#through the borders; fight your way | riven

[soartfullydone]

Jumbo OC Asks! Riven - 🍊⭐🍐💧; Celeste - 🍒🔥💙🌸

[touches your face] thank you

Riven

🍊 What is your OC’s favourite meal? Snack? Dessert? Drink? Any reasons behind this besides liking how it tastes?

I couldn't name her favorite meal to save my life, probably because Riven prefers variety. So she's become very enamored of the dinner-breakfast hodgepodge she and her da make for the pair of them and Krelyss. She's been trying many new dishes to accommodate Krelyss' tastes (who knew mushrooms could be used in so many ways?) and getting to know some of her lost culture in the process. Even when the cooking attempt doesn't pan out, she enjoys the company above everything. Her home life has never been better. For snacks, she prefers most fruits. Citrus and apples and drupes. Dessert is where she likes to get fancy. Tarts, eclairs, anything with a meringue or mousse. Right now, she's in love with a blackberry mousse, served with gold flakes and mint. As for drink, well, it matters more who she's drinking with than what she drinks. Ale, rum, water, doesn't really matter, but whenever she does order some type of ale, it's because of all the warm memories and conversations she's shared with Delethil—and now also with Eravin and the party during their drinking games. There's nostalgia and comfort in the drink rather than a deep love for the taste.

⭐ What is your OC afraid of? Any crippling phobias or some such? How do they act when scared and what helps them calm down? Does anyone ever find your OC scary? Why?

For a long time, Riven was deeply wary of all the things her da impressed upon her to be wary of: orcs, necromancers, duergar, the undead, and drow. But those fears were so distant and well outside the border. She was more afraid of Lunhaven becoming a cage for her, of being trapped into responsibilities she didn't want by people who neither liked nor respected her. She was afraid that her loneliness would kill her (thanks Britney). Ironically, the way she often dealt with this was to pick fights with her da before running off to be alone somewhere. As Del entered the picture, she gained someone to vent back and forth with and who made her feel valued, but she never left behind her tendencies to run and self-isolate. Now, she's afraid of new things. Of the wrong people discovering she's a glamoured half-drow. Of something terrible happening to Krelyss. Of ruining the relationships she's gained. Of the divide between Del and her friends growing so much that she can no longer bridge it, no longer allow the two halves of herself to intersect. Of one day becoming a mother and being, not only terrible at it, but also unable to protect and connect with her bairn when the glamour prevents her from looking like them. Would they think she was ashamed of them? Would glamouring them to protect them prove that thought right? She's getting better, though, about not running away and isolating herself. She's learning to trust the friends she has and that they won't eventually betray her or throw her away. She's not doing great at it. She's still taking on too much to prove her worth when she doesn't need to. But she's working through unlearning a lot of past behaviors and beliefs. There's still a long way to go, though. As much as people, in Aeranth especially, would find her drow form intimidating, Riven as she is isn't intimidating at all, even when she tries to be lol. But that's okay for a rogue. As frustrating as it is to be constantly underestimated, it's deeply satisfying when she sneaks someone to death with her 10,000 knives attack.

🍐 What is your OC’s mentality? Are they overall positive? Negative? A bit of both? Describe their thought patterns and reasoning behind their choice making!

Riven performs positivity a lot, both to make herself feel better but also because she's desperate for people to like her. But inwardly, she has a bit of a dark humor to her, a bit of a resigned mindset about the way things are—and also a renewed sense of idealism for the way things could be. Her thoughts have recently taken a turn toward being more genuinely positive, but her adolescence and early adulthood was, well. Let's just say she had dreams but she didn't have a lot of hope. There's a vein of sadness that runs deep within her. Because of that, Riven's never had much of a plan. She believed her life would be decided for her regardless of what she attempted. But never being anchored to any one goal made her quick and adaptable, which led to her picking up the rogue arts so easily. It was in her wheelhouse and it was a small way to rebel. Del shared many of these qualities with her, part of why they took to each other so quickly, but Riven is the more openly impulsive of the two. She doesn't think things through sometimes, saying the first thing that comes to mind, and she puts her foot in her mouth often. It's only recently that she's learned to act strategically, and only because she earnestly cares. Ricocheting constantly between doing the honorable thing and doing the cutthroat thing, this one. Whatever feels right.

💧 What is the earliest memory your OC can recall? Do they know what their first words were or remember where they took their first steps? Do they have any mementos of their childhood they’ve kept such as a stuffed toy or tiny baby clothes?

She has no recollection of her first year in the Underdark, of Avenzi, Krelyss, her da's mad flight to freedom, almost dying to fucking pollen, none of that. I think the earliest memories she can manage are cloudy ones a few years after. Erosen carrying her while she was small enough and he strong enough to do so. So many of the estate staff having accents like her and talking to her in their dialect. Playing with dirt in the courtyard because she was "gardening." Her da reading to her. Part of why her relationship with her da growing colder and more distant hurt so much was because she could remember when it wasn't like that between them. She likely has some of her childhood dresses shoved in the dark recesses of her closet, the tulle awfully stiff, the velvet faded. All that costume jewelry either got broken, lost, or tarnished. I know for a fact Erosen still has her favorite children's book he read to her in his personal study.

Celeste

🍒 What kind of things do they expect from their relationships? Does this differ between platonic relationships and romantic ones? Is your OC “demanding” or a door mat? What kinds of things do people expect from them in a relationship?

The primary word that comes to mind is meaning. If a relationship doesn't hold meaning for her, Celeste is quick to dismiss it. She also expects relationships to inevitably end one way or another. There's no great mourning for her about this. It's just a fact of life and doesn't prevent her from pursuing new relationships. You can get plenty of use out of people between now and whenever that end is. That being said, Celeste vastly, shall we say, trusts and prefers platonic relationships over romantic ones. A lover might die for you, but a true ally would defend and kill for you. She had her fun and frivolity when she was younger, but longevity isn't built on fun and frivolity. You have to be able to make hard choices and sacrifice to get what you want. Can you pick up that she is incredibly demanding? And why shouldn't she be? Much is demanded of her, after all. What people expect from her depends. Enemies would declare her a snake and expect her to act accordingly. Those under the protection of her House know that protection isn't offered freely, but nor is it offered duplicitously. Her family knows she is exacting and cold, but she acknowledges talent and rewards good work done in service of the family accordingly. (Oh, but, a certain member doesn't agree and believes she's the root of every unhappiness in his life.) It's not all backstabbing and assassinations in Twalan. Loyalty can and does exist. In fact, Celeste has been in a Very Dedicated Relationship since she was nineteen years old :3 Of course, now Celeste is not in Twalan. She's in limbo with a bunch of capable yet sentimental eccentrics she's not expecting much out of outside their shared desire for resolution. She does not expect them to take on her problems and currently believes whatever issues the rest of the party has is their private affair. She doesn't much care anymore what others expect of her here. If people want to see her as just a frail old woman, it's their funeral—or it would be, if death mattered here.

🔥 Give us a list of general likes and dislikes, such as colours, textures, music, weather and other stuff!

Celeste likes order and tidiness. Distractions and amusements. Power and safety. Loyalty and comfort. She dislikes ambiguity and not knowing where the threat lies. She hates anything that changes masters like one changes their small-clothes. She's also not loving the way magic seems to be shifting away from the arcane toward the technological. Makes her feel obsolete and other things we won't self-analyze right now <3 As for colors, well, black, wine red, gold, royal blue, plum purple. She'd look great in white, too, but those days are behind her, I fear. She enjoys velvets, suedes, silks, and leathers. Feathers, too, but practicality must come first for now. As for music, she has a classical ear and vastly prefers beautiful, sweeping, even tragic stringed compositions over whatever noise the kids are listening to these days. She misses operas in her reserved box. What she never thought she'd miss was the sea breeze misting the air and the salt in her nose. So easy to take for granted! She'd settle for freshwater rain at this point.

💙 What did your OC want to be when they grew up and why? Did they have any lifelong dreams or ambitions they never got to work on or are they currently working to achieve this dream? Has their life taken a very unexpected turn and put all these plans on hold for a while or have they given up on any dreams?

