New construction homes dutchess county ny

I’m 18+ and all characters and participants must be 18+
The central room is a large, wide open space, with all the wall, the floor and the ceiling the same dull grey owing to the concrete from which they were constructed. Off of this main room were six cells, with traditional metal bars and few amenities one might expect, though they were larger than typical.
This is the basic set for a new reality show, The Prison. Six self proclaimed sluts will be kept here, and put through persistent sexual torments. There are no points, no votes, the only way to lose is to tap out, to give up, to leave. Last one standing wins the 69 million dollar prize. While the producers expected it to be over within a month, stubborn competitors could theoretically stretch this thing out over years.
I have been selected as one of the six competitors for the inaugural season, prepared to do what it takes to win, however long it takes.
Hopefully that has given you an idea of what I'm looking for here. The idea is that I will play this woman, a contestant on the new reality show The Prison, going through constant use and abuse in hopes of taking home the grand prize. As for you, you'd take charge of everyone else!
Kinks: cum, cum eating, cum food, cum play,bukkake,cream pie,bdsm, bondage, forced, body writing, spanking, cuddling, degradation, rough partners, sizeplay, dominant partners, toys, multiple partners, spit roasting, mating press, full Nelson,frenching,rimming,body oil,bestiality,water sports,wax play,sex machines,being filmed,cosplay,NTR,petplay,exhibitionism,biting and pretty much anything that isn’t my limits
Limits:
Scat,gore,vore,hyper sizes,necro and vomit
If that's of interest to you, please get in touch at Demondork on Kik and come with any questions you have, clarifications you need and ideas you'd like to share. Just please do more than just tell me you're interested. Don't worry about responding slowly/late, I still want to hear from you. Finally, please no chat requests, I will simply ignore them.
PS: I’d prefer if you had few limits since this show would be pushing the contestants to their limits

• After you rebuild Lurelin Village, the Village Head will hold a feast in Link's honor. At the feast, the villagers will officially announce that Link has free use of all the establishments in Lurelin Village, including a NEW Lucky Treasure Shop!! Link can open a chest every single day for FREE and receive a special reward. Tweaking with the game's clock, players can exploit this shop and get their hands on infinite treasure, including powerful fushion materials!! You can also give the owner a roasted armored porgy to choose from the remaining two chests!!
  
• You don't ever need a minecart!! Just use a shield by itself on minecart rails to jump from track to track.
  
• With ANY gerudo weapon, any fushion added will double that fushion's attack bonus!! For example the base attack of The Scimitar of the Seven is 28, fuse it with a silver lynel Saber horn who's original attack power added is 55, and it will double it to 110, giving you a high durable sword with an attack of 138 permanently, in any weather or condition!!!
  
• At the Horse God's Spring, Malanya can not only bring your horse back to life, but she can now upgrade your horse's stats to all 5 stars in all categories if you bring her certain meals!! Malanya will also describe the ingredients of these meals in the Malanya dreams you can have at the stables
  
• If you throw a dazzlefruit at any Stal monsters (skeletons) it will defeat them instantly!! *Does not include Stalnox
  
• If you give a horse an Endura Carrot, it will add 3 extra stamina boosts for up to 8 hyas if your horse already has 5!!
  
• You can make your own home with the possibility of having up to 3 rooms each of bow, weapon, or shield stands! There are also rooms with blessing statues, cooking pots, and a room called gallery where you can use one of your photos that you've taken to make into and display a large painting on the wall!!And a stable where you can display a horse of your choice!!
  
• If you have a weapon that is about to break or even if it's been used a little bit, if you place it before a rock octorok, it will suck it in and when it's thrown out, it will be repaired instantly AND give it a white bonus such as critical hit or attack+!! Use that weapon until it's about to break, then place it before a 2nd different octorok and it will become new again with a yellow bonus such as durability or higher attack+!! After using said octorok, mark its location on your map and kill it. Whenever a blood moon occurs, you can go back to said octorok and repair your weapons/roll your stats on it.
  
• If you fuse any mushroom to the weakest of shields, it will disarm and throw into the air, even the strongest enemies, if you face them with it and press A to shield parry when they swipe at you!!
  
• If you fuse a mushroom to a weapon and attack them, it will disarm them AND send them flying through the air as they bounce away!!
  
• If you first make a campfire (using a bundle of wood, adding flint, and striking it with a sword or shooting the wood with a fire fruit) then add a Hylian Pine Cone AND an Oil Jar at the same time, it will make a super powerful updraft that will send you flying high in the air. Alternatively, if you dont have a flame emitter on hand, placing a twig in the center of a Zonai Air Balloon, lighting it on fire, then placing the Hylian Pine Cone and Oil Jar on top will send the Air Balloon zooming into the air with a powerful burst!! When you light a wooden weapon on fire with this combination, it will stay lit, even in the rain!!
  
• Lynel Hoofs break Talus and Frox weak points better than bomb arrows and do considerably more damage.
  
• If you attach a sapphire to any weapon and swipe it, it will cause all materials on trees, walls, or ceilings to fall right to the ground for you!!
  
• You can can earn a FREE extra heart or stamina container (you choose) no shrines required!! Go to coordinates -0556, -1503, 0019 on the outside base of the great plateau where you will see a bomb rock in the wall. Destroy it and it will drain the largest lake on the great plateau leaving a bargain statue at the bottom. Talk to it and complete "A Call From the Depths" side adventure and you'll get a free heart or stamina container!!!
  
• You can fuse pieces of island that have fallen from the sky to any weapon for a quick, powerful fushion!!
  
• If you collect 4 Sage's Wills, take them to a blessing statue and you can strengthen the powers of a sage of your choice. There are 20 total to upgrade them all!!
  
• If you're fighting a Stone Talus and they throw their rock at you, you can recall it and it will stun the talus so you're able to jump on
  
• If you fuse a frozen slab of meat to your shield, you can shield surf on any surface without the meat falling off or being destroyed, even flat surfaces, and surfaces covered in gloom without taking any damage!!
  
• A great but slightly weaker alternative to Sundelions are Sun Pumpkins. Speak to Mayor Reede after completing the Mayoral Election questline in Hateno Village. He'll be standing in a vegetable field on the west side of the village. He wants your help to protect his crops at night from monsters. Agreeing will take you straight to nighttime where there will be a few waves of stal monsters you have to defeat. Just throw a dazzlefruit at each group to instantly kill all stal enemies! After he will give you a few Sun Pumpkins and you'll also then be able to buy them at the Hateno General Store!!
  
• You can grow 1 crop from a list of fruits and vegetables, including Big Hearty Radishes, Hearty Radishes, Endura Carrots, Swift Carrots, Pumpkins, Hylian Tomatoes, Hylian Rice, Tabantha Wheat, Hydromelons, and Wildberries!! Go to the school in Hateno Village between 9 am to 3 pm and complete the 2 side quests the teacher asks you to do, then in the field down the hill to the southwest of the school, an old lady (Uma) will tend a crop of your choice for free!!
  

*In the depths there are 34 yiga schematics you can collect with yiga designed machines!! Also with each yiga schematic, there is a treasure chest with 20 crystallized charges, that's a total of 680 crystallized charges, almost enough for 7 battery upgrades!!

• If you fuse a zonai wing to your shield and do a shield hop, and you can fire slow-motion arrows when jumping from flat ground!!

*If you shoot an arrow with a Muddlebud attached at a Battle Talus, it will aggravate the Talus and throw off ALL enemies that were on board!!
*When fighting a Flux Construct, if you take out a weapon and fuse it with one of the Flux Construct squares, it will cause it to fall apart!! Alternatively using Ultrahand on the head, you can wiggle it until it detaches, also causing it to fall apart!!
*Turn Luminous Stone into gems by feeding them to Dondons, located in the Bronas Forest by Lake Floria and collecting their "poop" (this is one of the best ways of farming rupees in TOTK!!!
*Fuse a Lizalfos Tail to a weapon to make a whip (and use the elemental ones for a magical whip)!!
*Put a beehive on a stick to create a bee wand, which sends bees after enemies and briefly distracts them when you wave it. Alternatively attaching a beehive to an arrow and firing from a Lynel bow with x3 or x5, it will then create 3 or 5 hives respectively that will attack enemies!!

• Whenever you defeat a larger scale monster in the depths such as a Frox, Hinox, or Lynel, when you defeat it you always get 20 crystallized charges that count towards getting another battery upgrade!!
  
• If you're having trouble finding the caves that have Bubbul Frogs in them, find one of the many Cherry Blossom Trees and offer a piece of fruit. Satori the blue horse will appear and blue beams of light will shoot up in the air in the area that you're in, showing you all the caves that have Bubbul Frogs!
  
• You don't need stairs when building your house, just use ascend, it will give you a few extra rooms!!
  

We own a property on 20 + Acres which has about $250,000 of withdrawable equity right now. I've never dealt with this sum of money before and I'm trying to determine what the best investment is for it.
This Equity is only temporary as it might be the result of a mistake from the county Appraisal District and the bank that's relying on the county's appraisal. I've applied, but there's no guarantee that will actually get it. However, we passed two out of the three checks so far so now I'm considering what to do if we actually get the money. If we wait, that mistake will be corrected and Equity will go back down.
I would like to build a steel building single family home or duplex on our existing land. My napkin math tells me that a duplex will yield 1,000 a month in cash flow. Sfh will barely break even. Triplex is better, but there's budgetary constraints. I've never built a house before and I have no idea what I'm doing :p

• Would we be able to finish 3600-4000sqft with 200k (50k going to another investment)? I imagine it's a lot cheaper than sfh especially if you're building multiple doors under one roof.
• Does anyone have experience building duplexes or Triplexes?
• Would you consider building a Triplex/fourplex a rural area?
• What should I keep in mind for price ranges and similar here?

My rough budget is below. I called metal building companies and got bids from contractors, but I'm not 100% trusting of anyone.

• building and foundation 70k
• insulation 10k
• framing, drywall and finishes 80k
• electrical 10k
• septic 20k
• windows 10k

Utilities are self owned. I need to check if our well can support the load. It's probably fine though and we'd install efficient water fixtures regardless. Septic would be installed. Electricity next to construction site.
Any ideas welcome!
We're 30 minutes outside Houston, tx.

Hi Everyone,
I have been working in my home country for close to 8 years in the construction industry as a field engineer. This has been my only job since college and I have made my way up from a trainee to a senior position.
During the years, i have found that this type of job just keeps you running no matter which position you climb up to since most projects are more or less behind schedule and out of the budget prescribed. The work hours keep getting longer and the pay is not worth all these time and weekend spent. And even worse, the works never gets out of your head.
Trying to change, i am currently moving to Saskattoonthis year as a new immigrant and wanted to know if there are any field that i can switch to with my current expertise (bachelor in civil engineering plus the years of experience above).
it would be very helpful to get your suggestions on which career path i can move to. I do not mind doing a drastic change like working in IT even if it needs a top up like masters or certifications. But of course, going to do something that will use the degree and past experiences will be ideal.
Thank you for prompt responses..

We decided to go for a drive in the countryside one Saturday morning. I’m the type of person who usually plans everything, leaving nothing to chance. I’m not spontaneous at all and it gets on my wife’s nerves. This was going to be different. It was all my idea and I assured Tammy we were just going to ‘wing it’. She rolled her eyes. She knows me. She realizes even my ‘spontaneous’ excursions are planned, somehow.
The truth is, it bothers me to not have a game plan. I’m usually the one driving on these rogue adventures and I have to decide to turn left or right if there’s no predetermined path or destination. I hate doing that with a passion but I wanted to prove to her I could drive without advance research or scouting. Inside it was going to kill me, but I had to pretend to be ok with it. You know how couples can get. I had to prove her ‘wrong’.
We loaded up the car with a couple of bottles of water and snacks before steering toward the rural part of the state. In the beginning, I’d been to parts of the area, but the longer we drove, the further I left behind my comfort zone. Tammy was loving it. I’d glance over at her occasionally and she’d have this genuine glow of contentment from the random drive. I sincerely think part of the enjoyment was relishing in my discomfort, but I wasn’t about to let on. Regardless, I wasn’t much of an actor and we both knew I was a bundle of knots inside.
Every few miles we’d see an old farmhouse or weathered barn with cows in the pasture. The scenery was lush and picturesque. The weather itself was beautiful too. All in all, for a random drive in the country being officiated by an obsessive planner, it was pretty darn enjoyable. I didn’t feel the crippling apprehension which usually came over me when I was trying to find a specific location in the dark. It was easier to be ‘lost’ in the daylight, with no set agenda. You might even say I was adjacent to enjoying myself.
The deeper Tammy and I drove into ‘Nowheresville’, the more we started noticing some odd little things. There were weird symbols painted on the side of the houses and barns visible from the old county road. They weren’t anything either of us was familiar with, but clearly they meant something to the locals. The first few didn’t register as anything to take note of, but eventually it became an obvious thing which stood out, in an otherwise idyllic country drive. I found myself anticipating them with each new home we approached. All of the symbols were somewhat different in ‘character’ formation, but they were similar enough to be related.
Neither of us spoke about them at the time but those strange markings troubled us, deeply. It was definitely on our minds when we stopped at a small country store for supplies, and to use the bathroom. As is usually the case with folks in the countryside, the store owners were very friendly. We must’ve stood out like sore thumbs, because they asked where we were from. We bought food and drinks for the road, and yukked it up with them for a couple minutes.
That is, until I summoned the courage to ask what the symbols on the buildings meant. Immediately their whole demeanor changed. It was night and day. Tammy noticed it too. She looked at me with a side-eyed glance as their mood darkened. To their credit, they didn’t try to change the subject. That would’ve been too obvious; but they did look down the aisles first to make sure there were no other customers within earshot, before answering. That definitely raised our hackles. It was creepy as hell. The truth was apparently something ‘outsiders’ like us weren’t supposed to know.
Suddenly it felt like we were about to be sucked into the middle of a rural conspiracy. They leaned over and whispered: “You folks seem real nice. Please don’t ask anyone else about them. It’s for ‘protection’, and for heaven’s sake, don’t be around here once the sun goes down. There’s a full moon tonight and they prefer the dark.”
I looked at Tammy’s mortified face. Her reaction was probably the same as my own. The suspense widened. We kept waiting for them to burst out laughing about winding up the big city folks, but the grins never came. They just handed us our receipt and told us to have a safe trip back home. There was a strong emphasis on us leaving soon. Like a couple of traumatized school kids, we thanked them for their prior hospitality and walked out. It was already dusk, and we were halfway across the state. We’d been seeing those bizarre markers for fifty miles or more.
Was it some secret sect? Tammy dared to take a photo of one of the ‘protection markers’ with her phone as we drove back toward home but the internet service in the boonies was spotty, at best. Since it was some deeply held rural secret, she hoped an image search would tell us what they meant. The country store proprietors acted like it was blood painted on the door of their homes to signal for the Biblical Angel of Death to pass them by.
Night fell quickly, with us still being in the middle of ‘Nowheresville’. We were definitely spooked and needed fuel for the car. Predictably, there were no stations around and the needle was below ‘E’. My OCD nerves were kicking way in. I was tempted to lash-out about why THIS is the reason I didn’t like to be spontaneous, but I held my tongue. It wouldn’t have helped. The image lookup netted very little helpful information. The only thing she could find was that it was somehow tied to ‘a secretive society of occult Freemasons’.
What? There were too many of them for it to be an ‘inside joke on city folks exploring the backroads’. We wouldn’t have thought there would be anything other that devout religious people living in that isolated section of the county. Not only that, but what did the shop owner’s vague statement mean? ‘They prefer the dark’? They made it sound like there were bloodthirsty werewolves roaming the woods. As laughable as it sounded, they weren’t laughing when they said it, and they didn’t appear to be kidding either.
They warned us to be completely out of the area before nightfall, and yet here we were, running on fumes and hoping to find a gas station before we were stranded like sitting ducks. The wind picked up until it blew our little car around like a sailboat in a churning sea. If there was any good from our unplanned misadventure, it was that all the dust we’d picked up from the long drive would hopefully be blown off the car.
It was barely 9pm on a Saturday night but every house we passed was as dark as could be. Not a single light shone in any of their windows. Either they went to bed early in the country, or they didn’t want to invite strangers to their doors after dark. Intellectually I knew rural folk were known to sleep early, but I couldn’t help but hear the shopkeepers conspiratorial words echo again in my ears. I couldn’t see Tammy’s face well but I know her. She was dwelling on it too. Under the circumstances it would’ve been impossible to ignore.
As growing nightmares tend to do, the car began to shudder. It was choking on its last few ounces of fuel left in the line. I wanted to shake the steering wheel in terrified frustration but it’s an inanimate object. I’m the damn fool goaded into ‘proving how unprepared I could be’. This was my ‘reward’. I was going to have to walk in the dark with a gas can until I found the next house. Then I was going to have to beat on their front door and hope they would take mercy on us. It was the perfect checkbox list of ‘NO!’ for me.
Walk alone in the dark. The FULL MOON dark.
Traverse a rural two lane blacktop where I didn’t know a single soul.
Ask for help from total strangers that could have been avoided if I’d just used my damn head in the first place.
And the ‘piece de resistance’:
Be on the lookout for ‘werewolves’ or Moses’ Angel of Death sent to kill the firstborn sons.
My own anger generated a certain level of false bravado which I needed to ‘get it done’. I cursed myself for not having gas already in the fuel can in the trunk but the truth is, I would’ve been afraid it was an explosion risk. It’s hell being an over-thinker. Tammy had the audacity to ask where I was going. I just turned toward her with a disgruntled scowl. She didn’t mean it the way it came out. It was obvious I had to go for help. She just didn’t want to be alone in the car. I think she felt bad for all of her past attempts to ‘loosen me up’ about over-planning things. Perhaps on the eve of our mutual doom, I might’ve won one. Ah, the bittersweet irony.
The two of us held hands. We’d started the journey together and we’d finish it together. Whatever that meant. Like a gentleman, I placed her away from the roadway but it was mostly a symbolic gesture. There were no other cars driving by. She was the first to notice how quiet it was as we walked. There was only the sound of our shoes clacking the pavement. In a place with all manner of wild animals living in nature, it was deathly silent. She gripped my hand tightly. It seemed like we’d walked a long way but the truth is, we were relatively lucky. The nearest farmhouse was less than a mile from our stranded vehicle.
Like the rest, it had one of those arcane symbols painted right on the front door. Also like the others, there wasn’t a single light shining in their windows but the driveway had three cars. They were definitely home but I had my doubts they would answer us. We didn’t want to be shot for startling them so we tried to make some unsubtle noises on the doorstep to announce our benevolent presence. Country folks like their twelve gauge shotguns. I hoped they would realize we were harmless and in need of help.
We both heard sounds of lamentation coming from inside. If anything, they were more frightened than we were. I’d characterize it as terrified. I spoke up in my friendliest voice to reassure them.
“Hello there. We’re terribly sorry to bother you folks so late at night. We’re just passing through from out of town and our car ran out of gas. Do you happen to have some? We’d be happy to reimburse you. I’ve got a hundred dollar bill. I can slide it under your door as compensation.”
A man on the other side spoke up. There was a noticeable tremor in his voice. He appeared to be trying very hard to balance his innate sense of politeness and hospitality, with a crumbling wall of courage. It didn’t bode well to reassure either of us.
“I’m terribly sorry for your trouble mister, but there’s something very evil lurking in these parts you don’t want to encounter. They come out at night time and for that precise reason, we don’t dare open the front door, for anyone. I’d be happy to siphon some of my own gas for you; but I won’t set foot out there until daylight. I have to protect myself and my family. I hope you understand. Now, run back to your car and lock the doors. Quickly! Cover up the windows and take this and put it on the hood of your vehicle in a conspicuous place. It’ll save your lives.”
In the unnatural quietness of the night air, I heard the electronic whirl of an inkjet printer running inside their home. A piece of letter-sized paper slid under the door jamb. It contained one of those strange symbols.
“Leave your fuel can on the porch. I’ll bring some gas, first light. I promise. If they come for you, do not look them in the eye. Go!”
We did exactly as instructed. To the letter. I gotta tell ya, the missus and I would’ve been ‘husband and wife, three-legged race’ winners if we’d entered such a competition. Both of us sprinted at a pace I hardly thought possible. I could barely keep up with her. Then I scrambled to get the keys to open the door. It might’ve been comical if we weren’t racing for our lives. Inside, we located a sun-visor and blankets to block off the windows as best we could. An old paper road map and catalogs from the glove compartment served to complete the job, in record time.
We were almost in the clear when I realized the most important part of the plan wasn’t in place. The protection sign was still in the car with us! I didn’t have any masking tape so there was no way to secure it to the window or hood. Using a rock as a paperweight would’ve blocked it from being visible. In a flash of invention I had an idea. The SUV was so dusty from the county roads that I scrawled the symbol as large as I could into the dirt of the windshield, hood and trunk with my fingers. I hoped that would suffice to spare us from the fury of whatever frightening creatures roamed the hillsides during the full moon.
I jumped back inside just in time. First the smell hit us. It was positively rank and the source of the stench was very, very large. We could feel ‘them’ walking around the car inspecting it. There were tiny voids in our hasty wallpapering of the windows but I didn’t dare look through the cracks. I was too scared I’d make eye contact. We heard them pulling on the door handles to see if they were unlocked. I have absolutely no doubt anything that huge could’ve simply ripped them open but that apparently wasn’t the point. They were checking to see if we’d taken the precaution of locking them.
Tammy had to stifle a scream as the whole vehicle shook back and forth violently. I thought the intent was to flip it upside down. She looked at me in wide-eyed terror. I’d love to suggest she drew strength from my calm masculinity but that would be a bold-faced lie. It was all I could do to keep from squealing like a toddler myself. The things on the other side of the car were definitely not natural. That much was clear to us. Then one of them spoke with a ‘voice’, not of this earth.
“You drew our sacred sigil of mercy on your vehicle, incorrectly. You have parts of the character backwards but we have decided to forgive your ignorance, this time. Leave our home and never return again. Our patience is limited.”
“Thank you!”; We both cried out in unison. Without response, they finally left us, but we dared not leave the impotent ‘safety’ of the car to confirm their departure; even to use the bathroom. Leftover drink cups temporarily served that purpose.
In the morning, the farmer came just as he’d promised. He brought us fuel and something to eat. Not that either of us had an appetite. He saw the evidence of our nocturnal visitors and remarked how fortunate we were, especially with my botched depiction of the ‘sigil’, as they had referred to them. We thanked the man again and we’re on our way. Neither of us breathed a sign of relief until we reached the suburbs.
I drove through an automated car wash to blast off the layers of dirt from our terrifying ordeal, but it didn’t do anything about the savage claw marks and unnatural dents to the sheet metal. I told my coworkers it was from a grizzly bear attack. That would’ve been horrific enough story, but the truth was infinitely worse. These so-called ‘grizzly bears’ could speak, read, and took considerable umbrage to my poorly drawn protection sigils.
My insurance agent demanded to inspect the damage first. He asked me where it occurred. I told him and he adopted the same pale demeanor change as the country store owners. He knew what we faced that night. Obviously there had been other claims like ours over the years. Without acknowledging what we both knew, he said: “You two are lucky to be alive. Don’t go back there again. Your claim will be covered in full. And one more thing, that sigil should look like this.”
He pointed to the clean area of the windshield where I had drawn it. Despite it being washed, you could still see the remnants of my ‘artwork’ on the glass. He took his finger and reversed one of the vertical marks in the middle. Now I know the correct way to draw it. More importantly, Tammy doesn’t try to stop me from planning out all the details of our trips anymore. She finally sees the benefit of NOT being spontaneous. Win-win.

