Family Guy and the Cleveland Show are 100% in the same universe, and American Dad is also created by Seth MacFarlane and has some references that place it in the same universe as Family Guy as well. So that’s three.
There is also the fact that family guy has a show in South Park which I possibly think that the family guy show could be a reality show so it's possible that they are in the same universe because of the jokes about family guy that south park makes.
There is also the two part “Simpsons Guy” crossover in Family Guy and a crossover between the Simpsons and Futurama (Both of those shows are created by Matt Groening)
Family Guy also had a gag where Peter and the gang go to ask Bender something. Time travel exists in Family Guy, so it’s believable that they went to the future, even if we aren’t supposed to think about it much since it’s just a joke.
Do all of those shows officially take place in the same universe and the crossovers are canon? Futurama could take place in the far future while the rest of them happen at the same time in the present day.
For explaining the skin colours I possibly think that it's just their race like how there white and brown coloured skin in the real world and this is fiction so yeah!
Are there any other shows that could fit in this universe?

I've been around DuroGang for a while and had several contributions over the years. I'm currently working on a handful of Duro mods, which I'll soon share with the sole purpose of inspiring others to do the same. I sincerely enjoy this community because we tend to point each other toward resources for cost-effective Duro parts while simultaneously sharing photos of our various modifications. I hope my contributions to date lend a little reputability as I share recent observations I've had. I'd ask that you take the following information in stride and please come to your own conclusions...
Over the preceding month, I've noticed a few "custom" mods that are very unique from anything I've seen in DuroGang to-date. They're definitely cool, and I normally encourage these posts; however, I hope no one here is trying to take credit for someone elses work and then attempting to profit off it. My concern is a recently promoted shopify store. It was immediately apparent this was a reseller who's significantly inflating prices beyond what's reasonable (nearly twice the cost).
You might ask how I know this. Well, a few years ago, I found a website belonging to a watch enthusiast/hobbiest who's located in Sweden (I'm in the United States). I'm going to call this person Mr. 🇸🇪 because I don't know his name. Mr. 🇸🇪 happens to create modification parts for all sorts of watch models (including the Duro). When I first discovered Mr. 🇸🇪's website, I had a brief email exchange where I inquired about custom dial pricing. During that exchange, I learned he makes all his dials and bezel inserts in-house using some high-tech CNC equipment. I learned he has access to this equipment due to perks through his primary employment. I learned Mr. 🇸🇪 sells his custom dials / bezel inserts at slightly above cost. When we emailed on pricing, Mr. 🇸🇪 was incredibly polite and receptive to talking about the hobby of watch modding even though I didn't order anything at the time. His website also featured crisp images while these new shopify stores that are popping up seem to feature low-quality images of the same items created by Mr. 🇸🇪.
My overall point is this... if you like any of the new "custom" mods that are showing up, it's only fair, Mr. 🇸🇪 be recognized for his creations and not resellers who appear to he claiming these creations as their own.
Mr. 🇸🇪's website is: urvintage.se
TO BE ABSOLUTELY CLEATRANSPARENT, I have ZERO affiliation with Mr. 🇸🇪 nor any of the other Redditors who are attempting to resell his creations. I additionally have zero intent to profit in any way from my own mods. As such, Mr. 🇸🇪, if you see this post, I don't want anything from you. I'm just a guy who enjoys modding the MDV-106.

With Episode 2 having been out for right about 2 weeks by now, I decided to write out my thoughts on it just for fun. Positive thoughts, negative thoughts, and my explanation for the latter.
Let's get started! (There will be a TL;DR at the bottom.)

So what'd I like?

The animation quality is, like in the first episode, phenomenal. The blocky, part cartoonish and part video game-y style is a pleasure for the eyes, the animation feels fluid and energetic, and the characters are super expressive.
The voice acting was similarly great. I don't think there's any character who over- or underdid their role, be it old characters or new ones. As a star example, you could really feel the "I'm so done with this" fatigue in Pomni's voice.
There were also some really funny and/or clever things in the episode, especially when leaning into the virtual nature of the world. Pomni glitching into a box and later using that to spring back to the world, Jax's head staying still while everything else shakes around him, and the truck duplicating (I think it did? That part I'll have to rewatch) stand out to me. It feeds really well into the fact that the world isn't "real".

Thennn... what did I NOT like?

I have some minor complaints to get outta the way first. Some of the jokes were a bit on-the-nose, and jokes related to internet culture will most likely go stale in a while. Also, Caine wasn't there a whole lot, which is a shame since he's the funniest one of the bunch to me.
A slightly bigger complaint I have is tone. Now I don't mind an episode that's more serious or funnier or anything, don't get me wrong. But I feel like this episode was lacking in what made the first one so good to me, that being surreal dark humor. Most of that probably on account of Caine being missing. It just didn't have the same vibe to it.
The biggest one I have, however, is the pacing. We get introduced to Gummigoo, he has a big crisis, him and Pomni talk it out, and he dies... all within 16 minutes of screentime. Hell, from his crisis to his death, there's like 10 minutes. Are we supposed to get that attached to a character that fast? Cuz I felt worse for Pomni losing a friend than him dying (even then not much, as I'll explain below). Which sure, I guess that's probably at least part of what they were going for, but still.
It just feels like so much happens in such little time. We don't know these characters extremely well yet, so I don't feel that attached to them yet. Pomni's speech about how "people in the world she came from also feel like nobodies" felt more shoehorned than emotional, since it's only her second episode on-screen. Not all characters are guilty of this - Ragatha and Jax, for example, were done well imo. We got more insight into their characters, but not in a rushed way. But with Pomni and the whole Gummigoo thing, it felt too fast for me. Too much in too short a time.

But why?

All those complaints aside, it's not like I don't understand where at least some of it might come from. Episode 1 was a massive success, which I don't think they could've ever prepared for. With that big a fanbase after just one episode, the fans' expectations are through the roof. So they have to provide.
I imagine that, in their eyes, if the 2nd episode had been uneventful or took things too slow, the fans would be disappointed. They want to see action, they want to see development! They want to see what happens in the new world and they want to see what the new characters are all about! So they put a lotta action and new development... which, to me, they overshot it. In trying to make the episode interesting enough to fill the fans' expectations - after seven months since the 1st episode, which at the time of writing this has 319 million views - they wanted to rather put in too much than too little.
Now of course, this is all theorizing. I don't know what goes on at Glitch Productions, so I might be talking outta my ass here. But I do think it makes some amount of sense, considering how long it took to make the new episode, and how big of a fanbase they were serving the second one to. They wanted to provide, and that they did! Just too much too fast for my tastes.
(Also Caine missing is probably just to give more screentime to Gummigoo and the rest of the gang. Which I get it, having him around so much too would've made the episode even more bloated.)

TL;DR

Overall I like the 2nd episode, but not as much as the first. The technical quality, like animation and voice acting, are still amazing (get it?), but I feel like the episode tried to have development happen too fast, for how little we've seen of these characters so far. My theory for that is Glitch wanting to make sure the new episode comes close to their enormous fanbase's expectations, and in doing that, they settled for putting in too much than not enough.
If you made it this far, or just read the TL;DR, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Do you feel the same way? Do you think I'm onto something? Or do you think I'm completely and utterly wrong and should be thrown into the fudge lake? I'm curious to know!

I’m almost done with this bottle of wine so bear with me. Been thinking about the King Charles portrait and how everyone assumes baphomet is hidden in there and that Charles is a baby eater and devil worshipper as if any of that isn’t obvious or even matters in the first place. What bothers me is that it seems that ever since the veil lifted when Kobe fell out of the sky and immanentized the eschaton, it’s somehow become safe to be a conspiracy theorist without being cast away by society. Now, fat people sitting in their cars all suddenly know the secrets of the universe and broadcast them on TikTok. It’s schizo stolen valor. They’re playing telephone with things losers with actual intrigue have been saying for decades. It then comes out sounding like kids spouting watered down urban legends as fact. At least when you listen to Art Bell interview a real nutcase on Coast to Coast, they’re the head of a whole organization dedicated to the research of one very specific regional cryptid or a census taker of gang stalking victims or someone with a verifiable story about having died and come back to life. Now all we get is an obese white woman pointing and making exaggerated facial reactions over Ring camera footage of obviously fake aliens. Bring back the real freaks who know how to tell a story.

For context: he and I have been best friends for 6 yrs and our friend group consists of 6 (including me and him)
He hadn’t been messaging the group chat as usually than he regularly has and we decided to shoot him a message to see if he was okay. Then later my friend (I’ll call her x) made a gc and screenshotted a message from my ex friend and his boyfriend messages saying that he was feeling left out and that I was poking fun of him and I would interrupt his convos with my other friends and we would I gang up on him. So I was in distress about the whole thing already so I was acting strange. Then friend X sent me a private message later of a screen shot of him saying that I was being weird and wasn’t happy to see him and that I was the main reason he left anyways the after a couple of weeks i tried to move past it on my own but I couldn’t get over the anger and sadness I felt so I left the group chat.
So later, friend X has a discussion with him then has a full blown argument about how we should talk it out. He then says that he refuses to apologize since it wasn’t meant for me to see and he had every right to say what he said regardless of whether or not I saw it. Then I messaged him using some vulgar language and to cut the story short in the end he refused to apologize and that if I felt offended by what he said in private for me to grow up then proceeded to block me. Since then no one from the gc hasn’t messaged me.
So now after a couple of months of not talking to them I’m feeling conflicted about trying make amends with him and try apologizing for my actions but when looking back on the messages I feel like I don’t need to apologize.

The Speakeasy gang, minus Grubes, is back together like they hadn’t skipped a beat in YDC Episode Two. Speaking of strikes, Julie discusses how she tried to throw a strike when she threw out the first pitch, and unfortunately it didn’t go the way she’d practiced.
Definitely good to see the three hosts back together and it makes the three week drought a little easier to handle. Though not by much.
Hopefully Mike will bring them back from time to time when the situation arises. They have good chemistry together.

What a shitshow… Lucky chucky is annoying and clearly only went on the show to boost his platform not to help people. He didn’t make a difference at all. He didn’t help anyone at all from what I seen yet he says he will go down in the hall of fame of 60 days participants. Hes not even in the top 3 in his season in my eyes. Darius actually helped people. He’s one of the best participants I’ve seen the whole 7 seasons so far! You can tell it wasn’t an act and he was genuinely a kind hearted person that wanted to help and make an impact! I saw that he even still keeps in touch with the little kid he was helping! Respect! He was the most helpful participant this season, and definitely top 3 for the whole entire show all seasons. As the best undercover, I would say Carlos. Although annoying, cocky, and the fact that he turned into an inmate and is selfish he did make the most impact undercover regarding gang life, violence, and contraband! He also controlled a lot of influence in the pods and used it to get a shank out, get information, stop bullies/drama, etc. although there were a few instances he used his influence badly and turned full inmate I still think he did good as a participant. Better than doing nothing and complaining! As for the women I loved how they exposed the dirty conditions of the jail and made the most impact in the living conditions category. I really hope people see this and make the jail change. It was a pretty boring season honestly every season keeps getting boring and boring they need better casting. Should also maybe mental health screen as a lot of them are cuckoo but better ratings so I doubt it. Also shouldn’t cast people who are obvious that won’t last.
Sheriff doesn’t show any care for inmates I guarantee he didn’t make any of the changes. He didn’t see even willful to hear out concerns, he’s too hard headed stuck in his ways stubborn to hear them out and only made changes for the cameras. This jail is insanely under standards. I don’t know how it kept going. Basic needs are milk and fruit in meals, laundry one time a week at least depending on how many jumpsuits are given - inmates should at least get more than one pair of jumpsuits. Should be more programs or classes, there needs to be a medical wing for inmates who need 24/7 medical assistance so they can be watched by medical staff more. There needs to be a med wing pod with a few cells for inmates that need to be watched for more than a few hours, maybe few days depending on space and if another inmate needs that bed in the wing more. Needs a mental health professional as well for all the crazy inmates so they can get medicated and help. Also need better sanitary conditions - should make inmates clean at least once a week and reward them with a small treat depending on cleaning status. Inmates need to be heard more in this jail. This jail conditions is so crazy. Hygiene products need to be provided only basic hygiene products such as a bar of soap and a small comb. Maybe deodorant although it’s not common for jails to provide deodorant or shampoo or conditioner or even hygiene products at all only pads. Unlimited pads should be provided.

