TL;dr I'm underpaid by 30-50% compared to other similar jobs in this market and my boss lacks experience and management expertise. I told a coworker I was sending out resumes and now the CEO wants to meet with me on Monday. I plan to offer to "mentor" him or ask if he's open to switching our job tiles (and pay!) to be commensurate with our respective experience and education. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with essentially questioning a CEO's hiring judgment and asking them to demote an employee. Or do I just keep that noise to myself and just ask for a raise and help with getting my CPA?
Background:
I've only been with my present employer (real estate management) for about a year and a half in the accounting department. There are six of us: three juniors, a payroll person, the controller (my boss who was hired right after me) and me (the senior accountant). I have more experience than the other five combined. I am also the only one who holds a 4-year degree, other than the controller who has never held another accounting position. The controller is very intelligent, but does not have the depth of experience he should and, thus, I catch him in little mistakes like trying to explain how crediting a revenue account would decrease it (revenue accounts increase with a credit) and other nerdy accounting stuff that just has not become muscle memory for him. Oh, did I mention he's the mayor's son?
The main thing is we have a lack of leadership. The controller is not a strong personality and very conflict avoidant. He makes promises he doesn't keep, says we will have regular meetings when they stretch for months apart, and each person seems too buried with daily responsibilities to help anyone but themselves. Our credit cards get shut off regularly because the AP person doesn't monitor the accounts except when it's time to reconcile the statement and payroll is a mess of compliance issues. Further, there is a malaise that has taken over since the overall impression is that nobody will get fired for just doing the bare minimum. There's not a sense of urgency and nobody really seems to take pride in their work.
Even though I love my job and my coworkers, I decided to start laying the groundwork for my exit and began sending out resumes last week. When I look for similar jobs that would essentially be a lateral move, they pay 30-50% more than I make now, but with a 30-40 minute commute. Like a total dumbass, I mentioned it to a coworker from a different department, who ratted me out to the COO who texted the CEO on his vacation. This morning he messaged me to "check in" with me.
I know I do good work, I get regular praise for my contributions, and people seem to like me, which I know mostly because I got told a lot when I started how much friendlier I am than the previous person in my position. Even though I hold a degree, I only make a dollar more than the other four junior folks. FFS, some of our maintenance techs make more than me. When the controller position opened, I had only been at the company for a short time. I wish I had applied, but there was a little intra-office drama so I stayed out.
My plan is to put on my consultant "hat" and just lay out my observations and how these issues are not likely to go away. This won't come entirely as a surprise, as I have had several conversations with him about some concerns I've uncovered since I've been there (unpaid OT, managers jacking with time cards, buried late fees, excessive support from outside CPA, etc.) and there are plenty of known issues. The rest of the management team seems frustrated, but there's nothing they can really do. Since I've spilled the beans, I've gotten some winks and nods that the rest of the management team is fed up with his inexperience and I have a good enough working relationship with the CEO that I don't think he will fire me if I calmly present it in a way that benefits the company (i.e. these problems cost the company money (late fees) and potentially put it at legal risk. Once I inform him that his payroll file was in an unlocked file cabinet for anyone to go grab his social security number, I think I might gain some traction.
Phase two is to discuss what I would do differently to fix the various issues, but that would require a change in the org chart and I don't know what the least offensive revision would be. Ultimately, he has lost the respect of his subordinates (yes, including me) and I know he doesn't have the skills and fortitude to make such a change. I could see a scenario where I take over the department for a year or two while he goes through additional training and then I could take over the COO position (who is retiring in a few years). Maybe they'll create a director level position that we can compete for. At a minimum, a raise and help with getting my CPA would at least be worth a few more years. I've worked for many different managers, but this is the first time I've been clear that there is a serious talent mismatch.
So the final thing is I would have to have a plan to retain the controller if I really did take his position. Thinking about how that would play out, the temporary mentointerim Controller idea seems like it might work. In no way is he a bad person, but just very green. Big pay bump and CPA assistance seems like another reasonable option. If things don't improve, having my CPA license vastly expands my opportunities and earning power. Anyone have other suggestions or experience with having light years more expertise than your boss?

There is at least one hat missing from the game. Dev confirmed. It should be coming in a patch soon. There are also some stars bugged in the ballroom area. Do not buy them if you’re playing on Xbox. Give it a couple days. The patch was just released for them yesterday on steam, could take a couple days to pass Xbox certification. I’ll update if I hear any news on the issues or any other issues. This patch also will be decreasing the difficulty by filling all hearts after death and make the sandwhale race a bit easier by making the rings hit detection better.
This is a small team and they are working on making some QoL updates to the maps and such for collectibles as well. Happy playing everyone !

What’s New?
This patch has a huge focus on updating the new player experience, updating and improving many areas of the early game. In this patch we also see the introduction of two new task types, Fishing and Foraging, the addition of build presets to character creation and a new mount, the Lykiator!
Haven
Haven has seen a substantial rework of the starting experience and tutorial steps, with the addition of a taming tutorial for obtaining your first horse, followed by integrating the task systems where new players will complete their first tasks.
Dungeon
The Rat Cave on Haven has also received a decorative touch up, more content, and now also includes a boss to fight at the end.
Guild Finder
We have added a brand new way for players to connect to a new guild and for guilds to find new players: the Guild Finder. Once you have left Haven you can open the guild finder by pressing G, the guild finder can also be found among the micro tabs in the lower middle of the screen. Using this tool you can set up search criterias and search for guilds that could suit your style. Guild Members at rank 8 or above can use the guild finder to setup their Guild Profile, once the profile is filled in other people using the guild finder can find and contact or directly join your guild if allowed.
New tasks

• Fishing tasks have been added to all cities.
• Foraging tasks have been added to all cities.

Mounts and Pets

• Slightly decreased Black Bear unmounted chase speed.
• Slightly decreased Brown Bear unmounted chase speed.
• Slightly decreased White Bear unmounted chase speed.
• Slightly decreased Taur Dog unmounted chase speed.
• Slightly decreased Wolf unmounted chase speed.
• Slightly decreased Belbus chase speed.
• Lowered chance to get knocked down by low riding skill and increased skill gain when knocked down.
• Added small feedback message for when a pet loses health due to hunger.

Balance Changes

• Removed the random element when healing using bandages. You will now always heal the same amount between 10
• 40 health based on your Anatomy skill level. Previously you would get healed in the range of 28
• 53 when at 100 anatomy skill.
• Pets now always get healed 30 health (+ 0
• 10% of it's max health based on your veterinary skill).
• Note that taking 10+ damage during the bandage effect still significantly reduces the amount healed by bandages.

Trinkets

• Trinkets that gave skill levels to survival now give levels to swimming instead.

Tasks

• Renown capped at 300 on Haven
• Changed the text shown when you get a new task to be more descriptive.
• Task waymarkers on the horizontal compass now show task progress.
• Adjusted the spawn rate of most pickable spawners.

Skills and Clade Gifts

• Capped the maximum Clade Level you can reach on Haven to 8.
• Fixed an issue where 'time left' for books didn't take the human clade gift for reading into account.
• Removed chance to not get anything when you are mining or woodcutting
• Removed all secondary parents from the skill system.
• Sprinting skill now impacts stamina drain more when sprinting. Stamina drain at 100 skill is unchanged.

Action Skills

• Removed 'Unarmed Technique' from 'Combat Techniques' parent. 'Unarmed Technique' is now only a child of 'Brawling'.
• Removed 'Armor Training' from 'Sprinting' parent. 'Armor Training' is now only a child of 'Combat Manouvering'.
• Removed 'Resistance Swimming' from 'Endurance' parent. It is now only a child of 'Swimming'.
• Removed 'Mounted Archery' from 'Archery' parent. 'Mounted Archery' is now only a child of 'Controlled Riding'.
• Removed 'Mounted Combat' from 'Melee Combat' parent. 'Mounted Combat' is now only a child of 'Controlled Riding'.
• Removed 'Poleaxes' from 'Spears' & 'Axes' parents. 'Poleaxes' is now a child of 'Melee Combat' like the other weapon groups.
• Changed 'Poleaxes' to now be a Primary skill.
• Removed 'Poleswords' from 'Spears' & 'Swords' parents. 'Poleswords' is now a child of 'Melee Combat' like the other weapon groups.
• Changed 'Poleswords' to now be a Primary skill.
• Removed 'Active Regeneration' from 'Resting' parent. 'Active Regeneration' is now only a child of 'Endurance'.
• Removed 'Meditation' from 'Resting' parent. 'Meditation' is now only a child of 'Vitalism'.
• Removed 'Resting' skill and made the effective 100 default behavior. All new characters will now rest with full effectiveness.
• Removed 'Unarmed Blocking' skill.
• Removed 'Blocking Endurance' skill and made level 100 the default behavior.
• Removed 'Momentum' skill and made level 100 the default behavior.
• Removed 'Combat Movement' skill and made level 100 the default behavior.
• Removed 'Feint' skill and made level 100 the default behavior.
• Removed 'Damage Assessment' skill.
• Increased 'Anatomy' experience gained from using a bandage to 90.
• Removed 'Swimming' from 'Survival' parent. 'Swimming' is now a child of 'Athletics'
• Changed 'Swimming' to now be a Primary skill.
• Removed 'Survival' skill.
• Moved 'Combat Balance' skill to now be a child of 'Balance'
• Moved 'Balance' skill to now be a child of 'Athletics'
• Removed 'Footspeed' skill and made level 100 the default behavior.
• Removed 'Breathing Technique' skill and made level 100 the default behavior.

Profession Skills

• Removed 'Alchemical Dissolvents' from 'Alchemy' parent. 'Alchemical Dissolvents' is now only a child of 'Petrology'.
• Removed 'Alchemy Contraptions' from 'Alchemy' parent. 'Alchemy Contraptions' is now only a child of 'Crafting Appliances'.
• Removed 'Cuprite Lore' from 'Alchemy' parent. 'Cuprite Lore' is now only a child of 'Alchemical Mineralogy'.
• Removed 'Arthropod Produce Lore' from 'Arthropoda' parent. 'Arthropod Produce Lore' is now only a child of 'Animal Materials'.
• Removed 'Honey Lore' from 'Arthropoda' parent. 'Honey Lore' is now only a child of 'Arthropod Produce Lore'.
• Fixed duplicate of 'Honey Lore' under 'Arthropod Produce Lore'.
• Removed 'Wool Lore' from 'Textile Lore' parent. 'Wool Lore' is now only a child of 'Fur Lore'.
• Removed 'Ironwool Lore' from 'Textile Lore' parent. 'Ironwool Lore' is now only a child of 'Fur Lore'.
• Removed 'Asymmetrical Bow Crafting' from 'Recurve Bow Mechanics' parent. 'Asymmetrical Bow Crafting' is now only a child of 'Long Bow Crafting'.
• Removed 'Axe Crafting' from 'Blunt Weapon Crafting' parent. 'Axe Crafting' is now only a child of 'Basic Blade Crafting'.
• Removed 'Silk Lore' from 'Textile Lore' parent. 'Silk Lore' is now a child of 'Arthropod Produce Lore'.
• Removed 'Ironsilk Lore' from 'Textile Lore' parent. 'Ironsilk Lore' is now a child of 'Arthropod Produce Lore'.
• Removed 'Bloodsilk Lore' from 'Textile Lore' parent. 'Bloodsilk Lore' is now a child of 'Arthropod Produce Lore'.
• Changed 'Arthropod Produce Lore' to now be a Primary skill.
• Removed 'Cotton Lore' from 'Textile Lore' parent. 'Cotton Lore' is now a child of 'Botany'.
• Removed 'Textile Lore' skill.
• Removed 'Recurve Bow Mechanics' from 'Composite Bow Composition' parent. 'Recurve Bow Mechanics' is now a child of 'Decurve Bow Mechanics'.
• Removed 'Composite Bow Composition' from 'Bowyery' parent. 'Composite Bow Composition' is now a child of 'Self Bow Composition'.
• Removed 'Alchemical Mineralogy' from 'Petrology' parent. 'Alchemical Mineralogy' is now a child of 'Mineralogy'.
• Removed ‘Reading’ skill and made level 100 the default behavior. All new characters will now read with full effectiveness. AI, Creatures and NPCs
• Taur Dog animations have been adjusted to better sync with animation and damage.
• Added better support for ambush spawners.
• AI spawned using ambush spawners now also shows a compass marker when you have an active task to kill them.
• Removed flee chance from Bandit Leaders.
• Fixed the small leash radius of a certain Risar camp.
• Improved group fleeing behavior to avoid AI "loop fleeing"
• Improved fleeing AI that reaches their leash limit.
• Equerry is now called Stable Master.
• Taskmasters now sell more basic items for their task coins.
• Reworked the ambush spawner code.
• Chicken and pigs are now easier to tame.
• Tweaked ambush spawners to not spawn in cities and dungeons.
• Removed push from undead attacks.
• Added a small message for when your pet is low on loyalty and should be cared for.

UI and Interactions

• Added a new starting panel in character creation for selecting premade builds. Using the freeform character creator is still possible via the 'custom build' option.
• Added a new UI, the Guild Finder.
• Added a togglable state for weight that consists of ‘Locked’, ‘Decrease’ and ‘Increase’ states. Locked will cause you to never gain or lose weight (your max health reserve can not change), Decrease means weight can only decrease, and increase means weight can only increase.
• The loading screen tips have been updated with more useful tips.
• Added many new entries to the Journal which were previously empty.
• Updated Journal entries for every town to be more descriptive.
• Added Journal to the micro tabs (default keybind J).
• Added Guild Finder to the micro tabs (default keybind G).
• Update the guild member statistics tooltip.
• Fixed a description error in the reputation tab.
• Adjustments to character positions in main menu
• Updated the TC siege window UI art.
• Updated Task system UI.
• Added a different message when trying to ride when encumbered, based on armor or inventory weight encumbrance.
• Fixed brief game freeze related to initialization of keybinds during game startup and when changing game options.
• Fixed an issue with the Guild Window/Territory Window not displaying information.
• Changed how markers on the compass look and act.
• Fixed an issue where "Auto gathering" would start before fully finishing the interaction circle once.
• Tutorials now highlight micro tabs.
• Vendor items with long names now clip instead of scale.
• Task/Tutorial tracker is now darker.
• Opening most crafting UI's now require you to hold R for 0.25s instead of 1.0s
• Opening most NPC UI's now require you to hold R for 0.25s instead of 1.0s
• Minor tweaks to the look of the social window.
• Added a large amount of pictures (thank you ATC Forgiven) to the journal.
• You no longer have to be friends to whisper another player.
• Added option to only show whispers from friends and guild members in the settings
• Journal discoveries like dungeons now show up on the map once found. These will show information from the journal when hovered.
• Updated the fanfare you get when you gain a clade level or add something to your journal etc.
• Fanfare can now highlight the microtabs in the lower center of the screen to indicate that you for example have unspent clade levels.
• Updated the map UI so that it no longer zooms by simply making the entire UI larger.
• If you are close to a taskmaster it now always shows on the compass.
• Added a lot more languages to the guild finder.
• You now get fanfare when completing a tutorial type.
• Updated a lot of journal entries.
• Added so Vendors that only take specific items as payment will now not take more items than needed to pay for what you are buying from them.
• Fixed an issue where Tasks could be brought from Haven to Myrland.
• Tutorial and task markers now show up on the map.
• You can now discover individual entries in the journal even if they do not have separate journal entries. For example you get discovery for each spider cave but there is just one journal entry.
• Updated the UI when you leave Haven.
• Fixed a bug that made it so that you could not take out items when moving them from Haven to Myrland.
• You can now bring any quantity of equipment from Haven to Myrland.
• You can now bring 10G instead of 3G from Haven to Myrland.

Keybinds

• Added keybind profiles. Existing keybinds will be reset to use the new profile system.
• You can add/change/rename profiles in the game options. Keybind profiles are saved in GameUserSettings.ini.
• You can associate a preferred profile with your Main and Second character. The game will auto
• switch to the preferred profile when you login.

Sound and Audio

• Fixed vendor sounds not being affected by the volume slider.

Lighting, Weather and Environment

• Fixed a bug where parts of dungeons would not be fully loaded when logging in causing players to fall through the world.
• Fixed bug where some rooms in dungeons would randomly not appear to the player no matter how long they waited nearby.

Server and Networking

• Added localized server regions for dungeons to improve client and server performance. Players will no longer retrieve updates from the server for things like characters and loot from inside the dungeon when outside on the surface and vice-versa. This is only applied to the Tindrem Sewers for an initial run. It will be applied to the rest of the world in the next patch.
• Pets cannot be given commands across server regions. This means that a pet inside a dungeon can no longer receive commands by a player outside a dungeon. This change only applies for Tindrem Sewers in this patch and will apply to all dungeons in the next patch.
• Fixed issue with player movement updates that caused excessive rubberbanding during network lag. Players with bad network connections moved erratically and were hard to fight in battles.
• Fixed issue where secondary characters that claimed an account reward would have that reward removed after a certain time.
• Removed AFK kick timer.
• Fixed a couple of rare node crashes.

Art

• Add a cliff back that was removed by mistake in the northern parts of the world.
• Fixed beard being removed by the rustic garments hat.
• Various environmental fixes.
• Several collision Fixes on various objects and pillars.

Optimizations

• We have optimized multiple parts related to character animations and meshes to improve CPU performance when many characters are present.
• All character animations are now compressed using the engine ACL plugin. The previous update with ACL was only partially applied to the game.
• Applied the engine animation budget allocator to character meshes.
• Animation logic adjustments to reduce the need for animation sampling.
• Reduced CPU usage for the paper doll character by disabling its collisions.
• Cleanup of unused and deprecated anim curves. Engine
• Updated AMD FSR plugin to version UE5.3 3.0.4.
• Updated NVIDIA DLSS plugin to UE5.3 3.7.0b (DLSS DLL version 3.7.0.0).
• DLSS preset changed from Preset C to Preset E.

Bugs

• Fixed being able to buy items & create buy orders on the broker using stolen gold.

I've been chronicling generational cohorts who contributed to American history prior to the beginning of the 20th Century. My most recent profile is of a generation that I've dubbed "Magnas":
https://medium.com/illumination/magnas-a-legacy-of-inversion-introspection-047e268ae7cd?sk=853cddf143b2d45e87bcbac39ade433a
The older portion of what Strauss and Howe refer to as “the Glorious Generation” (plus the youngest tail-end of the Strauss/Howe-designated “Cavalier Generation”), I’d place this generation’s birthyears at 1645-1656.
Their stats:
Primary Birthyears: 1645-1656
Preceding Cusp: "Emerald Knights" (born approximately 1640-1644)
Succeeding Cusp: "Royal Raiders" (born approximately 1657-1661)
Origin of name: Due to how British propagandist Henry Care was a member of their generation, I coined this namesake as a wordplay on Care’s transfer of Magna Carta principles published via his groundbreaking book, The English Liberties. Magnas were the cohort who really honed in on the concept that no individual monarch should be above the law. This generation was born into the first Anglo-Dutch War. They fought in the second and third Anglo-Dutch Wars. They witnessed “The Glorious Revolution,” the Salem Witch Trials, and the first two of the French and Indian Wars – with their generation dying as the Tuscarora and Anglo-Spanish Wars commenced.
Major childhood events: Narragansett & Hudson River Valley Tribes Sign Peace Treaties, Peter Stuyvesant Becomes Dictator-General of New Netherland, Rhode Island Colony Develops Blueprint For Separation of Church & State, King Charles I Executed For High Treason, Maryland Toleration Act, Navigation Act of 1651, Rhode Island Colony Statutorily Bans Slavery, Maine Colony Absorbed By Massachusetts Bay Colony, Anglo-Dutch Wars Begin, William Fuller Bans Catholicism in the Colonies, Battle of the Severn, Swedish Driven Out of North America, Anti-Quaker Crackdown in the Colonies, Josias Fendall Becomes Governor of Maryland Province, Mary Dyer Arrest, Navigation Act of 1660, Massachusetts Bay Colony Chartered With Anglican Religious Freedom, Harvard Publishes Elliot Bible in Algonguin, Second Navigation Act, Hudson Valley Falls Under Dutch-Then-English Control, Six Of The Colonies Prohibit Freeing Black Slaves, Massachusetts Colony Refuses To Swear Allegiance To The British King, Peace of Breda Ends Dutch-Anglo War
Major adolescent events: Anti-Quaker Crackdown in the Colonies, Josias Fendall Becomes Governor of Maryland Province, Mary Dyer Arrest, Navigation Act of 1660, Massachusetts Bay Colony Chartered With Anglican Religious Freedom, Harvard Publishes Elliot Bible in Algonguin, Second Navigation Act, Hudson Valley Falls Under Dutch-Then-English Control, Six Of The Colonies Prohibit Freeing Black Slaves, Massachusetts Colony Refuses To Swear Allegiance To The British King, Peace of Breda Ends Dutch-Anglo War, John Locke’s Fundamental Constitutions Issued, Founding of Charles Town in the Future South Carolina Colony, William Berkeley Restricts Prior Voting Rights From White Men Who Don’t Own Land, Metacomet (King Philip of the Wampanoag) Surrenders to the British, Massachusetts Colony Copyright Law of 1672, Marquette & Jolliet Expedition Begins, Treaty of Westminster Ends Third Dutch-Anglo War
Major young adult events: Harvard Publishes Elliot Bible in Algonguin, Second Navigation Act, Hudson Valley Falls Under Dutch-Then-English Control, Six Of The Colonies Prohibit Freeing Black Slaves, Massachusetts Colony Refuses To Swear Allegiance To The British King, Peace of Breda Ends Dutch-Anglo War, John Locke’s Fundamental Constitutions Issued, Founding of Charles Town in the Future South Carolina Colony, William Berkeley Restricts Prior Voting Rights From White Men Who Don’t Own Land, Metacomet (King Philip of the Wampanoag) Surrenders to the British, Massachusetts Colony Copyright Law of 1672, Marquette & Jolliet Expedition Begins, Treaty of Westminster Ends Third Dutch-Anglo War, 1675 Wampanoag Attacks Ignite King Philip’s War, Battle of Bloody Brook, Mohawk Attack on Metacomet, Bacon’s Rebellion, King Philip’s War Ends With Treaty of Casco [King Philip’s War Begins and Ends], French Explorers Scout Out Niagara Falls, Province of New Hampshire Created, French Colonists Claim La Louisiane Territory, William Penn Publishes “Frame of Government of Pennsylvania,” King James II Takes The British Throne, New York Becomes Royal Province, King Louis XIV Drives French Huguenots to North America, Dominion of New England Created, Edmund Andros Initiates King William’s War, The Toleration Act of 1689, Quaker “Petition Against Slavery” Drafted, The Glorious Revolution, Boston Revolt of 1689, William & Mary of Orange Become King & Queen of England, Province of Massachusetts Bay Established, Salem Witch Trials, College of William & Mary Charter Signed, Iroquois Turn Against the French, The Navigation Acts of 1696
Major middle-age events: King James II Takes The British Throne, New York Becomes Royal Province, King Louis XIV Drives French Huguenots to North America, Dominion of New England Created, Edmund Andros Initiates King William’s War, The Toleration Act of 1689, Quaker “Petition Against Slavery” Drafted, The Glorious Revolution, Boston Revolt of 1689, William & Mary of Orange Become King & Queen of England, Province of Massachusetts Bay Established, Salem Witch Trials, College of William & Mary Charter Signed, Iroquois Turn Against the French, The Navigation Acts of 1696, Treaty of Ryswick Ends King William’s War, Catholic Priests Driven From Massachusetts Colony, Fort Pontchartrain Built, Founding of Yale College, William Penn’s Charter of Privileges, Queen Anne’s War Begins, Virginia Black Code Enacted, 1706 Chitimacha Raid, Benjamin Franklin is Born, Quakers Maintain the Peabody Essex Meeting House in Boston, Tuscarora War, Treaty of Utrecht Ends Queen Anne’s War, George the First Becomes King of England, San Antonio and New Orleans Founded, Spanish Surrender of Pensacola, Building of the Alamo
Major events of their golden/twilight years: Tuscarora War, Treaty of Utrecht Ends Queen Anne’s War, George the First Becomes King of England, San Antonio and New Orleans Founded, Spanish Surrender of Pensacola, Building of the Alamo, Founding of Fort Drummer, Anglo-Spanish War of 1727-1729, Founding of the Philosophical Society of Newport, Founding of The Library Company of Philadelphia, Methodist and Catholic Movements Take Hold in the Colonies, Poor Richard’s Almanac First Published, The Hat Act of 1732, The Molasses Act of 1733, John Peter Zenger Trial
Notable members: Nathaniel Bacon, Samuel Sewall, Joseph Dudley, Kateri Tekakwitha, Juan Sebeata, Robert Calef, Sarah Good, William Phipps, Alida Schuyler, William Randolph I

Theme

One of the most intriguing aspects of Efrim I is his birthplace, the small town of Kindersley, Saskatchewan. One would expect a man of his status, especially a Trudeau, to have been born in the east, in the old-boys-club of Toronto or Montreal or a suburb thereof, or the sun-kissed coast of British Columbia. To have such a powerful man come from such insignificant beginnings is not only noteworthy, but inspirational.
From Origins of the Apex, by the Princess Lyraeon.

