#the key to life on earth (2020) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kellshaw · 10 months

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Entropy impacts your fantasy world

Entropy infects all systems. Things wear down, and either collapse or shake apart into new configurations.

Fantasy worlds are divided into a series of ages, where myths are split apart from legends and history. They might look like this Middle-Earth inspired history (at least my high school D&D campaign world did):

First Age - Gods walk the earth, or make the world. Evil gods are dealt with or bound.

Second Age - The great civilizations flourish, items of remarkable power of crafted and legendary battles occur. Famous institutions like kingdoms, and bloodlines are established.

Third Age - Not as epic, as the first or second age. The hero grows up on a farm or distant location and learns about the age of magic. Perhaps they’ll inherit a sword or learn lost secrets. There are ruins everywhere. Some dark threat left over from the second age will return and be dealt with. Perhaps the hero will reconnect with one of the elite institutions established in the second age.

Fourth Age - The age of magic ends, and everything changes. Elves sail away, gods leave the world, and hand it over to people, who, live in wisdom and peace and tell stories about the good old days to the kids.

This is also a metaphor for human life. The first age is childhood when you believe impossible things and dragons, the second age is when you’re young, fighting for your passions, the third age is when you get your job and learn how the systems of the world work. And the fourth age is when you’re paying off the mortgage, and you don’t have time to play D&D anymore or read books, but you’ve got fond memories of those days and will tell your bored family members about the good old days.

Let’s cut to 2020, COVID era. I’m in the fourth age of my life. During lockdown, I work through a bunch of intense personal stuff. One of them is that my epic fantasy novel series is doomed not to be finished in its current state—it’s lost in a muddle of endless rewrites. The book had lots of POVs, good character work and world building, but not much of a plot apart from an expedition across a continent. Time to recognize that it would never be done. I’ll never be Brandon Sanderson. (At least with that book.)

I get out my shotgun, place the barrel against the malformed, beating dreams of finishing that series, and pull the trigger.

Time to reboot. Start something else. I need to create I can finish. Shorter, less epic. Except, being one of those eternal gamemaster types, I can’t tell stories without a world.

Yeah, I could build any world I want and—my subconscious wants to design a setting in a fantasy world’s fourth age. When I was younger, the concept of the fourth age horrified me. Who’d want to tell stories in a world where the magic went away, and everything was about modern life, office workers and cars?

Now, I find that interesting. Because the past is a magical one, right? How would that influence the modern day? And how did the magic leave the world? What if something went wrong with the final epic battle between light and darkness? What if losing magic was a last ditch strike? A nuclear option. Not a gentle fading of magic like in Middle-Earth—a planned obsolescence—but a catastrophe mess that broke the world.

And what if magic survived, but became hidden, messy and complicated?

So that’s the key idea I had when designing my world. Modern, yet with a hidden layer of magic.

Now to figure out what that looked like. And what sort of stories would it drive?

How about you—did you build your world by thinking about this sort of thing to start with (themes) or did you start with some other idea? Or even a sense of a character or a vision of a scene? (I love the story by CS Lewis how his initial idea for Narnia was simply a mental picture of Lucy and Mr. Tumnus walking arm-in-arm through a snowy wood...)

#writeblr #fantasy books #worldbuilding #writerscommunity #writers of tumblr #fantasy #fantasy writing #urban fantasy

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tomorrowusa · 6 months

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House Republicans may be relieved that they finally have a Speaker after 22 days of infighting. But the rest of the country should worry that there's a far right extremist second in line to the presidency. "MAGA Mike" Johnson is even more extreme than Trump on some issues.

Election denier, climate skeptic, anti-abortion: seven beliefs of new US House speaker Mike Johnson

