TLDR - Unlocking the Power of Gamification: Integrating User Respect, Data Collection, and Psychological Insights

What is Gamification ?

Gamification is an art and science of engaging and retaining customers by tapping into their psychology and forming habits that stick. These habits can have positive and/or negative effects on the customer. It should not be a surprise that gamification is used by many companies focusing on increasing retention/engagement of the app.
Example : LinkedIn utilizes the user’s urge to reach full potential and 5 star profile rank and it urges the user to fill their details on the app. It also gives away “top voice of “ a particular field by urging users to engage with questions that LinkedIn posts and if you get votes, you get labeled the voice of the particular field.

Is respect what the user needs ?

A popular example of successful gamification is Duolingo. Interestingly, the app has a character of its own and the user finds himself/herself engaging with a cute owl and a girl, Lily, amongst others. This makes it particularly engaging for users. Duolingo gets a lot of things right from the perspective of gamification. Like all others, Duolingo sends notifications but with measured pace and pauses it when the user refuses to engage with it. There appears to be a fundamental thread of respect for users. I particularly was fascinated by the fact that it gives you reasons why the app shows you advertisements. It isn’t apologetic but at the same time, lets the user know that it’s necessary for running the app for free. This is refreshing when compared to giant social networks that take the time of the user for granted.

Gamification as a means to collect data

The often ignored aspect of the gamification is the clickstream data that gets collected. Clickstream is a series of actions, such as clicks, cursor movement etc, the user takes on the product. This data opens an interesting possibility to understand the users of the product. Not long back there were number studies focusing on device usage that showed distinctive behavior of Apple users as compared to Android users. Similarly, actions of the users can be used to segment the users into various user profiles to judge which ones are power users, active users, and passive ones.
In Duolingo, the users are shown a lot of advertisements of games such as candy crush saga. Maybe the google algorithm, targeting the duolingo app users, identifies that users of this app are more likely to play other games too. Similarly, LinkedIn’s attempt to introduce small games onto the platform, might improve their ability to segment their customers into interesting cohorts, with questions such as do gamers find it harder or easier to switch jobs? Or, do gamers stay longer at jobs or switch jobs faster than non gamers? Or, Are people exploring games are in fact stressed at work and are likely to quit in coming months, making them an appealing candidate for jobs outreach by talent acquisition.

What underlying Psychological drives of user’s does Gamification tap into ?

Gamification can be seen as an interplay of habits that either contribute to user’s well-being in economic, professional or health, etc or ones that negatively impact these facets. Often cited, some of the drives that impact habit formation of a product are curiosity and unpredictability during discovery phase, the achieving a sense of competence during onboarding stages, and finally users might want to continue using the product due to inability to lose their achievements. An important thing to note here is that the user should have worked hard and tried actively to earn those achievements. If I were to take my own example, I am a user of Myntra app (i.e. a predominantly fashion clothing and accessories app). Myntra gives away gamified points whenever the customer makes a purchase. But since users like me have never worked to achieve those points in the first place, users (at least me) don’t get bothered if they say that they are losing their access to an exclusive online club if users no longer continue to do a required action such as purchase on the app. In general, gamification should be pursued with careful consideration and slapping on gamification as an afterthought doesn’t really help with increasing customer engagement.
Originally published at - https://buildstartupinpublic.substack.com/p/gamification-insights

Like many, I've been on MJ now for 6 months. Doing well. No negative side effects. Down 37 pounds. I'm due to move up to 10mg when I finish my last box of 7.5 in four weeks. Problem: 10mg is nowhere to be found, and I'm very concerned supply won't be any better in 4 weeks. So, my questions (I am in FL and pay OOP with savings card). Can my endo (who prescribes me MJ off label) write an Rx for compound tirz and send it into Hallendale? Or do I need to use an online provider and pay fees? Does Hallendale send needles when it fills the tirz Rx or do those have to be acquired elsewhere? How many doses per vial does one get for 10mg? I think that sums up the big questions. Any input is appreciated. I never though I'd go this route, but it's pretty clear, Lilly can't keep up.

Addressing High Unemployment in the Modern Era
​
The modern era, characterized by rapid technological progress and globalization, is paradoxically facing a staggering 65% unemployment rate in some regions. This high level of unemployment poses significant challenges and requires a closer look at its causes, effects, and possible solutions.
​
Causes of High Unemployment
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1.Technological Advancements
Automation and AI Many jobs, especially those involving repetitive tasks, are being replaced by machines and AI. For example, factories are now using robots for assembly lines, reducing the need for human workers.
Digital Revolution The rise of online businesses has affected traditional retail jobs. As more people shop online, physical stores close down, leading to job losses in retail sectors.
​

1. Skill Mismatch Outdated Skills Many workers find their skills are no longer relevant due to the rapid advancement in technology. Often, training programs and education systems do not keep pace with these changes, leaving workers unprepared for new job requirements.

Education System Many education systems fail to equip students with practical skills needed in today’s job market, like coding, data analysis, and other technical skills.
​

1. Economic Factors

Globalization While opening new markets, globalization also results in jobs moving to countries with cheaper labor. This can cause job losses in higher-wage countries.
Economic Downturns Recessions lead to reduced consumer spending, which in turn forces businesses to cut jobs.
​

1. Demographic Changes

Population Growth In many areas, the population is growing faster than the number of jobs being created, leading to higher unemployment rates.
Aging Workforce An older population might face difficulty in retaining or finding new jobs, contributing to higher unemployment.
Impacts of High Unemployment
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1.Economic Impact
Reduced Spending High unemployment leads to less consumer spending, slowing down economic growth.
Increased Government Spending Governments have to spend more on unemployment benefits and social services, straining public resources.
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2.Social Impact Mental Health
Unemployment is often linked to mental health issues like depression and anxiety. The stress of joblessness and financial insecurity can have serious psychological effects.
Social Unrest High unemployment can lead to higher crime rates and social instability, as people struggle to meet their basic needs.
​
3.Long-Term Impact
Skill Erosion Long-term unemployment can cause skills to become outdated, making it even harder for people to find jobs.
- **Youth Disadvantage**: High unemployment among young people can hinder their long-term career prospects and financial stability.
Potential Solutions
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1. Education and Training
   Continuous Learning There should be more focus on reskilling and upskilling programs to help workers adapt to new technologies.
   Updated Curricula Schools and universities need to align their programs with the needs of modern industries, ensuring students graduate with relevant skills.
   

​

1. Support for Entrepreneurship

Incentives Governments can provide financial incentives and support for startups, fostering job creation and innovation.
Innovation Hubs Creating hubs where new businesses can grow helps develop new industries and job opportunities.
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3.Economic Policies
Stimulus Measures Governments can implement stimulus packages to boost economic activity and create jobs, especially during downturns.
Fair Trade Balancing trade policies to protect domestic jobs while promoting international trade can mitigate the negative effects of globalization.
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Conclusion
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The high unemployment rate in the era of modernization is a complex issue that needs a multifaceted approach. By addressing the root causes, such as the rapid technological changes and skill mismatches, and by implementing supportive economic and educational policies, we can create a more resilient job market. Ensuring continuous education and fostering innovation will help societies adapt and thrive amidst the challenges of modernization.

These institutional racism eruptions have been occurring sporadically for a while now, it's not really that new or shocking. We've seen it before.
It certainly isn't helping matters that enough numbers of less-than-capable fellow citizens insist on electing unquestionably incompetent representatives, often simply based solely on the abbreviated letters (D) or (R) which precedes their names. Contrary to what the mainstream media coverage would have Americans believe, life goes on for average citizens far removed from the pervasive racial disparities projected by news organizations and mainstream journalists.
Certainly, racism will forever remain an issue; however, it is by no means any longer representative of common white Americans – in fact, most common white citizens would outright reject blatant racism, not to project their righteous image; but, out of true disdain for the reminder of a fading, yet shameful history. It would be fair to say that racism, at this point, has been relegated to the outcasts of white America.
White Americans consider abject racism every bit as repulsive as black Americans do. Racism is not an issue of such paramount importance in this country as portrayed by the agenda-driven media.
The media has only made matters worse as they have been either thoughtlessly, negligently, or intentionally remiss in their coverage of perceived racial tensions, crimes of allegedly racial motivations, or the police shootings allegedly motivated by race.
Perhaps many of the uninformed general public would do well by learning from history. I’m sure many would be surprised to learn that early white Americans weren’t innately responsible for inheriting slavery. Many fail to realize slavery was, at the time, a subject of monumental importance and debate.
People fail to understand the considerable strife that existed between abolitionists and slaveholders at the time of the 1st Continental Congress. Abolitionists knew that the institution of slavery did not align with the basic principles of our founding declaration and sought to right the injustice brought to our shores by French, British, and Spanish colonialists.
Most Americans fail to realize slavery has existed since the dawn of mankind and each of us have ancestors, who were, at one point or another, slaves to another race, empire, or another. It wasn’t until the moral evolution sparked by this revolutionary nation that mankind began to understand the injustice where those who came before them had failed.
Mankind cannot wholly understand historical context, but one can imagine being born into a world where slavery had always existed bringing such a remarkably enduring and accepted act of cruelty to an end would require a concerted and united effort in order to unravel it.
It was the birth of this country which gave the spark to that idea. The entire world watched on with immense interest to know the results; results which would ultimately effect change throughout the entire world.
Before the United States drafted the constitution, most anyone who lacked a noble bloodline had no hope for living the life they truly desired; let alone having the power to unite into a political force capable of influencing the governing bodies.
The common man was relegated to whichever social class to which they were born, never able to choose his or her destiny. America changed that. This is a country where every baby born has the tools to live his or her dream. This country provided the right to pursue individual happiness and the potential to earn it based on merit rather than birthright.
The world has always been a very unpleasant place, unpleasantries divided among all of our ancestors at one time or another, at the hands of one race or empire or another.
It seems our collective retrospect is always used to disparage or drudge up negative emotions and sentiments among our people. It’s used to divide us. When we are divided, someone is gaining – that is a guarantee.
Many of the race baiters and professional activists continue to justify their spite on the distant past and the transgressions of American ancestry. It’s time to move past it and acknowledge that it ended solely on account of this nation’s founding principles.
Again, the institution of slavery was never limited to the African race and perpetrated by white Americans; though, the general public seems to have only familiarized themselves with that particular aspect. Perhaps the most important aspect of that fact is that it was within these shores where the abhorrent tradition was finally put to a decisive end through bloody sacrifice like the world had never seen.
They say every man on earth has kings and slaves in his ancestry. However, reflecting on distant past with no causal impact on our current lives to simply finger blame is redundant and asinine; it has no place or relevancy in modern society.
Since its apparent people do desire to drudge up the past and the transgressions of our ancestors, why is it those with the platform to reach out and effect positive change in racial attitudes fail to drudge up the past that demonstrates the important lesson that, while early white Americans were guilty of perpetuating the original sin of slavery brought here; it was also the offspring of those early white Americans who sacrificed and shed blood of an entire generation in order to right that wrong
White Americans were a huge part of the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s, though are seldom mentioned.
Why don’t we celebrate John Brown and his Christ-like sacrifice made to the betterment and freedom of the black race?
Frederick Douglass regarded John Brown as the most inspirational, devoted, and faithful man in America in the fight against slavery. Douglass spoke of John Brown and his bravery until the day he died; it seems the memory of John Brown and any whites who made abolition possible died with Frederick Douglass.
During one of his many presentations to American audiences, Douglass had this to say of John Brown:
“His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine – it was as the burning sun to my taper light – mine was bounded by time, his stretched away to the boundless shores of eternity. I could live for the slave, but he could die for him. The crown of martyrdom is high, far beyond the reach of ordinary mortals, and yet happily no special greatness or superior moral excellence is necessary to discern and, in some measure, appreciate a truly great soul.”
Perhaps those who seek to divide we Americans by means of race might be derailed if we could raise awareness to the positive messages which lie hidden or suppressed in our society’s history; a positive message regarding the remarkable and unprecedented and global moral evolution inspired by this nation’s founding.
It’s time those living with “White guilt” and members of Black Lives Matter consider paying at least a modicum of respect to the millions of black AND white
The sacrifice of John Brown, which is ultimately believed to have sparked the Civil War, was a long and expected time coming. It was abolition for which countles numbers of our American ancestry - of all races and backgrounds - tirelessly worked, fought and died. It's the seemingly little known facts such as these that might serve to give our people back some semblance of American pride.

