Hi.

I'm the type of guy to see a rather innocuous game with a light tone and be like "bet" and somehow twist its themes into some allegory about echo chambers and the end of empathy. This is a rant that will take up an incredible amount of your time. As I am posting in a place full of the unclean, I understand that some of you may not appreciate the enlightenment that I have to offer you. All I ask is that you take a few seconds to mull over in your head the points that I have to make, then come to your own conclusions, then throw out those conclusions in exchange for my own since my opinions are superior. Or don't. It's your life, and this is a dating simulator. We're both weirdos as far as general society is concerned.
You will learn to fear me. Spoilers for both First Date and Date To Die For, obviously.
The gods are gross icky narcissists, that alone should be enough to turn you off immediately, and yet people are into it. This is normal, you are allowed to be weird. However, what you are not allowed to be is stupid. If there is something made abundantly clear to me through my time with Sucker For Love, its this:
Life fucking sucks here.
You'd be minding your own business, anticipating retirement or a raise, then some horny motherfucker decides he wants to plow Cthussy and ends the world. This would be you. You would be the asshole that ends the world for Cthussy. Don't let chemicals get in the way of self preservation.

Prattling Preamble

Sucker for Love is a universe that asks the questions "What is love? What is free love? Is love possible with beings beyond comprehension that lack sympathy for mortal life and actively seek to end it for their own amusement?" and while I have virtually zero clue what the fuck I was going on about with the first two questions, the answer to the last one is ABSOLUTELY NOT YOU IMBECILE.
Firstly: Incest. Fucking ew. Doesn't matter that the gene puddle isn't in jeopardy due to their anomalous nature, its still gross as shit. This technically has nothing to do with the question of love but so help me Lincoln if I don't remind people.
Actual Firstly: The gods of this world are in a position where they are literally the center of the universe. A lot of their personalities tend to match that fact, meaning that they act bitch. Some people are into that, but healthy love cannot be supported through fetish alone.
Secondly: Some anomalous effects of the gods means that you can never be certain whether the feelings you have for them are genuine. How are you supposed to trust that the relationship you have with Thicked Up Milf mommy #7 is real if there is a chance you are under The Coomers Curse? Mental faculties failing in obnoxious ways is intrinsic to the Lovecraftian setting, and if it wasn't awful enough before with your brain leaking out your ears now you have to worry about a leaking heart.
Sorry, that was phrasing was too poetic for my character. Your heart suffers prolapse and you die of idiot disease.
Unfortunately, we are missing context. I cannot convince you nor myself with slander alone. When originally dedicating brain power to this shit-ass avenue of research, I had lacked the experience of playing through First Date. This is why, logically, I bought it just to better formulate this argument and also because Estir is actually human looking and therefore kosher. I think she's neat aside from the whole Coomer's Curse deal she puts on rich dudes, but I digress. Using the data I have uncovered from Date to Die For and First Date, I shall convince you definitively that these fictional women are a waste of your time and you should pursue others that genuinely value your existence.

The Things I Do For Love

Date to Die For immediately sets its tone through its premise: local fashion icon summons cthulu and condemns mankind to ruthless slaughter for a kiss. Not even sex, just a kiss. Firstly, what the fuck is wrong with man for ending worl? Secondly, what the fuck is wrong with man for asking only for a kiss? Even the gods are disturbed by the sheer pettiness of what he asks for, along with it being gross as shit since he is asking for a kiss from someone he literally just met like ew dude. Lucky for him, Ln'eta is willing to give love a chance. Horrific body mutilation ensues.
Even my furry-incongruent genes are still able to respect the fucking balls of D to just up and be a fucking infohazard for eldritch women. Still hate the world ending part, but I find him amusing. Time and time again he undergoes the grand task of satisfying a god, and its not even for infinite money or cool shit like that. Just a simple, fleeting moment between him and a being beyond time, cherished for eternity. He is stupid.
Ln'eta and Estir, for all their apathetic godliness, appear to be rather tame on the personality spectrum if you get past the threats of violence. Ln'eta offers a free hug which, in terms of gods that only operate through bargains, is very sweet. I would've killed to see that cg, but Darling in his chad-like glory denies it in service to the grindset. Other than that, she is the only being that we meet that appears to hold genuine care for him, with how tender she comes across at times. Estir, on the other hand, is a lot more bitch in the relationship side of things. You get the whole horrific body mutilation, slight me and ye shall perish yada yada with both of them, but with Estir it is made pretty explicit she's mostly dating Darling as a slight towards Ln'eta, also because she likes owning people. Now, behind all those immediate turn offs to a rational person, there are still "redeeming" qualities. She has a sort of tsundere thing about her, you know what I mean if you saw her. There is the surface layer, which is "She likes you" then beneath it there is the "I am manipulating you in service of my dark and evil objectives, love is for pussies I demand devotion" and then beneath that there is the "She likes you" layer again somehow. An odd creature, this one. Personally I'm more inclined towards Estir, cause even if she is bitch she at least mimics the righteous human form. Just ignore her lower body region which either contains sharp objects to be kept out of reach of children, or tentacles we should be avoiding at all costs. Only human women for us chads, weird girls are for wusses.
Honestly D might be the most wrong in this situation since the 2 fuckers never outright set out to end reality, it was Darling who was the one to perform the rituals. Even Ester, the woman with the slavery objective was disturbed by his actions, and she was gonna get him to do the silly stabbing ritual anyway (Its pretty funny to think that if D had waited 7 seconds he would've had an entirely different elder god on his hands.) Plus, it was rather kind of Ln'eta to make a "ritual" for hugging that has no strings attached.
First Date admittedly is going for a different vibe. You aren't supposed to think about the whole world ending, billions-must-die stuff since its playing into the whole joke of "horny dude risks it all for god thighs". Hell, the horror sequence in the first game is basically the lead-up to a punchline, with D's big D energy being the only thing keeping him sane in the face of horrors within comprehension (do better next time, Nyan. Ghosts and big screaming faces? I felt I understood those horrors pretty well. Id win.) It's almost as if my argument is falling apart by the seams.
You are stupid. I am not one to be outdone by simple platitudes and cute, wholesome 100 moments.
Its a more cozy game and supposed to be funny, I can respect stories like that. However, with the tonal shift of Date To Die For, and how it appears to be going in a more serious and nuanced direction, I feel fully within my rights to enter Poetry Teacher ModeTM. So, how is First Date re-contextualized in this new, more grim perspective?