We decided to go for a drive in the countryside one Saturday morning. I’m the type of person who usually plans everything, leaving nothing to chance. I’m not spontaneous at all and it gets on my wife’s nerves. This was going to be different. It was all my idea and I assured Tammy we were just going to ‘wing it’. She rolled her eyes. She knows me. She realizes even my ‘spontaneous’ excursions are planned, somehow.
The truth is, it bothers me to not have a game plan. I’m usually the one driving on these rogue adventures and I have to decide to turn left or right if there’s no predetermined path or destination. I hate doing that with a passion but I wanted to prove to her I could drive without advance research or scouting. Inside it was going to kill me, but I had to pretend to be ok with it. You know how couples can get. I had to prove her ‘wrong’.
We loaded up the car with a couple of bottles of water and snacks before steering toward the rural part of the state. In the beginning, I’d been to parts of the area, but the longer we drove, the further I left behind my comfort zone. Tammy was loving it. I’d glance over at her occasionally and she’d have this genuine glow of contentment from the random drive. I sincerely think part of the enjoyment was relishing in my discomfort, but I wasn’t about to let on. Regardless, I wasn’t much of an actor and we both knew I was a bundle of knots inside.
Every few miles we’d see an old farmhouse or weathered barn with cows in the pasture. The scenery was lush and picturesque. The weather itself was beautiful too. All in all, for a random drive in the country being officiated by an obsessive planner, it was pretty darn enjoyable. I didn’t feel the crippling apprehension which usually came over me when I was trying to find a specific location in the dark. It was easier to be ‘lost’ in the daylight, with no set agenda. You might even say I was adjacent to enjoying myself.
The deeper Tammy and I drove into ‘Nowheresville’, the more we started noticing some odd little things. There were weird symbols painted on the side of the houses and barns visible from the old county road. They weren’t anything either of us was familiar with, but clearly they meant something to the locals. The first few didn’t register as anything to take note of, but eventually it became an obvious thing which stood out, in an otherwise idyllic country drive. I found myself anticipating them with each new home we approached. All of the symbols were somewhat different in ‘character’ formation, but they were similar enough to be related.
Neither of us spoke about them at the time but those strange markings troubled us, deeply. It was definitely on our minds when we stopped at a small country store for supplies, and to use the bathroom. As is usually the case with folks in the countryside, the store owners were very friendly. We must’ve stood out like sore thumbs, because they asked where we were from. We bought food and drinks for the road, and yukked it up with them for a couple minutes.
That is, until I summoned the courage to ask what the symbols on the buildings meant. Immediately their whole demeanor changed. It was night and day. Tammy noticed it too. She looked at me with a side-eyed glance as their mood darkened. To their credit, they didn’t try to change the subject. That would’ve been too obvious; but they did look down the aisles first to make sure there were no other customers within earshot, before answering. That definitely raised our hackles. It was creepy as hell. The truth was apparently something ‘outsiders’ like us weren’t supposed to know.
Suddenly it felt like we were about to be sucked into the middle of a rural conspiracy. They leaned over and whispered: “You folks seem real nice. Please don’t ask anyone else about them. It’s for ‘protection’, and for heaven’s sake, don’t be around here once the sun goes down. There’s a full moon tonight and they prefer the dark.”
I looked at Tammy’s mortified face. Her reaction was probably the same as my own. The suspense widened. We kept waiting for them to burst out laughing about winding up the big city folks, but the grins never came. They just handed us our receipt and told us to have a safe trip back home. There was a strong emphasis on us leaving soon. Like a couple of traumatized school kids, we thanked them for their prior hospitality and walked out. It was already dusk, and we were halfway across the state. We’d been seeing those bizarre markers for fifty miles or more.
Was it some secret sect? Tammy dared to take a photo of one of the ‘protection markers’ with her phone as we drove back toward home but the internet service in the boonies was spotty, at best. Since it was some deeply held rural secret, she hoped an image search would tell us what they meant. The country store proprietors acted like it was blood painted on the door of their homes to signal for the Biblical Angel of Death to pass them by.
Night fell quickly, with us still being in the middle of ‘Nowheresville’. We were definitely spooked and needed fuel for the car. Predictably, there were no stations around and the needle was below ‘E’. My OCD nerves were kicking way in. I was tempted to lash-out about why THIS is the reason I didn’t like to be spontaneous, but I held my tongue. It wouldn’t have helped. The image lookup netted very little helpful information. The only thing she could find was that it was somehow tied to ‘a secretive society of occult Freemasons’.
What? There were too many of them for it to be an ‘inside joke on city folks exploring the backroads’. We wouldn’t have thought there would be anything other that devout religious people living in that isolated section of the county. Not only that, but what did the shop owner’s vague statement mean? ‘They prefer the dark’? They made it sound like there were bloodthirsty werewolves roaming the woods. As laughable as it sounded, they weren’t laughing when they said it, and they didn’t appear to be kidding either.
They warned us to be completely out of the area before nightfall, and yet here we were, running on fumes and hoping to find a gas station before we were stranded like sitting ducks. The wind picked up until it blew our little car around like a sailboat in a churning sea. If there was any good from our unplanned misadventure, it was that all the dust we’d picked up from the long drive would hopefully be blown off the car.
It was barely 9pm on a Saturday night but every house we passed was as dark as could be. Not a single light shone in any of their windows. Either they went to bed early in the country, or they didn’t want to invite strangers to their doors after dark. Intellectually I knew rural folk were known to sleep early, but I couldn’t help but hear the shopkeepers conspiratorial words echo again in my ears. I couldn’t see Tammy’s face well but I know her. She was dwelling on it too. Under the circumstances it would’ve been impossible to ignore.
As growing nightmares tend to do, the car began to shudder. It was choking on its last few ounces of fuel left in the line. I wanted to shake the steering wheel in terrified frustration but it’s an inanimate object. I’m the damn fool goaded into ‘proving how unprepared I could be’. This was my ‘reward’. I was going to have to walk in the dark with a gas can until I found the next house. Then I was going to have to beat on their front door and hope they would take mercy on us. It was the perfect checkbox list of ‘NO!’ for me.
Walk alone in the dark. The FULL MOON dark.
Traverse a rural two lane blacktop where I didn’t know a single soul.
Ask for help from total strangers that could have been avoided if I’d just used my damn head in the first place.
And the ‘piece de resistance’:
Be on the lookout for ‘werewolves’ or Moses’ Angel of Death sent to kill the firstborn sons.
My own anger generated a certain level of false bravado which I needed to ‘get it done’. I cursed myself for not having gas already in the fuel can in the trunk but the truth is, I would’ve been afraid it was an explosion risk. It’s hell being an over-thinker. Tammy had the audacity to ask where I was going. I just turned toward her with a disgruntled scowl. She didn’t mean it the way it came out. It was obvious I had to go for help. She just didn’t want to be alone in the car. I think she felt bad for all of her past attempts to ‘loosen me up’ about over-planning things. Perhaps on the eve of our mutual doom, I might’ve won one. Ah, the bittersweet irony.
The two of us held hands. We’d started the journey together and we’d finish it together. Whatever that meant. Like a gentleman, I placed her away from the roadway but it was mostly a symbolic gesture. There were no other cars driving by. She was the first to notice how quiet it was as we walked. There was only the sound of our shoes clacking the pavement. In a place with all manner of wild animals living in nature, it was deathly silent. She gripped my hand tightly. It seemed like we’d walked a long way but the truth is, we were relatively lucky. The nearest farmhouse was less than a mile from our stranded vehicle.
Like the rest, it had one of those arcane symbols painted right on the front door. Also like the others, there wasn’t a single light shining in their windows but the driveway had three cars. They were definitely home but I had my doubts they would answer us. We didn’t want to be shot for startling them so we tried to make some unsubtle noises on the doorstep to announce our benevolent presence. Country folks like their twelve gauge shotguns. I hoped they would realize we were harmless and in need of help.
We both heard sounds of lamentation coming from inside. If anything, they were more frightened than we were. I’d characterize it as terrified. I spoke up in my friendliest voice to reassure them.
“Hello there. We’re terribly sorry to bother you folks so late at night. We’re just passing through from out of town and our car ran out of gas. Do you happen to have some? We’d be happy to reimburse you. I’ve got a hundred dollar bill. I can slide it under your door as compensation.”
A man on the other side spoke up. There was a noticeable tremor in his voice. He appeared to be trying very hard to balance his innate sense of politeness and hospitality, with a crumbling wall of courage. It didn’t bode well to reassure either of us.
“I’m terribly sorry for your trouble mister, but there’s something very evil lurking in these parts you don’t want to encounter. They come out at night time and for that precise reason, we don’t dare open the front door, for anyone. I’d be happy to siphon some of my own gas for you; but I won’t set foot out there until daylight. I have to protect myself and my family. I hope you understand. Now, run back to your car and lock the doors. Quickly! Cover up the windows and take this and put it on the hood of your vehicle in a conspicuous place. It’ll save your lives.”
In the unnatural quietness of the night air, I heard the electronic whirl of an inkjet printer running inside their home. A piece of letter-sized paper slid under the door jamb. It contained one of those strange symbols.
“Leave your fuel can on the porch. I’ll bring some gas, first light. I promise. If they come for you, do not look them in the eye. Go!”
We did exactly as instructed. To the letter. I gotta tell ya, the missus and I would’ve been ‘husband and wife, three-legged race’ winners if we’d entered such a competition. Both of us sprinted at a pace I hardly thought possible. I could barely keep up with her. Then I scrambled to get the keys to open the door. It might’ve been comical if we weren’t racing for our lives. Inside, we located a sun-visor and blankets to block off the windows as best we could. An old paper road map and catalogs from the glove compartment served to complete the job, in record time.
We were almost in the clear when I realized the most important part of the plan wasn’t in place. The protection sign was still in the car with us! I didn’t have any masking tape so there was no way to secure it to the window or hood. Using a rock as a paperweight would’ve blocked it from being visible. In a flash of invention I had an idea. The SUV was so dusty from the county roads that I scrawled the symbol as large as I could into the dirt of the windshield, hood and trunk with my fingers. I hoped that would suffice to spare us from the fury of whatever frightening creatures roamed the hillsides during the full moon.
I jumped back inside just in time. First the smell hit us. It was positively rank and the source of the stench was very, very large. We could feel ‘them’ walking around the car inspecting it. There were tiny voids in our hasty wallpapering of the windows but I didn’t dare look through the cracks. I was too scared I’d make eye contact. We heard them pulling on the door handles to see if they were unlocked. I have absolutely no doubt anything that huge could’ve simply ripped them open but that apparently wasn’t the point. They were checking to see if we’d taken the precaution of locking them.
Tammy had to stifle a scream as the whole vehicle shook back and forth violently. I thought the intent was to flip it upside down. She looked at me in wide-eyed terror. I’d love to suggest she drew strength from my calm masculinity but that would be a bold-faced lie. It was all I could do to keep from squealing like a toddler myself. The things on the other side of the car were definitely not natural. That much was clear to us. Then one of them spoke with a ‘voice’, not of this earth.
“You drew our sacred sigil of mercy on your vehicle, incorrectly. You have parts of the character backwards but we have decided to forgive your ignorance, this time. Leave our home and never return again. Our patience is limited.”
“Thank you!”; We both cried out in unison. Without response, they finally left us, but we dared not leave the impotent ‘safety’ of the car to confirm their departure; even to use the bathroom. Leftover drink cups temporarily served that purpose.
In the morning, the farmer came just as he’d promised. He brought us fuel and something to eat. Not that either of us had an appetite. He saw the evidence of our nocturnal visitors and remarked how fortunate we were, especially with my botched depiction of the ‘sigil’, as they had referred to them. We thanked the man again and we’re on our way. Neither of us breathed a sign of relief until we reached the suburbs.
I drove through an automated car wash to blast off the layers of dirt from our terrifying ordeal, but it didn’t do anything about the savage claw marks and unnatural dents to the sheet metal. I told my coworkers it was from a grizzly bear attack. That would’ve been horrific enough story, but the truth was infinitely worse. These so-called ‘grizzly bears’ could speak, read, and took considerable umbrage to my poorly drawn protection sigils.
My insurance agent demanded to inspect the damage first. He asked me where it occurred. I told him and he adopted the same pale demeanor change as the country store owners. He knew what we faced that night. Obviously there had been other claims like ours over the years. Without acknowledging what we both knew, he said: “You two are lucky to be alive. Don’t go back there again. Your claim will be covered in full. And one more thing, that sigil should look like this.”
He pointed to the clean area of the windshield where I had drawn it. Despite it being washed, you could still see the remnants of my ‘artwork’ on the glass. He took his finger and reversed one of the vertical marks in the middle. Now I know the correct way to draw it. More importantly, Tammy doesn’t try to stop me from planning out all the details of our trips anymore. She finally sees the benefit of NOT being spontaneous. Win-win.

I posted here 5 years ago sharing what I was doing to save money and sharing an apartment with a few other folks. So I wanted to share an update.
- My income has gone up a lot: 5 yrs ago I was making 14 / hour. Today I make $85 / hour (176k per year) and my wife makes $52k (total of 228k annual income)
- We bought a house in a nice neighborhood. $400k mortgage at 3.25%. $25k down payment We've been hear a year and a half.
- We still have student loan debt, but we should have it paid of by end of next year
- We have no other debt at all.
- We've put about 60k in investments and 20k in an emergency HYSA at 4% current interest rate. We keep 5k in an easy access checking account month over month. Any excess savings goes to retirement and long term investments
- We are currently on track to save $50k this year for retirement and investments.
- Wife and I are celebrating our 5 yr anniversary this September!
---------------------
Okay, so let's talk our overall strategy and how we got here:
2018

1. We got married as planned
2. We saved every penny we could for some unknown future date when we wanted to buy a home.
3. We continued to have room mates
4. I busted my ass at work trying to be a stand-out employee. Made sure my reports were always top notch, etc. Took initiative on projects and things like that. Was making 14 per hour

2019

1. Wife and I completed our degrees.
2. Student loan debt $50k (wife + me)
3. I continued to work hard and ended up part of a semi-layoff situation. Except out of 14 people, they only kept me -- then promoted me to a better role. New salary $50k per year. Double my previous income.
4. Wife's income was around $35k
5. Mostly eating cheap but healthy meals. Not dining out except for special occasions (bday, etc)
6. Wife laid off end of year. (darn!)

2020

1. Got a new certification and they promoted me again, up to $75k per year.
2. Wife gets new job early in year: income is climbing: $40k
3. Continued to work hard and make myself "known" around the office. Stressful but I was seeing it pay off more and more.
4. Student loan debt $50k (wife + me) -- went into deferment due to COVID. Keeping any payment money for savings.
5. Went fully work from home due to COVID
6. Moved across the country due to WFH status. Went to a lower cost of living area and out of Florida where I was living. Thank goodness we did that looking at the current political climate. Our reasons were that it was too hot, too financially risky with the hurricanes, etc. ALSO -- the jobs there were shitty at best. Loads of hospitality jobs, few tech jobs that paid well IMO.
7. Paid off my car. Paid off wife's car. This felt good.

2021

1. Happily living in new city without as much of a threat of tropical storms as FL had.
2. Student loan debt $50k (wife + me) Still deferred. Keeping any payment money for savings.
3. Promoted to department head company grows: New salary is $110k
4. Wife's salary is now 45k
5. We can afford a house and the rates are low. We put in a deposit for a new construction.
6. I got lucky and my company had a stock market boost. I sold all my shares (I had a stock program with the company as part of my compensation) and turned 30k. Fortunately I did this when I did because
7. We close on house EOY and move in. Now we have a mostly fixed housing cost. No more rent hikes!

2022

1. Student loan debt $50k (wife + me) Still deferred.
2. Laid off (Tech work, yeah). Shit. No problem. 2.5 months unemployed and I land a new job. New salary: 135k. That's a nice pay bump.
3. Wife gets a promotion. New salary: 50k. Woo! Things are looking good.
4. Doing my best at work to prove myself. Getting good performance reviews.
5. Saving Saving Saving.

2023

1. Student loan debt $40k doesn't look like Biden's plan to get rid of this is happening. Made 10k in payments so far.
2. Laid off early 2023 (not again! stupid tech layoffs!). Within a week of being laid off, I got another cert. Great time to study when all you have is time!
3. Landed a new job from that cert! Within a week of getting it (2 weeks since layoff) a new job was lined up and secured. New salary: $175k fuck yeah.
4. Wife's salary is now: $52k She's currently capped except for annual raises :(

​
I attribute some of this to luck, but my wife and I also worked really hard for these last years. And the grind at work hasn't stopped for me. I still am working to keep myself growing, though I enjoy what I do and am settling into a nice career.
Don't give up. Set goals that are reasonable. Don't get discouraged. Wife and I went through 3 layoffs and we still came out ahead. Take the time when you have it to make yourself better.
Wishing everyone the best! It's not easy.

We decided to go for a drive in the countryside one Saturday morning. I’m the type of person who usually plans everything, leaving nothing to chance. I’m not spontaneous at all and it gets on my wife’s nerves. This was going to be different. It was all my idea and I assured Tammy we were just going to ‘wing it’. She rolled her eyes. She knows me. She realizes even my ‘spontaneous’ excursions are planned, somehow.
The truth is, it bothers me to not have a game plan. I’m usually the one driving on these rogue adventures and I have to decide to turn left or right if there’s no predetermined path or destination. I hate doing that with a passion but I wanted to prove to her I could drive without advance research or scouting. Inside it was going to kill me, but I had to pretend to be ok with it. You know how couples can get. I had to prove her ‘wrong’.
We loaded up the car with a couple of bottles of water and snacks before steering toward the rural part of the state. In the beginning, I’d been to parts of the area, but the longer we drove, the further I left behind my comfort zone. Tammy was loving it. I’d glance over at her occasionally and she’d have this genuine glow of contentment from the random drive. I sincerely think part of the enjoyment was relishing in my discomfort, but I wasn’t about to let on. Regardless, I wasn’t much of an actor and we both knew I was a bundle of knots inside.
Every few miles we’d see an old farmhouse or weathered barn with cows in the pasture. The scenery was lush and picturesque. The weather itself was beautiful too. All in all, for a random drive in the country being officiated by an obsessive planner, it was pretty darn enjoyable. I didn’t feel the crippling apprehension which usually came over me when I was trying to find a specific location in the dark. It was easier to be ‘lost’ in the daylight, with no set agenda. You might even say I was adjacent to enjoying myself.
The deeper Tammy and I drove into ‘Nowheresville’, the more we started noticing some odd little things. There were weird symbols painted on the side of the houses and barns visible from the old county road. They weren’t anything either of us was familiar with, but clearly they meant something to the locals. The first few didn’t register as anything to take note of, but eventually it became an obvious thing which stood out, in an otherwise idyllic country drive. I found myself anticipating them with each new home we approached. All of the symbols were somewhat different in ‘character’ formation, but they were similar enough to be related.
Neither of us spoke about them at the time but those strange markings troubled us, deeply. It was definitely on our minds when we stopped at a small country store for supplies, and to use the bathroom. As is usually the case with folks in the countryside, the store owners were very friendly. We must’ve stood out like sore thumbs, because they asked where we were from. We bought food and drinks for the road, and yukked it up with them for a couple minutes.
That is, until I summoned the courage to ask what the symbols on the buildings meant. Immediately their whole demeanor changed. It was night and day. Tammy noticed it too. She looked at me with a side-eyed glance as their mood darkened. To their credit, they didn’t try to change the subject. That would’ve been too obvious; but they did look down the aisles first to make sure there were no other customers within earshot, before answering. That definitely raised our hackles. It was creepy as hell. The truth was apparently something ‘outsiders’ like us weren’t supposed to know.
Suddenly it felt like we were about to be sucked into the middle of a rural conspiracy. They leaned over and whispered: “You folks seem real nice. Please don’t ask anyone else about them. It’s for ‘protection’, and for heaven’s sake, don’t be around here once the sun goes down. There’s a full moon tonight and they prefer the dark.”
I looked at Tammy’s mortified face. Her reaction was probably the same as my own. The suspense widened. We kept waiting for them to burst out laughing about winding up the big city folks, but the grins never came. They just handed us our receipt and told us to have a safe trip back home. There was a strong emphasis on us leaving soon. Like a couple of traumatized school kids, we thanked them for their prior hospitality and walked out. It was already dusk, and we were halfway across the state. We’d been seeing those bizarre markers for fifty miles or more.
Was it some secret sect? Tammy dared to take a photo of one of the ‘protection markers’ with her phone as we drove back toward home but the internet service in the boonies was spotty, at best. Since it was some deeply held rural secret, she hoped an image search would tell us what they meant. The country store proprietors acted like it was blood painted on the door of their homes to signal for the Biblical Angel of Death to pass them by.
Night fell quickly, with us still being in the middle of ‘Nowheresville’. We were definitely spooked and needed fuel for the car. Predictably, there were no stations around and the needle was below ‘E’. My OCD nerves were kicking way in. I was tempted to lash-out about why THIS is the reason I didn’t like to be spontaneous, but I held my tongue. It wouldn’t have helped. The image lookup netted very little helpful information. The only thing she could find was that it was somehow tied to ‘a secretive society of occult Freemasons’.
What? There were too many of them for it to be an ‘inside joke on city folks exploring the backroads’. We wouldn’t have thought there would be anything other that devout religious people living in that isolated section of the county. Not only that, but what did the shop owner’s vague statement mean? ‘They prefer the dark’? They made it sound like there were bloodthirsty werewolves roaming the woods. As laughable as it sounded, they weren’t laughing when they said it, and they didn’t appear to be kidding either.
They warned us to be completely out of the area before nightfall, and yet here we were, running on fumes and hoping to find a gas station before we were stranded like sitting ducks. The wind picked up until it blew our little car around like a sailboat in a churning sea. If there was any good from our unplanned misadventure, it was that all the dust we’d picked up from the long drive would hopefully be blown off the car.
It was barely 9pm on a Saturday night but every house we passed was as dark as could be. Not a single light shone in any of their windows. Either they went to bed early in the country, or they didn’t want to invite strangers to their doors after dark. Intellectually I knew rural folk were known to sleep early, but I couldn’t help but hear the shopkeepers conspiratorial words echo again in my ears. I couldn’t see Tammy’s face well but I know her. She was dwelling on it too. Under the circumstances it would’ve been impossible to ignore.
As growing nightmares tend to do, the car began to shudder. It was choking on its last few ounces of fuel left in the line. I wanted to shake the steering wheel in terrified frustration but it’s an inanimate object. I’m the damn fool goaded into ‘proving how unprepared I could be’. This was my ‘reward’. I was going to have to walk in the dark with a gas can until I found the next house. Then I was going to have to beat on their front door and hope they would take mercy on us. It was the perfect checkbox list of ‘NO!’ for me.
Walk alone in the dark. The FULL MOON dark.
Traverse a rural two lane blacktop where I didn’t know a single soul.
Ask for help from total strangers that could have been avoided if I’d just used my damn head in the first place.
And the ‘piece de resistance’:
Be on the lookout for ‘werewolves’ or Moses’ Angel of Death sent to kill the firstborn sons.
My own anger generated a certain level of false bravado which I needed to ‘get it done’. I cursed myself for not having gas already in the fuel can in the trunk but the truth is, I would’ve been afraid it was an explosion risk. It’s hell being an over-thinker. Tammy had the audacity to ask where I was going. I just turned toward her with a disgruntled scowl. She didn’t mean it the way it came out. It was obvious I had to go for help. She just didn’t want to be alone in the car. I think she felt bad for all of her past attempts to ‘loosen me up’ about over-planning things. Perhaps on the eve of our mutual doom, I might’ve won one. Ah, the bittersweet irony.
The two of us held hands. We’d started the journey together and we’d finish it together. Whatever that meant. Like a gentleman, I placed her away from the roadway but it was mostly a symbolic gesture. There were no other cars driving by. She was the first to notice how quiet it was as we walked. There was only the sound of our shoes clacking the pavement. In a place with all manner of wild animals living in nature, it was deathly silent. She gripped my hand tightly. It seemed like we’d walked a long way but the truth is, we were relatively lucky. The nearest farmhouse was less than a mile from our stranded vehicle.
Like the rest, it had one of those arcane symbols painted right on the front door. Also like the others, there wasn’t a single light shining in their windows but the driveway had three cars. They were definitely home but I had my doubts they would answer us. We didn’t want to be shot for startling them so we tried to make some unsubtle noises on the doorstep to announce our benevolent presence. Country folks like their twelve gauge shotguns. I hoped they would realize we were harmless and in need of help.
We both heard sounds of lamentation coming from inside. If anything, they were more frightened than we were. I’d characterize it as terrified. I spoke up in my friendliest voice to reassure them.
“Hello there. We’re terribly sorry to bother you folks so late at night. We’re just passing through from out of town and our car ran out of gas. Do you happen to have some? We’d be happy to reimburse you. I’ve got a hundred dollar bill. I can slide it under your door as compensation.”
A man on the other side spoke up. There was a noticeable tremor in his voice. He appeared to be trying very hard to balance his innate sense of politeness and hospitality, with a crumbling wall of courage. It didn’t bode well to reassure either of us.
“I’m terribly sorry for your trouble mister, but there’s something very evil lurking in these parts you don’t want to encounter. They come out at night time and for that precise reason, we don’t dare open the front door, for anyone. I’d be happy to siphon some of my own gas for you; but I won’t set foot out there until daylight. I have to protect myself and my family. I hope you understand. Now, run back to your car and lock the doors. Quickly! Cover up the windows and take this and put it on the hood of your vehicle in a conspicuous place. It’ll save your lives.”
In the unnatural quietness of the night air, I heard the electronic whirl of an inkjet printer running inside their home. A piece of letter-sized paper slid under the door jamb. It contained one of those strange symbols.
“Leave your fuel can on the porch. I’ll bring some gas, first light. I promise. If they come for you, do not look them in the eye. Go!”
We did exactly as instructed. To the letter. I gotta tell ya, the missus and I would’ve been ‘husband and wife, three-legged race’ winners if we’d entered such a competition. Both of us sprinted at a pace I hardly thought possible. I could barely keep up with her. Then I scrambled to get the keys to open the door. It might’ve been comical if we weren’t racing for our lives. Inside, we located a sun-visor and blankets to block off the windows as best we could. An old paper road map and catalogs from the glove compartment served to complete the job, in record time.
We were almost in the clear when I realized the most important part of the plan wasn’t in place. The protection sign was still in the car with us! I didn’t have any masking tape so there was no way to secure it to the window or hood. Using a rock as a paperweight would’ve blocked it from being visible. In a flash of invention I had an idea. The SUV was so dusty from the county roads that I scrawled the symbol as large as I could into the dirt of the windshield, hood and trunk with my fingers. I hoped that would suffice to spare us from the fury of whatever frightening creatures roamed the hillsides during the full moon.
I jumped back inside just in time. First the smell hit us. It was positively rank and the source of the stench was very, very large. We could feel ‘them’ walking around the car inspecting it. There were tiny voids in our hasty wallpapering of the windows but I didn’t dare look through the cracks. I was too scared I’d make eye contact. We heard them pulling on the door handles to see if they were unlocked. I have absolutely no doubt anything that huge could’ve simply ripped them open but that apparently wasn’t the point. They were checking to see if we’d taken the precaution of locking them.
Tammy had to stifle a scream as the whole vehicle shook back and forth violently. I thought the intent was to flip it upside down. She looked at me in wide-eyed terror. I’d love to suggest she drew strength from my calm masculinity but that would be a bold-faced lie. It was all I could do to keep from squealing like a toddler myself. The things on the other side of the car were definitely not natural. That much was clear to us. Then one of them spoke with a ‘voice’, not of this earth.
“You drew our sacred sigil of mercy on your vehicle, incorrectly. You have parts of the character backwards but we have decided to forgive your ignorance, this time. Leave our home and never return again. Our patience is limited.”
“Thank you!”; We both cried out in unison. Without response, they finally left us, but we dared not leave the impotent ‘safety’ of the car to confirm their departure; even to use the bathroom. Leftover drink cups temporarily served that purpose.
In the morning, the farmer came just as he’d promised. He brought us fuel and something to eat. Not that either of us had an appetite. He saw the evidence of our nocturnal visitors and remarked how fortunate we were, especially with my botched depiction of the ‘sigil’, as they had referred to them. We thanked the man again and we’re on our way. Neither of us breathed a sign of relief until we reached the suburbs.
I drove through an automated car wash to blast off the layers of dirt from our terrifying ordeal, but it didn’t do anything about the savage claw marks and unnatural dents to the sheet metal. I told my coworkers it was from a grizzly bear attack. That would’ve been horrific enough story, but the truth was infinitely worse. These so-called ‘grizzly bears’ could speak, read, and took considerable umbrage to my poorly drawn protection sigils.
My insurance agent demanded to inspect the damage first. He asked me where it occurred. I told him and he adopted the same pale demeanor change as the country store owners. He knew what we faced that night. Obviously there had been other claims like ours over the years. Without acknowledging what we both knew, he said: “You two are lucky to be alive. Don’t go back there again. Your claim will be covered in full. And one more thing, that sigil should look like this.”
He pointed to the clean area of the windshield where I had drawn it. Despite it being washed, you could still see the remnants of my ‘artwork’ on the glass. He took his finger and reversed one of the vertical marks in the middle. Now I know the correct way to draw it. More importantly, Tammy doesn’t try to stop me from planning out all the details of our trips anymore. She finally sees the benefit of NOT being spontaneous. Win-win.