I. Somerset
November 8th, 2070 - CNRL Somerset Site, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada
Efrim stared across the valley towards the cluster of buildings and machinery below. Streaks of beige and blue and safety yellow were severed by the billowing smoke and steam, and flashing lights fruitlessly competed for his attention. As he waited, his internal monologue recited his mission statement:
Make them notice,
Make them pay,
Spare the land,
Loss of life is the cost of doing business.
While Borealis was not specifically out to kill, they held the environment in higher regard than its human inhabitants and so in their meticulous planning, minimizing environmental damage was paramount to ensuring human survival.
"That's where the spill came from" said Francis, startling Efrim, who had lost himself in thought and forgotten he was even there. "The big oil spill, it was caused by a faulty valve in that line right there." Francis pointed to a pipe, coming out of a beige building that looked the same as every other beige building, and making a ninety-degree downward turn before plunging into the Earth.
"That's where it came from. Twenty thousand dead animals. Irrecoverable damage to the Hudson's Bay aquatic ecosystem. One pipe." Efrim lamented.
Efrim opened his mouth to continue speaking, but was interrupted by the din of radio chatter.
...last load dropped off, preparing crusher one stop
Borealis cared deeply about the environment, and so when planning protest actions, it was imperative to ensure that their actions did not lead to further environmental damage. Previous groups, despite professing their care for the environment, took actions in direct contravention of that philosophy, such as siphoning fuel out of earth-moving equipment and recklessly dumping it into the soil. Such actions were amateurish, careless-
...preparing crusher two stop
-and showed that the groups committing them cared far more about their own image and virtue than their end goal. Borealis was different. Borealis intended to hit polluters where it hurt the most - their financial statements. Their actions, usually taking place in sensitive ecosystems and with great potential for disaster, must be meticulously planned and executed to ensure minimal to no collateral damage.
The second radio, in Efrim's jacket pocket, lit up and began to make noise. He got momentarily confused - one radio was set to a site channel to listen in on their communications, the other was for the Borealis group to communicate internally.
equipment has stopped. there is no steam coming from the top of the buildings anymore, it looks like it's shut down. the extraction maintenance channel sounds like they're beginning to lock-out
Efrim very nearly keyed the wrong radio to respond. Not that it would've mattered - the radio for listening in on site channels had its transmit button disabled.
10-4. We wait until nine p-m to execute. The workers will be on break.
Efrim adjusted his balaclava. He was wearing one not for identity concealment or fashion, but because it got chilly this far north. He watched the relaxed activity below, a site so remote saw only a few work trucks driving up and down its roads, the occasional worker in reflective stripes walking from here to there. Efrim had only as much empathy as he could for them while allowing the execution of his mission - yes, they are human beings with families but at the same time their job causes untold environmental damage, and they put themselves in harm's way on a daily basis working on an industrial site, so what's it if their number finally gets called?
We have confirmation that oil has stopped flowing through the pipelines, power draw has decreased throughout the plant consistent with a near-total shutdown of operations.
Efrim pulled the radio closer to his mouth to respond.
Good. Only fifteen minutes to go.
Efrim glanced over at Francis, who was crouched and facing away from him, off to the right. He looked back across the valley and peered through his binoculars to see two black-clad figures running away from an outbuilding. Two people, not known to be there by anyone except Efrim. Declan and Celeste, their role in this operation was to gain access to the site's power plant and confirm that bitumen production operations had shut down, by monitoring the site's power consumption. It's quite obvious, when one thinks about it, that a large-scale shutdown of operations would be reflected by a drawdown of the site's power generation capacity due to decreased load from pumps, machinery, et cetera.
Borealis' plan was fine-tuned to protect the environment, and executing an operation of this nature while the site was running at full tilt would be foolhardy. Any sort of attack, at the wrong time, could cause untold destruction, pipeline blowouts, spills, and any number of other unpredictable consequences. As such, the group had planned their attack around a planned large-scale maintenance outage wherein plant operations are ceased, oil and ore is flushed from the plant's systems and the site is, for all intents and purposes, as clean as it's ever going to get.
As the clock ticked closer to 9:00, Efrim looked through his binoculars again towards a nondescript white van that had been staged deep within the plant days prior.
Whenever you're ready.
Alright, arming it.......heads up....now
The light seeped through even his closed eyelids and whisked around his forearm pressed against his face, and the thunderous roar of the explosion was a sound that he'd never forget.
II. Smugglers
October 12th, 2071 - Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Efrim always had an awkward air about him, nobody speaking to him ever felt fully at ease. Despite being a morally correct individual, there was always something you couldn't put your finger on. You wanted the conversation to be over.
From Origins of the Apex, by the Princess Lyraeon.

"I want to be very clear, I am quite sympathetic to your cause, but I just don't see this as feasible".
Efrim adjusted in his seat, the premium vegan leather of his chair dragging across his suit fashioned of recycled plastic fibers. He reached for his mug, taking a sip of tea, and stared at the man across from him.
"What's the extent of your discretion in your office, Mr. Bennett, and to what degree can you slip things like this under the radar?" he said.
"I told you you can call me Julian, we're at that point. I can make things go away but what you're asking, to totally gut the Canadian military and siphon everything off to various non-state actors, I can't just make things disappear like that. I think you have a bit of a misconception of how much these units are going to notice their equipment being crated up and shipped off."
Efrim stood up and paced around the room. His uneasiness put Julian off, though he'd dealt with men like Efrim before, and the personality type had a level of directness that brought slight discomfort to even the most pleasant of conversations.
"Here's what you do," Efrim said, turning back to face Julian. "You start a reshuffle of equipment, if everything gets sent around to different units, nobody will notice what goes missing. If Unit A signs off on the transfer of fifty tanks and only twenty make it to Unit B, neither will be aware. It checks out on both ends, but in the middle is where the magic happens."
Julian let out an uncomfortable laugh.
"I'm director of purchasing for the Canadian Armed Forces, not a five-star general. I can't just make orders like that. I don't have the power to move equipment between units. Like, maybe a few pieces here and there but I can't just shuffle everything with the stroke of a pen and expect people not to take note. If I moved EVERYTHING, there'd be questions asked."
Efrim thought for a moment, wheeling a Hot Wheels representation of a Rivian electric truck back and forth on his desk.
"What about new equipment?" he said.
"In what sense?" Julian replied.
"Purchasing new equipment and funnelling it to our allies. Mixed in with some 'redirection' of existing equipment, I think that would work." Efrim said.
"You mean purchase new equipment, and send it to the tribes rather than to our own military?"
"Nobody will ever notice."
"I think they will, but we're moving in the right direction." Julian said.
"Think about it, if you place a bunch of big orders, you can say they're going to be allocated on delivery, and then just 'allocate' them off the books. Do you think that would work?"
Julian let out a sigh and shifted in his chair.
"I think it has a better chance of working than what you previously suggested." he said.
"Alright, so that's settled. You can start placing orders and direct them to bases near their destination, and I'll arrange to have my people pick them up. The issue remains, though, of what to do about the rather competent Canadian military. I don't think, within two years of production, we'd be able to assemble a force to outmatch them. We can't take Ottawa if it's close, it needs to be decisive." said Efrim.
Julian hesitated for a second before replying, "I might be able to push a software update that will brick most CAF equipment currently in service, except for the really old stuff. Everything post-2040 is on the same battle management system so it should be fairly easy to do. Guns won't fire, tracked and wheeled equipment won't move, missiles will fly themselves into the nearest body of water. I think it's feasible. Their cybersecurity department is a bit of a mess, which I should add is something that you should address if this works out."
"And you think that's something you will be able to do?"
"It's going to be tough, but yes. You're lucky you got me, since I was director of operations for said battle management network. I'll talk to that department."
"Alright, now we're talking." said Efrim.
"One thing though."
"Yes?"
"If I get caught, you forced me to do it. You kidnapped my wife and children and I did it under extreme duress. If I can make this happen, I can fabricate that situation as well."
Efrim chuckled.
"Keep me posted."
III. Siege
January 22, 2073 - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

It was a resounding success.
From Origins of Borealis, by the Princess Lyraeon.

Snow fell on Ottawa on the cold winters' morning. Colder than usual, by all accounts, a crisp minus fifteen, quite low for a city basked in the heat of the Great Lakes, though not unheard of. The Canadian Armed Forces monitoring stations failed to register the enemy descending on the city for two reasons. First, the surveillance infrastructure pointing inward was not as sophisticated as outward, since an attack from within was totally unprecedented. Second, even with the best monitoring systems in the world, the backdoor attack had rendered them totally non-functional. A system that could, operating properly, pick up an insect entering the capital registered absolutely nothing beyond background noise as Borealis forces had been allowed to move in under the shroud of darkness.
The Anishinaabe, skilled helicopter pilots, performed scouting and target-acquisition activities, while the Naskapi primarily operated tank battalions, less to do with their skill in doing so and more to do with the fact that most tanks and support vehicles had been allocated to them, for whatever reason. The Blackfoot led the incursion from the west, primarily using air power owing both to the vast distance required to get to Ottawa and their commandeering of CFB Cold Lake and CFB Suffield, serving as staging grounds for their aircraft before the attack.
The two Alberta bases, like many others across the country, were taken under the cover of night. Communications were jammed and special forces operators entered, capturing critical infrastructure and executing Canadian Forces members before they had the chance to react or raise the alarm. As both bases were very business-as-usual, had lackluster security owing to their geographical advantage, and were not home to any special forces that could counter the well-trained natives, Borealis forces had an easy time.
A technical bulletin was put out hours before the attack, grounding all CAF aircraft for planned software updates and, in many cases, mechanical upgrades. Technicians working for Borealis planted within the CAF dismantled engines, removed avionics suites leaving them in a pile of wires and screens on the floor, and then abandoned their posts to make way for the onslaught. The bar for entry into the Armed Forces as an aircraft technician is shockingly low, as Borealis came to find out in the planning stages when operatives were being placed.
Ultimately, on that winter's morning, the CAF found itself totally crippled.
The software update, sent out the night before, had rigged most equipment connected to the BMS to shut down at 9:00am. Some equipment had its shutdown overriden for a variety of reasons, mostly by the CAF itself, as the software injected did have some failsafes to maintain the illusion that all was normal. The software was packaged as a 'pre-update' to the full update, and ordered the shutdown to ensure equipment was grounded and in a state ready for updating.
Technology, integration, and artificial intelligence ultimately became the achilles heel of the Canadian military.

They never noticed the malware, because really, there was no malware. The systems were ordered to shut down at a specified time, so that a software update could be executed. That's all it did. Shut the system down. It didn't cause anything to self-destruct, turn the AI against its masters, or anything of the sort. It just shut the system down. And that's the beauty of it. Canada had gotten complacent with the relative safety of having New Alfheim and Japan as next-door neighbors. They thought they didn't need to maintain operational readiness because who would dare attack them?
From Borealis: A Military-Strategic Perspective, by Imperial Swordmaster Julian Bennett.

At 9:00am, as planned, the equipment of the Canadian Armed Forces took itself offline and went into a shutdown procedure for the software update. Many unit commanders had accounted for this by notifying Canada's allies to keep watch during the time the update was happening, to ensure it was not an attack of some sort, but most were at ease as the update had been talked about for weeks prior to the incident and was signed off by director-levels of the cybersecurity, operations, and intelligence divisions. The software update had originated with the equipment acquisition division, to integrate with the new BMS deployed on several of Canada's newest pieces of military technology, though almost no units yet had access to these. Chief among the updates was a kill-switch to disable the equipment should it fall into enemy hands, something both much appreciated and long overdue.
Despite their diligence, the equipment would never come back on line.
Distant explosions grew closer to listening ears, as a coordinated attack commenced across the country. Ballistic missile strikes began on naval bases, to crumble piers and destroy ships sitting in harbor. Bases not completely necessary for Borealis attacks were struck with AI-controlled drones and their runways turned to dust. Those in population centers looked overhead as fighters and bombers and drones danced to a horrifying symphony of destruction.
Very little of the CAF's military equipment survived the incursion. Hangars came crashing down in blankets of fire, engulfing planes. Vast complexes of buildings completely levelled, the vehicles stored inside vaporized.
The brunt of the attack was focused on Ottawa, with hundreds of planes descending on the city and reducing its streets and buildings to rubble with a barrage of airstrikes considered insane by any competent military commander. After air superiority was achieved, ground units entered the city and began to systematically clear buildings, including and especially government buildings and offices.
It became quite apparent, though, that the airstrikes had made quick work of everything. There was almost nothing left of the city, and if any occupants were left in the rubble, the elements would make quick work of them. Nobody was coming to save them.
Efrim visited the city not long after the attack. Borealis held a very tenuous military supremacy over the nation of Canada - to their advantage, they had the native tribes on their side to manage affairs at each corner of the nation, to their disadvantage, almost nobody in the country knew what was going on aside from the fact that Ottawa had ceased to exist. Canada had been taken, but it was time to prove it.
Borealis 2073
TL;DR Canada as we know it is gone, and has been taken over by a paramilitary eco-terrorist group known as Borealis. They currently have a military supremacy over the country by virtue of the fact that they have completely obliterated the Canadian military, levelled Ottawa, and have convinced most of the native tribes across the country to support them by promising an increased level of sovereignty over their land.
While Borealis is running the show, the real power lies with the native tribes who actually control the military forces needed to maintain it. With that in mind, Borealis in 2073 can be considered a kind of feudal military pseudo-autocracy.

• Name: Borealis
• Territory: IRL Canada, Alaska, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky
• Head of State: Efrim I Trudeau
• Government Type: Feudal Monarchy (Kinda)
• Economic Information:
  • GDP: $16,936,457,021,981
  • Population: 138,854,262

I heard Jimmy Carr on the Diary of a CEO podcast say something about happiness that resonated with me.. initially.
The statement is: “It's your quality of life, minus envy, that's how happy you are”, speaking on Happiness.
The equation seemed straightforward:
Happiness = Quality of Life - Your Envy.
I sat with it for a second, then let it marinate for a day.
And it hits me: There’s a flaw in his formula:
If happiness is simply our quality of life subtracted by our envy, then to maximize happiness, you would need to eliminate envy completely. I don’t know about you, but that seems complicated to me.
The framework suggests that any increase in quality of life must be offset by a reduction in envy to maintain or enhance happiness.
This introduces a paradox that left me unsettled. (I’ll get to that in a second).
First, we need to set some ground rules for this equation—because it wouldn’t be a fair debate otherwise.

1. His equation assumes that there is no starting point. We have to address this, because nobody pops out of the womb contemplating happiness. (if you did, hit me up—I really want to talk to you). And if that’s the case, then applying this equation at ages 10 and 30 would yield completely different results.
2. There has to be a minimal viable baseline for the equation to function effectively. Something that would cover basic needs like shelter, food, and arguably, health.

For the sake of my imaginary argument with Jimmy Carr, let’s lay down our groundwork:

• We’ll assume the starting point is at 20 years old—old enough that you’re likely thinking independently.
• That you might be self-sufficient (meaning you got yourself a job—I don’t care what it is, but it pays minimum wage).
• We’ll also presume that all basic needs are met.

Ok, now that we have our parameters, we can discuss the equation, and its paradox.

Contentment and Aspiration — Can we get both?

In Jimmy Carr's equation—Happiness = Quality of Life - Your Envy—I see a fundamental paradox that reflects a classic human dilemma: When you try to balance contentment with striving for more.
According to this formula, if you want to increase happiness, you must eliminate envy.
What he is telling you in plain, vulgar terms: Just shut up and be happy. You should have everything you need.
For me, this raises issues:

1. If we’re completely content, what drives us to improve?
2. If we're always striving for more, then we are perpetually dissatisfied. If we are perpetually dissatisfied, this forever increases our envy and decreases happiness.
3. Looking and comparing others to yourself to judge happiness is a recipe for disaster.

How can you ever win at this?
No matter what you try to improve, it always results in a stillness or reduction of happiness.
Seeking improvement could increase your quality of life, but it also increases envy. If envy increases 📈 , happiness decreases 📉.
Any gains in quality of life are immediately nullified by a corresponding increase in envy, keeping our happiness static.
Is your head spinning yet?
Don’t worry, we can fix this. But it has to get worse before it get’s better — just trust me, ok?

Fixing the Formula.

Let’s focus on that last part of the equation: Your Envy.
This is your envy towards others. This is comparing yourself to others, what they have, and where they are in life. This aspect needs revision in my opinion.
This is what I propose:
Instead of the traditional view of envy as a negative force, we redefine it as a reflective, internal motivation—focused on your past and future selves.
Forget other people. Don’t compare yourself to them. Compare yourself to.. your self.
Think of it this way: how your past self feels towards your current (and future) achievements.
In 6 year old terms: ‘Yesterday You’ has to be jealous of ‘Today You’. It’s envious of the progress you’ve made in a span of 24 hours.
“Ok, that’s great. Now, how does that fit into the equation and what does it change?”
Glad you asked. This is where we put our mathematician hats on for just a second. I promise it won’t hurt your brain too much..
Since we’ve introduced an element of your past self, we need to reflect that mathematically. Your self envy from yesterday becomes a negative because we’re dealing with past tense. Let’s call it ‘Past Self Envy’.
If we position this self-envy as a negative force (mathematically speaking), it becomes a positive contributor to the overall happiness.
Why? Simple math suggests that 2 negatives = a positive.
If we apply this to the equation, we now have:
Happiness = Quality of Life - (-Self Envy).
or
Happiness = Quality of Life + Past Self Envy.
See what we did there?
This little correction changes how you perceive progress and personal development.
By framing the envy of your past self towards your present self as a negative, we transform it into a positive force in the equation of happiness.
This allows you to recognize that your growth and achievements can retroactively inspire and validate your past aspirations and struggles.

Why does this matters and what does this even mean?

Well first, our formula makes sense now. (you’re welcome, Jimmy)
Here’s what it allows for:

• You can increase Past Self Envy.
• You can increase your quality of life.

Both result in levelling up your happiness.
Do nothing, happiness stays stagnant.
Decrease Past Self Envy or Quality of Life, your happiness decreases.
The paradox is lifted.
In practical terms, this means that your journey and achievements effectively 'cancel out' the negative aspects of envy.
This not only reduces the traditional negative impact of envy, but turns it into a source of positive reinforcement.

Applying The Formula

How do you optimize Happiness = Quality of Life + Past Self Envy ?
Making👏 Progress👏 Every👏 Single👏 Day👏
I think that’s truly it.
How much progress? Just keep it simple and small.
James Clear said it best: (don’t come at me for more math, this time it’s visualized): 1% every day = 37X better in a year.

How should you apply this to your life?

I’ll let you figure this one out on your own.
I can’t tell you what you should do. All I can do is share what I’ve been doing on my end.

• Mental Acuity

I mostly do three things every single day: I read, I listen, I write.
There is no particular order, as they all complement each other.
Intaking information:
I read newsletters, articles, and books.
I listen to podcasts.
Processing, organizing information:
I write about what I read and listen to. This helps me deepen my understanding. It helps me make new connections, improve my communication and retain information better.
By doing this every day, I become better at it. I sharpen my thinking, on the simultaneous quest to finding my true and authentic writing voice.
Am I the best writer there is? No. Will I ever be? I don’t know.
But I can tell you this: I’ll always be a better writer than I was the day before.
I am extremely grateful that my ideas are shared around the globe (yes, it's at an insignificant level, but don't kill my vibe please). This humbles me, validates that I have found my life's work, and contributes to my happiness.

• Relationships

I talk to someone new, online or in person, every single day. Fortunately, with my writing, people come to me, which is great.
In the past 6 years, all I did was work on my business. I reduced my circle every day by being closed off. I spent time with myself, my stress.
I’ve decided to spend this year travelling and meeting more people in person.

• Wealth

I took a step back recently by making a major shift from running my real estate business with 10 full-time employees, 37 contractors, 400+ tenants and millions in annual gross income to..
Just myself, my thoughts, my computer, a few books, and no active income.
Granted, my previous company allowed me to spend time reinventing myself this year.
This time around, I am building differently. Instead of chasing income at the detriment of my health and relationships, I am pursuing my passion which is also improving my mental health, expanding true and new relationships.
The income, when it comes, will feel true and meaningful.
So what am I doing to increase my income? I keep making daily 1% progress on my health, mental acuity, and relationships.

• Health

I workout every single day. It’s not long (30 minutes or so), but it’s intense, and it’s consistent.
Has my body gotten 37 times better? It’s hard to say. But I am happy of my one year progress? You sure fucking bet I am.

Final Thoughts

These things bring me joy, give me a sense of purpose and feel like I’m always progressing.
I don’t think it’s about enjoying the journey or the destination.
You'll end up at a destination no matter what. But the more you do, the more you get to choose what that destination will be.
Enjoying the journey is cool and all, but like we just discussed, if all you do is enjoy it, you won't reach a meaningful destination.
When I look back at the equation of happiness, I think it’s more about the conscious effort you put into the journey.
Let's recap.
Happiness = quality of life + your past self envy.
The pursuit is never ending, which is good news, because there is an infinite board game, and all the cards are in your hands.
Everyday, you are able to make a choice. You have an opportunity to tip the scale in one direction, or the other.
You get to pick what makes your brain tickle, what makes your knees weak.
You get to work on it every day.
Do it, and see your happiness increase.

cross-posting on other relevant subs (pregnant, newparents, etc)
Hi all,
I'm a long-time lurker but rarely have time to come on anymore and read, much less comment or post. However since having my first child over 3 years ago and also my second a year and a half ago, I've been keeping notes on advice and product recommendations. I've taken to giving this out to friends and co-workers when I hear the happy news that they are expecting, so I thought I'd share it here as well in hopes it helps someone. Please take this with a grain of salt- I know everyone has different experiences! Please feel free to post your favorite advice or product recommendations as well if you want.
Take care, and enjoy your parenting journey!

General advice:

I'm really going to try to keep cliché's out of here as much as possible and keep this to only practical advice that I wish someone had laid out for me. But cliché's exist for a reason- they are generally true!