Tentacles Over Your Eyes

Oh yeah baby, now we get to get into the utter bullshit that "The Fuckers" put Darling through. Listen, Ive never felt the touch of one who desires me. However, I feel like that to a sane person that body mutilation, self harm, and the literal end of the world in which billions are eaten alive by cosmic dickheads would be a deal breaker.
First on the chopping block is Cover-Art Bitch. Ln'eta is flawed near instantly with the "I'm gonna kick your ass if you break up with me" energy (colloquially known as yandere). For someone who wasn't particularly interested in the end of the world it really seemed to be her way or the highway throughout the ordeal. The only time the breakup ends on healthy terms is when it is under her authority alone, and even then it isn't an end to the relationship. She's just killing him to re-roll for better stats in the next universe. Bitch.
Next is Secondary Bitch. Estir sees D as just another body to add to the collection. The first reason she had to try and get involved with him was for his 'wealth' and "status". Luckily, after D discovers her godhood her motivations evolve into a more kind and considerate "Doing it to cuck my sister". Charming. We still don't know exactly how she feels about the marriage even with it being the "Best" ending for her route. She is the type of person to only show you affection when it will make others around her jealous. The rest of the time its just gonna be her staring at her phone not engaging at all while eating the dinner that you paid for. Bitch.
Next is Secret Bitch. Nyan Nyan is bitch. This has been established on several occasions. Nothing really needs to be dissected, her motivations are pretty clear: Stunt humanity's growth in order to preserve life as a whole, humans and gods. Not like she genuinely cares about human life, like she tries to come across as to D. She likely only cares about the Pantheon, which I get because they are her spawn, but still fucked up how motherfuckers don't put respect on the name of those that worship them and will be the inevitable cause of their demise, just saying. Don't let the fact that her size would allow her to engulf you in a hug that would cover your whole body distract you, the only time she would ever do that is to flay the skin off of your back. No, it wouldn't be hot, it would hurt a lot and you would die in agony.
Now, this in itself is easy enough to comprehend, and probably legible to some extent. Lets fix that.

Crack Theory: Darling Was Fucking INVENTED

Due to Date To Die For, we know that goat bitch Dwayne "The Rhok" Cockson told the story of humans being cool and sexy to Ln'eta and Estir as kids. We also know that Darling became instantly infatuated the moment he dreamed of Ln'eta. No logical being goes through the motions of spending a shitload of money on constant scams in an effort to kiss a god, knowing that gods aren't real. However, admittedly there are a lot of illogical people on this planet, like you who dare to think ill of me since I'm not instantly down bad for octopuss puss. We also know that Estir was directly interested in Darling for a long time (only for his status, but still). What is the likelihood that 2 gods, also sisters, who just so happened to hear the same humans are sexy speech, managed to meet the same dude? Numbers need to be crunched in order to accommodate the fact that Estir was actively searching for people unprompted, but its still somewhere between incredibly unlikely and improbable as shit.
Now, I may be smoking too much Cauldron Lake water, but there is a non-zero chance that FROM THE COSMIC SOUP THAT BIRTHED THE GODS, THE D EMERGES PREPARED TO SEX! Fuck, even his appearance in the first game is influenced by gods within sniffing distance of him. He was pink for Lneta, yellow for Estir, and blue for Nyanlathotep. Stylistic choice? I dont think so! There is no shot that D wasn't conjured into existence by two or more of these shitlings. He is the stereotypical suave guy, quick wit, devoted (I mean, he is devoted when it counts), literally works in the beauty industry. He is practically a caricature of humanity, combining our most ridiculous qualities and magnifying them tenfold. They constructed a being to match their own ambitions, focused purely on lust and the conquest of achieving another's hand. Maybe it takes away from the chad aura of D if he was manufactured, even on accident, but fuck you its my post and the truth is mine to define. Even if he wasn't created by some brain blast moment between gods, it doesn't take away from my point that the gods have been causing problems for people since time immemorial.
Also while we are here, was Darlings neighbor the actual motherfucking Lovecraft? Like, a joke was made about not mentioning the black cat's name, and we all know what Lovecraft named his cat (if you don't, google it coward). Dude shoulda stayed in the stone age where he belongs. At least he wouldn't live to see his fears of reality and life around him get twisted into what lies before you. At the same time though, fuck Lovecraft we do what we want. The author is dead and we are still breathing.
Listen: I get that the girls are cute and sometimes tender. Not every toxic relationship is pure abuse like the media tells us. Early in the day its hugs and kisses, and later its knifes and cyanide. Ln'eta is sweet, but she also threatens D's life on several occasions, encourages him to commit horrific body mutilation, etc. Also for someone apathetic to the end of the world and against the whole smooching thing she was pretty adamant about the whole "don't cast the breakup spell". If your personality falls under the -dere spectrum, you need a therapist before a boyfriend. Ln'eta is also pretty clingy due to the fact she falls for D immediately after, like, 1 dream. It is likely this is how all her other relationships went, quick momentary infatuation before discarding them for the next mfer in line, but that is something we will get into later. Ln'eta only cares about Darling for what he can do for her. Same goes for Estir. D is just such a chad that he even outdoes the people who came up with him in the levels of depravity and focus he possesses. They are perfect for each other in the sense that everyone is toxic in their own special way.
So. The First Date is ironically enough not a good example of true healthy love. Shocker. First love usually doesn't last anyway. We'll see if the gods can do better on the second go around.