She wanted to not be murdered before she turned twenty. She wanted to matter. She wanted to be able to hurt others before they hurt her instead of the other way around. She wanted power, and security and safety in that power. She wanted to build something that would be sustainable without her. She did just that and was satisfied—until very recently. I think we can call the Worst Vacation Ever one hell of an unexpected turn, but it wasn't Celeste's first. There's a reason the party met her outside of Twalan, her birthplace and stomping ground, and there's a reason she hasn't flaunted her warlock status nor openly stated her family name. Leaving limbo completely out of it, Celeste feels more in the dark and unfulfilled than she's ever been. If it weren't for the sheer anger and indignity of it all, she would wonder why she should even care, about anything.

🌸 What does your OC’s voice sound like? Their laugh? Are they good at singing? Do they have an accent?

Celeste's voice has changed over the years. Now, it sounds lower, more throaty. She speaks with a bored drawl because she either IS bored or amused (it's also the upper-class snootiness coming out). Her laughter is restrained, haughty, condescending, pitying, or concealing. She might occasionally hum but doesn't sing. I don't think she experiences enough joy to either laugh genuinely or sing from the heart. Her accent is Twalanian nobility through and through, but there's something practiced about it, almost textbook.

#thank yoooouuuuu #god i wanna get back to playing celeste #we have so much to cover and so much friction to create #oc: riven arnor #oc: celeste [redacted] #campaign: last resort movers inc #campaign: the worst vacation ever #sycamorre

[gwimulchorom]

DnD Characters In Modern Settings

Suk Buseo is a carver with many years of experience, and his artworks are often architectural masterpieces greatly sought after by others. Having travelled around gathering inspiration for his works surrounded by friends (after a failed hitchhiking attempt landed him in a war zone), he can hold his own well with a heavy stone sword if needed but keeps his dual identity as a wanderer a secret under his current status as a broker of beautiful stone creations. 

Hwang Hwasal is a strike force agent for the NSA, a covert operative who faked his death after a tragedy that led to the death of not only his team (which included his wife) but also left the right side of his face and body heavily scarred. A skilled marksman with a pistol, he works in and out of various agencies gathering intelligence and resources in the hopes that he can find a way to resurrect his beloved wife in any way he can- training the new operatives however has allowed him new goals to look forward to, and he’s much happier now working to protect them. 

“Veliyal” is a conman with many skills under his belt, an immigrant from Pakistan looking to earn a quick buck after his father suddenly passed away on his 18th birthday. Teaching himself the languages to survive, the enterprising and flamboyant man often finds himself in trouble in between odd jobs, and simply excels in absolutely everything he’s put to, legal or otherwise. His fame’s started catching on with some less-than-savory folk, and while Veliyal pretends this won’t catch up to him whatsoever, he’s been making his own plans to hopefully be able to return to his home country down the line: the truth in the matter was that he came in search of his estranged mother, whom he had heard that married overseas. 

Yangchon and Sangsoo largely stay the same- working in the Violent Crimes Division of the police force to solve cases together. While Yangchon remains angry and hotblooded, and Sangsoo is still his usual stoic and cautious self, they work together in tandem to ensure that everyone remains safe, and that they can protect the civilians the best way they can. Yangchon’s injured leg however does impact him quite a bit, but he is insistent on visiting crime scenes whenever he can so that he can understand and impart his skill to Sangsoo, whom he knows will inherit his mantle. Sangsoo, however, has seen too much, and emotive as he is, hides that he is deeply traumatised by his master’s injury and experiences while trying to learn as much as possible. 

Jungoh continues to work in the Violent Crimes Division of the police force for some time, but Yangchon’s injury spurns her to take on the offer she received to go overseas, devoting herself to diplomacy training instead in the meantime. An accident caused by a reckless rescue of the youngest son of iron moguls however permanently maims her right hand, and she is counteroffered by the thankful boy to work for her instead...down the pipeline of a mafia-infested iron mining company. Jungoh is too determined to turn back, but she knows how she’s playing with fire and is eager to ensure she can get as much information as she can. 

Zhong Rihuan, Oculus was raised as a church orphan, home to many children like herself and loved by the head priest for her curious and easygoing temperament despite her muteness, instead signing and using writing to communicate with others. Initially intent on joining her father in the clergy, she instead falls in with a somewhat-tricksy operative belonging to Hwasal’s team and trains instead to become able to follow in her footsteps. However, when Kyrea dies in a mission, leaving behind her young adoptive son Brambles, Oculus now allows her life to revolve around Brambles instead, becoming a park ranger at the place she fell in the hopes of determining how Kyrea had passed.

Yikang is here lmao I’m not rewriting him in-universe

Reon and Valyx are siblings adopted after a horrific incident involving street orphans being “stolen” off the streets as drug runners, and when the badly burnt Reon was given up to the orphanage, one of the detectives investigating the incident had adopted her in the hopes of affording her treatment. Valyx came soon after, Aldreth’s hopes that Reon having a sibling in her recovery would help in her growth. Reon grows into a skilled fencer with a vested interest in marine biology, while Valyx instead devotes herself into business, the sisters becoming inseparable over their unique nature of a world that seemed to want nothing to do with either of them.

Kim Geomsung / Jin Fengcheng is a Chinese-Korean mechanical engineering student who’s somehow managed to engineer a robotic copy of himself in his basement. Having been adopted overseas from a young age, his intelligence and smooth personality is only slightly dampened by his awkward accent and photosensitivity to light, which he wears glasses for. He drives a tricked out van he painted himself with his own logos, filled with kooky and eccentric gadgets he tinkered with in his spare time and trying to carve out his own niche. In truth, Fengcheng stands in a precarious crossroads of neither being here nor there despite his supportive adoptive family, and he understands this intimately, which makes his often slippery nature even more apparent knowing that it is virtually impossible to trust anyone. 

Serving Fengcheng is Ullal, a displaced Ghanan from the Akan tribe that had fallen in with Fengcheng after an unfortunate psychotic break from being forced to collect his son’s ashes (after his beloved son had died from a work accident in unsafe conditions, an incident that was barely compensated and buried in the media). He claims to owe Fengcheng a “blood debt” for saving him, and works closely with the student to manage the van full of items for their use. Ullal’s dementia however has began causing him problems, and on occasion he still thinks his son Zuccass is with him. 

Myron takes on the identity of “Lee Jooyoung”, an ambitious but eccentric SFX artist and tinkerer when she arrives in the modern world. Retaining her magic and disability, she ends up easily blending into humanity with a slight glamor covering up her unusual nature and becomes well-known for her unique crafting skills rivalling that of trained engineers. She continues engaging in subterfuge however, using basic skills that otherwise would not easily be allowed within the confines of her own world to gather information and resources, targeting rare and useful ore she could repurpose for herself and making plenty of friends and enemies along the way. 

Lee Gangrim is currently the secretary of a highflying CEO of a fledgling insurance company, a job he takes without complaint. A divorcee raising his daughter alone, Gangrim’s life has been a nonstop string of inconveniences after the accident that not only maimed his right leg but also saw his wife leave him as they were unable to afford his medical fees with his daughter’s education. He works very hard to put his daughter through college, a feat that she reciprocates in kind, and while his fall from grace was not the most spectacular, he’s been working to piece his life back together and trying to ensure that his daughter can live the best way she can. Despite this, though, he still carries himself as befitting a second-generation chaebol, a self-made military man who refuses to concede his own faults in decision-making processes that cost him his company in the first place. 

#but i missed you more; than i thought i would | rotdohr #you are the pursuit; i will be stubborn for | zemeros #pain! you make me a believer | yangchun #i was lightning; before the thunder | gain city #through the borders; fight your way | riven #resolution; from the bottom of my heart | ignus #when I watch the world burn; all i think about is you | reon #i stay in blurred lines; waiting for you to return | oculus #we thought it was summer; but it is freezing | telus #who lives; who dies; who tells your story | myron #we could be immortals; but not for long | delta #pining; why can't i forget | sting #my work

[emeraldspiral]

Part 4 of my Thor rewatch thoughts:

The Jotenheim incident:

Heimdall says “You’re not dressed warmly enough”, but setting aside the fact that Loki and Thor can change their outfits into whatever they want, I always assumed they weren’t really affected by temperature since they don’t end up bundling up when they do go to Jotenheim, and can survive in the vacuum of space.