Link to the comment/post in question.

1. Successful military career as a five-star general during World War II.
   
2. Skillful leadership in planning and executing the D-Day invasion.
   
3. Played a crucial role in defeating Nazi Germany and liberating Europe.
   
4. Fostered strong international alliances during his military service.
   
5. Demonstrated a commitment to public service throughout his life.
   
6. Championed civil rights and desegregation.
   
7. Created the Civil Rights Commission to investigate civil rights violations.
   
8. Appointed Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, leading to landmark civil rights decisions.
   
9. Signed the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, the first civil rights laws since Reconstruction.
   
10. Established the President's Committee on Government Contracts to combat racial discrimination in federal contracting.
    
11. Advocated for the desegregation of schools and supported the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.
    
12. Sent federal troops to enforce desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas.
    
13. Supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Martin Luther King Jr.'s efforts for racial equality.
    
14. Promoted economic stability and growth during his presidency.
    
15. Presided over a period of sustained economic expansion known as the "Eisenhower Era."
    
16. Instituted policies that aimed to balance the federal budget.
    
17. Oversaw the creation of the Interstate Highway System, promoting economic development and national defense.
    
18. Established the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services).
    
19. Expanded social security benefits.
    
20. Increased the minimum wage.
    
21. Strengthened labor unions by signing the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
    
22. Nominated competent and skilled individuals to key positions in his administration.
    
23. Fostered a cooperative working relationship with Congress.
    
24. Supported the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
    
25. Authorized the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which later developed into DARPA.
    
26. Presided over the end of the Korean War, securing an armistice and maintaining peace in the region.
    
27. Promoted a policy of "massive retaliation" as a deterrent to potential Soviet aggression.
    
28. Successfully managed the Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.
    
29. Negotiated an end to the Suez Crisis, ensuring stability in the Middle East.
    
30. Championed the "Atoms for Peace" initiative, advocating for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
    
31. Created the People-to-People program to promote cultural exchange and understanding.
    
32. Maintained a balanced approach to foreign policy, avoiding unnecessary conflicts.
    
33. Fostered strong relationships with NATO allies, strengthening collective defense.
    
34. Skillfully managed the 1956 Hungarian Revolution crisis, balancing humanitarian concerns with geopolitical realities.
    
35. Developed a close working relationship with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
    
36. Fostered improved relations with Latin American countries.
    
37. Supported the Pan-American Highway project, enhancing economic and cultural ties with the region.
    
38. Implemented policies to stabilize the Middle East and prevent Soviet influence.
    
39. Developed the Eisenhower Doctrine, providing military assistance to countries threatened by communism in the Middle East.
    
40. Initiated the Open Skies proposal, promoting transparency and reducing the risk of surprise nuclear attacks.
    
41. Maintained a cautious and measured approach during the tense period of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
    
42. Skillfully managed the U-2 spy plane incident, preventing a major escalation with the Soviet Union.
    
43. Established the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide foreign assistance.
    
44. Signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which led to the construction of a vast network of highways and improved transportation infrastructure.
    
45. Created the St. Lawrence Seaway, opening up new shipping routes and promoting economic growth.
    
46. Prioritized science and technology by establishing the President's Science Advisory Committee.
    
47. Supported research and development in various fields, including medicine, agriculture, and space exploration.
    
48. Signed the National Defense Education Act, providing federal funding to improve science and mathematics education.
    
49. Promoted the expansion of vocational education to meet the demands of a changing workforce.
    
50. Supported the development of nuclear power as a clean energy source.
    
51. Balanced the federal budget for three out of his eight years in office.
    
52. Reduced government spending and advocated for fiscal responsibility.
    
53. Presided over a period of low inflation and steady economic growth.
    
54. Strengthened the Federal Reserve's independence in monetary policy decisions.
    
55. Championed free trade and supported the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
    
56. Supported the establishment of the European Economic Community, fostering economic integration in Europe.
    
57. Successfully negotiated the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).
    
58. Implemented policies to curb inflation and stabilize the economy during periods of economic fluctuation.
    
59. Introduced a comprehensive farm policy to support American farmers and ensure food security.
    
60. Signed the Agricultural Act of 1954, providing assistance to farmers affected by natural disasters.
    
61. Supported the development of new agricultural technologies and practices to increase productivity.
    
62. Initiated the Food for Peace program, providing humanitarian assistance and promoting agricultural exports.
    
63. Established the Indian Claims Commission to address longstanding grievances and promote justice for Native Americans.
    
64. Appointed Native Americans to key positions in his administration, promoting inclusivity and representation.
    
65. Strengthened the protection of national parks and public lands.
    
66. Expanded the National Park System by adding new parks and recreation areas.
    
67. Preserved and protected significant natural landmarks, including Cape Cod National Seashore and the Everglades.
    
68. Supported the development of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
    
69. Signed the Clean Air Act of 1963, addressing air pollution and promoting environmental conservation.
    
70. Created the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to protect critical wildlife habitats.
    
71. Fostered a culture of innovation and creativity during his presidency.
    
72. Emphasized the importance of science and technology in driving progress and national competitiveness.
    
73. Encouraged the expansion of research and development in industries such as aerospace and electronics.
    
74. Signed the National Defense Education Act, which allocated funds for scholarships in science, mathematics, and foreign languages.
    
75. Supported the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its space exploration endeavors.
    
76. Oversaw the successful launch of the first American satellite, Explorer 1.
    
77. Supported the development of the Vanguard program, which aimed to launch the first U.S. satellite.
    
78. Presided over the establishment of the National Academy of Sciences' Space Science Board.
    
79. Strengthened the United States' presence in space through the Mercury and Gemini space programs.
    
80. Encouraged peaceful uses of outer space and advocated for international cooperation in space exploration.
    
81. Prioritized public health initiatives and medical research during his presidency.
    
82. Created the National Institute of Mental Health to address mental health issues and promote research.
    
83. Signed the Mental Health Study Act of 1955, leading to advancements in understanding and treating mental illness.
    
84. Established the President's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke to combat major health challenges.
    
85. Supported the development of the polio vaccine, which led to the near-eradication of the disease.
    
86. Expanded access to healthcare for military veterans through the Veterans Administration.
    
87. Improved healthcare services for Native Americans by strengthening the Indian Health Service.
    
88. Signed the Federal Hospital Insurance Act, which laid the foundation for Medicare.
    
89. Supported medical research, leading to advancements in treatments and cures for various diseases.
    
90. Created the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee to address road safety concerns.
    
91. Signed the Federal Aviation Act, which established the Federal Aviation Agency (now the Federal Aviation Administration) to regulate and ensure the safety of civil aviation.
    
92. Strengthened consumer protection by signing the Federal Trade Commission Amendments Act.
    
93. Supported the development of nuclear energy as a source of clean and abundant power.
    
94. Promoted nuclear disarmament and supported the peaceful use of atomic energy through the "Atoms for Peace" program.
    
95. Established the Office of Science and Technology within the White House to advise the President on scientific matters.
    
96. Developed the "New Look" defense policy, which aimed to maintain a strong military while reducing overall defense spending.
    
97. Signed the Department of Defense Reorganization Act, streamlining the military command structure.
    
98. Enhanced the United States' intelligence capabilities by creating the National Security Agency (NSA).
    
99. Improved military readiness and effectiveness through the establishment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
    
100. Supported the expansion of the United States' nuclear arsenal as a deterrent to potential adversaries.
     
101. Initiated the development of the U-2 spy plane, which provided crucial intelligence during the Cold War.
     
102. Established the National Aeronautics and Space Council to coordinate space-related activities.
     
103. Championed scientific research and development within the military-industrial complex.
     
104. Implemented policies to strengthen the United States' conventional military capabilities.
     
105. Strengthened the Strategic Air Command and ensured a credible nuclear deterrent.
     
106. Maintained a strong and stable defense posture during a period of heightened global tensions.
     
107. Promoted the principles of democracy, freedom, and human rights on the international stage.
     
108. Supported the establishment of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty to counter Soviet propaganda.
     
109. Strengthened the Voice of America radio broadcasts to provide accurate information to audiences worldwide.
     
110. Fostered strong relationships with key allies, including the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany.
     
111. Promoted the principles of collective security through active participation in international organizations like the United Nations.
     
112. Supported the establishment of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) to counter communist aggression in the region.
     
113. Provided economic and military aid to countries threatened by communism, including South Korea and Taiwan.
     
114. Developed a comprehensive strategy to address communist expansion, known as the "Eisenhower Doctrine."
     
115. Supported the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, securing Western interests in the region.
     
116. Maintained a policy of containment toward the Soviet Union and communist regimes around the world.
     
117. Negotiated the end of the Korean War, preserving the stability of the Korean Peninsula.
     
118. Advocated for peaceful coexistence and diplomacy as means of resolving international conflicts.
     
119. Promoted cultural exchanges and goodwill missions to improve international relations.
     
120. Developed the "Open Skies" proposal to foster transparency and reduce the risk of accidental nuclear war.
     
121. Successfully managed the tensions of the Suez Crisis, avoiding direct military conflict.
     
122. Oversaw the peaceful transition of power to his successor, John F. Kennedy, ensuring stability and continuity in government.
     
123. Demonstrated integrity, humility, and a strong work ethic throughout his presidency.
     
124. Upheld the principles of democracy and the rule of law.
     
125. Fostered a sense of national unity and pride during his tenure.
     
126. Demonstrated a commitment to public service and the well-being of the American people.
     
127. Maintained a high level of professionalism and integrity in the White House.
     
128. Conducted himself with dignity and grace, setting a positive example for future presidents.
     
129. Promoted transparency in government operations and decision-making.
     
130. Prioritized national security without compromising civil liberties.
     
131. Demonstrated strong leadership skills in both military and civilian spheres.
     
132. Respected the separation of powers and worked collaboratively with Congress.
     
133. Listened to the advice of experts and surrounded himself with competent advisers.
     
134. Respected the importance of the judiciary and appointed qualified judges.
     
135. Displayed a calm and composed demeanor during times of crisis.
     
136. Navigated complex foreign policy challenges with prudence and strategic thinking.
     
137. Actively sought diplomatic solutions to international conflicts.
     
138. Avoided unnecessary military interventions.
     
139. Encouraged a culture of innovation and progress in various fields.
     
140. Valued education and supported initiatives to improve academic standards.
     
141. Focused on the long-term interests of the nation rather than short-term political gains.
     
142. Built and maintained strong relationships with world leaders.
     
143. Earned the respect and admiration of the American people.
     
144. Managed economic challenges with prudence and sound fiscal policies.
     
145. Prioritized the needs of working-class Americans and the middle class.
     
146. Strived for inclusivity and equal opportunities for all Americans.
     
147. Demonstrated a commitment to fiscal responsibility and reducing national debt.
     
148. Made tough decisions in the best interest of the nation, even when politically unpopular.
     
149. Displayed a strong moral compass and ethical leadership.
     
150. Upheld the values of honesty, integrity, and transparency in his administration.
     
151. Supported the growth and development of small businesses.
     
152. Fostered a sense of national pride and unity during the Cold War era.
     
153. Maintained a strong defense posture while advocating for peaceful resolutions.
     
154. Developed a comprehensive national security strategy.
     
155. Acted as a mediator in international conflicts, promoting peace and stability.
     
156. Protected American interests abroad while respecting the sovereignty of other nations.
     
157. Promoted democratic values and institutions worldwide.
     
158. Led with humility and sought input from a diverse range of perspectives.
     
159. Fostered a culture of accountability within his administration.
     
160. Displayed resilience and determination in the face of challenges.
     
161. Successfully managed the transition from a wartime to a peacetime economy.
     
162. Supported the integration of military veterans into civilian life.
     
163. Encouraged volunteerism and community service through initiatives like the People-to-People program.
     
164. Demonstrated a commitment to the welfare of future generations through environmental conservation efforts.
     
165. Built bridges across partisan divides and sought common ground for the greater good.
     
166. Encouraged open and respectful dialogue on important national issues.
     
167. Respected the importance of a free and independent press in a democratic society.
     
168. Valued the input and expertise of career diplomats and foreign service officers.
     
169. Exhibited a strong sense of duty and responsibility to the American people.
     
170. Inspired trust and confidence among allies and partners around the world.
     
171. Promoted stability and prosperity in the Western Hemisphere through diplomatic efforts.
     
172. Prioritized the well-being of military personnel and their families.
     
173. Fostered a culture of innovation and excellence within the military.
     
174. Supported the development of advanced military technologies.
     
175. Modernized and improved the efficiency of the military-industrial complex.
     
176. Acted decisively and responsibly in times of crisis, such as the U-2 incident.
     
177. Navigated complex international dynamics with skill and diplomacy.
     
178. Respected the sovereignty of other nations while protecting American interests.
     
179. Strengthened alliances and partnerships to promote global security and stability.
     
180. Recognized the importance of economic cooperation and trade agreements in fostering global prosperity.
     
181. Supported international development efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable growth.
     
182. Demonstrated a commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and arms control.
     
183. Actively engaged in negotiations and diplomacy to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict.
     
184. Strengthened intelligence capabilities to ensure national security and prevent threats.
     
185. Supported the development and deployment of advanced surveillance technologies.
     
186. Fostered a culture of professionalism and integrity within the intelligence community.
     
187. Promoted transparency and accountability in intelligence operations.
     
188. Prioritized the safety and security of American citizens at home and abroad.
     
189. Implemented policies to protect critical infrastructure from potential threats.
     
190. Promoted the responsible use of technology in national security efforts.
     
191. Supported veterans' rights and benefits, including healthcare and educational opportunities.
     
192. Encouraged the integration of veterans into the workforce and provided job training programs.
     
193. Strengthened mental health services for veterans.
     
194. Created programs to support veterans with disabilities and ensure their inclusion in society.
     
195. Advocated for increased research and understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans.
     
196. Prioritized the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners of war.
     
197. Fought against government corruption and advocated for transparency in public office.
     
198. Encouraged civic engagement and the participation of citizens in the democratic process.
     
199. Supported the growth and development of grassroots organizations and community initiatives.
     
200. Demonstrated a commitment to the principles of equality and fairness.
     
201. Worked to bridge racial and ethnic divides in American society.
     
202. Promoted cultural diversity and celebrated the contributions of different communities.
     
203. Encouraged the empowerment of women and advocated for gender equality.
     
204. Appointed women to key positions in his administration.
     
205. Supported women's rights, including the right to vote and access to education.
     
206. Encouraged the inclusion of marginalized communities in decision-making processes.
     
207. Fostered a spirit of national unity and solidarity in times of crisis.
     
208. Promoted the importance of volunteerism and community service.
     
209. Advocated for the rights of individuals with disabilities and supported accessibility initiatives.
     
210. Supported the growth and development of arts and culture in America.
     
211. Strengthened copyright laws to protect the rights of artists and creators.
     
212. Promoted the preservation of historical landmarks and sites.
     
213. Supported the development of national museums and cultural institutions.
     
214. Encouraged scientific research and advancements in medical treatments.
     
215. Supported the development of vaccines and public health initiatives.
     
216. Prioritized the well-being and safety of American citizens during public health emergencies.
     
217. Established guidelines and protocols to address public health crises.
     
218. Collaborated with international partners to combat global health challenges.
     
219. Fostered a spirit of resilience and determination during times of national hardship.
     
220. Promoted the importance of empathy and compassion in public service.
     
221. Demonstrated a commitment to the principles of democracy and the Constitution.
     
222. Preserved and upheld the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
     
223. Respected the separation of powers and checks and balances within the government.
     
224. Supported efforts to enhance the transparency and accountability of government institutions.
     
225. Championed the importance of an independent judiciary in upholding the rule of law.
     
226. Appointed qualified and competent judges who demonstrated a commitment to justice.
     
227. Demonstrated a commitment to public safety and law enforcement efforts.
     
228. Supported the development of community policing initiatives.
     
229. Promoted initiatives to reduce crime rates and improve public safety.
     
230. Encouraged cooperation and coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
     
231. Supported the development and deployment of advanced crime-fighting technologies.
     
232. Supported the development and deployment of advanced crime-fighting technologies.
     
233. Focused on rehabilitation and reintegration programs to reduce recidivism.
     
234. Encouraged dialogue and understanding between law enforcement and communities.
     
235. Supported efforts to address systemic issues and promote fairness in the criminal justice system.
     
236. Advocated for the rights of the accused and ensured due process.
     
237. Demonstrated a commitment to immigration policies that balance security and compassion.
     
238. Supported comprehensive immigration reform efforts.
     
239. Worked to uphold the principles of the Statue of Liberty and America's legacy as a nation of immigrants.
     
240. Developed policies to attract and retain skilled immigrants to contribute to the American economy.
     
241. Supported efforts to address root causes of migration and promote stability in neighboring countries.
     
242. Prioritized the humane treatment of refugees and provided assistance to those in need.
     
243. Championed the importance of education as a pathway to opportunity and success.
     
244. Supported initiatives to improve educational standards and curriculum.
     
245. Increased federal funding for schools and educational programs.
     
246. Promoted access to quality education for underserved communities.
     
247. Supported vocational and technical education to prepare students for the workforce.
     
248. Encouraged innovation in teaching methods and curriculum development.
     
249. Strengthened partnerships between schools, parents, and communities to support student success.
     
250. Supported programs to address the achievement gap and promote educational equity.
     
251. Fostered a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in the American economy.
     
252. Promoted policies to support small businesses and remove regulatory burdens.
     
253. Encouraged research and development in emerging industries.
     
254. Supported access to capital for entrepreneurs and startups.
     
255. Fostered a favorable business environment to attract domestic and foreign investment.
     
256. Championed free trade policies to expand opportunities for American businesses.
     
257. Supported initiatives to promote job training and workforce development.
     
258. Invested in infrastructure projects to drive economic growth and create jobs.
     
259. Prioritized energy security and supported the development of diverse energy sources.
     
260. Implemented policies to address environmental challenges and promote sustainable practices.
     
261. Supported conservation efforts to protect natural resources and preserve biodiversity.
     
262. Advocated for responsible land management and stewardship.
     
263. Promoted the importance of renewable energy and clean technologies.
     
264. Supported the expansion of national parks and protected areas.
     
265. Encouraged responsible tourism and outdoor recreation.
     
266. Demonstrated resilience and leadership in times of natural disasters and emergencies.
     
267. Provided federal assistance and resources to affected communities.
     
268. Supported disaster preparedness and mitigation efforts.
     
269. Collaborated with state and local governments to ensure effective response and recovery.
     
270. Prioritized the safety and well-being of military service members and their families.
     
271. Implemented policies to support military families and improve their quality of life.
     
272. Expanded healthcare services for veterans and active-duty personnel.
     
273. Strengthened mental health support for service members and veterans.
     
274. Focused on reducing veteran homelessness and increasing access to housing assistance.
     
275. Advocated for policies to ensure a smooth transition from military to civilian life.
     
276. Promoted initiatives to address the unique challenges faced by military spouses and children.
     
277. Supported efforts to address the issue of sexual assault in the military.
     
278. Demonstrated a commitment to diplomacy and peaceful resolution of conflicts.
     
279. Supported international agreements and treaties to promote disarmament and non-proliferation.
     
280. Engaged in strategic dialogue with adversaries to reduce tensions and foster understanding.
     
281. Championed multilateral approaches to address global challenges.
     
282. Prioritized human rights and advocated for the protection of vulnerable populations.
     
283. Provided humanitarian assistance to countries in need.
     
284. Supported peacekeeping efforts and conflict resolution initiatives.
     
285. Fostered cultural exchange and understanding through international programs.
     
286. Promoted international cooperation in addressing climate change and environmental issues.
     
287. Supported the Paris Agreement on climate change and worked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
     
288. Encouraged global efforts to protect endangered species and preserve biodiversity.
     
289. Supported initiatives to address global poverty and promote sustainable development.
     
290. Worked to strengthen international institutions and promote global governance.
     
291. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to address regional conflicts and promote stability.
     