• The first couple months after birth/with a newborn are the hardest, with the first couple of weeks being the toughest yet. It really gets easier! That being said, those first several weeks the only goal should be survival. Don't plan to do any house projects, if you know something will need to be done (like a car oil change,taxes, etc) do it before baby arrives if possible. Do everything you can to try to make those first few weeks as easy as possible. Set up the crib/bassinet (I was convinced we were going to have more time and had neither set up. I literally put the bassinet together myself while I was in labor). Those last few months of pregnancy when you cook, make extra and freeze it. I have several good freezer prep recipes if you're looking for some. Once baby is here don't worry about cleaning the house, etc. Just survive.
• Accept help, but on your own terms. Lots of times people come offering to watch the baby but sometimes as a new mom you just feel more comfortable having baby with you. People can still help by doing the cooking and/or cleaning so you don't have to. And if you want/get time away from baby don't feel like you need to do those chores- take that time for you to sleep/showewhatever you need. Do not feel like you need to cateentertain guests. Or if you know you will, don't invite or let them over. This is YOUR time to bond with baby and recover- guard your time.
• Everything is a phase. Soak up the good stuff while you can, and know that the not so good stuff won't last forever.
• You can never give your baby too much love. You can't "spoil" a baby by holding them too much. Especially the first 3 months (known as the "4th trimester")- remember that baby was used to being "held"/cuddled and fed 24/7 in your womb. So even if you're holding them for 16 hrs/day- that's still a significant decrease than what they are used to. I know it's exhausting, but try to soak up those cuddles.
• Remember to take videos as well as pictures- those little newborn noises are precious!
• If everyone is crabby and it seems like nothing is fixing it- try to change the environment. Get everyone outside- fresh air is good for everyone. I've tried to get baby outside for at least a little bit every day of his life since getting home from the hospital (yes, even during winter in WI). If outside isn't an option try a bath.
• Take all advice with a grain of salt (even this). You know your baby/family best!

Pregnancy/Postpartum mama care:

• The "Expecting & Empowered" workouts were great. They have 3 guided workouts for each week of pregnancy to prepare you for labor and motherhood. Also follow them on IG. I give a lot of credit to them for my pretty easy pregnancy and deliveries!
• Once I started feeling sore later in pregnancy, prenatal yoga really helped me. I used an app called Prenatal Yoga by Down Dog that I really like. You have to pay for a subscription but I think you can try it for 30 days free, but I ended up paying for the subscription and actually re subscribed. They have a whole suite of apps that all fall under the same subscription - normal yoga, meditation, HIIT, and others. I think it's worth it, and I got the subscription on a black Friday deal for $24/year
• As far as labor goes- there’s so many resources and advice out there that could be a novel by itself. The only thing I’ll say is whatever your birth “plan” (if you have one)- just make sure it’s flexible and that your partner knows what it is and why so they can advocate for you. Once you’re in that pain it’s very hard to advocate for yourself.
• What I’ve learned is there is typically a sliding scale of interventions. Meaning- if you end up getting induced you’re more likely to end up getting a c-section. Ideally, you want to go into labor on your own. (when you’re ready to get that baby out, there are lots of myths out there and strategies to try. My advice- walking and sex).
• I’ve attempted 2 medication-free births but eventually gotten the epidural each time. If I have another baby I’m getting the dang epidural asap.
• So many postpartum care things to have on hand since you really won't know how your delivery will go. All the normal things like pads, and cooling pads, and peri bottle. I had a really easy birth experience so I didn't use a lot of the products I had so not much experience. But I did like the Honey Pot pads because they had a cooling effect that was pleasant but not overwhelming. I also liked having a sitz bath and bath salts to put in it.
• Fun postpartum symptoms to look forward to that no one warned me about (in addition to bleeding for 4-6ish weeks)- horrible cramping/contractions while the uterus shrinks the first week (especially happens when nursing) - hot pads and ibuprofen help, night sweats (waking up in the middle of the night to a crying baby drenched with sweat and freezing because you’re so wet), strong body odor (just, why?!), hair loss (this is why I cut all of my hair off after having baby). I’m sure there are others I’ve forgotten about. So many fun things!

Breastfeeding

I highly recommend trying to breastfeed if you're able. It does make the first few weeks (which are already hard) more challenging, but after that it's so much easier! You can go places without needing bottles/wateformula (all you need is you!). Plus, sterilizing and washing bottles all the time is a drag. Plus the bonding is really special (not that you can't get this without breastfeeding). But breastfeeding is always the #1 comfort technique if baby is cranky or sick, even if he's not hungry. A few tips/info:

• Stay hydrated!!! You can designate your partner that their job is to make sure you always have accessible water. And try to make sure you have water when sitting down to nurse, cause sometimes as soon as they start nursing you feel parched.
• The first few hours/days are critical to establishing your supply. Put baby to breast at a minimum every 3 hours (day and night, set an alarm) and more often if she's awake/fussy. After your milk comes in, assuming baby starts gaining weight again, your pediatrician should give you the okay to stop the alarm during the night and feeding on demand (which will likely still be pretty frequent).during the day you basically always want to be feeding them every 3-4 hours
• Invest in some nursing bras/tanks. I didn't- thinking I would later if breastfeeding worked out. But honestly you need to give it at least 1-2 months to give it a fair shot, and you can't go that long without having clothes that make it easy. We went and got some when baby was 3 days old. Would've been better to have in advance. Target has great stuff. I lived in the same 3 nursing tanks with 5 different flannel shirts over it for the first few months.
• Set up a breastfeeding station where you can be comfy and have things you might need. I love my glider chair, and put a cart with snacks, water (drink LOTS of water), phone charger, lotion, baby nail clippers (this was the easiest time for me to trim baby's nails), etc.
• Don’t pump the first 4ish weeks as this is when your supply is established, and the pump will make your body think it needs to produce more. An oversupply can be just a big of problem as an under supply.
• The tough thing with nursing is you really don't ever get a break. Even if someone else were to give baby a bottle (which I don't recommend for the first 4ish weeks for reason above)- you need to pump to keep your supply up. At that point, it's easier to just feed the baby yourself (in my opinion). To help with this during nighttime feedings, when Matt wasn't working he would basically do everything else minus the feeding (unswaddling, changing diaper, reswaddling, etc) and just hand baby to me to nurse to make it as easy as possible on me.
• I highly recommend getting a haakaa (amazon link). When you are feeding baby on one side it triggers a let down, which can lose a lot of milk on the side baby isn't on. You can use this to capture that (plus a little more since it does suction, so you do want to be careful with this and not use it too frequently and create oversupply). I use it now after baby's long night stretch and both boobs are really full. I slowly built up a decent freezer stash using this without ever actually pumping. They also have milk collectors (amazon link) that has less suction, and you can wear these under your bra if you find you're leaking often. I got these as well but didn't really like them as much as I thought.
• You'll probably also want breast pads to catch leaking. For awhile I used the disposable ones, but eventually got these (amazon link) and like them.
• Read up on milk handling/storage. La Leche league (website) is a great resource. If you're looking for even more info- read "The womanly art of breastfeeding" written by La Leche league.
• Breastfeeding should NOT hurt! If it hurts- ask for help. Could be an issue with the baby's latch or something else, like a tongue/lip tie. Make sure before you leave the hospital you have someone look at your latch and tell you what to look for to make sure you get a good latch every time. Easier to correct earlier than later.
• That being said- for the first month-ish I had pain for about 4 seconds every time baby latched. Sounds like this is unusual as no other mom I talked to experienced this so hopefully doesn't happen to you. It eventually stopped- I think it was just my nipples getting used to the expanding. But I never had my nipples crack/bleed or anything. This is not expected/normal. Talk to someone if this is happening.
• Since you'll probably want baby to take a bottle eventually- you'll need to start this at some point. The recommendation that I've read multiple times is to wait until 4-6 weeks (after breastfeeding is fully established) before trying. Then you need to do it frequently- maybe a bottle a day. We started early and he did fine so eventually we got lazy and stopped for awhile because I didn't like pumping when he bottle-fed. Then when we started trying again in preparation for me returning to work he flat out refused and then it was much harder to persuade him back to the bottle. If this happens- the method that worked best for us was called "intermittent bottle by mom". Google it if you get in this position (or ask me questions at that point).
• Positions- at the hospital they only taught me the cradle and football hold for some reason. I later learned about the laid back position and at the time it was a game changer for me- I was so tired/sore of sitting up and hunching over for the middle of the night feeds. Laid back allowed me to be much more comfortable. Also side-lying- one of my favorite positions now.
• Breastfeeding doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can combo feed with formula if you want/need to. A fed baby and happy mama is the most important!

Sleeping

Good luck! Just kidding. So much conflicting info out there on this. I guess my number 1 tip here would be to read up on different strategies and have a plan. Being knowledgeable about different options is helpful if you need to pivot strategies in the middle of the night and you're running on very little sleep. Some questions for you to consider - will you bedshare (most families end up co-sleeping at some point. Good to know the Safe Sleep 7 in case you decide to)? Or room-share? Will you "sleep train" (which means different things to different people)? When they start getting decent stretches of sleep it is a game. changer. I will share some tips that seemed to have work for us. baby started sleeping through the night (7+ hr stretches) around 11 wks, and shortly thereafter started sleeping 10-11hr stretches. We do bed-share occasionally, even now if he wakes up between 5-6a I pull him into bed with me and nurse in a side-lying position and we both fall asleep for a bit longer. It's really lovely to be able to do this.

Generic sleep advice

• I liked the book "The happiest baby on the block". It discusses the conditions in the womb, and how to recreate those as much as possible to soothe baby, especially during the 4th trimester. (spoiler- swaddle, "shhh"/white noise fairly loud (as loud as standing next to a shower), sucking on a pacifier, swaying (movement), oriented on baby's side).
• Some resources: TakingCaraBabies. You can follow on fbook/insta- they post great stuff. She also offers classes. We have all of her classes and really think it worked well for us, and we never felt like we were leaving baby to "cry it out" alone. We never let him cry for more than 5 min. She has a newborn class, one for 3-4 mo old, and then 5 mo+. I feel like each one supported baby where they were developmentally.
• Make the sleep space as conducive to sleep as possible- cool, white noise, and as dark as possible. Seriously- invest in blackout curtains/shades. (other than naps for the first few weeks which you want to keep light/noisy to help them establish their days/nights). Babies aren't scared of the dark, any light is just stimulation.

0-3 months

• Swaddles. Highly recommend swaddling. They just can't control their limbs at this age and they'll accidently jerk one and startle themselves awake. Swaddling helps with this, and makes them feel more like they are back in the womb which is comforting. So many parents say their baby hates the swaddle, and I don't know maybe they actually do, but baby would also struggle when we were putting him in the swaddle but then he would sleep so much better. We used the Halo (amazon link) and Nested Bean (amazon link). I liked the nested bean because it had the option of swaddling with hands up or hands down, it has the weighted bean on the chest which is comforting, and you can zip the sleeves off when you are ready to transition out of the swaddle. Although- the unzipping the sleeves didn't really work for us when we were trying to transition out, at that point we got the Magic Merlin Sleep suit (amazon link) and that helped us transition out of the swaddle.
• Babies should sleep a lot. You can look up average sleep per day hours and wake windows based on baby's age. I think in baby's first few weeks he got really crabby in the evenings because we were letting him get overtired. I think in the first month the goal is that they aren't awake for more than an hour at a time. We were kinda just winging it and didn't realize we should be trying to get him down to sleep fairly soon. At this point- when they wake up you feed and change them and then basically start getting ready for sleep again. You really want to try to avoid an over-tired baby, and it happens really fast and easily.
• We had baby sleep in a sidecar bassinet so he was easy for me to grab/feed during the night. When he was around 3 months old we moved the bassinet away from the bed but still in the room so we weren't waking each other up as much.
• Just to set reasonable expectations - any sleep on their own in the bassinet is a win. Hopefully you can get some night sleep there, unlikely that any naps will happen there. We did all contact naps (meaning- holding, wearing, cuddling) for those months and started trying 1 nap/day when he was around 8 weeks in his crib. At that point any naps done in a crib is a huge win. And those will probably be short.
• Naps don't typically lengthen/mature until about 5 months old. This is normal and expected. It's good to have reasonable expectations so you're not upset with yourself/baby. It's easy to obsess over things as a mom. Don't let naps steal your joy! Try to enjoy those baby naps on you. Use it as a time to rest/relax yourself.

3mo+

• Bed time routine- important to establish a consistent routine. Same order of events, same place, and around the same time per day (we target between 7-8p). Our routine: bath (if it's bath night, which we do every 2-3 days), diaper, massage/lotion, jammies, nursing, burp, in crib for 2 books, then swaddle/merlin suit/sleep sack, turn on white noise, lay down in crib/bassinet awake with pacifier.
• Around this time we really saw a reduction in night wakings once we were able to put him down awake at bedtime and let him fall asleep on his own. Around this time their sleep pattern changes to be more like an adult- and we naturally wake up several times in the night to check out our surroundings and if all is well fall back asleep often without even knowing we were awake. Example I read- if I fall asleep in bed and awake in the night in a neighbor's bed that would cause me to fully wake up and scream/cry. Same thing with baby. If they fall asleep being rocked in your arms and wake up alone on the mattress that can be alarming. If they fall asleep on their own then when they wake up in the same environment all is well and they can go back to sleep.
• That being said- we weren't able to just go from nursing to sleep (which is what we did for the first few months) to being able to put him down awake right away. This took time/patience. We worked our way down the intervention scale- nursing to sleep, then rocking to sleep, rocking til drowsy but putting down awake then rocking in bassinet, etc.
• Around 3 months old we disconnected the sidecar bassinet and moved it across the room. Then around 4-5 mo we moved baby into his own bedroom in the crib. This worked for us but this timeline varies a lot so do what works for you

What to do with baby when awake

Legitimate question that I hadn't considered until we were in the middle of it. In the first few weeks baby really doesn't have much awake time outside of eating/diaper changes. But here are some ideas:

• Baby wear and do whatever you want!
• Tummy time
• Massage
• Sing songs
• Get outside (but try to keep baby protected from sun)
• Read books

Pumping/Milk Maintenence

• I love my pumpables genie advanced - normally $180. https://pumpables.co/products/genie-advanced. I really like the liquid shield kids that go with these as well. These go on sale a couple of times throughout the year.
• For wearable collection cups- legendairy collection cups – normally $60. https://www.legendairymilk.com/products/sillicone-collection-cups. These are nice when you want even more portability (I can pump with these in a coffee shop and no one can really even tell)
• I also had the Spectra that my insurance gave me, and it’s nice and has nice suction. But no portability.
• For the love of pete- measure your nipples and get the right size flanges!! I’m a size 17 and I think that’s the average, but for whatever reason a lot of breast pumps send larger sizes by default.
• There’s lots of pumping bras but they never felt comfy to me. Ultimately my strategy was to wear nursing bras every day so I could nurse easily morning and evening and then do the nursing bra hack (link to video) when pumping
• As far as schedule goes- for the most part I would pump 3 times during a work day. Obviously this is just a rough estimate and things change as time goes on.
  • 6aish - baby wakes up and nurses on one side while I haakaa the other
  • 8:30 (after kids have left for daycare) - pump both sides
  • 11:30 - pump
  • 2:30 - pump
  • 5:30 - nurse baby
  • 7ish - nurse baby before bed
  • (once baby is sleeping through the night) 10pm - pump before going to bed
• I think there’s a “magic number” calculator you can google that helps you calculate the right number of times to pump/time to wait between to pumps based on different factors and if you want to decrease, increase, or maintain supply.
• During the day I always store my used pump parts in an air-tight container in the refrigerator between pumps and then deconstruct and wash them at night (recommend encouraging your partner to be the designated pump part washer every night). I think the CDC goes back and forth on whether this strategy is recommended, but I never had problems and I can’t imagine washing all the pump parts every single time.
• I always used the pitcher method - pump and then combine all the milk into a “pitcher” (I used a glass mason jar). I was lucky enough to be able to send my milk to daycare like this and she would pour from it to make the bottles. I know some daycares require pre-made bottles though.
• I would send fresh milk to daycare Tue-Fri of what I pumped the day before. On Friday I would freeze all pumped milk. On Monday I’d send a small amount of milk that I got from the haakaa over the weekend but otherwise baby would get thawed frozen milk that day (always the oldest in the freezer). This strategy was nice because mostly baby is getting fresh milk and you don’t have to constantly freeze everything, but you’re also still slowly working through freezer stash so things don’t get too old.
• On Fridays for freezing this is what I’d do:
  • Pour 4 oz into an easy-pour bottle (I froze in 4 oz increments but do whatever works best for you)
  • Pour into milk freezer bag (ie, lansinoh) - remove air bubbles (google tricks and you’ll find some videos to get rid of air bubbles)
  • Seal bag and place flat on cookie sheet
  • Repeat until all milk is bagged (depending on how much remaining milk I’d either freeze a smaller bag or leave it in the fridge and combine with haakaa milk over weekend)
  • Freeze the milk bags flat on the cookie sheet if possible (I have a chest freezer that I used)
  • Once frozen - transfer flat milk bags into gallon ziploc bags, layering from the bottom. I used the sit n stand bags. Once the gallon bag is full (I could fit 12 4-oz bags in) label it with dates and a number.
  • On your freezer where you’re storing milk have a milk sign in/out sheet - (ie, bag #1 went in on 1/1/22 and was taken out 5/1/22). This way when it’s time to take another frozen bag out you can look at the sheet and know which bag you’re looking for.

Other resources/random notes

• Baby products are ridiculously expensive, and babies grow so fast they only use/wear things for very short periods of time. Highly recommend buying second hand or borrowing from friends when you can. I was all over facebook marketplace during my pregnancy.
• If you're looking for data-driven resources to read I recommend Emily Oster's two books- "Expecting Better" regarding pregnancy, and "Cribsheet" which is data on decisions from birth to preschool.
• Have a bucket with a color-safe laundry soaking option handy for soaking blow-outs or heavily spit-up items. You don’t want those to sit until you do laundry next
• We used an app to track diapers, feedings, and sleep. We used Huckleberry and liked it, but there are lots out there. For awhile the doctor will ask how many wet/dirty diapers they are having a day and there's no way I could remember that. And I also could never remember which side I breastfed last on. Or tracking sleep so I could make sure I was getting him down for naps at reasonable time. We felt this was very helpful for a bit, but after awhile it was stressing me out more than anything, and at that point we stopped using it. Use it if/as long as it seems helpful and then stop. Matt and I were both able to have it on our phones logged into the same account so we could both use it to log stuff
• It helps to have constant reminders of tips from parenting resources that line up with your parenting strategies. Some pregnancy/parenting instagram accounts I like:
  • Expecting & Empowered
  • Karrie Locher
  • Solid Starts - they also have an app with a database of foods and how to offer them to babies. Use this all the time
  • Biglittlefeelings
  • Kids.eat.in.color
  • Feedinglittles
  • Takingcarababies - sleep tips
  • Raisinggoodhumanspodcast- also listen to the podcast and really enjoy it
  • Dog meets baby
  • Milestones and Motherhood
• Once baby is in a crib- do the lasagna style bed sheet layering. Mattress protector > sheet > mattress progrector> sheet. This way if baby has an accident in the night (vomit, pee-through, excessive spitup) you can just pull off the top sheet/protector and you’re ready to go. So you need at least two mattress protectors and sheets!
• Baby wearing- as a newborn I carried baby everyday in a Solly wrap and we loved it. Once he had better head/neck control and he was more interested in looking out we got more structured carriers. I use a lillebaby now and we also have an ergo baby that Matt uses. We have them fitted to each of us so we don't have to adjust, and we got them both used from friends.
• Set up a subscribe & save for the purple desitin (highest zinc)
• Get a costco membership. Buy all the diapers there. (I believe the kirkland diapers are just re-branded huggies). Sometimes they are on sale- buy as many as you can.

Product Recommendations/Baby Registry Ideas

I mentioned at the beginning but want to reiterate- baby products are expensive and they typically aren’t used for long. Highly recommend looking to get second hand when possible - friends, thrift stores, facebook marketplace, etc. Also- definitely make baby registries because you typically get a completion discount at a certain date to buy things off the registry at a discount (typically 15%). I usually make at least an amazon and target registry for each pregnancy and then maximize those registry discounts. Also- Bullseye Deals on Ebay is a reseller of target stuff (mostly new but also used so look before buying) at a discount!

• Tubby Todd all over ointment. I use this all the time on baby- helps with baby acne, dry patches, drool rashes, etc.
• We never bought a pack n play, figuring we would buy it if/when we needed it and we never have. I ended up buying a travel crib instead for traveling where we wouldn't have a crib (to Turks and Caicos). Both sets of grandparents had a pack n play we use when visiting, and most hotels offer them too. But when we actually needed one I was glad to take a travel crib instead of a pack n play (more portable and more comfortable for baby). Really like ours- Lotus Travel Crib
• Baby monitors - I do NOT recommend the nanit. We got it with baby and it was nice for the first year, but then after a year they hide all of the useful features behind a hefty subscription. This made me angry since the camera already is expensive. Plus at the time it didn’t support monitoring two babies but I think they’ve added that since then so that’s probably moot. We use a VTech camera monitor now that has two cameras and can monitor both kids at the same time.
• In addition to the camera monitor we also have cheap audio-only monitors in each kids room that we keep next to our bed (so audio only monitors stay in our bedroom just for during the night, then we have the video monitor on our main level for during the day).
• Snoo bassinet. For our first I swore I would never spend this much money for a product that would only be used for a few months. 1 month into our second and I broke down and got one for the hope it would help us sleep even just a little bit more. It worked for us!
• Baby shoes (once walking)- we love stride rite shoes for early walkers. You want a soft-soled shoe while they are learning to walk (or bare foot is best when safe!). You also want a shoe with a wide toe-box so their toes have room to splay out like they should. Croc Classic clogs are also great little kid shoes especially for summewater and really hold up (they have a much wider toe box than the Native brand shoes).
• Kamik winter boots for toddlers are the best boots that I’ve found- easy to put on (this is key!) and warm and dry.
• These are the best baby socks. None of the other ones we’ve tried stay on, and the grippies are key once they start walking.
• Sun safety: Sunday Afternoons sun hats are the best. ThinkBaby sunscreen is what we’ve used and trust (Thinksport is the same thing and sometimes cheaper). Although these Babyganics sunscreen sticks are also nice to have in diaper bags. These refillable roll-on sunscreen applicators are also kinda nifty.
• Absolutely love these diaper cream applicators (we call them the butt spatulas).
• Bath time safety: you need these cushions and spout cover.
• Car seats: I definitely recommend getting an infant car seat for the first year-ish as it’s just so much easier to lug baby around in an infant car seat as opposed to a bigger convertible car seat (infant car seats click out of the car so if baby falls asleep or whatever you can leave them in the seat. They can also click into strollers or other things). Convertible car seats are bigger and stay in the car.
  • I don’t have a strong recommendation for infant car seats- we used the Chicco keyfit system and have no complaints. If baby will be transported in multiple cars then ideal to get multiple bases.
  • Once baby outgrows the infant car seat (or you’re just ready to move on)- I highly recommend getting a revolving convertible car seat. The revolving feature is so clutch and makes it so much easier to get kids in/out! When I got ours these were pretty new to the market so there weren’t many options, but I got the Evenflo Revolve 360 and have no complaints. Love it. These revolve ones are certainly expensive, but they do go on sale periodically (especially black friday!). Key things to look for:
    • high rear-facing weight and height limits. Ideally keep kiddos rear-facing as long as possible because it’s safer, so having a car seat with higher limits makes that possible.
    • Fabrics/covers that are washable
    • Ideally 4 in 1 or at least 3 in 1 so it converts to a booster and kids can use it longer.
• Diaper bags are super personal preference, but after trying a couple I love my jujube ones hands down more than any other. They are pricey but go one sale on amazon sometimes.
• Get a quality thermometer. I’ve tried several but this is the winner. I believe docs recommend rectal ones for the first year, but personally I like the ear ones like this. Braun is what they use in the doctors offices I believe.
• Cups: When you start offering solid foods you typically also start offering water. We use the Munchkin weighted straw cups for water. Once they are done with bottles (around a year) we use the Munchkin 360 training cup for milk.
• You’ll need bibs when kiddo starts eating - recommend silicone ones.
• The Nose Frida snotsucker is certainly effective and I’ve always been glad to have it when I need it, but be prepared to get sick also.