He tried to overturn the 2020 election In the modern Republican party, supporting Donald Trump’s lie about voter fraud in his defeat by Joe Biden is hardly an outlandish position. But Johnson took it further. After the election, he voiced support for Trump’s conspiracy theory that voting machines were rigged. Later, he was one of 147 Republicans to object to results in key states, even after a pro-Trump mob attacked Congress on January 6, a riot now linked to nine deaths and hundreds of convictions. [ ... ] He was a spokesperson for a ‘hate group’ Before entering politics, Johnson worked for the Alliance Defending Freedom – designated a hate group by the Southern Law Poverty Center, which tracks US extremists. According to the SPLC, the ADF has “supported the recriminalisation of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ+ adults in the US and criminalisation abroad; defended state-sanctioned sterilisation of trans people abroad; contended that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to engage in paedophilia; and claimed that a ‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society”. [ ... ] He opposes LGBTQ+ rights In state politics and at the national level, Johnson has worked to claw back gains made by LGBTQ+ Americans in their fight for equality. In 2016, as he ran for Congress, he told the Louisiana Baptist Message he had “been out on the front lines of the ‘culture war’ defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and biblical values, including the defense of traditional marriage, and other ideals like these when they’ve been under assault”. He has since led efforts for a national “don’t say gay” bill, regarding the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues in schools, and is also opposed to gender-affirming care for children. On Wednesday, Rev Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, said: “Johnson has made a career out of attacking the LGBTQ+ community at every turn." His positions are out of touch with the clear majority support for LGBTQ+ equality in our country. His new leadership role is just further proof of the dangerous priorities of the GOP and the critical stakes for our democracy – and for LGBTQ+ Americans – in 2024.” [ ... ] He is stringently anti-abortion Johnson has maintained a relatively low profile in Congress but when last year the supreme court removed the right to abortion, Johnson celebrated “a historic and joyful day”. Though Dobbs v Jackson returned abortion rights to the states, Johnson has co-sponsored bills for a nationwide ban. And as he neared his position of power, footage spread of striking remarks in a House hearing. “Roe v Wade did constitutional cover to the elective killing of unborn children in America, period,” Johnson said. [ ... ] He wants to cut social security and Medicare As those comments indicate, Johnson wants to cut programs on which millions rely. Such cuts are widely regarded as a political third-rail – Trump has used the issue to attack Republican presidential rivals, saying only he will defend such benefits – but Johnson is far from alone in wanting to swing the axe. He is an advocate for ‘covenant marriage’ When he married his wife, Kelly, in 1999, the couple agreed to a “covenant” marriage: a conservative Christian idea that makes it harder to divorce. The Johnsons promoted the idea on ABC’s Good Morning America. [ ... ] He is a climate skeptic In 2017, Johnson told voters in his oil-rich home state: “The climate is changing, but the question is, is it being caused by natural cycles over the span of the Earth’s history? Or is it changing because we drive SUVs? I don’t believe in the latter. I don’t think that’s the primary driver.”

You'd really have to try hard to find somebody worse than MAGA Mike. But we're not without the power of the vote; we need to use that power every chance we get.

November 7th is Election Day in many parts of the US. Most notably...

Ohio's statewide ballot measure to restore reproductive freedom by placing a woman's right to choose in the Ohio Constitution. A YES vote on Issue 1 takes abortion out of the hands of the gerrymandered GOP legislature.

Kentucky's Democratic governor is up for re-election.

The Virginia legislature is up for election. If Republicans gain control of both chambers they will try to ban abortion; reproductive tyranny is part of the GOP agenda whenever they hold a trifecta in a state. There's also a special election to fill a vacancy for a US House seat in VA-04.

The state legislature in New Jersey is up for election.

There are judicial elections in Pennsylvania including for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. There's also a special election to fill a vacancy in the Penn House of Representatives which is currently tied 101 Democrats – 101 Republicans.

All state offices in Mississippi including governor and legislature are up for election. Surprisingly, polls show the GOP incumbent governor ahead by just 1% with 10% undecided.

Like Mississippi, all state offices in Louisiana are up for election.

Rhode Island has a special election to fill a vacancy for a US House seat in RI-01.

^^^ Those are just the highlights. There are elections of some sort in most states on November 7th.

Republicans may grumble at times, but they always turn out for elections. They have a disproportionate amount of power in the US because they vote while many of their liberal neighbors stay home or become too ideologically persnickety.

Allegedly "moderate" GOP House members ultimately fell in line and unanimously backed a far right Speaker.

Elections at all levels count. Speaker "MAGA Mike" Johnson got his start in politics in the Louisiana legislature. He is now the highest ranking GOP elected official in the US.

There's no such thing as an unimportant election. Vote in the November 7th election and actively encourage like-minded friends, family, and neighbors to do so as well.

Be A Voter - Vote Save America

#us house of representatives #maga mike johnson #speaker of the house #republican extremism #the far right #reproductive freedom #climate denial #lgbtq+ rights #election denial #register and vote #election 2023 #adam zyglis

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ufonaut · 11 months

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With Alan Scott’s first solo book since 1949 now officially announced, I thought it was about time to finally put together a reading guide to all his appearances as a gay man in DC’s main continuity. If you’ve missed the beginning of Alan’s journey and you’ve got a couple questions that need to be answered, or you merely want to refresh your memory and celebrate this momentous occasion, this is the place for you!

VITAL

Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular (2020) #1 - a rehash of Alan’s origin from All-American Comics (1939) #16 with added details, now establishing Jimmy Henton as his lover and confirming Alan’s sexuality as well the gaycoding of his original appearances from so many decades past.

Infinite Frontier (2021) #0 - Alan comes out as gay to his children in a tearful confession regarding his past fears, his marriages, and the eighty years he’s spent in the closet.

DC Pride (2021) #1 - Alan meets Todd and his boyfriend Damon Matthews for lunch and a long overdue honest discussion -- featuring flashbacks to Alan and Jimmy’s first meeting and the subsequent train crash, as well as a newfound understanding between Alan and Todd and what it had meant for Alan to see Todd as an out gay man.

THE DCU AT LARGE/ONGOING

Infinite Frontier (2021) #1-6 - picking up immediately after the aforementioned IF #0 and DC Pride, the series sees Alan and Todd working together to solve Jennie’s mysterious disappearance and the destruction of the JSA’s HQ. Alan’s sexuality is referenced throughout the book, and the complicated father-son relationship between him and Todd is further explored.