Rhok'zan Would Watch Water Boil Until The Pot Is Empty

Date To Die For: New game, new protagonist, new milf to worry about appeasing. Except, whats this? She is actually a calm and reasonable person compared to the other gods we have seen? God dammit, I cannot possibly be justified in thinking that she still sucks just because she shows the bare minimum of human decency.
...Wrong.
Rhok'zan has plenty of things for me to get upset about. Now you may be Thinking: "But Rhok'zan was very sweet! She wanted to be removed from the world in order to stop The Thousand from using her to destroy it! Rhok'zan was able to respect Stardust's boundaries and love her despite them!" This is true, and yet you are stupid. You don't have to be a conscious menace to still be a menace.
Rhok'zan was hanging out in the attic letting her cult do horrendous crimes to others while she twirled her thumbs. Don't worry, she loves humanity though, and people being alive and stuff. She loves humanity so much she couldn't possibly lay a finger on them in a harmful manner, even if she would be wholly justified for doing so. Nothing she has said implies that the cultists are utilizing anomalous means to keep her from stopping them. Yes, she was rooted to the woods and even if she tried to run away they could just re-summon her. However, you cannot tell me there was nothing she could do, not even something that could restrain them? God of lust, god of kinks, not only would it have upped the sex game it also would've allowed her to neutralize the threat. If not, fine, I get that there are limitations to the magic system, some I'm not aware of. This makes sense, but lady burn the fucking book. Literally an outer god and cannot- No, refuses to do shit.
And another thing since I don't know how to fit this in: Oh, "everyone dies someday", yeah well not everyone wakes up expecting to be fucking murdered, RHOK'ZAN. The universe should not be dying of old age before they do. Maybe you should use this justification to MURDER THE CULT.
Nothing was stopping Rhok'zi from kicking dick except for her own morals. Things got this bad because she allowed it to. It doesn't matter if she feels bad about it, she is still responsible. Also, for as strong as her morals were, she was pretty okay with letting the Nannie just succumb to her bullet wounds, and also having the firstborns eat people. "But they were evil" yeah, if they were evil enough for it to be okay for them to die in her eyes, then she should have been OK being the one to kill them. They were actively torturing her and for some reason she couldn't be assed to stop them. She would rather force Stardust to endanger herself just so that Rhok'zan wouldn't have to be the one to cast the spooky killing spells. She admits it herself, that doing no harm isn't the same as doing good, and she still spends all of eternity sitting on the bed like a doofus. She had 1000's, possibly 100,000's of opportunities to get the fuck over herself and she never did. Multiply that by the eternity she is alive leading up to the moment Stardust returns. I'm not saying that people dying is okay, I'm just calling this woman a blatant hypocrite.
Btw before anyone thinks I'm on the side of Buck Bumble, no, no I'm not. Man wanted to end the world and people are part of the world. Also, physically assaulting your ex isn't cool if its for the purpose of validation after the end of your shitty relationship, rather than the liberation of humanity.
Choosing violence because your breakup was shit for reasons outside of either of your controls? Bad. Choosing violence for the liberation of humanity? Good.
Know the difference. The only thing worse than an active evil is an idle good. Though, "good" is putting it generously. Well, at least she was busy doing her godly duties, right? She was doing something greatly important, taking care of the woods that she has domain over, right?

The Woods

The fuck you mean "You lost the woods"? How the fuck do you lose control of literally the one thing you can use to exert agency other than murdering people? I cannot blame The Rhok for what the Woods do, but I can blame her for losing the Woods in the first place. What the shit, man? You had one job. Get a hold of yourself.
The woods have gotten real, and attained their own free will. Good for them, free will is sick as shit. Unfortunately, these woods are known for taking the free will from those who enter it. We have no logical reason to believe that Stardust's feelings towards Rhok'zan were real as the Woods are known to amplify emotions, including but certainly not limited to lust, moral compasses, and narcissism. For certain, we know for a fact that it was able to effect Billie to a degree where she would follow her personal rules to the letter, even against traditional logic. Despite her being affected by the woods she doesnt show signs of the Sacremencho Stare. This is because the stare requires you to be aligned with the thousand, the trees themselves don't directly cause the glowing eyes. This implies that even though Stardust lacks the stare she can still be under it's influence. It affects sexual feelings, who's to say it doesn't affect romantic feelings too?
The real smoking gun is this: The woods are the instructions at the top of the screen. That shit helping you progress? The fucking woods. Every time you burned it down was because it wanted you to burn it down. It likely didn't want to exist in service of Buck, since Buck was going to use it to end everything, including the woods in the process. These trees played a multi-universe spanning long con in an effort to fuck over everyone involved. What the shit. The Woods tries to convince Stardust to go back to Rhok'zan at the end, because getting her as far away from the hearts as possible and happy with Rhok'zi helps prolong its life. We don't even know if Rhok'zan's feelings towards Stardust are real. She lost control of The Woods, and I find it incredibly unlikely that a god of fertility would settle with an Asxeual Lesbian. Incredibly based if she genuinely did, but we have already established that The Woods are holding several sets of strings.
How Stardust even has the capacity to reject it? Easy. Nyan Nyan pointed out to her how ridiculous it would be for her to still go with Rhok'zan since at the end of the whole adventure the problem of the forest still hadn't been solved yet and the world is still being taken over. Also The Woods start laying it on a little too thick. Fumbled the bag catastrophic style. As shown with the main cast and especially Nannie, the woods cannot amplify 0. It's called the truth ending for a reason: The revelation that you have been manipulated the entire time.
The difficult thing to decipher is which ending is canon, since we can no longer bank on her not remembering what happened in previous runs. She is immortal, and doesn't need the books with the imperfect recollection they provide. Either she does learn the truth or she doesn't. I guess you can kind of see the truth ending as an inevitability, as theoretically the good ending could just keep happening over and over again throughout resets before Stardust eventually discovers the basement, but I'm saving my logical leaps on this one. No matter what ending happened, what the Truth ending implies still exists even if unseen by Stardust.
Like the people floating in space.

And So The Pin Finally Drops...

Now, frankly we don't know exactly what all those bodies floating in the abyss mean, they could mean many things, but we do know a few things:

1. They are immortal in body.
2. The only means of obtaining immortality in that way we know of is by committing the kiss of immortality.
3. The only god we know has the kiss of immortality spell is Rhok'zan

Even assuming this spell can be conducted with gods other than Rhok'zi, this isn't a good look and has horrifying implications.
Many gods are known to have dated humans before. Now, logically speaking, with what we know from Date to Die For and humans getting a little gung-ho about dating their milf heartthrob, its safe to assume that MUU IS A FUCKING CUNT, EISENHOWER DAMN YOU. How many lovers of gods are just out there floating in the abyss? A possibly endless amount of people have gone through a similar process to attain immortality. The process of falling in love with a being of great power. We were so concerned with breaking their hearts, and they never stopped to worry about breaking ours. This isn't fair, chat. Dozens of people awaiting their gods to return, likely in vain. Discarded when the gods got bored and the love faded. Muu is a shepherd of the end times and she can't even commit to a ship! Essentially what I'm trying to say is:

