommend playing Reincarnation, especially at this point.

But! I would definitely say it's worth your time to dig up the story on Youtube/Accord's Library if you're into NieR stuff. I won't be going into all the ins and outs of the story and how it all fits together in this post, but I am gonna talk about how it's structured.

NieR Reincarnation places you in a vast stone city called the Cage, calling to mind the environments in Ico. At the outset, you play as a young girl travelling with a weird ghost-like creature called Mama, tasked with restoring the memories stored in objects called 'dark scarecrows' which are being subverted and corrupted by black birds which form into various monsters.

Within each chapter of NieR Reincarnation, you get a short story in four parts, presented in a kind of cutout style, which are the four segments of a weapon story. You collect the weapon and the character.

The Cage is shaped by the content of the weapon stories somehow bleeding into the simulated setting. A character's memories can be used to restore the stories to their proper course. It is possible to interfere in small ways with the worlds of the stories.

The corruption of the stories tends to involve subverting characterisation to make them crueller, more prone to random violence etc. - or points when a character could be threatened in a narratively unsatisfying way. For example, a peace-loving runaway prince could be turned into a warlike king.

Over the course of the first arc, you discover that the girl you are playing is actually a monster who has taken the form of a human girl and, regretting it, wants to give her her embodiment back. The second half of the arc has you playing the girl trying to reunite with her monster friend; at the end, you get her own backstory as a victim of brutal prejudice. After all is said and done, both characters transform into weapons, which Mama picks up and hides away.

The second arc, The Sun and the Moon, deals with a brother and sister from present-day Tokyo. Both of them have been transported into the Cage by more of the weird ghost thingies, to participate in a strange ritual that is allegedly going to restore the Cage. The rules are highly mystical - a significant sacrifice is needed.

In the most recent arc, The People and The World, the characters all emerge from their stories as the Cage becomes increasingly corrupted. We finally get the long awaited point where these characters can interact with each other, and advance the stories from a series of tragic vignettes to something more. At the same time, we get a lot more allusions to other games in the series - from the Lunar Tear room where Emil memorialised Kainé and later 9S memorialises 2B, to a brief appearance Devola and Popola.

There's even a nod to Yoko Taro's other terminated gacha game, SINoALICE, which is going to be made into a movie oddly enough. There's a wry nod to the game being shut down.

And in the most recent chapters we find out that the Cage is actually a server on the moon containing records of humanity - 10H from A Much Too Silent Sea is one of the main characters. 'Mama' is actually the Pod tasked with overseeing the archive, and wiping 10H's memories whenever she learns too much - though it seems at some point 10H learned the truth and affirmed that she'd protect the archive anyway and they stopped wiping her memory.

Over the course of the chapter, 10H helps the gang make their escape from the moon through the androids network, to Earth. But when they get to Earth, they find themselves in a strange white city more resembling the Cage.

We'll finally get some answers, maybe, later this month. Anyway...

So, these records come from multiple diverging timelines, and they take the form of weapon stories. You have a unity of the ideas of character - weapon - memory - world. A record is simultaneously a tragic series of events, a person who can manifest inside the Cage itself, a simulated world which other people can visit, and a weapon.

In addition to the main storyline chapters and 'character stories', each character is associated with two additional 'EX' storylines, termed Dark Memories and Recollections of Dusk. Each one is a much more substantial narrative than most in the game.

Some of these EX stories clearly take place in different timelines to the first ones we encounter. Akeha's story, for example, takes place after her death in the original version. For the brother and sister from the Sun and the Moon arc, originally from present-day Tokyo, their Dark Memories take place in the backstory to NieR Gestalt/Replicant - the period where humanity is dying out to White Chlorination Syndrome and fighting monsters called the Legion. In this one, before the siblings could be torn apart by family drama and resentment, the apocalypse happens. Both of them end up coming into their own as heroic fighters. In the finale arc, the characters learn a bit about these alter egos, and it's made very explicit that this is a different timeline.

The monster Levania's Dark Memory is especially weird. It's the story of a salaryman who plays a monster called Levania in an MMORPG. His MMO character inspires him to live more bravely in the real world, and his life seems to be improving, but he is murdered by a jealous coworker. He wishes for reincarnation as he dies - classic isekai stuff. But the connection to the Levania you encounter in the main story is far from clear. Are all versions of Levania derived essentially from this man's tulpa?

The nature of the 'enemies' attacking the Cage is still not yet clear. They take the form of black birds. The birds are given a small amount of dialogue and characterisation, and they seem to not be malicious, just confused. The girl from the first arc in particular tends to interact with them sympathetically. However, they seem to be connected with the mysterious 'God' who was trying to destroy the world in DoD1, and the Angels and Flower of DoD3.

The birds are able to gathe together to manifest much larger monsters, the largest being giant elk and fish called Cursed Gods. During the finale arc, one of these becomes something that resembles the Mother Angel from DoD1 - and yes, there is a rhythm game - though mercifully a pretty easy one.

In the same arc, the character Yurie, an AI city overlord with grandiose ambitions and a loathing of imperfection attempts to download the entire history of humanity from the Cage and become a more perfect being. She succeeds, only to find the answers disappointing...

This is perhaps the closest thing we ever get to an explicit statement of what all these stories and histories add up to, but despite all this, the throughline is very strongly that these stories are essential to preserve. NieR characters exist in small groups, and it is their intense connections to these others, their treasured memories of travelling together, that motivate them to fight to preserve that thing, even if the results are destructive.

Similar themes emerge for example in Noelle's Recollection of Dusk story, which sees her travelling to preserve a place valued by her sister in crystal. And they also connect to the theme of sacrifice - the recurring ending device where the player must delete their save data in order to help someone (something echoed in Hina and Yuzuki at the altar of the sun and moon, or Levania and Fio). It's perhaps fair to say that nothing is more valued in the world of Nier than memories of a treasured person.

What about Accord? She has in fact made a brief cameo in Reincarnation already...

It seems incredibly likely that Accord originates from the Cage, and the accumulation of weapon stories is accomplished by androids like her. Definitely in the fandom there's a lot of excitement for the idea that Accord - something of a fan favourite - will show up at Reincarnation's ending.

So mystery solved, the Cage exists in the world of NieR Automata on the moon server? Not so fast - there are various discrepancies which seem to suggest that the world of the Cage exists in a separate branch than the one we see in Automata. For example, the androids are aware that the humans are dead and what remains on the moon is a huge archive of their memories; the humans seem to have survived much longer; 2B and 9S seem to have died in different circumstances. There are other oddities which fans have compiled.

And yet, despite being a divergent timeline with a much older point of divergence, some things seem to be fixed. There is still a YoRHa, still a 10H deceived about being on the moon, still a 2B and 9S.

One popular fan theory is that Reincarnation belongs to the NieR Automata anime (ver1.1a), since Adam turns into a monster there similar to the ones in Reincarnation. The black birds are reasoned to be the Machine Lifeforms, since we know they come from Earth. I'm not 100% sure of this, but maybe?

Anyway, that's basically the gist of it.

A story told through permutations

In many fictional series with a shared universe, there is an effort to maintain a consistent shared universe, so all the different events can fit into a timeline with understandable cause and effect and characters living out their lives. Even when this proves impossibly unwieldy, as in comic books or Star Wars, the attempt is made.

NieR does not really take this approach. The creators leave many details of the world, such as place names, incredibly vague - the focus is always on telling an emotional story with characters. There is, as we've seen, an almost gleeful willingness to declare another new timeline.