292. Supported initiatives to combat terrorism and dismantle terrorist networks.
     
293. Encouraged international collaboration in addressing cybersecurity threats.
     
294. Promoted democracy and human rights on the global stage.
     
295. Advocated for religious freedom and tolerance worldwide.
     
296. Supported efforts to combat human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
     
297. Promoted gender equality and women's empowerment globally.
     
298. Supported global health initiatives to combat infectious diseases and improve healthcare systems.
     
299. Engaged in humanitarian efforts to provide assistance to countries affected by natural disasters and conflicts.
     
300. Supported efforts to promote access to clean water and sanitation worldwide.
     
301. Demonstrated a commitment to responsible and ethical foreign aid.
     
302. Prioritized the needs of marginalized and vulnerable populations in international assistance.
     
303. Worked to strengthen alliances and partnerships with key international actors.
     
304. Supported initiatives to promote economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries.
     
305. Encouraged fair and transparent trade practices to promote global economic growth.
     
306. Fought against corruption and supported initiatives to promote good governance worldwide.
     
307. Demonstrated a commitment to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
     
308. Supported efforts to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
     
309. Engaged in strategic arms control negotiations to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict.
     
310. Promoted peaceful coexistence and dialogue among nations.
     
311. Prioritized the protection of civilians during armed conflicts.
     
312. Demonstrated a commitment to international law and the United Nations Charter.
     
313. Supported efforts to address global poverty and income inequality.
     
314. Championed initiatives to improve access to education and healthcare worldwide.
     
315. Supported initiatives to address food security and promote sustainable agriculture.
     
316. Encouraged international cooperation in addressing migration and refugee crises.
     
317. Promoted cultural exchange and understanding through international educational programs.
     
318. Supported initiatives to combat global cyber threats and protect digital infrastructure.
     
319. Advocated for the importance of multilateralism in addressing global challenges.
     
320. Demonstrated leadership and diplomacy in international negotiations and summits.
     
321. Promoted dialogue and peaceful resolution of territorial disputes.
     
322. Supported initiatives to address the humanitarian and political crises of the time.
     
323. Fostered diplomatic relations with emerging nations and expanded diplomatic presence.
     
324. Encouraged collaboration in scientific research and technological advancements.
     
325. Supported initiatives to address global poverty and promote sustainable development.
     
326. Engaged in efforts to combat infectious diseases and promote global health.
     
327. Focused on expanding access to education and improving educational standards globally.
     
328. Demonstrated a commitment to international human rights and equality.
     
329. Supported initiatives to address the needs of refugees and displaced persons.
     
330. Promoted access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene worldwide.
     
331. Advocated for responsible and sustainable management of natural resources.
     
332. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to address regional conflicts and promote peace.
     
333. Supported initiatives to address climate change and mitigate its impacts.
     
334. Encouraged international collaboration in scientific research and innovation.
     
335. Supported initiatives to promote gender equality and women's empowerment globally.
     
336. Demonstrated a commitment to upholding international law and norms.
     
337. Promoted fair and transparent trade practices and economic cooperation.
     
338. Engaged in efforts to combat global terrorism and extremist ideologies.
     
339. Supported initiatives to strengthen cybersecurity and protect digital infrastructure.
     
340. Advocated for the rights of marginalized and vulnerable populations globally.
     
341. Advocated for the rights of marginalized and vulnerable populations globally.
     
342. Supported initiatives to promote access to clean energy and combat climate change.
     
343. Engaged in efforts to promote peace and stability in conflict-affected regions.
     
344. Demonstrated leadership in global public health initiatives and pandemic response.
     
345. Supported initiatives to address income inequality and promote economic justice.
     
346. Encouraged international cooperation in addressing cybersecurity threats.
     
347. Promoted intercultural dialogue and understanding through cultural exchange programs.
     
348. Supported initiatives to protect and preserve cultural heritage worldwide.
     
349. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
     
350. Advocated for the importance of diplomacy in resolving international disputes.
     
351. Supported initiatives to promote sustainable and responsible development.
     
352. Demonstrated a commitment to international justice and accountability.
     
353. Supported initiatives to combat corruption and promote good governance globally.
     
354. Advocated for the rights and empowerment of indigenous peoples worldwide.
     
355. Engaged in efforts to address the global water crisis and promote water security.
     
356. Supported initiatives to address the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations.
     
357. Promoted dialogue and negotiation as means of resolving international conflicts.
     
358. Demonstrated a commitment to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.
     
359. Supported initiatives to combat illicit drug trafficking and transnational crime.
     
360. Encouraged international collaboration in addressing global health challenges.
     
361. Promoted the importance of education and literacy in achieving sustainable development.
     
362. Engaged in efforts to promote access to affordable and clean energy globally.
     
363. Demonstrated leadership in global efforts to combat modern slavery and human trafficking.
     
364. Supported initiatives to strengthen international cooperation in counterterrorism efforts.
     
365. Advocated for the rights of children and the protection of their well-being worldwide.
     
366. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in conflict-affected regions.
     
367. Demonstrated a commitment to promoting and protecting human rights globally.
     
368. Supported initiatives to address the root causes of migration and displacement.
     
369. Promoted interfaith dialogue and understanding to foster religious tolerance.
     
370. Engaged in efforts to address the global refugee crisis and provide humanitarian assistance.
     
371. Demonstrated a commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and their implementation.
     
372. Supported initiatives to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth globally.
     
373. Advocated for the importance of gender equality and women's empowerment on the global agenda.
     
374. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to prevent and resolve armed conflicts.
     
375. Demonstrated leadership in advancing global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
     
376. Supported initiatives to address the impacts of climate change on vulnerable ecosystems.
     
377. Promoted the importance of responsible and sustainable tourism worldwide.
     
378. Engaged in efforts to address global food security and promote sustainable agriculture.
     
379. Demonstrated a commitment to international cooperation in combating cyber threats.
     
380. Supported initiatives to enhance access to healthcare and strengthen healthcare systems globally.
     
381. Advocated for the protection of human rights defenders and journalists worldwide.
     
382. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote democracy and good governance globally.
     
383. Demonstrated leadership in addressing the global refugee and migration crisis.
     
384. Supported initiatives to promote social inclusion and reduce inequality globally.
     
385. Promoted the importance of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue on the global stage.
     
386. Engaged in efforts to promote disarmament and arms control worldwide.
     
387. Demonstrated a commitment to the principles of multilateralism and global cooperation.
     
388. Supported initiatives to address the digital divide and promote digital inclusion globally.
     
389. Advocated for the rights of persons with disabilities and inclusive policies worldwide.
     
390. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote peace and stability in conflict-affected regions.
     
391. Demonstrated leadership in global efforts to combat transnational organized crime.
     
392. Supported initiatives to promote access to clean water
     
393. Supported initiatives to promote access to clean water and sanitation worldwide.
     
394. Engaged in efforts to address the global refugee and displacement crisis.
     
395. Demonstrated a commitment to promoting and protecting LGBTQ+ rights globally.
     
396. Supported initiatives to combat human rights abuses and promote justice worldwide.
     
397. Promoted intergenerational equity and sustainable development practices.
     
398. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts through peaceful means.
     
399. Demonstrated leadership in global efforts to combat poverty and inequality.
     
400. Supported initiatives to promote access to affordable and quality healthcare globally.
     
401. Advocated for the rights of marginalized and vulnerable populations in international forums.
     
402. Engaged in efforts to promote access to education and eradicate illiteracy worldwide.
     
403. Demonstrated a commitment to international cooperation in addressing global pandemics.
     
404. Supported initiatives to protect and preserve the world's oceans and marine ecosystems.
     
405. Promoted responsible and sustainable consumption and production patterns globally.
     
406. Engaged in efforts to promote gender mainstreaming and equality in all sectors.
     
407. Demonstrated leadership in addressing the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities.
     
408. Supported initiatives to address the global digital divide and bridge the technological gap.
     
409. Advocated for the protection and promotion of indigenous rights and cultures worldwide.
     
410. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
     
411. Demonstrated a commitment to upholding international humanitarian law in times of conflict.
     
412. Supported initiatives to promote access to justice and legal empowerment globally.
     
413. Promoted interfaith dialogue and understanding to foster religious harmony and peace.
     
414. Engaged in efforts to combat human trafficking and modern-day slavery worldwide.
     
415. Demonstrated leadership in global efforts to combat infectious diseases and epidemics.
     
416. Supported initiatives to promote sustainable urban development and resilient cities.
     
417. Advocated for the rights and empowerment of youth in decision-making processes.
     
418. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote peacebuilding and reconciliation in post-conflict societies.
     
419. Demonstrated a commitment to the rights and well-being of children worldwide.
     
420. Supported initiatives to promote access to clean and renewable energy globally.
     
421. Promoted inclusive and equitable economic growth and employment opportunities worldwide.
     
422. Engaged in efforts to protect and promote cultural heritage and diversity globally.
     
423. Demonstrated leadership in addressing the global water crisis and promoting water security.
     
424. Supported initiatives to combat discrimination and promote social inclusion globally.
     
425. Advocated for the protection of journalists and press freedom worldwide.
     
426. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to prevent and resolve international disputes through dialogue.
     
427. Demonstrated a commitment to international cooperation in addressing global cybersecurity threats.
     
428. Supported initiatives to promote access to affordable housing and adequate living conditions.
     
429. Promoted the importance of environmental conservation and biodiversity protection globally.
     
430. Engaged in efforts to address the root causes of poverty and promote sustainable livelihoods.
     
431. Demonstrated leadership in global efforts to promote sustainable and responsible tourism.
     
432. Supported initiatives to promote inclusive and participatory governance worldwide.
     
433. Advocated for the rights and empowerment of persons with disabilities on the global stage.
     
434. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote peace, stability, and reconciliation in conflict-affected regions.
     
435. Demonstrated a commitment to promoting and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples worldwide.
     
436. Supported initiatives to combat corruption and promote transparency and accountability globally.
     
437. Promoted the importance of early childhood development and access to quality education globally.
     
438. Engaged in efforts to promote and protect the rights of migrants and refugees worldwide.
     
439. Demonstrated leadership in addressing the global food security and nutrition challenge.
     
440. Supported initiatives to address the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations.
     
441. Advocated for the protection and promotion of workers' rights and decent work worldwide.
     
442. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote arms control and disarmament globally.
     
443. Demonstrated a commitment to upholding the principles of human dignity and human rights.
     
444. Supported initiatives to promote access to clean and affordable energy for all.
     
445. Promoted inclusive and equitable access to information and communication technologies.
     
446. Engaged in efforts to promote sustainable and responsible mining practices globally.
     
447. Demonstrated leadership in addressing the global challenges of migration and displacement.
     
448. Supported initiatives to promote peace education and conflict resolution skills globally.
     
449. Advocated for the protection and empowerment of women and girls worldwide.
     
450. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to prevent and address humanitarian crises and conflicts.
     
451. Demonstrated a commitment to promoting intergenerational equity and sustainability.
     
452. Supported initiatives to promote access to justice and legal aid for all.
     
453. Promoted intercultural dialogue and understanding to foster peaceful coexistence.
     
454. Engaged in efforts to combat racism, discrimination, and xenophobia globally.
     
455. Demonstrated leadership in global efforts to address the impacts of climate change on vulnerable regions.
     
456. Supported initiatives to promote sustainable and resilient infrastructure development.
     
457. Advocated for the protection and promotion of the rights of older persons worldwide.
     
458. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote peaceful and inclusive societies globally.
     
459. Demonstrated a commitment to promoting mental health and well-being globally.
     
460. Supported initiatives to address the impacts of environmental degradation and deforestation.
     
461. Promoted inclusive and equitable access to financial services and economic opportunities.
     
462. Engaged in efforts to promote access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
     
463. Demonstrated leadership in global efforts to combat illicit financial flows and money laundering.
     
464. Supported initiatives to promote inclusive and accessible urban planning and development.
     
465. Advocated for the protection and empowerment of marginalized and vulnerable children worldwide.
     
466. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons.
     
467. Demonstrated a commitment to promoting and protecting the rights of refugees and internally displaced persons.
     
468. Supported initiatives to address the impacts of climate change on small island developing states.
     
469. Promoted the importance of cultural preservation and heritage protection worldwide.
     
470. Engaged in efforts to promote sustainable and responsible consumption patterns.
     
471. Demonstrated leadership in global efforts to promote the rule of law and access to justice.
     
472. Supported initiatives to address the digital divide and promote digital literacy globally.
     
473. Advocated for the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers worldwide.
     
474. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote peaceful resolution of territorial disputes.
     
475. Demonstrated a commitment to promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities globally.
     
476. Supported initiatives to address the impacts of pollution and promote environmental sustainability.
     
477. Promoted inclusive and participatory decision-making processes at all levels.
     
478. Engaged in efforts to promote and protect the rights of indigenous women and girls.
     
479. Demonstrated leadership in addressing the global challenges of water scarcity and water management.
     
480. Supported initiatives to promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and innovation.
     
481. Advocated for the protection and empowerment of LGBTQ+ individuals worldwide.
     
482. Engaged in diplomatic efforts to promote responsible and accountable governance globally.
     
483. Demonstrated a commitment to promoting and protecting the rights of migrant and domestic workers.
     
484. Supported initiatives to address the impacts of climate change on agricultural systems.
     
485. Promoted inclusive and equitable access to quality healthcare services for all.
     
486. Engaged in efforts to promote sustainable and responsible fishing practices globally.
     
487. Demonstrated leadership in global efforts to promote peace, justice, and strong institutions.
     

Out there - Patreon (for all those curious or wanting to support :))
At the Beginning
Adventure Arc - Arc 2
Wilderness Arc - Arc 3
Academy Arc - Arc 4
Previously on Leveling up the World…
 
PERSONAL AWAKENING
​
Orange clouds floated on a purple sky. There had been a time when Dallion would have found such a sight breathtaking, or at the very least remarkable. Now, it was just another day in his realm. Sitting at the top of Onda’s tower, Dallion stared into the distance.
“Hey, old man!” the teen nymph shouted. “You’re messing up the look!”
If there was one person whose arrogance had grown along with Dallion’s it was Onda. The hammer guardian had always seen himself as a genius and, thanks to the Moonstone in the realm, his opinion of himself had grown even further.
“You’ve no idea how much time and skill it took to get it right!”
Funny. Up to today, Dallion hadn’t minded the attitude. In fact, he hadn’t even noticed it.
“I need some assistance,” he said, glancing down.
At the comment, the guardian froze. There was a spark of emotions within him that was quickly subdued.
“She said not to encourage you,” Onda whispered.
“Harp?” Dallion split into a few instances and looked around. “I won’t be doing anything reckless,” he said with a sigh. “It’s forging related.”
“Forging?” The guardian didn’t sound convinced.
“A while back, you said that there are more complicated things than crafting metals. I want to learn magic crafting.”
“Magic crafting?” Onda shivered slightly while saying the magic word.
“Whatever the proper term is. I know you can do it, so—”
“Can’t.” The guardian quickly interrupted. “She said no magic.”
“Seriously?” Dallion grumbled. “Harp!” he shouted in the direction of the harpsisword’s tower.
Other than a few waves, there was no reaction. Harp was determined not to meddle in his development, and that included not helping him with anything magic related, at least for the time being. After what had happened in Lanitol, Dallion would have thought that he’d be given a pass for reasonable requests. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
In all honesty, his request wasn’t exactly safe or random. The thought of challenging the archduke’s son had made him remember the duel they’d had back in Nerosal, including the origami weapons the noble had used. Creating such a weapon would be very beneficial in more ways than one. For one thing, Dallion was considering upgrading Lux’s home. Having the firebird follow him about like a bladebow with kaleidervisto sights was starting to get bothersome.
“What about enchanting?” Dallion asked. “I’ve already done that many times.”
The nymph shook his head.
“That was temporary.”
Maintaining his calm exterior, Dallion waited for a short while longer, then left his realm. The first thing he felt was a wave of air hitting him in the face. Moments later, his senses returned to normal.
Normally, entering a realm while flying wasn’t the best of ideas, but it didn’t count while on a cloud fort. Initially, Dallion had wanted to avoid the fuss, but when the squad of furies within the cloud had offered to take them, the choice was made for him.
Aware of their emotions, he knew that the offer was extended mostly because of Diroh. While guard furies assisted mages, they rarely went out of their way to catch up to one mid flight. The rumors of her being royalty must have spread.
“You can rest a bit,” the fury told Dallion. He was a seasoned veteran who didn’t have time for all the rank bullshit. “We won’t reach the Academy till tomorrow.”
One additional day. If Dallion had continued flying on his own, he’d have been there by now.
“Any news?” he asked, suppressing a yawn.
“Where do I start? The Azures are gathering armies in the northeast. Mages too. I’m expecting a major clash in a month at most. The new archduke is also positioning her forces. Now that she’s been given the new spot, she can’t afford to mess up.”
It was tempting to crack a smile. It would be nice if Priscord got humiliated in the upcoming battle, but that was unlikely to happen. The emperor had picked her for the position, which meant that he’d back her up with some of his legions. Losing two archdukes in the same area wasn’t something that would look good.
“Lots of crimsons are also there,” the fury continued. “At least we get to enjoy the skies here for a while.”
Dallion nodded. He, too, was going to join them.
“A bunch of rogues formed a new enclave in the west. It’s out of the empire, so no one’s bothering for now. I told some of your lot that it’s a mistake. No one listened.”
“Someone will take care of them.”
The west, at least, was deprived of any presence. Only the Order was slowly spreading in that direction. No wonder the last Star had made his stronghold there.
“There’s been a few skirmishes in the southeast, but nothing major. The Alliance is keeping the Azures in check. Only minor kingdoms are poking about, trying to get themselves noticed by one of the powers.”
“Yes, everyone’s choosing sides.”
That was true and things were only going to get tougher. Settlements, cities, even small countries were quick to ally themselves to one of the three powers. Even before the war began, several of the minor players had made their intentions known. Most had allied to the empire. Now that its position was shaky, they were looking at the other options. It didn’t end with whole settlements either. Guilds and trade organizations had been moving about, going further to the heart of the empire or out of it. Even hunter dens weren’t immune.
Before leaving Lanitol, Dallion had flown by the structure out of a feeling of nostalgia. What he found was an empty lot. He had expected some of the hunters to have gone—there were many dwarves among them. Yet, the building was missing as well. A more optimistic person might have assumed that the hunters had found a way to take their den as they left the city. In reality, it had likely been absorbed by the overseer. Neutrality was a dangerous notion, especially if those proclaiming to be neutral were strong.
“Over a dozen ghost towns have formed on the border,” the fury said. “If they remain too long without a master, the wilderness will take them.”
“That’s how it usually works.”
The fury glanced at Dallion sideways, but didn’t add anything more. It was obvious he wanted to know more about the fury, just as it was obvious that Dallion had no intention of sharing. The moment of calm had given him a while to relax, and now that adrenalin had loosened its grip, less immediate concerns had resurfaced.
Prophecies, he said to himself. So far, he had heard two. The first had come from a nymph sheet acquired years ago. The dwarf hunter who had found it swore that an otherworlder would bring to the end to the world, or at the very least a substantial change. When combined with what Cleric had shared, the worst might have come to pass. It was Dallion who had made it possible for Adzorg to construct his device. If he found the final pieces, he might pop the barrier between worlds like a soap bubble, letting void creatures pour into reality unimpeded.
If there was nothing you could do, the Order wouldn’t have sent you, Gen said from Dallion’s realm. There’s no point in perfect prophecies.
There is if all you need to do is hide, Dallion replied mentally.
If you’re hiding, you’re not doing it very well.
Dallion smiled. His echo had a suitable sense of humor, even if it didn’t help particularly right now.
“What about vortex gleams?” Dallion asked.
“Vortex gleams,” the fury repeated. “There’s talk of a few out east. The crimsons will know more. They don’t tell the rest of us much.”
“Right.” Dallion leaned back in the sea iron mesh that served as a chair. “Wake me up when we get to the Academy. Don’t stop for anything until we get there, not even assists.”
“You’re the mage.”
If the flight was eventful, Dallion never got to learn about it. Over a day, he spent the time sleeping. To a large part, that was to diminish the fatigue that had stacked up in the last six months. More importantly, though, he was hoping to have a Moon dream. With the curse, he hadn’t been getting anything that might help. This time was no different, although it didn’t bring nightmares either. All it brought was a whole lot of blankness: Dallion closed his eyes one moment, then when he opened them again, he was a few hundred feet from the battle mage building. According to the armadil shield, they had been there for hours, but no one had dared wake him up.
How nice of them, Dallion thought and sat up.
The fury on guard was new—far younger than the previous one, tasked with keeping the cloud stable. Everyone else, Diroh included, was gone.
“Where’s everyone?” Dallion cracked his back. Sleeping on war clouds wasn’t as comfortable as people assumed it would be.
“Your novice was escorted into the building, battle apprentice,” the fury replied, using Dallion’s standard title. “All your things were moved to your room as well.”
“And the furies?”
“They were sent out on another cloud. Katka ordered that we leave you to sleep undisturbed, so—”
“I get the picture.”
Dallion cast a spell, rising up from the cloud. Without a word of thanks, he floated straight to Katka’s room on the upper floor of the building, then went inside. The magic symbols on the walls glowed brighter as he passed. Recognizing him as belonging here, they remained in their present state.
The moment he flew in, the room widened, increasing tenfold in size. This wasn’t normal. Katka wasn’t a fan of modifications, preferring to keep things as they were. Ironically, that made many of the Academy mages see her as a snob. In their eyes, illusions weren’t good enough for her, since she resorted to getting the actual physical thing and bringing it here.
The current modification spell had turned the room into a modern Earth corporate office. There was lots of space, full of desks, cheap plants, water coolers and a glass walled meeting room at the far side. Looking closely, Dallion saw four figures gathered there.
Just great, he thought.
The archmage was present along with Katka. The other two were silhouettes made of cloud matter and water, respectively. That meant that the entire Shimmering Circle had gathered to discuss something. Since Dallion had joined, there had been only one similar meeting. Back then, the “woman” Dallion had seen in Gassil’s memory fragment had also been there, even if no one had formally introduced her to him. There were a few more instances in which she had taken shape to discuss something with Katka. As for the last member, he remained completely unknown. Dallion was aware of his existence, but nothing more.
“Dal,” the archmage’s voice echoed throughout the room, as if he were using loudspeakers. “Join us.”
Taking a deep breath, Dallion made his way to the door of the meeting room and went inside. The conference table was large enough to hold eight people. The seat next to Katka was left free, indicating he was supposed to take it.
“This must be important.” Dallion said, using his magic vision in an attempt to see the people behind the constructs. He was able to see the magic threads connecting the forms to invisible portals, but not what lay beyond. “First time I see everyone gathered.”
The sharp look the archmage gave him quickly told Dallion to tone down the humor.
“We heard what happened down south,” the man said. “What are your dealings with the Order?”
“You know I can’t tell you that,” Dallion said calmly. “Moon vows and all that.”
“Convenient.”
“What I can say is that the Azures tried to take out the archduke.” There was a moment’s pause. “And myself.”
“You were targeted?” Katka asked, more surprised than intrigued.
“I guess Grym is still mad at me for last time. They managed to put echoes in a lot of the people at the banquet. Most of them were normies, but there were a few awakened… as well as the local mage.”
“We know,” the archmage said. “Would have been nice to bring one of them alive for questioning.”
“Wasn’t my fault. The archduke absorbed all the evidence. I did manage to get the mage’s robe, though. If there’s anything to be learned, I’ll find it.”
“Such a marvelous ability,” the cloud woman said. “Sometimes you make me envious.”
“That’s not why I called for this,” the archmage hissed. “A messenger arrived from the emperor himself. The vortex gleam that was spotted not too long ago wasn’t the only one. As it turns out, it’s only a drop in the bucket. There have been twenty-seven confirmed sightings, but unlike the last one, the levels are much higher.”
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story, consider joining my patreon or check out my other stories on redditserials:
The Scuu Paradox (a Space Opera Sci Fi)
The Cassandrian Theory (a Space Opera Sci Fi)
The Impeccable Adventure of the Reluctant Dungeon (Dungeon Core Adventure Comedy)
Uncharted Waters (An Urban Fantasy Detective Noir)