Did they pitch-shift Heimdall’s voice down? Why would they do that when Idris’s voice is already pretty deep?

Honestly, what even was up with Loki freezing in front of Heimdall? Was it part of his plan to make himself seem like Thor’s reluctant accomplice, or was he worried Heimdall had caught on to his plan?

Also, Heimdall doesn’t know for sure Loki can conceal himself from him until he goes to Jotenheim alone and Heimdall knows exactly where to look but doesn’t see him. But if Loki’s had this ability for a while, then surely Heimdall’s noticed that there have been times he tried to spot him and failed. So it’s not unreasonable for him to put two-and-two together and figure out that if Loki could sneak around behind his back, he might be able to conceal others from him as well. So I don’t think it’s fair to suggest, as I’ve seen others do, that Heimdall’s just always been prejudiced against Loki.

Really tho, the entire plot of this movie could’ve been averted if Heimdall had actually done his job. Imagine if the son of the South Korean president just waltzed up to the border and told the guards to open up the gate so he could punch Kim Jong Un in the face. Like, couldn’t they have had Loki do a Jedi Mind Trick or forge Odin’s signature on a fake permission slip or something to make Heimdall look like less of an irresponsible jackass?

The bifrost dome gives me deep body flashbacks to playing Riven in the 90s.

IMAGINE the conversation Heimdall would’ve had to have with Odin if his warning actually came to fruition. “Yeah, I knowingly transported your sons and their friends into enemy territory against your wishes and in violation of the tenuous truce you have with Laufey and they all died a horrible frozen death because I couldn’t bring them home without risking the security of Asgard. Hope Frigga’s baby-maker is still working because you’re gonna need a new heir ASAP to take care of Hela once your crusty-old ass kicks the bucket. You can handle delaying your Odinsleep and inevitable death another millennium-and-a-half until they’re old enough though, right?”

LMAO. One of the warriors says “We shouldn’t be here IMMEDIATELY upon landing. Like, doesn’t even wait for things to go sour. He got all the way down the bridge and through the trippy-space tunnel and then suddenly had second thoughts about 30 seconds too late.

“Your father is a murderer and a thief”. Wow, they were setting up that reveal since the beginning.

“You long for battle. You crave it. You're nothing but a boy trying to prove himself a man.” Okay, but Laufey’s not wrong tho.

Once again Thor, really not endearing yourself to me by telling Loki to shut up in just about the most disrespectful manner possible when he and Laufey are being completely reasonable.

I feel like I recall Laufey being pretty cold-blooded, and I guess he’d have to be to abandon Loki to die, but he’s honestly acting about as sensibly as Odin was before. He’s choosing to let Thor’s insolence slide to avoid war, rather than being eager to slay his enemy’s son even when it wouldn’t be the best thing for his people, as you’d expect a villain like him to do.

So here’s where it gets a little murky on what Loki was trying to accomplish. Like, he clearly set Thor up to go to Jotenheim and stir up trouble. But could he have predicted what happened after they arrived? Did he plan for Thor to start a fight and then chicken out and try to dissuade him when he realized they were outnumbered, or was he counting on being able to talk Thor down, thinking just the fact that they went to Jotenheim against Odin’s wishes would be enough to get him in trouble with their dad? At first I thought maybe the giant could’ve been an illusion Loki created to goad Thor into fighting. But no, that was a real giant, and Loki’s “damn” was a genuine reaction.

Also, Thor starting a goddamned war after Laufey very graciously offered to let him go scott-free because someone called him “Princess” is the epitome of not endearing me to this character. Neither does the line “At least make it a challenge for me!” Like, I thought it couldn’t get any worse than Superman beating the shit out of an ordinary human first thing after regaining his powers in Superman II, but Thor’s taking it to a whole other level. Like, he caves a guy’s face in with his hammer and says “That’s more like it!” Like, this isn’t a bar room brawl. People are dying and he’s loving it. He’s like a full-blown sadist. Also, Chris’s delivery of these lines sounds so much like “But I was going to Tosche station to pick up some power converters!”

Odin was absolutely right when he told Thor “You are unworthy of the loved ones you’ve betrayed”. Thor’s friends should hate his guts after this incident. He nearly got discount Westley from the Princess Bride and the rest of them killed. It makes no damn sense that they’re still all over his dick lamenting the unfairness of his punishment and trying to get him back when they have no evidence of Loki being up to anything.

Honestly, even if Loki felt bad about goading him into going to Jotenheim, Thor was still the one who chose to pick a fight instead of leaving peacefully. If I were Loki, I wouldn’t have even tried to speak up, cause Odin was saying nothing but the truth. I can’t tell if it’s a testament to Loki’s character that he loves his brother so much that even when he proves him entirely correct about not being ready for the throne (which was his whole plan all along) he still feels compelled to defend Thor, or if it’s a testament to how poor the writing is that they actually think Loki should feel bad and try to defend Thor, as if what Thor did wasn’t completely indefensible and he brought Odin’s reprimands upon himself. Loki may have provided the bait, but Thor didn’t have to take it.

I feel like 90% of the reason I, and everyone else, hate Odin is because of TDW, not this movie. Like, he seems level-headed enough with the wisdom he tries to bestow and he’s clearly distraught and on the verge of tears as he prepares to banish Thor. You can tell he’s disappointed and reluctant, but has to do his duty as king by giving Thor the punishment he absolutely deserves for his crimes. But in TDW he’s suddenly making a lot of bad decisions regarding how to deal with the Dark Elves and is absolutely stone cold toward Loki. He doesn’t show a hint of heartache over what his son has become or what he is duty-bound to do to him, and even seems to relish letting Loki know he’s essentially dead to him and he’s going to make the rest of his life as miserable as possible. I feel like this might’ve been done because they wanted Frigga to be the only one who hadn’t given up on Loki, so it’d be sadder when she died. But it had the side-effect of making it seem like Loki’s perception of being less-loved was a lot more valid than I think it was intended to be.

Thor has no way of knowing about the enchantment Odin put on the hammer because he wasn’t present for it, so how does he know later that the reason he can’t pick it up is because he isn’t “worthy” rather than just because he’s now mortal? Also, could anyone have picked up the hammer before, or was the enchantment always there and Odin just changed the conditions of what “worthy” was? Or could Thor have picked up the hammer before because he had his powers, but then couldn’t because he was stripped of them and reduced to mortal strength and only got the godly strength he need to be able to lift the hammer when the hammer deemed him worthy?

Also, how does making Thor mortal work exactly? Do Asgardians have some equivalent of the heart-shaped herb from Black Panther that gives them their superpowers or are they actually born that way and Odin can somehow suppress their super strength and other magical powers?

#thor #loki #heimdall #odin #thor 2011 #marvel #marvel comics #mcu

[bountyofbeads]

Democratic divides take center stage at first debate

https://wapo.st/31ZcPzE

SOULESS Trump 😢😭🖕👉“BORING!” he tweeted as the candidates began discussing the deaths of a father and daughter at the border.

Democratic divides take center stage at first debate

By Toluse Olorunnipa and Michael Scherr | Published June 27 at 12:16 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted June 27, 2019 |

Deep divides over health care and economic policy dominated the first Democratic presidential debate Wednesday, as 10 candidates jousted in Miami over the best formula for beating President Trump and fixing the economic struggles of the middle class. 

The result was a prime-time display — the first national event of the election season — showcasing economic and regulatory differences that have riven the Democratic Party, including transformative plans to eliminate private health insurance, fund free college for most Americans, break up giant corporations and impose sharp tax increases on the wealthiest Americans. 