Dark Crisis (2022) #1-6 - Alan is a main character in the series, dealing with themes of legacy and the official return of the JSA.

Dark Crisis: The Deadly Green (2022) #1 - the one-shot sees Alan coming back to his magical roots, and features him as the key to defeating the Great Darkness with his children’s help. Notable for featuring four generations of DC’s mainstay LGBT characters (Alan, John Constantine, Todd Rice, and Jon Kent).

The New Golden Age (2022) #1 - this one-shot sets up the Justice Society of America (2022) ongoing series and the Stargirl: The Lost Children (2022) six-issue miniseries, it’s also the first story set in the 1940s to feature Alan after his coming out and it officially confirms that Doiby Dickles was aware and accepting of his sexuality.

Justice Society of America (2022) - current ongoing series, Alan is a main character.

UPCOMING

DC Pride (2023) #1 - the one-shot will feature a team-up between Alan and Apollo & Midnighter in the story entitled ‘Anniversary’. Out May 30th 2023!

DC Pride: Through The Years (2023) #1 - the one-shot serves as the starting point for Alan’s upcoming series. Out June 13th 2023!

Alan Scott: The Green Lantern (2023) #1-6 - the six-issue miniseries is a ‘year one’ type story, exploring Alan’s rarely-seen coming of age and his life as a gay man in the 1940s. Out October 3rd 2023!

ELSEWORLDS

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Crisis on Infinite Earths (2020) #1 - Alan is one of the main characters in this Elseworlds one-shot, making the ultimate sacrifice to save the world after revealing to Todd that he knows what it’s like “to hide your light”.

Injustice: Year Zero (2020) #1-14 - Alan is a main character in this prequel miniseries, he and Jimmy Henton are a married couple. To date, issue #13 features Alan’s only on-panel kiss.

OFFICIAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS

The DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition (2021) - this is the very first official DC encyclopedia to refer to Alan as a gay man.

The DC Book of Pride (2023) - this encyclopedia of DC’s LGBT characters features an entry on Alan.

ASSORTED CAMEOS

Infinite Frontier: Secret Files (2021) #3

Stargirl Spring Break Special (2021) #1

Justice League vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes (2022) #4

Dark Crisis: War Zone (2023) #1

Lazarus Planet: Alpha (2023) #1

Lazarus Planet: Omega (2023) #1

Stargirl: The Lost Children (2022) #6

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mindblowingscience · 7 months

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has only been operational for just over a year, but this isn't stopping the world's biggest space agency from discussing the next big space telescope that could serve as JWST's successor sometime in the future. Enter the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), which was first proposed as NASA's next flagship Astrophysics mission during the National Academy of Sciences' Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 (Astro2020). While its potential technological capabilities include studying exoplanets, stars, galaxies, and a myriad of other celestial objects for life beyond Earth, there's a long way to go before HWO will be wowing both scientists and the public with breathtaking images and new datasets. "Before we can design the mission, we need to develop the key technologies as much as possible," said Dr. Dimitri Mawet, who is a Professor of Astronomy at Caltech and a Senior Research Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). "We are in a phase of technology maturation. The idea is to further advance the technologies that will enable the Habitable Worlds Observatory to deliver its revolutionary science while minimizing the risks of cost overruns down the line."

#science #stem #space #nasa #astrophysics #habitable worlds observatory

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starwither · 2 years

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quackity lore stream finale (ep.5)

a recap of what happened during quackity’s las nevadas 09/10/22 lore stream finale.

The stream begins with a flashback to September 10, 2020. Quackity meets Tommy and they discuss the upcoming elections and the hope/excitement they both have for the new nation. It immediately cuts to a scene of Las Nevadas, alarms blaring, and on fire.

Chapter 1: Trust

Weeks after the death/disappearance of Slimecicle, Quackity visits a grave he built in his memorial, placing a photo of them together for decoration. The day before he died, he gave Slimecicle a key to Las Nevadas. Before he died, he had told Slimecicle that he wanted him to have Las Nevadas. In the flashback, he mentions that Quackity broke his own rule-- Trust Nobody, but he trusted Slimecicle.

Chapter 2: Open and Closed

It is the grand opening of Las Nevadas-- But there are only three people, Fundy, Foolish, and Skeppy. Underneath the city, Quackity is upset that they could only invite a couple of people because there are tensions due to the war. He misses Slimecicle and how he could always follow orders.

After seeing slimes in the room underground, he comes up with a plan-- He will extract the slime from the ground, grow them in the city, and, using the power of evolution, turn them into human beings.

When the citizens of Las Nevadas are fully created 90 days later, he tells them that their sole life purpose is to serve Las Nevadas. Everyone is their enemy other than him, the one person they can listen to. Their life belongs to Las Nevadas and they will die for Las Nevadas.

Chapter 3: Las Nevadas Down

There is an intruder in Las Nevadas.