There is also a certain aspect of repetition, or more kindly reiteration - the same core character dynamic revisited and retold in various forms. (2B9S gets the worst of it). A character is something like a principle or ideal, and each story shines another light on that 'core'. In the earlier storylines of Reincarnation, it became quite frustrating because it seemed like e.g. the character event stories were just rehashing the same idea rather than advance the story.

However, the more accustomed I get to this style of storyline, the more I think this kinda works. It is of course quite similar to the ideas proposed towards the end of Homestuck, or to time loop stories - the idea of varying the contingent circumstances to try to better illustrate the core characterisations and dynamics.

Yoko Taro has talked about how he constructs stories from a very simple idea, typically a moment of high emotional impact at the climax, and then works backwards to figure out what sort of story could lead into that. In Reincarnation, each character gets fairly limited time to establish themselves, so they tend to be defined in terms of a pretty narrow high concept.

For example, Akeha is an assassin in a vague historical Japanese setting; her introductory story sees her decide for the first time to disobey her lord after she finds another person who has been treated as instrumentally as her. Most Akeha stories focus on her assassinations, her relationship to her retainer, and what she sacrifices to perform the duty. Only her Dark Memory lets us see an Akeha who has escaped that life - it's a simple story about preparing food, but that's given meaning by all the other Akeha stories.

Hina and Yuzuki are defined by the same traits in their flashy scifi Dark Memory stories as in the more mundane ones - Yuzuki the quiet outcast, Hina the self-sacrificing star. Fio is defined by kindness in the context of abjection, seeing the good in monsters. Levania stories are about the desire for escape and transformation. Argo is always a shitty dad who only feels alive while climbing mountains.

The staticness of these characters seems on some level to be the point - in that we are told in Hina and Yuzuki's story that the mechanism of the Cage is to sort characters into 'Light' and 'Dark' natures, and push them to inevitable conflict, even if they try to break free. In the final arc, the characters seem to finally approach some resolution as they leave their contexts behind. Given the themes of Automata in rejecting an inevitable tragic fate, similar movement may be at work. There's an ambiguity - the need to hold on to even tragic histories, vs the wish to not be confined to them. (Perhaps it's significant that it's called the Cage...)

With so many balls in the air and so many mysteries still unanswered, it's hard to figure out how Reincarnation can deliver a satisfying resolution in just one remaining chapter, but the final arc has been really cooking so who knows! But I'm also coming to appreciate it as a kind of broader lens to notice all these recurring elements and tie them together.

Stories about alternate timelines and branching narratives are very common nowadays, particularly as a tool for revisiting a nostalgic franchise. Something something effect of the fan wiki era. So I can't exactly say NieR is doing something completely unique, but I do think there is something to its fragmented, collage-like approach to putting together story elements. There's something quite honest about it - an ability to say 'these details aren't important'.

Yoko Taro always talks about himself as an entertainer rather than an artist. And probably it is true that a lot of this eemerged from an iterative design process rather than being the plan from the beginning (the first draft of NieR envisioned it as something closer to what SINoALICE ended up being, about a world of fairytale characters; NieR Automata began life as backstory for an idol project). There's definitely a strong sense that it's being improvised. And yet despite that, it does feel like it is cohering into some sort of picture, that there is an artistic throughline to all this.

Or perhaps that's just the effect of getting way too invested in something. I won't deny that NieR brings out the fan in me.

Anyway Accord had better show up next month. Guys. You've been teasing us for so long...

#nier #nier replicant #nier automata #nier reincarnation #drakengard #drakengard 3 #computer games #Youtube

[wof-reworked]

whats ur opinion on dragons having different houses bc of class or tribe? i love dragon architecture </3

I'm such a fan of dragon architecture oh my god. One of my biggest worldbuilding gripes (besides the lack of clarity around food/cooking) is that the actual housing arrangements of the dragons are so vague????? Like towns are a thing but also Tui seems to imply most dragons sleep in caves even though it makes no sense for any of the other tribes???? like ma'am most of your dragons live in swamps, jungles, or deserts where the hell are they even finding them

Basically, we have functionally no point of reference for anyone who isn't royalty (Winter, Turtle) or grew up in such specific circumstances that don't reflect back onto broader dragon society to the point where their input is rather moot (Moon, the DoD, Peril, Qibli). Qibli is the closest thing we have but the Scorpion Den is a combination of a shanty town and refugee camp that makes it harder to draw conclusions for the rest of the population. (We're also not counting Darkstalker bc. well. 2000 years)

For my writing, my stance is usually that dragons are primarily nomadic. Dragons who live in/around towns stay there primarily for reasons like child-raising, business, injury, apprenticeships, or just laying low/blending into a crowd. Like with how dragons don't need to cook their food to eat it, dragons are not dependent on housing and are able to comfortably sleep and live outside (barring extremes such as the central desert or really the entire Ice Kingdom). So, the exact permanence of a dragon's stay in town is situational and tribe/job-dependent more than anything else.

As far as the tribes go, Icewings and Nightwings are the most home/town oriented tribes- both tribes have the rarest approach to housing in that almost all members of both tribes live and sleep primarily in one home location that they return to for the majority of their life. For Icewings, this usually looks like multi-generational families that split off into new homes/houses only once there's a real need for it. On the other hand, Nightwings living on the volcano lived primarily together in caves/dormitories divided by age- even though this no longer exists, most Nightwing towns and houses involve many shared buildings and resemble something more like tight clumps of houses or caves.

For the majority of the tribes (Skywings, Sandwings, Mudwings, Rainwings), most dragons will have multiple houses that they move between as needed or wanted. While outliers exist, most dragons have at minimum two homes/dens: one in a more populated area that might operate as a job homebase or a place to receive guests, and a more isolated, private home that exists for the dragon in question to stash any items of importance or valuables, as well as eat and sleep. For more nomadic dragons, banks exist in towns to hold treasure, freeing up their secondary/non-work den to be little more than a shack or burrow with sleeping arrangements. More houses usually equals more money/class power, up to a certain point, where you start to see buildings more akin to Vulture's mansion or even the Royal Palaces, where one building or collection of buildings is large/grandiose enough to host other people's jobs and living spaces (on a related note, gardening is a very stereotypical high class hobby to have, as it shows both an abundance of leisure time and of space).

Between these tribes, Skywings are the most town and home oriented- Skywings often live primarily in towns and only leave for what is essentially a nesting den, as without rudimentary flight skills, Skywing towns are borderline unnavigable and occasionally hazardous for dragonets. Even with their relative isolation, nesting dens in the past have often been located near other nesting dens, creating something of a nesting village for Skywings parents to socialize and raise their hatchlings. Queen Scarlet's reign did irreparable damage to this style of collective child-rearing and nesting dens as a whole. With her breeding programs, most Skywings were forced into partnerships for the sole reason of producing more future Skywing soldiers, and the majority of eggs were instead stored in mass hatcheries until their hatching day.

On the other hand, Mudwings are the most isolated and nomadic, in part due to the structure of sib groups creating a situation where most Mudwings hatch into life with a social network already established. The Mud Kingdom is also temperate enough that housing isn't always necessary, and most Mudwings only congregate in towns for business or seeking a mate.

Finally, Seawings are almost entirely nomadic, and will usually move between a territory, with small dens and hoards scattered within. These territories can hold many multiple families, or they can exist for a single dragon- Seawing property laws are almost nonexistent and mostly maintained by honor and frequent patrolling of the territory to maintain order and mark it as lived space. These territories aren't uninhabited land either- Seawings will grow seaweed and herd schools of fish on their territory, and many take a certain landscaper-esque role, shaping the terrain into something aesthetically pleasing or useful to the inhabitant and helping signal to other Seawings that the land is occupied. One of the few times Seawings will settle in one den or space is for a hatching den- this lasts from the laying of the eggs until the hatchlings become able to swim well enough to keep up with their parents.