Hey everyone,
Hold onto your hats (and sanity) because I just finished writing a DBD chapter based on The Babadook, and let me tell you, it’s terrifying! I think it’ll bring the chills back to the Fog.
It’s got a Killer and two Survivors straight from the movie.
Who’s brave enough to read it? Feel free to skim through.
Let me know if you’re interested in the comments!
(I have already posted this on dbdm)
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter:From Page to Terror
Killer: The Babadook
Perk 1: I’ll Wage My Campaign

• Description: Obsessive torment clouds your judgment. When a Survivor completes a Generator within a 16/14/12 meter radius of you, their aura is revealed to you for 3/4/5 seconds and gains the exposed status for 15 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk plays on The Babadook’s relentless pursuit of his victims. It allows him to track Survivors who are making progress on Generators, making it harder for them to hide.

Perk 2: Believe It or Not

• Description: Your presence lingers in the minds of Survivors. After hooking a Survivor, the next time they attempt to perform a rushed action (vaulting, healing, cleansing, etc.) within 10 seconds, they scream, revealing their location and suffering from the Hindered status effect for 4/5/6 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk reflects The Babadook’s ability to manipulate the minds of his victims, causing them to doubt their senses and make mistakes.

Perk 3: Mister Babadook

• Description: Your power grows with every failed attempt to deny your existence. For each successful skill check performed by Survivors working on gens while you're in a chase,you gain a token (up to a maximum of 5/6/7 tokens). Each token grants you a 1% increase in movement speed. All tokens are lost when you hit a Survivor.
• Explanation: This perk embodies the idea that The Babadook becomes stronger the more people try to ignore or suppress him. It rewards the killer for prolonged chases and punishes Survivors for trying to outmaneuver him.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Real Name: Mister Babadook
Appearance:

• A towering figure in a black coat and a wide top hat, casting an imposing silhouette.
• His face is stretched into a horrifying grin with sharp teeth. With Long, claw fingers that twitch and grasp, eager to tear into his victim.

Weapon: The Book and the Claw

• The Babadook has a large, sharpened claw, an extension of his right hand, as his primary weapon.
• He clutches a tattered children’s book “Mister Babadook” in his left hand, for his nightmarish power the Babadook will be able to place 3 books anywhere around the map for survivors to find and banish with items found around the map.

Power: The Babadook’s Curse

• Dread: The Babadook inflicts a stacking status effect called Dread on Survivors through his abilities and presence. Dread manifests in increasingly disturbing visual and auditory hallucinations, impacting Survivor's actions and perception.
• Nightmare Essence: The Babadook projects an aura of Nightmare Essence around himself, lingering in the environment and clinging to objects. This Essence acts as a conduit for his power, amplifying Dread and enabling special abilities.

Abilities:

1. Hallucination Surge (Cooldown): The Babadook unleashes a surge of nightmarish energy.
   • Within his Terror Radius: Survivors suffer a large spike in Dread and briefly see illusory copies of the Babadook lunging at them from random directions.
   • Outside his Terror Radius: Survivors within Nightmare Essence see a quick flash of the Babadook’s form in their vision, suffering a smaller increase in Dread.
2. Fearful Whispers (Active Ability): The Babadook focuses his power, intensifying the whispers of fear within a selected area where Nightmare Essence is present.
   • Targeted Area: The chosen area becomes shrouded in a visible haze of Nightmare Essence. Survivors within this area suffer from the following effects:
     • Shrinking Skill Check Zones: Success zones for skill checks are significantly reduced, making actions riskier.
     • Increased Dread Gain: All sources of Dread inflict a higher amount.
     • Sound Distortion: The sounds of their actions are amplified, potentially drawing the Babadook’s attention.

Dread Stages:

• Stage 1 (Whispers and Shadows): Faint whispers, flickering shadows. Skill check success zones are slightly reduced.
• Stage 2 (Manifestations): Frequent hallucinations, distorted sounds. Skill check success zones are moderately reduced. Hindered status effect applied.
• Stage 3 (Crippling Fear): Near-constant hallucinations, significantly obscured vision and sound. Considerably harder skill checks.
• Stage 4 (Consumed by Darkness): Survivor screams and collapses, becoming broken for 5/10/15 seconds. Their aura is revealed to the Babadook.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Addons:
Brown Addons (common)

• Scrapbook Page: Increases the duration of the Fear status effect by 1/2/3 seconds.
• Torn Photograph: Slightly increases the movement speed of illusory copies created by Hallucination Surge.
• Cracked Music Box: When a survivor interacts with a Babadook illusion, they scream, revealing their location, and become exposed for 4/5/6 seconds. The illusion is then destroyed.
• Whispering Pages: Moderately increases the range at which Fearful Whispers affects Survivors’ skill checks.

Yellow Addons (Uncommon)

• Pop-Up Book: When a Survivor under the effect of Fear fails a skill check, they scream, revealing their location for 3/4/5 seconds.
• Red Shoe: The Babadook’s terror radius is hidden from Survivors under the effect of Fear.
• Monstrous Voice: Survivors within The Babadook’s terror radius suffer from the Oblivious status effect for 5/6/7 seconds while under the influence of Fear.
• Bent Spoon: Successfully hitting a Survivor grants The Babadook a burst of movement speed for 5/6/7 seconds.

Green (Rare)

• Mother’s Lipstick: A touch of glamour masking a chilling truth. Survivors who look at The Babadook while their Nightmare meter is above 75% scream and have their aura revealed for 2/3/4 seconds.
• Broken Picture Frame: A family portrait, shattered beyond repair. Your Terror Radius is suppressed for 4/5/6 seconds after manifesting a Babadook illusion.
• Sam’s Hand-Drawn Monster: A child’s nightmare-given form. Babadook illusions now inflict the exposed status effect on nearby Survivors within a 4/6/8 meter radius for 4/5/6 seconds.
• Scratched Film Reel: Images flicker and distort, blurring the line between reality and nightmare. When a Survivor’s Nightmare meter reaches 100%, their aura is revealed to you for 3/4/5 seconds.

Purple (Very Rare)

• Water-Damaged Photograph: A cherished memory, warped and faded by grief. Whenever a Survivor’s Nightmare meter fills, the duration of all active Babadook illusions is increased by 4/6/8 seconds.
• Scrawled Note in Children’s Handwriting: “Don’t let him in!” When a Survivor within your Terror Radius reaches 100% Nightmare, all other Survivors outside of your Terror Radius have their Nightmare meter increased by 10/15/20%. This effect can only trigger once every 30/25/20 seconds.
• Ripped Bedtime Story: A tale abruptly cut short, leaving a lingering sense of dread. When a Babadook illusion disappears, Survivors within a 6/8/10 meter radius suffer from the Hindered status effect for 4/5/6 seconds.
• Ink-Stained Handkerchief: Used to wipe away tears, now stained with the darkness of the book. For each 15/12/10% of Nightmare meter, a survivor gains, their action speeds for repairing, healing, and cleansing are decreased by 2/3/4%, up to a maximum of 8/12/16%. This effect lingers for 4 seconds after they stop gaining Nightmare.

Iridescent Addons(Ultra Rare)

• The Babadook’s Replica Book: A twisted reflection of the original, brimming with dark power. You start the trial with a second Babadook illusion that can be placed independently. This illusion has a 50% reduced duration.
• A Lock of Amelia’s Hair: A mother’s love, twisted into something possessive and cruel. Babadook illusions now emit a Terror Radius of 8/12/16 meters. Survivors within this radius suffer from the Hindered and Exhausted status effects for 10/20/30 seconds.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Backstory
The Entity did not seek out a man in a suit, nor a clawed beast, when it found Mister Babadook. It found a story. A whisper that festered in the dark corners of children’s minds, feeding on the anxieties of parents ill-equipped to face it. The Babadook was never truly one being, but a manifestation of the terror that took root when denial met grief. Amelia, driven to the edge by the loss of her husband, became the perfect vessel. Her son, Samuel, became the catalyst.
The Entity, hungry for potent fear, did not claim the Babadook so much as it absorbed the story, twisting it into a new horror. Now, the Nightmare echoes with Amelia’s despair, amplified and never-ending. The Babadook is no longer confined to a single house or a single family. He is the bogeyman in every closet, the monster under every bed, given form by the Entity’s power.
The Babadook stalks survivors with an unsettling stillness, his movements a disjointed waltz between predator and phantom. He doesn’t need illusions to instill terror but to create hallucinations to drive his victims to insanity. His presence alone warps the environment, turning the familiar into the menacing. Toys twitch to life, whispering threats. Shadows writhe with unnatural menace. The air itself grows heavy with dread, increasing the survivors’ fear and weakening their resolve.
He preys on their vulnerabilities, exploiting past traumas and anxieties. A survivor who fears enclosed spaces might find themselves struggling to breathe, walls seeming to close in. One haunted by a childhood bully might hear taunting whispers, their name hissed with malicious glee.
The Entity delights in the Babadook’s unique brand of psychological torment. For what is more terrifying than the monster you cannot outrun, the fear that festers within, waiting for the moment you break, the moment you whisper, “Babadook.”
The Entity revels in the Babadook’s ability to tap into these primal fears. For what is more terrifying than confronting the monsters we thought we’d left behind, the realization that some fears never truly disappear, they simply evolve alongside us, waiting for the moment we’re vulnerable enough to be consumed once more.
He preys on the insecurities we carry from childhood: the fear of abandonment, the terror of the unknown, the helplessness of being small in a world that seems designed to swallow you whole. He might force survivors to relive traumatic childhood memories, trapping them in looping corridors that echo with the taunts of bullies or the despair of neglectful guardians.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Amelia Vanek: Survivor
Perk 1: Mother’s Intuition

• Description: You possess a heightened awareness of impending danger. When the Killer reads your aura or gains a Killer Instinct notification on you, you receive a visual and auditory cue indicating the general direction of the Killer for 3/4/5 seconds. This perk has a cooldown of 45/40/35 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk represents Amelia’s maternal instincts and her ability to sense when her son, Samuel, is in danger. It gives her a brief moment of warning when the Killer is focusing on her, allowing for a slightly better chance to react and evade.

Perk 2: Repressed Memory

• Description: The trauma you’ve endured has left you with a fragmented memory, but also a strange resilience. When you are unhooked or escape from the Killer’s grasp, you leave behind a false aura for 4/5/6 seconds that briefly misdirects the Killer. This perk has a cooldown of 60/50/40 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk plays on the psychological aspect of Amelia’s struggle with The Babadook. It creates a moment of confusion for the Killer, similar to how Amelia’s memories were muddled by the entity’s influence.

Perk 3: Don’t You Tell Them

• Description: You’ve learned to mask your fear to protect others. When performing a rushed action within the Killer’s Terror Radius, your grunts of pain are silenced for 4/6/8 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk reflects Amelia’s attempts to shield Samuel from the full extent of their terrifying situation. It allows her to perform necessary actions without drawing as much attention to herself, increasing her chances of survival.

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Backstory:
Amelia Vanek was once a woman filled with love and hope, eagerly awaiting the birth of her son, Samuel. However, tragedy struck on the day of his arrival when her husband Oskar died in a car accident. The joy of welcoming their child into the world was overshadowed by grief and loss.
As Samuel grew older, he exhibited challenging behavior that tested Amelia’s patience and resolve. He became fixated on a mysterious pop-up book titled “Mister Babadook,” claiming it depicted a sinister entity haunting them. Despite dismissing it as childhood imagination at first, strange occurrences began to unfold around them.
The lines between reality and nightmare blurred for Amelia as she grappled with her own inner demons while trying to raise Samuel alone. The presence of The Babadook seemed to loom over their lives like a dark cloud, feeding off her sorrow and amplifying her fears.
Driven to desperation by sleepless nights haunted by visions of The Babadook and Samuel’s erratic behavior influenced by his belief in the creature’s existence, Amelia struggled to maintain control over her unraveling life.
In an attempt to protect herself and Samuel from the malevolent force that threatened their sanity, Amelia confronted The Babadook head-on. Through sheer determination and sacrifice, she managed to contain its influence within herself but not without enduring immense psychological torment along the way.
Now marked by trauma but fueled by resilience born out of maternal instinct, Amelia finds herself drawn into the Entity’s realm where she must confront both external threats and the lingering shadows of her past if she hopes to survive another day in this twisted landscape.
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Oskar Vanek: Survivor
Perk 1: Resilient Spirit

• Description: Your unwavering determination in the face of adversity fuels your resolve. When injured, your recovery speed is increased by 15%/20%/25%. Additionally, you have a 50% chance to reduce the duration of the Hindered status effect applied to you by successful Killer attacks.
• Explanation: This perk reflects Oskar’s resilience in coping with life’s challenges, both before and after his untimely death. It allows him to recover more quickly from injuries and potentially evade further hindrances imposed by the Killer.

Perk 2: Watchful Protector

• Description: You’re always alert for danger, especially when those you care about are vulnerable. When within an 8/12/16 meter radius of a hooked survivor, you can see the Killer’s aura for 2/3/4 seconds if they are within a 16-meter radius of the hook. This perk has a cooldown of 60/50/40 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk highlights Oskar’s protective nature and awareness of his surroundings. It allows him to assess the situation around a hooked survivor and potentially make a move to intervene or warn others.

Perk 3: Lasting Legacy

• Description: The memory of your sacrifice lingers on, inspiring those around you. Each time you are unhooked or healed from dying state by another Survivor, all nearby Survivors gain a small boost (5%/7%/10%) to repair speeds for Generators for 3/4/5 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk honors Oskar’s legacy of selflessness and bravery even beyond death. By channeling his spirit into aiding others’ efforts toward escape, he continues to make a meaningful impact on the team’s chances of survival.

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Backstory:
Oskar Vanek was a man who understood the preciousness of life. A devoted husband to Amelia and soon-to-be father, he approached everything with strength and a warm smile. He was the anchor in the storm, the calm amidst chaos.
A carpenter by trade, Oskar possessed a quiet artistry, transforming wood into objects of beauty and practicality. His hands, calloused yet gentle, built the world around him with care and precision. He poured the same love and dedication into his relationship with Amelia, cherishing every moment they had together.
The news of Amelia’s pregnancy filled him with a joy he could barely contain. He dreamt of their child, of teaching them to ride a bike, of reading them bedtime stories. He threw himself into preparing for their arrival, crafting a crib with his own hands, each piece imbued with the love he already felt for the tiny life growing within Amelia.
But fate, it seemed, had other plans. On the day their child, Samuel, was born, tragedy struck. Driving to the hospital in the dead of night, a thick fog descended, shrouding the road in an eerie silence. A blinding flash, the screech of tires, and then… nothing.
Oskar never got to hold his child. He never got to whisper words of love into their tiny ears. His life, filled with so much promise, was cut tragically short. Yet, even in death, his presence lingered. A whisper of warmth in the cold, a flicker of light in the darkness, a reminder that even the deepest love can transcend the veil of death.
Some say that Oskar’s spirit, unable to find peace, still wanders, drawn to places where families are torn apart, seeking to protect those left behind from the darkness that claimed him. A guardian angel, forever bound to the memory of a life unlived and a love that death itself could not extinguish.
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The Babadook’s Books of Dread:
Placement:

• Strategic Terror: The Babadook can place his three smaller books anywhere on the map, allowing for strategic mind games and dynamic gameplay. He might:
  • Place a book near a hooked survivor, forcing a risky rescue attempt.
  • Surrounding a generator, hindering repairs and amplifying fear in a crucial area.

Ritual Mechanics:

• Four Stages, Three Books: Each book requires a three-stage ritual to banish:
  1. Seek the Torn Page: A page ripped from the corresponding book is hidden within a 12-meter radius of the book’s location. This page contains a fragment of the banishment rhyme.
  2. The Memory box: Find a small box hidden somewhere around the map. The box is locked with a 3-digit code. The clues are scattered nearby.
  3. Trace the Circle of Courage: Two survivors must collaborate to draw a circle of protection around the book using a Red Crayon. Illusory Babadooks will attempt to distract and disorient them during this stage.
  4. Unite in the Chant: With the circle complete, all participating survivors must stand within its boundaries and speak the banishment rhyme in unison. The Babadook will intensify his psychological assault, whispering threats and dredging up their deepest fears.

Risks and Challenges:

• Illusory Distractions: The illusory Babadooks are harmless but distracting. They’ll flicker in and out of view, whisper survivors’ names, and even mimic their movements, making it difficult to focus on the ritual.
• Psychological Torment: The Babadook will exploit survivors’ vulnerabilities, whispering personalized threats, reminding them of past traumas, and attempting to break their resolve. The closer survivors are to a book, the more intense the whispers become.
• Coordination and Communication: The ritual demands teamwork and communication. Survivors must coordinate their actions, share information about page locations, and support each other during the chanting phase.

The Ritual’s Influence: As survivors banish the Books of Dread, the Babadook’s power will either diminish (ritual complete) or intensify (ritual incomplete). Each book banished grants ALL survivors a UNIQUE temporary boost.
Book Banishing Boosts:

• First Book Banished: +4% movement speed for all survivors.
• Second Book Banished: +5% repair, healing, and sabotage speed for all survivors.
• Third Book Banished: All survivors gain a 15% chance to avoid detection while in the Babadook’s terror radius.
• All Books Banished: All three boosts are applied simultaneously for 20 seconds.

Incomplete Ritual (Default & End-Game State):

• This is the Babadook’s starting point at the beginning of each trial.
• This is also how powerful he’ll be if ALL THREE books remain at the end of the trial.
• He retains his base power level and has no additional benefits.
• However: If the survivors have attempted and FAILED to complete the banishing ritual on ANY of the books, the Babadook gains access to his “Nightmare Manifestation” power as a last resort.

Ritual in Progress:

• Level 1 (3 Books Remaining): The Babadook is at his base level. He retains his base kit and has no additional benefits. The challenge for survivors is discovering the ritual and choosing to engage with it.
• Level 2 (2 Books Remaining): The Babadook becomes slightly more powerful, gaining a 3% movement speed boost. The whispers and illusions might intensify slightly.
• Level 3 (1 Book Remaining): The Babadook’s power grows significantly. His terror radius is increased by 4 meters, and his illusory copies become more frequent and disorienting.
• Level 4 (0 Books Remaining - Ritual Complete): The Babadook is significantly weakened. He loses any additional speed boosts or terror radius increases gained during the trial. He cannot use “Nightmare Manifestation.” The survivors have faced their fears and weakened his grip on the trial.

Escaping:

• Banishing All Books: Provides the most significant advantages, weakening the Babadook and empowering survivors.
• Banishing Some Books: Still offers benefits, but survivors will face a tougher challenge during the escape.
• No Books Banished: The Babadook will be at his strongest, making escape extremely difficult.

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Facing the Illusion: Survivor Interactions with the Babadook
To make the Babadook’s illusions more than just a passive threat, Survivors will need ways to interact with them.

1. Direct Confrontation: Seeing through

• Mechanic: Survivors within a set range of the illusion (8 meters) can press and hold the Active Ability button to “Focus” on the illusion.
  • Success: After a short channel (1.5 seconds), the illusion is revealed as a flickering, transparent figure for 4 seconds, visible to all Survivors. The Survivor who focused gains a 3-second burst of speed.
  • Failure: If the Survivor releases the button or is interrupted, the Focus fails, and the “Marked by Fear” duration on them is increased by 2 seconds. They also hear a close-range whisper from the Babadook.

1. Tactical Exploitation: Playing Pretend

• Mechanic: Survivors can use the illusion’s presence to their advantage:
  • False Hope: Standing within the illusion’s radius for 3 seconds while holding the Active Ability button grants the “False Hope” status effect for 5 seconds. This effect provides no benefits but creates moderately loud, fake notification sounds as if the Survivor is repairing a generator or cleansing a totem, potentially misleading the killer. (Cooldown: 45 seconds)
  • Whispers of Misdirection: While within the illusion’s radius, Survivors can press the Active Ability button to create a fake noise notification in a random direction within a 15-meter radius. This can be used to distract the killer or mask their true location. (Cooldown: 60 seconds)

1. Shared Nightmare:

• Mechanic: When a Survivor is affected by “Marked by Fear,” their aura is briefly revealed to all other Survivors within a certain range (16 meters). This creates a tense dynamic where Survivors need to weigh the risks and benefits of staying close together when the Babadook’s illusions are in play.

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Voice lines for the killer
Chasing Survivors:

• “You can’t hide forever.”
• “I’m coming for you…”
• (Maniacal laughter) “You’re mine!”
• “Don’t let it in…” (Whispered menacingly)

Hitting a Survivor:

• “You’re next!”
• “This is for your own good…”
• “Embrace the darkness…”

Downing a Survivor:

• (Deep, satisfied sigh) “Finally…”
• “The book told me to do it…”

Hooking a Survivor:

• “Don’t worry, it will all be over soon.”
• “The Entity is hungry…”
• “You brought this upon yourself.”

Mori:

• (The Babadook leans in close, whispering) “I warned you…” (Opens its mouth wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth)
• (The Babadook forces open the survivor’s mouth and shoves the book inside) “Read it! Read it all!”
• (The Babadook claws at the survivor’s chest, mimicking the book’s illustrations) “This is how the story ends…”

Hey everyone,
Hold onto your hats (and sanity) because I just finished writing a DBD chapter based on The Babadook, and let me tell you, it’s terrifying! I think it’ll bring the chills back to the Fog.
It’s got a Killer and two Survivors straight from the movie.
Who’s brave enough to read it? Feel free to skim through.
Let me know if you’re interested in the comments!
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Chapter:From Page to Terror
Killer: The Babadook
Perk 1: I’ll Wage My Campaign

• Description: Obsessive torment clouds your judgment. When a Survivor completes a Generator within a 16/14/12 meter radius of you, their aura is revealed to you for 3/4/5 seconds and gains the exposed status for 15 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk plays on The Babadook’s relentless pursuit of his victims. It allows him to track Survivors who are making progress on Generators, making it harder for them to hide.

Perk 2: Believe It or Not

• Description: Your presence lingers in the minds of Survivors. After hooking a Survivor, the next time they attempt to perform a rushed action (vaulting, healing, cleansing, etc.) within 10 seconds, they scream, revealing their location and suffering from the Hindered status effect for 4/5/6 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk reflects The Babadook’s ability to manipulate the minds of his victims, causing them to doubt their senses and make mistakes.

Perk 3: Mister Babadook

• Description: Your power grows with every failed attempt to deny your existence. For each successful skill check performed by Survivors working on gens while you're in a chase,you gain a token (up to a maximum of 5/6/7 tokens). Each token grants you a 1% increase in movement speed. All tokens are lost when you hit a Survivor.
• Explanation: This perk embodies the idea that The Babadook becomes stronger the more people try to ignore or suppress him. It rewards the killer for prolonged chases and punishes Survivors for trying to outmaneuver him.

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Real Name: Mister Babadook
Appearance:

• A towering figure in a black coat and a wide top hat, casting an imposing silhouette.
• His face is stretched into a horrifying grin with sharp teeth. With Long, claw fingers that twitch and grasp, eager to tear into his victim.

Weapon: The Book and the Claw

• The Babadook has a large, sharpened claw, an extension of his right hand, as his primary weapon.
• He clutches a tattered children’s book “Mister Babadook” in his left hand, for his nightmarish power the Babadook will be able to place 3 books anywhere around the map for survivors to find and banish with items found around the map.

Power: The Babadook’s Curse

• Dread: The Babadook inflicts a stacking status effect called Dread on Survivors through his abilities and presence. Dread manifests in increasingly disturbing visual and auditory hallucinations, impacting Survivor's actions and perception.
• Nightmare Essence: The Babadook projects an aura of Nightmare Essence around himself, lingering in the environment and clinging to objects. This Essence acts as a conduit for his power, amplifying Dread and enabling special abilities.