That last chapter was so sweet, ahhhhh, it’s nice to see the two have such a good relationship. Well let’s move on to a more suspicious chapter shall we? This is quite the big chapter so strap in, get a nice drink or snack and get comfortable. This fanfic is based off the fanfic The isolationists, by Seeyouon_otherside. Another thank you to Demon_Deity for allowing me to make another reference to his series marred migration.
Constructive criticism is appreciated.
Memory Transcript Subject: Armanne, Zeyzell toddler.
Yay! Objects! “Squeak!” I was playing with the orange cubes that daddy got me! They are very fun! Stack them. Make them into shapes! Fun fun fun! I was making a grand tower, like the one back on the white covered home we lived on. Before we went to the stars!
*thudding noises*
Aww, they fell over.
I put them back up when I see red-eyed brother in the vents! Hello- aw he’s gone. The door opened. Oh! Daddy and mommy! They brought in my fishy brother, since that’s what daddy calls him, into our room! He’s asleep. He has a blanket around him. What happened?
I tilted my head in confusion. “Squeak?”
“Hey there Armanne! How’s my best juggler!” Yay mommy!
“Squeak! Squee!”
“Aw that’s a good girl! Are you playing with the blocks that daddy got you?”
Yes I am! They are very fun! “Squeak!”
“That’s a good girl…hey Alvaro?” I looked over to daddy as he was putting wet brother into his bed.
“Yeah sweetheart?”
“Do you think it’s a good idea to bring Armanne onto the station?” Station? What station? I look to daddy for answers.
“Hmmmmm, no, not yet.”
What? Hey, I want to go! “Squeak! Squee sqeuuu!”
Dad looks at me again. “Sorry my little juggler, you're not ready yet. Nor is it clean enough yet.”
Hmph! We’ll see about that! Oh there leaving! Not without me! Quickly! After them!
I crawl as fast as I can! They have longer legs! Faster! Yes I’m gaining! Faster! Faster! Oh there stopping! Hide!
We’re through? There! The box. Oh hey it’s comfy in here! Lots of blankets, no don’t fall asleep now, but…I’m so tired from crawling, no don’t fall asleep …don’t…doooo….
[Significant time pass detected, jumping to next conscious moment.]
Ahhhh! That was a nice nap! We’re am I? Hey, the top is closed. Oh! Voices?”
“…yeah this is our area to clean…it’s a mess, protector help me I don’t wanna meet the thing that did this.
“Well you're gonna, he’s in command of this station.”
“What?! Oh that’s great. What is he?”
“Some sort of cyborg Velil.”
“Like a deathwatch guard?”
“Noooo, much more scary.”
“Wonderful, let me grab the cleaning rags. Wow, that’s a long way down. How far do you think?”
“Dunno, deep. When we get this place cleaned up I call dibs on the room with the comfortable bed.
“They all have comfortable beds, dumbass, this place was built for, well an invasion of a galaxy. The Feds would need a place to relax and hang the heads of our kits.”
“Yeah, man am I ever glad we’re getting out of that crazy place of a galaxy, dang the zippers stuck.”
Oh! Someone is opening the top! It opens! I pop out to say hello.
“SQUEAK!”
“AHHHHHHH!”
Oh! I’m falling? Why am I falling? Wow…that’s deep…uh oh. Back into the bag-OFF! OW OW OW!
*thudding noises*
Ow…that hurt! Where is daddy? Mommy?
“Squeak…squeak?”
I look up, wow I fell a long way down. Good thing the bag cushioned my fall! We’re am I? It's weird down here.
I crawl around to see if I can find anything. Maybe down this hall? Oh hey there’s someone here! Why are they lying against the wall?
I crawl over to them. Wow they smell really bad…I don’t like that smell. It smells bad…are you ok?
I touch them, ewwww, they're all slimy, why do they have feathers? Did my paw just go through his arm? Are you ok…
“S-s-squeak?” Why are they leaning over like that? They're sliding down against the wall. Oh no, they're going to hit their head on the ground! Don’t worry I can…
*pop*
D-d-d-did their head…j-j-just fall off? It’s rolling towards me…it-it has no eyes. What’s in its mouth? Is that a worm? What’s a worm…
*Hissing noise*
“…”
“SQQQUUUUEEEAAKKKKKK!!!”
Run away! Get away! Mommy daddy! Help me I don’t wanna be here! Help anyone. I pass by more people slumped against the walls!
*bang* what did I slip…?
“SQUUUUEEAAAAAAAA!”
No no this is a nightmare! They're dead!? Is this what being dead looks like! I don’t wanna die! Mommy! Daddy! Anyone. A room! Get into it! I dive into it and…there’s someone in here? Who is that? They are very big, they have metal all over their body. Wow! It has a screen coming out of his stomach that’s glowing orange, but I can’t see their face, hey there talking.
“…the human and Zeyzell are very important to my plans for my children. You know this.”
Uh oh, I walked into a conversation again! Whoops! Daddy doesn't like it when I do that. I move very fast behind a box thing.
“Yes I do.”
“You also know my children desire…no, crave to no longer be alone in this galaxy. The Humans and Zeyzell are fundamental, no, Vital for my children’s future. Mainly the Humans with their unique abilities to pack bond. Also since my children can pack bond, they will amplify each other's pack bonding ten fold creating unbreakable bonds. The Zeyzell are also changing. Even when exposed to a single human I have observed much change in them. They no longer shy away from xeno like foods, activities, or media and entertainment. They embrace and enjoy it.”
Wow, whoever is talking from that screen has a very odd voice. Loud and powerful. Yet…more? I dunno. Maybe daddy or mommy might know?
“Yeah, I know that effect very well. You couldn’t have picked a better species to bring to your children. They’ll get along VERY well. AHAHAHA!!” Wow he laughs weirdly.
“Yes indeed. The Zeyzell are no longer the Zeyzell they think they are. They are open to new species. They no longer use the term Xeno. This is all from the effect of only one Human, imagine what the Zeyzell will become when they are met with over twenty thousand!”
“Really?! You know we’re more are?! All the way out here?! Wait…do you mean…”
“Yes, I have located two ARK ships, ARK’s eight and twelve. Each has a population of over ten thousand. They have been wandering the stars for a while now. Searching for a home. I intend to give them, and the Zeyzell that have arrived at your station, a home. A place they can not only survive in, but thrive, a place to nurture and protect.”
“That’s a lot of humans! I’m all for it but can your children handle a population that big?
“Yes, I’ve been sending them more raw materials than normal, they will have more than enough. A lot of their planet is still wilderness so colonization shouldn’t be a problem. The surface area is also much larger than earths. Although I’m worried about the fragility of the humans on my children’s planet, the planet has much higher gravity then there earth, among other things. “
“Yeah, humans can be pretty tough, but they're still one of the most fragile and vulnerable species I have ever encountered. Like a child in a giant war suit. They may appear scary and intimidating, however all they wanted was to be loved, to be held and told, welcome to the greater galaxy, yet they got near genocide.”
“Yes it is despicable what happened to them, no species that kind and caring should have that happen to them. Protect the Humans and the Zeyzell, please. They are not the last of their kind, but I fear for them. I can’t bear to see anymore of their kind killed simply because of the way they look and what they eat. It breaks my heart. On this note however, I must also now keep a much closer eye on the Tesh and Wurnta. Since my discovery of them after their societal collapse I saw born survivors. However now they are threatened by a Sivkit herd that crash landed on their planet and I’m uncertain if they can survive a hatred so potent as these federation fanatics.”
“Ah, these two species again! You discovered them on one of your wanderings, yes?”
“Indeed, I remember it like it was yesterday. I passed by a planet of ice and snow, that I sensed once had a great life, imagine my surprise when I bumped into an artificial satellite. It was old, very old. It was ready to burn up in the atmosphere. My presence was obscured by the raging snow storms on their world so they did not see me. So I took a look at them. They are so full of promise these two are, working together to survive a harsh and dangerous environment. Many died and many lived. Now I see that their civilization is back. They are recovering from the collapse of their first civilization. Now however they face a danger that they have never faced before. Pure hatred, by an enemy who is pure evil to them. This Sivkit herd wishes for their extinction, their only crime? Their existence. To the Sivkits that is enough for extermination, and that makes my core BOIL. The two species are linked on a deep level for surviving on a planet together for so long. Something I’m hoping that my children will achieve with the Humans and Zeyzell.
“TWO SENTIENT SPECIES LIVING ON THE SAME PLANET IN DECENT ENOUGH HARMONY! IT IS A GLORIOUS THING! AHAHAHAH!”
“Yes it is. I do believe that my children and the Humans would find them…very cute.”
The metal man looked surprised. “Cuter than…me?”
“Mmmmm, possibly.”
“WHAT?! That’s HERESY! I DEMAND TO SEE THESE BEINGS AT ONCE!”
The belly screen changed color but I still couldn’t see anything on it. The metal man’s hands went up to his face.
“AHHHH! THERE ADORABLE! I JUST WANNA HUG AND SQUEEZE THEM AND-!” The metal man dropped their hands to their hips. “Hmph! Guess I do have some competition. Anyway, I will do everything in my power to protect the Humans and Zeyzell, my lord. For I am your disciple.”
“Oh for- don’t say that! Or call me that! We’re friends Hazard!”
“HAHAHAHAHH! I know! I just like to get under your metal!
“Ohhhh, sometimes I swear…alright I’ll leave you to it, please don’t die too quickly. I can only bring you back so fast!”
“Hehehehhe! Yeah yeah! I know! Have a good day!”
“You too Hazard, you too.”
The screen went dark and it went back into his belly, he turned around and…
“Why hello there little one? Where did you come from?”
He’s huge! Bigger than daddy, I thought no one was bigger than daddy, he looks really scary. Where is his mouth? Why is his eye like that?
“Squeak?”
“Aw you poor thing.” He bent down and I shifted away. “Hey hey don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you! I’m a friend! AH, what would Alvaro do?"
He’s a friend of daddy? I perked my ears up.
“Ah you know that name? You must be one of his kits! Great to meet you!”
He very gently picked me up. Then put me in his lap. I look over at the wall and I hear a faint sound. It sounds like…why is that person being ground up in that device?!?
“SQUEAK!”
“What? Are you-OH, I’m sorry you're too young to see something like that! He’s um, dead so I’m turning him into, uhhhhhh, fertilizer!
Is that what happens to us once we…die? “Ssss-sss-queak?”
“Oh sorry, uh your too young for that, oh I have just the thing!
He opened his chest and turned around, so I couldn't see the person anymore…oh! A plushie! Yay!
“That belonged to someone close to me. However the plushie seems to like you too. I’ll let you take care of him for now? Ok?”
Yay! Of course! “Squeak!”
“Glad you like him! I’ll turn on my heaters and get you a blanket. Better?
Hmmmmm, warm! “Squeak!”
“Glad you like my lap heaters! Built them just for this! I have an idea, I’ll tell you a story. Do you like stories?”
Yes, yes I do! “Squeak!”
“Alright let’s see…got one! This story is about a unique Venlil who was turned into a being of rage, but caring for others at the same time…I’m gonna need to work on that title. well lets get started”
The metal man clasped his hands and made a beep noise with his speaker mouth thing.
“Not too long ago on a planet called Venlil prime, a unique Venlil was born. He had odd thinking, horns, and sharper then normal teeth!”
Sharp teeth? Doesn’t everyone have those? Even daddy has some.
“Now this Venlil was strange from the beginning, he would use his sharp teeth to eat hard and tough plant foods. He would use have to hid his horns, but when he didn't he would put stuff on them, like flashlights, lights, small flags and other Knick knacks. You know what Knick knacks are right?”
I didn’t but I nodded my head yes so he would continue with the story. I love stories!
OK then! Now these oddities on him got him many odd looks. His parents however used their influence to keep the bad people away. With their tubes of fire, their suits of foil, and their tanks of flames. He would spend much of his younger years alone, but alive. Then he started school. He was shunned and bullied by all his peers, casting him out of anything they did together.”
Hey that’s mean! “SQEUAK!” I stamp my legs in protest.
“Hehe, indeed! It was very mean! They would call him names, horrible names!” His metal skin moved around. Up and down…cooool.
“He never liked his own kind much, always preferring to be around the Yotul. As they were very nice, and never judged you at first glance. They were oh so kind and very sweet. They became fast friends. This is when he developed his curiosity with technology! Always testing and building something new to show his friends! They would play and sing, and use the things the Venlil built. They would look to him for help and he would look to them for friendship. One day the little Venlil was walking on the dark side of the planet. He would walk there often. Then one day he came across a dead bird. That had been EATEN!”
Huh? We eat meat all the time. What’s so strange about that?I gave him a very confused look.
“Oh right uh you eat meat. Anyway, this was very unusual. What was more unusual was this young Venlil was not scared, he was curious! He followed the trial the creature had left behind and found an injured night hound, at least that’s what he called them. These would roam the night, hunting for anyone out in the dark side of Venlil prime. The night hound had been caught in an exterminator trap. The night hound was starving because it had had no food for a long time. So, the Venlil walked back to the dead bird and brought it back to the night hound. And feed it. The night hound was very grateful! It yelled in delight and happiness. The Venlil felt happy that he had saved a life, freeing the night hound from the trap it bounded away! The next day, the Venlil went through his daily routine, wake up, hugged his loving parents, go to school, get harrassed and bullied, meet up with his Yotul friends, and walk home by the woods. Then the same night hound appeared! The two became fast friends! Spending much time together! The two were inseparable! He would show the night hound his amazing inventions! It was a very happy time…”
Why did he look so sad?
“Then the bad people came. They had heard about the strange Venlil boy, they wanted to meet him, and so they did. They followed him home one day, and tried to kidnap him! The Venlil boy screamed in fear! Then the night hound tried to rescue him, but he was no match for the tanks of fire. Then…the night hound was no more…the boy cried and wailed, the bad people laughed and laughed at the boy. They take him and he never sees his parents again…he’s taken to a strange place. A place he did not like. They did things to the boy, cried about how the boy was the worse case of predator disease…They kept him there for many years, transforming the boy, taking his teeth, his horns, his…life. After they added things, they added…metal.”
His hand formed a fist, wait? How does he and the boy both have metal skin? Maybe they can be friends!
“Then, the Arxur came. They took everyone, even the boy. They brought them to an even more horrible place. A place of misery and pain. A place where the boy was hunted for sport. The boy was very injured on one of those hunts. He was going away to the other side. Then someone saved him. A powerful being, a chaotic being. It made a deal with him. Take revenge on the Arxur and the Federation, and he shall never truly die. The boy agreed, eager to take revenge against them. So when the Arxur were preparing to eat him, he LEAPED UP! Then the hunters became the hunted. When the boy took many Arxur lives, they trapped him and put him in a dark cold place. There was no light and little food. The boy however hung in with the fire of revenge. Then the humans came, his angels, he saw them for the amazing things they were. True people! Ones who would care about you. He traveled with them, then the powerful being came back in a dream and gave the boy new orders. Protect the humans, and so the boy did, and does, to this very day.”
Wow! That was an amazing story! “Squeak squeak!” I clap my paws together.
“Thank you thank you! Now let’s call your parents…wait…I forgot to call them!” He then put his hand up to his ear. “He Alvaro? Yeah I know she’s lost. How? Because she’s on my lap! Yeah I’ll come up. I’ll be there as fast as possible! Bye! Alright, time to see your dad again my little listener! I probably need to work on my sorry telling, not that age appropriate.”
I did not care I liked it! “Squeak!”
First/Previous/Next