In a cave Purpled has been hiding out in, he is approached by Punz. He proposes killing Quackity through torture, mentioning that he tortured Dream for months. He confesses that Dream paid him a hefty amount to investigate and relay the message to him.

At first, Purpled does not believe him.

In a cage, Purpled has Quackity’s one weakness-- Slimecicle. Punz tells him he should him to hate Quackity, and eventually kill him with the help of Dream.

Chapter 4: Death

In Limbo, Ranboo is alone on a single grass block in the middle of a lake of water. Mexican Dream boats to him. Ranboo mentions that he misses his son Michael on earth, and Mexican Dream tells him to get on the boat and they will try to find a way to leave together.

He brings Ranboo to the shore, where El Rapids is. They reflect on their lives on earth. Mexican Dream says that he will bring him to someone (who “used to be a president”) for a party, and maybe he can help him.

He brings Ranboo back to his block. If Mexican Dream can make it back to the mortal realm, is there anything he wants him to tell people? Ranboo tells him to “Remind them of me”.

As Mexian Dream is leaving, he writes in his journal what happened.

Chapter 5: The End of Las Nevadas

In Las Nevadas, Slimecicle is there. Quackity is overjoyed with happiness, and asks him if he remembers what Purpled did to him. Then, Purpled and Dream appear. Quackity tries to run with Slimecicle and hide in the casino, but they break the door open with TNT.

Quackity defends himself, saying.he did what he did to Dream for a reason.

Quackity pulls a lever, which sets off fireworks. Foolish sees them in the distance and goes to Las Nevadas.

Slimecicle puts on netherite armor and confronts him. (“Legacy is what you leave behind, Quackity. So why did you leave me behind?”) He turns on him. (“Im going to dap you up.. With a fucking sword!”).

Foolish sees Quackity surrounded, and pushes a secret button. It lets out his army of human slimes, who flood into the city to come to his aid. They chase Dream out of the city, though he kills most of them. Slimecicle and Purpled chase Quackity to the top of the tower.

Quackity reminds Slimecicle of the lessons and tries to convince him that Purpled is the one who killed him. Slime and Purpled corner him to the edge of the tower, and just as Purpled is going to kill him, Slimecicle pushes Purpled off.

He turns to confront Quackity. He reminds him of the lessons:

Lesson 1: Humans are assholes. (“You showed me that”)

Lesson 2: Politics are the way to power.

Lesson 3: Create no emotional attachments.

Lesson 4: Everything gets destroyed.

Lesson 5: Trust nobody

Lesson 6: Hold your ground against authority.

Lesson 7: Seek successful revenge. If you fail, the consequences will be bitter. (“I will not fail”)

Slimecicle: “We have one thing in common. The same human ruined our lives. Because you are not a good person.”

Lesson 8: Legacy is all you leave behind in this world.

Slimecicle tells him: “I hope you leave behind a good one,” and pushes Quackity off. Quackity dies, losing his second canon life.

Later, in Kinoko Kingdom, the Artic, and Paradise, he leaves them a letter. He wants to end his feud with them and start anew.

He and Foolish are not yet done with Las Nevadas. He has one last chance in life and he doesn't want to waste it.

#dream smp #dream smp lore #quackity #quackityhq #quackity dream smp #quackity dream smp lore #dream smp recap #slimecicle #fundy #punz #purpled #foolish g #quackity lore #las nevadas #las nevadas lore

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haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll · 3 months

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Tracklist:

You Better Believe!!! • Be an Astronaut • The Key to Life on Earth • Beautiful Faces • Daniel, You're Still a Child • Emily • Twice Your Size • Rapture • Sagittarius A* • Eventually, Darling

Spotify ♪ YouTube

#hyltta-polls #polls #artist: declan mckenna #language: english #decade: 2020s #Glam Rock #Indie Rock #Neo-Psychedelia #Pop Rock #Space Rock Revival

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beril66 · 3 months

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Heyo folks! So here's a list of this for another fic I am going to workon. I am writing here the rules so I don't forget and I would love to see people give me their opinions on what I can add! This time it IS a crossover series with Cuthulhu Mythos! (Mostly lovecraft lore and some other writer's take on it sprinkled in. No Other gods vs Great Old Ones nonsense though that was a stupid adition to Mythos I will DIE on this hill)

Our skele bois and everyone really are going to learn the HARD way there are being infinitely scarier and powerful than measely star parasites or amalgamation of emotions :D

This came after a delightful conversarion with a friend in space battle. So some heads ups;

Other gods or Outer Gods as people know them are the undisputed strongest things for what I hope obvious reasons. Put an unshattered C'tan or a chaos god in front of Nyarlathotep and they'll beg for their life

Azathoth DID NOT create 40k or any universe. Its a fan theory. It was Yog-Sothoth ;)

The races such as Elder Things and Great Race of Yith are among the oldest and most advanced (they are basically the Xeelee's since thats what they are meant to be in OG mythos Lovecraft was just shit at math and science) creatures in the verse. Remember how Mep'het'Ran bitched to the Necrontyr about how they also fought with the cruel old ones and lost and turned into celestial fart gases...well he didn't TECHNICALLY lie.