Abilities:

1. Hallucination Surge (Cooldown): The Babadook unleashes a surge of nightmarish energy.
   • Within his Terror Radius: Survivors suffer a large spike in Dread and briefly see illusory copies of the Babadook lunging at them from random directions.
   • Outside his Terror Radius: Survivors within Nightmare Essence see a quick flash of the Babadook’s form in their vision, suffering a smaller increase in Dread.
2. Fearful Whispers (Active Ability): The Babadook focuses his power, intensifying the whispers of fear within a selected area where Nightmare Essence is present.
   • Targeted Area: The chosen area becomes shrouded in a visible haze of Nightmare Essence. Survivors within this area suffer from the following effects:
     • Shrinking Skill Check Zones: Success zones for skill checks are significantly reduced, making actions riskier.
     • Increased Dread Gain: All sources of Dread inflict a higher amount.
     • Sound Distortion: The sounds of their actions are amplified, potentially drawing the Babadook’s attention.

Dread Stages:

• Stage 1 (Whispers and Shadows): Faint whispers, flickering shadows. Skill check success zones are slightly reduced.
• Stage 2 (Manifestations): Frequent hallucinations, distorted sounds. Skill check success zones are moderately reduced. Hindered status effect applied.
• Stage 3 (Crippling Fear): Near-constant hallucinations, significantly obscured vision and sound. Considerably harder skill checks.
• Stage 4 (Consumed by Darkness): Survivor screams and collapses, becoming broken for 5/10/15 seconds. Their aura is revealed to the Babadook.

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Addons:
Brown Addons (common)

• Scrapbook Page: Increases the duration of the Fear status effect by 1/2/3 seconds.
• Torn Photograph: Slightly increases the movement speed of illusory copies created by Hallucination Surge.
• Cracked Music Box: When a survivor interacts with a Babadook illusion, they scream, revealing their location, and become exposed for 4/5/6 seconds. The illusion is then destroyed.
• Whispering Pages: Moderately increases the range at which Fearful Whispers affects Survivors’ skill checks.

Yellow Addons (Uncommon)

• Pop-Up Book: When a Survivor under the effect of Fear fails a skill check, they scream, revealing their location for 3/4/5 seconds.
• Red Shoe: The Babadook’s terror radius is hidden from Survivors under the effect of Fear.
• Monstrous Voice: Survivors within The Babadook’s terror radius suffer from the Oblivious status effect for 5/6/7 seconds while under the influence of Fear.
• Bent Spoon: Successfully hitting a Survivor grants The Babadook a burst of movement speed for 5/6/7 seconds.

Green (Rare)

• Mother’s Lipstick: A touch of glamour masking a chilling truth. Survivors who look at The Babadook while their Nightmare meter is above 75% scream and have their aura revealed for 2/3/4 seconds.
• Broken Picture Frame: A family portrait, shattered beyond repair. Your Terror Radius is suppressed for 4/5/6 seconds after manifesting a Babadook illusion.
• Sam’s Hand-Drawn Monster: A child’s nightmare-given form. Babadook illusions now inflict the exposed status effect on nearby Survivors within a 4/6/8 meter radius for 4/5/6 seconds.
• Scratched Film Reel: Images flicker and distort, blurring the line between reality and nightmare. When a Survivor’s Nightmare meter reaches 100%, their aura is revealed to you for 3/4/5 seconds.

Purple (Very Rare)

• Water-Damaged Photograph: A cherished memory, warped and faded by grief. Whenever a Survivor’s Nightmare meter fills, the duration of all active Babadook illusions is increased by 4/6/8 seconds.
• Scrawled Note in Children’s Handwriting: “Don’t let him in!” When a Survivor within your Terror Radius reaches 100% Nightmare, all other Survivors outside of your Terror Radius have their Nightmare meter increased by 10/15/20%. This effect can only trigger once every 30/25/20 seconds.
• Ripped Bedtime Story: A tale abruptly cut short, leaving a lingering sense of dread. When a Babadook illusion disappears, Survivors within a 6/8/10 meter radius suffer from the Hindered status effect for 4/5/6 seconds.
• Ink-Stained Handkerchief: Used to wipe away tears, now stained with the darkness of the book. For each 15/12/10% of Nightmare meter, a survivor gains, their action speeds for repairing, healing, and cleansing are decreased by 2/3/4%, up to a maximum of 8/12/16%. This effect lingers for 4 seconds after they stop gaining Nightmare.

Iridescent Addons(Ultra Rare)

• The Babadook’s Replica Book: A twisted reflection of the original, brimming with dark power. You start the trial with a second Babadook illusion that can be placed independently. This illusion has a 50% reduced duration.
• A Lock of Amelia’s Hair: A mother’s love, twisted into something possessive and cruel. Babadook illusions now emit a Terror Radius of 8/12/16 meters. Survivors within this radius suffer from the Hindered and Exhausted status effects for 10/20/30 seconds.

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Backstory
The Entity did not seek out a man in a suit, nor a clawed beast, when it found Mister Babadook. It found a story. A whisper that festered in the dark corners of children’s minds, feeding on the anxieties of parents ill-equipped to face it. The Babadook was never truly one being, but a manifestation of the terror that took root when denial met grief. Amelia, driven to the edge by the loss of her husband, became the perfect vessel. Her son, Samuel, became the catalyst.
The Entity, hungry for potent fear, did not claim the Babadook so much as it absorbed the story, twisting it into a new horror. Now, the Nightmare echoes with Amelia’s despair, amplified and never-ending. The Babadook is no longer confined to a single house or a single family. He is the bogeyman in every closet, the monster under every bed, given form by the Entity’s power.
The Babadook stalks survivors with an unsettling stillness, his movements a disjointed waltz between predator and phantom. He doesn’t need illusions to instill terror but to create hallucinations to drive his victims to insanity. His presence alone warps the environment, turning the familiar into the menacing. Toys twitch to life, whispering threats. Shadows writhe with unnatural menace. The air itself grows heavy with dread, increasing the survivors’ fear and weakening their resolve.
He preys on their vulnerabilities, exploiting past traumas and anxieties. A survivor who fears enclosed spaces might find themselves struggling to breathe, walls seeming to close in. One haunted by a childhood bully might hear taunting whispers, their name hissed with malicious glee.
The Entity delights in the Babadook’s unique brand of psychological torment. For what is more terrifying than the monster you cannot outrun, the fear that festers within, waiting for the moment you break, the moment you whisper, “Babadook.”
The Entity revels in the Babadook’s ability to tap into these primal fears. For what is more terrifying than confronting the monsters we thought we’d left behind, the realization that some fears never truly disappear, they simply evolve alongside us, waiting for the moment we’re vulnerable enough to be consumed once more.
He preys on the insecurities we carry from childhood: the fear of abandonment, the terror of the unknown, the helplessness of being small in a world that seems designed to swallow you whole. He might force survivors to relive traumatic childhood memories, trapping them in looping corridors that echo with the taunts of bullies or the despair of neglectful guardians.
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Amelia Vanek: Survivor
Perk 1: Mother’s Intuition

• Description: You possess a heightened awareness of impending danger. When the Killer reads your aura or gains a Killer Instinct notification on you, you receive a visual and auditory cue indicating the general direction of the Killer for 3/4/5 seconds. This perk has a cooldown of 45/40/35 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk represents Amelia’s maternal instincts and her ability to sense when her son, Samuel, is in danger. It gives her a brief moment of warning when the Killer is focusing on her, allowing for a slightly better chance to react and evade.

Perk 2: Repressed Memory

• Description: The trauma you’ve endured has left you with a fragmented memory, but also a strange resilience. When you are unhooked or escape from the Killer’s grasp, you leave behind a false aura for 4/5/6 seconds that briefly misdirects the Killer. This perk has a cooldown of 60/50/40 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk plays on the psychological aspect of Amelia’s struggle with The Babadook. It creates a moment of confusion for the Killer, similar to how Amelia’s memories were muddled by the entity’s influence.

Perk 3: Don’t You Tell Them

• Description: You’ve learned to mask your fear to protect others. When performing a rushed action within the Killer’s Terror Radius, your grunts of pain are silenced for 4/6/8 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk reflects Amelia’s attempts to shield Samuel from the full extent of their terrifying situation. It allows her to perform necessary actions without drawing as much attention to herself, increasing her chances of survival.

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Backstory:
Amelia Vanek was once a woman filled with love and hope, eagerly awaiting the birth of her son, Samuel. However, tragedy struck on the day of his arrival when her husband Oskar died in a car accident. The joy of welcoming their child into the world was overshadowed by grief and loss.
As Samuel grew older, he exhibited challenging behavior that tested Amelia’s patience and resolve. He became fixated on a mysterious pop-up book titled “Mister Babadook,” claiming it depicted a sinister entity haunting them. Despite dismissing it as childhood imagination at first, strange occurrences began to unfold around them.
The lines between reality and nightmare blurred for Amelia as she grappled with her own inner demons while trying to raise Samuel alone. The presence of The Babadook seemed to loom over their lives like a dark cloud, feeding off her sorrow and amplifying her fears.
Driven to desperation by sleepless nights haunted by visions of The Babadook and Samuel’s erratic behavior influenced by his belief in the creature’s existence, Amelia struggled to maintain control over her unraveling life.
In an attempt to protect herself and Samuel from the malevolent force that threatened their sanity, Amelia confronted The Babadook head-on. Through sheer determination and sacrifice, she managed to contain its influence within herself but not without enduring immense psychological torment along the way.
Now marked by trauma but fueled by resilience born out of maternal instinct, Amelia finds herself drawn into the Entity’s realm where she must confront both external threats and the lingering shadows of her past if she hopes to survive another day in this twisted landscape.
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Oskar Vanek: Survivor
Perk 1: Resilient Spirit

• Description: Your unwavering determination in the face of adversity fuels your resolve. When injured, your recovery speed is increased by 15%/20%/25%. Additionally, you have a 50% chance to reduce the duration of the Hindered status effect applied to you by successful Killer attacks.
• Explanation: This perk reflects Oskar’s resilience in coping with life’s challenges, both before and after his untimely death. It allows him to recover more quickly from injuries and potentially evade further hindrances imposed by the Killer.

Perk 2: Watchful Protector

• Description: You’re always alert for danger, especially when those you care about are vulnerable. When within an 8/12/16 meter radius of a hooked survivor, you can see the Killer’s aura for 2/3/4 seconds if they are within a 16-meter radius of the hook. This perk has a cooldown of 60/50/40 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk highlights Oskar’s protective nature and awareness of his surroundings. It allows him to assess the situation around a hooked survivor and potentially make a move to intervene or warn others.

Perk 3: Lasting Legacy

• Description: The memory of your sacrifice lingers on, inspiring those around you. Each time you are unhooked or healed from dying state by another Survivor, all nearby Survivors gain a small boost (5%/7%/10%) to repair speeds for Generators for 3/4/5 seconds.
• Explanation: This perk honors Oskar’s legacy of selflessness and bravery even beyond death. By channeling his spirit into aiding others’ efforts toward escape, he continues to make a meaningful impact on the team’s chances of survival.

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Backstory:
Oskar Vanek was a man who understood the preciousness of life. A devoted husband to Amelia and soon-to-be father, he approached everything with strength and a warm smile. He was the anchor in the storm, the calm amidst chaos.
A carpenter by trade, Oskar possessed a quiet artistry, transforming wood into objects of beauty and practicality. His hands, calloused yet gentle, built the world around him with care and precision. He poured the same love and dedication into his relationship with Amelia, cherishing every moment they had together.
The news of Amelia’s pregnancy filled him with a joy he could barely contain. He dreamt of their child, of teaching them to ride a bike, of reading them bedtime stories. He threw himself into preparing for their arrival, crafting a crib with his own hands, each piece imbued with the love he already felt for the tiny life growing within Amelia.
But fate, it seemed, had other plans. On the day their child, Samuel, was born, tragedy struck. Driving to the hospital in the dead of night, a thick fog descended, shrouding the road in an eerie silence. A blinding flash, the screech of tires, and then… nothing.
Oskar never got to hold his child. He never got to whisper words of love into their tiny ears. His life, filled with so much promise, was cut tragically short. Yet, even in death, his presence lingered. A whisper of warmth in the cold, a flicker of light in the darkness, a reminder that even the deepest love can transcend the veil of death.
Some say that Oskar’s spirit, unable to find peace, still wanders, drawn to places where families are torn apart, seeking to protect those left behind from the darkness that claimed him. A guardian angel, forever bound to the memory of a life unlived and a love that death itself could not extinguish.
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The Babadook’s Books of Dread:
Placement:

• Strategic Terror: The Babadook can place his three smaller books anywhere on the map, allowing for strategic mind games and dynamic gameplay. He might:
  • Place a book near a hooked survivor, forcing a risky rescue attempt.
  • Surrounding a generator, hindering repairs and amplifying fear in a crucial area.

Ritual Mechanics:

• Four Stages, Three Books: Each book requires a three-stage ritual to banish:
  1. Seek the Torn Page: A page ripped from the corresponding book is hidden within a 12-meter radius of the book’s location. This page contains a fragment of the banishment rhyme.
  2. The Memory box: Find a small box hidden somewhere around the map. The box is locked with a 3-digit code. The clues are scattered nearby.
  3. Trace the Circle of Courage: Two survivors must collaborate to draw a circle of protection around the book using a Red Crayon. Illusory Babadooks will attempt to distract and disorient them during this stage.
  4. Unite in the Chant: With the circle complete, all participating survivors must stand within its boundaries and speak the banishment rhyme in unison. The Babadook will intensify his psychological assault, whispering threats and dredging up their deepest fears.

Risks and Challenges:

• Illusory Distractions: The illusory Babadooks are harmless but distracting. They’ll flicker in and out of view, whisper survivors’ names, and even mimic their movements, making it difficult to focus on the ritual.
• Psychological Torment: The Babadook will exploit survivors’ vulnerabilities, whispering personalized threats, reminding them of past traumas, and attempting to break their resolve. The closer survivors are to a book, the more intense the whispers become.
• Coordination and Communication: The ritual demands teamwork and communication. Survivors must coordinate their actions, share information about page locations, and support each other during the chanting phase.

The Ritual’s Influence: As survivors banish the Books of Dread, the Babadook’s power will either diminish (ritual complete) or intensify (ritual incomplete). Each book banished grants ALL survivors a UNIQUE temporary boost.
Book Banishing Boosts:

• First Book Banished: +4% movement speed for all survivors.
• Second Book Banished: +5% repair, healing, and sabotage speed for all survivors.
• Third Book Banished: All survivors gain a 15% chance to avoid detection while in the Babadook’s terror radius.
• All Books Banished: All three boosts are applied simultaneously for 20 seconds.

Incomplete Ritual (Default & End-Game State):

• This is the Babadook’s starting point at the beginning of each trial.
• This is also how powerful he’ll be if ALL THREE books remain at the end of the trial.
• He retains his base power level and has no additional benefits.
• However: If the survivors have attempted and FAILED to complete the banishing ritual on ANY of the books, the Babadook gains access to his “Nightmare Manifestation” power as a last resort.

Ritual in Progress:

• Level 1 (3 Books Remaining): The Babadook is at his base level. He retains his base kit and has no additional benefits. The challenge for survivors is discovering the ritual and choosing to engage with it.
• Level 2 (2 Books Remaining): The Babadook becomes slightly more powerful, gaining a 3% movement speed boost. The whispers and illusions might intensify slightly.
• Level 3 (1 Book Remaining): The Babadook’s power grows significantly. His terror radius is increased by 4 meters, and his illusory copies become more frequent and disorienting.
• Level 4 (0 Books Remaining - Ritual Complete): The Babadook is significantly weakened. He loses any additional speed boosts or terror radius increases gained during the trial. He cannot use “Nightmare Manifestation.” The survivors have faced their fears and weakened his grip on the trial.

Escaping:

• Banishing All Books: Provides the most significant advantages, weakening the Babadook and empowering survivors.
• Banishing Some Books: Still offers benefits, but survivors will face a tougher challenge during the escape.
• No Books Banished: The Babadook will be at his strongest, making escape extremely difficult.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Facing the Illusion: Survivor Interactions with the Babadook
To make the Babadook’s illusions more than just a passive threat, Survivors will need ways to interact with them.

1. Direct Confrontation: Seeing through

• Mechanic: Survivors within a set range of the illusion (8 meters) can press and hold the Active Ability button to “Focus” on the illusion.
  • Success: After a short channel (1.5 seconds), the illusion is revealed as a flickering, transparent figure for 4 seconds, visible to all Survivors. The Survivor who focused gains a 3-second burst of speed.
  • Failure: If the Survivor releases the button or is interrupted, the Focus fails, and the “Marked by Fear” duration on them is increased by 2 seconds. They also hear a close-range whisper from the Babadook.

1. Tactical Exploitation: Playing Pretend

• Mechanic: Survivors can use the illusion’s presence to their advantage:
  • False Hope: Standing within the illusion’s radius for 3 seconds while holding the Active Ability button grants the “False Hope” status effect for 5 seconds. This effect provides no benefits but creates moderately loud, fake notification sounds as if the Survivor is repairing a generator or cleansing a totem, potentially misleading the killer. (Cooldown: 45 seconds)
  • Whispers of Misdirection: While within the illusion’s radius, Survivors can press the Active Ability button to create a fake noise notification in a random direction within a 15-meter radius. This can be used to distract the killer or mask their true location. (Cooldown: 60 seconds)

1. Shared Nightmare:

• Mechanic: When a Survivor is affected by “Marked by Fear,” their aura is briefly revealed to all other Survivors within a certain range (16 meters). This creates a tense dynamic where Survivors need to weigh the risks and benefits of staying close together when the Babadook’s illusions are in play.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Voice lines for the killer
Chasing Survivors:

• “You can’t hide forever.”
• “I’m coming for you…”
• (Maniacal laughter) “You’re mine!”
• “Don’t let it in…” (Whispered menacingly)

Hitting a Survivor:

• “You’re next!”
• “This is for your own good…”
• “Embrace the darkness…”

Downing a Survivor:

• (Deep, satisfied sigh) “Finally…”
• “The book told me to do it…”

Hooking a Survivor:

• “Don’t worry, it will all be over soon.”
• “The Entity is hungry…”
• “You brought this upon yourself.”

Mori:

• (The Babadook leans in close, whispering) “I warned you…” (Opens its mouth wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth)
• (The Babadook forces open the survivor’s mouth and shoves the book inside) “Read it! Read it all!”
• (The Babadook claws at the survivor’s chest, mimicking the book’s illustrations) “This is how the story ends…”

Part 1, Part 1.5, Part 2, Part 2.5, & Part 3 for my rewrite of the Batman Arkham Games have been about my changes & adjustments to Arkham Asylum, City, Origins, & Knight, along with the set of DLC packs set after the main storyline. This new part will culminate my improvements to each DLC:
8.) A Matter Of Family #8: Under The Red Hood (Red Hood)