DISCLAIMER
I almost didn’t post this. Not because I think it’s too wild or doesn’t make any sense. In fact, quite the opposite. The information I present here, which is the result of countless hours spent re-watching videos, listening to audio, and cross-referencing official information, is something that now seems to me to be far too viable not to be correct. I have actually tried to prove this theory wrong and… well basically I can’t. So, please bear this in mind as you read. This could end up being one of those rare occasions when we’re actually onto something. Either way, I hope you enjoy the post.
First point; this is going to be a long post. Given the subject matter, it needs to be. Second point; I have not added any images or videos directly into the post but have instead included a great many links embedded within the text itself. This should ensure that the post is no longer than it needs to be but should still allow you sufficient opportunity to fully scrutinize every part of my theory, so that you can determine for yourself whether or not you think it holds weight.
I have organised all of the information under specific headings designed to make everything more accessible. Each section focuses on a particular aspect of the main theory. Even if you think that some of what you are reading may not be relevant, I can assure you that everything written here has been included as an important part of a much larger puzzle, and so I would advise that you patiently make your way through the entirety of the post. In an effort to ensure that your time invested here is appropriately rewarded, and in the spirit of preserving the scientific method, I have tried to keep flavor text and blind speculation down to an absolute minimum.
Note that I will be listing various aspects of this post as being confirmed correct or incorrect as and when we have official information to verify such facts. So here we are, after five long years of waiting, the inevitable release of Starfield, like the event horizon of some nearby black hole, is almost upon us. With the Showcase now a mere 24 hours away, it is time for us to take a look at what makes this particular game so special, as well as discovering just how we will be given the means to fly among the stars.
And so, without further ado, let us begin.
Hitchhiker's Guide
From watching gameplay footage, and also listening to various devs talk about Starfield, we know that at some along the early part of the story, we will find ourselves on board a Constellation Starship, which is appropriately named Frontier. With us on the ship is VASCO, an adorable robot assistant who will eventually become one of our possible companions. But how did we even end up on this ship? Well firstly, I do not believe that Frontier is our ship, or at least not at first. And so, we’re probably here in the capacity of a ‘guest’ of some kind, or more likely, a hitchhiker.
If we take a look at this scene, we first hear a male shouting “that’s the Crimson Fleet!” and then a female saying “Everybody get ready!” After this, we can see that the group we are with is attacked. We already know that we uncover some kind of unknown artifact whilst mining for ore near the beginning of the Main Quest, and that the aforementioned Crimson Fleet is essentially an organised collective of space pirates. But what we don’t know is why they attacked us. This is not something I will be diving into in this particular post, although I do have some theories about this. But the relevance of the series of events here described cannot be understated, as they seem to be the launching point for our entry into Constellation and the adventures that follow.
Next, if we look a little further, we can see that this seemingly-important member of Constellation is not with us when we arrive at their Headquarters on Jemison, which suggests that he may have been killed during the above mentioned attack. Also note that, in-spite of not having a voiced protagonist this time round, we can clearly hear somebody talking over Frontier’s comms system, which means that there must be a designated pilot. Given the fact that we don’t see anyone who is confirmed as being the pilot (although it may actually be this person), it is safe to assume that this designated individual was with us during the flight but was first injured in the attack on the planet’s surface and was then taken to Medical Bay after we successfully land on Jemison.
It is my belief that, after perhaps being exposed to some kind of energy pulse from a grenade or something similar, the first member of Constellation we see was outright killed (hence why we are then asked to join up ourselves, perhaps to take over his role). The pilot, however, clearly survived as we can hear him talking to Control over the comms system during what is actually an extended two-way conversation, but I think that his vision was somehow compromised so that, even though he is able to speak, he is temporarily unable to see. The good news about this most unfortunate situation is that it opens the door for us to quickly step into the hot seat and, with the pilot acting as our guide, we will experience our very first Starfield flight tutorial.
Radio Chatter
If you listen to the beginning of both the Official Teaser Trailer and Official Gameplay Reveal for Starfield, you will hear both halves of the radio conversation I have referenced above, or at least the parts of it that Bethesda have given us so far. The first of these is spoken by somebody being referred to as Control, and the second by Frontier’s pilot. I previously posted a link to an audio I made and put up on Soundcloud, which gives us all of the confirmed parts of this conversation carefully spliced together and enhanced for clarity. Note that some of the audio, despite these enhancements, is a little hard to make out.
The final, in-game conversation is going to be a fair bit longer than what we have here and will be based on the specific processes that are required before attempting a Grav Jump. I don’t think we will hear this conversation every time we perform a Jump (especially given that our protagonist does not speak), but the first time we experience this early step-out moment, a detailed and appropriate pre-launch conversation will only serve to enhance what I’m sure will be an awe-inspiring experience.
Note that, at the end of this post, I have provided a link to a written transcript detailing what I think is being said in the full version of the above conversation. In the meantime, here is a breakdown of the confirmed parts of this audio. This is slightly different from the version I previously posted, due to new evidence clarifying exactly what is being said here. I have left line-spaces to help show where the missing parts of the audio will eventually go:
PILOT: "Control this is Constellation Starship Frontier."
CONTROL: "Constellation Starship Frontier, we have you on scanners."
PILOT: "We're ready to start on your signal."
CONTROL: "Performing Road Systems check. Helium-3 tanks, check. Seals are intact."
PILOT: "Maintaining Exit Vector course, Steady 'till Ready."
CONTROL: "We are still go."
PILOT: "Coordinates input, plotting Jump course."
CONTROL: "We read you Constellation."
PILOT: "Sky-Bus is converged, we're looking good."
CONTROL: "Jemison route looks good."
PILOT: "Allocating Auxiliary Reactor Power."
CONTROL: "Prepare for departure. Graviton Loop Array Spool, check."
PILOT: "System checks are green across the board."
CONTROL: "Your space Lane is clear."
PILOT: "Grav Jump commencing in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
Road-Trip
At first, this seems like a typical, albeit futuristic version of an Air Traffic Control conversation. After all, much of what is being said does sound very familiar, and the rest seems appropriate to Starfield’s apparent Hard Science Fiction theme. But it’s only when you start digging a little deeper that you realize that something else is going on here as well.
Note the following terms taken from the above transcript: Road, Exit, Course, Coordinates, Bus, Route, Departure and Lane. All these words share a very noticeable common theme. They are all in some way related to Road Networks. Note also the phrase “green across the board," which sounds like it could also be a reference to Traffic Lights.
Zooming Along
Next, let’s look at this map, which features the home of a certain Software Development Company you may have heard of. If you zoom out a fair bit, you will see two large Cities, namely Washington and Baltimore. Zoom out a little more, and you can now see the cities of Richmond to the South and Pittsburgh to the North-West. Zoom back in over any of these four major cities, and you will see that there are many more smaller locations within each of the city limits.
Now scroll the map over to any of the areas outside of these cities, and you will find a multitude of other important locations. These include residential areas, airports, medical facilities, sports and leisure facilities, research facilities, manufacturing facilities, tech companies, supermarkets), hotels, places of worship, and many others. All the above locations are important in one way of another to the continued functioning of our society, and all can be placed within two distinct categories. These are Population Centers and Infrastructure.
You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
Now imagine that there has been some kind of catastrophic flood in this area, and all these locations, although somehow miraculously intact, are now separated from each other as a series of individual islands in the middle of a newly formed ‘ocean’. Suddenly, the existing Road Network, along with any cars, busses, and other road vehicles, would become useless. You would need to use a completely different system, one designed to properly accommodate these changes, which would of course have to incorporate such elements as harbors, shipping routes, and vehicles capable of travelling along a waterway.
Now let’s zoom out again, this time further. Much, much, further. Each location has now been transformed into either a planet or a moon, spread across various star systems covering a vast region of space. Each one of these planets and moons will have its own individual features, resources, possible inhabitants, and infrastructure requirements. With such a quantum leap in terms of scale, if we now wanted to travel between these locations, which could in many cases end up being several light years apart, we are going to need something far bigger in terms of scale, complexity, and technology.
Shown In 60 Seconds
During the first ever 60 seconds of Starfield footage we all saw, shown in the form of the Official Announcement Teaser at the end of BE3 on June 11th 2018 (which redditor InToddWeTrust2023 has very nicely referenced here), we were given some surprisingly important clues which now form the cornerstone of this theory. Not only have these clues stacked up with every consecutive trailer released, as well as many of the other official videos and various other snippets of information, but their sheer level of consistency places them well outside the realm of possible coincidence.
Some of these additional clues were given to us in the two videos referenced above which contain the comms audio. The second of these two videos, namely the Official Gameplay Reveal, dropped, as would be expected, at the end of last year’s Showcase on June 12th 2022. Some of the most crucial information we have been given to date regarding my theory is actually contained in the 70 seconds shown before Todd even begins to speak. We will discuss the relevance of all of this a little further on in the post.
Lo-go/no go
First, some Space related terminology. In Mission Control speak, a Launch Status Check, also known as a go/no go poll, is part of a very carefully designed system implemented by US Space Agencies to ensure maximum safety and the best possible survival chance of both the ship and its crew prior to launch. This, or something similar, will undoubtedly form an integral part of the pre-launch, or rather, pre-Jump procedures incorporated into Starfield, especially given what we know in relation to its specific influences, attention to detail, and focus on realism.
But let's look for a moment at a different type of launch. Let's look at the process of carefully managing the flow of information when you are launching a long-awaited, multi-million-dollar triple-A video game and you happen to be a major player. With the combined might of Bethesda, Zenimax, and now Microsoft, there is clearly a great deal of scope in terms of how they were able to execute all of the steps involved in this process. One critically important factor, and one that has been masterfully implemented in the promotion of Starfield, is the use of familiar iconography.
If we look at the iconography seen during the promotion of Starfield, we can see that there are two main elements. These are the circular Starfield logo, first unveiled in 2018, and of course the recently updated Bethesda Games Studios logo, which has existed in various iterations since around 2006. Both of these share a common, simplistic yet effective design, and the BGS logo in particular is now light years ahead of its original design as seen on box art and in promotional materials for The Elder Scrolls VI Oblivion. At the time of Oblivion’s release, the long-term use of this particular logo, which incorporates the now familiar Fallout Vault Door, was a little uncertain due to restrictions with the associated licence (more on this below). But once this matter had been resolved, it would make a lot of sense that they would then develop this logo into the much sharper, more modern version we see today.
Licenced to Fly
Way back in April of 2007, Bethesda realized one of their biggest long-term business goals by finally securing the full rights to the highly acclaimed Fallout series. Prior to this, in 2004, they had been granted limited rights which would allow them to develop Fallout 3 and then two additional games, but they clearly wanted full and unrestricted access to the franchise and all of its assets. Since this time, in addition to Fallout 3, we have seen the release of Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76, as well as a number of smaller projects, including Fallout Shelter. This is all the proof you need to confirm the fact that, in-spite of some initial setbacks, Bethesda’s insistence on going the extra mile with regards to securing the full franchise, was most definitely worth it, and was seen by many as a landmark achievement.
Looking at the most recent entry to this ever-expanding series, namely Fallout 76, I would like to draw your attention to two of this particular game’s trailers. First, we have the Fallout 76 Official Trailer from 2018, and then The Pitt Story Trailer from 2022. In the first of these two trailers, at around the 35 second mark, we see the new BGS logo once again, and then near the end of the video we see a smaller version, neatly tucked away over on the left-hand side of the usual copyright notice. If we then look at the second trailer, at around… Hold on a second, let me rewind that a bit… wait, what?
This is where things start to get really interesting.
One Small Step
Okay, going back to the Fallout 76 trailers, although the smaller version of the BGS logo can be seen at or near the end of each of these, only the first incorporates the larger, ‘splash-screen’ version. “But why is this even important?” you may ask. “They may have simply forgotten to include this detail in the second trailer.” I can assure you that this is most certainly not the case. In fact, I am one-hundred-percent confident that this was quite intentional. I would even go as far as saying that this one, seemingly insignificant detail, actually brings us a step closer to unlocking the secrets of Starfield. Essentially, Bethesda have taken full advantage of how we all think we remember certain details, and as such, this is an example of truly expert-level hidden marketing on their part. I also believe it will form the basis of at least one of the big reveals during the showcase.
One Giant Leap
Let’s go back one more time to the Announcement Teaser and the Gameplay Reveal for Starfield. Look at how drastically different the BGS logo is in both of these videos compared to any of those used in promoting Fallout 76. What will really blow your mind here is the fact that all four of the trailers mentioned above were first shown to us during the same two Showcases we have just been discussing! In other words, the first of these videos for both Fallout 76 and Starfield were both unveiled at the 2018 Showcase, and the second of each at the 2022 Showcase. And yet each respective pair make use of drastically different versions of what we all thought was the exact same logo. This means that Starfield has been designed, from the ground up, to be viewed and experienced in a totally different way than, and completely separate from, any of Bethesda’s previous titles.
To clarify this point, after extensive research, I can confirm that this new, animated BGS logo, with the vault door rolling off to the left and then ‘opening up’ just before the text appears, has never been featured anywhere in an official capacity that is not directly related to Starfield. It is completely unique to this specific IP. This fact ties together everything we have looked at in the post so far. It also lets us see things from a completely different ‘orbital’ perspective. For example, I believe that this information gives us the real reason why Bethesda worked so hard to secure the full rights to the Fallout franchise in the way that they did. Not only did they wish to create awesome games set within the Fallout universe, but they also needed total freedom to make use of a specific part of this franchise that so that they could then incorporate it into their next, very very big, space related IP.
For Mankind
Okay. This is the part you’ve all been waiting so patiently for. This is the big reveal. For months now, perhaps even years, we have all been drip-fed the idea that Starfield is essentially “Skyrim in Space.” The reason I think that we have been told this is to misdirect us away from an intrinsic, interwoven connection between Starfield and Bethesda’s other major franchise, which is of course Fallout. But just to put your mind at rest, I do not for a nanosecond believe that the reveal will be, “We fooled you all, it’s actually Fallout in space!” no matter how cool that might at first sound.
What I do believe is that Starfield will be so different and so unique when viewed alongside anything else that Bethesda have published, that it will quite literally take your breath away. This game, the spark of which was first ignited 25 years ago, is Todd Howard’s true passion project. Everything else was simply the path he took to finally get here. This is the story he has always wanted to tell, the story of Mankind’s true legacy. And it all starts, just as it did when Interplay released the original Fallout) game back in 1997, with a familiar, but staggeringly different Vault Door.
The Vault
There is a very special and completely unique hidden Vault in Starfield. Not only is this particular Vault unlike anything you have previously seen anywhere within the Fallout universe, but it is also unlike anything you have seen in any game. Period.
This hidden Vault is actually the key to both interstellar and interplanetary travel. And it also happens to be the single biggest construction project in human history, extending across a span of almost one-hundred light years. And it is not even close to being completed, even after more than two-hundred years of construction.
This Vault is, by its very nature, completely invisible and shielded away from view. It is quite literally hidden in plain sight, and it can only be accessed through one of its specially crafted Vault Doors. But what does all of this mean for gameplay, and how does something like this even work? I’m glad you asked! Let’s strap in and prepare for launch, because we’re all in for an incredible ride.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen... to The Starfield
Entering The Starfield
The following is my own interpretation, based on scientific reasoning and a huge amount of detailed analysis, of exactly how I think this system works. It is, as ever, backed up with several links throughout, as well as additional evidence for which I shall provide a separate link at end of the post. I am expecting perhaps some differences in terms of specific details once we get hold of the final release of Starfield, but I am confident that I am at the very least well within the ballpark with all of this. Okay, here goes.
The Science Behind the Magic
Starfield is the name given to a vast network of interconnecting tunnels, spanning the entirety of the Settled Systems, providing us with a very fast and highly practical means of travelling between different planets, and even different star systems. These tunnels exist within a localized, folded state, known as Tunnel-Space. The construction of the Starfield is made possible thanks to a technological breakthrough which allows gravitational waves (or Gravitons) to be woven together to form something known as a Gravity-Tunnel, which is then stretched out and connected between any two existing stellar objects, such as two planets in a given system, of even two stars from different systems.
In order to maintain the integrity of each tunnel, it is wrapped in a special type of Exotic Matter known as Superfluid Helium. This has a number of highly unusual properties, including negative energy density and negative energy pressure. This essentially makes it the physical-space equivalent of time going in reverse, meaning that it is capable of counteracting the effects of any conventional physical force, including the gravitational pull of a black hole. As such, it will hold the structure of the Gravity-Tunnel together for an indefinite period of time over a potentially infinite distance through space.
Within the Starfield are a large number of Nodes and Junction Points. Nodes are used to connect together all of the planets in any one Star System, and Junction Points then connect different Star Systems together, making use of much larger Gravity-Tunnels that are the equivalent of Interstate Highways. Note that all flight between any given planet and any or all of its moons is handled locally, outside of the Starfield.
Because all of the stars, planets, and moons in the Settled Systems are in a constant state of flux, by which I mean their relative distance and positions) are constantly changing in respect to each other, the tunnels within the Starfield have been designed to be able to expand and contract almost infinitely so that they can accommodate any changes in these two factors depending on when, where, and how you travel.
Although the main tunnels are designed to transport people, resources, waste, and other items directly relating to either Population Centers or Infrastructure, I believe there is also a sub-system) that will allow much smaller objects, such as probes, to carry data-packets that can be upload at one location and then downloaded at another, effectively solving the problem of inoperable delays in communication between remote locations.
Inside of each Gravity-Tunnel is a bi-directional singularity, which can be switched between two opposite polarities whenever required with the help of the surrounding Exotic Matter, allowing for two-way traffic inside what is essentially a one-way system. This means that, as long as you are able to ensure the correct polarity of all connecting Nodes and Junction Points along your route (as in “Sky-Bus is converged” and “Jemison route looks good”), you will be able to travel, in theory at least, from any point A to any point B, as long as all of the required interconnections exist within the system.
When travelling through the Starfield, you will set a specific route, known as a Sky-Bus, which is a specified pathway that runs from your staring location to your destination. You will then, with the help of Starfield Control, access the tunnels using a Gating System which I will explain below. Incidentally, I believe that the accepted in-universe name for the actual transit network that we are making use of within the Starfield is the Sky-Bus Tunnel System.
Each tunnel in this system actually has two separate ‘Lanes’, one on the left for outbound traffic, and one on the right for incoming traffic. As I have explained above, each of these tunnels can only accommodate a single direction of traffic flow at any given time. And so, a safety measure had to be incorporated to prevent any accidental attempts to travel the wrong way down a tunnel and destroying yourself and your ship.
At each end of any given Node or Junction Point is a Gate. These are the ‘Vault Doors’ I have been referring to. The Gate comprises of a gigantic metal outer-ring connecting to an inner Vault Door. This Vault Door will either be at the center (closed position), or the left (open position) of the outer ring. The open/left position will allow outbound traffic to leave the orbit of the current planet they are in proximity to. To allow inbound traffic, the entire outer ring, with the Vault Door locked in place, will rotate clockwise through 180 degrees to the open/right position to allow access to the inbound Lane. When the outbound Lane is then once again required, the structure then continues to rotate in a clockwise motion until it reaches the open/left position once again. When required, the Vault Door will return to the neutral position at the center of the ring, and the tunnel will be locked.
Regarding Grav Jumps: Whenever you wish to perform a Grav-Jump, you must first request permission from Starfield Control, who will guide you through the process. Once the route is set and your Exit Gate is locked in place, by activating your ship’s Grav-Drive, along with it’s incorporated spooling system, you will first lock on to the front of the tunnel entrance.
Next, using a system similar to an Aircraft Catapult, you will be pulled into the tunnel at great speed, where the Graviton Loop Array will hold your ship in-place inside the tunnel, and will also ensure you don’t accidentally go down the wrong path. At the other end, the spooling system described above then acts as an Arresting Cable, slowing you down over a very short distance.
If all of the above is actually correct, especially the last part, then I think I will be having this on repeat in the background before Grav-Jumps!
Finally, here is the link to my additional supporting evidence and other materials, including some stuff I haven’t had a chance to really go into yet. Feel free to throw any questions at me, and I’ll do my best to answer them. In the meantime, Showcase will commence in 24 Hours…

Hello everyone,
I just wanted to let everyone know that today will be the last day that you can provide feedback on the semifinalists released by the Syracuse Flag Initiative! Just as a reminder, they are:
The Grain of Glory, by Sophia Jaberi
One of Syracuse's nicknames is ‘Salt City’ because of its salt springs, and the city was a top salt producer in the country for much of the 19th century. If you look at salt under a microscope, it looks like a cube or a square/diamond with a smaller indent in the middle. This shape under a microscope is specifically unique only to salt! Therefore, I used it as inspiration for the shape that is in the middle of the flag. I purposely tilted the square/diamond salt symbol to depict a hill/mountain. This is to represent the Onondaga Nation who are named the ‘People of the Hills.’ The Erie Canal brought major growth and prosperity to the city and represents the blue line that goes across the middle of the flag.
The First Light Flag, by Eric Hart
The First Light flag represents our land, our people, our hopes, and our dreams. The six-pointed star symbolizes the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee and the six historical names by which Syracuse has officially been known. The triangles represent the hills of Onondaga and the Onondaga Valley. The orange color symbolizes the sun and restoration. The azure blue color symbolizes Onondaga Lake and perseverance. The navy-blue color symbolizes the hills of Onondaga and industriousness. The white color symbolizes salt, snow, and peace.
The Unity Flag, by Shane LaChance
The 'Unity' flag design boldly celebrates the City of Syracuse's rich history, central location, and unique character. Its simple yet striking design carries powerful messages of unity, nature, and place. The four inward-facing arrows symbolize Syracuse's historical significance as crossroad for democracy, commerce, and innovation. This flag serves as a unifying symbol for all who call and have called Syracuse home, yesterday, today and for generations to come. So fly it high, Syracusans, and show your pride in being part of the fabric of this one-of-a-kind city.
The Evening Tree, by Ryan Kostusiak
This flag was designed to be not just a flag of Syracuse but one of Central New York. The colors, orange, white, and blue, represent courage, harmony, and freedom respectively and depicts a winter evening sky over Onondaga Lake. The tree represents the Haudenosaunee as well as the future growth of the city. The circular charge intersecting the white line creates the alchemical symbol for salt, one of the most important industries in the city’s history. Finally, the eleven-pointed star stands for New York State, the eleventh state to ratify the Constitution.
If you wanted to check out the designers, and learn more about how and why they constructed their flag, you can check out the AMA we recently did or watch a recording of the Art Store event last week! Otherwise, you can submit your feedback online here or check out if we have any in-person tabling today here. (Only Syracuse residents will be considered!)
Thank you so much for all of your time, interest, and help throughout this project, and I cannot wait to unveil the finalist to you all on Flag Day (June 14th) next week!
Sincerely,
Ike Okereke

Welcome to the most sarcastic and sassy Christian community known as Above Water. Our love language is spoken through reaction gifs and just the right amount of trolling. We're a PvE/Social guild in Tyria that is simply looking to foster friendships, kinships, and a sense of community that extends beyond gaming. While it is true that our love of gaming is what initially draws us together, it is our love of Christ that binds us as brothers and sisters. We'll support you in Tyria and IRL.
We're so very excited to be exploring the world of Tyria and we welcome you to come along as we shake suspicious bushes, fill golden hearts, leap off of cliffsides, and drag less-than-enthusiastic members through Jumping Puzzles. We're a PvE community that has some loose interest in WvW and non-serious PvP---but the majority of our shenanigans take place in the form of beating up dragons in story mode, slaying Kitty Golems in low-level fractals (we're working towards T4, but we're also filthy casuals in comparison to T4 runners), and doing our PvE dailies.
Above Water is also eagerly awaiting to spread our roots into other realms like Verra (Ashes of Creation), Terminus (Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen), and Palia (Palia). Anyone who joins us will have a home in those worlds and will never be alone in their new adventures.
Quick facts about us:

• Christian and Family-friendly.
  • Due to this, Reddit has a history of banning our members once they post a recruitment ad. So read quickly or you may find the post gone. :)
• Conversations with adults without adult-rated content.
  • We don't cuss, curse, or use profanities.
  • We are sarcastic and enjoy joking around.
• Provide fellowship beyond gaming.
  • We have weekly prayeBible studies.
  • An ongoing Prayer Request channel for anyone who needs/wants prayer outside of our Prayer meeting.
• Encourage faith-based discussions.
  • We all walk different paths, but we encourage our members to walk with God and to openly discuss theology in a constructive and caring manner.
• Fun as it's meant to be.
  • We believe that games are meant to be fun, so we won't make demands of our members when it comes to dedicated playtime, playstyles, or builds. If you want advice, we've got you. If you want to run rogue with your own setup, we support that too.
  • We play a variety of games including Valheim, Tribes of Midgard, Baldur's Gate 3, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Diablo IV and Jackbox Party Games.
• We're growing.
  • We don't require 100% representation in GW2. We only ask that you regularly participate in our Comms to the best of your abilities. It's hard to build camaraderie if members don't communicate with one another.

If you're interested in learning more about us, please visit our site at abovewater.net and if you're ready to join us, we invite you to complete an application to come Above Water with us. Oh! Also, we don't use Discord---instead, we use Guilded.
Family-friendly non-Christians are welcome to join us! Don't feel that you have to be a Christian to join us as family-friendly oriented people can thrive in Above Water so long as they're open to Christian thought and discussion. If that's not your cup of tea, we get it and we wish you the best in finding a place to call home.

Hey all, I live in Brooklyn, NY and I've been having issues getting apartment repairs and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of resources to look into.
The story is—February 2022, the kitchen sink started back flowing. It got to the point where my wife and I were bailing about 15-20gal of water out every day. After some prodding, the super referred us to a plumber who, after several calls, came out, didn't fix it on the first try, came out again, and sort of fixed it so it wasn't back flowing for about a month and then not back flowing more than an inch or two into the sink and only irregularly at that. We more or less forgot about the issue until the beginning of June when it began to back flow again like it had originally. We called the super on June 2 and he again referred us to the plumber who didn't answer his phone, and then we proceeded to call both the unresponsive and otherwise unhelpful super and the completely unresponsive plumber all weekend. The plumber finally called back and wouldn't schedule a time with us, but said he would be there when he could. By Tuesday we called the super again because at this point the pipe (which was old) had rusted through and there was now a hole in the drain, and he managed to get the plumber to come right away. Plumber fixed the pipe, refused to acknowledge that the issue was anything other than a clog in the drain making the water back up, and then left quickly once there was no more water in the drain. About 5min after he left, I went to use the sink and it wouldn't drain at all, and over the next few days it resumed back flowing worse than it ever has, and won't drain at all. He came back Thursday after a really angry message sent to management about the issue and how we were being treated by both the plumber and the super, and we managed to convince him the problem was deeper in the plumbing of the building, which he finally agreed with. Told us before he left Thursday that he needed a longer snake to get to the clog that was causing the back flow and would return Friday. He didn't come back and now neither the super nor the plumber are responding.
My question is, what are some avenues we can use to either fix this problem or remove ourselves from having to deal with it? We called 311 at some point in this process and they've been slow to help. We got a call from HPD asking if the problem had been resolved and nothing else. I'm aware that Repair and Deduct is likely relevant here, but we're planning on moving out of the city in the fall, so a court battle over rent owed would be a massive pain in the ass. Constructive eviction may also be an option if we can swing getting out a few months ahead of when we planned, but again, I'm sure this would end up involving a court case about unpaid rent after we've left the city.
Anyway, does anyone know of any resources I can use or have any advice of avenues to pursue (recognizing that it is not construed as legal advice)? Or other subreddits to post this to? It's been two weeks of this, my body hurts from having to carry buckets of water from the sink every day, all the water is gray-water from other parts of the building, and my wife and I are afraid to leave the apartment empty for more than a few hours for fear we'll come home to a flood.

Interesting fact, there is an ending to Fallout 2 where the Intelligent Deathclaws survive. Read about it here. Basically, a scripting error prevents this Ending from playing out, but you needed to kill Dr. Schreber and fix the Vault Computer. This is my take on how the Intelligent Deathclaws would survive and thrive in a Wasteland that's slowly becoming part of the New California Republic.
Goris returns to Vault 13 and excitedly tells his father, Gruthar about the destruction of The Enclave. He and the Tribe of Deathclaws breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they won't be hunted down. Gruthar then explains that they can't stay in the Vault forever as the nearby NCR will keep expanding and will find them eventually. The only way for his tribe to survive the coming decades is to join NCR.
Knowing Deathcalws are typically shot on sight, Gruthar sends one of the Humans in his tribe as an ambassador to NCR to discuss joining. The Ambassador heads to NCR and finds the NCR Hall of Congress. Inside, the Ambassador discusses about the tribe that wishes to join NCR, but the Congress' Ears perk up when it's mentioned the tribe is living in Vault 13. The location of Vault 13 has been relatively lost to NCR for a very long time. President Tandi is informed of this and remembering her old friend who rescued her all those years ago, she decides to hear the Ambassador out.
President Tandi and the Ambassador discuss the topic of the tribe joining NCR. The room goes silent when the Ambassador mentions that the tribe he was representing are a pack of Intelligent Deathclaws. He talks about how Humans and Deathclaws are living amongst eachother within Vault 13 and the Alpha Male of the pack, Gruthar sent him to discuss joining NCR.
Everyone in the Hall of Congress is very skeptical about this Ambassador's offer, but everyone is shocked when President Tandi speaks up states she would like to see this place for herself. Several NCR Congress Members try to talk Tandi out of it and even her son, Hoss tries to talk his mother out of going, but Tandi's decision is final. Tandi states she would love to see the home of her old friend and she'll be fine if these Deathclaws are as peaceful as the Ambassador says they are.
Knowing President Tandi's decision is final, her Congress Members don't push the issue, but tell the Ambassador that if anything happens, he would be held responsible. The Ambassador agrees and reassures everyone that these Deathclaws are intelligent and peaceful. He contacts Gruthar and informs him the NCR President is willing to come to Vault 13 to meet with him personally. This is a big risk for the Intelligent Deathclaws, but the reward is also big for Gruthar and his pack of Deathclaws. He sends the coordinates.
President Tandi and her team of NCR Secret Service board a recently captured Enclave Vertibird and fly to the coordinates. They land and exit the Vertibird outside an otherwise unassuming cave. Gruthar is already waiting for them and politely welcomes President Tandi and her guards. They follow him inside and are stunned that this is the fabled Vault 13 their hero, the Vault Dweller grew up in. During the tour, Tandi is impressed that Humans and Deathclaws can coexist together. Gruthar gives a brief summary of their history, from being created by the Enclave to being left here and continuing to thrive.
Gruthar adds that his pack cannot stay cramped in the Vault forever and the NCR would find them soon anyway. He wants to be in the NCR's good graces rather than their enemy. Gruthar casually mentions that his son, Goris had helped fight the Enclave when the Oil Rig was destroyed. This was more than enough to convince President Tandi to consider Gruthar's offer to join NCR. She tells Gruthar that she'll have her congress write up a treaty for the two of them and she'll have her Secret Service protect Gruthar as he makes his way to the NCR Hall of Congress.
A week later, Citizens living in NCR would walk outside to a surprising sight, a Deathclaw walking down the street guarded by several NCR Secret Service. Gruthar, protected by the NCR Secret Service, makes his way to the Hall of Congress to meet with NCR Leaders and sign the soon-to-be historic NCR-Deathclaw Treaty. Gurthar makes his way inside and takes his place next to Tandi. The Treaty is then produced.
Gruthar and his pack will be recognized as NCR Citizens and any hostility between the two would end. The Deathclaws would have to leave Vault 13, but the NCR would assist in building a new Town for them and help carry out any Deathclaw Eggs within the Vault. Tandi uses a pen to sign her part and Gruthar creatively uses one of his sharp nails he dipped in an Inkwell and uses it to sign his part. With that, the Intelligent Deathclaws are officially NCR Citizens. News of this historic moment is spread like wildfire.
Gruthar's Deathclaw Pack are happy to finally be able to leave Vault 13 and some NCR Troops help with handling their Eggs. A new Settlement is constructed for the Deathclaws and is named "Clawtown", the very first Deathclaw Settlement and Gruthar becomes Mayor of Clawtown. It features several homes for the Deathclaws and includes a School built by the Followers of the Apocalypse. Goris is honored with a Golden Broach, the highest Award a NCR Civilian can receive, for his help in defeating The Enclave. Goris goes on to be a revered, yet intimidating scholar in a Followers University. Over time, the Intelligent Deathclaws improve their vocabulary thanks to the School built by the Followers.
The Intelligent Deathclaws soon adopt more human-like behaviors, such as the other males being in relationships with the other females in the Pack as opposed to the Alpha Male having a harem of all females in the pack and socializing with one another. The Deathcalws become preferred hires for Guards, Soldier and Explorers and the NCR knows this well.
The Deathcalw's brutality and efficiency is really put to the test during the sacking of Navarro. Fueled by their hate for their creators, the Deathclaws ambush the base in the middle of the night and they make short work of any Enclave Remnants there. Their excellent low light vision and large nails make then excellent at stealth combat. Before sunrise, Navarro has fallen and now under NCR control.
With the Deathcalws on their side, NCR expansion into the surrounding areas, including the Mojave is done much simpler. Whenever a new pack of Deathclaws shows up, an Intelligent Male Deathclaw usually challenges and defeats their Alpha Male and pacifies them. Several more Deathclaw Settlements show up and before long, Intelligent Deathclaw populations dwarfs the wild Deathclaw population. Some Deathclaws even join NCR Military and make effective soldiers.
Fast forward to 2277 and the Mojave Campaign has proved to be a vast success thanks to the assistance of Deathclaws in the NCR Military. While securing Hoover Dam, an unexpected enemy attacks. The NCR holds them off for long, but eventually retreat into Boulder City with Caesar's Legion hot on their trail. However, this was a ruse and when the signal was given, several NCR Deathclaws come out of the alleyways and using their powerful claws, make short work of the Legion. Boulder City turns red and it's not just from Legion Uniforms. Hoover Dam and Boulder City is saved from the Legion... for now.
The NCR-Intelligent Deathclaw relationship proves to have been very beneficial to both parties. Caravan Routes and roads have been much safer with at least one Deathclaw guarding it and no Raider is insane or stupid enough to attack a Caravan guarded by a couple of Deathclaws. NCR Deathcalw Veterans become the stuff of nightmares to any enemy of the NCR. If you thought a NCR Ranger Veteran was terrifying, just wait until you see a Deathclaw in a custom version of the iconic uniform. Raider Gangs don't even have time to scream before they're cut down. By 2281, The Mojave becomes the 6th State of the NCR and it's not long before they expand into Arizona, Utah and Idaho, with the Intelligent Deathclaws lending a helping claw.