It just wasn't the 'Old Ones' Necrontyr were thinking XD (for real though in the ONLY alliance these two races ever forged they kicked the shit out of C'tan and destroyed their OG bodies) for these races, species in 40k galaxy might as well be monkeyd hitting each other with sticks. The difference between them are that great.

That war happened not 200 million year into the big bang btw. Yeah...when the first stars were babies. Elder Things and Yith are that old...they might be that old in OG mythos too now that I think about it 🤔

Remember Nihilakh Yyth seer? Yeah that thing is another unfortunate race Yith used as bodies and left long before necrons ever came...unfortunately the inhabitation caused the race to develop clairvoyance. And we all know what happened to the poor bastards.

The Elder things came to earth was basically an amish community got tired of ultra advanced tech XD they are the reason earth has life. They came waayyy before the billion year mark Lovecraft gives. First one celled organisms on earth appeard around 3.7 billion years ago. Yeah.

Randolph Carter is/was a friend of Big E's and still kicking in 40k with his silver key. Fully living in dreamlands with his friends and boy-ahem eternal headache Nyarlathotep though. He and Trazyn will become GOOD friends...maybe Orikan too. Tech wizardry isn't just belong to necrons after all.

Magic other than warp exists and it is both intransically bound with tech and seperate enough. Mostly safe too if you manage to keep your head while learning.

Assume all weird creatures in mythos exist.

Deep Ones have their own planet and allied with Big E around 2020s. They have full on STCs under their planet and still can build and understand DAOT tech, they are just smart enough to hide it really well. And since all of them are immortal most of the ones on the planet (pure and hybrids both) are over 30.000 years old. And remember EVERYTHING. Rest of the Imperium thinks they are filfhy mutants to be avoided. Deep Ones and hybrids mostly bleakly amused seeing most were alive in 1920s America how humanity seems to abandon one type of racism then immediatly embracing another.

Lost 2 Primarchs taken a worship of the Other Gods...this is magnetitudes more dire than chaos worship.

Orikan, Trazyn and Phillias will meet an interesting human who knows more than she ever should...if they are nice to her she might even draw them when they were necrontyr. She A LOT to say about their relationship during flesh times...revelations might or might not cause eternal sense to loss , pain and horror to what was lost...and maybe hope. 🤷‍♀️ (yes during Trazyn's bubble confinement)

Except Nyarlathotep to pop on Song of Oblivion and taunt Szerakh. Randoph migh or might not put the fear of actual gods in Szeras too

Anrakyr and Zulthanekh (don't ask me how they will ever meet I am just taken by the idea of their friendship because of ghostinthegalleries) will get a history lesson of the galaxy from Nyarlathotep.

Shoggoths are allies of humanity. As they lived only the really intelligent and sentient ones survived and after their ACTUAL discovery humanity (DAOT) have been not only nice to them but give them human rights Elder Thing colony never thought of. Surviving ones are fiercely loyal to humanity but few know their existance.... for obvious reasons. They are a hard counter for tyranids and help preserve Big E.

Big E was aware of other gods and there was no stopping them. Thankfully the only one who was invested into the galaxy was Nyarlathotep and Big E just pointed out sitting back and watching the inevitable clusterfucks all races cause would be infinitely more entertaining. (Randoph also threathened Nyarlathotep with sleeping on couch in Ilek-Vad XD)

...AND thats it. Thats all I got for now. I would love to see your suggestions Lovecraft and 40k lovers!

#necrons #trazyn the infinite #orikan the diviner #zultanekh #djoseras #oltyx #anrakyr #nemesor zahndrekh #vangard Obyron #imotekh the stormlord #warhammer 40k #lovecraft #outer gods #huntmaster

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andiinaraethtash · 5 months

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Rating:

General Audiences

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category:

Gen

Fandoms:

Batman - All Media Types

Batman: Death in the Family (Movie 2020)

Relationships:

Dick Grayson & Jason Todd

Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne (mentioned)

Characters:

Dick Grayson

Jason Todd

Bruce Wayne (Mentioned)

Alfred Pennyworth (mentioned) - Character

Additional Tags:

Fluff

Angst

Fluff and Angst

in that order

Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating

Dick Grayson is Nightwing

Jason Todd is Robin

look I heard a song and it gave me feelings so now I'm giving you all feelings

Song: Chasing the Sun (Sara Bareilles)

Language: English

Summary:

"You said, remember that life is Not meant to be wasted We can always be chasing the sun!" --Chasing the Sun, by Sara Bareilles Dick Grayson contemplates graveyards, cities, and the weight of living in a world above others

Notes:

For @itsybitsybatsyspider

So I've never published in this fandom before. So this is fun. Also I don't know if I've done an independent one-shot before. So that is also fun. Enjoy! PS also hi Itsy! This one's for you!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

“My earth is somebody’s ceiling,” the song rang out, and Nightwing laughs as the Batmobile roars so loud it almost drowns out the music, which is already turned up obscenely loud. Next to him in the passenger seat, Robin shrieks, and Nightwing has to glance over to make sure he’s alright, because with Jay, it could go either way, but he’s grinning right now, so he’s probably enjoying himself.