I've been pretty burnt out on WOF writing for a while, but this was honestly a refreshing change of pace from what I've been working on recently. Thanks for giving me an excuse to ramble about dragon housing !! I'd love to hear what other ppl think, the more headcanons the merrier :>

#wings of fire #wof #wof headcanon #wings of fire headcanon #wof hc #worldbuilding #my headcanons #mudwings wof #skywings wof #nightwings wof #sandwings wof #rainwings wof #icewings wof #I didn't talk abt rainwings bc we see how they mostly live but just know I think there are other rainwing towns #bc the idea that this entirely peaceful and unbothered tribe with abundant food is still small enough to fit into a village is insane

[sisterofficerlucychen]

the way i'm sitting here like  👀 6x10 dod part 2 chenford canon edition? 👀 

slight spoilers below?

i keep thinking back to what bts content we've gotten for it and what i can tell from it at least?

ends with some type of op ... maybe full circle to the premiere?

location heavily involves a laundromat because they've been filming in it for almost two weeks?

also involves some type of fight/gun fight outside because nolan's covered in dirt, angela has dirt on her face/leaves in her hair

there is a gun fight because angela's vest catches a bullet

lucy goes off on her own at some point before/during/after they're all at the laundromat because she's wearing the same clothes from that op

tim may also go off on his own because of that truck fight stunt??

but there's also the bts pic with tim, lucy, and the guy from the truck

something happens to lucy??? maybe up, maybe abducted again?? because melissa said her last words for s6 last week but was there for last day of shooting s6 — the one thing that makes me go back and forth though is that they'll film scenes out of sequence?? but it's weird that there was a difference between that like it was definitely a little teaser of something

#the rookie #chenford

[ilickedyoursaltlamp]

Sometimes i think about how close Starflight was to having nightwing powers. All the DoD hatched on the brightest night. Who knows how strong he could have been if he’d just been outside when he hatched. Morrowseer probably would have killed him very dead though.

Also I wonder if Sunny could have been psychic? Due to her being a hybrid. She’s got some weird DNA, but Darkstalker was psychic and a hybrid. Maybe I’ll write this. Maybe an AU where the DoD were hatched outside. Location swapped with the backup dragonets or something. I imagine Sunny and Starflight would always be having silent conversations. Through mind reading, maybe Starflight would be able to see after losing his eyes. I dunno. This was just gonna be a shitpost about Starflight getting stiffed out of the strongest NightWing powers since Darkstalker.

#wings of fire #wof #starflight #wof starflight #wings of fire starflight #starflight wings of fire #dragons

[usafphantom2]

Aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford will return from mission in defense of Israel

The largest aircraft carrier in the United States returns from the Mediterranean Sea, where it has been parked for almost three months.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 03/01/2024 - 08:27in Military, War Zones

The U.S. Navy has determined that its largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), will return home after a nearly three-month mission to defend Israel in the Middle East.

The USS Gerald Ford has been stationed at a close distance of Israel's attack in the Mediterranean Sea since October, in an effort to prevent the country's war against Hamas from turning into a regional conflict. However, the U.S. Navy states that the ship will begin its journey back home "in the next few days" and will be replaced by the USS Bataan - an amphibious assault ship named after a battle fought in the Philippines during World War II.

The USS Gerald R. Ford is one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world and the latest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the United States. He was already in the Mediterranean - involved in naval exercises with Italy - before receiving orders to provide support to Israel's Defense Forces after the October 7 terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas.

“Immediately after Hamas' brutal attack on Israel, the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group was ordered to go to the eastern Mediterranean to contribute to our regional deterrence and defense posture,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin extended Ford's detachment three times in the hope that his presence would dissuade Iran and groups aligned with Iran, especially Hezbollah from Lebanon, from attacking Israel.

The ship, which carried about 5,000 sailors and more than 100 warplanes in eight squadrons, is now returning to its naval base in Virginia. However, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower will remain in the Red Sea to face the recent attacks on commercial ships perpetrated by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

“The DoD (Department of Defense) will continue to leverage its posture of collective force in the region to dissuade any state or non-state actor from escalating this crisis beyond Gaza,” the Navy said.

At the end of October, a U.S. Navy warship located in the northern Red Sea shot down three cruise missiles along with a batch of drones that were launched from Yemen and appeared to target Israel, the Pentagon said.

Tags: Military Aviationaircraft carrierUSN - United States Navy/U.S. NavyWar Zones - Middle East

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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From 2024, Russian Aerospace Forces will receive Su-57 fighters with new AL-51F1 engines

02/01/2024 - 09:13

[kingsanddragonsandgods]

I have two fanfics in my head, both OC's are a child of Daemon by Rhea Royce(this is one character male or female I wish eisted in canon, a child by those two) and I have no idea how to start to write.

#1- Aegon the Elder x OC- she's Aegon's age, perhaps a few months older, conceived during Daemon exile to the Vale post the heir for a day debacle. Daemon is not a present father during her formative years and later on she no longer cares. She dislikes her stepmothers(for a number of reasons). She's not close to her stepsiblings or half-siblings, she does not hate or dislikes them, she just doesn't care to care🤷🏻‍♀️. Her presence changes Aegon (I do believe that love and a gentler touch early in life would have made a difference in his life) Alicent is too afraid in the show to be gentle with her eldest, Aegon was supposed to be strong, to be the shield that keeps them all alive, but obviously tough love did not work. Hormonal Aegon is infatuated with her so he WANTS to be worthy of her. She doesn't just live her life waiting to watch what it is to come, she prepares the stage, she does not underestimate the other faction--her mother's rock divorce always in mind--.

#2-ViserysxOCniece- I hate Viserys just as much as the next person, but just imagined a character that is and does everything that TB stans accuses Alicent of: she was probably one of Aemma's ladies-in-waiting, instead of Jaehaerys and Rhaenyra's handmaid(historically, the easiest way into the King's bed, is through the Queen's bedchambers), a seductress nymph (in the book there's the rumor that they had a affair while Aemma was still alive, so perhaps who knows🤷🏻‍♀️), seducing poor Viserys into giving her a crown and make her his Queen, Viserys reasoning: she is a better/neutral choice, a Targaryen Princess, a woman grown(14/15yrs old)no one can feel slighted, she's older than Laena, renew the Vale/Targaryen alliance, joining his line to his brother's(Viserys just wants to fuck his niece but he must convince himself that he is better than his brother and better than the average men). She actually plots to put her eldest on the IT, she's giving him sons, she's enduring his attentions, she wants her reward. She has affairs with younger, handsomest men than her husband(There are those that accuse Alicent of f*cking Criston🤷🏻‍♀️ and there were theories that Daeron would be their love child and that's way he was sent to Oldtown😔 or saying she's a who're for showing her feet to Larys). She does take power when her husband is too sick, and she actually does keep him alive and bedridden. What a villain she would make. The Cersei in Cersei's head😂.

(one thing that annoys me is the dumbness or lack of thought present during the DoD, like: there is always talking of how dangerous Daemon is, but what was done to prepare? Why aren't the children sent away to safer locations? Why were the TG armies going around like headless chickens? Why were they still stuck in knightly honor and strategy when their enemies were using guerrilla tactics? Why not set fire to the enemy's ships in the middle of the night? Those kind of things just blow my mind, this is like #1 in warfare)

I want more Machiavellian characters.