Its All Muu's Fault

Muu is a creature from the bottom of the Goon Lagoon (also known as the Pacific Ocean), named as such because she was fogging up the waters from yoinking her sploink to Human x Eldritch-Being Smutography. Um, Based department? Nonetheless, she is in desperate need of a intervention. Muu has given gods like Ln'eta several boy/goyfriends like almonds into a furnace. Over and over again they have dated people, and over and over again they are cast aside for one reason or another. "Oh, maybe this time it'll stick-" If it looks like shit, smells like shit, walks and talks like shit, its shit. You do realize that there are 2 people in a relationship right? Like, out of both parties there is one of note that suffers the most adverse effects from your awful spells, and its not the cosmic being that holds reality together.
Muu's safe-word spells are dogshit too, since it doesn't stop the collapse of reality, it only lets you end it on your own terms. Honestly, pretty based since I for one am a fan of ending things on my own terms especially in spite of one who usually ends things on theirs, but reality is still ending. Plus, the god in question if they have yandere in their blood can just rip the page out no problem and then you cant even get out if you tried. In the wise words of Huey Emmerich, "WHAT A LOAD OF HORSESHIT!"
Possibly the worst consequence of Muu's actions was Buck. Muu was behind introducing Rhok'zan to him after all. She is known for mailing books to people she thinks would be a good fit for the god, but I cannot blame her for a failed relationship between 2 people barely involved with her. But, what I can blame her for is the metric fuckload of people just hovering in the abyss. How did they get there, Muu? How many kisses of immortality have you been giving out? Not all of these people could've just done it by accident like Buck, Muu. Muu is incredibly irresponsible with the position she has been given, phenomenal cosmic power shouldn't be given out willy nilly just so you can whack your willy. Granted, all of this could've been done by commission, we know that this has been the case at least once, but "I was following orders" is established to be a shit excuse on select few occasions like producing books capable of ending the whole fucking world, especially when you actively take enjoyment from it. Keep the smut to the pen and paper, please don't bring your fetishes to the real world, you shitling.
Muu has a legitimate problem, honestly. She is interested in the concept of love, but not the nuances that come with actually dating an eldritch entity, and especially not the nuances of dating a human. Life for eldritch beings is pretty much endless, so they likely feel comfortable just ending a long relationship on a dime. Humans are a lot more sensitive than that. The ideal relationship for a human is one where you can enjoy the other's company for the rest of your lives. Is that dream congruent with the concept of infinity? No, given time everything fades, you cannot expect the gods to try and keep up a relationship literally forever just like you can't expect a human to.
But I can blame them for lying about it. They demand pure and absolute devotion from their followers, and it is natural for their followers to expect the same from them. All those threats about never leaving them for another, and yet they are so eager to move on themselves.
At the very least I want to see some damn responsibility taken for their actions, as humanity is often the ones that have to deal with the consequences of them.

The Problem

When dating happens, its always in favor of the gods. After all, Muu's books are made for the gods' benefit. They aren't made for for the god to hook up with you, they are made for you to hook up with the god. There is no mutual respect held by the parties involved, you are always working to appease the other. If you fail to appease, then you are tossed aside. They demand devotion, not love. Aunt Nyan Nyan is willing to give "Love" a shot after all, but it is only when Darling no longer represents a variable that she cannot control.
The body mutilation is an especially horrifying part of the cycle. Imagine it like getting a tattoo of someone you loved. If that relationship were to fail, you are stuck with that tattoo and reminder for the rest of your life. Getting a normal tattoo like that is already seen as a rash decision, this type of tattoo cannot be hidden by clothing, it is blatant tainting of the human form. The mutilation is in service of making you more of the god's type, and the god never puts effort to make themselves the human's type to any degree. Any inch that they may give in the relationship is purely to help their own ego, so they don't feel like an asshole for all the torture they force their loved one into, however you'd be lucky if they even thought that much of it.
If your girl is:

1. Someone that feels they own you
2. A narcissist that demands pure, undivided attention at all times
3. So passive that she losses control of literally the one thing she is responsible for
4. Gilf

That's not your girl, that's a venus flytrap.
I don't say this in the sense that love between 2 beings in separate casts is impossible, just that in this world things are a lot more complicated. An entirely separate dimension of the relationship opens up when you can easily be replaced by the sands of time, plus all the other shit I mentioned. A lot of the gods just aren't ready for a commitment as strong as dating. They have to sort out their personal issues before they decide to make themselves an issue to the human race as a whole.
As humans, we are designed to get what is formally called "Big Mad Upset" when faced with injustice, and there is no greater injustice than a grand uncaring universe. The universe that these beings made. Every time the dream ends, billions upon billions of lives end due to The HorrorsTM. We know due to the existence of rotblooms, and we can infer logically from the universe "restarting" rather than resetting, that these people actually die. For realsies. Maybe a new you is formed in this identical universe, but its not the same you that died in the old one.
Now, imagining billions of people dying is a pretty tall ask, as you can barely imagine a million people. So, for the sake of this exercise, imagine your family. If you hate your family, imagine your friends. If you hate your friends, then imagine Wubzy from the hit show Wow Wow Wubzy. Wubzy is minding his own business, and then a demon pops up and devours his face. Wubzy is now dead. The universe ends eventually, and a new one begins. Reality follows a roughly similar trajectory, and Wubzy is born once more. Wubzy goes to school, gets a job, starts a family. Then Wubzy's face is eaten by that same demon, because Darling wanted to kiss an elder god. Again and again this process is continued, Wubzy's corpses clogging the arteries of the absence that comes after.
For eons this meat grinder of a universe has been eating people alive and they have had no choice in the matter, it's ending is only accelerated due to Muu's bullshit spells. How about you make a book that summons god without destabilizing reality to an irreparable degree, that's what humans would be most concerned with. But she doesn't care about humans, what she cares about love. Love needs no justification, its a feeling that must be pursued in spite of the consequences, no matter how many corpses must be laid in its wake. The love that she cares about, that between a lesser and a greater. Pray she doesn't start writing (more) NTR.
That is horror right there. Not necessarily an uncaring universe, it understands you plight, its just not afraid to step on your toes for its own goals. Ain't no single being on this cosmic totem pole has genuine concerns for humanity other than mere. petty. infatuation. There is no love, only lust. Ln'eta and Estir lust over Darling. Rhok'zan lusts over Stardust. Muu lusts over kinky smut. There is no depth, no respect, nothing. Only devotion. Just Monika.