That’s good. Dick doesn’t hang out with just him nearly enough, and when they do get to, he wants it to be a good time. After all, the rest of the time it’s the two of them and Bruce, which is never a good time. Quite the opposite, in fact. Just the thought of the man makes Dick’s blood boil, so of course he quickly forces those thoughts out of his mind, choosing to start belting along with Sara Bareilles.

“More than that, it’s to dare us to move!” he sings, purposely hitting the notes just ever-so-slightly off-key, making Jason swat him and shriek at him.

“Dickhead, you’re ruining it!”

“You said, that life is, not meant to be wasted!” He sings teasingly looking over at Jason, who rolls his eyes.

“My hearing’s being wasted, that’s what’s happening.” He’s nearly shouting to be heard over the music, but he’s not scowling.

Dick laughs long and loud as the chorus blares loudly for the last time, then as the music dies, he pauses it and pulls over, pulling out the McDonald’s bag as he pops the doors. “C’mon, Robin, let’s get some altitude!”

Robin rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t manage to hide the smile. In a matter of seconds, they’re on the roof of the high-rise apartment building, where Nightwing plops down on the edge of the roof and offers Robin his share of the fries they’d gotten before their little joyride.

As Robin joins him, kicking his feet in the empty air between the buildings, Dick sighs and relaxes, letting himself droop somewhat as he looks out over the city. They’d left early to beat Batman to the Batmobile, and with it being the middle of summer, sunset was absurdly late, a series of circumstances that left the skyscrapers’ silhouettes standing in sharp relief against the greying evening sky.

“Dude, this is freakin’ awesome!” Robin exclaims around a mouthful of fries, making Nightwing look over at him in amusement.

“‘Freakin?’ What happened to the kid who drops f-bombs every few words?”

Robin rolls his eyes. “I got made ta put five bucks in a actual swear jar, that’s what happened. Which is a stupid-ass rule, but whatever.”

He doesn’t say it, but there’s an unsaid, ‘it’s worth the food and shelter to go along with it,’ and Nightwing lets a small sympathetic smile play across his lips.

“Yeah. Can’t say I had one of those. Instead it was one dollar for every piece of furniture, art, or wall I damaged, and ten for the chandeliers.”

Robin smirks, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. “Wow, that’s what, a couple hundred thousand dollars?”

“Brat,” Nightwing says, swatting him upside the head.

“Am I wrong?”

Technically, no. It had only been a few hundred bucks, but… “Maybe not entirely,” he admits, and Robin laughs, the sound echoing across the city-scape. There was something about the way it bounced around that could have been eerie, but instead it was… comforting. Light-hearted. Care-free, the way Robin should be.

On an impulse, Nightwing shoves the rest of his fries into his mouth, waits a beat for Robin to finish his off, then grabs the boy’s arm and tugs him to his feet. “C’mon, race you to the Clocktower?”

Robin’s eyes seem to light up, even hidden by his mask, and Nightwing takes that as the answer it is.

“Go!” They shout almost at the same time as they take off across the rooftops, grappling across the larger gaps but throwing themselves across the smaller ones.

Nightwing is trying so hard not to laugh, his lungs too busy with the effort of running to waste his breath, but he wants to, by God does he want to. It was exhilarating, leaping through the maze of buildings, each different and unique and yet somehow so recognizably Gotham that he knew he would know each building individually as a part of his home city. There were apartment buildings from the eighties, office buildings from the last few years, stores and hotels and restaurants, all making up a bustling city that thrived despite the chaos.

Beneath his feet, he can almost imagine the lives of the ordinary civilians, thrumming along to hte rhythm of his heartbeat. It’s a heavy realization, to realize that they’re dancing over what the rest of the world would consider their ceiling, to know how much bigger and crazier their worlds are. But that weight is worth it, for the freedom to fly across the city like they are.

Tumbling across a gravel roof, he spots Robin somewhere to his left, vaulting over an air vent, and for the split second their eyes meet and Dick recognizes the look on Jason’s face. It’s the look of wonder he had when he landed his first trick on the trapeze in Haly’s. It’s the pride he’d taken in being able to do what so few others could. It’s the joy in being able to go out there and make a difference in others’ lives, in landing a punch, in outsmarting one of the ‘intellectual’ Rogues.

Yeah, okay. This kid was definitely a Robin.

There’s been a part of him, since he’d stumbled home to Wayne Manor to find another boy in his family’s colors, that had denied that Jason could—or should—have any part in that legacy, but right now, he didn’t know why he’d ever doubted it.