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I (29 F) just started Generic Bupropion XL with Metformin for weight loss, and I’ve noticed ever since I started it about a week ago I’ve had to pee ALL the time. I usually drink lots of water generally, but the past few days I have been off work so I haven’t drank as much. I thought I might be dehydrated and maybe that’s why? I took an at home UTI test and it was negative, I took a pregnancy test and it was negative too (you never know 🤷🏼‍♀️) and I looked up the side effects of bupropion and apparently frequent urination is one of the main ones. I already have a history of UTI’s and I’ve had kidney stones before, so this is SUPER annoying. Anyone else experiencing this? Does it go away?

~Noise mitigation system market~ is anticipated to grow at a considerable CAGR of 7.3% during the forecast period. The noise mitigation system market involves the production, distribution, and installation of products and solutions designed to reduce unwanted noise levels in various settings, such as commercial buildings, residential areas, and industrial facilities. The market is mainly driven by the increasing awareness of the negative effects of noise pollution on human health and well-being, as well as on the environment. Governments and organizations across the globe are implementing regulations and guidelines to limit noise levels, creating a demand for noise mitigation systems. For instance, in June 2020, the list of new fines was proposed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in response to a set of ongoing cases over noise pollution. Unremitting loud construction activity, loudspeakers at functions and processions, and honking at odd hours, are all contributors to noise pollution and violations under the law.
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The global noise mitigation system market is segmented based on its product type, material, and application. Based on product type the market is segmented into acoustic tiles, acoustic surface, sound barrier walls, baffles, and others. Based on product type, the market is divided into acoustic tiles, acoustic surface, sound barrier walls, baffles, and others. Based on material, the market is segmented into acoustic caulk, acoustic putty, acoustic plaster, and others. Based on application, the market is categorized into industrial, commercial, and residential.
full report of Noise Mitigation System Market available @ https://www.omrglobal.com/industry-reports/noise-mitigation-system-market
· Market Coverage
· Market number available for – 2024-2031
· Base year- 2024
· Forecast period- 2024-2031
· Segment Covered- By Source, By Product Type, By Applications
· Competitive Landscape- Archer Daniels Midland Co., Ingredion Inc., Kerry Group Plc, Cargill
· Inc., and others
Market Segmentation
Global Noise Mitigation System Market by Product Type
o Acoustic Tiles
o Acoustic Surface
o Sound Barrier Walls
o Baffles
o Others (Sound Blanket, and Sound Doors)
Global Noise Mitigation System Market by Application
o Commercial
o Residential
o Industrial
Global Noise Mitigation System Market by Material
o Acoustic Sealants
o Acoustic Caulk
o Acoustic Putty
o Acoustic Plaster
o Others (Soundproof Spray, Soundproof Paint, and Soundproof Wallpaper)
Regional Analysis
o North America
o US
o Canada
o Europe
o UK
o Germany
o Italy
o Spain
o France
o Rest of Europe
o Asia-Pacific
o China
o India
o Japan
o South Korea
o Rest of Asia-Pacific
o Rest of the World
Company Profiles
o Acoustical Surfaces, Inc.
o Art USA Industries, Inc.
o Catalyst Acoustics Group
o Cellofoam International GmbH & Co. KG
o Eckel Industries Inc. A
o Kejuruteraan Semangat Maju Sdn Bhd
o Knauf Insulation
o McGill AirSilence LLC
o Merford
o Metal Form Manufacturing LLC
o Noise Barriers.
o Pyrotek
o Quietstone UK Ltd.
o R. Kohlhauer GmbH
o Sintesi plc
o Sound Seal.
o SysTech Design Inc.
o USG Corp.
o Ventac
o Yamaha Unified Communications, Inc.
The Report Covers

• Market value data analysis of 2022 and forecast to 2030.
• Annualized market revenues ($ million) for each market segment.
• Country-wise analysis of major geographical regions.
• Key companies operating in the global noise mitigation system market. Based on the availability of data, information related to new product launches, and relevant news is also available in the report.
• Analysis of business strategies by identifying the key market segments positioned for strong growth in the future.
• Analysis of market-entry and market expansion strategies.
• Competitive strategies by identifying ‘who-stands-where’ in the market.

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About Orion Market Research Orion Market Research (OMR) is a market research and consulting company known for its crisp and concise reports. The company is equipped with an experienced team of analysts and consultants. OMR offers quality syndicated research reports, customized research reports, consulting and other research-based services. The company also offer Digital Marketing services through its subsidiary OMR Digital and Software development and Consulting Services through another subsidiary Encanto Technologies.
Media Contact:
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Hi everyone. I'm on week two of kit 2 and just upped my Naltrexone dose on Thursday. Friday was fine, but I woke up Saturday with the worst cold/flu symptoms:
Chills, fever, bad headaches, exhaustion and a slightly phlegmy cough. Today isn't much better, and I've basically been in bad all weekend. My husband and kids have no symptoms (yet) but there was a cold two of them had last week that I didn't seem to get.
I wrote to Hers, but has anyone else experience this? I took a covid test; I was negative. I did have some mild side effects the first week (gastro), but they were manageable. This isn't in the long run. :(
Oh also, no nausea at all, but very diminished desire to eat. I get hungry here and there, but nothing sounds palatable.
TIA

I have been on an SSRI for over 6 years, starting when I was a teen. It was AMAZING for the first 3 years. I’m talking, took me from disabling anxiety and depression to a happy adult. I moved across provinces and started a life of my own thanks to this medication. The past few years, it’s negative effects began to really interfere with my life, and I ended up feeling worse than I did before starting meds. Long story short, it’s taken me 2 years to taper off of this medication due to extreme medication sensitivity. This week is my last 7 days on this medication. And I am suddenly so scared, so reluctant, so sad. I mean, it’s not something I can just take ‘as needed’ and it’s not something easy/quick to start again (would need to slowly taper up as with most meds) if I decide to start taking it again. I understand fear and anxiety is normal for this kind of thing, saying goodbye to a medication that improved my life for so long, is so scary! Now my question is : Has anyone else felt so SAD about discontinuing a long term med? I feel like it’s a bit silly to be sad about this, and grieve the support it’s given me. Is it ok for me to be sad about this? I feel like most people would laugh at me, this medication has made me feel shitty for the past few years, I should be happy that I’m moving on and trying a new medication. But I’m just not. I’m so scared and sad.
Also: Is there something I could do to help myself with this? I was thinking of saving an empty shell of a capsule in a little jar or something, but even that seems like I’m being ‘too sentimental’

I originally posted this with a throwaway but the automod ate it. So I'll just post it with my main account. Whatever. I'm kind of disgusted with reddit at the moment anyway.
This post is long so tl;dr you'll get masses of downvotes on reddit if you dare disagree with the line that sex is immutable. Even though it isn't. And it's not only rabid transphobes who will downvote you for it.
(Disclaimer: I'm writing from the perspective of a trans woman who has medically transitioned, mostly about trans women who medically transition. I suspect that most of the below applies to trans men who medically transition too if you flip some of the terms, but at this point I'm going to shift back into my lane, stop speaking about trans men, and let them speak for themselves.)
There was a post on atheism on Friday made by a trans person who had been hurt by something transphobic that Richard Dawkins had said. Cue tons of gaslighting in the comments claiming that what he said wasn't transphobic (it was) and mass downvoting of people criticizing Dawkins or supporting trans people. People pointing out that medical transition can change your sex were predictably also downvoted despite it being scientific reality. There were no counterarguments: just slurs, bigotry, and accusations of mental illness. For self-proclaimed atheists a lot of them sure like to cling to disproven transphobic dogma, and for supposed materialists they sure like to cling to metaphysical woo when it comes to biology.
"But chromosomes!" "But gametes!" They're both irrelevant in an adult human who has undergone gonadectomy. Brain/behavioral sex, hormonal sex, and genital sex are far, far more important (and they don't all need to line up in order to classify someone as male or female). But many people stubbornly cling to chromosomes and gametes. Why? Because we can't (yet) modify those in trans people to match their acquired sex. (We can make gametes and gonads N/A and that doesn't seem to be an issue for them with cis people but mysteriously it's not good enough when it comes to trans people. Actually it's not a mystery: it's just transphobia.) They're desperate to have some sort of defense no matter how ridiculous and flimsy for continuing to treat us badly and not treat us as our acquired sex.
(The next two paragraphs are about my experience personally and not all trans women.)
My chromosomes are probably XY. (You probably won't get done for speeding on I-95 but you'll still see someone who has been pulled over by police every twenty miles or so.) If I'd been able to click my fingers and change my chromosomes when I began transitioning then it would have achieved nothing for me. I'd still have needed HRT and SRS to treat my dysphoria. I'd still have undergone gonadectomy, rendering what my chromosomes are and what gametes I would have produced moot. Transphobes would have found some other justification for being shitty to me. If they claim otherwise then they're lying. Perhaps they'd latch onto my "socialization" ignoring the fact that trying to socialize a female brain as male doesn't produce a male brain: it produces a traumatized female brain. Perhaps they'd simply leap straight into spiritualist bullshit and insist that the magical sex fairy declared me male and that can never be changed. It doesn't matter because they're not arguing in good faith.
My brain/behavioral sex has always been female. I simply repressed it for a long time because I grew up in a hateful environment. Additionally, without going into gory details: pubertal testosterone didn't do everything it was supposed to in me. One more datum in support of the theory that some trans women have busted or wonky androgen receptors. To describe me as "male" now or even to say that I used to be "male" is incorrect and ignorant of biology. By the way: if someone would have described me as "male" before I transitioned despite my brain/behavioral sex being female but they wouldn't describe me as female now despite my chromosomes (probably) being XY then they're being intellectually dishonest. (They also almost certainly wouldn't describe the sex of a cis woman with naturally elevated testosterone as "male".) At this point most of the factors that go into determining my sex are female, one is N/A, and as previously discussed chromosomes don't matter because I'm not a fetus. Therefore I'm female now. End of discussion.
(End personal stuff.)
There was also a comment about how outing oneself as trans to every Tom, Dickhead, and Harry in the medical profession can lead to worse health outcomes for trans people because of bigotry, incompetence or ignorance leading to checking for the wrong things, trans broken arm syndrome, and incorrect reference ranges being used leading to false positives and false negatives. Of course it too was downvoted and lots of cis people bleated about how trans people supposedly need to come out to every medical person they meet. Hey dumbasses: I can't get testicular cancer any more and I'm effectively already taking treatment for prostate cancer, but I can get breast cancer and I need to watch for female heart attack symptoms. I don't have low testosterone: my testosterone is right in the middle of the female range. My medical risk profile is similar to that of a cis woman without ovaries or a uterus, and treating me like a cis man for medical purposes would be malpractice. But at least they got to be supercilious toward trans people while giving them bad advice that could result in them being maimed or killed. They can sleep well tonight. It must be nice not to have to be an amateur expert in your own healthcare in order to prevent the alleged real experts from fucking you up.
There was a post in AreTheStraightsOK yesterday about trans people, and one commenter stated that trans women can become female. It was downvoted. At this point I'm not even surprised that so-called allies want us to have some equality but not too much. They want us to be their token trans person to help them virtue signal in order to win online arguments and out-woke their frenemies. Oh aren't they so enlightened and tolerant referring to their trans woman friend as "AMAB" instead of "a man" and "they" instead of "he" as long as she behaves? They love the power of holding our identities over us, refusing to use the correct pronouns for us if we displease them, and misgendering us with AGAB terminology then crying "but it's just reality!" when called out on it. Yes I was "AMAB" and that has no relevance to almost everyone's interactions with me now. You (referring to these "allies") were a screaming little pissbaby when you came out of the womb. Are you still one? Should I bring it up whenever I talk about you?
And just to touch on the 'Queers for Palestine' idiocy and its members claiming they won't vote for 'Genocide Joe': those people would rather virtue signal for people who would execute them by throwing them off buildings than perform a real and meaningful action (vote Democrat) to help trans people in their own country avoid what would await them under a Trump presidency and a Republican-controlled congress. Who needs enemies when you have friends like those? (Of course they're silent about what's going on in Yemen, Sudan, and Myanmar.)
I won't be their good little trans token who will smile while they misgender and missex me in a politically correct way, tell lies and falsehoods about my biology, or condemn me to a Trump presidency so that they can stay in their handlers' good books and not feel slightly icky.
(I'm going to add a disclaimer before people who don't medically transition bite my head off. Here goes.)
I know not everybody wants to or can medically transition. I grew up in a poor household with bigoted parents. It sucked. But I needed to medically transition and I've made big compromises in my life in order to be able to transition: I left academia even though I would have liked to stay, I decided I wasn't going to have kids, I don't take vacations away from home, and I accepted a job with long hours, slightly dubious ethics, and a 24/7 on-call rota in order to afford medication and surgery. Medical transition ranked slightly after food and shelter in my personal hierarchy of needs. Not everybody has the same opportunities that I did. I hope I've demonstrated how important it was for me to medically transition, though.
If you want to medically transition and you can't then I feel for you. It is an extremely unenviable position and I know because I was in it for a long time. I hope you're able to medically transition soon. If you don't want to medically transition then that's great! Please don't try to hold back the people who do. Describe yourself as the sex you were assigned at birth if that works for you but don't demand that I do the same for myself.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but I took my first dose (2.5) of Tirz this week and I’ve noticed some major differences in my appetite. I don’t believe I’ve had any negative side effects yet, and look forward to my first weigh in at my next dose.
I know that everyone’s experience is a little different but is the general consensus that weight loss is usually quicker at the beginning and then decelerates?