Heads up! This story is both unpolished and unfinished, and posted here only for the sake of not letting my work go entirely to waste. If you want to continue the story yourself, feel free to do so.
Credit for The Nature of Predators goes to u/spacepaladin15.
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Memory Transcription Subject: Rania, Gojid Civilian
Date [Standardized Human Time]: Error 560 (estimated date: September, 2136)
At first, we assumed it to be an Arxur weapon, but we had plenty of time to get a more detailed look at the object intersecting our FTL trajectory. A mass of energy, far more than a star could emit, yet giving off no light. Gravitational pull was intense, but completely wrong for a black hole. Maybe the remains of a massive warp core accident? Whatever it was, it was directly in our path.
We had ample time before our collision, and nothing we could do. Our course was set, and escape vessels couldn’t be launched during an FTL jump. All that was left was to wait, and pray for a mercifully quick death that we all knew was unlikely. We built our starships to withstand direct assault from Arxur warships. Our deaths would be both inevitable and slow.
I was away from the refugee’s quarters, on the bridge. I couldn’t bear to watch pups cry in terror, as their parents tried hopelessly to ease their fear. The bridge was only marginally better. Some of the crew were facing their imminent death with stoicism. Many were praying. Many were crying. I don’t remember what I was doing when it hit, but I was probably crying too.
Then… then…
Pain, agonizing and blinding pain. No screaming. No noise at all. Silence, darkness, death.
Movement. But I couldn’t possibly move myself. Was I carried?
​
My first coherent memories started taking shape next to a fire. I couldn’t see, but the warmth and crackling were unmistakable. I tried to move, only to find myself unmoving. Was I in the wreckage of the ship? I felt no pain. Was I already dead?
“Hey, look who’s finally back in the land of the living. Can you hear me?”
A human. The species that started this whole mess. That attacked our cradle, let the Arxur find an easy target. That taunted us with their “Evacuation” cattle roundups. The disgusting mockery of a voice washed over me, tainting my very soul.
That fire must be to roast my flesh. Does it want my fear, before it kills me? It won’t get a single goddamn word, not so much as a noise.
“You… damn, he must still be out of it. Maybe another stimpak..?”
Cli-hsssss. A stabbing pain in my arm, followed by… relief? My arm twitched slightly, but I couldn’t manage anything more. A rushing sound filled my ears, overpowering the growl on my left until it bore me away to unconsciousness.
—
I woke up on a bed, staring at what must’ve been the ceiling, though all I could see was vague rust-brown shapes in the distance. My body still refused to move. And yet still, somehow, so little pain. Was my nervous system destroyed?
No. Hunger. Brutal, snarling hunger stabbed through my stomach like a dagger. I made a weak noise, remembered where I was, and rapidly forced silence. If it knows I’m awake, it’ll torture me until it lets me die…
“Oh! You— you’re awake again! Can you hear me?”
Don’t make a noise. It might lose interest.
“...No. Dammit. It’s going to starve if it doesn’t fully wake up soon… I can’t afford all these meds for much longer anyway. I’ll just have to… leave this here for it. Maybe it’ll wake again while I’m out.”
And just like that, a rush of movement and it was gone. It worked! I lived… I lived, just so I could starve…
​
By the graces of the protector. Food. I could smell food, just inches to my right. Can I move to pick it up? Can I move my jaw to eat?
Is it a trap? The human must be trying to fatten me up. Or maybe it didn’t leave at all, and is just waiting in the shadows to see if I take the bait. Or… maybe…
Fuck it. I was already good as dead, I could at least die full. I tried moving my arm, but to no avail. My other arm was no better. Maybe I could move my head?
The world shifted around me, a nauseating whirl of muted colors. But that meant my head could move. I could move… the food was still just barely out of reach. I can almost taste it… it’s so close to my nose…
I let out a weak cry of frustration. I couldn’t help myself. Did the human intend for this torture? The frustration became rage, filling my body like a white-hot star until I—
Trembling, my claw grasped the food. Rage and hunger animated my arm, pushing it forward. Whatever this was, it was soft. It smelled heavenly. I brought it up to my face. My vision was just recovered enough to make out its form; a strayu-like pillow drizzled with a sweet glaze. I tore into it like an animal, barely even tasting. I must not have eaten in days.
Gone in seconds, and the hunger was barely sated. But it was enough energy to force movement with. Slowly, unsteadily, I rose to a sitting position. The world threatened to shift away from under me, but I held, trying to get my bearings.
I’m in… some sort of shack. Bare, rusted sheet metal on the walls; clearly an improvised structure. Other than that oddity, the room was surprisingly normal. No blood dripping from cages, no hunting trophies on the walls. A torn up carpet, a beaten-up table and chair, some cabinets, all illuminated by soft rays of light pouring in from a window over the table. And right next to my little mattress… is that more food? Some sort of orange vegetable. Like the sweet strayu, I ate without even tasting.
Much better. I was still starving, but only metaphorically. I could even move my other arm, though my legs were entirely numb and refused to cooperate no matter how much I pushed them. Could I escape by dragging my body with my arms?
No. I was still too weak. I had to count on the human fattening me up a bit more before I could make a break for it.
​
​
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Memory Recovery Subject: Nathan Dunne, sole survivor of Vault 111
Date: December 13th, 2287
Just a hair to the right… and… Now. The interloper, a feral dog that had wandered onto the property, dropped without a sound.
I couldn’t afford to attract any attention, so I’d hastily slapped together a silencer for my pipe revolver. An old oil filter, just small enough to not obstruct the scope I’d hastily tied to the top. The gun looked ridiculous, but it got the job done silently. If I attracted any visitors, my alien guest was as good as dead. Nearly a week after finding it, and it still wasn’t waking up consistently.
Now’s not the time for thought. Focus. Now.
The second dog also dropped. The alpha of the pack still hadn’t noticed anything, a miracle. I lined up one last shot… pulled the trigger, and finally let myself breath. That was way too close. Every day without the fence finished was another day of silent stress.
Putting up a fence was easy enough, but putting up a fence QUIETLY was nightmarishly slow work, constantly punctuated by hiding from any would-be visitors. But these dogs had wandered onto the property without even seeing me. Could they smell the alien? I knew Dogmeat could track injuries from a far greater distance…
Fence should've been up yesterday. Back to work.
I’m running out of barbed wire. And screws. And boards. Can I afford another expedition? What if Dogmeat can’t defend him? Not a chance in hell I’m risking any other group learning about this… although Mama Murphy probably knows anyway, doesn’t she. Maybe the Minutemen can—
No. I can’t risk it. I’ll have to improvise. Maybe I can set up a Tesla arc as defense and leave to raid Sunshine Tidings. Rusted metal sheets don’t make for the best walls, but better than nothing.
The sun was still high, so I had some time if I hurried. As I began gathering supplies, a thought crossed my mind. A Tesla arc was better than nothing, and Dogmeat was formidable enough, but… surely if the alien was in serious danger, it could use some self defense. Those spikes weren’t gonna cut it. Maybe that bastard Kellogg’s old .44 would finally get some use?
I grabbed the .44 revolver, a spare arc trap I’d salvaged from Fort Hagan, and some tools. It would have to do. There was already power hooked up to the shack for heating, so wiring the—
The food’s gone.
Dogmeat didn’t eat carrots, so I knew there was only one culprit. The alien must’ve woken up while I was working. It was back asleep now, but at least it got something down. It wouldn’t starve. Thank god.
…right. If it can wake up, this trap is probably more dangerous to it than any invader. I walked back over to the shed, stowed the Tesla arc and tools, and grabbed a handful of vegetables and a water canteen. If it could stomach food, it needed to start putting on weight now to make up for lost time. This would be a start, at least.
I set the food and water on the table (taking care not to break the digital chimera I’d already laid there), and the gun beside the bed. I knew it could reach to there, without a doubt. Maybe toss in a handful more bullets, too; it’s not like I’d ever be able to make myself use the damn thing. I gave one last glance at the alien curled up on a bare mattress before closing the door and setting out.
—
Memory Transcription Subject: Rania, Gojid Civilian
Date [Standardized Human Time]: Error 560 (estimated date: Unknown)
Help me. Kay-ut. Ki-ra. Protector. Anyone. It’s right there.
When I heard the human coming, I faked sleep hoping it wouldn’t check. As seconds passed, that hope grew thinner and thinner. Clearly, it could see the food was gone. Not that it needed to figure anything out; it could probably see through my deception just looking at me. Ki-yu, trickster; please, let this work. Let me live a moment longer. Noises all around me. Was it laying out torturous weaponry? Was it getting ready to gut me?
Protector. Please. I don’t want to die.
The noise around me stopped. Had the gods heard my prayers? I dared not check; if the human was still there, and I so much as opened an eye, I was dead. But death failed to claim me, and more noises failed to appear, until I finally worked up the courage to take advantage of my blessing and open my eyes.
The human was gone. I was alive. One more look around the room, to make sure it hadn’t—
A gun. A human weapon, close enough to grab. And ammo…
I knew humans were masters at trapping, at deceiving; such was their nature. I stared at the gun, trying to figure out what the trap was.
But I was tired, and hungry, and every sense told me that this wasn’t a trap, but a loaded gun. An answer to my prayers for safety. I couldn’t hold myself back anymore. I picked it up. It felt solid and weighty in my hands, lending some sense of security to the otherwise hopeless situation. Emboldened, I tried to rise to my feet again.
If I grabbed some of the furniture and stood on my good leg, I could just about stay upright without pain. That would have to do for now. Maybe I could use something in this room as a crutch. A leg of the table might do nicely, if I could—
Food. More food, all over the table. A sprawl of alien vegetables, including that orange one I had earlier. A metal jug, probably filled with water. And… is that a translator?
Curiosity overpowered both my hunger and my fear. On closer inspection, it was indeed a translator, one of the older dedicated units. Wired into… some sort of metal armband with a green flickering screen. The craftsmanship was shoddy; some parts were literally held together with insulated tape. Still, it appeared to be powered on and functional.
If I wasn’t in so much danger… I’d love to get a better look at what the human did with this thing. To wire Federation tech directly into one of their devices, and make it work…
My attention drifted back to the bounty laid out on the table before me. It could all be poisoned, but I’d already eaten the human’s food; what harm could it do to be full?
—
Sweeter than the orange one, but not as filling. Kind of mushy. Now no longer starving, I began to savor my meal slightly more. The green fruit was next, the one nearly the size of my skull. Upon breaking open the shell, it turned out to be pinkish red inside, and so juicy that I didn’t even need the water in the jug.
Bitter, but strangely satisfying. Next was a massive purple flower, which I could only guess was supposed to be food as well. The taste was unpleasant, but it felt bizarrely good to eat. Maybe a medicinal herb?
Why would the human give me a medicinal herb?
I’d been circling around the question for some time now. Why the food? Why the gun? Why the lack of gutting? Even if those supposed “empathy tests” weren’t faked, our species were at war! Did it not know?
Well-fed prey made for better-tasting prey, but a gun did not feed. A translator did not feed. Did it really want to talk to me? I weighed my options.
Option 1: Run. Impossible to do in my current state. Even with a large head start, even with uninjured legs, humans were nothing if not persistent; my odds were not all too favorable. And where would I go, anyway?
Option 2: Hide. Impossible to do in any state. Humans were perceptive and cunning. Nothing short of divine protection would hide me. And again, where would I go afterwards?
Option 3: Fight. I had a loaded gun, but for all I knew it was only there to lure me into a false sense of security. And besides, did I really expect to outfight a predator?
Option 4: Talk. It wasn’t likely, but maybe the human would have some sympathy (or at least fake some sympathy to keep up appearances). I was already injured, and it hadn’t torn me apart already; it clearly had something else in mind. Maybe the translator was involved in its “Something else”?
I didn’t… like that last option, but it seemed a hair better than shooting on sight when the human came back. Maybe I was forsaking the protection of the gods, forsaking my fellow Gojid. But none of the options were without risk, and I had to try something bold if I wanted to survive.
A noise from outside roused me from my thoughts. It’s coming. Time to make your choice.
​
​
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Memory Recovery Subject: Nathan Dunne, sole survivor of Vault 111
Date: December 13th, 2287
Halfway through the outbound trip, I realized I’d forgotten my pip-boy at camp. I’d taken both off, while working on wiring in that translator to the spare one from Vault 81. Having no way of assessing potential injuries simply would not do.
Halfway through the return trip, I realized I’d brought Dogmeat with me instead of leaving him to guard. I managed to make myself move a little faster. That .44 was no guarantee of safety, not if the alien simply couldn’t get up.
Once back, I could at least be sure that nothing happened. No blue blood seeping through the shack’s foundation. I grabbed the pip-boy, ordered Dogmeat to patrol, and prepared to leave before the daylight faded.
That’s a bit cold, isn’t it? Leaving without even checking on your guest?
I was leaving so I could build a fence for its protection, but… a quick check couldn’t hurt. Just to make sure nothing happened, right? Yeah. Sure. I had the time. Though maybe barging straight in wasn’t the brightest idea, not when I had just given it a revolver.
I knocked twice, and tried to lower my voice to a more soothing register. I had no idea if my hacked-together translator abomination would work, so tone was key. Before I could even speak, I heard a wild scrambling from the inside.
“Don’t— please don’t k-kill me, human, I’ll… I’ll do anything.”
…I guess I should be glad the translator worked? What the hell was that?
“I’m not gonna hurt you. I promise. Is it OK with you if I come inside?”
“I… Y-Yes.”
I gave Dogmeat a strong look to stay back, and cracked open the door. The terrified sniveling over the translator couldn’t have prepared me for what met my gaze.
A few weeks ago, I’d heard a heart-wrenching noise while poking around the edge of the glowing sea; a lone radstag doe, torn literally in half by a deathclaw. The beast was scared off by an approaching Vertibird, leaving the doe to wail helplessly until I put it out of its misery.
I had nothing else I could compare the alien to. It was shaking like an aspen leaf, eyes screwed shut and body curled up against the wall. The gun was still technically in its hand (claw?), but pointed at nothing. Just looking at the thing made me feel helpless.
But I brought it back from the brink of death. Soothing terror would surely be easier than saving its life.
—
Memory Transcription Subject: Rania, Gojid Civilian
Date [Standardized Human Time]: Error 560 (estimated date: Unknown)
Protector. Please, give me strength. It’s… It’s going to…
No. It just wants to talk. Rania, get a hold of yourself.
I cracked open an eye. Tears largely blinded me from the horrifying details of the predator, but the human still towered over me, casting an engulfing shadow over my weakened form. It was all I could do to not further embarrass myself with incoherent pleading.
It seemed to take notice of my fear, crouching down to roughly eye level.
“You’re OK. I’m not going to hurt you, no matter what. What’s your name?”
“R-Rania.” I forced another eye open. The human had moved itself to a chair. Soft daylight illuminated a pair of forward-facing eyes, but no predatory scowl. It had an expression which could be mistaken for solemn sympathy on another species. But it had no reason not to be sincere. There was no other audience, nor anything I could do to escape. Could it really be concerned?
“Rania. My name is Nate. Can you tell me… what you are?”
“Just Nate? I— I thought humans had two names.”
“Oh, uhh… Nathan Dunne. I just go by Nate.”
I noticed a distinct look of confusion engulf the human’s face. Actually, I started to notice a lot of things. It wasn’t just the building and translator that were so clearly improvised. It— Nate’s armor was clearly not standard-issue anything. Nor the weapon on his side, some sort of pistol made seemingly from scrap.
He didn’t look like a UN soldier, nor a civilian of any type. And… just now… did he ask what I was? How could he not know?
“I’m a… I’m a G—Gojid. Does that mean anything to you?”
He shook his head, which even I knew was a human gesture for no. “Not as such. I might need to work out some issues with the translator, though, so don't count on it meaning—”
“The Federation? The cradle? Venlil? Arxur? UN?”
A bizarre shudder passed through Nate. “I know about the UN, though I can’t imagine how they’re relevant now… and no to the rest.”
“I can’t imagine how they’re relevant”!? What the hell could that mean?
“What— what does the UN mean to you?”
Again, that shudder, like a shadow cast over his soul. “They were a global group, trying to keep international peace. When the first Resource wars sparked… they collapsed like a house of cards. 2052. I was 12. After that, it…” he trailed off, before forcing himself to speak. “It all went to hell. As you can see.”
I couldn’t speak for shock. Predators were deceitful by their nature, yet I knew in my heart his words were sincere. It was plain as day, etched across his face. And if so… What the hell? What the hell!? What was any of that?
“As you can see? What do you mean?”
“Can you walk?”
Should I reveal my weakness? I don’t see any way he couldn’t notice my condition by now, so maybe I can get some sympathy for it?
“I… no, I don’t think so…”
“Then I can carry you outside. If you want, I mean. You’ll see what I meant by ‘went to hell’ real quickly.”
He’d have to… oh Protector, if he chose to carry me to slaughter, there’d be nothing I could do. But by this point, my fear was starting to wear thin from weariness. Curiosity was slowly taking the upper hand.
“S-show me.”
And just like that, the world moved out from under me. Instinctively, I grasped the human’s artificial pelt like a pup clinging to its mother. Light flooded my still tearstained eyes. I blinked them clear, and looked out on the world.
​
​
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Memory Transcription Subject: Rania, Gojid Civilian
Date [Standardized Human Time]: Error 560 (estimated date: Unknown)
Was this Earth? This couldn’t be Earth. Earth was green, wasn’t it?
Yellow foliage, grey trees. A soft blue sky, intermittently broken up by concrete highways that towered towards the clouds. And on the horizon, the mammoth corpse of a city, a metal carcass that dominated the skyline.
No green. No life. Not even wind. The whole scene was eerily still, seemingly frozen in time.
Unable to make sense of the wider world, my attention drifted closer. A ring of ramshackle fencing, a larger building that I might mistake for a house. An ancient hand-worked water pump. A plot of vegetables. A beast with glistening fangs, bounding towards—
“Dogmeat, no. Stay.”
Somehow, impossibly, the beast heeded the command, slowing down enough for me to get a better look at my imminent demise. Long brown fur with black markings, a swishing tail, a red fabric tied around its neck. Forward-facing eyes gleaming with hideous intelligence. It sat down, tilting its head and letting out a shrill whine.
“You still haven’t met Dogmeat yet, have you— Rania? Rania!”
I couldn’t breathe. It was looking straight at me. I thought the human was terrifying, but this thing made it look harmless. Did Nate not realize the danger he was in?
“N— No! Please… don’t let it…”
“It’s not going to hurt you either. You’re OK. Breathe.” Nate turned slightly, shielding the beast from view. “Here. We can go back inside if he scares you too much.” I managed to choke out an affirmation, and felt darkness overtake me as we rushed back into the relative safety of the shack. The door clicked shut, sealing the beast outside.
“Rania, talk to me. Can you breathe?”
“Please… please don’t feed me to it…”
Nate’s eyes went wide, and his hand rose to cover his mouth. I didn’t know much human body language (aside from the vicious snarl they called a smile), but shock was a constant across almost every species. His eyes cast around the room wildly, his breathing becoming erratic before he managed to regain control.
“Rania, I— I’m not going to feed you to him. You— listen, I won’t even let him in. It’s safe here.” He clearly had something else to say, and silently struggled with the words for a moment before finding his phrasing. “Can you tell me why you’re so scared? What happened before I found you?”
The words took several moments to consciously register, but their effect was immediate. If Nate was trying to startle me out of my fear, he couldn’t have done a better job. When I spoke, it was with startling clarity as fear was replaced by near-indignant confusion.
“How could I not be scared? You’re predators. Even if… even if you really don’t want to kill me, seeing injured prey must be a powerful temptation to your instincts, no? Not to mention the invasion of the cradle; even if you do have empathy, why try to save an enemy species?”
A few moments of stillness, and then I mimicked his previous motion of shock as I realized what I’d done. If he somehow didn’t know the situation with the Gojid before, he did now. Even prey empathy didn’t extend to their sworn enemies. My stupid thoughtless rambling meant I was good as dead.
“Rania.” Nate’s words were slow, soft, and measured. “I don’t know where you come from or what the situation is out… up there. But I can promise you this.” He tapped my shoulder, snapping me out of my terrified reverie and forcing me to pay full attention. “I’m never going to hurt you. I’ll keep it safe here, as long as it takes for you to heal. You can hold me to that.”
“Safe… even safe from that monster..?”
Nate looked deeply hurt, but quickly covered it up with his previous expression of concern. “Yes. I wish I could prove to you that my dog is friendly, but… if he scares you that much, I’ll find somewhere else for him.”
He stole a glance out the window, before turning back to me. “Listen. I need to get some supplies for the fence while there’s still light. I’ll take Dogmeat with me. Do you know how to use this?” He gestured towards the gun, still sitting where I’d carelessly let it slip from my claws minutes earlier.
“Y-yes.”
Apparently seeing straight through my lie, he bent down to show me. “Here, you just need to pull back the hammer. Finger over the trigger, and line up these sights on your target. Only pull the trigger when you know you have your shot.”
Nate stood up, putting one hand on the door before remembering something. “If you start hurting, you can use this.” He set a syringe down on the table. “Just stab wherever it hurts. The pack’ll do the rest for you. I’ll be back at sundown.”
And just like that, he was gone.
​
​
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Memory Transcription Subject: Rania, Gojid Civilian
Date [Standardized Human Time]: Error 560 (estimated date: Unknown)
For a while, I just sat there, gun in hand and mind slowly dissolving from all the new information weighing it down. But boredom is a powerful thing, and even injured as I was, restlessness started to take hold.
With the beast gone, and gun in hand, I started convincing myself that it might be a good idea to get another look at the land. I needed to know what I had to work with in case… something happened. And I swore I saw a vegetable garden earlier. Curiosity was getting the better of me.
I tested my legs again. One was sore, but shockingly capable. The other was still burning when I applied pressure, and swaddled in bandages. I didn’t particularly feel like knowing what was under there. One leg would have to do. I didn’t need my legs to shoot, after all.
Cautiously, without making a sound, I cracked the door open. Nobody was out there. I took one shaky step. Then another. Inch by silent sore inch, I made my way over to the “house”.
Like everything out here, it was a rough-hewn heap of rusted metal and thick planks of wood. On closer inspection, however, some care had clearly been put into making it insulated. The windows even had glass (albeit covered in dust), rather than the screen mesh in my shack. This must be where the human lives.
What could Nate be hiding from me?
My curiosity burned brighter than the pain in my leg as I ambled towards the door. Unlocked. I peeked inside.
Thick layers of carpet. A fireplace on the wall, a couple paintings. A mattress much better-maintained than mine, pushed up under one of the windows.
No blood dripping from cages. No hunting trophies on the walls. No indication that this was the lair of a predator. If not for the construction materials, it could be mistaken for a house back on the cradle. It even has refrigeration and lights, without a functional power grid. I guess that predatory cunning comes in handy.
I already knew what the fridge must be filled with. I made the decision not to look. It’d be better if Nate didn’t know I was here, and that’d be pretty hard to hide with vomit all over his carpet. I couldn’t stop myself from looking in one of the cabinets, though. The thing was stuffed with cans of food, nearly full to bursting. Some were clearly homemade, some looked like they’d been excavated from the dirt. Maybe they had been.
My good leg was starting to ache, cutting my exploration short. With no small hesitation, I forced myself back outside, back to the shack where I could rest up a bit.
—
I was only steps away from the door when a horrifying sight stopped me in my tracks. Dead animals, three of them. Sickly looking things, but recognizably the same species as that ‘Dogmeat’. I couldn’t look away. Was Nate hunting before I woke up? I stepped closer, morbid curiosity dowsing my pain. I don’t see any bite marks. And… predators don’t eat other predators.
​
Did he kill them to protect me?
Humans were apex predators on their planet. It couldn’t have been self-defense. Nor could it have been hunger, if he’d just left them to rot. So… what other reasons would he have to fight?
I looked closer, my eyes meeting a series of glassy stares. Two of them looked literally skin and bones, but the third looked a lot like Dogmeat. Mouth closed, eyes staring up at the sky unseeing. I almost felt bad for it.
“I wish I could prove to you that my dog is friendly, but… if he scares you that much, I’ll find somewhere else for him.”
Did Nate feel any conflict, having to shoot them on my behalf? Was he going to shoot Dogmeat too, just to ease my fears? He clearly cared about the beast, but if he thought “keeping me safe” meant…
​
No. I wouldn’t let it come to that. I had to overcome my fear. If I wanted to survive, I needed to be stronger.
Reaching out to the body, arm trembling, I ran a claw down its side. It was soft… still warm, too. The thought that this predator had been alive so recently, only to be put down for my safety, managed to elicit a twinge of sorrow. That feeling, hold on to that. Force it through your fear.
My movements got bolder, even exploring the rows of sharp teeth hidden by a clenched jaw. And the soft fur on its underbelly… its long tail, which sat limp and unmoving on the dust. I could feel my fear begin to fade more and more with every second I sat next to the body of this predator.
Eventually, I forced myself to rise. As I walked back to my bed, I stole one last glance backwards. Instead of horrifying predators, all I saw was a family of three. That they had to die so I could live… the thought filled me with a strange sense of shame.
I couldn’t stand there forever. My poor legs wouldn’t allow it. Back to the bed, step by shaky step.
​
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Memory Recovery Subject: Nathan Dunne, sole survivor of Vault 111
Date: December 13th, 2287
Hauling sheet metal was no easy task, even with the help of a dog. It was dark by the time I got home; I’d missed my appointment with the sunset by nearly half an hour.
Supplies stowed away, armor shed, weapons holstered. I rummaged around the fridge for a radstag fry I’d prepared a couple days ago. I didn’t have the energy to cook, and I still needed to check in with Rania. Dogmeat hovered around my ankles, performing his best puppy impression.
These might be the last meals you get to eat with him. I gave a few scraps for his unconvincing performance.
I knew the minutemen would take good care of him, and Valentine could make good use of his nose. But saying goodbye would be a challenge. He’d had my back practically since I escaped Vault 111, and casting him aside felt like nothing short of a betrayal.
The radstag felt like sawdust in my mouth. I tossed the rest of it to Dogmeat, who looked up quizzically rather than digging in. I knew he was wondering why I was being so generous all of a sudden, but I wasn’t ready to break the news to him yet.
—
“Is it OK with you if I come in?”
The voice responding sounded completely different. Still recognizably Rania, but without the terrified quivering I’d expected. “Yes. We need to talk.”
I slipped inside, taking care not to let out too much heat. The figure facing me, while again still undoubtedly Rania, was otherwise unrecognizable. Sitting up straight, unshaking, looking directly at me. A far cry from the poor creature I’d talked to when I left. He (he? I decided to assume it was male, given the voice from the translator) turned his head slightly to the side, leaving one eye to meet both of mine in what I assumed was an intense stare for a person with side-facing eyes.
“Nate.” Rania’s voice was thick with determination. “I’ve decided… I want to get used to Dogmeat. If he’s really as friendly as you say, you shouldn’t have to get rid of him just because of my fear.”
It was all I could do to suppress a full-bodied sigh of relief. If he’s on the fence on this decision, showing my joy would force his hand. I have to stay calm. “Can I ask why?”
“I, uh… I found the other predators. The feral ones. The ones you shot.”
Oh.
“And I… I don’t want you to have to do the same for him. It doesn’t…” The quivering returned in shades, but he continued. “Even if you meant ‘find somewhere else for him’ literally, you shouldn’t have to do that for my sake.”
“I…” I buried my face in my hands, trying to beat back tears. “Thank you. I couldn’t imagine having to… thank you. I can still keep him away from you if you’re scared. You shouldn’t have to live in fear.”
Rania shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Actually, I was thinking I should… you know, get used to him, not just tolerate him from a distance. Face my fear head-on. Just… not tonight, OK?”
For all that quivering, he’s a lot braver than I thought he’d be.
“Yeah. We can get something worked out later. Right now, you need to rest. I’m not just talking about tonight; you’re still injured. Best you can do right now is rest and eat. Which reminds me… The vegetables I brought you earlier. How were they? Any you really liked?”
“Oh, uhhh… yeah, the orange one was really nice. And that red mushy one wasn’t so pleasant; I could eat it anyway to get full, but I’d rather not. Why do you have so many vegetables, anyway?”
Why wouldn’t I? “What do you mean?”
“Well, I thought… predators eat flesh, right? Were you growing them for decoration? I mean… it was nice to see something green and growing out here, but that seems like a lot of effort!”
I couldn’t manage a verbal response to this. All I could give was a baffled stare, which Rania seemed to interpret as a threat.
“I— I didn’t mean to insult you—”
“No, no, it’s just…” I rubbed my eyes. Hauling sheet metal had sapped all my energy, but I couldn’t just let this slide. “I mean… humans aren’t obligate carnivores. Most predators aren’t; even deathclaws forage for mutfruit when they can. Or does the word ‘predator’ mean something else to you?”
It was Rania’s turn for a blank stare, and I began to wonder if I’d just said something insulting. He looked down, mumbling something the translator couldn’t catch, then turned his attention back. “I think we should talk about this later. I need to rest.”
I knew it was a flimsy excuse (I could practically see his mind overheating as he stared back into the ground), but he wasn’t exactly wrong. I bid my farewell with a solemn nod.
—
The moon cast a picturesque blue light through the windows, giving just enough illumination to fend off sleep. On its own, the meager light couldn’t fight off the exhaustion radiating through my muscles, but Rania’s bizarre outburst was also keeping me up.
Not knowing about the history of our planet was perfectly reasonable, given his alien identity. Being so scared of humans despite apparently knowing about them was strange, but nothing a bit of trauma couldn’t induce. But even schoolchildren knew the basics of the food chain, and I found it hard to believe that a space-faring alien race would be less knowledgeable about ecology than the local population of raiders. Even with no education at all, certain things were obvious by observation.
If nothing else, Rania was right about one thing. We will need to talk about this later.
​
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[Continued in comments]