The ambitious slate of proposals highlights the Democrats’ leftward shift, a trend Republicans are seeking to take advantage of by linking the party with socialism and government control. The generally sober event also highlighted one of the key dilemmas that Democrats face in their attempt to oust Trump — a bombastic showman whose name was only occasionally mentioned but whose presence loomed large over the proceedings.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), standing center stage with the most early attention from moderators, drove much of the debate with a passionate defense of disruptive plans that would face long odds of passage in Congress. She framed each of the issues as a question of determination, saying she was willing to fight and take on the “corruption in this system” that had created the problems. 

“We’ve had the laws out there for a long time to be able to fight back. What’s been missing is courage, courage in Washington to take on the giants,” she said. “I want to return government to the people, and that means calling out the names of the monopolists and saying I have the courage to go after them.”

Her rivals were forced to respond, though they avoided taking her on directly, trying to explain their plans as different routes to the same goal. 

“I do get concerned about paying for college for rich kids; I do,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), a thinly veiled reference to plans supported by Warren to make public colleges free for all Americans.

But the two-hour debate proceeded without a significant viral or humorous moment to rival the kind of spectacle created by Trump during the 2016 debates that were dominated by the real estate developer’s shocking comments, off-color jokes and biting attacks on his rivals.

Trump’s campaign characterized the debate as “the best argument for President Trump’s reelection,” arguing that Democrats were proposing “a radical government takeover of American society that would demolish the American Dream so many are gaining access to under the growing Trump economy.”

Rather than paint a hopeful vision of the nation’s future, the Democrats onstage focused on the grim challenges facing the country — warning of a long list of serious threats to the nation’s well-being, such as corporate power, global warming, the humanitarian crises on the southern border and the growing economic power of China. 

Perhaps seeking to introduce themselves to a national audience, the candidates only rarely addressed one another directly or strayed from well-rehearsed lines.

When Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) was asked about previous comments criticizing politicians who pledge to break up specific companies — as Warren has — he seemed to shift in Warren’s direction, saying “I don’t think I disagree” that corporate consolidation is a problem.

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke gave his first answer in both Spanish and English, but he struggled to respond directly to the question about how high he would bring the marginal tax rate for the wealthy. He spoke instead about ending gerrymandering while bolstering the Voting Rights Act and same-day voter registration. 

“I would support a tax rate and a tax code that is fair to everyone,” he said, after the question was repeated to him. 

Wednesday’s debate marked the first of 12 scheduled by the Democratic Party, including at least two split over two nights, with 10 more candidates scheduled to appear in Miami on Thursday. Polls show a wide-open race, even as most of the 23 candidates struggle to register even 2 percent support.

Warren was the only candidate to appear polling in double digits, with clear momentum after months of tireless campaigning. Three other candidates, O’Rourke, Klobuchar and Booker, have been struggling to maintain the early expectations of their campaign announcements. Six more, including Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, have found themselves struggling to be noticed in the crowded field. 

But all of the candidates were given a chance to weigh in on the key divides in the party. Only Warren and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio raised their hands when asked whether they would get rid of private health insurance.

“I understand: There are a lot of politicians who say , ‘Oh, it’s just not possible.’ . . .,” Warren said, fully embracing the single-payer health-care plan backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who will be onstage Thursday. “What they’re really telling you is that they just won’t fight for it. But health care is a basic human right. And I will fight for it.”

The issue of immigration, an area of relative agreement in the Democratic Party, prompted one of the few fierce exchanges of the night — between the two Texas politicians on the stage. Former housing and urban development secretary Julián Castro sought to draw a contrast with O’Rourke by saying the former congressman opposed repealing part of U.S. immigration law that allows for criminal prosecution of migrants who come to the United States without proper documentation. Castro has called for decriminalizing undocumented immigration, a position Republicans have branded “open borders.”

“I think that you should do your homework on this issue,” Castro said, turning to O’Rourke. “If you did your homework on this issue you would know that we should repeal this section.”

O’Rourke said he favored immigration policies that ended the family separations that have taken place during the Trump administration, and to ensure that migrants seeking asylum are not detained.

For most of the candidates onstage, the debate marked one of only two chances they will have, in addition to the July debates, to spark the interest necessary to get them on the September debate stage, when the polling and donor qualification requirements will dramatically tighten. 

Several candidates made clear attempts to grab and hold the spotlight in the hopes of breaking through. 

At both ends of the stage, de Blasio and former Maryland congressman John Delaney, who poll the lowest, forced their way into the conversation repeatedly, with the former arguing he was the most passionate liberal on the stage and the latter playing the role of the most practical moderate.

“What we are hearing here already in the first round of questions is that battle for the heart and soul of our country,” de Blasio said. “This is supposed to be the party of working people. Yes, we’re supposed to be for a 70 percent tax rate on the wealthy.” 

Delaney responded by calling such ideas unrealistic. “I think we have to do real things to help American workers and the American people. Right?” he said. 

Booker’s strategy in the debate was to repeatedly personalize the issues that were raised. When talking about guns, he spoke about his Newark neighborhood where seven people were recently shot. “I live in a low-income black and brown community,” he said when asked about corporate consolidation. “I see every single day that this economy is not working for average Americans.”

Candidates focused mostly on policy but also spent time attacking Trump for his governing style and his record since taking office in 2017. Trump’s erratic approach to foreign policy came in for blistering attacks.

“I don’t think we should conduct foreign policy in our bathrobe at 5 in the morning,” Klobuchar said.

“This president and his chicken hawk Cabinet have led us to the brink of war with Iran,” Gabbard said. 

“The biggest threat to the security of the United States is Donald Trump,” Inslee said to applause. 

Ryan was one of several candidates who blamed Trump for conditions at the border, where migrants from Central America have been traveling in family groups, overwhelming U.S. facilities meant to house adults. Lawyers visiting some of the facilities have said that children in the facilities were living in squalor without access to basic hygiene items.

For his part, Trump weighed in from Air Force One, where he was en route to the Group of 20 summit in Japan. He focused on technical difficulties that forced NBC to cut to a commercial break when audio problems surfaced.

“.@NBCNews and @MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate,” he tweeted from over the Pacific Ocean.

The president didn’t attack any specific Democrat during the debate, instead focusing on a candidate who was not on the stage.

“Ever since the passage of the Super Predator Crime Bill, pushed hard by @JoeBiden, together with Bill and Crooked Hillary Clinton, which inflicted great pain on many, but especially the African American Community, Democrats have tried and failed to pass Criminal Justice Reform,” Trump tweeted from his presidential plane before the debate even started. “Please ask why THEY failed to the candidates!”

 The president has repeatedly weighed in on the Democratic primary, and he spent part of Wednesday doing the same. His focus has largely been on Biden, who in early polling has been leading Trump in some key states. Biden will join Sanders and eight other Democratic candidates at Thursday’s debate.

On Wednesday, with Biden not on the stage, Trump appeared less interested in the actual substance of the debate.

“BORING!” he tweeted as the candidates began discussing the deaths of a father and daughter at the border.

#donald trump #u.s. news #trump administration #politics #president donald trump #politics and government #trump #white house #us: news #democratic party #democrats #democratic debates #debate #demdebate #2020 presidential election #2020 candidates #2020 election #2020 Presidential Candidates #2020 Presidential Election

[newstfionline]

Friday, August 27, 2021

Coronavirus vaccine mandates for workers (Bloomberg) Using formal federal approval as cover, a growing number of U.S. employers are imposing coronavirus vaccine mandates on workers, increasingly limiting the places people who have shunned shots can work, shop and play. In New York, Goldman Sachs required bankers prove they’d been vaccinated. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University will demand vaccination or negative Covid-19 tests to see a game at Tiger Stadium. CVS has mandated shots for corporate employees and those working with patients. And fossil fuel companies Chevron and Hess added requirements for employees on oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Delta Air Lines even said it would levy a $200 monthly charge on workers who refuse to protect themselves. And the list goes on.

Most US government agencies are using facial recognition (The Verge) A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 19 of the 24 US government agencies surveyed are using facial recognition in some way, illustrating how commonplace the controversial technology has become within the federal government. The list of agencies includes agencies like the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that maintain in-house systems, alongside smaller agencies that use the system to control access to high-security locations.