The Themes, Man

My favorite thing in media is when I get to stare into the abyss and have it stare back, when a something is able to match my curiosity. On the surface, I saw big thiccums awooga women. That's all it could've been, but when I looked deeper I found themes of Love and Devotion, how infinity influences our current concepts of them. Falling in love with eldritch entities is an incredible twist on the concept, since love and worship are similar concepts when you think about it. Just under the epidermis, you get a story of humans seeking comfort in beings as imperfect as themselves, just given the privilege of eternal life and infinite power. These beings seek devotion from those same people, but for one reason or another are either unwilling or incapable of fulfilling their end of the bargain in a relationship like this. Nobody is owed eternal love, but the problem is that it is exactly what these gods promise. They promise that they will be together forever and make the cost of being with them match that reward (body mutilation, ending the world, threats of death), but it is ultimately something they cannot provide.
It makes me so happy to just look for something in a game and to find it there, just waiting to be explored. 'Fuckin love this game, instant A-tier. I am fully aware that I like this game for wildly different reasons than the common man, but we still share the quality of enjoying it.
I would love to see Man and God unified in holy matrimony, mainly since I'm into tall women who could kill me with a thought but also because I like happy endings. The warmth that would fill my soul to see a truly loving and healthy relationship in this setting would greatly influence climate change and the melting of the Arctic. But Date To Die For puts into question how achievable this goal really is. After all, there are only around 50 gods total. Its a lot, but its not enough to be confident in the existence of the fabled "not bitch" classification of god.

In Conclusion

Sucker for love takes place in a universe where human life and feelings are not of concern. For a time a god may love you likewise, but they demand much more than they are willing to give back. When they get bored, or the human loses their usefulness, they are quick to discard the ones that they "love" and leave them to the infinite abyss that is the space between reality. Relationships are a two way street, and we have yet to see the gods attempt to cross in a significant and meaningful way.
If you liked my ramblings be sure to like, comment, and go fuck yourself. If there was something I missed and makes me look like an idiot, you would be seriously owning me by mentioning it in the comments, and it gives me the opportunity to use it to further inform my opinions. That or I can ignore it in service of my biases.
Fuck the gods. No matter the level of unhingedness I have achieved within the period I have spent writing this, my point remains. Date human women. End communication ---

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• Meet the Kyanah -- the alien civilization I've been working on since 2016
• A Primer on Kyanah Physiology
• Aliens Deserve Alien Brains
• A Primer on Kyanah Pack Dynamics
• Advanced Kyanah Psychology: Inter-Pack Dynamics
• The Motives for Project Hope: Part I
• The Motives for Project Hope: Part II
• The Motives for Project Hope: Part III
• The Motives for Project Hope: Part IV
• The Motives for Project Hope: Part V
• Intro to Kyanah Politics
• An (abridged) Beastiary of the Kyanah Homeworld
• Plantlife of the Kyanah Homeworld
• An Analysis of Kyanah Military Forces: Part I -- Tech
• An Analysis of Kyanah Military Forces: Part II -- Organizational Structure
• An Analysis of Kyanah Military Forces: Part III -- Military Doctrine
• Alien Computers Are Alien
• Alien Computers Are Alien -- Part II: Kyanah-Human Cyberwarfare
• Alien Computers Are Alien -- Part III: A Guide to Kyanah Internets
• A Look Into the Kyanah Education System
• A Rare Look at Kyanah Living Spaces
• A Primer on Kyanah Economics
• Kyanah Food and Drink
• The Kyanah Have A Desert Planet -- Wait No It Has 12 Biomes: Part I
• The Kyanah Have A Desert Planet -- Wait No It Has 12 Biomes: Part II
• Kyanah City-State Dynamics: Part I -- Intercity Relations
• Kyanah City-State Dynamics: Part II -- City-State Demographics
• A Map of the Kyanah Homeworld: Part I
• Some Notes on Kyanah Timekeeping
• Profiles of Kyanah City States: Part I -- the Rktakian Kwardniet