#house of the dragon #team green #aegon ii targaryen #anti team black #pro team green #alicent hightower #anti rhaenyra stans #anti team black stan’s #hotd fic

[esther-dot]

hello! i’ve followed for a while but never talked to you. thank you for being such a great jonsa and asoiaf source. i’ve been thinking lately about how sansa’s vale arc might proceed and was curious if you know of any theories about when/how her marriage to tyrion might end.

sansa needs to be unwed for littlefinger’s schemes to work. he seems to want sansa to believe he’s just waiting around for tyrion to die, but that doesn’t seem in character for him. it seems more likely he is actively trying to end her marriage behind the scenes.

do you think she’s likely to stay married to tyrion for much longer? or might her married/unmarried state end up as convoluted as the northern succession, maybe with a decree of annulment floating around somewhere like robb’s will?

Aw! Thank you so much for saying so! I really enjoyed your tags contributing to the Rhaegar & David parallels, and your post about his name.

I haven't been reading much meta this year, so I may have missed it, but I don't know that we've ever developed a specific theory about when Sansa's marriage to Tyrion would be handled! We've sometimes talked about a nice ol' widowing which is fun (but not what we'll get imo), @kellyvela found an exchange in which Martin said that someone doesn't have to go to the High Septon for an annulment but obviously will have to request it in their own name and it would reveal their location (link), so that means, it can't be safely done while Sansa’s pretending to be LF's daughter. She could do it once in Winterfell, and we've talked about the possibility of Tyrion trying to bring the North to Dany's side in DoD 2.0 via his marriage to Sansa, and if that is the route Martin wants to go, it would be pretty juicey, and really fuel Tyrion's rage if Sansa has already had their marriage annulled. That's a fun way to play it.

We've also talked about post a girl in grey trip to the North, considering loyalty to Ned and hatred for Lannisters, the North might just say fuck it, we don't recognize that forced marriage. Or, and I really do think this is possible for drama's sake, we have the two religions, and they might use that to defend not recognizing the marriage and, considering the byronic Jon quote, and how often bigamy pops up in gothic/victorian lit, I don't dismiss the idea that Sansa might marry someone before the old gods prior to an annulment being secured. That might mean, the annulment doesn't happen until close to the end of the story. I personally like the idea of a secret Jonsa wedding, but lot's of Jonsas expect it to be public after R+L=J to reconcile the Jon KitN turning out to be a Targ debacle. Either way, this would mean when Jon reunites with his friend Tyrion, they're both married to Sansa which is also a very sick twisted fun way to play it! (Stop throwing tomatoes, y'all know that would be funny!)

As for LF's current plans, I have no idea! He believed Cersei would end Tyrion, he'd then get rid of Cersei, and that at that point he could reveal who Sansa was:

"A marriage . . ." Her throat tightened. She did not want to wed again, not now, perhaps not ever. "I do not . . . I cannot marry. Father, I . . ." Alayne looked to the door, to make certain it was closed. "I am married," she whispered. "You know."

Petyr put a finger to her lips to silence her. "The dwarf wed Ned Stark's daughter, not mine. Be that as it may. This is only a betrothal. The marriage must needs wait until Cersei is done and Sansa's safely widowed. And you must meet the boy and win his approval. Lady Waynwood will not make him marry against his will, she was quite firm on that." (AFFC, Alayane II)

No man can wed me so long as my dwarf husband still lives somewhere in this world. Queen Cersei had collected the head of a dozen dwarfs, Petyr claimed, but none were Tyrion's. (TWOW, Alayne I)

The mention of the queen's name made her stiffen. "She's not kind. She scares me. If she should learn where I am—"

"—I might have to remove her from the game sooner than I'd planned. Provided she does not remove herself first." (AFFC, Alayne I)

Cersei had the motivation to go after Tyrion, so it made sense to me he thought she'd handle it, and then he'd handle her, but seeing as what he wants to do is reveal Sansa as herself, get the KotV to go North and reclaim Winterfell, I'm not sure what he is currently planning, now that he says his timetable is screwed? Unless he thinks the mayhem of KL, Cersei's current trouble there, Aegon and then Dany's arrival will allow him to get the annulment undiscovered? Cersei is at odds with the High Septon, so maybe he thinks he could get away with it? That doesn't make sense to me though, not with the way news flies. I guess the weather is something of a shield, but not enough. Maybe he planned to kill someone and try to pass them off as Tyrion? Marry Sansa to Harry quickly after and take her North where Cersei wouldn't be able to get her? The emphasis is on Tyrion being alive, not the annulment, but maybe that's a misdirect. I really can't say. If any of you have spec, let me know and I’ll reblog it!

#jonsa #don’t worry—I’ll stop clogging up the tag soon 😂 #anti tyrion #dot chat #< for filtering

[1eaf-me-alone]

𝕬 𝖍𝖊𝖎𝖟𝖔𝖚 𝖒𝖚𝖗𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖒𝖞𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖞

Word count: 1.9k

Timing: this is before you and Heizou are in a relationship or anything but you have started to catch feelings for each other- expressing that with some teasing.

Other: gender neutral reader, Heizou is still an amateur detective, too confident in himself.

warnings: mentions of suicide and murder.

— — — — — —

Heizou puffed his chest in pride. “Another case cracked, another victory for me!”

The two of you had been working on a case for a while, and although you seemed to think that it was unfinished  Heizou smiled as everything appeared  to have been pieced together. Having already reached a conclusion to the case marking it as “ massacre and murder .”  

The two of you sat there, as you hummed in thought. You couldn’t help but stop thinking about the fact that something was missing. There were holes in the story, the dots weren’t fully connected and there was still stuff that hadn’t been solved or uncovered from the unveiling of the murderer. You couldn’t help but shake off the feeling that the person you had caught wasn’t the right one. 

You looked towards Heizou, noticing his red-marroon hair as it shon in the light of the room- you composed your thoughts.

“I feel like we caught the wrong person…”

Heizou laughed as he shuffled closer to you, his eyes glistening as he smiled  “we’ve already solved the case, and I for one know I haven’t gotten anything wrong- me Heizou, number 1 detective of them all.” 

You sighed as you rolled your eyes at him. 

You stood up as you walked back towards the evidence- Heizou following close behind you. On the floor lay a scrap of fabric from a satchel (the rest being on your desk), a broken knife and a shattered mirror. You had been sampling for fingerprints for the last few days but to no avail. All of the items were smashed and blurred with fingerprints and it was hard to identify any of them. 

Your study was full of stuff for the case. A pin board was laid with different locations and crosses with messy scribbles of Heizou’s writing. Stacks of sheets and papers lay on the desk each with a description of the victim, their age, sex, DOB and DOD- you squinted trying to read what he had written. Around some locations were some post-it notes with additional writing on it.

You shook your head as you sat down. “but I feel like we’re missing something…..” you couldn’t help but get rid of the feeling that something was wrong. The case seemed too easy. Too planned, everything you and Heizou has found seemed to have purposefully been there. You rubbed your temple trying to think. 

“Trust me ok? I’m sure we got everything right. “ Heizou reassured you as he walked behind  you and lay his hands on your shoulders…

You turned around from the chair you were sitting in as you nearly slammed into his face- Heizou swore he had seen you blush but the emotion had disappeared in less than a second. Archons why were you so stubborn with your feelings? he could make anyone fall for him apart from you he thought. 

“What were you doing?” You raised an eyebrow. 

Heizou looked at you “what? did you want more?” He asked playfully. You rolled your eyes. 