Medical intimidation in Mexico (Guardian) Mexico has the world’s fourth-highest COVID-19 death toll—253,000 to date. Researchers believe the true figure could be nearly three times higher because testing numbers are low. When the pandemic hit, demand for oxygen soared. Two companies that supply medical oxygen, Grupo Infra and Praxair Mexico, control 70% of the market together. In 2020, deliveries were often delayed, causing shortages and price increases. Some hospitals responded by building their own onsite oxygen generator plants, with help from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the World Bank. Grupo Infra noticed its orders had begun falling. Grupo Infra’s lawyers, crying breach of contract, embarked on a harrowing campaign against the hospitals, sending threatening letters with misleading and untrue claims, asserting patients’ lives were at risk, and imposing ever-larger fines. When the Bureau of Investigative Journalism accused the company of unlawful intimidation, Grupo Infra said it was not aware of any legal action taken against any hospital for installing its own oxygen-generating equipment. Praxair, which reported $27 billion in sales in 2020, had no comment.

Death toll rises to at least 20 in western Venezuela floods (Reuters) At least 20 people have died in the western Venezuelan state of Merida following intense rains that caused mudslides and rivers to overflow. State governor Ramon Guevara said that more than 1,200 houses had been destroyed and 17 people remained missing as rescue workers search the wreckage. Images shared on social media showed cars being swept down streets, buildings and businesses filled with mud, and mudslides that left boulders strewn across roads.

Uruguay starts to dance again as pandemic subsides (AP) After long months of illness, Uruguay is once again starting to dance. The government last week authorized ballrooms and event halls to open as the country’s COVID-19 death rate—once among the highest in the world per capita—has fallen sharply. Seventy percent of Uruguayans have received both doses of vaccines against the virus and once-overstressed hospitals now have empty beds. The government decided to let ballrooms for dancing open five hours a day—though with limited capacity and mandatory 20-minute pauses each hour to air out closed spaces.

Blue whales returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after 40-year absence (Guardian) Blue whales, the world’s largest mammals, are returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after an absence of more than 40 years. The first one was spotted off the coast of Galicia in north-west Spain in 2017 by Bruno Díaz, a marine biologist who is head of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute in O Grove, Galicia. More have been spotted since then. A typical blue whale is 20-24 metres long and weighs 120 tonnes—equivalent to 16 elephants—but specimens of up to 30 metres and 170 tonnes have been found.

Harris, in Vietnam, gets a dose of China’s challenge to the U.S. (Washington Post) Vice President Harris, on her second international trip in the role, got a taste of the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China as she flew into Vietnam—a former U.S. adversary wary of Beijing’s growing dominance and now courted by Washington. Harris was en route Wednesday to announce, among other things, a donation of 1 million coronavirus vaccine doses to the pandemic-hit country. But a three-hour delay in her schedule handed China a window of opportunity. Beijing quickly sent its envoy in Hanoi to meet with Vietnam’s prime minister and pledged a donation of 2 million vaccine doses, undercutting the subsequent U.S. announcement. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, thanking the envoy, said Vietnam “does not ally with one country to fight against another,” according to state media. The incident underscored the challenges facing the Biden administration as Harris has made her way through Southeast Asia this week, along with Chinese sensitivity about her visit. Washington’s agenda does not always align with that of governments in the region, which face a diplomatic high-wire act in balancing the competing interests of the United States and China—the latter being Vietnam’s top trading partner.

Suicide bombers target Kabul airport (AP) Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. The attacks killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said. Eighteen service members were wounded and officials warned the toll could grow. More than 140 Afghans were wounded, an Afghan official said. The U.S. general overseeing the evacuation said the attacks would not stop the United States from evacuating Americans and others, and flights out were continuing. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said there was a large amount of security at the airport, and alternate routes were being used to get evacuees in. About 5,000 people were awaiting flights on the airfield, McKenzie said. The blasts came hours after Western officials warned of a major attack, urging people to leave the airport. But that advice went largely unheeded by Afghans desperate to escape the country in the last few days of an American-led evacuation before the U.S. officially ends its 20-year presence on Aug. 31. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the killings on its Amaq news channel. The IS affiliate in Afghanistan is far more radical than the Taliban, who recently took control of the country in a lightning blitz.

Taliban shows off ‘special forces’ in propaganda blitz (AFP) The Taliban has been showing off its own “special forces” on social media, soldiers in new uniforms equipped with looted American equipment who contrast sharply with the image of the usual Afghan insurgent. Pictures and videos of fighters in the so-called “Badri 313” unit have been posted online for propaganda purposes. The soldiers are shown in uniforms, boots, balaclavas and body armour similar to those worn by special forces around the world. Rather than a battered Russian-designed Kalashnikov rifle slung over their shoulder, the men of Badri 313 hold new US-made rifles such as the M4, sometimes with night-vision goggles and advanced gunsights. The amount of equipment at their disposal is unclear, but multiple pictures online show jubilant Taliban fighters posing with captured armoured Humvees, aircraft and weapons abandoned by the defeated US-equipped Afghan national army. Experts say the most sophisticated equipment, especially the helicopters, will be difficult to operate and near-impossible to maintain.

The Real Winner of the Afghan War? It's Not Who You Think. (NYT) Just days after the Taliban took Kabul, their flag was flying high above a central mosque in Pakistan’s capital. It was an in-your-face gesture intended to spite the defeated Americans. But it was also a sign of the real victors in the 20-year Afghan war. Pakistan was ostensibly America’s partner in the war against al-Qaida and the Taliban. Its military won tens of billions of dollars in American aid over the last two decades, even as Washington acknowledged that much of the money disappeared into unaccounted sinkholes. But it was a relationship riven by duplicity and divided interests from its very start after 9/11. Not least, the Afghan Taliban the Americans were fighting are, in large part, a creation of Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, which through the course of the war nurtured and protected Taliban assets inside Pakistan. In the last three months as the Taliban swept across Afghanistan, the Pakistani military waved a surge of new fighters across the border from sanctuaries inside Pakistan, tribal leaders have said. It was a final coup de grâce to the American-trained Afghan security forces. Pakistan’s already shaky reputation in the West is likely to plummet now, as the Taliban take over Afghanistan. Calls to sanction Pakistan have already circulated on social media. Relations with the United States, already on the downslope, will unravel further. So the question for the Pakistanis is what will they do with the broken country that is their prize?

Biden meets Bennett (Politico) When President Biden meets with new Israeli PM Naftali Bennett in the Oval Office today, the two leaders will have their work cut out for them in repairing a damaged bilateral relationship. Biden is one of a dwindling band of older Democratic leaders holding back a tide of younger progressives who want the U.S. to adopt a much tougher line with Israel. The Jerusalem Post notes there is just one thing on Bennett’s mind: “Iran, Iran and more Iran.” Bennett, who heads a shaky coalition and is a neophyte on the world stage, has made it clear in recent days that Israel wants Biden to drop any plans for a return to the Iran nuclear agreement that former President Donald Trump tore up, and instead back Israel’s plan for a potential military option to degrade the Iranian program. On the big issues, Biden is as far apart with Bennett as he was with former PM Netanyahu. In an interview with the NYT this week, Bennett “said he would expand West Bank settlements that Mr. Biden opposes, declined to back American plans to reopen a consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem and ruled out reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians under his watch.”

The cost of war (AP) Hamas and Israel have engaged in four wars in Gaza in thirteen years. The pattern is always the same: Palestinian rocket fire, devastating Israeli airstrikes, a mounting loss of life and property, and appeals for the “senseless cycle” to stop. According to the U.N., there has been more than $5 billion (in 2021 dollars) in damage to Gaza’s homes, agriculture, industry, electricity, and water infrastructure. 4,000 plus Palestinians have been killed, half of them civilians. The death toll in Israel is 106, including civilians, soldiers, and foreign residents The property damage is estimated to reach $193 million. U.N. economist Rami Alazzeh says Gaza’s economy is caught in a “vicious” cycle of destruction, reconstruction, and infusions of aid “just to get it back to before this military operation. If this cycle keeps going on, Gaza can never recover.” Palestinian officials say 70% of Gaza’s two million residents are under age 30. The median age is 19, compared to 30 in Israel. Gaza’s young adults have spent their childhood and adolescent years in an active war zone, and symptoms of PTSD are common. And under Hamas, unemployment among young people has worsened, standing at 62% in June. “This is a lost generation,” Alazzeh said.