I’m not sure how old this dishwasher is, it was here when we moved in 4 years ago and our house is 20 years old now. Just recently the dishwasher decided to make me start washing by hand.
The display blinks from the time it’ll take to complete the wash to the letters CL and sometimes it starts while other times it just makes noise while flashing me CL. My question is, is this a problem I can fix on my own or do I need to contact an appliance repair company?
I’ve already tried resetting the breaker and it still continues throwing gang signs at me. I do not see it plugged into an outlet so I’m assuming it’s wired into the house?

So this has been on my mind for a while now comming across these fandoms , and I don't mean for this post to come off as offensive to some or those who do ship the characters but I just really wanted to get my opinion across. I truly hope I'm not the only one who genuinely has a problem with the way male friendships are being reduced to romance or how the characters are sexualized in this fandom or fiction in general. The amount of posts that I see not only on Tumblr but on Pinterest of Dallas either shirtless or Ponyboy just being in a completely normal photo and people in the comments talking about how they want to do "dirty things" to pony, how they wanna sit on him, or just sexualizing poor Matt Dillion and the whole gang in general. Some of these photos aren't even sexual to begin with but these fangirls will always find a way to make this inappropriate, like yea we get it you find Soda attractive but sis he's still only 16! Like yes I've seen the posts and edits of that shower scene with the towel and it's gross. Like it's one thing to find a particular actor or character attractive and have a crush on them but these thirst traps and, just downright creepy comments, and edits comming from these GROWN WOMAN are insane. I mean even if they are just "fictional characters" I still feel like you should have far more respect and class than this. Some of the actors were still minors and others just barley legal teenagers when filming so it's still wrong either way. Now in regards to shipping the gang together I also have my fair share of opinions. Pinterest is in general a pretty weird and toxic place, like you can find a post for example with Johnny and Pony just standing next to each other and the comments are flooded with " they were roomates", or "they should've made out", "Johnny got cake" like you see where I'm going with this! Johnny is a child bro he literally looks like he's 10 years old wdym "he got that cake" should I put you on a watch list sir?? And not to mention the fanfiction especially on tumblr and Ao3 is pretty disgusting, they will literally write an extremely sexualized story of the whole friend group banging each other (and yes that included the three brothers) and ponyboy not to mention he's 14 shipping him with two-bit who's like 18. People nowadays will ship anything and everything, you could have two characters who virtually never interacted or otherwise just made eye contact for like 15 seconds and you already got the shippers flooding the fandoms ready to write love stories. It seems as though people just can't enjoy things for what they are instead of always trying to change plots and characters, and make every platonic male relashionship romantic or gay. People bring up how Pony and Johnny cuddled in the church and "friends don't do that" well it sounds more like you don't do that but some people are natrually more affectionate than others. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just that you can't base every assumption just becuase of what you see. Some who ship Dally and Johnny will being up the part in the book where Dally admits to Johnny being the only thing he ever loved and how he wanted to die for him. I'm sorry but I know plenty of guys who will take a bullet for their friends and say I love you it's no big deal and it's not gay either. Like do people really think that telling someone you love them equals to romantic attraction now? Like what about your family is it gay for a son to tell his father I love you?? Like I seriously don't understand some people's logic. I feel like these chronically online Tumblr fangirls are just a bunch of straight woman who have either never witnessed a positive male friendship or just find the idea of two good looking guys in a relationship. Either way it's pretty messed up if the only thought that comes to mind whenever two characters express emotion with each other is that they are dating. I mean I can't tell others what to ship but man are these fanfic writers weird.

Comment and up vote this to be part of the gang 😂 but in all seriousness I’m happy to be here to finally make history. It’s been really fun and such a learning curve for sure. I can tell my son how his father was apart of something great🥲 not going to get me out of my 9-5 but it’ll sure help.

So, first some context. For a long time, I have always thought about what it would be like to have a story about vampires in which the antagonist is the god of the sun. I think the first time I thought about it was when watching Blade when I was little. In this film, the main villain, Deacon Frost, wanted to awaken the Blood God La Magra, who was said to be the God of Vampires. In Blade Trinity, the first vampire was often refered to as the Vampire God, if I'm not wrong. So, I always thought how obvious it was and yet why no one ever wrote anything similar. There are even a feel stories with vampires involving gods or mentioning them, like Castlevania Nocturne, but I've never seen a mention of a sun god in vampire-related media.
Added to all that, I started thinking about having a story with a moon god related to werewolves. Now, this is not common at all in offical media, but fanfic and overall amateur original fiction that deal with the werewolf genre does mention lunar deities quite often. Most of the times, the moon god is presented as simply part of werewolf culture and beliefs, but not necessarily real, and sometimes even as real, but not a very present force.
Then I was told Legacies were introducing gods and I got excited.
Now, I have to be honest with you. I kinda hated Legacies. Don't get me wrong. I love the idea of it, and I love many of the characters. But, damn, this show was a mess. So bad. I hated the idea of Mallivore. I liked the idea of a past in which other supernatural beings existed, but they handled it in a way that made Supernatural and even my beloved, yet very weird show, SyFy's The Magicians look mature in comparison. Like, the way it handled magic in the TVD universe broke me (what basically amounted to becoming invisible being the flashiest thing you can do with magic became Winx-level "shooting magic beams at each other"). And the way it handled gods in the TVD universe was so frustrating.
First, Ken's armor looked wackier than Thor Love and Thunder. For real. Then the whole "the gods were afraid of Mallivore" thing. Nah, pass. One thing I actually expected them to do (because I had been thinking about it for ages), but they didn't, was to break our expectations and make the gods actually immortal. Now, not every god in every culture is immortal, but many are, and TVD had already nailed in our heads the notion that "nothing completely immortal can exist" for so long that I thought it would be a great subversion. But no.
Anyway, I was thinking about how gods could be handled in the TVD universe and I started writing some ideas and I came up with something, maybe I'll write a fanfic or something. First of all, I would have the story be more spread out. It would focus on many settings. In this case, Mystic Falls with the TVD cast, New Orleans with The Originals cast, and the Salvatore School with the Legacies cast. Most of the canon would follow, but somethings would be different. For instance, Klaus and Elijah are not dead, in their family, only Finn is not among us anymore. From Legacies, I would salvage only the setting and most of the characters, but they would follow completely different paths. The story will jump characters between three main settings, Mystic Falls, New Orleans, and the Salvatore School. Each will live their lives and uncover mysteries separately, which will gradually mix together (think Stranger Things).
>>>>>
So, the story would start in New Orleans. Haley (who is alive), would be investigating something weird that is happening with the werewolf packs of the Southern US. Many are fleeing, others are expanding, and odd alliances are being formed. Among all that, she finds that many packs started following and revering a mysterious leader that most only know as The Lady of the Night, or just The Lady. She finds that those werewolves have somehow developed the ability to stay in human form during the full moon and retain their physical prowess without needing to wear a moonlight ring. In Mystic Falls, a gang of witches have established themselves in the town and started coersing the local witches to join and hunting the local vampires, and the TVD cast has to investigate. All they know is that they are led by a someone refered to as Lightbringer (Sorry, that is the one setting among the three that I haven't thought much about). In Legacies, the cast finds a teenage boy like them that have been chased by werewolves all the way from somewhere in the South. Initially, they think he is Human, but they see the guy kill a few wolves with his bare hands before collapsing. They bring him to the school and find out that, not only is he amnesiac, but he only remembers his life up to a year before, when he was found and put in the foster system and was given a new name by the state, Malek. They don't know what he is and a good portion of his arc would be they trying to find out (he would take Landon's place in the story).
>>>>>
As you may have realized, these new characters are gods. So, I actually like Legacies' idea of not tying the gods to any specific culture (like having the literal Greek gods or many patheons and stuff). Instead they implied that all those cultures' beliefs, or at least a lot of them, were inspired by this one family of real gods.
In my story, this is basically what happened. There is the real gods and then there is the things that people all over the world believed, which often was based on a limited understanding of the real gods or a cultural memory of then mixed in with made-up stuff that developed over time. One example of this is the "Storm God vs Serpent" archetype, which I will talk about later.
Anyway, the gods in this version will be loosely based on our reconstructed understanding of the Proto-Indo-European religion that gave origin to the Greek, Slavic, Celtic, and Norse gods among other in Europe, and the Persian and Vedic gods in Asia. But there will also be tie-ins with Mesoamerica, Africa, Japan, etc.
The main antagonists of the first phase are two individuals known as The Twins. Elio (Lightbringer) and Selina (The Lady). They are actually the twin gods of the Sun and the Moon, who woke up from a centuries-long slumber to wake the rest of their their family.
Selina has the power to bend werewolves to her will, though it is easier for hybrids to resist. Though Selina has nothing to do with werewolves' creation, as they were created by Inadu (The Hollow) in America half a millennium after she was put to sleep, she still has power over them, being the personification of the Moon. That is because Inadu's curse made them "slaves to the moon", which she did not know would tie them to Selina herself. Selina has the power of forcible truning a wolf to torture them when in her presence, as well as preventing them from doing so in the full moon. She uses that as a control mechanism for her followers, torturing them with untimely shifting or rewarding them with the ability to resist shifting during the full moon.
Elio, on the other hand, is being slowly revealed in Mystic Falls, where they first hear of the Twins. Unlike his sister, who has power and influence over werewolves, Elio has no power over vampires. Instead, he is only very dangerous to them. Elio has the power to have vampires feel the effects of being under the sun when in his presence, even if they are wearing a daylight ring. He can make them feel mild discomfort, make their skin blister, or even have them spontaneously combust to death in his presence. His very presence is also all the way from unsetlling to irrationally terrifying to vampires and hybrids. Unlike Selina, who is being literraly worshipped by the werewolves, Elio is pretending to be a very powerful witch and will not be discovered to be the sun god until later.
Finally, we have Malek. Because he is initially not as powerful as The Twins are portrayed to be, we would think he is a demigod or something else. Eventually, it will be revealed that he is actually the archetypical storm god, with powers related to lightning, thurder and the weather, like Thor or Zeus or Indra (but he is not the archetypical Sky Father, which was often mixed with the Storm God in subsequent religions, like with Zeus). He was the first one of the gods to be woken up, but the process was done wrong, and it hurt him, left him weaker.
The gods are a family of supernatural beings with power over nature and abstract concepts, representing many archetypical aspects of more imediately identifiable with the Proto-Indo European religion. They are both magical and the source of magic, and they have been living since at least 10,000 BC. They do not follow the exact canon of a specific religion, but some aspects of their lives may have been remembered as specific stories in many different cultures. Elio and Selina are both Helios and Selene, as well as Apollo and Artemis, Ra and Khonsu, and many other aspects. The family is formed by the Sky Father, the Earth Mother, and all their sons and daughters. These are the greater gods, but there are also a number of minor gods that descend from the core family.
The gods are immortal, as in completely indestructible. Nature's "no immortality" rule doesn't apply to them because they are the ones who created that rule in the first place (which forced any attempt of recreating the gods' immortality with magic always ending in a halfway success at best). It will take time for the main cast to come to terms with this fact and understand that they can't kill the gods, just put them back to sleep. Even in their sleep, the gods were somewhat conscious. They are aware of the changes in the Human world and could whisper in the ears of mortals (thin Silas).
It will be revealed that Malek, being one of the gods that loved Humanity the most, was the one who put his siblings to sleep (his parents, the Sky and the Earth, are more metaphysical and don't interfere much, as they exist in a more immaterial state). The gods were in the brink of war among each other about 2000 years ago, and a war of the gods would be extremely harmful to Humanity. Small skirmishes among them had caused civilization-ending catastrophes before, such as the Bronze Age Collapse, the Middle Eastern Deluge, and an earlier small war had been fought in India millennia before, giving origin of Indian myths of basically "nuclear"-level wars between the gods in the past.
So, to prevent this from happening, Malek enlisted the assistance of Alyta, the Goddess of the Dead, and Fae, the Smith Goddess of Fire, to put his family to sleep. A lot of his character arc will be his conflict between his old family and his new family at the Salvatore School. Elio and Selina want to find him because he is the only one who knows where the other gods are being kept (well, he doesn't for a while, due to his memory loss). Alyta is a mix of Hades, Persephone, Osiris, Thanatos, and other death-related gods. She helped Malek because she knew a war of the gods would be a pain for her. She rules over the Land of the Dead, a realm that encompasses Limbo, The Bright World (Peace), and from which small artificial realms such as Qetsyah's Other Side, Cade's Hell, and the Ancestral Plane were temporarily carved out (alowed by her). Furthermore, she never leaves completely (though she does harvest the souls of the living) and is the only god that was not put to sleep and was active for all thistime.
Now, a lot of the first portion of the story would follow Elio and Selina's machinations and Malek's new life. The Twins want to bring their family back and take back ruleship of the world. For that they want to find Malek, and they (and presumably the other gods still sleeping) are pissed at him. However, there is also disagreement among The Twins. Their family is just as disfunctional as The Originals, and the only thing that used to keep The Twins specifically from jumping at their throats was their little sister, Rory, Goddess of the Dawn. But she is sleeping, and though they made this alliance to release the others, they are gradually losing patience with one another. Other gods that could be mentioned or would appear are a Smith Goddess of Fire (Fae), a God of Beauty and Love (Deon), a God of War (Martino), a Goddess of the Sea (Yara), a God of Time, a Goddess of Agriculture...
Finally, by the last third of the story, the final enemy would be revealed, a being that even the gods fear. The Great Old One. It is the archetypical "serpent" or "monster", a lovecraftian horror and the monstrous firstborn child of the Sky and the Earth. It was defeated by Malek over ten-thousand years ago. However, being of the same nature of the gods and, thus, immortal, Malek could not kill it, only chain it beneath the earth. This battle was felt all over the world and gave origin to many myths. The archetype of the storm god vs the serpent would become the myth of Zeus and Typhon and Apollo and Python in Greece, of Indra and Vritra in India, of Thor in Jormungandr in Scandinavia, and of Susanoo and Yamata-no-Orochi in Japan, for instance. Before their battle, the monster kidnapped the moon (Selina) and tried to eat the sun (Elio), giving origin to myths like Apophis trying to eat Ra in Egypt, or Yamata-no-Orochi kidnapping a princess in Japan. After their first battle, monster tried to rule Mesoamerica, were it ruled as a bloody god that gave origin to the archetype of the Feathered Serpent god and introduced human sacrifice to saciate its hunger for blood. Its defeat was remembered in Mesopotamia as the gods defeating Tiamat, or as the killing of Ymir in Scandinavia.
Bascically, it is a lovecraftian god of chaos of immense power and unsatiable hunger. Malek's battle with it was so traumatic to him, that even in his amnesiac state he displayed a phobia of serpents and snake-like lizards. This being is the one that, after millennia unwatched, managed to free up a part of its essence from its prison and attack Malek in his sleep, which led to him being awoken and severely weakened for a long while. After the other gods realize that it is slowly breaking away from its chains, it becomes a race against time to put it back to its cage, with gods, vampires, witches, and werewolves working together to do so.