https://www.wtsglobal.com/public_html/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Envy-Extreme-Vio.pdf
Crossposting audience: The bad news is there does not seem to be a cure for envy. This is congruent with the recidivism statistics of maladapted/antisocial behavior in narcissists, without which narcissism and those with NPD would not be so socially undesirable. However, there are clear signs that the circuitry of envy is noticeably different than the circuitry of admiration, and that jealousy pathways are similar to addiction and expectation of reward pathways. A neuroeconomic analysis of "I won't win this one without illegal/unethical leveling" may be occurring in the envious, showing there may be insight that could resolve what has been until this point and unresolvable emotion full of frustration and pain at the perceived inferiority these individuals suffer. It is important to study and resolve this to help protect their victims from violence, psychological, and economic abuse, theft, hostage-taking of what is critical to the envied person, and unreasonable dislike that turns into hate crime on a whim. Victims deserve protection (the envious say the opposite) and so we research. Follow this subreddit for the first research-backed subreddit on envy.
Intense envy is associated with shame, depression, inferiority, isolation, anxiety, paranoia, and even violent criminal behavior.
Envy is an emotion capable of producing distorted perceptions and cognitions. Intense envy is associated with adverse states such as shame, depression, inferiority, isolation, anxiety, paranoia, and even violent criminal behavior.
The envious can become violent when they want to destroy goodness as perceived advantage, especially if they do not feel they possess goodness
There may come a point at which the envious person's goal is to harm the other's ability to enjoy the perceived advantages—the wish to destroy goodness as formulated by Melanie Klein.
Obliterative envy is the violent instantiation of envy focusing on a desire to obliterate what is perceived as an unjust, intolerable reality
The psychodynamics are discussed by which destructive envy produces or enhances a persecutory mindset and desire for revenge so powerful that lethal violence is chosen as an option. The concepts of obliterative envy and pseudo-spiritual transformation are introduced, and forensic case examples are used to demonstrate how envy produces persecutory cognitions and facilitates the desire to “obliterate” what is perceived as an unjust, intolerable reality.
Increased projection of the malicious or terrorist impulse is the sign of an escalation in the violent envious person’s ability to commit violence. As they grow more out of control in this respect, the more likely they are to actually engage in these actions.
The false logic of envy convinces the individual that they have an unfavorable and immutable disadvantage—thus, the other appears enhanced while the individual feels diminished. This depressing, humiliating position generates resentment toward the other. Depending upon developmental experience and other psychosocial factors, the individual with envy may increasingly use projection, projective identification, and experience persecutory thoughts.
The envious other wants to harm or destroy the other’s ability to enjoy these perceived advantages
There may come a point at which the envious person's goal is to harm or destroy the other's ability to enjoy the perceived advantages.
A bizarre scenario is witnessed where someone sacrifices their own life from spite to hurt the envied
. In some cases, extremely envious individuals are willing to spitefully sacrifice their own lives in an act of violence. The act may be felt as revenge for some perceived or actual injustice, but the driving emotion is intolerable envy, consciously recognized by the attacker or not.
We conclude by reviewing the challenges of detecting severe envy and preoccupation with lethality in treatment and in non-treatment settings where threat assessment protocols may be applied.
Obliterative envy is the state of mind arising from overwhelming narcissistic rage and resentment
. Obliterative envy is the state of mind arising from overwhelming narcissistic rage and resentment, leading the individual to destroy the envied other, and simultaneously himself, to negate the detested situation in its entirety. Pseudo-spiritual transformation is the state of mind by which the perpetrator's personal grievance is justified and elevated to the level of a spiritual or religious imperative.
Proximal warning signs are pathway, fixation, identification, novel aggression, energy burst, leakage, last resort, and directly communicated threat
The TRAP-18 consists of 8 proximal warning behaviors—pathway, fixation, identification, novel aggression, energy burst, leakage, last resort, and directly communicated threat—and 10 distal characteristics—
10 distal characteristics are found, however odd patterns shown in intelligence of purposefully creating these conditions should be noted for terroristic envy from the inside themselves
personal grievance and moral outrage, framed by an ideology, failure to affiliate with an extremist or other group, dependence on the virtual community, thwarting of occupational goals, changes in thinking and emotion, failure of sexually intimate pair bonding, mental disorder, greater creativity and innovation, and history of criminal violence.
Acknowledging envy declares one’s inferiority which causes shame
To acknowledge envy is to declare one's felt inferiority, which in turn triggers additional feelings of shame (Ronningstam, 2005).
Enviers can be seen in both ideation of crime and premeditated crime experience a fierce kind of sadistic pleasure when contemplating violence toward the envied
Among all the so-called seven deadly sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth), Milic (2019) argues that envy produces nothing but mental anguish and is devoid of even an initial burst of pleasure or immediate gratification. We would suggest that envy may hold within it both masochistic pleasure, and well as a fierce kind of sadistic pleasure when contemplating violence toward the envied.
Painful and resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage can be seen
Confusion of terms has long been the case where envy and jealousy are concerned; examples abound. For instance, “I am jealous of her good looks,” is more accurately an admission of envy. Envy, in its simplest form, is defined in the dictionary as a “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another, joined with a desire to possess the same advantage” (Merriam-Webster.com, 2021).
Romantic jealousy is fear of loss of mate and mate retention behaviors, and envy is seen as someone threatening to take away advantage personally
Romantic jealousy has been found to be positively correlated with feelings of insecurity, low self-esteem, and mate retention behaviors (Chin et al., 2017). Whereas in envy, advantage is perceived as belonging to the other; in jealousy, a rival is seen as threatening to take away the advantage (Anderson, 2002).
Narcissistic injury too unbearable to tolerate causes violence. A poisoning quality is specific to the violently envious
In the case of both tension states, it is a matter of degree—how much does the negative comparison lead the sufferer to experience painful feelings of inferiority and shame that result in a narcissistic injury too unbearable to tolerate? Is there the potential for narcissistic rage in its various manifestations, including violence? As the UK advice columnist Irma Kurtz wrote, “jealousy fights duels, envy poisons the soup (Kurtz, 1987).” Table 1 lists the comparative characteristics of envy and jealousy.
Insatiability, and excessive willingness to even take out themselves and their own security, even if it be financial, to take out the person they are envious of can be seen in the violently envious person. They are competitive and will do anything to stop being thrown into relief as less advantaged with the envied person.
Moreover, envy is historically and consistently referred to as hidden and insidious (Epstein, 2003; Minou, 2017). Envy may often be denied because of its implication of inferiority, unwarranted malicious temptation in the envier, and especially its potential for destructiveness. Envy increases within the sufferer the likelihood of developing depression, lowers resilience, and destabilizes self-esteem (Xiang et al., 2020). Those laboring under strong envy are insatiable, competitive, and may be willing to sacrifice their own outcomes to diminish the envied person's perceived advantage (Smith & Kim, 2007
As a result, people report greater feelings of envy and inadequacy.
Passively browsing Facebook apparently incites lots of envy in the envy prone who may try to destroy or at least erase the presence of the one who makes them feel that much envy. Out of sight, out of mind for the envier is desired for and they try to make it a reality
Even passively browsing Facebook can lead to negative social comparison, envy, social isolation and a significantly impaired sense of life satisfaction (Morawska, 2019). Younger persons who spend more time on social media are more susceptible to these effects than older persons.
Consumed with envy and shame (violence most likely) becomes over time guilt-ridden and self-punishing as they continue to avoid feelings of narcissistic inaccessibility, aka, being reminded of what they can’t or don’t have.
Klein first theorized that mature development required transition from the persecutory position (consumed with envy and shame) to the depressive position (guilt-ridden and self-punishing) in order to avoid feelings of victimization and narcissistic inaccessibility (Klein, 1975).
Envy can be a driving emotion in some who go on to commit acts of extreme violence
Those with strong paranoid and narcissistic traits have been observed to suffer from a desire to destroy the goodness they perceive they have been unjustly denied. Such individuals seek to destroy the other's ability to enjoy the whole object pleasures of love or achievement (Zizek, 2008). Envy can be a primary driving emotion in some who go on to commit acts of extreme violence (Hyatt-Williams, 1998; Knoll, 2010a, 2010b).
Narcissism starts to distort senses of justice in envy. The “justice sense” suddenly becomes distorted and no longer justice in the envious instantiation.
Other main themes associated with envy in the psychological literature involve the envious person's perception of fairness and justice, narcissism, hostility, and grudge holding (Anderson, 2002; Milic, 2019; Nauta, 2009).
Entitlement is part of envy; the envious feel that they are withholding the goodness or justice of things like “having sex with the girls in the hottest sorority”. Externalization, projection and projective identification can be seen. These individuals show impaired ability for sympathy, empathy, regret, reconciliation or gratitude which all require an ability to see someone else as human who may feel things like they do, aka, an increased disposition to commodify agents is seen.
In the P-S position, the individual's worldview is based on feelings of mistreatment and frustration at what is perceived as intentional harm, injustice, or purposeful withholding of advantages. The P-S position is associated with the use of maladaptive defense mechanisms such as splitting, externalization, projection, and projective identification. Such individuals will have an impaired capacity for sympathy, empathy, regret, reconciliation or gratitude—emotions that necessitate an ability to represent others in one's mind as whole, real, and meaningful individuals. Via projection and projective identification (an incomplete projection wherein the projected content continues to threaten the self), such individuals perceive others as actively persecuting them by withholding the goodness, justice, or fairness to which they feel rightfully entitled (Grotstein, 1981)
Not getting what they feel entitled to is a profoundly depressing and humiliating experience for those who have an excessive predisposition to commodify and then feel entitled to things that should not have ever been commodified
As a result of their perception of intolerable injustice, some may become overwhelmed with a sense of loss that cannot be mourned (Feldman & De Paola, 1994). Grief is subsumed by personal grievance. There is then the potential for hostile revenge fantasies, followed by an unwillingness to forsake a martyrdom fantasy of ultimate and final revenge. Envy may defy common sense, yet its logic can be understood. Envious persons see the object of envy as big or advantaged, while they feel small and disadvantaged. This is a profoundly depressing and humiliating experience for the envious who are left harboring resentment and injustice, emotions which are often a product of depleted omnipotent fantasies (Anderson, 2002).
Defense of projection may hypertrophy to distort their perceptions of others as greedy, spiteful, and intentionally persecutory–aka, someone very rich may start projecting on others as greedy to project off the shame they feel for greed. Or, someone who is antisemitic with lots of wealth may suddenly become fixated on Jews to relieve themselves of the guilt they feel for not helping people.
They may come to experience—whether acknowledged as compensatory or not—a “malicious glee” (schadenfreude) over other's misfortune, which can develop into an addictive like pursuit of sadistic joy over others' sorrows. Their defense of projection may hypertrophy to distort their perceptions of others as greedy, spiteful and intentionally persecutory
Social pain over a perceived failure to meet some internalized level of value is seen
in contrast to the dynamic of a negative comparison defining envy, shame is “a painful feeling of an interrupted sense of joy, relationship, status, or pride, because of exposure of one's failure to meet standards or ideals” (p. 37). The key phrase here is not meeting “standards,” which suggests social pain over a perceived failure to meet some internalized level of value. S