• The DLC opens with a cutscene displaying Jason Todd's grave. A group of figures unveiled as the League of Assassins approaches it during the night and they take Jason's body while replacing it with an identical replica. The body is brought to Ra's Al Ghul, who's grieving over the death of Talia and blames Batman for it since he refused to kill Joker. As Jason is placed into the Lazarus Pit, Ra's believes this can be a way to correct his mistake and mold a stronger heir for the League, who can do things Batman and Talia couldn't.
• Jason screams in agony when he's revived while feeling confused & terrified. Ra's approaches him and calms him down by assuring him he's safe, but Jason has no memory of who he was, yet, which is one of the Lazarus Pit's side effects. Ra's Al Ghul plants ideas in his mind about how he suffered a terrible fate but him saving his life can help him strive for a greater purpose. Jason is unsure of if he can trust Ra's, but he agrees. The cutscene transitions to each phase of Jason's training under the League of Assassins. The player gets to experience the period of Jason's training by being put up against League members, catching criminals around areas, and learning to use deception and agility to apply them to stealth. In the process, Jason slowly regains memories of his past as Robin when flashbacks ensue, on occasion.
• Ra's Al Ghul worries about Jason regaining his memories. Out of wanting to make sure he uses his potential to become his heir, he helps him focus on regaining his memories for him to recognize the flaws in Batman's moral code and how his crusade got him & many innocents killed because of his inability to act & be held back by society's laws towards criminals. Jason is seemingly convinced by Ra's about his claims about Batman and what the League aims to do but feels suspicious about what he's being used for.
• As Jason continues to train under the League, his next test is to execute a criminal the League deems to be intolerable, who's Alberto Falcone. It's explained he was brought in by the League because of claims in Gotham City about how he wanted to take over his father's criminal empire since he was cast aside and tried to evade arrest since there was undeniable proof about him wanting to gain power in the criminal underworld. Before Alberto's execution, Jason secretly sees him and asks what he did. Alberto claims the accusations against him were false and someone's been framing him for crime-related allegations. He thinks he could be telling the truth and is very concerned for him when learning his mental illness was a factor in the claims against him.
• On the day Jason Todd is ordered to execute Alberto Falcone, he feels conflicted about whether or not he should do it since he could be telling the truth about how he claims to have been framed for allegations toward him. Ra's claims it's a way of him lying his way out of facing his penance for his family's sins and doesn't care about his life to continue molding Jason into his heir. When Jason's told to kill Alberto, he refuses since in this case, he hasn't been proven guilty from what he heard about his situation. Jason's refusal to kill Alberto makes him question if he'll turn against him or if he can mold him into his heir when Jason tells them to lock him up until it's proven he's guilty.
• Jason's last few flashbacks unveiled by him is when Joker captured and tortured him. It refuels his inner rage and he starts to see Ra's no different from Joker when he used him and molded him into his pet until his demise. He has secret meetings with members of the League to convince them to recognize the flaws in Ra's leadership and how he's using them like he's doing to him. Jason has these discussions with a select few of the members to not draw too much suspicion to him and he devises a plan to overthrow Ra's by learning about the source of his power & Ra's weaknesses.
• Jason Todd and Ra's Al Ghul falling out leads to a boss fight between them. The player gets to use what Jason's been taught by Ra's during the start of the DLC and apply it to defeating him so Jason can earn his freedom. After the boss fight ends, Jason finds a way to rid Ra's of his strength from the Lazarus Pit and finishes him off so he can't keep controlling The League. Afterward, members of the League of Assassins choose to join Jason since he proved himself to be more noble than Ra's and those who refuse to join him are killed selectively.
• Jason Todd reorganizes the League of Assassins after taking leadership from Ra's. He frees Alberto from imprisonment, under the condition he answers to him. They become equals in their growing alliance and anonymously use an airplane through one of Alberto's resources and they return to Gotham City while using low profiles to plan their next move. Jason straps up with shurikens, guns, and various gadgets that are a combination of his resources and Alberto's funding. The first task for the player, as Red Hood, is to take control of criminal territories with leads from Alberto Falcone that are on where the criminals operate to show while he isn't like his father, he has a fair amount of knowledge about the city's crime-ridden areas. Jason takes control of territories from Penguin, Two-Face, and drug dealers to shut down their operations and give them control to the League Loyalists while avoiding being spotted by the Batfamily.
• The player hunts a select few of Batman's villains consisting of Two-Face, Penguin, Victor Zsasz, and Professor Pyg while Alberto keeps in touch with Jason through the intercom. Red Hood's set of gadgets consists of dual pistols that can combine into a sniper rifle, a combat knife, shurikens, a taser, pocket explosives, and smoke grenades for stealth. Afterward, Red Hood manages to decrease levels of crime in Gotham City from the shadows with the media questioning who the person is. It isn't long until Batman and the Batfamily investigate the unexplained killings of the four villains and other criminals. Some left alive by Red Hood are interrogated and the answers they give have them genuinely fear him, which concerns them.
• Rumors and speculation about Red Hood are ongoing news for Gotham City and the Batfamily question who this person is. The player has brief moments of playing as each Batfamily member when investigating crime scenes to get clues on the Red Hood. Meanwhile, Red Hood plans on how to handle the Batfamily since he knows he'll have to face them, so he uses non-lethal bullets to switch to, on occasion. Jason hears news about a growing movement in Gotham City, which would be a group called the "Jokerz Gang" that's being formed from downtrodden citizens of Gotham City who view the Joker's chaos as a form of inspiration to go against the rules in the crime-ridden city, which pisses Jason off and he straps up to investigate who's associated with this growing cult.
• The next cutscene shows Jokerz Gang members having a twisted party in a warehouse. They're supplied with drinks, snacks, and replicas of Joker's weapons used before he died. Hints and clues for who's the leader are implied by the members. Red Hood gets leads on the whereabouts of a section of the Jokerz gang from Alberto, which leads him to the warehouse. Red Hood and League Loyalists infiltrate the warehouse and watch Joker King, a notable member of the gang, inspire the Jokerz members and talk about how nothing in the crime-ridden streets of the City has changed with very little freedom because of people like Batman & Gordon, who've done nothing to change how things are, but in their eyes, Joker was a revolutionary form of change before he died, so they intend to bring their form of change to the streets of Gotham City so everyone can recognize how valuable their freedom is. That is until Red Hood and the League members show themselves in the warehouse and have the Jokerz terrified, which has King Joker tell them to attack. The player gets to kill each member of the Jokerz in the warehouse, one by one, with the League Loyalists helping you while Joker King gets his best members to help take down Red Hood, who would consist of J-Man, Coe, Scab, Top Hat Joker, Lee, Dottie, Smirk, and Spike.
• After Red Hood and The League Loyalists kill the swarm of Jokerz members, he interrogates J-Man to get answers on who's the leader and he claims that the Joker's everywhere, which has Jason act more brutal to get answers out of him. J-Man succumbs to the pain and is forced to give answers about where the other members of the Jokerz are but he won't be able to stop their goal to make Gotham City realize how they're wasting the freedom they should have. Red Hood retorts about how the "freedom" the Jokerz think they have will cost them before he kills him and he and the League Loyalists head out to search for the other Jokerz gang members. Batman and the Batfamily investigate the warehouse and are horrified when they see the bodies. Batman's detective vision has him deduce whoever's behind it is leading the remaining members of the League of Assassins to achieve some kind of new goal.
• Red Hood listens to conversations from Jokerz Gang members areas of Gotham City. It allows the player to target them and interrogate them for information about their plan and who's the leader of the group. However, Batman and the Batfamily constantly target you in an attempt to bring you in and you would need to evade them by countering their attacks. Cutscenes show each member trying to get a match on Red Hood's identity. Batman deduces it when getting a voice match and DNA match, which has him and the Batfamily shocked when learning Red Hood is Jason Todd.
• News broadcasts show The Joker King and Neo Joker sending various messages to Gotham City about what the Jokerz Gang is meant to do and how people like Batman and Red Hood stand in the way of freedom and make them think their normal lives are meaningless to persuade more people to join them. The GCPD is trying to stop the Jokerz Gang and find the Red Hood, but they struggle when the body count of Jokerz members rises and the gang takes new measures in preparing for encounters with him and the Batfamily. There's a cutscene that shows The Joker King and Neo Joker overseeing their operations and how disposable some of their members are while considering the ones who have the most potential to be the strongest when they carry out their plan.
• Hints for the plan of Joker King and Neo Joker that'll come into play, later on, are implied as they go over it and oversee candidates for who can stop Red Hood and The Batfamily. The two find several worthy candidates consisting of Terminal, Ghoul, Chucko, Woof, Tayko, & Bonk, who are chosen for their twisted but unique set of skills. Terminal's intelligence, Ghoul's expertise in creating fear toxin as Scarecrow inspired him, Chucko's talent to inflict misery, Woof's animalistic tendencies, Tayko's athleticism, and Bonk's strength are the reasons why they're chosen by them.
• Red Hood gets a lead on an outpost for Jokerz Gang members, but it's unveiled to be a trap set up by the Batfamily, who didn't want to do it but warn him to stop & turn himself in, which he refuses as he claims their code won't stop what Joker's inspired for the worst of people. Batman shows up and he reveals to Red Hood that he knows he's Jason Todd. Red Hood unmasks himself and retorts how he finally remembers him. Batman does his best to not get emotional and tries to reason with him, but Jason refuses since he believes all of his rules haven't made the city safe and the Jokerz are prime examples of people taking his morals for granted, which is why he needs to do what needs to be done if Bruce can't. The Batfamily tries to convince Jason he can be better than that, but Jason isn't having it. A boss fight ensues for Red Hood that forces the player to fight Batman and each of the Batfamily members at once. After the player defeats the whole Batfamily, he's conflicted about what he did when he sees the Batfamily hurt. Red Hood picks up Batman and pins him to the wall while warning him to stay out of his way and he knows what to do with all his pain by putting it all into a bullet and putting it right in between the eyes of people like the Jokerz and Batman's endless amount of psychos. Jason disappears, via smoke bomb, before Batman can get him. This forces the group to step up their games and stop Jason before he escalates.
• The player is tasked to track each new member of the Jokerz Gang consisting of Terminal, Ghoul, Chucko, Woof, Tayko, and Bonk. Each of them plants small bombs that spread Joker's laughing gas amongst citizens to infect them, which has Jason create a cure for the victims with Alberto's help. In each boss fight, you have to be cautious when switching between lethal & non-lethal bullets since the infected victims of the laughing gas don't have control over their actions and it's meant to show Jason has a level of humanity left in him, despite his revenge-driven crusade.
• In some of the boss fights Batfamily members interfere in an attempt to reason with Jason & stop him from killing the Jokerz Gang members, which results in different outcomes for each boss fight after the player completes them. The last section of Red Hood's time tracking down the Jokerz Gang members has the player find Neo Joker's lair. Jason carefully enters her lair to be prepared for any traps she placed and you have to get past them to get to her office. In it, he deduces Neo-Joker is the 2nd-in-command of the gang & learns her identity, along with King Joker's. Jason also learns their next place to target is a gala event where they'll spread laughing gas onto wealthy individuals and release them onto the streets to paint the rich in an insane light.
• After Red Hood extracts copies of the files, Batman arrives and the player then has to outrun him while he tries to catch you. The 1st section has you needing to sprint out of the warehouse while evading Batman's attacks. The 2nd section has Red Hood use his cycle to escape from Batman and GCPD officers chasing him while taking shortcuts and hidden routes so he isn't caught. Afterward, Jason gives Bruce an anonymous message about where King Joker and Neo Joker are going to be and he shouldn't solely be concerned about him.
• Batman and the Batfamily analyze copies of the files anonymously sent to them by Red Hood and learn the plan of the Jokerz Gang, along with their real identities and how an upcoming gala event is their next target to spread the laughing gas. Red Hood warns Alberto about the next move of the Jokerz, so he sends an anonymous tip to the GCPD about the plan of the Jokerz. The GCPD is forced to keep an eye on any Jokerz gang members who could be at the gala event, especially the leaders since they can be anyone.
• At the gala event, Bruce and the Batfamily go in their civilian identities to keep an eye out for King Joker and Neo Joker since they can be any one of the rich folks who attend the event and for Jason since there's a chance he can show up. Jason Todd disguises himself as a gala banquet with an alias he made to keep an eye out for any infiltrators. The player uses stealth and high-tech contact lenses to identify who's the Jokerz gang members in the gala and you have to lure them away from witnesses and take them down without being spotted.
• After the stealth section, Batman eventually catches Jason and this enacts a fight for the player against Batman but while they fight, both King Joker & Neo Joker take advantage of the conniption between the two by having their gang members crash the party by engaging in a shootout with GCPD officers guarding the place and they crash the event. The fight between Red Hood & Batman is halted when they learn about this, so they're forced to briefly put their differences aside to save the guests at the gala. The next playable section has Red Hood reluctantly fight with the Batfamily against Joker-infected opponents.
• As Red Hood, you get to switch between a cure for the laughing gas, and lethal + non-lethal bullets during the fight. After you complete it, Red Hood is cornered by the GCPD and Batfamily, who give him one last chance to turn himself in. Jason has flashbacks to his resurrection, killing his enemies from earlier, training with the League, and Joker torturing him, which gives Batman an opening to restrain Red Hood while he's distracted. Batman negotiates with the GCPD to take him in so he can be analyzed, which Mayor Jim Gordon approves of and Jason's taken back to the Batcave.
• Red Hood is brought into the Batcave to be examined by the Batfamily. Jason is cooperative in a reluctant way as he's kept in a holding cell and Jason is angry at Batman, but Bruce wants to make sure Jason stays there since he's caused enough harm to others and himself. He isn't about how he can reason with Jason since he's been relentless in his revenge-driven crusade. Dick, Barbara, Tim, and Damian debate on how they should deal with Jason. Dick, Barbara, and Damian think that they shouldn't give up on him and Tim is unsure since he went against everything Bruce stood for.
• Joker King and Neo Joker are experimenting with the fear toxin and laughing gas. They mix them and create a concoction that can give them a new advantage over the GCPD and Batfamily so they can continue spreading their influence. However, they were only able to make a few so they fight over who's most suitable to use the mixed concoctions and Joker King kills Neo Joker to take the batch for himself so he can be the only Joker. Back in the Batcave, Jason starts feeling remorse for the things he did & what he's felt from the Lazarus Pit's effects, which are signs of bits of humanity left in him but he isn't sure if Batman would accept him back. Jason thinks it's too late for him to make up for his actions since he's so devoted to his one rule & he only wanted to help the innocent, despite his brutality. Bruce understands Jason's feelings & recognizes things from his perspective, but if he wants to not be what Ra's Al Ghul made him, he should trust him and let go of his rage since even in the worst of times, he hasn't given up on people and won't give up on Jason either since he believes he failed him.
• The League Loyalists, who are tracking down remaining Jokerz Gang members, learn Jason Todd is captured and trace his location, via a tracking device he secretly stored in his helmet while avoiding being caught by the Batfamily. They find the underground entrance to the Batcave so they aren't seen by the security in Wayne Manor and travel in the sewers that lead to it. Just as it seems Jason might make up for his actions with Bruce and the rest of the Batfamily when they consider giving him a 2nd chance, Tim finds a tracker in Jason's helmet. Right on cue, the League Loyalists show up in the Batcave & stand guard around their leader with the Batfamily shocked Jason played them.
• Before Jason leaves, he questions Bruce who he thinks he sees: Is it the street kid he used to look after? The 2nd Robin who died a scared, defenseless boy at the hands of a murderous clown? He claims while he and the Batfamily use fear as a tool to protect Gotham City, they haven't had an effect on criminals and murderers who take their morality for granted and aren't afraid. Bruce tries to tell Jason he may have become that, but Jason cuts him off by saying he didn't just become that, he chose to become Bruce's fear and keep criminals off the streets for good. Tonight, he'll make sure it isn't the end for Gotham's citizens, but it will be for the Jokerz and what Joker left behind.
• Jason Todd takes Bruce's Batcycle and sprints out of the Batcave with the League Loyalists following him. Red Hood tries to communicate with Alberto but hears King Joker, who taunts him and vows to make him suffer like Joker did since he knows he's Jason Todd. Alberto assures him he'll be okay and tells him to be careful when searching for him. He suggests how he could get Batman's help, but he reveals he's being chased at the moment, which Alberto is concerned about. He's cut off and Jason continues to be in pursuit of where he is with the Batfamily chasing him on the streets of Gotham City. It enacts a playable chase sequence where as Red Hood, you have to avoid getting hit with non-lethal projectiles by the Batfamily who try to slow you down while cars of the Jokerz Gang try to kill you and the others.
• Jason Todd takes the Batcycle and sprints out of the Batcave while ordering the League Loyalists to hold them off. The player gets to switch between Batman and the Batfamily members when they fight against the remaining League of Assassins members, who lethally try to disarm you and your allies instead of trying to kill you, under Jason's orders. When you take them down, Batman knows Jason didn't tell them to kill him or the others, which they would've if he wanted to, and he interrogates one of the Loyalists to learn where Jason's going, but to no avail when he refuses.
• Red Hood communicates with Alberto but hears King Joker, who taunts him and vows to make him suffer like Joker did since he knows who he is under the hood he wears. Alberto assures him he'll be fine and tells him to be careful when searching for him. He suggests he could get Batman's help, but it's shown he's being chased at the moment, which Alberto is concerned about. He's cut off and Jason continues to be in pursuit of where he is with the Batfamily chasing him. It enacts a playable chase sequence where as Red Hood, you have to avoid getting hit with non-lethal projectiles by the Batfamily who try to slow you down while cars of the Jokerz Gang try to kill you and the others.
• If you evade the Jokerz Gang vehicles and the Batfamily while they chase you long enough, you make it to King Joker's lair where he's waiting for you, but before Jason can enter, he still feels conflicted when memories of his past come back to him. He pushes past it and enters the lair to confront King Joker to end him, once and for all. Red Hood comes face to face with King Joker, who has Alberto Falcone held captive in an area in the lair. Jason threatens him, but King Joker threatens his life if he dares to pull the trigger and even uses the same crowbar used to kill him, which he bought from an auction.
• As Jason's right here he wants him, King Joker uses a modified version of the Titan Formula to gain strength while combining the new dose to resemble the original Joker. Jason watches in complete shock as Joker King transforms, but he prepares as he's determined to do what Batman and the Batfamily can't so he doesn't hurt anyone else. Here's each stage for the final boss fight:

1. Red Hood fights against Jokerz Gang henchmen while King Joker, from afar, throws exploding teeth and shoots his flag gun at a distance, which the player needs to dodge or the hits will do significant damage to their health. The Jokerz gang emulates the Batfamily and cops to taunt Jason for how he sees as responsible for letting Joker live, years ago. The area resembles the place where Jason died at Joker's hands, which is an ability of the modified fear toxin.
2. King Joker uses the fear toxin to manifest into a form that's a villainous variant of Red Hood. It's a mix between the classic Red Hood and Jason's Red Hood suit. King Joker uses Jason's skills and tricks against him with his own twist on them. He taunts him by claiming they aren't so different and once Alberto is dead, it'll be Jason's one bad day. Red Hood fires back by saying he'll never live up to Joker, despite his delusional efforts, and the difference between them is he didn't have to seek out someone to find a new purpose when things didn't work out for his former one, the first time. Jason breaks the helmet of King Joker's form with his bare hands with the player able to do it, which has him resemble a Jokerized Jason Todd. The area for this section takes place on a rooftop with a twisted version of Gotham City in ruins.
3. The final stage has Batman arrive to help Red Hood fight King Joker in his final form while he uses the crowbar, acid flower, and flag gun against them while the final Jokerz Henchmen arrive to aid their leader. The player can switch between Red Hood and Batman as you fight against the Titan-Infused Jokerz goons and King Joker in his final form.

• The final boss fight ends with Batman taken off guard and temporarily held hostage by King Joker, only for him to be shot a few times by Red Hood, ending him once and for all. The DLC ends with Red Hood escaping before Batman can capture him and Alberto Falcone helps him get a flight to leave Gotham City to continue his crusade around the world, out of Bruce's grasp.

Credit for these ideas goes to Game Den & Thorfan. Tell me if my ideas improve the DLC packs.

This is a collection of responses from the competitiveoverwatch AMA from developers u/Blizz_Alec , u/Blizz_JNoh , u/Blizz_Hudson , and u/Blizz_Jodie . Thank you for your information!
Edit: Link to the original competitiveoverwatch thread
Alec answering question from North-Blueberry-7710 about testing in Mirrorwatch

No secret testing of anything upcoming in the immediate! We do look at how some changes play out though when they become more real and get lots of games, I think the Bastion Ultimate in particular was quite fun even if very loud and on the border technically. Reinhardt's Frenzy passive was also something we played around with internally but it was quite hard to communicate effectively. It's always good to see what players get excited about when there are more wacky ideas such as Mirrorwatch or April Fool's, some of those could become real down the line.

Alec answering question from swamp_god about Cassidy and Reaper changes

The two upcoming updates that were mentioned were for Cassidy and Reaper.
For Cassidy, we started some exploration pre-Season 9 for his update. Due to where he was at that time, this update was originally looking at multiple pieces of his kit but we saw the Season 9 changes largely benefit him so the update has gotten more focused on Magnetic Grenade and other Quality of Life updates (specifically to his Ultimate). In Season 11 we are updating Magnetic Grenade. It will behave closer to old Flashbang (no magnetic homing to the target, used in the short range) and will slow/hinder the target. We think that plays a lot better with his kit and removes some of the larger frustrations around Magnetic Grenade. More specifics on all that soon.
For Reaper, we went fairly wide as well in the beginning and then started to focus closely on updating Shadow Step. At the moment, we have something we quite like but it's actually a large technical challenge and we are in the process of planning out the work/seeing what's possible. In the meantime, we may buff Reaper in some non-Tank Buster ways as he lost a lot in the most recent update.

Jnoh answering question from Headedbigfoot8 about the hardest hero to balance in each role

Probably Sombra due to permanent invisibility restricting how deadly we can make her but also because she is a hero that excels with strong team coordination.
There are a handful of other heroes with performance stats that differ greatly from the broader community perception of them and that can create difficulty in how we approach balancing them as well.

Hudson answering question from walter_2010 about average playtester rank

A huge part of our team culture revolves around playtesting. From Designers, to QA and community management, everyone has the opportunity to play what we're working on and give open honest feedback. One of the advantages of this model is we get perspective from a wide range of player ranks from GM 1 to Bronze 5. It's been a while since we've taken an official poll on average rank, but having a wide sample helps prevent tunnel visioning on feedback from specific ranks.

Alec answering question from O2M about lack of patch consistency and Symmetra

1. ⁠We should do a better job about this, especially when it comes to getting the community's visibility on what we are seeing vs. what the playerbase may seem to think is the best hero at any given one time. These can differ regularly as certain heroes get power reputations (weaker or stronger than their reality at a given rank) that are hard to shake off. Thanks for the feedback there, will make sure we have something here even if it's a simple change.
2. Symmetra kept some of the buffs in that patch but yes we hear the feedback of where her current power level is. We may have been a bit overreactive to the Mauga compositions popping up during that timeframe (he was certainly overtuned), but we wanted to be sure of it. For right now, we are in discussions about Symmetra and especially her frontline presence. Believe that's a piece of the kit we'd like to promote further, whether through her survivability or beam damage.

Alec/Gavin answering question from Thee_Archivist about the removed smurf detection from MMR going from QP to comp

I tapped in our own Gavin Winter for this first part, he's what he had to say: "There haven't been any changes to these systems, but there are edge cases like the example of Guxue that was recently posted in this subreddit where our systems don't perform in the way we'd like. Most players will still be placed appropriately as they transition from Quick Play to Competitive Play, but unfortunately cases like this have always been possible. Explaining exactly how this happens would make it easier reproduce, so you'll have to excuse me from not going into intricate detail here."
For the second part of your question, we believe we made it slightly too difficult to climb at the highest ranks and are looking at making some adjustments soon.

Jnoh answering question from Owlcharts about making win and pick rates public (this one hurts).

There aren't any plans currently to shift resources toward supporting something like that. Sites like Overbuff don't have the complete picture, but the data there for win rates and such is generally fairly close.
There is some argument against being too transparent with those stats in that it can create a bit of a feedback loop where you might see player behavior driven by what appears to be the meta in the stats, but that kind of happens already with just the general discussion and sentiment around heroes without stats as well.
Our target range for hero viability by win rate is between 45-55% unmirrored win rate at Masters rank and above. Those individual win rates often can fluctuate 2-3% by day, mostly because heroes tend to have a wider range of win rates per map and we're looking at the global average of those, but also individual player performance isn't consistent.
Lower pick rate heroes fluctuate more and there is less confidence in their win rate being indicative of actual strength. Extremely high pick rate heroes have a similar problem when looking unmirrored stats.
In the end stats require interpretation to understand their context and that is why they are not the only basis for balance changes, but are a useful tool to measure impact of changes patch-over-patch.

Alec answering question from AccurateMeminnn about the reworks to Roadhog and WB

For the most part, we are relatively happy with the new bases both have been given but there is still some fine-tuning to be done.
I'll start with Wrecking Ball. Our goals were to give him more flexibility with his movement/engage options, heighten the benefits he gives to his team, and give him some quality of life updates. I think our changes all attempt to address those goals but one I think we can hit harder in the future is heightening the benefits he gives to his team. We were a little conservative with the Adaptive Shields change (overhealth is hyper scary in coordinated environments), so perhaps there's room for that to be more pronounced through tuning and actual feedback received in game (working on some updates there). Overall though, Wrecking Ball is doing much better after his recent updates and we believe we have a great base to work with going forward.
For Roadhog, aside from the conversations about his current survivability (we plan to hit that soon) there are some things for us to look at concerning the frequency of his combo. For example, his Pig Pen begins to go on cooldown when you throw it. So you can pre-place one, it gets destroyed, and then Roadhog already has it ready again (even though the enemy may think there's a window where Hook is less deadly). That's one discussion we've recently had. Still some work here for us to do in terms of the value Pig Pen brings outside of the combo as well and how we can make those windows of combo potential less frequent.

Jnoh answering question from Arrge about Hanzo post season 9, specifically about the one shot

Hanzo is still an effective mid-range burst damage hero even without the one-shot kills. Post season 9 with the projectile size changes actually saw an increase in Hanzo's performance on the stat side. I do hear you on the loss of how good the one shot kills felt, but an overarching goal of season 9 was to reduce a lot of those burst damage frustrations for players on the receiving end of it. Armor changes in season 10 have also been a benefit to his damage.
Still very early but we've been experimenting with adjusting health pools for some of the more evasive or high damage heroes which would also put them back into the range of lethal Hanzo headshots and some other hero combos at 225 HP, but while it would bring some interesting texture to hero interactions overall there are also a bunch of other problems to solve if we want to go through with it.

Alec answering question rom idrkbrotbh about Hog's survivability.

Yes, we plan on nerfing his survivability very soon. We are touching Take a Breather and Whole Hog in an upcoming patch. Hoping that can go live tomorrow.

Alec answering question from Heropon4Hyrule_010 about the difference in pick rates from before the midseason patch (major tank buffs) and after

Some of this is related to meta happenings or balance changes but also related to armor changes/headshot reduction for Tanks. From what we can see the biggest winners (in terms of their performance delta) of the patch are: Ana, Junkrat, Pharah, Roadhog, Sigma, Wrecking Ball, and Zarya.
Many heroes stayed relatively similar while a handful saw a decrease in performance (Bastion, D.Va, Mauga, Orisa, and Reaper).

Alec answering questions uestion from Mefionir-Omnic about Quick Play Hacked changes and Clash mode

These fall outside of hero design but can talk briefly about the first two questions

1. ⁠Think you are referencing the speed boosts that would potentially come to Flashpoint. Took us some time to get these in a good place but they have been promising in playtests and are on track for a later season. It's important to us that when we add elements like that to a mode that it not only brings quality gameplay but is also communicated well through Sound and VFX. Feel good here now.
2. ⁠We got a lot of great feedback but there are some things the team wished we did better with the Clash Preview. Firstly, it should have showed up more in Quick Play so y'all got more reps on it and can get a better feel for the flow of the game mode. Secondly, we don't think it was best suited for Open Queue in Arcade. If we do something like this again, we'll clean that up. With the feedback we received, we've been investigating how to make the final point more appealing to capture for the attacking team. Many games could result in the attacking team not actually wanting to push onto the last point because it wasn't worth the reward (harder to capture, give up a lot of positioning if you lose). Plenty of iteration happening here now to address that particular issue.

Alec answering question from Mabangyan about Roadhog and Lifeweaver

Answered the Roadhog question in a different place, but yes changes coming soon.
For Lifeweaver, one of the discussions we are having right now (actually this week) and have been having for a while is around the friction that comes with switching between his healing and damage. Giving him more flexibility here would be a great boon to his capability within team fights. Additionally, we've experimented a lot with his Petal Platform. Personally would love for that to be a more attractive area to stand on as a teammate (whether that be through a buff the platform gives you or something else) but there's a lot of learned behavior to work through as allies hop off the platform quite often.