“you’ve got a lot of confidence- one day I’d like to see it all deflate like a balloon” you muttered trying to concentrate on the notes you had written 

“Oh come now -“ Heizou replied with a false hurt expression.

You stared back at your notes- the only thing you had gathered was that all the people had died around the same time with different deaths, all of them made to look like a suicide  (but as the two of you found out) was murder. You had only seen the dead people once and you gave a mental note that you wanted to inspect them again. Something was wrong about this case. 

You pulled out your notebook, scribbling something as Heizou looked at you with a smile. You refused to believe that the case was solved but you needed evidence to prove against it. 

You flipped  back to the first page of the case, dated back to around a month ago. Some of the pen had smudged but it was still legible, trying to re-read what you had written:

Date: xx:xx:xx

Case number: #383838

Victims death: suicide murder

Appears to have jumped off pushed off a window between the times of 11:45 pm and 12:00am 

Stated by the coroner (with proof from the temperature of victims body.) 

Location: Konda village

Previous records show that they were depressed- were about to do therapy.

Arrests made: n/a

Witnesses: none 

You flipped forward a few pages

Date: xx:xx:xx (a few weeks after first murder)

Case number: #3843938

Victims death: murder 

Appears to have been drowned in the river  between the times of 10:00 pm and 11:30pm 

Stated by the coroner (with proof from the temperature of victims body.) 

Location: River located next to konda village between byakko plain

Previous records show that the person has a habit for being drunk and has a mental illness 

Arrests made: n/a

Witnesses: none 

The next few pages were filled with similar deaths. 

“Stabbed to death….”

“Hung by a rope….”

“Fatally wounded….”

“Burnt….”

You wanted to congratulate the cleverness of the murderer though. Each of the victims deaths had looked like a suicide at first (and each had a reason to die too- that being depressed, an addict or a mental problem) all the “suicides” were well spread out too so there hadn’t been any suspicion.  You scrunched your eyebrows frowning remembering a detail from the case . “Something isn’t adding up.”

“Heizou?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that no-one has heard or known about the murder? Everyone in the whole village seems to be unaffected by it or not care. The people we questioned  from the village said that they had never really known them,  now. Don’t you think it’s a little weird that a small town like that- where word spreads quickly and even the smallest news is known by everyone- that no-one knows about this? “

Heizou dragged a chair and sat next to you. He frowned as he paused. 

“Well…..I think you’re overthinking this. We’ve already caught the person and you should go get some rest.”

“But I need to work-“ You yawned resting your face on your hand as you browsed through your endless notes. 

Heizou looked at you. It seemed  you had overworked yet again and he couldn’t help but give a light chuckle  as he saw your cheeks squished on your hand . 

“You should go to sleep now. Please.  I told you we’ve solved the case and there’s no need to worry.” 

You shook your head again stubbornly. “No I just feel like we’re missing something.”  

Although you were still unsure about the ending result of the case you did decide to go and rest. You looked terrible, your eye bags sagged on your face, your eyes were half open, your vision was starting to blur and you had forgotten to eat a couple meals….

“Come on now…” 

Heizou attempted to hug you, leaning in about to touch you. 

“Again? You gave an exaggerated gasp “It’s barely been a few minutes, and you’re already touching me?”

Although this time you allowed it, as you were too tired to comprehend. Your eyes closed heavily and your body seemed  to have gone limp. Heizou smiled from his success as he gently picked you up and lead you to bed. He lay you down carefully as he put the bed sheets over you, then he stood back and looked. He was so tempted to kiss you then, and you would never know. So tempted to feel his lips against yours as his heart fluttered and he leaned towards you….

He sighed in defeat as he stepped back. He decided against it, and although he would love to kiss you he knew it was wrong to do without your permission. He wanted the first kiss with you to be memorable and this wouldn’t be right. Heizou smiled at your peacefully sleeping face as he switched off the lights and went off to sleeping in the sofa. 

— — — — — — 

Heizou yawned as he walked towards the study, holding a cup of tea in his hands,  he stopped abruptly as he saw the sight of you. Sprawled on the desk looking even worse than before. 

“What time did you get up this morning?” He whispered looking at you in awe 

“3” 

you muttered miserably in exhaustion 

Somehow your eye bags seemed to have gotten worse, your coffee (which was the only thing keeping you up had spilled on the desk, paper was on the floor, overflowing from the bin. All of them scribbled with illegible notes- it seems Heizou had passed on his writing to you. 

Then the phone rang- you picked it up quickly. Heizou saw your eyes widen as you nodded and placed the phone back down. 

“Heizou. There’s been a new development in the case, we’re going to Konda village.”

And with that you flung your jacket over yourself put some boots on and  grabbed Heizou by the hand (who was still processing what was happening) and marched out the door. 

—  — — — — 

You walked towards the people standing around the body, coroners, doctors, friends and alike crowded around. Through the crowds of people you pushed your way towards the coroner. They pointed towards the body 

“Poisoned to death.” 

You looked at the person, their eyes were closed, their facial expression in a contorted struggle. Holding their hand towards their neck as if they had trouble breathing. You couldn’t help but wonder what they could have done in their life if they hadn’t died that night. 

You nodded  towards Heizou  as you stepped out of the crowd to talk to him, once the two of you were away from the people and the body you turned towards him 

“but if there has been another murder it must mean the person we caught wasn’t the right one-“

“ I’m sure I caught the right one, it’s probably a coincidence. I’m the greatest detective there is and there’s no way I got it wrong -“

“Heizou stop.”

You glared at him, staring into his eyes angrily.

Heizou’s figure backed down a bit as his confidence disappeared. Looking like a small child being told off.

“remove your everlasting pride for a second. I need you to think logically. If we had already caught the murderer this person wouldn’t be dead. Now you are right that this could be a coincidental suicide or a different murder but I don’t think so. What so you say?’

Heizou nodded not saying a word. At this point he looked completely deflated with pride, lowering his head not wanting to look at you.

“Well then. come on” You turned around as you walked him back to your study. It was time to turn a new page and re-visit your notes.

— — — — — — — — — —

And thats all for today. i was considering making a part two with a continuation of this. what do you think? tell me if you want one :)

#Heizou #genshin heizou #heizou x reader #heizou x you #heizou fluff #shikanoin heizou #ahhhhhh #part two??? #heizou x y/n #genshin #genshin impact x reader #genshinimpact #shikanoin heizou x reader

[waheelawhisperer]

Pick a new collab for arknights and outline the plotblurb for the event.

I considered Bloodborne but we kinda already have that with the Abyssal Hunters

I considered RWBY but I sorta already did that in a prior post

Let's go with a crossover with professional basketball in a Space Jam-esque goofy event where the Rhodes Island Defenders have to save the world from whatever the fuck necessitated the construction of the false sky that Kirsten broke by defeating them in an exhibition match. The players train with NBA Hall-of-Famers at their respective positions, while Coach Doctor learns strategy and tactics from the legendary Gregg Popovich. The roster is as follows:

Point Guard: Nearl (trainer: Steph Curry)

Shooting Guard: Horn (trainer: Dwyane Wade)

Small Forward: Saria (trainer: Kevin Durant )

Power Forward: Eunectes (trainer: Dirk Nowitzki)

Center: Hoshiguma (trainer: Shaquille O'Neal)

The players on the roster all get basketball skins, as does Amiya, who gets a lore-relevant Defender Alter as one of the team's substitutes and the one who scores the game-winning buzzer-beater. She later uses her newfound skills to dunk on Theresis and take her place as the King of Fiends, ruler of the Royal Court.