Shame for feeling hate then leads to self-hate, and this suffering sees no relief until they decide to commit extreme violence
A vicious cycle may ensue, in which the envier is ashamed of feeling hateful, and then hates himself for feeling such negative emotions—which make him further aware of his inadequacy. In actuality, we suggest that these powerful negative emotions—shame, envy, hatred of others and hatred of self—are so interrelated that they may all be in play in the sufferer who chooses extreme violence.
Irrational suicidal behavior often called a “psychic death” can be found on people with extreme narcissistic injury and envy.
Gilligan's interpretations may not explain all instances of extreme violence, but they are consistent with what we call the obliterative mindset. The perpetrator has lost the capacity for undistorted judgment and to sublimate aggression. The “self” is already dead. He is now ready to override the survival instinct and fully embrace a drive toward death (Anderson, 2006).
A deep sense of victimizations promotes a righteous vengeance that then aggressively devalues the other to promote the self, as they do not feel like they will compare organically without aggressively manufacturing the devaluation of the other
. In the distorted logic of severe envy, a deep sense of victimization allows martyrdom and/or righteous vengeance to devalue the other and promote the self to heroic status.
The envious person decides he is going to show the world his true self, which in the end is nothing but another terrorist, one of many people who did nothing with their lives but just kill other people out of rage, envy and entitlement
Intolerable conditions and even the imperfect self are wiped clean, leaving only the perpetrator's final judgment, which is not open to appeal. The violent extremist warped by severe envy is drawn to a statement of self-affirmation to counteract overwhelming shame. By obliterating the unacceptable reality, his sacrifice seems worthwhile to him to re-establish his sense of self. Or as the violent perpetrator Elliot Rodger wrote: “Finally, at long last, I can show the world my true worth” (E.R. Manifesto, 2014). The paradox, however, is compelling: obliterating the actual self to realize just before death the perfect and omnipotent self.
Around the time of extremism, rigidity can be seen and is palpable on the one engaged in covert or overt acts
. Beliefs in the superiority of one's cause become rigidly fixed and overvalued (Rahman et al., 2019).
Extreme imbalances of what is given from what is taken is a clear signs of extreme envy, suggesting economic abuse is motivated by envy in many cases
: “Everything is gone. What I own is just gonna be a pittance compared to what I am going to take.” The distorted logic of severe envy can be seen at play in MH's statement: “It's a kind of a community that in order for you to get ahead, you have to keep the neighbor down. It's not…you know, building yourself up on your own merit, it's tear the other guy down.” There is no ambivalence or relativity at this point for MH. His world is split into only those who are building up and those who are tearing down. Deep in his persecutory position, MH gives about as clear an explanation, in our opinion, of the logic of violent, destructive envy as can be found in such cases:
Genocidal obliteration is seen on those so envious they become violent
. When I do this, that levels the playing field in my favor, so now we've got a lopsided playing field because when I come back at you, I'm gonna destroy your side of the playing field
Addicted to revenge, they make patently unreasonable decisions
Various townspeople interviewed in the documentary note how MH had been given numerous financially appealing options, including an offer of six times what he paid for his land. The object of MH's envy was his perception of the success of several businessmen whose family had lived in the town for generations. Offers to provide MH with a financially advantageous resolution held no sway since he was fully in the grip of an obliterative mindset. Or, as the town news editor stated, “He had a way out. He had a way out to make some good money and, and go on about his life, but he chose that path for whatever reason.” Instead, he narrowed his focus and proceeded according to the dictates of violent envy and revenge.
Peacefulness after extreme painful turbulence is a tell-tale sign of premeditated homicidal action in the envious
Tied to these signs of PST is MH's statement that “a peace came over me…,” perhaps describing an almost spiritual feeling of relief after having finally resigned himself to die. Such descriptions of emotional reprieve have been associated with anticipatory and relief-oriented permissive beliefs in suicidal crises (Del-Monte & Graziani, 2020). Perpetrators of mass murder and other forms of targeted homicide-suicide have similarly described a state of peacefulness and relief that arises once they have come to terms with their own death as not only inevitable and acceptable, but planned, either by their own hand or as a “suicide-bycop.”
“I wasn’t supposed to caught”; an exceptionalism is seen on the violently envious
ambivalence. MH proceeds to strengthen and amplify his violent intent via a combination of PST and teleological thinking: “I wasn't supposed to get caught! God built me to be here to prove to you that what you have been doing for God knows how many years is wrong.”
Resolving the crisis would be an intolerable sign of weakness and inferiority (Gilligan & Richards, 2021).
This statement suggests his intensifying envy, often apparent in pathologically narcissistic states and traits (Kernberg, 1992). What MH deserves is beyond question, and now God expects him to harm the objects of his envy. The conviction of transcendent moral and spiritual righteousness is a common justification for violent lashing out by those in the persecutory position. Resolving the crisis nonviolently would require more psychological degrees of freedom and capacity for gratitude and empathy than MH possessed. To him it would be an intolerable sign of weakness and inferiority (Gilligan & Richards, 2021).
When people are happy an aggressive raging need to ruin it is seen on the envious
As poetically described by Gilligan and Richards (2021), the most direct, immediate and literal way to wipe tormentors' mocking smiles from their faces is to make them weep through violence.
Fixation is a huge sign of extreme envy and ability to commit envy-based violence
MH's PST would be associated with the TRAP-18 (Meloy, 2017) distal characteristic of Changes in Thinking and Emotion. These changes are often complex, and appear to occur in three domains: interpersonal relations become more limited and isolation increases; there is evidence of fantasy that is both grandiose and violent (often leaked through social media); and emotions shift from just anger, to also contempt and disgust for the target. We also see continued TRAP-18 evidence of the proximal warning behavior of Fixation, in this case motivated by extreme overvalued beliefs (Meloy & Rahman, 2020). Fixation, a preoccupation with a person or a cause that is accompanied by deterioration in work and love, is often the first proximal warning behavior to appear in a case of targeted violence (Meloy et al., 2021).
Last resort behavior can be seen when they think they were never going to get caught, a desperate attempt to commit violent envious action to secure the envied’s punishment for making them feel envy
Last Resort proximal warning behavior is defined as a violent action and time imperative: the person must act, and he must act now. Such warning behavior is often precipitated by a triggering event—often a loss in love or work--or one that is anticipated, and is sometimes accompanied by feelings of desperation or distress (Meloy, 2017).
Envy that powerful pushes them into the obliterative mindset, where violence occurs
Such intense devaluation of the desired object suggests envy powerful enough to push him into the obliterative mindset.
ER repeatedly used the word “envy” to describe his misery.
ER repeatedly used the word “envy” to describe his misery. He understood the difference between envy and jealousy, which he also experienced at an early age when there would be a third boy on playdates with his best friend (E.R. Manifesto, 2014).
He shows that the desire to torture is motivated by envy, showing that envy is indeed a product of envy and with it its links to narcissism
ER went to a Starbucks coffee shop there, where he became “livid with envious hatred” upon seeing a couple kissing. He proceeded to throw his coffee on them. What he actually fantasized doing was to “kill them slowly… strip the skins off their flesh.” The sight of a couple enjoying themselves brought out sadistic urges to destroy them, but not before torturing them by removing the very organ they would use to enjoy each other—their skin.
Entitlement is also linked to the torture as envy milieu saying “if I cannot have it, I will destroy it”. That is extreme entitlement
Just as MH described the true nature of destructive envy so well, so does ER, with jarring precision: “If I cannot have it, I will destroy it.
A hatred for someone from a younger generation enjoying things they didn’t can be seen in the envious
That was the day that I decided I would have to kill him on the Day of Retribution. I will not allow the boy to surpass me at everything, to live the life I've always wanted. It's not fair that he has the chance to have a pleasurable life while I've been denied it. It will be a hard thing to do, because I had really bonded with my little brother in the last year, and he respected and looked up to me. But I would have to do it. If I can't live a pleasurable life, then neither will he!
Fixation and pathological preoccupation followed by deterioration is seen on those who are capable of and/or commit envious violent action
The ER case is rife with examples of the proximal warning behavior of Fixation on the TRAP-18: “an increasingly pathological preoccupation with a person or a cause, accompanied by a deterioration in social and occupational life” (Meloy, 2017)
Envy based torture premeditation and enaction is seen on those envious who fit the description for TRAP-18
When ER saw the couple kissing at Starbucks he also wanted to kill them, “slowly.” What he actually did was throw coffee on them (and, incidentally, at great risk of physical retaliation). Such a behavior is an example of the proximal warning behavior on the TRAP-18 of Novel Aggression: “an act of violence that appears unrelated to any targeted violence pathway and is committed for the first time” (Meloy et al., 2012), and is done to test one's violent capability.
Acute narcissistic injury can trigger a suicidal crisis
An acute narcissistic injury in the patient's life could trigger a suicidal crisis in the absence of a depressed state. Ronningstam (2005) discussed the various meanings of suicidality in narcissistic patients, among them, an illusion of control and mastery (as well as preserving the perfect self), a shield against anticipated narcissistic injuries (death before dishonor), and an act of revenge: an individual may commit suicide to spite someone else.
Even envious hatred for therapists can be found, with therapists witnessing boredom with the sessions and withdrawing from direct engagement. This suggests extreme dispositional envy.
. He may pronounce boredom with the sessions or withdraw from direct engagement; his envious hatred may be hidden underneath an attitude of indifference. Alternatively, he may attempt to compete with the therapist, claiming superior knowledge or understanding (Abraham, 1927)
Envious individuals suffer from an encapsulated murderous aspect of their personalities
…most envious individuals suffer from an encapsulated murderous aspect of their personalities. If this concealed enclave is suddenly detonated by external circumstances, homicidal or suicidal violence can erupt.
Envious people see the world as zero-sum and try to reinforce back to zero-sum when people prove it is not inherently zero-sum. They will aggressively try to renormalize it back to where their envy seems less pathological and distorted.
In the zero-sum game of envy, there is a myth that if someone has something good, the other person is diminished. A major goal of therapy is to help patients see that self-esteem is not dependent on what someone else has and that their accomplishments are not connected to those of others. The therapist works to interpret to the patient that his zero-sum view undermines the chance in his life that he and others can simultaneously feel successful and gratified (pp. 128–129).
Envy influences the subject’s violent motives
s. Understanding the powerful psychodynamics of severe envy, the obliterative mindset and pseudo-spiritual transformation, contribute to the knowledge base for threat assessment practice. Threat assessment clinicians on these teams may identify the signs of envy, often subtle or revealed indirectly, and its influence on a subject's violent motives.
Desire for revenge becomes so powerful they commit revenge-based homicide or attempt it, and may even sacrifice their own lives and careers just because of the burning narcissistic envy
When the desire for revenge is powerful enough, such individuals may conclude an act of lethal violence is wholly necessary and the only logical remedy, even if it means sacrificing their own lives.
This act of extreme violence risks the lives of both self and other while providing a relatively brief period of shelter from intense narcissistic injury.
Obliterative envy describes the process by which envy, and its related mental and emotional states, are negated through an act of extreme violence. This act of extreme violence risks the lives of both self and other while providing a relatively brief period of shelter from intense narcissistic injury. Pseudo-spiritual transformation is the perpetrator's belief that violent revenge, in response to a personal grievance, is being guided and sanctified by some transcendent power, usually of personal religious significance.