JNoh answering question from Scared_Funny_1865 about tank counterswapping

At its core, Overwatch is a game designed around being able to swap heroes to gain a tactical advantage or help solve a challenge you might be encountering. This contributes to keeping the moment-to-moment gameplay experience dynamic, drives hero diversity and offers a wider range of both strategic gameplay and skill expression in learning when/where/how to play multiple heroes.
There is a question of how much of an advantage is too much compared to the cost of switching. Ideally we want counters to be clear and understandable, but soft enough that it's still possible to outplay a disadvantaged matchup. It is a team game though and 1v1 matchups are not the highest priority when assessing the heroes.
Tanks do feel this the most with only one of them per team in 5v5 role queue, but all roles do experience the pressure to counter and be countered to an extent.
We're striving to find a balance between swapping heroes every death, (which certainly feels too often), and rarely swapping heroes or getting trapped in mirror matches every game, which quickly leads to fatigue. We've seen a lot of improvements here compared to earlier seasons, but it could always be better.
"Unhealthy" and unpopular designs are not necessarily the same thing. When designing heroes, we aim to provide a wide range of playstyles, mechanics, and aesthetics for players to enjoy. It's okay if they don't all resonate with everyone broadly. We'll do our best to make the game as fun as it can be for a wide audience.

Alec answerinf question from Skiesti about Mercy's lack of changes since the 20% DPaSsive revert, as well as general performance since season 9 (this answer is super tone deaf being real).

1. ⁠I think we are more happy in the 20% DPS Passive world than the 15% (it cuts through a lot better, helps mitigate the healing more effectively) so Mercy is more worth a look when that world is permanent. There are some questions of how far we can push her movement and know that is one of the most requested changes.
2. ⁠Mercy is still a top-picked 3/4 Support and even higher on console until you hit GM/Top 500. Her performance follows a similar trend, where she's in the top grouping for most ranks and remains above average at the highest ranks. Doesn't mean that she wont receive changes but that is where she is at currently.

Q: It’s not related to S10 balance changes but I’m gonna ask anyway. Were we secretly testing any new upcoming heroes with the Mirrorwatch event?
Blizz_Alec: No secret testing of anything upcoming in the immediate! We do look at how some changes play out though when they become more real and get lots of games, I think the Bastion Ultimate in particular was quite fun even if very loud and on the border technically. Reinhardt's Frenzy passive was also something we played around with internally but it was quite hard to communicate effectively. It's always good to see what players get excited about when there are more wacky ideas such as Mirrorwatch or April Fool's, some of those could become real down the line.
Q: Who is the hardest character to balance and tweak out of the three roles?
Blizz_JNoh: Probably Sombra due to permanent invisibility restricting how deadly we can make her but also because she is a hero that excels with strong team coordination. There are a handful of other heroes with performance stats that differ greatly from the broader community perception of them and that can create difficulty in how we approach balancing them as well.
Q: I know you guys mentioned two upcoming DPS hero reworks. Is there any news about how those reworks are progressing, who they'll be for (I think people have a pretty decent idea, but official confirmation would be nice), and/or when they might be arriving? Also, are there any other heroes under consideration for potential reworks?
Blizz_Alec: The two upcoming updates that were mentioned were for Cassidy and Reaper.
For Cassidy, we started some exploration pre-Season 9 for his update. Due to where he was at that time, this update was originally looking at multiple pieces of his kit but we saw the Season 9 changes largely benefit him so the update has gotten more focused on Magnetic Grenade and other Quality of Life updates (specifically to his Ultimate). In Season 11 we are updating Magnetic Grenade. It will behave closer to old Flashbang (no magnetic homing to the target, used in the short range) and will slow/hinder the target. We think that plays a lot better with his kit and removes some of the larger frustrations around Magnetic Grenade. More specifics on all that soon.
For Reaper, we went fairly wide as well in the beginning and then started to focus closely on updating Shadow Step. At the moment, we have something we quite like but it's actually a large technical challenge and we are in the process of planning out the work/seeing what's possible. In the meantime, we may buff Reaper in some non-Tank Buster ways as he lost a lot in the most recent update.
Q: What is the average rank of your play testers and what level of input do they have in deciding what changes are made in each balance patch?
Blizz_Hudson: A huge part of our team culture revolves around playtesting. From Designers, to QA and community management, everyone has the opportunity to play what we're working on and give open honest feedback. One of the advantages of this model is we get perspective from a wide range of player ranks from GM 1 to Bronze 5. It's been a while since we've taken an official poll on average rank, but having a wide sample helps prevent tunnel visioning on feedback from specific ranks.
Q: 2 part question here: Why the inconsistency with dev comments/explanations for balance changes? There have been many changes that have been questionable (biggest offender was buffing Sojourn in January when she was widely considered the best DPS) that were shipped with 0 explanation. Justifying these changes would help a lot with player perception so we could understand these discrepancies. I have to ask - what is going on with Symmetra? She was weak, then buffed, then immediately reverted, now silence. Is she getting reworked? What data shows she needed a nerf? She is super weak and hard to use on ladder (uncoordinated environment by nature) and was only played in OWCS for Mauga - shouldn't nerfing Mauga have been enough?
Blizz_Alec: We should do a better job about this, especially when it comes to getting the community's visibility on what we are seeing vs. what the playerbase may seem to think is the best hero at any given one time. These can differ regularly as certain heroes get power reputations (weaker or stronger than their reality at a given rank) that are hard to shake off. Thanks for the feedback there, will make sure we have something here even if it's a simple change.
Symmetra kept some of the buffs in that patch but yes we hear the feedback of where her current power level is. We may have been a bit overreactive to the Mauga compositions popping up during that timeframe (he was certainly overtuned), but we wanted to be sure of it. For right now, we are in discussions about Symmetra and especially her frontline presence. Believe that's a piece of the kit we'd like to promote further, whether through her survivability or beam damage.
Q: Why was smurf detection essentially removed from MMR adjustment, especially for new accounts? GM-level players taking 60+ games to reach their proper rank ruins so many more games. It feels like climbing in general is artificially slowed down so people will play more even if they should have reached a higher rank many games ago.
Blizz_Alec: I tapped in our own Gavin Winter for this first part, he's what he had to say: "There haven't been any changes to these systems, but there are edge cases like the example of Guxue that was recently posted in this subreddit where our systems don't perform in the way we'd like. Most players will still be placed appropriately as they transition from Quick Play to Competitive Play, but unfortunately cases like this have always been possible. Explaining exactly how this happens would make it easier to reproduce, so you'll have to excuse me from not going into intricate detail here."
For the second part of your question, we believe we made it slightly too difficult to climb at the highest ranks and are looking at making some adjustments soon.
Q: Will you ever make pick rates and win rates public, even a couple of weeks after the fact? I feel like it would do a lot to help people understand why changes are made. Is there a win rate range you want to keep all heroes to stay within?
Blizz_JNoh: There aren't any plans currently to shift resources toward supporting something like that. Sites like Overbuff don't have the complete picture, but the data there for win rates and such is generally fairly close.
There is some argument against being too transparent with those stats in that it can create a bit of a feedback loop where you might see player behavior driven by what appears to be the meta in the stats, but that kind of happens already with just the general discussion and sentiment around heroes without stats as well.
Our target range for hero viability by win rate is between 45-55% unmirrored win rate at Masters rank and above. Those individual win rates often can fluctuate 2-3% by day, mostly because heroes tend to have a wider range of win rates per map and we're looking at the global average of those, but also individual player performance isn't consistent.
Lower pick rate heroes fluctuate more and there is less confidence in their win rate being indicative of actual strength. Extremely high pick rate heroes have a similar problem when looking at unmirrored stats.
In the end, stats require interpretation to understand their context and that is why they are not the only basis for balance changes but are a useful tool to measure the impact of changes patch-over-patch.
Q: What is Hanzo's new job? Is he supposed to take over Pharah's place as the new go-to permanently pocketed hero? To explain more in depth: Hanzo used to be a sniper, but the recent changes caused most heroes to require 1 extra shot to eliminate a target. Considering Hanzo is the slowest shooting primary fire focused DPS, he was impacted the most. Making him the only primary fire focused DPS who relies on cooldowns to finish off targets due to the very long time to kill: Assuming full charging the arrows (to be able to hit targets past melee range): 3 bodyshots = ~2.5 seconds TTK (~3.25 seconds if bow not preloaded) Or best case scenario: 1 headshot + 1 bodyshot = ~1.25 seconds TTK (~2 seconds if bow was not preloaded) Compared to for example Cassidy: 4 bodyshots = 1.5 seconds TTK Or best case scenario: 2 headshots = ~0.5 seconds TTK Hanzo's only advantage here is that he deals full damage past 35 meters, but trying to hit someone 2-3 times in a row even at 35 meters is next to impossible (considering physical cover + the long time to kill + projectile travel time) At the same time Mercy pocketed Hanzo can still one shot, with the added benefit of now having a 2x bigger arrow hitbox (and buffed storm arrows).
Blizz_JNoh: Hanzo is still an effective mid-range burst damage hero even without the one-shot kills. Post season 9 with the projectile size changes actually saw an increase in Hanzo's performance on the stat side. I do hear you on the loss of how good the one shot kills felt, but an overarching goal of season 9 was to reduce a lot of those burst damage frustrations for players on the receiving end of it. Armor changes in season 10 have also been a benefit to his damage. Still very early but we've been experimenting with adjusting health pools for some of the more evasive or high damage heroes which would also put them back into the range of lethal Hanzo headshots and some other hero combos at 225 HP, but while it would bring some interesting texture to hero interactions overall there are also a bunch of other problems to solve if we want to go through with it.
Q: A month later, and considering he's displayed proudly on the Twitter post for the AMA, I got my question: How have you guys felt about the past reworks on Roadhog and the new one, Wrecking Ball? Like what the goals were exactly, your personal thoughts, the community response, and what you want to fine-tune with them post rework. Those things. I think most people would be interested on how you guys have felt now that it's been a bit.
Blizz_Alec: For the most part, we are relatively happy with the new bases both have been given but there is still some fine-tuning to be done.
I'll start with Wrecking Ball. Our goals were to give him more flexibility with his movement/engage options, heighten the benefits he gives to his team, and give him some quality of life updates. I think our changes all attempt to address those goals but one I think we can hit harder in the future is heightening the benefits he gives to his team. We were a little conservative with the Adaptive Shields change (overhealth is hyper scary in coordinated environments), so perhaps there's room for that to be more pronounced through tuning and actual feedback received in game (working on some updates there). Overall though, Wrecking Ball is doing much better after his recent updates and we believe we have a great base to work with going forward.
For Roadhog, aside from the conversations about his current survivability (we plan to hit that soon) there are some things for us to look at concerning the frequency of his combo. For example, his Pig Pen begins to go on cooldown when you throw it. So you can pre-place one, it gets destroyed, and then Roadhog already has it ready again (even though the enemy may think there's a window where Hook is less deadly). That's one discussion we've recently had. Still some work here for us to do in terms of the value Pig Pen brings outside of the combo as well and how we can make those windows of combo potential less frequent.
Q: Are there any nerfs being discussed for Hog, specifically his survivability? Times where multiple people are shooting a Hog and he just walks away while using his breather seemingly gaining more health than losing health makes the damage you’re doing to him feel pointless and is very unfun to play against, especially now that headshots do less damage to him.
Blizz_Alec: Yes, we plan on nerfing his survivability very soon. We are touching Take a Breather and Whole Hog in an upcoming patch. Hoping that can go live tomorrow.
Q: Hello, with the major tank changes (e.g. armor changes, knockback changes, headshot change, and individual balance changes) that released last week, I am very curious: have there been any noticeable, immediate shifts in the win rates and pick rates amongst tanks? Has there been any collateral shifts within the DPS and support role because of the recent tank changes? I know that, for instance, after the recent armor changes, some heroes have become weaker against armored tanks (i.e. Tracer and Reaper) while others have become significantly stronger (i.e. Cass and Hanzo). I'm interested in knowing how the team's behind-the-scenes statistics have measured lately as a result of the recent tank changes—that is, if it is possible for you guys to share it. If not, understandable.
Blizz_Alec: Some of this is related to meta happenings or balance changes but also related to armor changes/headshot reduction for Tanks. From what we can see the biggest winners (in terms of their performance delta) of the patch are: Ana, Junkrat, Pharah, Roadhog, Sigma, Wrecking Ball, and Zarya.
Many heroes stayed relatively similar while a handful saw a decrease in performance (Bastion, D.Va, Mauga, Orisa, and Reaper).
Q: Ok, I'll try to ask some general questions. Free to choose which one to answer: ^_" In February I noticed that you had received great feedback on the maps after the first hacked mode. But I was wondering when those ideas would be implemented (especially for flashpoints). Personally, I liked Clash Mode. But I also wanted to know what kind of results you received that require modification in your opinion, or if you have noticed any optimal results to maintain, or imitate for other game modes.
Blizz_Alec: These fall outside of hero design but can talk briefly about the first two questions.
Think you are referencing the speed boosts that would potentially come to Flashpoint. Took us some time to get these in a good place but they have been promising in playtests and are on track for a later season. It's important to us that when we add elements like that to a mode that it not only brings quality gameplay but is also communicated well through Sound and VFX. Feel good here now.
We got a lot of great feedback but there are some things the team wished we did better with the Clash Preview. Firstly, it should have showed up more in Quick Play so y'all got more reps on it and can get a better feel for the flow of the game mode. Secondly, we don't think it was best suited for Open Queue in Arcade. If we do something like this again, we'll clean that up. With the feedback we received, we've been investigating how to make the final point more appealing to capture for the attacking team. Many games could result in the attacking team not actually wanting to push onto the last point because it wasn't worth the reward (harder to capture, give up a lot of positioning if you lose). Plenty of iteration happening here now to address that particular issue.
Q: Hi there, I think one of the most obvious questions people here will have is what are the plans to balance out Roadhog. With the midseason tank adjustments I’m sure the general sentiment is that Hog is an outlier for survivability and damage amongst the tanks, especially since Orisa isn’t there to keep him in check now. The headshot damage reduction and his soft rework from before means his survivability is through the roof, and his damage is as high as ever. What are the plans to reign him back in? I will also personally say I don’t think the solution is to buff Orisa, rather nerf Hog to keep him in line. Aside from Hog I think the tank balance is pretty great right now otherwise. Also is there going to be something done about the overbearing passiveness of heroes like LW, that will simultaneously not interact with the enemy team at all whilst also not providing any offensive utility for his own team? I think for all other 9 players in the lobby it’s a pretty miserable experience to have a LW. Thanks for your time.
Blizz_Alec: Answered the Roadhog question in a different place, but yes changes coming soon.
For Lifeweaver, one of the discussions we are having right now (actually this week) and have been having for a while is around the friction that comes with switching between his healing and damage. Giving him more flexibility here would be a great boon to his capability within team fights. Additionally, we've experimented a lot with his Petal Platform. Personally would love for that to be a more attractive area to stand on as a teammate (whether that be through a buff the platform gives you or something else) but there's a lot of learned behavior to work through as allies hop off the platform quite often.
Q: Hey! I have 2 Mercy questions:
1. Is the team looking at Mercy at all for any changes/small buffs? 2. What is Mercy's pick and win rate now compared to Season 3?
Back in Mid Season 9, the DPS passive was reduced and a dev blog stated Mercy wouldn't see changes as she should 'be more reliable moving forward' with the reduction. That nerf was reverted and Mercy stayed the same.
The community has been ranking Mercy as a D Tier support for a few Seasons now and she's in this weird spot where people don't like playing against her, with her, or as her anymore. I and many others still enjoy her most out of all the other heroes but she doesn't play nearly as fun as she used to after the changes that've been made to her (mainly nerfs) and the game over the last year. Thanks!
Blizz_Alec: 1. I think we are more happy in the 20% DPS Passive world than the 15% (it cuts through a lot better, helps mitigate the healing more effectively) so Mercy is more worth a look when that world is permanent. There are some questions of how far we can push her movement and know that is one of the most requested changes.

1. Mercy is still a top-picked 3/4 Support and even higher on console until you hit GM/Top 500. Her performance follows a similar trend, where she's in the top grouping for most ranks and remains above average at the highest ranks. Doesn't mean that she wont receive changes but that is where she is at currently.

Q:I'm not really sure how I am supposed to ask this, but?,
Is the current Balance Team confident about being able to dix the biggest problems the Tank role has been suffering since the OW2 release?
I'm specifically talking about the Counterswap Meta and unhealthy Tank designs being "allowed" to exist, like Tank busters and unkillable tanks (Roadhog, Mauga, and Orisa).
Are we confident that making Tanks able to do almost everything is the right thing to do? Are we confident that we can make Tank fun again for the majority of the player base without straight buffs?
The headshot reduction and knockback reduction changes are especially interesting to me because I really don't think that simple number changes will fix how Tanks feel to play.
I don't want to counterswap. I don't want to face unkillable and easy-to-play Tanks.I don't want Tank Busters.
I really LOVE this game but it currently feels like as if we were going into the wrong direction while ignoring the BIGGEST Problems :c
Blizz_jNoh: At its core, Overwatch is a game designed around being able to swap heroes to gain a tactical advantage or help solve a challenge you might be encountering. This contributes to keeping the moment-to-moment gameplay experience dynamic, drives hero diversity and offers a wider range of both strategic gameplay and skill expression in learning when/where/how to play multiple heroes.
There is a question of how much of an advantage is too much compared to the cost of switching. Ideally we want counters to be clear and understandable, but soft enough that it's still possible to outplay a disadvantaged matchup. It is a team game though and 1v1 matchups are not the highest priority when assessing the heroes.
Tanks do feel this the most with only one of them per team in 5v5 role queue, but all roles do experience the pressure to counter and be countered to an extent.
We're striving to find a balance between swapping heroes every death, (which certainly feels too often), and rarely swapping heroes or getting trapped in mirror matches every game, which quickly leads to fatigue. We've seen a lot of improvements here compared to earlier seasons, but it could always be better.
"Unhealthy" and unpopular designs are not necessarily the same thing. When designing heroes, we aim to provide a wide range of playstyles, mechanics, and aesthetics for players to enjoy. It's okay if they don't all resonate with everyone broadly. We'll do our best to make the game as fun as it can be for a wide audience.

1:Concept of ownership:

Real World (stocks): In the stock market, you own shares of a company.
TF2 (items): In TF2, you own in-game items like hats, weapons, or other cosmetics.

2:Borrowing to Sell:

Real World: To short sell a stock, you borrow shares from someone else and sell them at the current market price, hoping the price will drop.
TF2: Imagine you borrow a rare hat from a friend. You immediately trade this hat away for its current high value in Metal (the in-game currency).

3:Waiting for the Price to Drop:

Real World: After selling the borrowed shares, you wait for the stock price to fall.
TF2: You wait for the market value of the rare hat to decrease, hoping it will become less desirable or more common.

4:Buying Back at a Lower Price:

Real World: If the stock price drops, you buy back the same number of shares at the lower price.
TF2: When the hat's value drops, you trade to get the same hat back for less Metal than what you initially sold it for.

5:Returning the Borrowed Asset:

Real World: You return the shares to the person you borrowed them from and keep the difference in price as profit.
TF2: You give the hat back to your friend. The difference between the high value you initially traded it for and the lower value you traded it back for is your profit in Metal. //////////
Easy example: I borrow a unique tf2 hat for a month which is worth 100 refined metal. I immediately sell it for 100. Knowing that by the end of the month I owe whatever the hats price is.
You wait till the end of the month and the hat is priced at only 10 refined metal. Woohoo you not only returned the asset for 10 but pocketed 90 from it.
This is short selling for a gain.

Imagine by the end of the month some update for TF2 makes the hat rare and the price ends up being 300 refined metal. Well if you already spent that 100 your in the hole 300 dollars. 3x your losses.

Now look at GME, if a hedge tried borrowing when it was at 10$ last week then anything above it is a loss. Especially when it's jumping to the 80$ mark. Imagine throwing millions into a 10$ short just to see it shoot to 40 knowing how much money is about to be lost if it doesn't go back down.
Just some food for thought.