Blemishine, Bagpipe, new 6-star event operator Kirsten Wright, Gavial, and Ch'en all get cheerleader skins. Amiya's associated cheerleader is Kal'tsit, but she threatened Closure to keep the skin from showing up in the shop, thus forever depriving us of the ability to deploy Mon3tr with a skirt and pom-poms.

The event starts with the Galleria Stellaria crashing down through the hole in the sky it initially ascended through and landing near the border between Columbia and Sami. Saria, recieving Kirsten's distress call and fearing what the Columbian government will do to her after her actions in Lone Trail (because her first thought is still to protect her), asks Rhodes Island to recover her from the wreckage before either the DOD or Maylander can arrive. Upon receiving medical treatment, Kirsten reveals the existence of invaders from beyond the stars and warns that Terra has limited time to prepare. As Rhodes Island's operators clash with DOD/Maylander strike teams, Kirsten informs the Doctor that the combined military might of Terra's sovereign nations is insufficient to repel the impending attack, but mentions that the files she stole and decrypted from one of the enemy ships implies that they can be convinced to retreat by defeating their mightiest warriors in a form of ritualistic combat known only as... "basketball".

Saria arrives at Rhodes Island to check on Kirsten and they have many Yuri Moments together while everyone else in the room stands there coughing uncomfortably. Kal'tsit contacts the Maylander Foundation and the Tin Man arrives shortly after, bearing a missive from President Mark Max on behalf of the Columbian government. The Tin Man provides all the data Columbia's archives have on this mysterious "basket ball", warning the assembled members of Rhine Lab/Rhodes Island that everything he has shared is highly classified and that the President expects their discretion. Most of the data is useless, but a report from a Columbian research station in Sami indicates that more information about "basketball" can be found by traversing one of the many dimensional rifts in the northern icefields. Rhodes Island calls in every ally it can find, assembles a team of its hardiest operators, and sets out for the frozen north.

After fighting its way through hordes of icefield demons, Rhodes Island and its allies manage to locate a likely portal and send forth communications and scouting drones in hopes of locating information about "basketball". What they find is a nation similar in many respects to the Columbian Union, though its advanced technology is in many respects very different from what they're used to seeing on Terra. Fending off attacks from the icefield demons, our heroes are about to lose hope when one of the communications drones picks up a reference to a place known as... Madison Square Garden. Video and audio footage of that night's Knicks vs. Spurs game is sufficient to convince Kal'tsit and the Tin Man that they have found the "basketball" they seek. The rules of the sport are not overly complicated, but developing the skills and strategies in the time they have available is not considered feasible, so Rhodes Island sends Operator Hellagur, at great risk, to make contact with the winning coach in hopes of securing his assistance. A bargain is struck - Pop will tutor the players in basketball basics and teach the Doctor how to coach the team, while a group of the best players to ever touch the game will help Rhodes Island's roster refine its techniques. In exchange, Rhine Labs will help the "National Basketball Association" adapt its broadcasts for a Terran audience.

The Doctor recruits other Rhodes Island operators to serve as the Rhodes Island Defenders' practice partners while the Columbian military sets up defenses around the portal and its communications array. The team improves steadily, but it feels like something essential is missing. No one has any clue what that might be, until one day when Kirsten shows up at practice claiming to have found the missing component. She mentions that after poring over every scrap of footage she could find, she determined that what the team needs is a group of fans and well-wishers, and follows this pronouncement by unveiling official Marthe cheerleader outfits, commissioned jointly by Rhodes Island and Rhine Labs. Several operators volunteer to form the Rhodes Island cheerleading squad (Ch'en gets bullied into it), and Bibeak alters the uniforms to fit them. They practice alongside the basketball team, and the players demonstrate notable improvement with something to simulate the adoration of their fans.

The fated day arrives, and after a brief clash with the alien forces, wherein Rhodes Island and its allies just barely manage to hold the line, an avenue of communication is opened with Kirsten's help and the challenge is issued: if the Rhodes Island defenders can defeat the alien invaders in a game of basketball, they will win their world a brief reprieve. Using alien technology, the match will be broadcast all across Terra, and people from every nation on the planet send Rhodes Island and its team tokens of their support. The world comes together, sort of, in perhaps the first time in Kal'tsit's living memory, to her equal parts amazement and chagrin.

The match is epic, brutal, and violent, with things like "fouls" reserved for injuries at least as severe as broken bones. The team fights hard and gives as good as it gets, but eventually star point guard Margaret Nearl is forced to leave the court with serious injuries after she leads an epic comeback and puts her body on the line to protect her teammates. Amiya subs in for her as Saria runs the offense, and the Doctor's coaching is crucial to allowing Rhodes Island to keep the game close. At a pivotal moment, Amiya manifests Nearl's shield and swordspear, much like she did with Chi Xiao against Talulah, and strikes down the enemy's deadliest player before sinking a fadeaway jumper as the clock runs out.

All of Terra erupts into cheers. The alien invaders retreat. Rhodes Island and its operators are hailed as heroes worldwide. Many people get drunk and party. Lots of babies are born nine months later. Someone posts pictures of Kal'tsit's ass on social media. Only a few in the know worry about the eventual return of the invaders.

Kirsten Wright is the 6-star banner operator for this event. She's the first operator with the ability to switch classes outright during an operation - her base class is an offensive ranged unit whose kit focuses around manipulating the planetarium spheres from her boss fight, while her alternative class is a Bard Supporter and features her donning her cheerleader outfit to encourage her allies. The banner 5-star is Jordan, a Forte Sniper with a sick jump shot and a habit of sticking her tongue out in battle. The event welfare is S&C Coach Sideroca, a 5-star Instructor Guard who provides stat buffs and heals to Guards, Defenders, Snipers, Vanguards, and Specialists.

Skins include the aforementioned basketball outfits and cheerleader getups, as well as Coach Dobermann and Athletic Trainer Silence. General Manager Hellagur, Towel Boy Bison, and Concession Stand Worker Schwarz (she hates customer service) also make a limited-time appearance in the shop.

The final boss is actually five different units at once. As each unit is defeated, the remaining units gain buffs depending on which unit was defeated previously. When all five are defeated, they revive with greatly reduced HP and increased movement speed, becoming briefly unblockable as they mount a last-ditch drive to the basket. Take them down quickly, or all of Terra will pay the price...

#arknights

[sam-glade]

Happy STS! Today I have a riddle: what comes first? The title or the story? 🤭 To expand, I'd love to hear the creation order of one (or several) of your stories. Did you think of characters first? Plot? World? What was the final piece?

Happy STS, Tori💜

That's a very good question🤔

I think it's usually the story, but more specifically a key element of a concept of it, which in my mind starts acting as a shorthand for 'that WIP', and more often than not evolves into the title. But even before that, the very first thing I come up with are a few locations that I really want to explore, so I start coming up with events that will take me to all the intriguing nooks and crannies. Since 4 out of 5 of my novel-sized projects are set in the same world, it's more about exploring an aspect of it than the world as a whole. For Days of Dusk, that's the countryside, then the city where the Army's Command is located, then the manors and palaces of the aristocracy.

As for particular stories, here's the list:

Gifts of Fate (DoD book 1) - the sequel to it was written first, and included mentions of the backstory, which was supposed to be a typical YA fantasy, but as I kept including more details, it grew more unique, until it didn't fit in the background, and stole the spotlight. So, the world and the characters were already very much developed. The title was the very last thing - I had the manuscript ready for beta readers, and only then I started brainstorming the title.