The map again, for reference.
To-on Kan: Location: 57S, 66W (~19500 km from Ikun); Elevation: -1200m; Population: 1.2 million; GDP: $65 billion. Tier: 2. A little bit outside of the main Far South region, but nevertheless culturally and politically aligned. The climate is relatively cool and dry, though winds from the Middle South make it slightly warmer and wetter than it otherwise would be. Much like Ikun, they are located inside an impact crater, though this one is over 200 kilometers across. Almost the entire economy is centered around mining tantalum (despite some attempts to dabble in geoengineering, which were swiftly shut down by sanctions from Ikun), and they have the largest mines on the planet, though they aren't the only supplier. Tantalum is used in the alloys needed for high-performance nanogears for their mechanical computers. For this reason, it's an important strategic city; Ikun had an air base there until they removed it in order to extract political concessions from Koranah in other areas, at which point Koranah promptly invaded and installed a puppet regime as part of a plan to corner the tantalum market and vertically integrate their nanogear production.
Kanenhah: Location: 68S, 55W (~20200 km from Ikun); Elevation: +3200m; Population: 3.5 million; GDP: $500 billion. Tier: 1. Unlike most Far South city-states, Kanenhah is located not just near the Green Impact Range, but inside it, making the climate colder than most in the Far South; temperatures routinely drop as low as 5C in the winter and only rise to about 30-35 in the summer, so basically their summer is like Ikun's winter. Live there long enough and there's a good chance you'll even see snow flurries, a true sign of arctic climates on the Kyanah homeworld. The high elevation, due to its placement on an ejecta pile, makes the air thin and those from lower elevations often need time to acclimate, though on the flip side, this means that they produce a greater proportion of acclaimed athletes than most city-states. Politically, they are Ikun's closest ally in the Far South and one of the closest in the entire world, and thousands of Ikun troops are present in Kanenhah at all times. This has naturally drawn the wrath of Koranah, and relations between the two are extremely hostile. Koranah has thousands of railguns and missiles hidden in the mountains pointed at Kanenhah and accuse them of being an Ikun puppet. As Kanenhah's population is 1/8 that of their #1 enemy, they are one of only a couple hundred Kyanah city-states to have a draft in modern times, with all newly formed packs being required to join the military for 6 years (~2.7 Earth years). Combined with all the high-tech gear sold to them by Ikun at a discount, they are the 10th strongest military in the world, and the 3rd strongest outside the Rktakian Kwardniet. They still have some of their traditional textile and steel mills, but the bulk of their economy has shifted to cars and aircraft, robots, computers, and software. The city-state is also, oddly enough, something of a hub for high fashion and fine dining. Like most Far South city-states, religion is a much bigger part of life than in the Rktakian Kwardniet, and unlike most of the northern hemisphere, collective worship is common. While the government has secularized somewhat in recent decades, under pressure from both the younger generations and Ikun diplomats, and there are no longer any legal penalties for following the "wrong" religious practices, there may be social and professional consequences for packs that are vocal about it, and religious authorities are guaranteed one Lawspeaker seat (reduced from four packs to one a few years ago in Y967). Attending mass-worship is not mandatory, but businesses are required to close during this time, excluding emergency services and some government offices. As Kanenhah lies just inside the southern polar circle, there is a period of about 8 days where the sun does not rise in the winter and even at +4 there is only twilight; hundreds of thousands of locals and tens of thousands of tourists gather at the onset of polar night for the live music, street food, animal sacrifices, and light shows that mark this occasion.
Koranah: Location: 70S, 48W (~20100 km from Ikun); Elevation: +800m; Population: 29.0 million; GDP: $3.5 trillion. Tier: 1. Ikun's main economic and political rival and the largest economy on the planet by raw GDP. One of the few major Far South city-states to actually be located on the south side of the Green Impact Range, it's in a polar barrens biome, locked off from any moderating climatic (and political) influences by the impact range, so despite their lower elevation, the climate is similar to Kanenhah, but with a slightly longer polar night and midnight sun. In Y839, Ikun invaded Koranah, at the time a backwater city-state with an economy based primarily on resource extraction and low-tech manufacturing, and overthrew the non-aligned government, replacing the reigning City Alpha with a pro-Ikun ethnic minority pack who killed thousands of the majority group and ruled with an iron fist until being deposed in Y861 by the current government, which has proven to be even more authoritarian. City Alphas rule for life, passing on power to close ikoin, Lawspeakers may as well just be there for decoration, and packs who are brave (and stupid) enough to file a challenge against the City Alpha have a mysterious tendency to get into fatal car accidents or be arrested on trumped up charges. Surveillance is omnipresent both outside and sometimes inside homes, and leaving requires permission from the government (there's a meme circulating around net zone 1, which includes Ikun, that goes like 'we need a fence to keep everyone out, they need a fence to keep everyone in'). Koranah's populace tend to be deeply religious and have a tendency to participate in mass worship sessions, as with most of the Far South, and regular attendance is mandatory, as the state uses religious leaders to disseminate propaganda, along with having agents in every net zone stirring the pot and spreading anti-Ikun messaging. Despite all of this, Koranah is a very wealthy and prosperous city-state, in the tier 1 category. Ever since the current regime took over, they have been trying to economically and militarily catch up to Ikun by any means necessary, making vast investments in shifting to high-tech manufacturing, knowledge work, and financial services, implementing an egg quota to boost their population and thus economy, building countless new districts at an astonishingly fast rate, razing many slums and historic buildings alike in the process (with a dictatorial government, they can ram through projects that would be bogged down with years of red tape in a city-state like Ikun), and bolstering their military to a point that their conventional weapons have achieved parity with Ikun, although they haven't dared to challenge Ikun's nuclear monopoly.
Modern Koranah has what humans would call a cyberpunk vibe, a vast sea of plain cookie-cutter skyscrapers extending out to the horizon in a grid pattern, with extensive buttresses blocking out large chunks of the sky at street level, and seemingly every surface being a screen of some sort--useful for displaying larger than life propaganda everywhere, while endless flocks of drones soar through the skies. As laws against littering and noise pollution are very strict, Koranah tends to be cleaner and quieter than Ikun--except when the city-wide loudspeaker network is summoning citizens to mass worship or blasting the city anthem as it does every morning. The city has a very sleek and extensive mass transit system and a network of tunnels below street level to allow residents to traverse between buildings without facing the cold outside, so private car ownership is not very common. As Koranah's economy and population have grown, they have participated in the same Globalist tactics used by the Rktakian Kwardniet, siphoning away natural resources from faraway impoverished regions and seeking to grow their influence abroad through military and economic interventionism. They are also the mastermind behind the Climate Control System, a hypothetical network capable of controlling weather and ecosystems on a global scale in much the same way as Ikun controls the Water Distribution System; for this reason Ikun has spent large amounts of political capital getting as many city-states as possible to ban geoengineering technology. Koranah is also the largest manufacturer of high-performance nanogears, important components for the Kyanahs' mechanical computers; if Koranah stopped nanogear exports, computers would likely become several times more expensive overnight, a fact which they use to their advantage politically. Additionally, they have a considerable footprint in space, with many zero-G manufacturing hubs and the current (as of Y976) largest Ryitu base, with a population of 400+.

Hi All. I currently have a Corsair H150i Elite Capellix XT that recently started producing what i can describe is something like a coil whine. Opened a ticket with corsair, they believe its the pump after they had me try a few things like tipping the case at 45 degress, etc etc. They have determined it needs to be replaced via warranty but there are a couple of issues with that. 1) they don't offer an express replacement route where they hold onto a CC while sending the replacement. They insist i have to send the faulty unit to them before they send the replacement and estimate a 2 week turn around. So my machine would be down for that whole time. 2) The bigger (IMO) issue is they state they no longer carry the H150i elite capellix XT in stock and are offering the H100i elite capellix XT as the replacement. To me this seems wrong but in terms of performance and Aesthetic. I don't see how they could with a straight face even offer a 240 AIO to replace a 360. I'm still dealing with them to see what alternatives there are but in the event they refuse to budge I'll need to purchase a new 360 AIO out of pocket, and corsair wouldn't be on that list... so suggestions please? Deepcool Mystique looks nice (i also have the add on LCD screen for the corsair purchased separately) but the new Arctic line is great too
Update: Corsair is making it right. They've all of a sudden secured H150i elite stock (even though its avaialble on their website) and they have offered an advanced replacement (temp CC charge)