#headlines #news

[gwimulchorom]

Two paths diverge in the Demiplane of Dread, one a story of triumph and a fulfilled promise, the other one of eternal rest and closure. 

The priest who calls himself Riven Sylvus falls in combat, taunted by the lord of the land who sought him out to torment him- in this, he is then transformed irrevocably into a creature of the night, cursed now with the immortality he had already been tormented with but in a cruel act of mercy, manages to leave the demiplane himself and returns to Faerun, stowing away once more in Fort Dalton. He is finally able to fade away, dissolving into the waters he had once commandeered and leaving all his worldly possessions behind. Though he never manages to find out what happened to those who had been with him before, Riven is finally free, returning to the ground as he had sought to for centuries and no longer being one with this world. In his last moments, Riven’s mind was still, surprisingly at ease at his own demise. 

As for the acolyte Oculus Tempestatis, she completes her quest in escaping Barovia with her charge upon her back, even as he falls to his death by the cruel lord, and cradling the corpse of the shrub she had been protecting, she returns to the embrace of the Cormanthor Forest, rejuvenating him with the powers of their shared lord Silvanus and regaining renewed purpose in managing to fulfill at least one of the promises she had willed to her late friend. She does not idle for long though, setting her sights ahead to looking for others like herself: she knows she is not the only one in pursuit for answers, and that she would not be the last as well. War had been cruel to her, but she does not lose her spark: for her, her will had prevailed once again. 

One story closes, the other beginning a new chapter- only time will tell who would persist to the bitter end.

#through the borders; fight your way | riven #i stay in blurred lines; waiting for you to return | oculus #so guess which bitch retired Riven lol

[gwimulchorom]

刹那の間に　痛みに似た恋が体を走ったんだ

"I am apparently now headed to the Growling Groghouse. It seems Durnan had suspicions and has now vanished within its midst, and I suppose the man's obsessions has finally spelt the end of him. Though, his friend seems to have something up his sleeve- I worry for this man's plan, considering how improbable it seems all things considered. I am unenthused and now very worried for this improbable course of events. Apparently losing in bowling incurs such an incredible penalty. We will see what occurs next."

“Time ticks past all of us, but it will always, inevitably speak for us. If I must spend a year and a day in this bowling alley in a stuffy disguise, so be it, but I know I am not alone. As erratic and strange the mage is, I do feel pity for the man for his need for so many people around him in a feeble attempt to feel included in a community, even despite the fact that he apparently owns the alley and beyond this place. It does make me slightly introspective though, being forced to interact once more with faceless, featureless beings that serve no value in my existence. 

It was always the same- my soldiers were but faceless, featureless cannon fodder I pushed out into the battlefield to die for my own selfish purposes. Working in this alley, with nary a notion of the identities of others and their powers has always been an experience. I would know how it would be like to be forced in a role I disliked, even the job I had held down before was one that I had never wanted to be a part of. Surprisingly, outside the prying eyes of the gods above, I felt free in this premise, working to earn my own keep and letting time pass as per normal than rushing an ultimatum I knew would never come for me. 

There was, of course, minor joy in finding one of our own eager to yield the benefits of the rewards he had received. Occasionally, he would ring a bell of his he had and several other slaves had to drop whatever they had on their hands to start an impromptu performance, compelled by the noise the bell made to entertain him. It at least meant some of us could continue while accompanied by beautiful music, much to the chagrin of those forced to perform. Of course, the mage that owned this place was definitely much more pleased by this development and knowledge of his item than anyone else in the alley would ever feel about this certain bell-owning slave, not that he let up too much about it. Despite the seeming insanity that had taken hold of his mind, from how he maintained the place he was still a skilled mage, and I developed a grudging respect about the entire joint at some point. 

It was interesting to watch people who were not afflicted with a form of madness choose instead to not save themselves.

As much as I would expand on my entry, I find that writing about a year and a day here truly unexciting. A routine is a routine after all- at some point, the mind molds and adapts itself to the process, and thus leaves no room for argument or dissent in the mind. If anything, the experience suddenly becomes fantastic insight of the mind of an adventurer, faceless as they are, and how much of such mundane, yet insidious torture they can take until they finally crack. 

Without anything to fixate on, and a permanent uniform branding us as one of “his own”, however, it didn’t take too long for others to start to crumble mentally as the boredom of repetition and aura of insanity began creeping in. In times like this, it struck me as amusingly bizarre how many people seemed to just give up around me, their motions growing increasingly listless until they seemed to grow inert, as though they had finally given out and refused to be subjugated any further. I laughed internally instead, even as my own despair weighed permanently upon me. 

Even when you converse with another, you recoil seeing the face of your current self in theirs, and with everyone else that roams the alley on their own. With spiritual faith, I could keep myself perfectly sane despite the lack of social contact, but with the same humdrum sequence repeating itself over and over, one could not help but sink into the inevitable feeling of deja vu. 

I may have been physically bound to this plane of existence, but my mind remains wandering across realms, as it had been since my first death on the battlefield. Laying myself on the floor of the alley to rest was the same as if I were to lay myself onto the shattered tiles of the shrine to the Great Guide I had created. Vaguely, in the deepest recesses of my mind, I had wondered if my past self, the general, would have felt this resigned to their own fate if they had been aware of this. 

My dreams after working myself to the bone were soulless, as always, empty fields and dark landscapes while I strode in my true form across the realm on foot. While I derived twisted pleasure and revelled in those who had cracked before I did, my own mind was perfectly still, with no intention to move forward or equipped with any capacity to imagine a life beyond the one of servitude I already had prior to my appointment. It was the least I could do after my resurrection, serving the Great Guide and bringing Him the souls of the departed in an act of redeeming myself. The rest around me were but collateral damage that had made their own mistakes, and I could not save them, especially when I myself had as little rights as they did. 

Throughout my life, I had never lost until Lyncas appeared. A thorn in my side to the bitter end, he bested me in all I did while making me fully aware that he had been holding back. Even when he returned to life as Haewonmak, a cruel trick of fate to torture my immortal soul further, he continued to be superior in every aspect, which he masked behind jokes and facades of imbecility. This to me was my second loss- a narrow one, and needless to say a blow to my pride after a string of unfortunate events along with an utter slap to my face. I stewed at first, bitter at being shackled here, but truly, after experiencing the depths of the Nine Hells, was anything really about to faze me at that point? As always, I triumphed fate, whether I liked it or not. 

I wished to rest eternally- even that, I found, was denied from me, for my sin was too great. 

The mage, of course, too had his problems. He was not always around to supervise us, leaving and returning and fickle in his demands. Even while we were cleaning, I picked up snippets of his ramblings, and most of them were not as nonsensical as others dismissed them to be- he had actually been discussing an invasion of adventurers to his domain, not just within the Groghouse but beyond, and I had heard one of the people he had seen was a child with a longbow that also bore the symbol of the Great Guide. 

It couldn’t have been a coincidence with him scrying on all of us even before we entered this place. He had seen Deokchoon, and I worried for the child. I may have been the one to kill her- but she was still a child even after her resurrection. While I kept quiet, all but one of his many “selves” in the alley, I kept tabs on this development and silently prayed to the Great Guide to rescue her whenever He was able. She didn’t deserve my fate or the inevitable insanity she would experience delving down there. 

I couldn’t allow that. 

I wouldn't. 

Biding my time enough saw me finally finish my term and be allowed to leave the domain. With this, I beat a hasty retreat, once again returning to Fort Dalton and tending to the once-again abandoned shrine to the Great Guide while seeking penance for being unable to make my offerings to Him. Despite this, the knowledge that Deokchoon was still out there, in the hands of the Mad Mage weighed heavily upon my mind, and I greatly debated if I should demand for her when I grew stronger. 