First off I was literally in tears at my son's basketball practice watching the final two episodes on my phone.
But the reason I'm making the post I really wish for just a few things I feel like we deserved, 1. Sheldon's daughters name 2. At least Pictures of Amy & Sheldon's kids. 3. I KNOW this show was about Sheldon, but some kind if info on the rest of TBBT crew, somehow telling us how Haliey & Michael turned out, what gender is Penny & Lenords child, did Raj ever get married & have kids.
Chuck we need more, even if it was a 1 hour episode where we learn more about the gang the last 5 years, even though in show time seems to be more like 12 ish years.
Oh one more thing TBBT last Episode was May 16th 2019, doesn't feel like a coincidence.

From the beginning...
Cast

Part 2, Chapter 8

Conferring briefly, Arthur strides across the bridge [1]. Before he gets halfway across, a voice rings out. “HALT. Come no further. We want nothing from you, and have nothing for you. Depart peaceably.” The voice is feminine, with a thick rural Damaran accent, not so dissimilar to Arthur’s.
Arthur comes to a stop. “We come in peace. We just want to know what is going on. We’re on a mission from the Council of Thanes in Ironspur. This is their forge.”
“No dwarves here. It’s ours now. You need know nothing more. Away!”
Arthur withdraws to the group, where suddenly Zander notices that Dillium has disappeared. One thing at a time. “Perhaps if we paid a toll.” Zander suggests.
“We’ll pay a toll to cross the bridge and converse.” Arthur booms.
“How much?”
“How much do you want?”
“Three figures. Leave it on the bridge.”
“We’ll give you a hundred pieces of silver.”
There is no reply. Through the haze of the heat and ash, the outlines of the people on the other side of the chasm appear to be lined up.
“Are you with the dragon?” Novos calls out.
“Of course not! He’s taken our people. Are you?”
“No. He stole our elf!” Zander calls out.
“We just want to look around,” Novos adds. He takes a few steps toward the bridge, but a dagger sails out of the darkness and misses Novos’ foot by … well, several feet.
“Go away!”
The argument goes back and forth. Daggers are thrown until the unknown assailant runs out or gets tired, then crossbow bolts are launched. Novos takes cover behind Zander, who good-naturedly holds his shield out in protection. After several shots, Novos makes out the shape of a shooter above and to his left. Aiming carefully, he fires back with his bow.
“Look, we’re coming across. I’ll give ten gold pieces to anyone who lays down arms and talks.” Novos announces.
“Don’t you dare!” the voice cuts through, though it looks like the shapes of people on the other side of the chasm are less decided. Several low conversations break out, and though nobody can make out the words, the tones range from willing to harsh.
Zander decides to take a position on the bridge. This of course means Novos is a clear target again, though it’s hard to make out anything through the haze and the crossbow bolts miss more frequently than they hit.
***
A pebble rolls across the floor and nudges Dillium’s foot. Looking around, she sees the redheaded young human put his finger to his lips in a universal "don't scream" gesture, then he beckons her over away from the party. Novos has disappeared again, and everyone else is intent on trying to see through the heat waves and ash rising from the river of red gelatinous goop. Zander or Felicity are busy arguing with the voice, so slipping away from the group, Dillium ducks around the corner with the man.
Up close, she sees he has a misshapen face and is slightly stooped. Looking at his eyes, she decides he sees poorly--if at all--from his left eye. His complexion is ruddy in a way that nearly obscures the freckles all over his face and neck, and his shocking red hair seems nearly too bright to be natural. Now that she gets a good look at him, Dillium thinks he might be near his thirtieth year. For all of being a bit hunch-backed, he doesn't seem to have any problem moving around. His low voice speaks to habitual whispering.
"You are of Ilmater? My gran said that a cleric in a horse-hair shirt saved his life after the battle at Goliad Ford [2]. He would give coppers to the monks that came through, and often gave them food. Can I trust you?"
The simple sincerity in his voice, and his look of concern and dread touch Dillium, and she nods. He beckons her further away from the group, but he doesn't seem to have any weapons on him so she follows. Slipping silently back through the rubble of the half-collapsed hall, the pair returns to the cell where the dead are still chained to the wall. He pays them no mind. He does leave the door open a sliver, though. Seating himself on the floor next to a burned-out fire, he speaks.
"My name is Febis. Look, I'm sorry for before. He doesn't like visitors, and I can't just go and tell the Hand that they can't use this place for their hide-out anymore. We only just got here when he showed up. He's not bad, once you get to know him. He sometimes brings me food if he killed too many sheep, and he doesn't come in this part of the cavern because he can't turn around right. Only you can't insult him or he gets very mad, and he sometimes can't control his temper. It really just would be better if you and your friends go."
Too many "he's" and "they's" for her to sort out. It's like Febis assumes she already knows who they all are. “Slow down, and start over,” Dillium says gently. “Who is ‘he’?”
Febis says that ‘he’ is a monstrous red dragon that calls himself The Mighty Flamestrike. He arrived in a blast of wind and a clatter of claws on the stone floor, and he made himself at home in the main hall. He likes the heat from the lava, and sometimes lays down on top of it, sinking slowly into it. During one of the recent earthshakes part of the roof caved in, and Flamestrike took up residence high up in some hollowed-out caves near the ceiling. Febis has never been up there, but Flamestrike sometimes leaves in the evening to go hunting, and returns before dawn.
Febis is a member of the Dread Order of the Ebon Hand, the most dangerous gang of bandits this side of the Assassin's Citadel. What do you mean you've never heard of them? They have been the most feared bandit gang in the country's history. Although, he hastens to add, he's only been with the gang since he left home in Helmsdale this spring. He hated being a farmer and he can't ride a horse [3] (and some of the soldiers made fun of him), so there really isn't anything else for him to do.
The Hand found the entrance to this cavern complex two or three months ago, and they moved in. It makes a great base to bandit from. Cletus says that it was carved out by dwarves. Fatima, the captain of the Hand, has been working on getting the place cleaned up, and is looking to be able to give everyone their own areas in which to live. That was easier before Flamestrike came along. Since his arrival, the Hand have been hiding in terror from the dragon, who sometimes plays with them "like a cat with a mouse", blowing fire down the corridor and making the whole complex shake. Fatima has been trying to get them to attack Flamestrike, but the last time they tried, Willie and Franso were badly burned and pelted with rocks dropping from the ceiling. Father Michael took days to heal them all the way back to health.
Febis himself was the second of the Hand caught by the dragon, but instead of eating him, the dragon talked to him, and made friends with Febis. Now Febis comes and goes as he pleases, but he knows that the dragon's temper is such that he could end up as a snack if he crosses The Mighty Flamestrike.
***
Novos does the thing where he disappears. Zipping across the chasm, he notes that there are nearly a dozen “thugs”, along with some armored war mastiffs. Bedrolls and a cot line one wall, and a makeshift cook stove is in the back corner. An archway leads off into the darkness. The thugs are not particularly ready for battle—they are indifferently armored and have a bevy of non-uniform weapons, but none of them have them raised as if they were ready to use them. There are several debates ongoing, and two of the thugs are wrestling.
Returning to the group, Novos quickly gives a report. Arthur asks Zander to move, and he leads the way across the bridge.
“CEASE!” A ripple flows through the Weave as a spell is cast, and the two wrestlers climb to their feed sheepishly. Before they know it, the entire party is on their side of the chasm, face to face.
“Go AWAY! WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE. You are invading our home!” A crossbow bolt accompanies the demand, but it misses everyone. Without the heat shimmer, Novos can finally make out his assailant through what appears to be an opening above and to the right of the large cave. She is peering out behind a large metal structure with carvings etched on it.
The thugs are still bickering amongst themselves to some extent, but only a few of them tentatively raise their weapons.
Another ripple in the Weave, and the thugs generally calm down, losing some of the edge in their bickering. Unfortunately, nothing calms the shooter, who manages to put a bolt into Novos. Novos shoots back, hitting the woman. In response, the several of the bandits reach out to stop Novos from attacking their captain.
***
“My friends and I are here at the request of the dwarves in Ironspur. They are worried that someone here was attempting to restart the forge, which is… haunted or something? They didn’t get into details. Have you seen it?”
"Forge? I don't know about that, but there is a big iron thingy up near where Fatima beds down. It kinda’ looks like something Jeran the Smith from my village might use. We don't do anything with it, but it's useful to put stuff on when we're eating. I mean, there's no chairs or nothin, but we can stand up and eat. Sometimes we just eat near the campfire, though."
"So, you aren't working the forge, or trying to craft things?" Dillium asks patiently.
"Gerk sometimes uses it to bang the dents of armor pieces, or to try to sharpen swords and stuff, but he doesn't have a hammer, so normally he just uses an iron bar to smack the back of armor piece. Sometimes it works."
Dillium explains that some of the people in Damara are worried about another war with Vaasa (“like the one with the Lich King”), and they are looking for allies who are willing to lend aid. Perhaps the Hand would like to assist?
Febis tells her in his own simple way that most of the men don’t want to be in a war. They’ve seen the soldiers in Helmsdale with their shiny armor and fancy horses, and they don’t have any of that stuff. “Being in a battle sounds dangerous. Besides, that sounds like we’d have to stop banditing, and that’s kinda’ fun sometimes. Maybe some of the guys might want to go legit, but Fatima just wants to keep us safe.”
“You know, the Hand could become an adventuring or mercenary group too. That way you all could be making money by completing different contracts. While it may not be as fun as being a bandit, it’s more sustainable for you all,” Dillium reasons.
"Don't you have to get a paper from the queen to be a mercenary group? And aren't those hard? I heard there was a group that had to fight like a whole lot of orcs once [4]. That's almost like being in a battle."
“Hmm. I guess I could see that, though there may come a time when you have to decide which side you’re on, just like your gran did.” After a pause to collect her thoughts, Dillium continues. She wonders aloud why the dragon likes Febis more than the others, and if there is a way to make everyone happy—to perhaps speak to Flamestike, to free the Hand from his torment, and for them to look over the forge for the dwarves.
"I don't know why he likes me more than the others. Maybe he's just lonely. Maybe it's on account of my hair being the same color as he is. Maybe it's because I don't call him names and stuff. Sometimes he comes out and talks to me about his brothers and how he's going to get his revenge on them all some day. Delfus used to talk to me that way when we lived in Helmsdale. His pa used to beat him when he didn't milk the cow in the morning, or dropped the egg basket. Delfus and I are good friends. He's the one who convinced me to join the Hand."
“What happened with his brothers that makes him want revenge on them? Who are his brothers?” Despite her need to keep on track, Dillium’s curiosity overcomes her.
"Oh, he doesn't like to talk about them. I guess brother stuff? I only have sisters, and they are annoying. Perhaps they called him names, or didn't want to use his whole name. Maybe they fart in the nest. Do dragons have nests? I heard that they lay eggs..."
***
Wordlessly, the party springs into action. There is a ripple in the Weave, and half of the bandits fall to the floor in a deep slumber, their war dogs with them. Arthur strides through the sleeping bodies to one who didn’t go down, and he slashes him from shoulder to hip. Momentarily surprised, the man falls to the floor, lifeless. His dog growls. Zander steps forward to face off against two other bandits. Two quick slashes and they fall to the floor. Novos disappears, then makes his way up to the opening where the crossbow shooter is taking aim at Felicity. She misses. The remaining bandit gestures, the Weave ripples from him, and a bolt of light streaks across the room to smash into Arthur’s back. The dog snaps at Arthur but misses. Novos reappears and stabs the crossbow-wielding woman in the back. Enraged, she pulls out a saber and slashes in vain at Novos. Before Novos can stab her again, Felicity pulls out a wand and fires an arc of electricity at the woman, killing her. The one-sided battle is over.
Quickly, Arthur and Zander bind up the four slumbering bandits and their war dogs. Felicity reaches into her purse and slides some gold into each of their coin pouches.