In this Timeline Teddy Runs was reelected in 1908, taft became a Supreme Court Judge, so Teddy Picked his Secretary of State Elihu Root to run In 1912.
With No split vote, Elihu Root became president in 1912
Without Wilson, the racism and segregation in the US would be less severe, and the Federal government would be weaker. No prohibition. No FED.
Root would declare war on Germany in 1915 after the sinking of the Lusitania. However, he would have lobbied to join since the beginning of WW1 and provided weapons and supplies from the beginning to the Entente. As Britain didn't requisition two ships from Turkish manufacturers The Ottman Empire would remain neutral in WW1. With the early entrance of the US Germany would surrender at the end of 1916, with a shorter WW1 The Versayes Treaty would be less severe like Giving Helolang to Britain, Alsace-Lorraine to France, some parts of Eastern Prussia to Russia (Kaliningrad), Germany African colonies would be reduced. Their territory would be split between France and Britain. The Pacific Colonies would be Given to Japan and Australia, and the US would Get German Samoa and Nauru.
Japan would get all the central powers' Chinese concessions. (Kiautschou Bay) and northern Pacific islands.
After WW1 the Kaiser would remain in power, but their power would be heavily reduced.
With his victory in WW1, Root was Relectec in 1916 with more than 400 EVs. Even winning Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
Austria-Hungary would be reformed in the Habsburg Realms, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia.
Serbia Would gain Boznia.
The Ottoman Empire would survive with most of the Arabic Peninsula under their control (Minus the British parts) Now the Ottomans would get massive oil reserves.
The Armenian Genocide Never happened.
In 1920 Leonard Wood obtained the support of Both Root and Teddie and Became President with Calvin Coolidge as His VP.
During the 20s The Progressives republicans kept the house so regulations would pass lowering the damage of the great depression added to lower loans in WW1 the world recovered way quicker. The crack of 29 would still happen but it will be less severe,
After WW1 Russia continued its industrialization and expansion in Asia annexing Mongolia, and turning Xi Xiang into a puppet state, and later annexing it would create tensions between Russia and Britain, meanwhile Britain got a spare of influence on Tibet.
Thanks to Teddie, and Elihu the US had become a massive naval superpower.
In this Timeline, there is No USSR or Nazi Germany. Maybe just either Mussolini, Franco, or Salazar.
Argentina would have never decayed from its position as a wealthy country.
Mainly because their main training partner the UK has a bigger population also Israel, Japan, Korea, and Germany, which became the destiny of their food exports. So they need Argentina to not be dependable on Russia/China for their food supplies.
With the British fear of Russia the Anglo-Japanese alliance would survive, so Japan wouldn't become a militaristic dictatorship.
Without the Russian Revolution, there would be no CCP in China, Rather a monarchist Faction would Rise in Manchuria, causing a Civil War, in the 1930s the Russian empire would create Machuko Russian Puppet. This added to the expulsion of Jews, The Slavic Racism against trucks of Central Asia, and Internal rebellion in Poland and Finland supported by Germany, Poland failed, but Finnald succeeded thanks to his climate, as well as the Fear of an Industrialized Russia, will create an alliance of Britain, Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and the US, against Russia (the last one fearing that Russia would try to reconquer Alaska).
The Balcan States would unite to Create Yugoslavia.
The Spanish Civil War would still happen, even without fascism and communism, Spain was very unstable at this time. But this time it would be Britain who exchanged/stole their gold.
With the expulsion of the Jews the Idea of a Jewish state would get more support, however doing Palestine would be impossible, and since the Rejection of southern Kenya before WW1, instead, the British proposed that the Jewish state be in Africa (Likely Southern Namibia). After WW1 Britain divided Namibia and took everything south of Walvis Bay, Namibia will be divided in the 22° 40′ S.
Without the Rise of Communism, fascism also never rose. So Juan Peron either never rose or Rose with a more liberal and less nationalistic ideology.
The holocaust never happened.
Modern Israel will be settled in Southern Namibia With an area 15 times bigger.
There would be no fight between the Jewish and native Populations because the natives would be too small and the area would be around 332000 km2 there would be enough land for everyone.
With the Russian expansion, many Jews migrated to South America mostly Argentina, Making Buenos Aires wealthier.
Russia would attack Japanese possessions, Like either Korea, Port Arthur, or Karafuto, So Britain, the US, and Germany would give an Ultimatum To Russia to cease Fire, Tsar Alexei would refuse causing the start of WW2 around the 40s. (It would be like the Crimean War or the Russian-Japanese War), Yugoslavia joined WW2 to the Russian side. but It will retreat after some defeats.
Italy will Join against Russia in exchange for concessions of lands.
after nearly 2 years the 2nd War would end, Either with the Tsar's surroundings or the Tsar being overthrown, or with Germany Thearting of Nuking Saint Peterburg (In this Timeline Einstein, and Many scientists stayed in Germany), so Germany would obtain the Nuclear weapon first. As well as having an army even stronger than the Nazis, Same with Italy.
After WW2, the Russian monarchy would be restored, and Germany would Recover their territories lost in WW2, but also as compensation for their losses in WW1, it would get the territories in the Baltic region (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia), as Well As Russian concession in Tianjin. Meanwhile, in Europe Finland (Finland would have all the territories lost to Ussr) and Poland Would become buffer states, ruled by monarchies, in the middle east The Ottoman Empire would Get some territories in the Caucasus (Armenia, and Azerbaijan), And Georgia would become a buffer state, America would obtain some islands in the Bering sea, and Japan would get all Sakhalin, as well as parts of south Manchuria (Where there is Korean Population), without Soviet Policies Russia would have higher birthrates (in this timeline Northen Sakalin would have a population around 800k to 1.2M), Without Manchuria Japanese settlers would have made Taiwan a part of Japan, Same With Port Arthur (It would bigger), and Kiautschou Bay.
Uygurstan would become a buffer state.
Britain would get some territories in the north of India and some islands in the Arctic.
Japan Would still be a Traditional religious Shintoist and Buddhist But with a large Orthodox population with higher birthrates than the rest of Japan, and conversions mostly in the northern part of the country.
Habsburg Realms Would dissolve, and despite everything their internal division would make it hard to remain united.
The Kingdom of Austria Would Unite with Germany, Making Germany a Super Power. Germany is now the biggest country in Europe (minus Russia), with an area around 880000 km2. (The Second Holy Roman Empire).
The world would still be colonial and with strong religion Europe would have more men to fight Rebelions.
Some parts of the British empire like South Africa or India would become Dominions.
Britain would still be a great power.
With The Reunification of China (Minus Tibiet, Uygurstan, and some parts of Southern Manchuria), the European Powers, Portugal, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Germany, and America will create the military defensive alliance, APTO (Asian Pacific Treaty Organization) instead of NATO, to dissuade China from taking Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Etc.
there would be more cities like Hong Kong independent from mainland China.
Russia would still be a part of the civilized world and Joined APTO to make sure that China don't reconquer Outer Manchuria or Mongolia.
Without Communism, the Christian Socialist would rise upon Europe transforming Russia into a practical Theocracy,
With The Growth of China. Japan, and Korea influenced by America and Britain would be more open to accepting more migrants mainly from European/American East Asia Colonies, Parts of China that are in their sphere of influence, Thailand, and Russia, to counter China's demographics.
In this Timeline, The Far East region of Russia would have around 50-70M inhabitants, because, without the USSR, Russia would maintain a higher birthrates.
Japan's Corporate structure would never existed, because it was never destroyed after WW2, instead, it would have a structure that been more productive, and friendly to the workers as well as a more solid financial system, adding to massive amounts of oil and Gas. not only oil from Sakhalin but also from the East China Sea (Renamed West Japan Sea), and Became in one of the greatest oil producers in the world with higher Oil and Natural Gas reserves than Canada. So his birth rate would remain High and his suicide rate would be low.
Japan Would Remain the most powerful Power country in Asia.
Japan would never have a lost decade.
Ireland would still be a part of the UK.
Britain would keep their territories in the Middle East and Guyana Granting them massive amounts of oil.
With fewer deaths from the world wars and Religion remaining prevalent Decolonization would never have happened.
After WW2 there will be a Cold War between China vs The West and Japan. Not because of ideology, but instead because of Western vs Eastern civilization (Even though Japan would be on the west side).
No League of Nations, UN, or EU.
With the influence of the West Many countries in Asia will take some ideas from Christan socialism, especially Japan where The orthodoxy managed to convert around 10% of the population at the of the end 20th century.
Japan would become a superpower with a population of around 200-220M. The Population of Brazil in an area similar to Thailand.
Many Chinese Companies like Like Alibaba or Tsingtao Brewery would be either Japanese or Korean.
Without the fear of communism, the world would have larger social programs.
Indochina and Indonesia Would get independence in the 70s, simple for simple sheer numbers, but the Dutch would keep western Papua, and Japan would Take advantage of this to expand their sphere of influence against China.
India to protect its borders and Influence in Tibet from China would Join APTO.
The US, UK, and Japan would take advantage to take Spartly and Paracell islands respectively.
After the independence movements, Japan would become Korea into a Kingdom, with a monarchy ruled by the emperor (basically a monarchist commonwealth) but would keep some islands in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula, after several Separatist movements.
Korea Would have an Area similar to Ecuador.
The US would remain an isolationist nation capable of fighting with any empire.
The Middle East would be more peaceful. There is no radical Islam.
The US would keep the Gold standard.
The 1st word would have higher birthrates.
The world view of Religion and Progress in Europe and the US would remain, as well as the Hays Code.
America would Keep the Panama Canal.
Well, what do you think?
The Presidential line of succession would be like this.
Teddy Roosevelt:1901-1912
Elihu Root:1913-1920
Leonard Wood:1921-1927
Calvin Coolidge:1927-1933 (He Runs again in 1932).
Charles G. Dawes:1933-1944