Even if I had denied it, both Deokchoon and Haewonmak were my charges. I couldn’t allow either of them to die under my watch. I had to figure out a method to rescue her, even if I knew there were many children with longbows that may sport the holy symbol of the Great Guide that may be amok in the dungeon. If she was amongst a sea of them, I would still be able to pick her out instantly, and I knew I had to, bound to them both as I was. 

The first thing I had to do was to then escape my own mind, reorienting myself to be able to progress forward. I had already lost some time, and she may or may not have escaped by then. I had no idea what I would expect from there- but I had to try...or die once again trying to do so.”

@oh-god-shes-back

@zomandfriends for excessive Gangrim-related complaining 

#through the borders; fight your way | riven #why are you so longwinded Riven #and repetitive too #feel the rush; of having no tomorrow | lyncas #if there's no miracles; i'll make one for you | deokchoon #my work

[gwimulchorom]

Saw this tweet and Riven is that you 

#through the borders; fight your way | riven

[gwimulchorom]

Tornitus d’Lyrander was unique compared to the others who flew airships across the vast expanse of Khorvaine. Unlike those who chartered ships in service of other houses or acted as mercenaries, Tornitus was handpicked by his father as the only child to inherit his airship- The White Wildcat, a highly armoured and sophisticated warship that could only be piloted by the most tenacious and strategic. 

Growing up, Tornitus devoted himself to his studies, excelling in all aspects to be approved of by his father- and the manifestation of his Dragonmark sealed the deal almost too easily. Around this time, however, his father, an esteemed general in the House Lyrander forces brought back a scrawny, feral Elf, informing Tornitus that this would now be his new younger brother. 

The boy, named Lyncas by his father, soon began to overtake Tornitus in everything he had held dear- including the exclusive attention of his father, and desperate to show himself as superior, he sent Lyncas to an outpost under ‘orders’ of a impending invasion there on foot (considering Lyncas could not pilot an airship without a Dragonmark as his did). The end of the Last War saw Tornitus’s father get killed in a skirmish with Dargunnian mercenaries, and Tornitus saw this as an excuse to execute Lyncas for his failure of carrying out his duties- however, trailing Lyncas saw Tornitus find himself in a forgotten village, and he found Lyncas caring for a group of displaced elven children that had been orphaned by the Last War. 

Lyncas held his own against Tornitus’s blade, but Tornitus slew the rest of the orphans in cold blood by driving his ship into the village and destroying it, refusing to believe that anyone should even show Lyncas any form of kindness the same way his father did- but at the last moment as he drove his blade into the final child, the girl who was leader of the group of children, she produced a dagger that was unmistakeably of Aeranal origin and plunged it into Tornitus’s neck, refusing to yield even in her last moments. 

As The White Wildcat exploded into a blast of powerful electrical and psychic energies, the trio’s bodies were ripped to shreds, effectively ending their lives intertwined as one. As fate would’ve had it, the bodies of Lyncas, Tornitus and the nameless child were restored, but Lyncas’ and the child’s memories were erased and they were assigned to Tornitus as his servants- his punishment for slaying them in his jealousy and rage. He was now branded as an immortal reaper responsible for reincarnating those who needed their aid across realms. 

With that, Tornitus adopted his new alias- Gangrim, the god of death, and his companions became Haewonmak, the keeper of reincarnation and Lee Deokchoon, protector of mortals. Tornitus, tormented by his memories of killing them both, was forced into this contract and faced them for a thousand years, quietly atoning for his sins by trying to help them gain reincarnation. 

As the stipulated time finally came to an end, he found himself separated from Haewonmak and Deokchoon, returning once again to the familiar land of Khorvaine in search of one final soul to reincarnate until he could finally rest. He quietly toils away, having been branded a traitor by House Lyrander for his reckless attempt compromising his airship, but forces around him seemed to tempt him along his way to enlightenment... 

#or my Eberron spice on Gangrim ;) #through the borders; fight your way | riven

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Tired of politics (Pew Research Center) Some 55% of adult social media users say they feel ‘worn out’ by how many political posts and discussions they see on social media, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted July 13-19. This share has risen 18 percentage points since the Center first asked this question in the summer leading up to the 2016 presidential contest and 9 points just in the past year.

Harris seizes historic moment in accepting VP nomination (AP) Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president on Wednesday, cementing her place in history as the first Black woman on a major party ticket and promising she and Joe Biden will rejuvenate a country ravaged by a pandemic and riven by racial and partisan divides.

Portland protesters set fire inside county building as tensions continue to escalate (Washington Post) A crowd of protesters marched to a county building in southeast Portland on Tuesday night, where a handful of people in masks and all-black outfits threw rocks through windows and lit a small fire inside, marking the 83rd night of protests in Portland that have led to millions of dollars in damage to city property, officials said. Several hundred people participated in the peaceful protest before a smaller group broke off, police said, lighting fires in dumpsters in the street to block traffic and slow down police who later tried to clear the scene. Some sprayed anti-police graffiti on the county building and scrawled instructions to “aim here” across the windows on the first floor. A few masked people threw rocks through window panes, and someone tossed a flaming newspaper into the building, according to reports. The weeks of destruction and intense clashes with police following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May have spurred angry backlash from Portland officials and some residents. Tensions have risen in recent weeks following a period of relative calm after federal law enforcement left Portland last month.

Fires, Blackouts, a Heat Wave and a Pandemic: California’s ‘Horrible’ Month (NYT) How many things can go wrong at once? On Wednesday millions of California residents were smothered by smoke-filled skies as dozens of wildfires raged out of control. They braced for triple-digit temperatures, the sixth day of a punishing heat wave that included a recent reading of 130 degrees in Death Valley. They braced for possible power outages because the state’s grid is overloaded, the latest sign of an energy crisis. And they continued to fight a virus that is killing 130 Californians a day. Even for a state accustomed to disaster, August has been a terrible month. Across the state there were 23 major fires reported on Wednesday and more than 300 smaller ones.

Michigan to Pay $600 Million to Victims of Flint Water Crisis (NYT) The state of Michigan is expected to pay about $600 million to victims of the Flint water crisis, according to two people with knowledge of a major settlement that is set to be announced this week. The money would largely be designated for children in Flint who were poisoned by lead-tainted tap water after officials changed the city’s water supply six years ago, setting off a crisis that drew national attention and remains a worry for many residents. In 2014, as a cost-saving measure for a city in deep financial distress, officials in Flint, led by a state-appointed emergency manager, switched the city’s water supply from Lake Huron to the notoriously foul Flint River. Officials failed to add corrosion controls to the tap water, investigations later found, allowing lead and other chemicals to leach from the old, worn pipes into the drinking supply. It did not take long before Flint residents knew there was something terribly wrong with their water. It tasted metallic and often appeared to be green or light brown. Many people began feeling ill and experiencing skin rashes, hair loss and other mysterious symptoms. But when they confronted elected officials and demonstrated outside City Hall, their pleas were dismissed.

Cola crackdown (Washington Post) Spurred by growing evidence that being overweight increases the risk of serious illness with an infection by the novel coronavirus, a number of Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children. On Monday, legislators in Tabasco voted to prohibit the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages and highly processed foods to anyone under 18, just 12 days after Oaxaca took similar action. The pandemic has created an explosion of awareness about why Mexicans are so vulnerable to certain diseases, prompting ambitious new bills in at least 10 states and Mexico City. The World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, have issued strong statements supporting the new laws, but pushback has been swift. Speaking at an event in Berriozabal, Chiapas, deputy health minister Hugo López-Gatell, the country’s coronavirus czar, described sugary drinks as “bottled poison.” ANPRAC, the national association of soft drink producers, issued a statement that he was unfairly demonizing the category. The food industry claims that mom-and-pop bodegas and shops that rely heavily on soda sales will be hurt financially by the new laws.