***
Novos peers around. He’s seen forges before, and this looks something like one, except instead of a standard coal-fired furnace, there is a trickle of red-hot lava, dribbling down a hole in the wall and forming a small rivulet through a makeshift furnace before falling off down the side of the cavern wall and into the lava river below. The forge area is cleaned out. There are pegs on the walls, presumably for tools, but they are bare, as are a pair of stout metal tables. Shrugging, Novos heads down a set of stairs and through a dark hallway. Some distance down, he spies a darker alcove, and in that alcove, a doorway. Pushing open the door, he sees bags, boxes, and barrels. One bag has conveniently fallen over, spilling its contents of coins onto the floor. “Hey! I found something!” He shouts.
***
"He doesn't much like visitors. I don't think he wants to talk to anyone. It's too bad they can't get along. Maybe The Mighty Flamestrike could go out with the Hand and help them find wagons to bandit, and then perhaps he could eat the horses after we bring the wagons back and get all the stuff? I don't think he wants to do that, though. It would be nice if all my friends could get along. Fatima would love to have a real dragon helping. I bet we could bandit like two wagons at a time!"
Dillium responds. "If we could help the Hand find a new place to live, how would they get out without ... Flamestrike—"
Febis interrupts. "The Mighty Flamestrike. He likes you to use his whole name."
"Fine, the mighty Flamestrike--"
"No, no. You're not doing it right. You have to use the whole thing. The Mighty Flamestrike. Here, you try it. The Mighty Flamestrike."
"The Mighty Flamestrike."
"Good! I knew you was smart!" Dillium sighs heavily.
"So, if my other friends and I could find a new place for the Hand to live, and perhaps a job so they could go legit, how would they get out of here without The Mighty Flamestrike eating them?"
"I suppose they could wait until he goes out to hunt, then leave real quick like in the middle of the night. He wouldn't be here to eat them, and if they went far away before dawn he wouldn't get them."
"You keep saying 'they'. Wouldn't you want to go with the Hand?"
"Yeah! I mean, I would be sad that The Mighty Flamestrike wouldn't have any friends left. Maybe he would let me come back and visit him?"
“I don’t really understand why he keeps the Hand here if he doesn’t like them.. but I am sure that he would be happy to have a friend like you visit him if the Hand does leave. It does seem like it would be lonely here in the mountains by himself…” Dillium trails off, waiting on a response.
“I think he lets the Hand stay here for something to do, but he really doesn't keep them here. They are just ascared of him on account of the breathing fire and all.
“I think I would like to come and visit him sometimes. Maybe I could bring him a sheep. He likes sheep."
***
Just as they are finishing tying up the bandits, they begin to wake. “Wha… what happened?” One of them sees Zander puling the dead and bleeding bodies off to the side. “Murderers! You murdered them!” “They killed Willie!” “You Bastards!” “Look, they murdered the Captain!”
“Arthur addresses them. “Hush. You are alive. That is enough. You attacked us, and we responded.”
“You murdered them in cold blood!” one of the braver bandits spits.
“If your captain is now dead, who’s the new captain of your company?” Zander asks.
“uh…..”
“Cletus!” “What? I don’t want—” “Cletus is!” “But I don’t—”
“Fine. Do you give your parole? If so we shall untie you.” Arther towers above the one that responded as Cletus.
“I don’t even have a payroll yet. How do I…” Felicity unties the group. Climbing to their feet, they leave the ropes on the ground. Blood coats the floor from the dead, and Zander’s dragging activity has spread around even more blood.
“Hey! I found something!” shouts Novos. His voice sounds like it comes from the archway to the left. Arthur tells Felicity and Zander to stay with the bandits while he goes to see what is the matter.
***
Dillium pauses for a second.
“Febus… are you by any chance the Mighty Flamestrike?”
"Me? No! He's my friend. He's big and beautiful and scary and eats people. I'm just... me. Besides, he's all big and scaly. I'm not scaly!" He pauses a moment.
"Sometimes I dream about flying, though."
“Ah, sorry. It’s just that the Mighty Flamestrike isn’t the only dragon we’ve encountered in our journey. I know you’ve said plenty of times before that the Mighty Flamestrike doesn’t like visitors and after what happened I understand. I’d like to apologize to him on behalf of my friends.” Dillium takes a deep breath. “They attacked him… do you think he’ll let me try to heal him? Being able to create some form of middle ground between us all would be beneficial, don’t you think? I may be able to convince my party to leave…”
"It's ~T~he Mighty Flamestrike. You have to say his name right if you ever want to talk to him." Febis mutters under his breath, "Man, I thought elfs were supposed to be smart."
"Anyway, they attacked The Mighty Flamestrike? And they're still alive? How many of them got burned up? How can you heal a big giant dragon like that? I thought they had to have an arrow in them or something for you to heal him? If he's hurt he's probably going to be very cross indeed. I don’t know if he will want to talk at all, but I guess we could try..."
“Well, there’s no harm in trying right? Do you think you can try to help me meet The Mighty Flamestrike?”
"There IS harm in trying. If he's mad, he'll just fire us, and fire us good. Or drop us in the hot rocks. He can do that. I could see if he wants to come down, but I don't know if he will."
“If you could please, that would mean a lot to me… I can meet him on my own unless you’d like to join me, but if you’re worried about getting flamed then I don’t blame you. I’d like a chance to right the wrongs that have happened today. Perhaps we should meet him in a room more accessible for him…”
***
Arthur appears in the doorway as Novos looks around the dimly lit room. “Loot! I’m sure this will pay some bills.”
“We’ll need to figure out how to get all this out of here—”
“Ahem.” A voice from behind Arthur. “I’ll have you know that this is the lawfully acquired possessions of the Hand, and are not for you to go carting it all off. I know exactly how much is in here, and I won’t see you take a copper, do you hear! We know our rights!”
Arthur pinches the bridge of his nose. This has the makings of an even longer day.
A couple of the remaining members of the bandits pile into the room. “Hey! Keep your hands off our stuff. It’s ours!”
Arthur turns on his heel and heads back toward the main room, but … something isn’t right. The wall along the corridor is caved in, but there’s something… odd. Climbing up on top of the pile, he notices heat and light coming through a crack. He pulls some rubble away and can clearly see another room beyond.
“Hey, that stuff in there is ours, too!” Cletus says.
***
"Oh, he won't go any further than the main hall. He doesn't want to get stuck, and he can't turn around very well in the smaller rooms." Febis pauses for a moment. "How will you keep from getting fired? He might be very angry."
Dillium pats his arm. “I’ll figure something out.”
"I could go out and call him and see if he will come down, I guess."
“To be completely honest Febus the only thing I have to protect myself from the flames is hope and faith. Is the main hall where the rest of my friends are? I have instinctual knowledge that if they are there then this whole plan won’t work… I really do appreciate you doing this for me. It’s very kind of you.”
"Is instinctual knowledge some fancy elf thing, or a fancy priest thing?”
“Hmm I would say the instinctual knowledge has come from spending nearly every waking moment of my journey so far with roughly the same people… their habits are frighteningly predictable and in some cases, suicidal.”
Febus nods. “Do you need to rest, or uhm... eat a last meal or something?"
Dillium sighs. “While rest and a meal would be great, I fear that time is not our friend.”
***
Pulling enough of the rubble away to fit his bulk through, Arthur scrapes his armor on the rock as he slides down into the next room. This one is very hot, and is dimly lit by a seeping pool of lava in the corner. After a moment, Novos slides down next to him. “Whatcha find?” he asks unnecessarily.
A head pokes up from the lava. Then another. Sensing fresh food, a group of bulky snake-like creatures slither out of the lava pool and make their way over to Arthur and Novos. Soundlessly they attack. Arthur slashes, but is badly burned by the heat given off by the creatures. Novos too tries to slash with his dagger, but the heat is too much. He falls back behind Arthur. Arthur calls out for aid, and with a mighty hack and a movement of the Weave, a tremendous roar of thunder smashes through the snakes, temporarily deafening everyone, including the two bandits who have followed.
“All our stuff.” Cletus intones when he can hear again.
***
“What was that?” Felicity asks in alarm.
“Dunno. Let’s find out,” Zander replies. The two race toward the pile of rubble in the corridor.
***
Febis stands. "If you're sure I can't talk you out of it..." He opens the door and steps through it.
Suddenly a huge thunder blast echoes through the cavern. It is definitely not a cave-in, or the clash of rock on ... anything, but rather the sound of a huge lightning strike hitting nearby. The sound is briefly deafening. It sounds like it came from the cavern where the Hand was last seen, rather than the direction of the main hall. There's the sound of distant yelling from the same direction.
Febis is startled. He looks off in the direction of the party (and his friends). "Oh, that's not good." Moments later, there is a roar from the direction of the main hall. "Very not good."
“Febis I believe you and I share the very same sentiment there- Uhhh change of plans. Let’s make sure our friends here don’t kill each other. Stay close to me, sound good?”
***
The eight humans look around. Apart from the lava pool and the very hot corpses of the snake creatures (everyone moves away from them), the room contains what Arthur, Novos and Zander identify as grave goods. They are similar to the urns, carvings, and paintings in the tomb they invaded in Ironspur. In fact, there is a fancy dwarven sarcophagus and an ornate hammer atop. Across is the carved family tree that stretches for nearly a thousand years, ending nearly three centuries before (in the dwarven calendar). Taking it all in, Arthur’s eye catches on some oddity. A misalignment of patterns on one wall. “Secret door,” he says. Novos checks quickly for traps, then pushes open the door.
Inside, two carved stone dwarves shamble to life. Raising their bronze axes, they silently stalk toward Novos and Arthur as Zander and Felicity look on in horror.
***
Grabbing Febis by the hand, Dillium quickly but cautiously makes her way back down the corridor. She passes through the outer chamber with the well that leads down to lava, and sees the rickety wooden bridge over the chasm that is still producing heat haze and ash. Nobody is visible on the other side. Quickly she slips across the bridge and into chaos.
Blood covers the floor. The dead bodies of several of the Hand, along with their war mastiffs, are pushed over to one side. Several ropes cut into ten or twelve foot lengths lie on the floor. Looking around, she sees a large room. A campfire and makeshift cooking stove are in the far corner. Bedrolls and a cot line one wall. There's what appears to be some sort of shrine along the back wall. An archway on the opposite wall leads off into darkness.
"DELFUS! What happened?" Febis runs over to the corpse of his childhood friend, slashed from shoulder to hip by a single broad stroke. The last of his blood pools on the floor, but the blood strewn across the floor makes it very much appear that he and the others were dragged from another part of the room. "And Gerk! And Father Michael!" Tears pour down Febis' face as he comes to grips with the loss of his only (human) friends, apparently savagely butchered. Sitting down on the cold floor oblivious to the standing blood, Febis cradles the lifeless head of his friend.
Meanwhile, the muffled sounds of battle are heard through the open archway.
"I thought you were going to be my friend," Febis cries to Dillium bitterly.
Dillium quickly checks the bodies. All have been dead for ten or fifteen minutes, beyond a simple revival. Dillium leaves Febis to his grief and dashes toward the open archway. On the other side is a moderately-sized room with rubble strewn around. It appears that one wall has collapsed. There is a hole at the top where some of the rubble has been pushed away, leaving a man-sized space to squeeze under the lintel of a hidden doorway. There is a dim red light (so, more lava), and voices. Dillium hears the sound of metal on stone and the grunts of men in battle. Scampering lightly up the pile of loose stones and rubble, she scootches through the hole at the top, sliding down the other side. There she finds several unknown people who are watching Arthur, Zander, and Novos in battle. As she arrives, the last of some sort of animated stone statues crumble to pebbles. Arthur's armor is scorched down one side, and he limps slightly. Novos is barely on his feet, and as Dillium arrives, he sinks to his knees, panting. Zander sheathes his sword, and Felicity puts away a wand. Three grubby men and what might charitably be called a woman (under many layers of dirt and grime) stand around, unarmed.
"Now you remember, all this is the lawful property of our company. You don't go gettin light fingers now," says one of the Hand in the most "southern drawl" Damaran accent ever.