In the end, it doesn’t matter who reaches the Clocktower first, because the moment they get there, Jason looks up at Nightwing, grinning, and Nightwing grins right back reaching out to ruffle Jason’s hair.

“You did good, Robin.”

Live like we’re still alive

____________

From the ground beneath my feet…

He’s not quite sure why he’s here, other than that Alfred suggested it. The cemetery is quiet, but not silent. He can hear the light traffic from the nearest road, and of course the birds singing their overly cheery summer tunes. Even from here, he can almost hear the heartbeat of the city across the river, Gotham still alive despite the loss he’s only recently discovered.

The landscape is… nice, Dick supposes. He’s seen worse graveyards. Definitely destroyed creepier ones in fights against Scarecrow and Ivy. There’s not much tree cover, leaving the area sunny and vaguely warm, cooled mostly by the summer breeze.

He’s trying so hard not to look at the grave markers, the plinths and tombstones and occasional mausoleum, instead keeping his gaze fixed firmly on the city in the distance. It’s almost uncanny, how much the far-off buildings look like the stones surrounding him. They’re larger, obviously, but that tower looks like that plinth, and that tombstone is almost identical to that apartment building he can just make out—

The resemblance isn’t entirely inaccurate or superficial, he thinks. That this cemetery is a small city, its occupants as ignorant of the world above them as the people of the city are of Dick’s world at above them.

He’s walking through the paths between the markers, absentmindedly noting how each one is different and unique and so identifiable he’d know them anywhere, different in age and shape but united by what they represent.

His footsteps are heavy, a weight hanging on his shoulders as he walks to the area Alfred had shown him all those years ago. He knows intellectually, of course, that Bruce had insisted on burying Jason with Bruce’s parents, and the generations of Waynes that came before them, but that doesn’t stop the snag of irritation that Jason’s nowhere near his mom, or the city he’d protected.

Stuck between the dead and the living…

He’d swear every footfall is landing further into the ground, the familiar weight of grief pushing him down until finally he has to bow his head under the weight. He’s no stranger to grief, of course. He’s lost friends, teammates… family—but never someone so young and innocent and good. It’s anathema, almost, that Robin, brave, resilient, magic Robin is gone, but as Dick comes up on the newest tombstone, he knows he has to accept it.

Idly, he wonders if Jason’s at peace, if he’s happy wherever he is, if he could ever forgive Dick for leaving him alone with Bruce, stubborn, paranoid, doubting Bruce, who Dick knew wasn’t going to let Jason spread his wings when he needed to and yet had left him there anyway. Damn him for his unshakeable belief that Batman was good and infallible. There’s no way of knowing how things might have happened if Dick had stayed or if he’d taken Jason with him, but he wants to think he could have saved him.

The crunch of the grass under his heels as he crouches in front of the white marble rings out with his heartbeat like a symphony across the graveyard, and he almost sighs at the sound, a sound that means life, except he knows that the sound couldn’t reach below him to where Jason is now resting.

“Come on, Dickhead, don’t tell me your old-man joints are giving out on you,” he could almost hear Jason’s mocking, and shakes his head to clear it away when he almost reaches out to tussle Jason’s hair, only to stop when his fingers hit cold marble instead of a warm person.

Glancing over at the nearest tombstone, one shared by Bruce’s parents, he notes distantly how different and yet similar the dates on there are to the ones on Jason’s gravestone. Jason was born roughly a decade later, yes, but their lives were all cut too short, the dates too close together.

A deep breath fills his lungs, but catches on the way out as he tries to find words that say something, anything, about the boy who should have been his brother, if he’d just gotten his head out of his ass and had paid attention to the boy and the way he’d looked up to Dick.

So instead of trying to say anything about Jason, he just tells him one simple phrase, hoping it tells him exactly what Dick had never said to him in life.

“You did good, Jason. You did good.”

—Always be chasing the sun—

Notes:

Look, I was having feelings, okay, so any tears produced are entirely not my fault. Comments feed the soul, so let me know what you guys think--but please no criticism. I'm in a good mood for once, I really don't want that ruined. If you see a grammatical error, lemme know, but no hate. Here or anywhere, preferably.

#fanfiction #creative writing #writing #batfam #dick grayson #jason todd #pre- and post-Death in the Family #it'll make sense when you read it #brotherly bonding #brotherly feels #look I'm sad so now you're sad

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 10 months

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Perseverance discovers a doughnut-shaped rock on Mars

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this doughnut-shaped rock in Jezero Crater from about 328 feet (100 meters) away using its Remote Microscopic Imager (RMI), part of the SuperCam instrument, on June 22, 2023, the 832nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

Oddly shaped rocks aren't uncommon, either on Earth or Mars; they're often formed over eons as winds sandblast rock faces. This particular rock may have formed after a smaller rock (or multiple rocks) eroded near its center. That left behind a cavity that was later enlarged by the wind.