First Previous Wiki
Ascendant Denali swept his tail across the floor. "Greetings. The New Ascendancy welcomes you and your kin, Diplomat Sommi."
The Misan creature did its equivalent of a bow, honoring him in his palace as was proper. He had been starved of respect from his surrounding powers lately and would feast upon this memory like a fine cut.
"The Misan Li Heptarchies receive your warm greetings, Ascendant Denali. We offer official congratulations on your ascent to the Trikkec throne, and the continued unification of your people. We are glad that you are regaining your prosperity, and offer additional aid to that end."
It was the perfect language of the High Dialect, with almost no imperfections on the translator's part. An expertly trained device, for sure, given the vast cavern between their respective languages. He had a translator as well working to ensure that the Diplomat heard his words correctly, and that he would know how their language distorted them to prevent any unfortunate misunderstandings.
Such things could be disastrous with certain civilizations, and Denali saw no need to make true enemies. He was strong enough to project power inside the New Ascendancy but nowhere near so outside of it. Pirates and raiders still festered upon the upper borders, and the lower borders were contested by a few minor lords who had survived the collapse of the Ascendancy. He was currently bombarding their planetary shields with asteroids and lasers.
"Aid of what sort, and with what stipulations?" Denali asked, waving an economic advisor over with a stray claw.
"Military and economic."
"Stipulations?"
"You close all business with the Alliance."
"Ah."
Denali stepped off his throne. "Diplomat, I can assume you know how valuable that relationship is to the Ascendancy? I assume you already have a plan to replace them with something better. If your plan is ready, I will have my advisors review it. If not, no further discussions are to take place."
"Do you accept their power over you, Ascendant?"
"In this galaxy, it does not matter what we accept. If a Sprilnav comes barging into your house and takes your mate in front of you, there is nothing you can do. If one of the Core Powers manages to reach us, they can do the same. There are the laws of nations, and there are those of power. The Alliance's aid, even as its darker purposes twist it, has saved millions of lives. Children eating. Families working. They have the might of two AIs behind them."
"They are far too young of a nation for you to realistically believe their abilities are this high."
"Many have made that mistake," Denali said. "They are an older nation than mine, certainly. Would you say that my nation's abilities are lower?"
"I would not."
"Then you tell lies. I am not some foolish monarch who cannot see the reality in front of him. The Alliance's aid is a tool to keep me leashed like some common lizard. But it comes with economic growth and power that fuels the New Ascendancy further. I do not believe I will overtake their growth even when the entire species is reunited. And since your borders are further away than theirs, you will have added economic costs to any aid you give, with little gain on your end."
"They influence your culture. Your people."
"They do," Denali agreed. "You are a powerful nation as well. You would do the same with your own aid, yes? And you would call for us to destroy our traditions, our religions, and our very culture. We have seen your attempts at negotation with other powers nearer to you. You are an aspiring hegemon. But the Alliance's hegemony is already established. The Grand Defense Organization is something that I might even join, when I have the military might to meet their threshold."
"Why?"
"Because when power rises, others can latch on," Denali said. "Your offer, please. I am quite interested to hear it."
The Diplomat gave him a tablet. Denali brought it up with a hologram isolated from the network. His eyes began to shine.
"You should have led with this, Diplomat."
"Ah, but I needed to see the esteemed Ascendant's viewpoint on us. It is a shame that you must bow and scrape to the Alliance. How would you like to meet them on the field of battle?"
Denali chuckled. "I would like it very much, were they a normal nation. But they are taking planet crackers from King Siran and hauling them back to their space. They have a few of their own, not just stolen from the Wisselen."
"And they are pacifist."
"But not weak, Diplomat. All that means is they will not start the fight. But as we stand now, they will finish it. And a transfer of this many ships likely comes with enormous drawbacks and conditions."
"Then let us discuss those conditions, Ascendant. I am sure something more sufficient to your tastes can be selected."
"I am glad to hear that." Denali made a table hologram that was complete with hard light compatibility. Seating for the Misan, his guards, and Denali and his guards also appeared. The table was transparent.
"I will present my documents on this, and we can discuss in greater detail how you can divest from the Alliance without significant economic damage. There are certain facets we have identified which are key to your growth: military might, industrial capacity, and social cohesion."
Denali rubbed his teeth with his claws. Several cooks came in, bringing him food. The Misan Diplomat and his entourage refused, which was expected given the vast differences in their palettes.
"Those are indeed key parts of the Alliance's aid. Do you have an answer for me which is cheaper than the exports of the Alliance?"
"Yes. We can deliver 250 billion androids capable of continuous work for 20 years, each with a 96% likelihood of continued operation at the end of this period. We are willing to deliver these for you at once, though we would only request an escort of your ships alongside our own for added diplomatic security."
"A veritable army," Denali said.
"None of which will carry or operate weapons."
"We would need to verify that before shipping," Denali said. "As we would need to do for the price. The Alliance demands 1% of our current discretionary yearly foreign trade budget. How does your offer compare?"
"We would ask for a 30 year non-aggression agreement, and diplomatic outposts in your territory, as well as a possible defense pact, where we can defend you legally and militarily against Alliance encroachment."
"A large offer," Denali said. "Tell me, what is in it for you?"
"The Heptarchies wish to curtail the Alliance's growing influence by any means necessary, even if it means spending large amounts of money in the process. Having a monetary outflow is something the Heptarchies are happy to entertain, and we would be grateful for you to join us in this endeavor."
"And what of the risk of me playing both sides?"
"We can offer you high enough boons to ensure that does not occur."
So a bribe, then. A massive one. It was already enticing, but Denali sensed he could get more with better negotiations.
"You mentioned social cohesion and military might as well," Denali said. "Can you explain what you mean by this, and what aid you will send to address this?"
Now, the Diplomat looked more uncertain. It was an act, though a fairly convincing one. The pause lengthened.
"Ascendant Denali, surely you understand..."
"I understand you said 'any means necessary' for curtailing the Alliance. With an AI in their nation, such a thing will be expensive, yes? I'm sure that I need not remind you I will choose what is best for my nation overall. And if you cannot come through... I can always notify them of this offer to explore their ability to match it. Or, gods forbid, even exceed it."
"The trade agreement cannot encompass-"
"Then we have nothing more to discuss, Diplomat."
"Wait! Fine, we can discuss it! Just let us work out the new conditions. They're favorable to you, Ascendant. The Heptarchies value you as a potential customer-"
"I'm sure you do. You have four days to present an offer I appreciate more," Denali said, shoving the tablet back at the Diplomat. "Would you like me to procure food capable of Misan consumption?"
"That would be kind of you, Ascendant. We will accept that. And we will begin drafting a more suitable deal for both of our nations."
"Good!" Denali grinned, settling upon his chair with a new sense of pride in his posture.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Elder Pundacrawla settled his robe about his shoulders as he waited outside the room. In his implant, a small countdown reached zero. The silver doors slid open, and his eyes feasted on the room. It was quite ornate, but what really set it apart was the scene in the center. Elder Kashaunta sat on a short chair across a small table from the object of the entire star system's latest obsessions.
The bipedal alien sat in her own chair, which had an odd raised section to support her back. Her clothing was somewhat simple, with black and grey fabric covering her upper torso. He could tell the fabric was high quality—in fact, it was infused with psychic energy.
Her odd face looked a little smushed, and there was a faint red color to her pale skin and two bars of psychic energy thicker than he'd ever seen adorning her cheeks. She appeared unassuming, but her eyes latched onto him with an entrancing glare.
Her scrutiny waved over him, making Pundacrawla smile. Her gray hair fluttered, with a ring of fabric collecting it behind her head to rest on her back. Her fingers were short, without claws of any appreciable size. Her feet were hidden entirely by shoes; he could sense a thick armor.
In the mindscape, she roiled with collected psychic energy, like a promise of action for any slight. Her mind almost looked to have three minds in one, and iron bands of psychic energy encircled it from all sides, even above and below, preventing any quick avenue of mental attack. All in all, she was like an alien Elder when the conceptual energy came into account. She reminded Pundacrawla of an old friend, a secret he kept with Kashaunta that initially had been her leverage over him.
"It is an honor to meet you," Penny said. "You look as impressive as Kashaunta said."
There was no accent. The words flowed from her mouth smoothly, and Kashaunta showed no reaction to the omission of her title. That alone spoke volumes, and Pundacrawla knew he would be showing Penny more respect than most had the privilege to receive.
"I am happy to meet you as well, Penny Balica. Your accomplishments follow your name, and you are also quite impressive."
He settled on a third chair that appeared in front of him. He took a deep breath, his eyes falling on the pair of them.
"Elder Kashaunta has hired me to serve as your lawyer in the Judgment trial," Pundacrawla said. "This requires a great deal of risk to be taken on my part, which has also required that I received advancements."
He drew the word out, causing Penny to raise an eyebrow.
"Advancements?"
"Yes. I would like you to push the Soul Blade toward my left front leg."
Penny drew the sword, her fingers wrapping around the hilt easily. A grip of psychic energy materialized on her hands, and she carefully pressed the tip of it into the place he'd marked.
His skin was pierced. Penny frowned as her weapon went no further. Black blood spilled from the wound, which closed within moments.
"What?"
"These are Type 3 nanites," Pundacrawla said. Black limbs materialized on his back, a second set of arms. And then a third set. They withdrew quickly.
"They also happen to cost a considerable amount of money," Kashaunta said. "Which I have paid, thanks to the added funds your singularities have brought."
"I will tell you not to worry if I am killed in the courtroom. I already have a deal in place with the Collective to ensure, at considerable costs, that I will still survive in some form."
"And killing Pundacrawla is also a declaration of war on the Peoples' Autonomous Stars," Kashaunta added. "You do not stand alone."
"Indeed, I do not," Pundacrawla smiled. He bowed his head toward Penny. "If I may, I would like to start the discussion around the argument for this case."
His implant connected to several devices on his body, manifesting many holographic articles and stories around the room. Penny's 'Liberator' title was printed on half of them in the headline. In others, images and even videos of her in various situations took precedence.
Pundacrawla pulled up an image of Penny kneeling in the rubble of Justicar, holding a dead child. "This is the argument I will make for you."
Penny nodded, her silence confirming that this was the right decision.
"You will be the alien who came to a world named after the concept of justice, and an Elder who bears the same name. I will show how you care for many Sprilnav in your life, and also that you have little motivation to do so purely for the Judgment. I will show you as a loving daughter to a doting father, as a willing partner of Elder Kashaunta, bearer of the Pact of Blades, and as a woman capable of acting with wisdom and grace beyond her years to work with an enemy to sign a truce contract.
I will paint you in as sympathetic a light as possible and will eventually call you as a witness several times. You will need to swear upon your life that you are not lying, and Indrafabar and Justicar will both be capable of detecting your lies, total or partial. If you want to win this case, you will follow my advice without hesitation and without question. Do you understand?"
"I do, Lawyer Pundacrawla."
"You may call me High Lawyer Pundacrawla, or Elder Pundacrawla. With an Eonic degree, I am deserving of this title, and it will remind them of who backs you and who I am."
"I understand."
Pundacrawla took a long moment to organize his thoughts. He removed unnecessary jargon that might be untranslatable. He had the VI program rephrase and dumb down the explanations he needed to say so they would be shorter and easier to understand. Understanding was critical for the early phases of any case, and the client always needed to be ready for what came.
That was Rule 53.
"Now for the second half of the Judgment. The Alliance. They have published a great deal of rhetoric condemning the Sprilnav and the Elders. Yasihaut will first attempt slander using the usual methods. Your species, your barbarity, your lack of being Elders. She will find images of people on social media platforms calling for the deaths of the Sprilnav en mass.
If she desires, she will flood them with this, as the Alliance's population allows for many instances to be located. She may call to past Elders' deaths or to the previous battles with herself and Kashaunta in the earlier history of your nation. But the most likely platform she will use to pose the Alliance as a threat will be the presence of Phoebe, Edu'frec, Brey, and the hivemind of Humanity. The reasons for this are many. I will list several now, with ideal ways to counter them also attached.
Given Yasihaut's personality, she feels that you and the Alliance's continual success is a direct and constant threat to her reputation as an Elder. When you first shamed her, this is what ignited her hatred. Kashaunta has regaled you more on what reputation means to us immortals, but it is a severe concern. Do not underestimate her willingness to regain her reputation and to do so by attempting to defeat you in a public matter.
Here, your physical advantages will be nullified. If you speak out of turn or show signs of resistance, they will be twisted against you and the Alliance. The next reason is that your specific rivalry is personal. It is unique, and the High Judges know this. You are a threat to her, and everyone in that court knows you mean to kill her when the Judgment ends. Do not express your wishes to do this because she may present your threat to her as one to Elders overall. Now, for the Alliance, the fear of AI, unregulated, intelligent, and improving, as Phoebe and Edu'frec both qualify as, is ancient and potent among the Elders.