Ex-official says former Mexico president directed corruption (AP) In some of the most explosive accusations in recent Mexican political history, the former head of the state-owned oil company directly accused former President Enrique Peña Nieto and his treasury secretary of directing a scheme of kickbacks and embezzlement directly from the president’s office. Emilio Lozoya, the former head of Petroleos Mexicanos who himself faces corruption charges, alleges Peña Nieto and Luis Videgaray used the state-owned Pemex as a conduit to “fulfill promises made during the (2012) campaign,” among other allegations he makes in a leaked 60-page document whose authenticity was confirmed by Mexican authorities Wednesday. “Enrique Peña Nieto and Luis Videgaray Caso created a scheme of corruption in the federal government, in which the common denominator was that all the people who supported in some way the presidential campaign had to be recompensed or repaid,” usually in the form of cushy government contracts, Lozoya wrote. Lozoya also accused Peña Nieto and Videgaray of extortion, fraud and embezzlement. “The president and the afore-mentioned treasury secretary used me to create a criminal conspiracy aimed at enriching themselves, not only by (taking) government funds, but also by extorting money from individuals and companies, fraud and deceit,” he wrote.

Germany welcomes Israeli air force for first joint exercise (AP) Germany has welcomed military aircraft from Israel to its airspace for their first joint combat exercises in German territory, a milestone which both air forces praised Thursday as a sign of the intensive cooperation between the two countries. During the Third Reich, Nazi Germany murdered 6 million European Jews and others in the Holocaust. Relations between Israel and Germany were difficult in the first decades after the end of the war, but have been growing closer together over the years. Nowadays, Germany is one of Israel’s staunchest supporters.

Cocoa ‘Snow’ Falls on Swiss Town After Chocolate Factory Mishap (Food & Wine) Imagine walking outside to a light dusting of cocoa on the hood of your car, as the smell of chocolate lingered in the air. That sounds like the kind of scenario you’d find in the first chapter of an imaginative kids’ book, but it also actually happened in Olten, Switzerland. According to the Associated Press, the Lindt & Spruengli chocolate factory had a slight problem with its ventilation system while it made roasted cocoa nibs, and a combination of HVAC issues and high winds left a light sprinkling of cocoa powder on the surrounding streets. A Lindt & Spruengli representative said that “one car was lightly covered” and it offered to cover the cost of cleaning any affected property. The company also said that the cocoa dust wasn’t in any way harmful, and that the ventilation issue had since been taken care of. The Lindt-dusting wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the “small technical defect” at a chocolate factory in Werl, Germany that caused a literal ton of liquid chocolate to spill into the street. In December 2018, a delivery tank at DreiMeister overflowed, and West Street was coated with a tasty but problematic mess. The chocolate quickly cooled and hardened, which meant that two dozen firefighters had to use shovels and pickaxes to break it up and clear it out of the road.

Russian opposition leader Navalny hospitalized after suspected poisoning (Foreign Policy) The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is on a ventilator in an intensive care unit in the Siberian city of Omsk. His plane made an emergency landing after he became ill in flight and ambulances met the plane on the runway to take the unconscious Navalny to a local hospital. His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh suspects that his tea had been poisoned prior to the flight. “We assume that Alexei was poisoned with something mixed into his tea. That was the only thing he drank this morning. The doctors say that the toxin was absorbed more quickly because of the hot liquid,” she wrote on Twitter.

EU offers support to protesters in Belarus (Foreign Policy) Speaking after an emergency meeting with EU officials on the crisis in Belarus, European Council President Charles Michel told reporters that the EU “stands in solidarity with the people of Belarus” and that “we don’t recognize the results” of the Aug. 9 presidential elections, which returned longtime President Aleksandr Lukashenko to office by a landslide amid widespread accusations of fraud. Feeling the pressure, Lukashenko is digging in his heels. He accused the EU of “fomenting unrest” in the country, and tightened border security to protect against what he claims are foreign agents infiltrating the protests. On Wednesday, he announced a new police operation to crush the demonstrations, though no further crackdown has yet taken place.

Flood victims take to social media as rains cause chaos in India’s Gurugram (Reuters) Heavy rains flooded parts of Gurugram, an Indian city that plays host to some of the world’s biggest tech companies, and residents took to social media to seek help by posting pictures of waterlogged roads and apartments. Gurugram, a satellite of New Delhi, is one of India’s wealthiest cities and has offices of global corporations such as Google, Facebook and Uber. It had been showcased as India’s “Millennium City”, but clogged drains and poor civic amenities cause flooding almost every monsoon season. The weather office on Thursday warned of “very heavy rainfall” over northern parts of India, including New Delhi and neighbouring cities, which could make the Gurugram floods worse. After torrential rains, residents used Twitter to post pictures of floating cars, floodwaters inundating upscale apartment blocks, and large sinkholes on roads that connect the city to New Delhi. TV footage showed miles-long traffic jams, overflowing sewage and three men rowing an inflatable lifeboat.

Hundreds of Police Killings in India (NYT) A father and son were hauled into a small police station in the southern Indian town of Sathankulam in June after arguing with police officers. When friends and family members went to the station, they heard screams emanating from inside, growing louder as night fell. The next afternoon, the two men, Ponraj Jeyaraj, 58, and Beniks Jeyaraj, 31, stumbled outside surrounded by officers, blood dripping down the backs of their legs. They had clearly been tortured in police custody, family members and lawyers in the town said. Father and son died hours apart, from severe internal injuries, a few days later. For decades, India has absorbed case after case of police brutality, torture and extrajudicial killings. Every year, scores of Indians are killed in what activists call “fake encounters,” and many more, activists say, are tortured to death in police custody. Around the world, the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in May unleashed searing examinations of police abuse, racism and injustice—but not in India, where no large grass-roots movement has emerged to take on police brutality. For many Indians, day-to-day crime is the more pressing issue, and they often side with the police, even when there is voluminous evidence that they have abused their power. There is also a fear of speaking against the police. According to a lengthy report by the National Campaign Against Torture, an Indian rights group based in New Delhi, the capital, at least 1,731 people were killed in custody last year.

Jakarta’s move on hold (Reuters) Indonesia’s plan to relocate their capital city from Jakarta to a location in East Kalimantan province of Borneo has been put on hold, with the $33 billion effort—with construction set to start in 2021—being pushed back. The plan entailed civil servants moving in 2024, which has been pushed back as well. The objective is to relieve Jakarta—a critical city of 10 million—of the additional load of supporting the national government, as the city itself is sinking due to groundwater overextraction as well.

China says Taiwan hacking allegations are ‘malicious slander’ (Reuters) China on Thursday branded as “malicious slander” accusations from Taiwan about hacking attacks linked to the Chinese government, further adding to tensions between Beijing and Taipei. Taiwan said hacking groups connected to the Chinese government had attacked at least 10 government agencies and some 6,000 email accounts of government officials in an “infiltration” to steal important data. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian poured scorn on the allegation. “The criticisms from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are malicious slander, pure and simple,” Zhao told reporters, referring to Taiwan’s ruling party. “China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity, and is one of the victims of hacking attacks.” The Chinese government routinely denies involvement in hacking and says it punishes those who do it.

Water already dwindling, Egypt’s farmers fear impact of dam (AP) In the winter of 1964, Makhluf Abu Kassem was born in this agricultural community newly created at the far end of Egypt’s Fayoum oasis. His parents were among the village’s first settlers, moving here three years earlier from the Nile Valley to carve out a new life as farmers. The region was fertile, and for four decades they made their living growing corn, cotton and wheat. Now 55, Abu Kassem looks out what’s left of his shriveling farm, surrounded by barren wasteland that was once his neighbors’ farmland—victims of dwindling irrigation in recent years. In the past, he and other villagers irrigated their farms through canals linked to the Nile River, Egypt’s lifeline since ancient times. But years of mismanagement, corruption and increasing population led to the loss of at least 75% of farmland in the village and the surrounding area. Now, Abu Kassem fears that a dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, the Nile’s main tributary, could add to the severe water shortages already hitting his village if no deal is struck to ensure a continued flow of water. For Egyptian farmers, the daunting prospect adds a new worry on top of the other causes of mounting water scarcity. Egypt is already spreading its water resources thin. Its booming population, now over 100 million, has one of the lowest per capita shares of water in the world, at around 550 cubic meters per year, compared to a global average of 1,000.

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