First: https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/14vo5lb/troublemakers_deaths_pity/
*previous:* https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/1csj3sy/troublemakers_lay_your_cards_on_the_table/
......
Alastaire Sunshine hummed softly as he pulled his armored suit on, the thick, heavy, snow-colored material capable of stopping most small arms. The soft carpeting, and wood-paneled walls of his quarters aboard the Top Hat Clan stealth frigate: the Johnny English were as comfortable during warp travel as they were in low orbit. Creature comforts he called them, sweeping up his father's revolver, he broke it open, the ejector snapping hollowly before he dumped six rounds into the chambers and flicked it closed. Even through his gloves his hand tackily stuck to the revolver's grip. There was a soft hum and a pulse of power as Greyson Mannerite spilled through a tear in reality, tumbling in a heap before painstakingly getting to his feet and bowing, the bandages across his torso stained red from burst stitches.
"Sir, there's been a development."
Alastaire Doffed his hat, dropping his father's gun in before pulling out a health and mana potion, whipping them both to Grey who first uncorked the health potion, knocking it back and gulping eagerly until the crystal teardrop was empty. Unstoppering the mana potion, he swigged it back in a single gulp before ripping his bandages off, the damage to his torso completely undone.
"Report."
Alastaire stated, Grey nodded and began talking.
"Rebels are cornered in their main base of operations, outnumbered at least forty to one. They need help, badly, Drake is getting his ass kicked by a chosen with a greed-based powerset, the helicopters they just got are grounded thanks to anti-air systems, and they just got forced to retreat into the mansion. What're your orders?"
Alastaire took a deep breath, calming his nerves before tossing Grey another mana potion and tapping his ear through his black Kevlar ski mask.
"Roxxie, grab the closest Warmonger or Volunteer and three of the best samaritan medics we have, and meet me in docking bay four, we're making planetfall, now."
He got a simple triple trill in response as he signaled for Grey to follow as one of the younger Top Hats curiously asked.
"You said 'we' sir, I can only transport six people from low orbit to planetside. You can't possibly mean..."
Alastaire nodded and set his hat atop his head, snugging it low over his brow as he swept into the docking bay with swagger as he said.
"You're staying behind Greyson, keep sending people down until you physically can't. Can you do that for me?"
Grey nodded and bowed low again, before glancing past Alastaire and softly clearing his throat.
Alastaire turned to focus his attention on the small group playing poker in the docking bay.
Roxxie grinned at Alastaire over a handful of cards, a volunteer in Black, simple power armor had shifted their body to point what Alastaire could only assume was the faceplate of their solid metal fishbowl at him. And three Samaritan medics in their white armor emblazoned with small red crosses, suspiciously glanced at the prince of thieves, shielding their cards from his view.
"Hey fancy pants~ Leaving so soon?~"
Roxxie purred, leaning across the table to accentuate the low cut of her cropped military fatigues. The patriarch sighed and gestured for Grey to get to work, and while the young man focused, Alastaire stated.
"We're going, now."
Roxxie sighed deeply as three massive blue portals opened up with a thunderous rumbling noise.
"And just as I get a royal flush, too... Alright, saddle up boys and girls, let's get to work."
There was a relieved sigh as the Volunteer Magnetized their Inertial shield to their forearm, scattering chips and cards to the floor haphazardly as Grey shouted.
"Alastaire, right portal. Roxxie and Volunteer, center portal. Samaritans, right portal."
The words were clipped as Grey strained to keep the portals open. Alastaire tipped his hat to Grey before running forward and leaping through his portal.
There was a moment of feeling like he was being stretched like taffy in a kaleidoscope before Alastaire was spat out onto the slaloming deck of a helicopter.
The three figures looked at him in bewilderment and no small amount of fear as he rocked with the helicopter, expertly keeping his balance even as he bowed, sweeping his hat off.
"Alastaire Sunshine at your service, and it seems I didn't arrive a moment too soon."
Caz was the first to respond.
"Who are you?!"
"I Just said who I was, But other than that, I'm a friend. Land now, three masses of power are rocketing this way. Thermopylae."
The A.I overlord beeped loudly before chirruping.
"On the double Mr.Sunshine!"
As the helicopter began to rapidly fall into a controlled descent, He incredulously stated.
"Even the Helicopter knows my name!"
...
The golden boot slammed into his gut, knocking him from the sky and the wind from his lungs. Drake parried a strike mid-air, but overextended, leaving himself wide open for retaliation which Go'mon took full advantage of. Drake was impaled through and through as he slammed into the ground, making a shallow crater, blood rose from his mouth on impact, the sword pinning him to the ground as that lifeless, cold energy reached into and through him like a foul sickness. Drake weakly grabbed the hilt as Go'mon let go of it, trying in vain to rip it from his gut as Conquest's chosen cackled mockingly.
"Look, at, Youuu~ Defiant to the last, even as you lay there, powerless, you struggle in some vain grasp for victory... no... your road ends here, where mine truly begins..."
Go'mon kneeled by Drake as the young man choked and gagged on his own blood, a cold panicky determination fueling his desperate heaves at the sword in his gut. But eventually, his arms gave out even as Go'mon watched with a giddy lean forward, the warrior fell limp, unable to even pry his eyes open as they slid shut, burying him in cold, trembling darkness. Drake couldn't breathe, couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't do anything as the ground beneath him rumbled more intensely beneath him.
Then he felt something, a gentle, unyielding warmth growing closer and closer, the ground trembling with its approach. The warmth pushed much of the cold energy away, allowing Drake to open his eyes as Go'mon stared down the road, scanning side to side even as something cast the crater in shadow. Though Go'mon couldn't see the cause of the shadow, Drake could, and he couldn't resist a small smile as Go'mon finally looked up.
A massive, bloodied purple maw clamped down on Go'mon, half his torso disappearing into Barney's gore-caked mouth before the dinosaur yanked him from the ground, rolling forward before flinging the mercenary general through a building in a cloud of dust. Barney turned to look at Drake, wiggling with happiness as he bit down on the handle of the black scimitar, yanking it free from Drake's chest. Drake let out a ragged chuckle of relief as Barney crouched down, letting him crawl onto the blood-matted semi-tattered saddle on his back. Barney lunged forward from the crouched position, almost knocking Drake off as the raptor flicked the black blade to the side with a clatter. Buildings and shopfronts passed by in a blur as Drake simply tried to hold on to the fast-moving dinosaur. Drake looked back as he felt a pulse of power, seeing Go'mon's golden armor glittering in the warm yellow afternoon sun as he rapidly gained on them, kicking up dust in his wake as he flew headfirst towards them.
The black blade swept back as Go'mon aimed a lethal strike right for Drake's back, the swordsman barely parrying it with a grunt of desperation as his sapped muscles worked overtime for a single swing. Go'mon powered forward for another strike. But this time, Drake didn't have to do anything as Barney leaped into the air, tucking his clawed legs beneath him as Go'mon sailed beneath them both. The Geknosian Chosen turned to unleash a devastating strike mid-air, only for Barney to let out a loud, nasally roar before stomping both feet down on Go'mon's shoulders, using Conquest's prized champion as a plow blade to dig up a hundred-foot-long trench in the pavement before leaping away.
The black scimitar firmly clamped between his teeth by the blade.
Drake let out a weak, victorious sound as Barney picked up the pace even more, a sonic boom shattering windows as he dropped his head especially low, each rapid stride carrying him ten or more meters through the air before he'd put a clawed foot down and launch himself again. Drake felt an involuntary smile come to his face as he glanced back at Go'mon who'd just shaken themselves off and was already flying after them. Drake readied his sword, muscles cramping and achy as he prepared to throw a cut. But when he finally threw it, Go'mon swooped down and past Drake to punch Barney in the face, hard.
Barney reeled, screeching as feathers burst into flame from Go'mon's superheated war gauntlet. The Black blade spun through the air between them, Drake reaching out and hanging off of Barney's saddle as he tried to grab it before Go'mon. But even as the lizard gripped the scimitar by the handle, a streak of blinding blue light split it in half.
Drake's body burned as his stolen power was shot straight back into his soul like a cold glass of clean water. His rings re-formed instinctually as Barney stomped the golden-armored Geknosian into the pavement, skidding to a halt at Destrier's side. Dismounting, Drake gently pulled Barney's large head towards him, inspecting the rapidly mending burn wound with hurt in his eyes. Giving the raptor a soft kiss on his bloody snout, Drake turned to face Go'mon as the general angrily shook the rubble from his dented armor. The soft draft in the still evening air denoted Cassius arriving at his side. But there was someone else hiding nearby, someone with an oily, slippery aura that reminded him of a greasy back alley where someone had just been robbed. He turned back to look at Go'mon as the general scooped up the black scimitar, the blade re-growing like it was a living organism. There was a feeling of something slipping into his skull and an unfamiliar voice whispered.
"You don't know me personally, but my name is Alastaire Sunshine, keep the gold-finger knockoff busy until I can put a handprint on him."
Drake didn't know how to respond, and simply nodded softly, hoping the man named Alastaire could see him. Drake watched the snarling visage of Go'mon's helmet as he stopped a couple dozen paces away, the scimitar completely reforming with a shivering noise that echoed over the street. Go'mon switched the scimitar to his left hand, looking over the small assembly, growling softly.
"Well... this is certainly a development... No matter, plan B it is then."
Drake barely registered the gun as a rack popped out of Go'mons right thigh and he drew it like a flash of lightning. The bullet slammed through the eye slit of his helmet, a burst of pain accompanying the cataclysmic report of the revolver.
...
Martha stitched, glued, and bandaged wounds at a feverish pace, the sounds of battle echoing through the floor from the vehicle bay, the loud Ka-klunk! of a high-powered rivet gun occasionally accompanying the sound of terrified Geknosian screams. Martha grit her teeth as Halcyon was brought in, clutching a piece of Gauze to an empty and shattered eye socket. Finally closing the wound in a fighter's chest, she hit him with an anesthetic, about to rush to Halcyon's side when a glowing blue portal shimmered into existence on the far wall. Three people in white combat armor rushed through carrying heavy-looking satchels, Martha panicked and brought up her left arm, wrist hinging open as her concussive blaster hummed to life.
The lead man held up his hands as the portal closed behind him, dark visor shimmering blue for a moment as a voice came through a speaker mounted somewhere in the helmet.
"My name is Seargent first class Ryker Caduceus of the Samaritans, we're here to help, Mar'grav Thal'kus."
Martha's left arm shook as her hand hinged back into position, She hadn't heard that name in years, many long years. She gestured frantically at the injured.
"Well get to work! and... My name's Martha, Mar'grav died the day I was born..."
The medic nodded and his visor glowed again as he sidestepped towards the nearest injured man, who looked up at the medic with a plasma-burnt face. Small mechanical tentacles rise from ports in the man's spinal armor assembly to pull things from the satchel as his white gloves glowed red hot for a moment before rapidly cooling. Martha didn't need to look any further as she rushed to Halcyon's side, removing the gauze hitting the wound with a local anesthetic, and holding her lunch back as she looked at the tattered wound. Halcyon gave her a weak smile.
"They're really kicking our ass out there... heh... looks like we got some reinforcements though, hope they sent soldiers too."
Martha continued the reconstructive surgery even as Halcyon spoke, stitching scraps of flesh and skin back together as best she could until he had a semi-functional eye socket again. She was about to hit him with an anesthetic when he stopped her hand.
"Wrap some Gauze around it and somebody hand me a rifle, I didn't hear a bell. Gonna go help hold the vehicle bay."
Martha didn't protest, simply hitting the wounded area with another dose of local anesthetic derived from Drake's favorite plant-based beverage, before wrapping the wound tight with Gauze, putting a clear, soft plastic shell in the socket to keep it from collapsing in on itself before wrapping the conformer in place with clean gauze. As she turned to the next wounded man, she heard a rifle slap into Halcyon's palm, glancing back as he lurched out of bed, a malefic grin on his face as he swayed to the door and pushed through it. Martha turned back to the wounded man, her heart sinking as she realized the man had passed some time ago, eyes closed like he was resting peaceably.
She wanted to cry, her knees going weak as she crumpled against the bed, shoulders heaving with dry sobs until a soft, white glove landed on her shoulder, she looked up into the face of a samaritan who simply said.
"You should rest, how long have you been working?"
"not long enough..."
Martha croaked, pulling the dead man's hands to the side to look at the crushing wound made by a concussive blaster. Judging by the small tears in the skin, a Ko'mun type three... a blaster she'd helped to design a long time ago...
...
He fucking shot me! how am I still alive!?
Was the thought that zapped through Drake's mind as he looked up at the sky through one eye, head cocked back from the impact. As his destroyed eye and socket re-formed he could still feel the bullet sizzling against the back of his skull where his helmet had caught it. The feeling of chunky blood dripping down his back made him shudder as he slowly dropped his head to look back at Go'mon, the modified single-shot pistol still smoking in his gauntleted hand as he cast it aside, Drake could feel the impotent snarl forming on Go'mon's lips as he pulled his helmet off and pulled the mushroomed out slug from where it was glued to his helmet by blood and hair. Drake tossed it into the street before pulling his helmet back on, feeling it click back into place, interlocking with his cybernetic spine.
"That hurt. well, it hurt my pride a little bit I should say."
Drake quipped as Go'mon marched forward, then stumbled, whipping around with a wild swing of his sword that connected with nothing but revealed a black handprint square in the middle of his back. Another handprint appeared against his side, a brutal swing of his gauntlet touching nothing as two more handprints appeared, one on each pauldron. He turned sluggishly finally managing to smack a man in a pure-white suit into a wall with a sound like shattering glass as he appeared from thin air, the man holding his white tophat to his head even as he sat against the wall, laughing hysterically.
"GET HIS ASS!"
Drake yelled, having felt Go'mon's power level decrease dramatically with each applied handprint. He rushed forward as Destrier opened up with his PKM. Go'mon frantically dodging as heavy bullets slammed into his armor, riddling it with dents. Drake slipped under the stream of bullets, Destrier halting to leave Go'mon unbalanced. The young Warrior's ringed right fist connected with Go'mon's chin and lifted him off the ground, there was a reptilian screech as Barney lunged forward biting down on Go'mons leg and whipping him into a wall so hard the wall cracked. The Merc snarled as he lunged to his feet with a stab at Drake, only for the invisible weighted chain around his neck to snap taught and yank him to the side and off balance yet again. Drake shook his fists in preparation, heart thumping wildly with rage and exhilaration as Go'mon stumbled back into range. He slipped to the side and Kicked Go'mon's legs out from under him, heavy golden armor dragging him to the ground with a clatter. Drake stepped forward and stomped his booted foot down as hard as he could on the weak joint in the armor's elbow. There was a loud, wet crunch accompanied by the sound of squealing metal and dying servos as Go'mon's war gauntlet spasmed open, dropping the black blade.
Go'mon's still functioning war gauntlet swung back, superheated claws cutting the gossamer chain with a loud snap! as a jump pack concealed in his back armor ignited launching him back and up into the air. Go'mon's left arm hung limply, gauntlet still spasming as he ripped his helmet off, hovering in the air for just a second too long.
A streak of blue light, a cry of agony, Go'mon's face split open revealing not blood, but black oil and deformed metal as the mercenary general spiraled low over the rooftops and out of sight.
Drake panted, looking back over his friends, calling out.
"Everyone good?!"
Everyone nodded, even Alastaire, who brushed himself off with a graceful gesture before straightening his suit and red long tie. Drake nudged Cassius as he felt him pass by, who decloaked and held up his kama's snapped chain with a pouty face before smiling with a silent chuckle.
Drake nodded then turned to Alastaire.
"Alright, you better tell me you brought people to help defend the mansion, you did, right?"
Alastaire chuckled and pulled a pocket watch from thin air in a puff of grungy flames, like a trash fire. Checking it, he looked at Drake and nodded before pointing to the sky.
"War mongers sent their finest, even an Olympian."
Drake looked up to the sky, seeing shooting stars... no... those weren't meteorites.
"What the fuck is an Olympian?'
Drake asked curiously, Alastaire chuckled grandly.
"You'll see."
Drake watched as the sky fell, but they weren't giant rods or rocks, but as he dissipated a ring, he saw men and women, falling face-first toward the ground with backpacks of white ceramic and cocky grins. This had to be a fever dream, but it wasn't, as he sharpened his hearing, he could locate the sounds of fierce fighting coming from the mansion. But he wasn't hearing a lot of human screams, Geknosian screams, shouts, and barks of terror, however, were plentiful. Drake looked to Alastaire with incredulity, then thought for a minute.
"How many did they send?"
Drake could feel the soft, proud grin as the finely dressed man straightened his suit compulsively before saying.
"We asked for a platoon... They sent a battalion. Roxxie said, and I quote, We're taking this planet in two days, max. Crazy cyborgs, but you know what they say, if you need the enemy gone, and you need it gone yesterday, call the Warmongers."
Drake looked at the man again, a small grin coming to his face as he gestured at the flying machine, lightly jogging towards it.
"Well, let's get back to the mansion and help them out then!"
Drake leaped into the flying machine, grabbing a strap hanging from the roof for balance as the others followed, large blades beginning to spin as Destrier clunked onto the flight deck, swiftly followed by Cassius and Alastaire. As the machine lifted into the sky and over the rooftops, a grapple hook wrapped around a strut, Caz climbed in shortly after as the hook whirred back to her, locking back into place atop her wire spool. Drake pulled his helmet off and gave them a lopsided grin.
"Let's secure the mansion, then..."
He looked to Alastaire and chuckled.
"Then let's keep the momentum going, and march on the monarch's castle."
The flying machine soared over the rooftops, back towards the mansion, and over the street littered with Geknosian dead in front of it. A small trail of vapor rose towards them, a black-haired woman in cropped military fatigues rose on top of the small boosters that produced the vapor trail, she ducked into the open door of the flight deck, landing with a heavy clunk that made the helicopter lose a few feet of altitude. Her eyes locked onto Drake, flashing between multiple colors before settling on a soft pink. The sight slightly unsettled him as she stepped closer with a softly stated.
"So... this is the young Dragoline... He's cuter than I thought, you might have some competition fancy pants!~"
Drake looked at Caz with an embarrassed, confused expression. Caz just shook her head with a light scoff and shrugged. Drake sighed as the woman quietly conversed with Alastaire, letting the helicopter begin its descent toward the mansion's courtyard.
...
Go'mon slammed through a door and into the medical wing already shouting as he held his split skull with one hand.
"PARNTH!!! PARNTH!! WERE ARE YOU!?!?"
The words echoed emptily throughout the small medical station set up in the castle, a small note taped to the automated surgery machine's backrest. Go'mon angrily stomped towards it, grabbing the note and squinting at it through his one remaining damaged, but functional, cybernetic eye.
Go'mon.
I quit, I set up the auto-surgeon with your preferences, but I'm done. I took an evacuation shuttle, so I'm long gone, don't look for me... I hope I never see your face again.
Sincerely: Parnth'al Deml'cran
Go'mon angrily crumpled the note in his hand and began ripping off his armor, his left forearm and elbow coming off with it as the elastomer and foam musculature tore around the mangled joint of the cybernetic. Go'mon snarled as he slid into the auto-surgeon, holding the activation remote in his good hand as he laid back, eyeing the many instruments that hung over him angrily before pressing it. As the auto-surgeon got to work, Go'mon reflected on what had just happened.
As a welding tool sealed his skull again, he thought of the woman who'd split it, having only spotted her the moment she'd pulled the trigger. He snarled remembering the chain that had snapped taut around his neck, used to pull him around like a plaything, its owner completely invisible to him. He glowered at his helmet as the auto surgeon maneuvered him onto his stomach, his back flowering open to allow precious internal maintenance to be done. The swordsman's titanic blow to his chin had snapped the main and auxiliary video cables, blinding him. Go'mon grunted as his heart was stopped and re-started to check for issues with his life support. Two armored jars in his chest held the last vestiges of his biological body, one held his heart, purely for sentimental reasons really, but the second held his brain. Centuries worth of experiences, victories, and violence in a jar the size of a basketball, inch-thick metallo-quartz protecting it from damage. Feeling his back shutter closed, the auto surgeon turned him onto his side, dismounting the ruined arm and connecting the cables for a new one before plugging it into the socket. Go'mon clenched the new, clawed metallic hand as fresh muscle padding and elastomer were stretched and fixed to the frame, giving him an almost normal-looking arm despite the seems along the chiseled faux-muscle. The auto surgeon returned him to an upright stance before disconnecting the diagnostic probes hooked into his spine.
Go'mon stepped out of the machine, kicking his armor to the side as he circulated his power, burning away the dark human handprints stuck to his scales like intangible tar. As they burned away into ghostly ash, Go'mon stomped angrily toward his office, pissed about losing his sword as he wrenched the door to the side faster than it could whoosh open. The busted door whirred in complaint while he grabbed his normal combat armor off his desk, pulling the purple thermo-regulatory bodysuit on before strapping on the energy and kinetic-resistant plates. The armor was scarred from many tours during the divide wars, back when he was little more than a private. It was outdated, to say the least, but it didn't have any helmet or video cables that could be used against him, it also didn't restrict his movement.
Go'mon paused, realizing someone was watching him, he turned around to see Monarch D'vinn staring at him, the short, fat Geknosian emperor tapping his foot impatiently.
"You said you'd have results Go'mon the defiler but all I've seen has been failure, after failure... and I just got word from the high council that the remaining factions of humanity have formally declared war. The only thing you have defiled is my empire and your reputatio-Grk!"
Go'mon had had enough, lunging across his office to strangle the monarch with one hand, furiously glaring into his employer's eyes.
"Watch your tongue, wyrm. You know nothing of conquest... I will have my victory, whether your planet survives or not... Those parasites will be subjugated."
He threw the monarch to the ground where he crouched on all fours, gasping for breath for a short moment before regally returning to his feet with a deep, raspy sigh.
"You've... No... we've already lost, Defiler. They have a ship in orbit that we can't see, loaded to the Godsdamned brim with WARMONGERS! Do you know what that means? Do you have even the slightest clue? I was a soldier too Go'mon... but at least I know when I've lost. Enjoy your conquest while it lasts... I'm going to enjoy one last good meal before I die."
Go'mon Drew the kinetic blaster holstered at his right thigh, pointing it at D'vinn as the shamed monarch slowly walked down the hall stating.
"Do it... save them the effort..."
Go'mon ground his teeth together, pistol shaking with rage as he watched D'vinn solemnly wander around a corner, Joined by a small human servant girl that he gently, almost lovingly patted on the head. She wore no chains, no collar, no manacles, but she followed him without complaint or protest.
Go'mon holstered the blaster pistol with a huff, hearing the sounds of warships taking off as their engines rumbled the castle. He looked at the roster screen embedded in his left forearm armor, watching the numbers tick rapidly down until only his measly forces were left. He tried to radio in to the command station but received not a single word in reply. Go'mon let out a soft sigh and then giggled as he sat back in his office chair, laughing raucously as he finally accepted his reality.
He was going to die, He was going to die! He was going to die!!
Go'mon slowly rose from his chair, tapping into his men's private frequency.
"Prepare the castle for defense... if you run, I'll kill you myself..."
His voice was tinged with a grim sort of glee as he wandered towards the castle's basement. if he was going to die... He'd take as many with him as possible.
The elevator cruised downwards into cold storage, whooshing open to reveal a refrigerated stock room stuffed to the gills with pressurized canisters. He slowly selected one of the oldest, but still in-production canisters they had access to, one that even the humans were fond of. He fondly touched the writing on the pre-mixed canister with a softly giggled.
"A-234 Novichok~ HmHmHm~ Perfect~ Just... Perfect...Old, but gold~"
He paused, radioing his men to set up Gas generators for the nerve agent, beginning to load several canisters onto a cart. Time to see if these parasites could resist extermination at their own hand.
...
Martha was finally able to sit down as more and more samaritans jumped through the portal. Her hands shook as she softly wept with relief, fighters bolting from their beds with wounds that had been closed seemingly by magic, but that was just the difference in capabilities these beautiful, white-armored humans brought with them. The sounds of ships leaving orbit made her look up at the ceiling with a laugh of relief. But then a coldness touched her heart.
Go'mon wouldn't run, Geknosian generals by and large were cowards, but not Go'mon. She grunted as she got to her feet, lurching out of the makeshift hospital and making her way towards her lab. If she just modified the gas mask filters a tiny bit, they should help prevent further casualties from the mad general. The sound of a helicopter landing in the courtyard reached her ears as the elevator doors closed in front of her. She wasn't a fighter, she was barely a surgeon... but she was a scientist, one with a background in chemical and conventional weaponry, and if all she could do was prevent her past sins from hurting her current friends, she'd do everything in her power to make sure of it.
......
Part 110: will be linked here upon release.

- this is a potential cash proceed that GameStop will get from selling 64.37 millions depository shares ($4,441,530,000.00 = 69 \* 64.37 Millions) - Now GameStop's enterprise value is increased by $4.4 Billions - With the $1.07 Billions still in the bank, GameStop now has $5.47 Billions in cash - GameStop will now have $17.80/share in cash ($5.47 Billions / 306 million common shares) this should theoretically be the floor price of GameStop's common stock. If the common stock drops below this price, GameStop can buy more shares again. - GameStop can continuously issue any of the 7 securities that they filed with the SEC and beef up their balance sheet to protect themselves against short sellers - Short sellers still need to close their 64.37 millions short positions of the common stock and GME did not dilute their common shareholders 

- this is a potential cash proceed that GameStop will get from selling 15 million warrants ($1,035,000,000 = 69 \* 15 Million) - Now GameStop's enterprise value is increased by $1.03 Billions - With the $1.07 Billions still in the bank, GameStop now has 2.10 Billions in cash - GameStop will now have $6.80/share in cash (2.10 Billions / 306 million common shares) this should also be the floor price of GameStop's common stock. If the common stock goes below this price, GameStop can buy more shares again. - For this offer, will the short sellers be able to buy the warrant for $69/warrant from shareholders? I guess they'll have to find out. - GameStop can continuously issue any of the 7 securities that they filed with the SEC and beef up their balance sheet to protect themselves against short sellers - Short sellers still need to close their short positions and GME did not dilute their common shareholders 

- have fun shopping my short seller friend. 

• Balance (Lower the Damage of Every Class, Lower Firerate of P90, Lower Splash Damage Range of RPG, Lower Trading Level, Make Rayblader easier to unlock, Lower Range of Flamethrower, Decrease Movement Reduction From Shotgun)
• Dev Applications (Some of yall could help the devs fix the bugs, even the cheaters themselves. I'm sure at least one of yall are thinking of/know how to fix the bugs)
• KBA Applications (Kour Bureaucracy Agency, its KPD for Kour) Works exactly like Krunker, more cheaters caught, the more KBA will answer your reports), Anti-Cheat (Obfuscation isn't enough)
• Match Replays
• Username Check/Clan Name Check when creating an account/creating a clan
• Animated Characters, Hats, and Weapon Skins, Emote Wheel, Voice Chat (cuz funny)
• Playtest Custom Maps, Public Custom Games, Bhop maps (Base maps are too unorganized to speedrun on)
• Ranked, Clan Wars. In-game VERIFIED Run leaderboard, manually updated by Speedrun Moderators. (There could be bots that could playback the runs on the leaderboard)
• Mod Manager to Change Textures Client Side,
• Settings: Toggle ADS, Hide Weapon on ADS, ADS Zoom Power, Weapon Bobbing, Weapon Offset, Hide primary/secondary/melee weapons/hands, Bullet Tracers Toggle, Hide the UI without having to be in Spectator mode, Reflection, Saturation, Preset Crosshairs/Scopes with Customization (Size, Color, Variant), Streamer Mode (Hides the game link, game code, hides badges, and randomizes all letters in usernames/set them to guest names, so less stream snipers.), Make EVERY key Bindable
• PS: Hope the devs take one of these suggestions🙏🏾