Across all of history, rogue AI presents the largest threat to our rule, making weapons capable of disabling our ships with merely thousands of years of time to advance. The Alliance has been given leniency on this. But most importantly is the Path. For an AI, approaching technological singularity is a threat to all other beings in existence by the sheer possibilities that it provides. Yasihaut knows this, as do the High Judges. I will aim to prove that Phoebe and Edu'frec do not intend to kill the Elders or go to war with them when they reach singularity.
But this, Penny, will require that Phoebe comes to the stand herself and swears before the court. The Collective will be connected to her and will be capable of detecting the lies in all forms she attempts to tell. This is likely the only way to defeat the arguments Yasihaut presents in that manner. While Phoebe is not allowed to represent you as a lawyer, she is still allowed to be a witness, presumably for exactly this reason. The Collective will also use this as a means to determine Phoebe's progress in weaponry, so I suggest she finds a way to hide those memories well. The next reason Yasihaut will involve the Alliance is because it is visibly divided.
Your leaders bicker and argue, and she will attempt to use this to show you as an unstable power with dangerous ambition. She will use the clashes between your leaders as a way to convince the High Judges that you cannot be trusted, as your lifespans are too short and your minds too alien to remain trustworthy and united in their support of any sort of treaty. She will likely use this to bypass the reality of your truce with Valisada, which the Alliance is not a direct party to. She will discuss the specific threat of Brey in the Alliance. Her ability to use portals makes your nation over fifty times as productive as it would otherwise be.
This makes you an economic threat, coupled with Phoebe. Brey has a historical hatred of the Sprilnav, which also motivates possible military attacks against us. She is also being directly strengthened by the Alliance's psychic amplifiers. I will attempt to stave off this argument by downplaying the threat Brey poses and showing the reality that a Progenitor could kill her instantly.
I am not expecting any specific arguments in this scenario to be effective against the High Judges. This will be a difficult point if Yasihaut exploits it properly. As for the hivemind of Humanity, your threat comes in multiple forms. Firstly, we can confirm you share some power with the hivemind. So if you grow strong, it too will grow strong, and it bends to the will of Humanity as a whole. Polls show that you all, to put it lightly, hate us.
The hivemind also has a direct diplomatic link to the Source and easy access to it via the Servant in the hivemind's city and the city's location itself amidst the Source's bones. Remember that many of us still call the Source the Great Enemy and the Servants the Enemy. Yasihaut will likely attempt to use Rimiaha's presence here to link you as well to the image of the Source, if not the hivemind. If she does this successfully, you will lose the case.
The hatred we have for the Servants is almost bottomless and is only exceeded by that of the Source. Kashaunta has told me that there have been over 30 thousand attempts to kill Rimiaha since he got here, most psychic in nature. All of them have failed due to the intervention of either Justicar, Kashaunta herself, or Rimiaha using his psychic energy to blend in with Sprilnav. Behind the scenes, Kashaunta has destroyed entire mercenary companies in the Underground for this and made deals with Justicar to suppress any mention of this to avoid stirring the fires of war. I will do whatever I can to distance you from Rimiaha.
But if this fails, you must call him to the stand. Make him testify of his lack of willingness to attack the Sprilnav. Indrafabar may request that his mind be invaded to determine the truth about this. If the Source intervenes in that case or Rimiaha refuses, you will also lose the trial. This is the most dangerous idea that Yasihaut could bring against you, which links back to Humanity and you, Penny.
Another reason she has is that if she can push the Judges enough on the Alliance to either level more restrictions or kill the AIs, you will be crippled beyond recovery and will fade into nothingness for her to kill at her leisure. In short, most of this trial hinges on circumstances and testimonies given by witnesses. This is another reason Indrafabar is on the case. He can detect lies in almost any being if he uses his power. And if you resist, which you might be capable of, but..."
"I lose."
"Exactly. This is not a place of honor. This is not a court like before. Arguments will be heard, debated, and either accepted and recorded or discarded and ignored. I will do my best to use Justicar's law principles like recency to your favor, but history is littered with petty Judges making decisions on cases related to how much a threat people are. Not to this level, of course, but there is luckily precendent to lean on in both types of outcomes."
"Pundacrawla, I thank you for your high-level overview. Shall I assume the legal jargon was left out of your description?"
"Yes," he said. "I was uncertain if some words would translate."
"What are my realistic chances for winning this trial?"
Pundacrawla sighed. He didn't want to see her hope shatter, but he refused to lie. Kashaunta seemed fine with him sitting here and talking about things truthfully. If she wasn't, she would have requested a different lawyer.
"In the worst case scenario, which is Indrafabar and Justicar dislike you, and Yasihaut has a lawyer with an Eonic degree of their own, then I would say about 9%."
"That is quite high, actually, for a worst case scenario."
"That is only because this is a Trial by Majority, Kashaunta's backing and all that implies, your friendships with Nilnacrawla, Spentha and Equisa's continued survival within the Alliance, the various political motivations the Judges might have, the fact that you have built up your image, that you have refrained from killing your enemies recently, and the extreme nature of Yasihaut's hatred for you.
Your attack on Tassidonia's court normally would have been the death knell for you. But since your power didn't kill anyone and specifically was weakened to avoid that, it has been a boon more than a curse. And the Sprilnav with bleeding hearts also are pleased with your war on slavery. You will lose that war without Kashuanta's help, but your determination on that is seen as an endearing characteristic."
"Endearing?"
"The Elders think of you as a child, Penny," Kashaunta said. "Your fight against slavery is seen as a childish fantasy, but in a good way. If you wish, Pundacrawla can lean into either your maturity or immaturity on this case. Both may achieve the desired effect, if done right."
"I am not sure about that. Who will watch this trial, and how many?"
"Cast away your ego, Penny, it will not serve you here," Pundacrawla said.
"I'm 76 years old. I can handle this."
"I don't think-"
"200 quintillion," Kashaunta blurted out. Penny flinched.
"What?"
"That is the number of watchers on the channels that have reserved timeslots for the trial among Sprilnav territory."
"And... Elders?"
"35 million, likely including all the Elders with names of any note," Kashaunta said. Pundacrawla gave a worried look to Penny. But the human just took a deep breath and nodded.
"Thank you for telling me. That is manageable."
"You're quite composed about this," Pundacrawla noted.
"I can conceptualize the enormity of that, but also this is a pretty big deal. And if I prove that I am fighting for the common people, it will achieve-"
"Nothing," Kashaunta said. "They cannot rebel on a large enough scale to risk toppling the Elders. If there is one aspect of our system that has survived the rot of a billion years of decay, it is the ability to divide and conquer. This is not an opportunity to get a manifesto out. I warn you against treating it as such."
At first, Penny looked wary of accepting the Elder's advice. She seemed to contemplate that matter, though she was really talking with her adoptive father. But instead of arguing, she simply smiled.
"I understand, Kashaunta. Thank you. I was getting a little sidetracked. All that matters is winning."
"So is there anything I can do to increase my chances?" Penny asked Pundacrawla.
"Outreach. Keep fighting the slavers, and maybe do a few interviews. Make sure to express a lack of hostility toward the Sprilnav people. And be wary of the gangs. When you are in the trial, they may seek revenge upon the freed slaves, or upon you yourself. I would not be surprised if they did their best to conduct false flag attacks under your name. In high-profile trials like this with many enemies, that risk is high. The gangs have high numbers of personnel and a motivation to see you lose this trial before you destroy them."
"I see. Thank you, High Lawyer Pundacrawla," Penny said, lowering her head in an approximation of a bow. Kashaunta nodded but didn't say anything. Penny took another breath in, and Pundacrawla could feel the air currents entering her nostrils.
"Can you explain exactly how a Trial by Majority would work versus the previous sort of Judgment?"
"Previously, the Judges, led by a High Judge, had to agree on a verdict. In that case, they failed. This structure is more flexible, however. All the Judges on the court, or the High Judges in this case, may voice their opinions behind closed doors and attempt to come to a verdict. They will emerge when the agreed-upon time period has passed, and their decisions will be made public.
If one Judge disagrees, there will not be a mistrial. Instead, the verdict with the most Judges behind it, ideally the majority opinion, will be the one chosen. This Judgement will have 20 High Judges. The final verdict, if none can reach the required 11 Judges to pass, will simply be held once all remaining evidence is heard or discarded."
"Held?"
"The High Judges will be required to resolve the dispute. If there are three or more options, the one or multiple with the fewest High Judges backing it will be discarded, until a runoff occurs. The result will then determine the verdict given."
"Can I be acquitted of the charges if that is the majority opinion?"
"Yes, you can. So can the Alliance. The structure of this Judgment is such that Indrafabar and Justicar will counterbalance each other."
"Can't Indrafabar just offer them money to do what he wants?"
"If he wants to lose his licence, severely harm his reputation, and destroy the careers of the High Judges being bribed, sure. While obviously Justicar will not have the power to truly punish him, the consequences would be severe, to say nothing of the other Progenitors. Given the factions present within them, it would be quite unwise for him to influence the case in such a manner. That influence would not be accepted by all."
"What if Yasihaut makes them an offer they can't refuse, or tries to make it look like Kashaunta did to get me in trouble?"
"I have taken steps to prevent that second outcome," Kashaunta said. "As for the first, my spies within Yasihaut's groups will alert me of it, and Justicar will know."
"But if he is a High Judge, wouldn't that be a conflict of interest?"
"His institutions function properly even without his intervention," Kashaunta replied. "There is little risk of that on his part."
"Hmm. Kashaunta, should I hide the Pact of Blades until the trial?"
"Yes. Its shock value will be maximum at that point."
"Elder Pundacrawla, are the rules on decorum the same as before?"
"Yes, but this time there will be proper enforcement. With the galaxy's eyes on him, Justicar will have no choice but to be firm in this trial. He will not be lenient to either of you, and might punish you more for infractions given that you are not a Sprilnav. It is unfair, but it is in his best interest to please the Elders who will be viewing this trial."
"Kashaunta, is there a way I can help you with the politics around this trial?" Penny asked. "I know if the event is this big, there is a lot for you to do, either to gain or to lose."
"A thoughtful offer. I might require one more linear singularity, and to finally get a piece of that negative energy you promised me. If you could tune your rhetoric toward peace with the Elders, it would help my position massively. The Alliance has already started scrubbing anti-Sprilnav rhetoric from its networks after I discussed the damage they could do, so what remains is your opinions. After the Judgment, more eyes will be on you than before. Declare your continued anti-slavery position, and I will have an easier time helping you with less damage to my reputation due to the revealed Pact of Blades."
"Do you also have an entourage of Elders to back you through thick and thin?" Penny asked. Pundacrawla smiled, glad that she was concerned about helping Elder Kashaunta.
She didn't know it, but now Pundacrawla was fully resolved to help her case. He'd been properly convinced that she really did care for her friends. In this case, while she likely was conflicted about it, Kashaunta was her friend. Given the Pact of Blades was in place between them, they were lifelong friends, close enough to be effectively married.
The political meaning of the Pact was certainly closer to that side of it since its most common use was to unify powerful Elder families. Kashaunta didn't have a family name, but that was because her name already carried so much weight everyone knew who was related to her. Pundacrawla gave Kashaunta a list of additional actions Phoebe needed to take using his implant. Kashaunta's eyes sparkled with recognition, though Penny didn't seem to notice.
"I do," Kashaunta said. "They all work for me. Most of them I acquired through either mud diving or through owed favors, though."
"Mud diving?" Penny asked.
"It is a term for doing one's utmost to please a superior for personal benefit, even if the 'please' section is derived from an unfortunate root meaning."
"I see. Elder Pundacrawla, can you get me something I can use for personal communication to you and Kashaunta, like an implant but less invasive?"
"Yes, I can do that," he responded.
"And also, one more thing before we go. Displace."
Penny appeared right in front of him, crouching down so her eyes aligned perfectly with his. They crackled with psychic energy, but beneath them lay a guarded desperation that he recognized from many of his more unfortunate past clients.
"I will not threaten you right now. But I need you to understand what is at stake for me. My friends. My family. My species. My nation. Over 200 billion living, breathing souls with lives and dreams they struggle every day to inch closer to. My titles, Champion of Humanity and Liberator, do not describe what I am but who I am. My world, my people. My home. Everything I have ever known and everything I have ever loved is at stake. Maybe you know what that is like. Maybe you don't.
Either way, please, I beg you to do your best to save us. I'm relying on you to be my hero, Pundacrawla. You can do this, and you must, or I will die for nothing. You will live with the consequences of this Judgment for the rest of your life. I hope you are everything Kashaunta claims you to be and more.
Hundreds of billions of people are counting on you. Look me in the eyes, Pundacrawla. Take in my alien face and my alien features. Know the creature standing here, and tell her you will do everything you can to save her and her people. And if it comes down to choosing to save me or the Alliance, save the Alliance."
Pundacrawla let out a breath. The hot air flowed across Penny's face, moving alien hair strands to the side. He looked into her eyes, peering into the reflection of three beings inside of her.
"Penny Balica. Champion of Humanity. Liberator. Human. I, Pundacrawla, High Lawyer, Elder, and Sprilnav, promise you, with all of my heart, all of my mind, and all of my soul, that I will do my best to win this Judgment for you and your kin. My actions will speak even louder than my words to you."