The figure below shows the same rock in its broader context, when it was first spotted by the rover's Mastcam-Z instrument from about 1,312 feet (400 meters away) on April 15, 2023, the 765th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

SuperCam is led by Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where the instrument's body unit was developed. That part of the instrument includes several spectrometers as well as control electronics and software. The mast unit, including RMI, was developed and built by several laboratories of the CNRS (the French research center) and French universities under the contracting authority of Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), the French space agency.

Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets.

A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #nasa #starstuff #spacetimewithstuartgary #spacetime #mars perseverance rover

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paranormal-xfiles · 14 days

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Is the universe really a ‘dark forest’ full of hostile aliens in hiding?

By Jake Carter

Tony Milligan: We have no good reason to believe that aliens have ever contacted Earth. Sure, there are conspiracy theories, and some rather strange reports about harm to cattle, but nothing credible. Physicist Enrico Fermi found this odd.

His formulation of the puzzle, proposed in the 1950s and now known as “the Fermi Paradox”, is still key to the search for extraterrestrial life (Seti) and messaging by sending signals into space (Meti).

The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old, and life is at least 3.5 billion years old. The paradox states that, given the scale of the universe, favourable conditions for life are likely to have occurred many, many times. So where is everyone? We have good reasons to believe that there must be life out there, but nobody has come to call.

This is an issue that the character Ye Wenjie wrestles with in the first episode of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem. Working at a radio observatory, she does finally receive a message from a member of an alien civilisation – telling her they are a pacifist and urging her not to respond to the message or Earth will be attacked.

The series will ultimately offer a detailed, elegant solution to the Fermi Paradox, but we will have to wait until the second season.

Or you can read the second book in Cixin Liu’s series, The Dark Forest. Without spoilers, the explanation set out in the books runs as follows: “The universe is a dark forest. Every civilisation is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound.”

Ultimately, everybody is hiding from everyone else. Differential rates of technological progress make an ongoing balance of power impossible, leaving the most rapidly progressing civilisations in a position to wipe out anyone else.

In this ever-threatening environment, those who play the survival game best are the ones who survive longest. We have joined a game which has been going on before our arrival, and the strategy that everyone has learned is to hide. Nobody who knows the game will be foolish enough to contact anyone – or to respond to a message.

Liu has depicted what he calls “the worst of all possible universes”, continuing a trend within Chinese science fiction. He is not saying that our universe is an actual dark forest, with one survival strategy of silence and predation prevailing everywhere, but that such a universe is possible and interesting.

Liu’s dark forest theory is also sufficiently plausible to have reinforced a trend in the scientific discussion in the west – away from worries about mutual incomprehensibility, and towards concerns about direct threat.

We can see its potential influence in the protocol for what to do on first contact that was proposed in 2020 by the prominent astrobiologists Kelly Smith and John Traphagan. “First, do nothing,” they conclude, because doing something could lead to disaster.

In the case of alien contact, Earth should be notified using pre-established signalling rather than anything improvised, they argue. And we should avoid doing anything that might disclose information about who we are. Defensive behaviour would show our familiarity with conflict, so that would not be a good idea. Returning messages would give away the location of Earth – also a bad idea.

Again, the Smith and Traphagan thought is not that the dark forest theory is correct. Benevolent aliens really could be out there. The thought is simply that first contact would involve a high civilisation-level risk.

This is different from assumptions from a great deal of Russian literature about space of the Soviet era, which suggested that advanced civilisations would necessarily have progressed beyond conflict, and would therefore share a comradely attitude. This no longer seems to be regarded as a plausible guide to protocols for contact.

Misinterpreting Darwin

The interesting thing is that the dark forest theory is almost certainly wrong. Or at least, it is wrong in our universe. It sets up a scenario in which there is a Darwinian process of natural selection, a competition for survival.

Charles Darwin’s account of competition for survival is evidence-based. By contrast, we have absolutely no evidence about alien behaviour, or about competition within or between other civilisations.

This makes for entertaining guesswork rather than good science, even if we accept the idea that natural selection could operate at group level, at the level of civilisations.

Even if you were to assume the universe did operate in accordance with Darwinian evolution, the argument is questionable. No actual forest is like the dark one. They are noisy places where co-evolution occurs.

Creatures evolve together, in mutual interdependence, and not alone. Parasites depend upon hosts, flowers depend upon birds for pollination. Every creature in a forest depends upon insects. Mutual connection does lead to encounters which are nasty, brutish and short, but it also takes other forms. That is how forests in our world work.

Interestingly, Liu acknowledges this interdependence as a counterpoint to the dark forest theory. The viewer, and the reader, are told repeatedly that “in nature, nothing exists alone” – a quote from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). This is a text which tells us that bugs can be our friends and not our enemies.

In Liu’s story, this is used to explain why some humans immediately go over to the side of the aliens, and why the urge to make contact is so strong, in spite of all the risks. Ye Wenjie ultimately replies to the alien warning.

The Carson allusions do not reinstate the old Russian idea that aliens will be advanced and therefore comradely. But they do help to paint a more varied and realistic picture than the dark forest theory.

#paranormal #ufos #aliens #unexplained mysteries #unexplained #spooky time #mysteries

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