The Prince's Shadow (DoD book 2) - this story has lived in my head for 12+ years, so the beginnings are a bit fuzzy in my memory. The key thing is that it was previously titled Aftermath, because it was about the consequences of being a hero. I can't tell anymore what came first; it feels like the title and the concept were so intertwined. However, after I've written out the prequel (Gifts of Fate), I realised that the concept no longer works, so it was back to the drawing board with respect to the title.

Prodigal Children (DoD book 3) - I've written it a year or two after the first complete draft of Aftermath, as a continuation, still riding the momentum of the previous instalment, and I remember the title being there from the very beginning, and almost shoehorning the story to fit it. It also started as two independent short stories that were left as very rough drafts; the first of which became the first act (after some expanding), and the second the climax. Initially, the stories were meant to take place 50 or so years apart (bear in mind nigh-immortality in this setting), but as I started stitching them together, it became clear that if these two events are about a year apart, it puts so much delightful pressure on the characters.

The Truth Teller - it started with the concept of someone who's nigh-omniscient and simultaneously unable to lie, as in, the metaphysics won't let her say something objectively false, so the title followed very quickly. And of course to get the protagonist in trouble, I came up with the dystopian setting (DoD setting a few millennia later). The government would very much like to have access to a power like this, while the protag would go quite far to resist. I admit, this came up around the time I read Mistborn for the first time.

The Fulcrum - oh boy. That was definitely inspired by the Vivec city in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I had this image of a city inhabited by a cult that believes itself to be the centre of the universe and is obsessed with order and control, not to upset the balance of the world, while in reality it's just one of the many larger than life locations. I also visited Korea around that time, and went to all the museums, which indirectly sparked my interest in pre-Medieval cultures. Then I wanted to write a travelogue to organise all of this worldbuilding. So, setting first, then probably the title - the holy city is called Lornai, which translates to 'fulcrum' or 'pivot', and in my mind I started using 'Lornai' and 'fulcrum' interchangeably to think of this setting/story. The story came later.

#sts #ask and i shall answer #writeblr

[redux-iterum]

Lynx is Busy Today so Dullard will Talk About The Dark Secret Alone

Spoilers under the cut.

To open up: Starflight is my least favorite of the DoD. I never cared much about him and I didn't find him charming. I understood his place in the Five-Man Band, and he fit there just fine. I simply preferred everybody else over him.

This book did a great job at winning me over. I'd say he's still my least favorite, but not by such a huge gap as he had before. He's right behind everybody else now, and I think that's nice. I like all of the main five now, which is vital for a book series where you're going to be stuck in the perspective of each of them for an entire book at a time. Well done to Tui, and especially well done for writing all of their perspectives differently. It doesn't feel like the same character every time, which I know can be hard to do.

I don't know if it counts, since we do go to different locations, but this felt a bit like a bottle episode of a story - that is, it felt like we were stuck in one place for a long time and the vast majority of the events happened on that volcano. I didn't mind it, honestly. It felt fitting for the race of dragons that were trapped in one shitty area and were fighting to get off of it.

Speaking of that race and its territory, I'll say that, in this book and the last, my expectations of where NightWings lived were subverted. I had the mental image of a starry place of crystals and clouds, so to have pretty much the exact opposite be the reality is a nice reveal. To see it in depth and how awful it is is radical.

By the way, the queen's specific curse, being ice-stricken and having to live in lava? Fucking radical. What a cool idea.

Har har.

Anyway.

I will say that I unfortunately knew the reveal about the prophecy way in advance - before I even intended on reading these, after asking Lynx about it. If I hadn't known, I would be way hyped about this plot twist, because it's a super interesting one. I can't recall the last time I read or saw something where the prophecies were just made up and weren't real. It feels like every time there's a subversion, the prophecy is still fulfilled, just in a different way than initially thought. This is a fun idea that I'm shocked I haven't seen before.

Not too much else to say from me. I appreciate Starflight's writing, Fatespeaker's a charmer, fuck Morrowseer and goodbye loser, and the final resolution of NightWings vs RainWings is honestly probably the best way this could have gone for everyone. I'm eager to see how Sunny's perspective goes.

That's all for now. See y'all next month.

#book club #wings of fire #wof #i speak #readmore #queue

[garland-on-thy-brow]

For people who want Tumblr Live gone: try routing Tumblr app through VPN, selecting the location where Live is not available. Once you do this, it should disappear. At least this is how it worked for me: I accessed the app from the EU IP address and that fucking icon appeared. I said what the fuck, switched back to my normal IP, and it was gone.

Psiphon Pro is a good mobile VPN that will allow you to select which apps will be routed through it. But use your VPN of choice.

UPDATE 31.08: I was told that using VPN can get you shadowbanned, which is a sode effect of tumblr's fight against bots. So please do not do the thing described above, it is not worth the risk. Sorry, I dod not know that at the time of writing.

[inbabylontheywept]

Too Confused to Interrogate, Too Confident to Question

When I started my first job in the DoD - in a facility where missiles components are tested - the address they gave me had some software glitches associated with it. If you put that address into apple maps, it takes you to the facility, which is at the end of this unreasonably long winding dirt road through the middle of farmland. It's literally ten miles from my job to the nearest gas station, and then another ten miles until you hit the city limits, and then three miles and I'm home. But if you put that same address into google maps, it takes you to the end of that road while it is still in the city limits. And that end of the road is another classified site, but it's for the IRS. I don't know why they put two classified facilities in the same tiny town in the middle of BFE. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know why the IRS has classified facilities at all. Some kind of genetically modified accountant program? God help us.

Anyway, they didn't warn me about the directions bug so for my first day I showed up at the IRS building. They obviously had no idea who I was, but I told them that it was my first day and I didn't know anything about anything except that I was supposed to be there and that I didn't want to be late.

And they let me in.

Because I asked. Because I was that just right blend of too-confused-to-interrogate, but too-confident-to-question. I spent thirty minutes inside of this IRS building before realizing I was not supposed to be there. And instead of telling anyone about this, I just went back to my car and drove off. I have no idea what the consequences of this were. There probably weren't any. I could have stolen a whole filing cabinet of secret genetic templates for our modified accountant program and gotten away scot free. I then drove to the correct location. Apparently, under normal circumstances, I was supposed to be let in by another coworker but because I was late they were all already in the building so I had to call the guard shack on base and do the same song and dance again. The guards are not supposed to let people in. They aren't allowed to. Their sole job is to keep people out. But I did it again, that same superweapon combination of too-confused-to-interrogate but too-confident-to-question and they sent a guy out to get me in. When I arrived on site, I beelined to see my manager (who at that point had become slightly worried about my wellbeing - I was driving on dirt roads in the middle of snowfall after spending my entire life in the desert), and the first thing my manager asked me when I got to his office was

"How the hell did you get in here?" And then I got to explain to him how I had been illegally let into not one, but two secret sites in one day just by being extremely insistent. He was impressed. He was not pleased.

#autobiographical #funny story #confidence is key #too confused to interrogate too confident to question

[wof-reworked]

About the blog (finally a real pinned post)

🌻 About me 🌻

Sunny // Sunflower

21

genderfluid + nonbinary, ask me abt my gender at your own leisure

any pronouns- if you want a quick cheat, use whatever pronouns you (reading this) personally use, but for me :3 (neopronouns included + mega appreciated)

Terminal dragon brainrot for close to a decade now- askbox is always open to talk about these silly guys and this world

formerly validwofjobs- will still do jobs on request, just less frequently ^^

personal (18+) account: @ratzmatazz

🐉 Writing Tags 🐉

#wof reworked/RWOF: for posts about my ideas for wings of fire- catch-all for my worldbuilding posts and my character changes/concepts.