Hello everyone in this sub, those who are waiting for their pre-orders and refunds, and those who still believe our beloved Stickeys.
I am sorry to say but this guy doesn't deserve anyone's trust anymore, even after being banned in IMKC and bashed on reddit sub, he still hasn't learnt his lesson, although making some claims like he doesn't need IMKC nor Reddit to do his business, this is clearly not the case, I am going to list all the recent things that they have done which have put an everlasting effect on this community. I will be providing the full context to everything so that he doesn't take anything out of this and post it on his server and plays the victim card by stating this is "Pure BS", whether it be against him or not.

1. Desktoy.in (UB asli account se aao)

He made a new site called desktoy.in, using a new account, new address for the business, and a supposedly new warehouse which is most likely the same as stickeys' new one (this is an assumption)
Put the least amount of effort in template, copying esckey's theme and using a premium canvas logo
All items on this "new vendor's" site are all from stickeys' coming soon notion page (https://stickeys.notion.site/Keyboards-4bcdb8e7d65c49438ee183972d79fb9c), down to every single switch except for Lucky65 and KeyTok keycaps
Both business and their warehouses are in or near Gurugram with their offices and warehouses being only a few kilometers apart, I do not know the specifics of the way they were trying to make this business plan work but you can make a pretty good guess.
Domain was created on 5th of May, 4 days after his ban on IMKC.
Lastly this account creation email that desktoy sends will clear all your doubts if you are still having any (Read bottom line in the picture).
Imgur link with sources : https://imgur.com/a/I9WKBI1

1. QwertyKeys (Stuck at customs, i paid 65000 :c)

The whole Qwertykeys debacle, where he was caught lying red handed, he closed the server, banned QK reps who joined to see everything that was going on, and everyone who tried to post anything against stickeys, at the end accepted that he was lying and apparently because customers were bothering him for status updates that were out of his control, funny thing is that he didn't even pay QK for most of the boards until he was found out, delays happen in transit, that is understandable, but all the info being available on the vendor's status list which clearly shows that stickeys didn't even pay them, this excuse is just another lie.
Also claiming to have Paid Rs.65000 custom duties by declaring Neo70 as a personal package to get the shipment early because he cares so much about the customers, while it wasn't even ordered and paid for, I sadly do not have the screenshots of old vendor statuses from QK's vendor status page for Neo80 and Neo70, but there should be enough people who can confirm if you all still feel the need to check my sources that they had not paid for Neo70 nor Neo80 up until the announcement on 6th of May where he said that he has paid for orders.
Questions for status of all QK boards (Neo80, Neo70, QK100, QK75n) were all met with the same responses
"In customs" "In transit"
He did provide refunds for most of these boards after being found out, no refunds for neo70 were sent out afaik, but I could be wrong, this could be because of the above claim, QK100 and QK75n are still not paid for, although according to him since most of the pre-orders were refunded, they are not liable for that anymore, however they are still trying to keep customers by claiming that QK100 and QK75n both will be instock later this month.
But tell me, is holding onto people's funds for <4-5 months , providing them with false updates, thereafter claiming that you did lie to them due to a BS reason, and still acting like you are doing them a favour by refunding just because you are going against the store policies ethical? I do not think so.
After that he also went on a rant that QK is doing a bad thing for their business by sharing B2B order statuses which is good for the customers but bad for other business? Hello? I thought you were a vendor that put customers above all else? Or was that all a lie once again?
Imgur link with sources : https://imgur.com/a/qwertykeys-4r1cg06
QK vendor status sheet : https://qwertykeys.notion.site/Vendor-s-Order-Status-e8d312367c84464fa191a34ec6e2a05b

1. Top tier customer service (its my server, meri marzi)

He keeps yapping on his discord server on how no one should make any remarks on his nature, they don't know him irl and shit like that, what are we supposed to do exactly when you are treating a public server that is for your business as a ranting ground where you are openly arguing with customers who only want an update on their product and keep telling them that you are doing them a favour (refer to the previous posts) by agreeing to refund or sending a spare board which is not what they even paid for buddy?
I know how annoying it can get to answer the same question every single time every day, but still, It's a business, you are calling people stupid fucks and all co-vendors idiots publicly, not to mention other things that have been posted on this server before ], "you say crap, you will get crap" this ideology has ruined your reputation and rightfully so, It's a public server, what you say to those customers is visible to everyone in that server, do you think it has no effect on others?
You refuse to take criticism and keep making excuses for every complain thrown at you, whether it be arguing with the customer that they aren't supposed to complain because you did them a favor, make personal remarks towards you and nit-picking every small thing that you can to shut the other party up and sometimes even straight up banning them because why not? It's your server, you can say whatever you want, and of course won't tolerate any negative remarks.
"I have told you a 1000 times that I have shipped all the boards, now if you want to trust whatever x courier is showing you then that is your problem", yes brother, we will totally trust every word you said after you accepted lying to avoid people raising concerns about where there board/item is and not trust the tracking status, for sure.
The people who after all this are still somehow being fooled by him continue to think that "pre orders take time, its normal, other people just don't have patience", I'm sorry to say you are being absolutely delusional, the guy might not be lying about the item that you have pre-ordered, he might even deliver it one day or you have already received it or might give you a refund, but personally I wouldn't defend or keep my trust in someone who has lied to the members of this community and to his own customers time and time again.