End of Chapter 8

[1] Based very loosely on Fire Forge Caves by Dungeon Baker in FiveE magazine https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/367470/fivee-magazine-august-2021
[2] https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Ford_of_Goliad
[3] The duke has a company of cavalry barracked just outside Helmsdale.
[4] Probably too far away for it to have been the party, back when they were called Dragon Force in Chapter 32. On the other hand, maybe it was?

Hola ! Welcome back to Ecuador for second discussion for The Sisters of Alameda Street. I hope you're enjoying this circus as much as I am! I will post some questions in the comments, to get you started, but you can discuss anything in this section.
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Schedule
Marginalia
Chapter 9 - Alejandra, 1936
Alejandra isn't happy. She doesn't like the changes that are happening in her body and she's feeling left out of the “jorga” (gang) with her cousin Fausto. Her first period came when she was climbing a tree, and the new neighbour noticed the blood. Fausto sent him away and covered her dress with his jacket. Mama Blanca explains that she will no longer be able to play futbol or eat avocado. (Why???)
Fausto encourages her to steal money from her father so they can go to the circus, and this earns his respect. They speak to an acrobat there called Enrique Hidalgo, who Alejandra finds attractive.
Chapter 10
Back to the cliffhanger of the telephone call. Malena hangs up on Lili's mother to avoid being betrayed by her voice. Ana comments that Liliana’s boyfriend is married and his wife is pregnant.
Amanda takes Malena to the restaurant and says that Rafael doesn't believe she can manage it because she's a woman. He only lets Alejandra work because she's so good at it, but insists on it being a secret that she is the jeweller. After the death of Fausto, Alejandra was so depressed that she joined the convent. Malena wonders if that was a convenient way to hide a pregnancy.
Chapter 11 - Amanda, 1936
After winning the dance contest, Joaquin and Amanda are celebrating at a restaurant. When Joaquin is on the point of proposing, Amanda spots a handsome man in a tuxedo and red carnation and announces that she will marry this man. He is Nicolas Fornasieri, the restaurant owner. By leaving her bracelet in the Ladies, Amanda sets up a means to see him again, and a romance blossoms.
Amanda's father catches them in the car, saying good-bye quite innocently. He sends Amanda out, jumps in himself, and after a drive, tells Amanda that she WILL marry this man. A huge wedding follows, and later on Amanda sees the priest to say that they have never been intimate. She is advised to be patient and she buys a sexy nightgown.
Chapter 12
On returning home after the visit to Amanda's restaurant, Malena is dismayed to find that Javier has thrown out the accounting books. She searches the rubbish and finds a handkerchief, with an E monogram. She finds the books and buries them to examine later. Amanda notices Malena’s pendant that she wears. She says it was a gift from her grandmother. Amanda thinks it looks familiar.
One night Javier catches her trying to go outside. She pretends she's sleepwalking.
Chapter 13
Claudia and Sebastian's engagement party is held and Malena is nervous that he'll recognise her from when he saw her at the hotel. She can't help but look at him though, he's attractive. Malena rings her friend Julia who informs her that her father was involved in a fight with a bald man, which was very out of character. Claudia invites Malena to mass and she comments on Claudia's pendant. Claudia explains that it was made by her grandfather and given to Abigail, who in turn gave to Claudia before her death.
Chapter 14 - Abigail, 1936
Abigail was sick as a child, (bad kidney) and she was seen as the weak one. She was forced to go to thermal waters three times a week, while her sisters were going to dance concerts.
One day another child pushed her away from the edge of the pool, and not being able to swim, and having removed her floater, she quickly went down. She was rescued by a young man with blue eyes. Over the next months she searched for this handsome man in vain, and couldn't concentrate on school work.
Chapter 15
Sebastian was discussing the poor state of his finances over breakfast with his mother. The topic moves on to last night's engagement party. Sebastian comments on Lili's dress, but mainly her cleavage. Oops he can't even remember what his fiancée was wearing! He recalls where he'd seen "Lili" before and concludes that Javier and Liliana are lovers. He can't quite work out the mystery. He finds her to be lovely and gentle.
Chapter 16
Malena tries again to sneak outside at night. She digs up the accounting books and takes out the handwritten note from her father, kept hidden in her bra, and compares the handwriting. It was identical.
Chapter 17 - Ana 1940
Ana is at the market with her son Javier when someone slips a note into her basket. It's from a secret admirer. Rafael scolds her for not having his lunch ready.
The following day at the market, a boy drops another letter inside her basket; she tells the boy to pass on that she would like to meet the person. Finally a place and time is given and Ana goes to this café, anxious and feeling guilty. Rafael appears and asks her what she's doing.
Chapter 18
Malena is wondering what her father's real name is, Enrique or Hugo? She returns to the nightclub with Amanda and a couple of dancers turn up to audition. Malena is impressed and later Amanda teaches her to tango.
At dawn the next day she spots Mama Blanca, Amanda and Ana going out the door, in black dresses.
Chapter 19
Javier explains to Malena that the trio were visiting Fausto's grave on the anniversary of his death. Alejandra doesn't go because she's not religious and doesn't like to visit the dead.
Fausto was shot dead in a robbery, on Alejandra's birthday; which is why no one celebrates it. Malena suggests baking her a cake, but Claudia disapproves. They do it anyway. When Javier sings "Cumpleanos Feliz", Malena claps. There is silence. Alejandra thanks them but walks out crying, much to Claudia's satisfaction.
Chapter 20
While fetching Amanda's cheque book in her bedroom drawer, Malena spots a half-burned book - the diary of Abigail Platas. Malena decides she must read it, looking for her father's name. There is a diary entry about how Abigail went with Fausto and Alejandra to the circus and met the assistant manager, Enrique Hidalgo, who later brought around tickets. The father was so impressed he offered him a job as a bookkeeper.
Malena is convinced that Enrique Hidalgo is her father - his eyes used to light up when he took her to the circus.
On opening night, Leonardo's dancing partner hasn't turned up and in desperation they make Malena fill in.
Chapter 21
Malena nervously waits backstage, feeling uneasy in her skimpy red dress. Sebastian is sitting alone near the stage, watching her intently. Leonardo spots his wife coming in with her lover, and his jealous rage makes him try some steps that Malena isn't ready for - and they both fall on the floor. Her dress has risen up and the audience laughs.
Then there is a ruckus at Sebastian's table, he is fighting with a man, while Leonardo has dived on the man who is with his wife. The evening ends in disaster.
Chapter 22
The disastrous opening of Madreselva has made the front page of El Heraldo. Sebastian questions Cesar about this editorial decision, and Cesar wonders why Sebastian is so upset. Sebastian puts Cesar in his place, but he's worried about the story, because he started the fight with the drunk who made an obscene comment about Liliana. He thinks about her, how beautiful she looked and how well she danced. Claudia would be furious when she found out he went to the nightclub, and Amanda more so after she read the paper.