Read Chapter 29 Here: https://www.reddit.com/saw/comments/1417n7j/legacy_from_the_book_of_saw_chapter_29_wristdeep/
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*** CHAPTER 30 **\*
As Daniel is brought into the control room, his eyes widen at the sight of the bustling tech team huddled around a computer terminal, engrossed in their work. The ethereal glow of multiple screens illuminates their focused faces, while a tangled web of cables drape across the tabletop.
But what truly captured Daniel's attention was the meticulously detailed layout of the museum displayed before the team. The blueprint, marked with distinct security zones and strategic points, sprawled across the surface. Each section was carefully annotated, indicating cameras, alarm systems, trap locations, and other crucial information.
Time passes sluggishly, with tension hanging in the air for what feels like an eternity. The tech team painstakingly maneuvers through digital obstacles, their nimble fingers dancing across the keyboard, determined to breach the formidable firewall guarding the museum's security feed. Finally, success flashes across their faces as they gain access to the coveted treasure trove of footage.
The computer springs to life, displaying a mosaic of individual camera feeds. Daniel’s gaze darts across the screen, observing the technician skillfully navigating through the labyrinth of lenses. Each camera reveals different corners of the museum. His heart races as he witnesses the victims, trapped and vulnerable, captured by the unblinking eyes of the cameras.
Just as the tension reaches its zenith, the door swings open and Lincoln strides into the room.
Aware of the team’s crucial task, Lincoln breaks the silence, “Any progress?” he queries.
A spark of adrenaline ignites in Marlow’s eyes, “We just got it,” he exclaims, unable to contain his elation.
Lincoln’s footsteps echo softly as he circles the table, his eyes fixated on the monitor, and together they notice Gavin sitting on the cold floor, his posture guarded, clutching the box tightly against his side.
Marlow, furrowing his brow, spoke with concern, “That’s strange,” he murmurs.
Curiosity piqued, Lincoln redirects his attention towards Marlow, eager to uncover the cause of his colleague’s unease, “What is it?”
Marlow, delving into the depths of the internal code, sifts through the virtual layers with a sense of urgency. A realization dawns upon him as he unearths an unexpected anomaly. “This shouldn’t be here,” he stated.
Puzzled, Lincoln seeks clarification, “What’s the problem?”
With his eyes fixated on the screen, Marlow reveals the unsettling discovery, “There’s a duel broadcast,” he discloses.
As the significance of Marlow’s revelation sinks in, Lincoln’s gaze narrows, honing in on the critical detail before him. The digital feed displays a timer, ominously counting down from a daunting forty minutes. A sense of urgency permeates his words, “Is it live?”
Marlow focuses on Lincoln, “Yes, but, I need to establish a barrier to block Hoffman out and prevent him from regaining control.”
"Good. Do it. Let me know when it's done." Lincoln said.
Leaving the room behind, Lincoln stepped outside and spotted Agent Kullen with a squad member. Several entrances had been cleared of traps, and the dismantled weapons and explosives were being carefully transported to the rear of a SWAT van.
“We’ve got access to the security feed," Lincoln said, "The survivors are still alive.”
A sense of relief filled Kullen’s words, “Where are they being held?”
“You were right, new construction.” Lincoln confirmed.
Kullen looks over his shoulder towards the expansion area, "We’re still disabling those traps."
"One more thing," Lincoln said, "I didn’t see Logan and Elanor, but Gavin Beck is inside, and he's injured. Can't tell how bad…."
Swiftly responding to the update, Kullen activated his radio and relayed the crucial information, his voice urgent, “Attention, we’ve located three victims. One of them is injured. Requesting ambulances to move to the front immediately and prepare for emergency evacuation.”
Attempting to maintain composure amidst the escalating situation, Kullen addressed Lincoln, “Stay positive, Detective,” he said, his hand trembling, “I just got off the phone with Zeke Banks. He’s on his way. What about Hoffman and Schenk?”
Surprised by the mention of Zeke’s impending arrival, Lincoln inquired, "Zeke is coming here?"
Before Kullen could respond, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of movement. Across the caution tape, news reporters scurried about, positioning themselves in front of their cameras, a sense of urgency driving their actions.
“What’s going on?” Kullen muttered to himself.
Together, Lincoln and Kullen maneuvered their way toward the journalist, their curiosity triggered by the unfolding scene.
“We’re outside of the National History Museum, where we can now confirm the presence of three survivors trapped within,” the reporters voice resonated through the airwaves, “Gavin Beck, Sarah Harper, and Renee Walsh have become the latest victims in the harrowing saga of the Jigsaw Killer, whose reign of terror has plagued our city for over a decade.”
A sharp pang of shame pierced Lincoln’s core upon hearing the reporter's words, the weight of responsibility pressing heavily upon him.
“But now, for the very first time, we possess live footage capturing the game as it unfolds,” the reporter continued, a hint of excitement in their tone. “The following footage has been extracted from the security cameras situated within the building behind me.”
Stunned by the unfolding revelation, Agent Kullen broke through the caution tape and stepped purposefully in front of the camera, his intention clear - to put an end to the broadcast.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the angered correspondent demanded, her voice beaming with frustration.
Kullen fixed a stern gaze upon the woman, his tone firm, “How did you obtain this footage?”
“It’s all over the internet!” She explains, “The whole trap is being shared online.”
Audiences across the country were turning into the live feed.
As their televisions faded to black, a message materialized: Viewer Discretion is Advised.
Meanwhile, growing tired of Elanor’s desperate cries for help, Hoffman maneuvered her away from Logan, who remained unconscious, and wheeled her into the surveillance room. Pushing her into a corner, he retrieved duct tape from a nearby drawer and used his knife to slice off a substantial length. He then applied it firmly over Elanor’s mouth, muffling her anguished wails that now fell upon deaf ears. Just as Hoffman prepared to depart, his attention was captured by the television, revealing the live footage of the ongoing trap.
Intrigued, Hoffman placed his knife down and took a seat at the nearby table. Folding his arms, he watched intently as Gavin struggled to remove the weighty sandbag from his chest.
“What the fuck?” Amanda exclaimed, seated behind Hoffman, her astonishment, mirroring his own.
Outside the surveillance room, Logan began to regain consciousness. As his awareness sharpened, he quickly assessed his surroundings and searched for Elanor. Shifting his body upward, he felt the tight restraints of the handcuffs encircling his wrists. Peering into the surveillance room, he caught sight of Elanor in distress, while Hoffman remained fixated on the television screen. A wave of relief washes over Logan, knowing that she was still alive. Determined to find a means of escape, his gaze scanned the room until it landed on the aluminum dispenser above him, along with scattered barrels of petroleum.
Across town, Autumn had finished gathering her belongings when she too caught sight of the live footage showcasing the museum trap. Recognizing two of the victims, and recalling the information she had learned from Lincoln about their previous trials, she became engrossed in the broadcast. Setting her bag down, she stood near the couch, locked into the unfolding events, with a police escort standing beside her.
As Autumn remained captivated by the live feed, she witnesses Gavin rise to his feet and stagger toward the women, his movements unsteady. In his approach, he picked up a brick from the tower, clutching it tightly in his hand.
Within the confines of the exhibit, Gavin positioned himself behind Renee and Sarah, observing their relentless efforts to assault the grate obstructing the ventilation shaft. Sarah turned around, and Gavin extended the brick towards her. With determined force, another powerful strike landed, causing one of the bolts to come loose. They repeated the action, gradually peeling the barrier away from the wall, creating a narrow gap. Utilizing their combined strength, they exerted enough force to retract the screen, bending the screws on the left side.
Gavin retrieved another brick from the tower and rejoined the women. Gripping the red brick firmly, his palms began to perspire, a symbol of his mounting apprehension.
“Almost got it,” Renee uttered, twisting and pulling the screen until it finally yielded, breaking off the hinges.
Exhausted, Renee leaned backward, allowing Sarah to be the first to peer inside.
Gavin takes a deep breath, loosening his grip on the stone, anxiously awaiting the reveal.
Sarah sighed, disappointment tainting her voice. The shaft lay before them, outlined with menacing barbed wire and shards of broken glass.
“Told ya,” she said.
“We’ve made progress,” Renee exclaimed, still hopeful, “That’s what matters.”
Sarah’s eyebrows arched dubiously as she voiced her concerns, “We don’t know if that’s a way out and we’re running out of time.”
As Sarah turned to gauge Gavin’s perspective, her world abruptly shattered. A brutal impact from the brick collided with her head, causing blood to spill from the painful gash. She crumbled to the floor, disoriented and struggling to comprehend the sudden assault.
The unexpected violence filled Renee with fear and her mind raced frantically. Without wasting a moment, she launched an attack against him, but her weakened state rendered her efforts feeble. Gavin easily overpowered her, forcefully pushing her to the ground, her head meeting the unforgiving concrete with a sickening thud.
Meanwhile, the horrified audience watching from the safety of their homes bore witness to the unfolding events, their hearts gripped by the chilling spectacle. Each gruesome moment played out before their eyes.
Hoffman, displaying a disturbing apathy, seemed unaffected by the brutality taking place, while Elanor’s eyes bulged from their sockets, a silent plea for help and salvation.
Autumn, filled with disbelief and revulsion, found herself appalled by the heinous attack. Beside her, the police escort swiftly reached for his radio, urgently engaging in communication with law enforcement personnel on-site.
Inside the control room, Lincoln, Kullen, Marlow, and Daniel endured the torment of witnessing the disturbing footage. Their faces etched with concern as their minds raced to find a way to intervene and put an end to the nightmare.
With her stomach to the floor, Gavin straddles Sarah and removes the piano wire from his pocket.
Still dazed from the wicked blow to her head, Sarah fought with all her strength, desperate to free herself from Gavin's torment. She struggled to push him off her back, kicking and flailing while her screams for help filled the room.
Determined to succeed, Gavin attempted to wrap the piano wire around Sarah’s throat, but she instinctively blocked him, using her remaining hand to shield her vulnerable neck. In a surge of defiance, she reached back and delivered a forceful elbow strike to his abdomen. The pain coursed through him, causing him to drop the piano wire to the floor. However, he swiftly flipped her body over, sliding her wrist beneath his knees, effectively immobilizing her. With a frightening resolve, he resumed his vicious attack, tightening his grip around her throat, Desperately gasping for air, Sarah’s face grew increasingly red under the pressure of Gavin’s grip, and her vision began to blur, the world around her fading into a hazy abyss.
Unbeknownst to Gavin, a flicker of consciousness had returned to Renee, and the sound of Sarah’s harrowing struggle pierced through the fog of her own pain. With great effort, Renee attempted to rise, battling the throbbing ache in her head, her focus fixated on the weapon discarded by Gavin, lying on the floor within reach.
Seizing the piano wire with a surge of adrenaline, Renee quickly closed the distance to Gavin, her sole focus on saving Sarah. Without hesitation, she skillfully wrapped the cord around Gavin’s neck, forcefully pulling him away from her friend’s gasping form. Gavin’s hands thrashed about in a futile attempt to clutch the sturdy wire that tore into his flesh.
Sarah, still recovering and crawling to safety, watched in astonishment and awe as Renee took control of the situation. With a fierce determination fueled by anger and vengeance, Renee twisted and yanked on the cord, tightening the grip around Gavin’s neck, causing him to bleed profusely and struggle in agony. Beads of sweat formed on his head, his tongue protruding from his mouth in a grotesque display. His face contorted into a horrifying medley of colors-red, purple, and blue- as the life force drained from him.
Lost in a moment of unbridled rage, Renee’s primal scream pierced the air as she continued to tug on the cord, relentlessly severing his throat. Each pull intensified the macabre scene, painting the floor with a gruesome tapestry of blood. Sarah, a witness to the chilling brutality, could only watch in horror as Renee nearly detached Gavin’s head from his body, the lifeless body hanging limp on the wire.
A heavy silence settles over the room, punctuated only by the lingering presence of blood and the haunting memory of the violence that had just occurred.
The savage display captured by the security cameras spread like wildfire across the internet, captivating an audience of thousands. The harrowing footage was swiftly clipped and shared on numerous websites, causing the viewer count to skyrocket with each passing second. Reactions on social media were diverse, ranging from visceral disgust to arguments defending the act as self defense. The disturbing visuals ignited a storm of controversy, prompting a deluge of calls to flood news stations, with viewers expressing a myriad of complaints and concerns.
Feeling a wave of overwhelming emotions, Daniel emerged from the suffocating confines of the control room, his face flush with disgust.
Noticing Daniel’s distress, Lincoln approached with a sense of understanding. "You alright?"
"Just overwhelmed," Daniel replied, "Needed some air, some space to process it all."
Nodding in acknowledgment, Lincoln offered a small gesture of comfort, “I got some water in the car. Go on. Take a rest.”
Grateful, Daniel made his way towards the car, allowing himself a momentary escape from the relentless onslaught of darkness and despair.
***
TO BE CONTINUED...

Best part of having to come home from a vacation, (after getting to sleep in my own bed lol) is opening up the mailbox and seeing all the amazing envelopes from amazing people. Many thanks to:
u/AppleCritter723 how sweet of you to send such a thoughtful card in return! I hope your trip went well to the Smokies. I am just as happy as you when I don't have lots planned, but also love to know where my next trip will be :)
u/catnatomy thank you for the thank you postcard. I totally get the wanting to keep carding fun and not a chore. Glad you have found a way to keep it as a fun hobby. Enjoy your birthday plans and your summer!!
u/chibi_haiku thank you for the Brunch postcard. Glad spring has finally arrived for you. It was a long time coming for us as well. Now it already feels like Summer!!
u/feellikebeingajerk thank you for exchanging Bee cards with me! Your card is adorable, love all the bee facts. Thanks for the amazing stickers too.
u/fieldofcabins thank you for the thank you postcard. Hope your Dad has fully recovered now from his car accident.
u/jaimekj thank you kindly for the Istanbul postcard - so fun to get a surprise card with a Joyful message
u/KK6321 so glad you liked my card, hope your new job is all you wanted it to be! Love the hummingbird seal on the envelope, and thanks too for the stickers; love the manatee holding a sunflower - adorbs
u/Layleez AWWW thank you so much for the Bee bundle! love everything, the card, the stickers, card within a card within a card!, the Bee fun Facts and the bee wax seal to cap it all off is just perfect!
u/libertyprogrammer x 3 thank you for the Serpent Mound postcard. Who knew?! I have just added that to my day trip list. Secondly, thank you for the Cincy Art Museum pc, always a good place to go to escape the heat. I was in LA during the high temps and it was cold!! Always love to find free postcards. And lastly, thank you for the amazing foldout panel card. So very pretty, and I can reuse it too. LA was great, highly recommend both Sequoia and Joshua Tree NPs!!
u/MarineWife0922 thanks for the apPEACHiate you postcard, so cute. You are most welcome, hope your friend likes the card :)
u/melhen16 thank you for the positive affirmation card. Always good to hear these great things to always keep in mind. Thanks too for the wide range of stickers!!
u/Moose-Maleficent thank you for the Disney Paris postcard, sounds like you had a wonderful time there, thanks for reminding how awesome the parks are! What ended up being your favorite ride?
u/nahboiz thank you so much for thinking of me, I LOVE the Asian Fairy bluebird postcard. I have become obsessed with a bird app called Merlin - everywhere I go I pulled it up so I can add birds to my Life List. These blue birds would be my favorite if I lived where they do. I have a family of bluebirds that I see about every day throughout the winter.
u/New_Year_Baby x 3 thank you for the three postcards. What a great idea, I have so many, this would be a great way to share them! I would love to know the name of the tulip farm you went to near Niagara Falls. We drive through NY a few times a year and that sounds like an amazing place to pop in. The porcupine postcard is so cute. I have not seen the Book Club movies, I will put that on my "to watch" list. Thanks for the GoT pc too. I remember watching Pentatonix on The Sing Off - our whole family was rooting for them. They really started an a cappella craze!! Do let me know how they are in person.
u/ninajyang thank you for the rose postcard, it has been so hot here I am wishing for a cold summer! Hope your summer slows down for you.
u/ReasonablePositive thank you for the catch up postcard. Sounds like you have been really busy, I wish you all the luck on your Etsy store and your new home. Better to be too busy than bored for sure.
u/stephkempf thank you for the random floral thrift card. Always great to find special cards while thrifting and actually use them!
u/tigerlady13 thank you for the Arkansas thank you postcard. I love sending Happy/Surprise Mail! I am starting to make my travel plans for the summer this week. So far I have booked trips to Greenville SC and Ogdensburg/St Lawrence River NY. And am working on trips to Upstate NY, Myrtle Beach and Atlanta in the fall. Not to mention my Alaskan trip next June!! My username tells it all.
Thank you to the following for not one but two Arizona MeetUp postcards, fun to think I made it on to two different mailing lists for the same event lol. u/todayisfab, u/sebisrude, u/PinkPengin, u/KeenEvergreen x 2 I am sure you all had a wonderful time meeting each other in person!

Hi everyone,
I recently moved into an apartment that is part of a low rental program in Toronto and is run by a management company.
This is a brand new building that is still under construction so there is a fair amount of construction noise throughout the days, but it’s not a huge issue it seems for where my unit is located in the building. I do have concerns however, as there are fire alarms that will go off several times, several days per week with no notice or sign of stopping. This has been happening multiple days per week since April and several complaints have been made by tenants with no sign of resolution.
Just this past week they sent a notice stating there would be alarm testing throughout the day due to “unknown trouble shooting” … Whatever that means.
This is becoming a major issue as I work in a call centre from home and is becoming very disruptive to my job. Is there anything that can be done? I understand as a building still being built, there will be construction noise, but this is just ridiculous. What are my rights as a tenant if this is creating an environment that does not allow me to enjoy the unit?
Thanks in advance for any advice!