1. Thora Taras

I did go on a bit of a rage rant there so here are some points so that he doesn't take all of this out of context and play the victim card on his server by saying the same things again and again.
They started out as a really good vendor who promised to bring budget stuff to the market, and up until very recently they were doing decent (there were still a lot of reddit posts back then regarding their communication issues), they have delivered pre-orders before, and yes having an offline store does help in this case, he's not a scammer, he is not going to run away with your money, probably.
He does own a few restaurants and might even be backed by investors as he claims to so there should be no lack of funds and is not going to go bankrupt, again, apparently.
Mental Health issues are another matter, I do not want to believe that he is lying about his health to only use it as an excuse, everyone has their struggles but how you handle them is the most important part, you clearly didn't do that part well and tried to hide behind them to cover up your lousy mistakes, on the other hand it is not right to call someone way past midnight, and definitely not abuse their family members whatever might be the case, it will do nothing good to either parties, rather take legal route than exchanging abuses over calls or messages.
Stickeys is also on amazon, they will always have that offline store, they will keep bringing stuff that is enticing, but people who are already here and those who will be reading this when they are searching for "Is stickeys reliable" on google or reddit, read all of the posts that are against them or in favour and think thrice before ordering.
Now to quote our favourite vendor,
ThockOn!

TLDR - Unlocking the Power of Gamification: Integrating User Respect, Data Collection, and Psychological Insights

What is Gamification ?

Gamification is an art and science of engaging and retaining customers by tapping into their psychology and forming habits that stick. These habits can have positive and/or negative effects on the customer. It should not be a surprise that gamification is used by many companies focusing on increasing retention/engagement of the app.
Example : LinkedIn utilizes the user’s urge to reach full potential and 5 star profile rank and it urges the user to fill their details on the app. It also gives away “top voice of “ a particular field by urging users to engage with questions that LinkedIn posts and if you get votes, you get labeled the voice of the particular field.

Is respect what the user needs ?

A popular example of successful gamification is Duolingo. Interestingly, the app has a character of its own and the user finds himself/herself engaging with a cute owl and a girl, Lily, amongst others. This makes it particularly engaging for users. Duolingo gets a lot of things right from the perspective of gamification. Like all others, Duolingo sends notifications but with measured pace and pauses it when the user refuses to engage with it. There appears to be a fundamental thread of respect for users. I particularly was fascinated by the fact that it gives you reasons why the app shows you advertisements. It isn’t apologetic but at the same time, lets the user know that it’s necessary for running the app for free. This is refreshing when compared to giant social networks that take the time of the user for granted.

Gamification as a means to collect data

The often ignored aspect of the gamification is the clickstream data that gets collected. Clickstream is a series of actions, such as clicks, cursor movement etc, the user takes on the product. This data opens an interesting possibility to understand the users of the product. Not long back there were number studies focusing on device usage that showed distinctive behavior of Apple users as compared to Android users. Similarly, actions of the users can be used to segment the users into various user profiles to judge which ones are power users, active users, and passive ones.
In Duolingo, the users are shown a lot of advertisements of games such as candy crush saga. Maybe the google algorithm, targeting the duolingo app users, identifies that users of this app are more likely to play other games too. Similarly, LinkedIn’s attempt to introduce small games onto the platform, might improve their ability to segment their customers into interesting cohorts, with questions such as do gamers find it harder or easier to switch jobs? Or, do gamers stay longer at jobs or switch jobs faster than non gamers? Or, Are people exploring games are in fact stressed at work and are likely to quit in coming months, making them an appealing candidate for jobs outreach by talent acquisition.

What underlying Psychological drives of user’s does Gamification tap into ?

Gamification can be seen as an interplay of habits that either contribute to user’s well-being in economic, professional or health, etc or ones that negatively impact these facets. Often cited, some of the drives that impact habit formation of a product are curiosity and unpredictability during discovery phase, the achieving a sense of competence during onboarding stages, and finally users might want to continue using the product due to inability to lose their achievements. An important thing to note here is that the user should have worked hard and tried actively to earn those achievements. If I were to take my own example, I am a user of Myntra app (i.e. a predominantly fashion clothing and accessories app). Myntra gives away gamified points whenever the customer makes a purchase. But since users like me have never worked to achieve those points in the first place, users (at least me) don’t get bothered if they say that they are losing their access to an exclusive online club if users no longer continue to do a required action such as purchase on the app. In general, gamification should be pursued with careful consideration and slapping on gamification as an afterthought doesn’t really help with increasing customer engagement.
Originally published at - https://buildstartupinpublic.substack.com/p/gamification-insights

We’ve been together for a bit over one year and it’s has been pretty rocky, mostly due to mistakes i’ve made and mental health issues i’ve had(no cheating or abuse). i want to learn how to effectively communicate to her when i’m upset about something without attacking her personally because the vast majority of times she’s upset me and i’ve told her i’ve started an argument either guilt tripped her or been aggressive or been manipulative.
for example, we haven’t spent time together in about two weeks while she’s been in her hometown during which i’ve been really down; and we talked about her coming back for a day or two this week. she learned a couple days ago that her little brothers have events wedsnday through friday(it’s sunday today), and i work nights 12s friday through tuesday. i can see how it might be wrong to still expect her to come over before then but i feel like an hour isn’t a far drive especially when im willing to pick her up or give her gas money.
most times i’m upset go almost exactly like this, and i hate hurting her and coming off negatively when im just trying to express sadness.
How can i shown emotion in a better way? communication is so important to me and i know it has to go differently with every person i just feel im at an impass in what to do.
text link- https://imgur.com/a/Qg5RIAI
edit-forgot to mention the reason for the “urgency” the last couple weeks have been the worst we’ve had by far with lots of arguments and issues; and i feel we communicate effectively only in person. and i do agree i need to find a hobby/friends both my work schedule and just introvertedness make it hard but ive been making a conscious effort on it.

31M, went through a bad breakup last October and just started drinking more and more until a week ago I was up to a bottle of whiskey a day. I can go into more detail about the negative effects that have only increased with time.
Basically had a really bad night, fell and hurt myself, and my father and I have decided I definitely have to stop. I set a doctors appointment for next Monday, and since last Monday I have been cutting back. After a week I'm down to a bottle every two days.
But I didn't eat for three days, then tried to eat at least one meal on Thursday and Friday. I cannot hold anything down and I don't know what to do. I can't keep down water, gatorade, ginger ale, my withdrawl drinks, any food at all, even in small bites. If I'm lucky I can get some of it digested before I vomit again. I don't know what to do. I almost fainted all day at work.
I've tried waiting 15-30 min before trying to take fluids again. I've tried warm, cold, I've tried legal cannabis gummies to help make me hungry. Does anyone have any advice or experience with this that can help? Or is it too bad at this point that I need to go to urgent care?

31M, went through a bad breakup last October and just started drinking more and more until a week ago I was up to a bottle of whiskey a day. I can go into more detail about the negative effects that have only increased with time.
Basically had a really bad night, fell and hurt myself, and my father and I have decided I definitely have to stop. I set a doctors appointment for next Monday, and since last Monday I have been cutting back. After a week I'm down to a bottle every two days.
But I didn't eat for three days, then tried to eat at least one meal on Thursday and Friday. I cannot hold anything down and I don't know what to do. I can't keep down water, gatorade, ginger ale, my withdrawl drinks, any food at all, even in small bites. If I'm lucky I can get some of it digested before I vomit again. I don't know what to do. I almost fainted all day at work.
I've tried waiting 15-30 min before trying to take fluids again. I've tried warm, cold, I've tried legal cannabis gummies to help make me hungry. Does anyone have any advice or experience with this that can help? Or is it too bad at this point that I need to go to urgent care?

TL;DR— Nasacort and Singulair have changed my life for the better. Thanks to this thread for those recommendations!
I just wanted to share here (since this thread has been so helpful to me) that I’ve recently found significant relief in starting two new meds— one being Nasacort, a simple OTC spray, the other being Singulair (Montelukast), a Rx drug that I was hesitant to take for years due to its Black label warning from the FDA, but which has helped me tremendously.
Y’all shared in these threads that these medications had changed your life, and I’m so grateful because that gave me the push I needed to try them. I’ve always had pretty bad seasonal allergies, but after having COVID in 2022, my allergies went completely crazy. April through September were a nightmare. I could barely function, had terrible brain fog, debilitating symptoms, had trouble working, couldn’t go outside, began experiencing allergic asthma… the whole works. Hay fever all day every day. I had sinus infections that led to terrible bronchitis. I was living on multiple Zyrtec a day (which honestly didn’t touch my symptoms), Sudafed during the day, Benadryl at night, Flonase, Ipaproprium Bromide spray and a host of supplements (Quercetin, vitamin c, stinging nettle, et.al) I tried EVERYTHING. (And I mean everything— diet, breath work, acupuncture, Ayurvedic treatments, the lot.) The majority of “alternative” / natural remedies have helped a little, but they’re more an extra support for my symptoms… they really didn’t do a whole lot for me.
Someone on here recommended Nasacort. And while it took a few weeks to kick in, when it did, a TOTAL game changer. I am free of chronic postnasal drip for maybe the first time in years?! I cannot believe it. If you haven’t tried Nasacort yet, I highly recommend it. No negative side effects. Safe for longer term use.
Upon searching these threads for how to deal with allergic asthma, I read more about Singulair. I’d always been nervous to take it because it can have bad psychological side effects, but it was nearly my last resort. My allergist told me that some folks have bad side effects, but the majority of people tolerate it well. I’m thrilled to say it’s working SO well for me. (Full disclosure: I also take Wellbutrin, an antidepressant). Singulair makes you a little sleepy, so it’s recommended you take it at night. It can give you very vivid dreams, and in my case, that’s been true. Other than that, zero side effects. My dreams are weirdly way more fun now, lol. Singulair has eliminated my allergic asthma— I can now exercise outside now during allergy season and not have to spend the next day in bed. Hallelujah!
Anyways, as a lifelong allergy sufferer / long Covid allergy mystery, I just wanted to share that these meds have helped me tremendously and I hope everyone can get what they need this allergy season!
Extra disclosure— I am very early in this journey, so no way to tell yet how much it’s helping, but I’m doing allergy immunotherapy with my allergist. I started with shots, but started reacting with major swelling at a very low dosage of the subcutaneous injection, so he has switched me to SLIT— sublingual drops. They’re European dosing guidelines, so very high quality and a high concentration serum. I’m only one month in, so I can’t say decisively how much they’re helping yet because it’s a 5 year process, but I’m hopeful my full court press against my seasonal allergies does the trick.