#wof culture: specifically lists for the difference tribes in RWOF- talking about lifestyle, jobs, societal customs, really whatever juice I'm feeling like sipping that day.

#wof headcanons: everything above AND silly "canon-compliant" ideas for what I think these guys are up to or tribe thoughts that don't feel finished enough or like part of my rework.

#No Prophecy AU: set in the first arc, the Nightwings never made a prophecy, but the dragonets of destiny still find themselves drawn together to stop the war... barely updated but close 2 my heart.

#RSwap AU: the canon tribes of Pyrrhia have swapped locations but kept their physical appearances and powers. Takes place also mostly during the first arc exploring how the different tribe expectations have effected the DoD and the story of the first arc while still following its loose course.

#All Dragons No Dungeons: wof ttrpg I'm making on the side- slow to progress but a very active project of mine.

#wof jobs: heritage tag for my wof jobposting. Find some dragon job inspo and get ur ocs finally employed!

#Sunny's Dragon Bin: posts about me + my friend's ocs!

🐝 Personal Tags 🐝

#Sunny Speaks- wof posting tag and catch-all for original posts that feel organized.

#Sunny Rambles: posts from me talking about myself or answering questions about myself that aren’t as filtered. Catch-all for asks as well.

#Ask Games: ask game questions and answers.

#Sunny Fave: art and ideas I want to come back to or hold especially close.

#Sunnys Art Wall: fanart of all types !! I love when ppl make stuff for me so pls don't be afraid to tag me in that stuff, I seriously cherish it deeply.

🌿 Everything Else 🌿

I don't really have a DNI/BYF: I don't block often but if I don't like something I will cleanly n quietly scooch it out the door. Be nice to each other and me, that's all I ask of basically anyone tbh.

Broadly PG-13 blog: I do curse and occasionally talk abt drinking/alcohol in WOF as well as my personal life. No straight up NSFW ever, as a personal boundary. if you send me wof NSFW stuff on this account you will be blocked.

Everything I write about is free to use in AUs, writing, fanart, etc. credit is optional but really appreciated (plus if you do use something I write or take inspo from it, tag me !! I love to see it :>).

This post was long overdue but it's nice to have it out in the open. bye y'all !!! lots of love from this dragon nerd <3

#about me #sunny rambles #actual tagging system my beloved finally I can have you

[usafphantom2]

The report on the approximate air support competition between the A-10 and the F-35 appears

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 03/11/2023 - 22:35in Military

A newly emerged report offers some new details about a test that compared the A-10 Warthog attack plane and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter attack fighter, but raises more questions about the ability of the 5ª generation jet to complete the A-10's approximate air support mission.

The confidential report, completed in February 2022 by the Department of Defense's Testing and Evaluation Office, was recently released with heavy writings to the Government Supervision Project, which sued the Pentagon in a federal court after its FOIA request for the report was denied.

The report describes the results of an approximate air support flight between the F-35A and the A-10C, which was determined by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017 and carried out in 2019.

The test was conducted in “low and medium threat environments” and not in a hostile or high threat environment because the “F-35A, along with the F-35B and F-35C, is being thoroughly evaluated during the IOT&E of the F-35 in high threat scenarios versus modern and dense combat aircraft and surface-to-air missiles, missions for which the A-10C was not designed,” the report said.

No ground troops participated in the flight, which does not “invalidate the conclusions of this report,” DOT&E wrote in the report. "However, a more dynamic and representative environment may be required for operational testing of these missions to evaluate improvements in the performance of these or any other systems under test."

Many details are hidden in the version released for POGO. For example, it says that the A-10 “allowed more attacks than the typical loading of the F-35A,” but does not reveal how many targets each aircraft hit in the test.

The A-10 and F-35 involved in the flyoff flew a combined total of 117 and a half hours of flight in 69 missions. A complete analysis of the sorties and flight hours, as well as when and where these tests took place, in the three sets of missions, is seen above.

The essays make it difficult to discern the context of some of the statements. But there are indications that it took more F-35 missions than A-10 missions to fulfill some missions. For example, this half-sentence ("more A-10C sorties would be necessary to attack the same number of targets") is followed by this text: "The number of sorties needed to complete the same mission objectives in contested environments would depend on air defense suppression plans."

This may result in part of the A-10's ability to carry more ammunition. The attack plane was designed around a huge 30mm GAU-8 cannon that contains 1,350 cartridges of ammunition, while the F-35's 25mm GAU-22 cannon can carry only about 181 cartridges.

Elsewhere, the report noted the ability of the A-10 to fly closer to the targets than the F-35:

"The test team did not record the inclined range of the target with the generated coordinates, so its effect cannot be evaluated directly. Even so, tactics usually caused A-10C pilots to fly closer to the target than F-35A pilots, which could explain some of the differences in measured location errors. The target location error only affects the use of GPS-aided weapons. In any case, the location error is sufficient to indicate the aiming pod of another aircraft [approximate air support].

A table listing various competitive capabilities between the F-35A and A-10C at the time of flyoff. DOD via FOIA/POGO

The report also noted that the most recent weapon did not always manage to fire in a straight line. DOT&E told the Pentagon to “fix the F-35A cannon, improve digital communication, video data linkability and interoperability with 4ª generation aircraft, and develop training programs to further improve the effectiveness of the F-35A in these missions.”

Russ Goemaere, spokesman for the F-35 Joint Program Office, said that the program "improved" the weapon and interoperability of the jet with 4ª generation fighters and said that "they are effective".

In his own analysis, Dan Grazier of POGO wrote: "Despite the heavy essays in the released report, it is clear that the results of these flawed tests disappointed the constituted powers. If the F-35 had been the winner, there would be no doubt that a clear and declarative statement of this fact would have appeared prominently in the initial paragraph of the report."

The U.S. Air Force did not want to comment on the report, nor did it say whether the leaders of the armed forces tried to prevent the release of the report. A spokesman said that close air support is a mission, not a specific platform.

"The future force will inherently be capable of approximate air support, with multifunctional capabilities to ensure survivability in all scenarios. Although successful in permissive environments, the A-10 will not have the ability to survive in a highly disputed future fight,” said service spokeswoman Ann Stefanek.

The U.S. military has made intense use of the A-10 in recent decades, moving it to Iraq for multiple conflicts and to Afghanistan against the Taliban. More recently, the U.S. sent Warthogs to the Middle East to deter aggression and prevent the spread of the Israel-Hamas war.

Air Force officers have sought to retire the A-10, which was introduced in 1977 as a Soviet tanker. But their arguments - that money would be better applied to more modern aircraft, that satellite and laser-guided bombs were sufficient for close air support missions - met strong resistance from legislators whose districts housed A-10 or ground troops they protect. Still, the last few years seem to be ending the service of the plane.

An A-10 Warthog, in the lower left corner, flies along with, at the top, from left to right, an F-16C Viper, an F-35A Joint Strike Fighter and an F-15E Strike Eagle. (photo: USAF)

When asked about the report, one of the prominent members of the House Armed Services Committee said he is ready to say goodbye to the A-10 - if not its capabilities. Congressman, chairman of the tactical subcommittee on air and ground forces of the HASC, says he is confident that the Air Force will be able to find a way to maintain approximate air support capabilities as it advances to the F-35.

Source: Defense One

Tags: A-10 Thunderbolt IIMilitary AviationCAS - Close-Air SupportLockheed Martin F-35A Lightning IIUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air Force

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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