I have fallen madly in love with PF2e since I discovered it, and as a recovering forever DM for D&D 5e I don't feel right if I'm not running a campaign. That said, I've had an idea for years now about running a campaign that's based in the world of a standard martial arts Shounen anime in a modern Japanese high school (because I'm a weeb like that). That said, mechanically speaking, the idea never seemed to work well in the 5e system without massive amounts of homebrew and re-flavoring. While I have no problem with re-flavoring (I greatly encourage it), coming up with mechanics to fit the world was tiresome so the idea never got off the ground. I even considered trying to learn several other systems to run the game in, but none of them were very comprehensive (at least for me, damn you BESM). That said, I feel like my prayers were answered when I started learning PF2e. At first, it looks like a standard fantasy TTRPG, but because of its more modular nature and its optional/variant rules, I've found it fits surprisingly well for my idea! That said, I wanted to do some vetting before I made any major moves to write anything.
My vision is to make a PF2e world set in "modern" fantasy Japan. The world is supposed to be based on shounen-style martial arts anime like Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple, Ranma 1/2, Tenjou Tenge, Kengan Asura, and Baki the Grappler just with more heavy focus on outlandish ki-based fantasy martial arts. The players would be playing as 1st-year high school students in a special high school that is specifically for adolescents who've awakened ki (I'm using ki as a blanket replacement to refer to magic in this game). Their goal is to steadily train to grow stronger, fight their way up the social ladder of their school, survive battles with other rival schools and dangerous gangs, and resolve the conflicts and story hooks they give me to work with from their backstories. I've made the following tweaks to the game:

• The first and possibly most major tweak is I was going to use the Dual Class optional rule. However, every player must pick Monk as one of their starting classes. They can still use their class feats to gain Archetype feats as normal, should they not want to invest in the monk class that much.
• Unfortunately, all the players have to choose humans as their heritage. To balance this out I plan on giving all the players the "adopted ancestry" feat for free. That way they can still easily access most ancestry feats that they'd want, as long as a human could reasonably have those abilities.
• Equipment and magic items are more limited in this world. Players will not have easy access to just any weapon or set of armor that it wouldn't make sense for a modern-day Japanese high school student to have. You can only gain certain equipment from being a part of certain school clubs (Kendo Club, Archery Club, etc.) To balance this out, I planned on using the Automatic Bonus Progression optional rule. There are still magic items in the world, but the amount of ones that can be purchased and crafted is greatly reduced. Most major magic items are more for story significance and character development milestones.
• We'd use the stamina rule both to diminish the need for a party healer and because I think it makes narrative and mechanical sense for the world. As a result, the players with be given the "Steel Your Resolve" and "Encouraging Words" feats for free.
• Unfortunately, Gunslinger and the Inventor classes wouldn't be allowed for player use for both mechanics and narrative reasons. Plus the issues that arise with Japanese high schoolers having guns and all...
• We'd start at level 2 because I like it better than level 1.
• Minor rules, spells, and other magical abilities are just re-flavored as strange ki-powers and martial arts.

I like the concept but is there anything I'm potentially missing that might make this game incredibly frustrating/not fun for my players? If so how could I fix that before it becomes an issue?
Side Note: I imagine there might be a time when players would have to fight in 1v1s either for story reasons to beat their rivals or in something like a tournament arc. How could I make something like that fun and engaging for the whole party? Specifically, so that it's not just one person playing and the other three standing on the sidelines.

So I'm wondering how the Major came up with his "school for gifted sociopaths"? Was he one himself and realized all the money he could make off wayward children?
Most people have heard of crooks, thugs, and gangs who recruit others, - some recruits are naive innocents, some are looking to fit in/belong/have family, and some may simply be restless non-contents with no other plans for their lives looking to make easy money.
However, I've wondered how the Major got started; He recruited Tom, and Gina, both young, attractive, and intelligent, educated and groomed them, then probably sold out their services to the highest bidders. Were they all runaways? Products of the foster care system? Disenfranchised youth? And how would he approach other criminals? "Say! I've got just the guy/gal you're looking for! Sharp as a tack and can be whatever you need him/her to be! Here's my #; call me and let's make a deal!" 😆
Your thoughts, good redditors, and do please go easy on me! I just fall apart over those down-votes! 🥹

We open on a tight shot of a talon. As the camera pans it reveals a young, strong looking hawk, finishing a freshly caught prey. The wind is blowing, guitar is strumming…
As he takes off and soars through blue skies, a huge penitentiary appears behind him. The intense heat shimmers on the golden desert backdrop.
As the hawk banks he disappears in a cloud of dust, A new arrival of lost souls are being delivered to their sentence.
We cut to a long caravan of dusty, banged up misfits and meet a new character. A young man in shackles on his way to jail - for life.

• Chapter 1 • you discover prison life, get in fights, get put to work, make friends & enemies. It ain’t pretty. You learn how to gamble, drink, make a little money and… you discover a gang is planning to break out! You finish the chapter by escaping in the chaos. I’m talking walls blown up, many many a guard killed, maybe a mini gun or two, prisoners on prisoners action, cool bandits galore and a young Dutch….
  
• Chapter 2 • Escape through the desert. Hunted by animals, the feds and some vengeful guards. Quickly running low on supplies. In fighting between the bandits and the prisoners who managed to tag along unexpectedly. Hunger, thirst and deaths, many deaths. But as that pans, the group breaks into bands, a few stragglers and eventually splits up. Our group makes it to a New Orleans type town where they know a guy who can set them up.
  
• Chapter 3 • you finally make camp and start roaming…
  

I’ll stop here lol

Kyoshi book 1 is the epitome of ‘a meeting that could have been an email’. Its book that should have been a graphic novel. A story that should have been a wikipedia page.
SPOILERS, though I am saving you the read.
TLDR: The story telling is mediocre, and the story would have been just as compelling as a bullet pointed list of story facts. It flubs, glosses over and skips all portions of story that would have required any amount of clever writing or skill. The story is comprised of cringey tropes. This book will not sit among the original series in the annals of history. It sits below Korra and just above M Knight’s film adaption and the disgraceful Netflix reboot.
First, the idea of there being immense trouble identifying the Avatar is a good plot point. Having Kuruk’s team find and teach the next Avatar and have opposing ideals is also a good plot point. Yee also describes the martial arts okay enough, but this is an inherent obstacle when turning highly visual source material into text. This concludes my praise.
Yee tells, but doesnt show. Show more teambuilding and friendship between Kyoshi, Rangi and Yun. They only come together once in the same room to hang out before the main conflict happens, and its a superficial scene straight out of an 80s slasher movie. They come together solely to ‘show’ them being a team as they hang out and exchange banter. This is the first of Yee’s pseudo-“show, don’t tell”. It appears like the story is showing us something, but it is still telling us. It is characterized by vapid, juvenile writing in a scene that is largely inconsequential to the story.
Make the misidentification of the Avatar weigh on each of them and test friendship. Show her being found by Kelsang. The jump forward 9 years is jarring and leaves logic way behind. If she was raised by Kelsang, why didnt he finish testing her as the Avatar? Why did he take pity and raise her after traveling the world and seeing other homeless children? Why didnt she give back the clay turtle relic? Kyoshi is abandoned when she is old enough to remember being abandon, but doesn’t remember where she got the turtle. This line is another example of pseudo-show. Why don’t we dont get any insight into the moment she is abandon? We do not know any of these things. Including these scenes in the book would have made it longer, but its the juiciest piece of the character development. The length of a book is largely forgivable if it is captivating. This is like if you order a burger and they only bring you a bun and a slice of bib lettuce. Its missing the most crucile part.
Show Yun being incorrectly identified as the Avatar. This scene has to be so interesting. There is nothing in the book about this at all. This seems like another artful dodge around having to write something clever, and that tends to be difficult.
Show Kyoshi’s Avatar state. ‘Blacking out’ is not a mysterious way to tell stories. Its a cop out of writing something the author finds difficult. Also, a character can black out and not remember doing something AND the author can still describe it as it happens to the reader. Choosing to ommit more juicey story speaks more to the writers lack of confidence in their writing.
The fans and helmet of her parents are forced clumsily into the story at the height of the inciting incident. They could have been introduced any time. For example, when Kyoshi connects with her parent’s old crime ring and they could be presented to Kyoshi as relics of the group’s deceased leaders. Instead they are introduced to the reader by Kyoshi dropping her luggage and they fall out in the rain and mud. It reads like a scene that is meant to be a story board for a cartoon or comic.
We dont get any insight into Kyoshi’s parents being dead or alive. Kyoshi doesnt seem to ask anyone either. Why? Seems like a reasonable question.
Kelsang realizes Kyoshi is the Avatar when she does some improv poetry that happens to be Avatar Kuruk’s favorite poem? That was the best idea you got?
Kyoshi has a sky bison named PengPeng? Find a new method of transportation, the flying bison had been done before. Pengpeng is also only used as transportation. She doesnt have any personality like Momo and Appa. Total strikeout.
When something new develops that is supposed to surprise the reader, like Kyoshi’s mother being a disgraced airbender, Yee doesnt show this. This is explained away in a moment of dialogue like “once upon a time, this happened.” Then the plot moves on. And what motivation did she have for keeping this from Kelsang? Maybe they knew each other? They are both airbenders who have killed before, which is significant in the fiction. This could have been an opportunity to connect characters and create intrigue. But we only learn this at the end of the book for no reason.
Love between ATLA characters is subtle in the show. Katara and Aang will end up together and we know this implicitly. Sokka loves his friends, particularly Toph, because of the actions we see him take to help her. Rewatch the show, you will see what I mean. However this is not a major plot point that is touched on each episode. Zuko and Mei are together but they are pulled apart temporarily by character motivations. It skips the filler and gets right to the interesting part. However in Kyoshi book 1, love between Rangi and Kyoshi is vapid and foreshadowed from the first pages. Lets set lesbianism aside, its not the issue. The issue is that this love story is not compelling chiefly because we are told they care for each other but are only shown this in the back half of the book on a surface level. Even when we are shown these things, its not believable. The characters act like teenagers do in 2024 America, not like how teenagers would act in a world coming off the heels of a 100 year war. The characters are young, but they have roles, careers, and the responsibilities of adults. This stems from the same problem Yun has with Kyoshi and Rangi. We don’t see them becoming or being friends. We are told they are friends. Thats it.
This connects to Rangi’s character being ambivalent and emotionally indistinct. Rangi is played as a tough, no nonsense soldier that is hired as Yun’s personal bodyguard, the most important job next to being the avatar yourself. But her expressions of love are juvenile and childish. In one scene she is scolding Kyoshi on her duty toward being Avatar then in the next she acts playfully excited like an American weeb teenager when Kyoshi bends water for the first time. Rangi is poorly written and has poor motivation to her Avatar duty. She contributes nothing practical or technical to the story but love interest. If she is a child prodigy badass that earned the job of protecting the Avatar, she should act like it.
Hei Ran, Rangi’s mother, does nothing consequential to the plot. Why have this character? It is stated she knew Avatar Kuruk. The least she can do is bring it up more.
AND FINALLY, Kyoshis character is very opposite from who we see in ATLA. Obviously this is to show growth, but the timid Kyoshi inexplicably switches to confident and intimidating Kyoshi without any growth, then switches back to timid again. We know kyoshi as a tall, confident, matter of fact, powerful bender who sees no difference between murdering Chin the Conquerer and letting him fall to his death. But here we see a still tall, but petulant teen. She is afraid of her bending. She is inconsistently overconfident. She is squemish about murder. Perhaps the growth occurs in book two, but then again change is gradual. We should see some examples of change now. She grew up a homeless street urchin. She needs to act like it.
Yun struggles with his bending but also keeps smiling and acting like everything is ok. This trope is exhausted to death by anime. We do not see a human side of Yun. He is not tortured by the training or the fatique of not being able to bend fire or the pressure and expectation of being Avatar. He just smiles and flirts with Kyoshi. He also asks her to go with him to a peace treaty signing with pirates all because he wants to have her there so he feels loved. But this thinly disguises the fact the author needed a reason to have her at the signing so she can earthbend and save everyone. Take Rangi, your apointed body guard.
Yun returns at the end of the novel as a deus ex machina and kills Jianzhu in an admittedly badass way. 10/10. However, Yun is dead, reappears as a ghost, then earth bends. The possibility of this within the fiction is near zero UNLESS FC Yee is trying add to the lore of spirit magic and bending. To that I say “Learn to be a better writer first.”
Kirima is an okay character. We traditionally see water benders as good guys, but she is a tough leader of a gang of criminals. Again we are told that, not shown. 5/10. Mid teir.
Wong is a worse comedic relief than Sokka. Where Sokka learns to become a leader from a close minded sceptic and redeem this quality, Wong is indistinct from any other background earth bender. He eventually becomes Kyoshis earthbending teacher and he starts to fill out a teacher role but is still indistinct. Up until this time, he carrys no air of educator at all. Remember, he’s a pirate criminal. This turn of character seems to come from the team learning that Kyoshi is the Avatar, something she kept secret. But Wong is the only one who changes their behavior based on this. Meeting the most important person in the world doesn’t effect them, I guess. Doesn’t seem reasonable.
Lek is a kid that idolizes Kyoshi’s parents, but acts out like a toddler when she speaks poorly of them. I am left feeling disatisfied by a criminal outlaw that throws tantrums when someone speaks ill of their pseudo mommy and daddy. Lek is poorly written as a rival to Kyoshi, if if fact that was Yee’s intention. You see it in their banter and interactions. Lek is killed by a poison that only incapacitates all others effected. It was like the author needed him to die real quick and didnt know how to do it, but also didn’t want to rewrite the chapter.
Now is a good time to mention that characters can be annoying to other characters, but they should not be annoying to the reader. Doing this is a form of self sabotage. Its like serving up raw eggs for breakfast on purpose and calling it art. You just wouldn’t do it.
Lao Ge is poorly written too, despite being an interesting character idea. Lao is meant to be Kyoshi’s spiritual leader in this story. He leads her to the ancient technique of prolonging ones life with spirit magic. But this man reads like an embarassing drunk uncle that no one responds to when he speaks. He acts like he’s cool, wanders off constantly and returns covered in blood to a group thats asks no questions. Criminals still ask questions. In fact, they are more paranoid on account of being criminals. For example, there is a scene where they leave without him and realize they forgot him and have to go back. This scene amounts to nothing. Why was it in the book? Whoops, he’s also a master assassin. We are told this over and over but never see it in action. Boo. Don’t suggest violence. Show us violence.
Why is this group of criminals still together anyway? They lost their leaders, Kyoshi’s parents. Wouldn’t the find new jobs? Thin the herd. Theres too many characters.
Jianzhu acts more suspicious after he is identified as the villain which is a trope found in childrens television to remind children he is bad now. The fact it is here insults the readers intellegence. His villain motivations are not explained well. Does he care more about identifying the Avatar than his lifelong friend Kelsang or the life of the innocent? Also, a villain doesnt need to kill someone to be identified as the villain but youll find that trope here too. Clever writing can remedy this all the same. He does do cool evil guy things, but they are explained after the fact instead of showing him coniving these schemes and putting them into action. His death is awesome, but his final confrontation with Kyoshi is not spectacular. There is no final battle like one might expect. He the one that ghost Yun kills.
It is unclear if this book is meant for a YA reader audience or the adult audience that watched ATLA as kids. The story is grittier, bloodier and violent with explicit deaths and torture. All the while bearing a sheen of squeeky clean Nickelodean dialogue and unfunny humor that has an obvious limit. The book says they swear, but the exact words do not show up in dialogue. Characters are impaled and gored, but the 3rd person narration takes breaks from descriptions of this for quippy commentary on the things happening. Who says these things? Kyoshi? But its in third person. This clashes with the perspective and shows indecision on the part of the author.
The perspective is stuck between 1st and 3rd. 1st serves better for the YA audience where Kyoshi might think these quippy things to herself or have thoughts that help the reader understand context better. 3rd person would serve the adult audience better with a matter of fact telling of the story. Maybe even change between characters in some chapters and fill in some of these gaps. Instead the book strattles the line between these two perspectives and suffers greatly. You have humorous commentary and scene descriptions coming from the same source. It breaks immersion when the reader is stuck wondering who is telling the story.
YA is an oversaturatedand flawed genre anyway. Its almost designed to trick teens into thinking they are reading adult books.
Yee includes too many comparisons, similies and analogies. Each one is meant to create world building, where the text compares a creature in the ATLA world to a situation at hand. But they start coming up too often in the back half of the book. This also seems to rise in frequency as descriptions get vaguer. It felt like Yee lacked the proper lexicon to describe what was happening as the story approached the end. Analogies should be used to explain difficult things, not just thrown in recklessly.
One moment sticks out from this book that reminds me of ATLA. While Yun and Kyoshi are silently trying to meditate before Jianzhu summons a spirit to finally identify the correct Avatar, the two teens speak for a second. Eyes closed, Kyoshi whispers “You know what would be funny? If neither of us were the Avatar.” This captures elements of friendship between the two kids, character humor, and SHOWS these two still care for each other no matter what happens next. Yun’s response isn’t even remotely appropriate, memorable or clever. The opportunity is a total loss.
Another moment of total loss and tonal dissonance is when Kyoshi, Rangi and the convicts go to a hidden secret criminal town that is described as being so cut throat, you don’t even look at people in the eye. Just then the group sees two men collide after turning a blind corner and drop their stuff. Page 224. They exchange appologies, act very polite, and depart. (This is told to the reader, not shown with appropriatly funny dialogue). Lek then explains the two men will meet tonight on the challenge grounds and fight to the death. However, that night at the challenge grounds, you don’t see those characters; a total whiff on Yee’s part. Instead you read about one man bludgeoning another man to death with barehands in pure gladitorial bloodsport. This scene shows the whimsy of ATLA, the gorey violence that Yee wanted and his befuddled attempt at writing something that blends the two.
All of this leads me to conclude the book is for a YA audience, which is unfortunate because ATLA was for everyone; YA, adult and children. It is a children’s show that adults can find a surprising amount of depth and humor in. Yee’s doesn’t hold a candle to the writing of Aaron Ehasz.
The argument that this books is allowed to be bad because its for kids falls apart for the same reason. The expert writing of Aaron Ehazs in ATLA is what imortalizes it to this day; the dialogue, the characters, and the story. ATLA is a kids cartoon by which all cinema and television are compared. This is simply not on that level.
When this level of integrity is left to be followed up by an author with one previously published work, underdelivery should be expected. Kyoshi book 1 is FC Yee’s second published work and it shows. I would be interested in learning more about FC Yee’s past unpublished experiences in writing and qualifications.
So again, this book is like a meeting that should have been an email. The story is not “worth the read”. The historical facts are more valuable. For example, telling someone that Kyoshi’s dad is a pirate earthbender and her mother is a disgraced criminal airbender is a total surprise and sparks good speculative conversation. But the way the novel presents this information is clumsy and ignorant of how rare these circumstances are within the fiction. These historical facts are just as compelling when read on the Avatar wiki page, negating the necessity for a book in the first place. I think this is symptomatic of writing a prequal too. We know enough about Kyoshi to be interested in her character, so the facts about her should be presented interestingly with art and showmanship.
This book leaves me with the sneaking suspicion that most of what FC Yee knows about writing was learned from anime, a genre so polluted its not worth even sifting through to find quality content. Hot take, I know.
His other books on Genie Lo (2017, 2020) are teen dramas with ‘the chosen one’ trope, as the summaries suggest. That must be why that shows in this book. Maybe FC Yee can only write one type of book.
Yee is also not an author by trade. He said in an interview that he works in mobile gaming as the guy who makes “everything less fun by adding stuff to the game you have to pay for.” He went to college for Economics, or so I read on his wiki page.
His book publisher proposed the two book series idea to Nickelodeon, it was not a matter of the creators carefully hand picking a writer. He also only worked with Mike DiMartino. In his interview, he says he did not work with Bryan Konietzko and never even mentions Aaron Ehasz. I believe this is to the great detrement of the story.
I’ve heard that people really liked this book. However, I wonder if that is genuine affection or the same kind of denial Star Wars fans had when the Phantom Menace came out. I draw this parallel because my father was that person. He recomended this book to me and gave it high praise in the same way he did when Phantom Menace released.
The fans, my father and myself included, are starved for any canon ATLA material. Feeding the fans undercooked meals is no way to make a fanbase grow. The ATLA fanbase already got food poisoning from M Knight’s movie. It recovered, but at a cost. I hate to think what might happen after the Netflix show and the animated movie of adult Aang.
I understand that Yee was a fan of the material. In fact, he and I share the same favorite character. So know that this is not an attack on a fellow fan of ATLA, I simply believe Yee is not the man for this job. Avatar deserves better than to be relegated to a YA novel lost in a sea of overproduced assembly line YA content. Avatar deserves a better writer. Save your fine cutlery for fine dining, don’t use polished silver to eat fast food.
To end, I leave you with this: if you want more Avatar content, gather some friends and play the Avatar rpg by Magpie Games. It is the most fun I’ve had in the ATLA world since I was a kid. If you play it right, you get that same sense of magic you got back in 2005 when Book Water came out.
Below is a link to an interview with Yee.
https://thenerdsofcolor.org/2019/07/15/from-fan-to-avatar-writer-f-c-yee-on-developing-the-story-of-avatar-kyoshi/amp/

Link to earlier post.
Before getting into the meat of this post, it needs to be remembered that the ex-Scientologists named here are actual victims of the Church of Scientology. Nothing in this post is meant to deny that fact.
However, let's remember too, those being attacked by Aaron Smith-Levin and their new brand of Scientology-style attacks, are also victims of Scientology.
The cruelty directed at Mike Rinder, Claire Headley, Tony Ortega, Chris Shelton, Leah Remini, Stefani Hutchinson, the Aftermath Foundation and those who speak out against SPTV's excesses are not justified. There has been a strain of "both sides" about this. Defending oneself against slander is not the same thing as initiating slander, which is how this all started. Telling the truth in response to SPTV creator attacks is not the same thing as a Fair Game campaign against them.
It doesn't bring me any joy to write these posts, but these things need to be known because the number of distortions and fabrications coming out of the SPTV creators is reaching a fever pitch and it needs to stop.
My earlier two posts focused mainly on Chrissie Bixler, Jane Doe 1 (from the Masterson trials) and Aaron Smith-Levin, all of whom have been working together in a tight, hidden conspiracy to attack anyone who could expose them or their agendas, and/or anyone who opposes their slanderous and vicious attacks. They are in fact acting as Scientology does, following L. Ron's directions to hunt those people down and attempt to ruin them.
Unfortunately, the SPTV cabal is not just these three mentioned above. There are others who have also jumped on this bandwagon of Scientology-like attacks. From the outside, none of these people's "content" is any different from what the Church of Scientology produces through its STAND League and other OSA-front group social media accounts. If OSA had a video channel, it would look almost exactly like SPTV.
So let's take a look at Serge Del Mar, formerly known as Serge Gil. If you Google "Serge Gil" you will find photos of him hanging around with the Mastersons and other VIP Scientologists as recently as November of 2014 at an art exhibit Serge participated in. This was while he was still in the cult, of course, but it sure is odd that he never mentions this.
Funny too that this group of "innocents" all have taken to going after whistle blowers who are out, and not admitting to anything they did while they were Scientologists and Sea Organisation members. Serge becomes visibly and loudly unhinged over the idea that Mike Rinder was once the head of OSA and therefore "must know" every single secret and crime ever perpetrated in Scientology. Yet he claims perfect innocence when it comes to his Scientology history. But how is that possible when he perpetuated Scientology's abuse on children in a much more direct and forceful way than Mike Rinder ever could: Serge audited children and was apparently paid handsomely for it. Auditing is, of course, Scientology's warped and twisted idea of counselling.
In this article from Tony Ortega, it reads: "In his Facebook post, Serge talked about the horror of having men admit to having sex with children, and being instructed to get even more information from such confessors, who were then simply charged even more [money] to 'handle' their paedophilia.
"We were made to sit in that Fort Harrison hotel day in and day out interrogating people to see what they had done. Our interviews were always closely watched [and] monitored by several ‘terminals.’ All the CSes [case supervisors] and tech ‘executives’ became willing in colluding and becoming 100 percent complicit with this sexually inappropriate environment for any one under the age of 18."
"Self-confessed paedophiles could just magically ‘address’ this behavior with auditing — all the while you were looking at ways to monetize at every opportunity' he says, accusing Scientology executives of looking for ways to turn confessions into more auditing and more money."
So who were these paedophiles and why aren't they being reported to the police? Why is Serge not talking about them? Why is he instead negating what he did and laughing about it in live streams with Nora, where they forgive and forget easily when it comes to their own bad behaviour in the cult. How come they get a free pass but no one else outside of SPTV does?
Serge engages in hypocrisy at a level that would put politicians and cult leaders to shame.
Recently, Serge added Leah Remini's name to his hit list by claiming Remini told him that she wanted nothing to do with helping children of the Sea Organisation. He actually said that about the woman who produced an the documentary series which gave Serge and the other "Scientology children" a voice on an international stage, something none of them were able to accomplish on their own.
Some facts from the past need to be brought forward.
First, it was Leah Remini who was trying to help all of the ex-Scientology "kids" to help find legal representation. This was the group Serge Del MaSerge Gil proclaimed he was the leader of, saying he was the "voice of many." He claimed he would be bringing the clients and the documentation to Kent's law firm.
Remini was introduced to Brian Kent by A&E. Right after the end of the Aftermath's finale, Kent's law firm was the only one willing to take on this massive case. Is A&E now going to be attacked by this group? Where are the tweets directed at A&E? Not that I am suggesting that. It is just to prove the facts here are consistently twisted to suit this group’s goal and it has nothing to do with exposing the crimes committed by Scientologists and Scientology.
This is about getting anyone who isn’t them.
Second and more importantly, it was Serge who then ran with this and gathered claimants for this case, and it was Serge that then introduced them all to Kent's firm. Christi Gordon was also working on this case. It was a noble effort. Leah, Serge and Christi did not do anything wrong,but somehow now Leah is a bad person for having tried to help.
Obviously, no one was aware at that time of what the future would hold for Jane Doe and Kent. No one still knows what happened with these cases - because Serge Del Mar was the ringleader. No mention of this from Alex the silly Wabbit. No mention of this from anyone. And obviously once Kent's law firm was hired, Leah and Mike would not have been privy to any privileged information about the cases.
Then Aaron and crew claim they uncovered this alleged crime committed by Kent? Kent isn’t being accused of crimes of child molestation, or of rape. He is being accused of unethical behaviour with an adult victim - and yes, that is bad enough. But it was Jane Doe in this case that had to summon the courage to file a confidential complaint. Aaron and his gang didn’t uncover and report anything. What they did do was compromise a bar investigation; they took credit for something they had nothing to do with. This is simply despicable behaviour. How this group has completely fabricated the facts of the investigation is beyond me.
They didn't even talk to the person who filed the complaint against Brian Kent. They were too busy stabbing her in the back, compromising her identity and forwarding a confidential document. Aaron conveniently didn’t mention this was a confidential investigation and document when he read it out to his audience. That's how Aaron makes a living.
Anyone continuing this story and celebrating these people are only doing so for other reasons that have nothing to do with the Jane Doe in this case. It is not only unfortunate that Jane Doe in this case had been harmed by Kent, but now these SPTV creators are harming her and her investigation too.
As a Scientology "activist," every action Serge claims he has taken against Scientology has been a major failure. If you step back and look at his track record, Serge has not accomplished a single thing against his former “church” of any significance, unless you count minutes of time shouting into a microphone at highest-ever decibels as 'activism.' It's not. It's just shouting into a microphone. He constantly claims that he has receipts, lawsuits are imminent, but with nothing forthcoming it sure seems as though Serge Del MaSerge Gil is nothing more than a con man looking for clicks for which he can profit.
Even more strangely, Serge's first attempt at fame was spending many years attacking former high-ranking Sea Organisation member Debbie Cook. Remember her? She was the one who got more people out of Scientology with her blistering 2011 New Year email than any former member before her. Debbie Cook was a whistle blower. And Serge seems to be going after those who did/do the work and are OUT of Scientology - excluding himself of course. Why not expose the crimes they covered up while they were in the cult? Aaron tearfully admitted to committing his own heinous crimes once, but somehow he is instantly forgiven.
Serge's criminal complaint against Scientology in Florida went nowhere and the investigation was dropped due to a lack of evidence. In fact, Serge told lies in his police filing, such as claiming that there are tunnels underneath The Fort Harrison Hotel (Scientology’s Clearwater Florida location) which are used to traffic Scientology children.
These days he goes on and on about "the hotels" where supposedly children are kept as sex slaves, a claim so preposterous even ex-Scientologists are fed up with hearing it.
Serge Del MaSerge Gil has promised to bring lawsuits against Scientology and continues to disseminate that he "has receipts" but again, not once has he ever been able to produce a shred of evidence or anything real. His incompetence and ineffectiveness are obvious, which is why the only way he can remain in the spotlight is to attack inwardly against the people who are getting the real work done.
For Serge (and the rest), it's the spotlight that is important, not the actual work.
Serge, Aaron, Chrissie Bixler, Jane Doe 1, Mike Brown, Miriam Francis, Nora Aames and the following are on a campaign to destroy their own credibility in the real world. One can only wonder if they are also getting a kick-back from Scientology.
Liz Gale has seemingly banished herself after being exposed and has all but disappeared, which of course is being blamed on RindeRemini/Hutchinson.
Christie Gordon too has disappeared from the SPTV Foundation board. Why hasn't she spoken up? Isn't she part of the crew demanding others own what they did? Why hasn't she done so when it comes to her own group's activities?
Joey Chait who was on board for the SPTV fake foundation, is now off too and no one knows why.
What has the Aftermath done? Helped people to get out of Scientology. That is the work.
What has SPTV Inc. done to help victims of Scientology? How about showing it? I have previously asked for evidence of any effective work and have yet to receive a response.
It's time for Serge (and the rest) to put up or shut up. If he or anyone in this group has real evidence of Scientology crimes, he has a solicitor and he can file a lawsuit in civil court or he can go back to the Clearwater Police and show them evidence of the crimes committed against him.
I'm not saying that crimes were not committed against Serge by others when he was in the Sea Org. But screaming into a microphone for hours isn't how to bring Scientology to justice. Screaming at law enforcement who have no idea what he is talking about with Flag and children is not helping anyone, nor is stalking and harassing Scientology's attorneys while Leah Remini's hearings are going on.
It looks an awful lot like the SPTV crew are trapped in some kind of victim complex and are high-conflict personalities.
So instead of more name calling, if Serge (or anyone in this group), "has receipts" that show that Mike Rinder is a criminal who is knowingly covering up his crimes in Scientology, produce them or shut up already. Rinder handed over his OSA documents. Aaron, by the way, took those documents under false pretenses, promised not to forward them and then did with the intent to harm Rinder and others. So instead of attacking Mike Rinder (the whistleblower here), where are the questions to the FBI for not acting on them? Where is the outrage for the documents that are authored by OSA personnel that are still in Scientology?
Personally, I'm sick of watching this crazy train go on and on without end just so some former Scientologists can try to appear altruist and inflate their egos for profit. Aren’t you all sick of the noise?
More to come.