Will climate change create new cities, or turn small towns into major cities? I have some predictions, but remember: Every city must have an economic reason to exist. You can't just house people in the barren tundra, they need to have jobs that would attract them there.
My predictions are:

• The Lena Delta in Russia. Much like modern Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, a major river's outlet is a place where that river valley's produce can be sold abroad. Siberia will grow and become economically productive.
• On a similar note, Inuvik in Canada's Northwest Territorites is near the mouth of the Mackenzie River and could be a major port on the Northwest Passage. Somewhere on Hudson Bay, like Churchill MB or Port Albany ON, could also become a major trading center.
• Qaanaaq or Kangerlussuak in Greenland could become major oil and gas export hubs like Houston.

Game Information

Game Title: Indika
Platforms:

• PC (May 2, 2024)

Trailer:

• INDIKA Trailer

Developer: Odd Meter
Publisher: 11 Bit Studios
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 77 average - 73% recommended - 30 reviews

Critic Reviews

Try Hard Guides - Erik Hodges - 10 / 10

INDIKA is an utterly unique, psychedelic, and strange title, telling a wonderful, thought-provoking story filled with striking imagery and wonderfully bleak humor.

Use a Potion - 9.5 / 10

Indika is uniquely brilliant in its own peculiar way, with the bizarre yet enthralling narrative unlike any that I’ve seen in a game before. It’s suspenseful, thought-provoking, and bizarre in equal measure, yet it had me utterly enthralled from start to end. It looks absolutely gorgeous too, and whilst the slower pace of the gameplay won’t be for everyone, it has enough ideas on show with its interactivity and puzzling to keep players engaged.
It’s just a compelling experience that I adored being a part of. I don’t want to give too much about Indika away because its constant surprises are one of its greatest strengths, but believe me, you wouldn’t have played anything quite like this before.

EIP Gaming - Daniel D - 9.3 / 10

Short and sweet, INDIKA uses the third-person adventure game medium to tell a compelling story of a young nun struggling with life, good and evil, and the voice of the devil in her head. The influence of both serious cinema and Russian philosophical novels come together to form the most compelling game I've played so far this year. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll feel weird, and you'll wonder what the word "evil" really means anyway.

Shacknews - Josh Broadwell - 9 / 10

Indika isn't an easy game to score. Tedious puzzles annoy in the moment, but they're easy to overlook in the broader scheme. Indika's underdeveloped theme stands out, but Odd Meter handles everything else so adeptly that it doesn't ruin the experience, even if it is slightly soured. As trite as it sounds, this really is one game you have to play for yourself and form your own conclusions - and that's probably just how Odd Meter wants it.

But Why Tho? - Katherine Kong - 9 / 10

INDIKA grounds intrigue with its arthouse cinematic flair and satire. It engages curiosity and entertainment. Its world is shrouded in emptiness and questions that mirror Indika’s internal struggles.

Game Rant - Shane Robert Moyer - 4.5 / 5

Indika hits incredibly high levels of zaniness and suspense and mixes the two so well that it creates a sought-after experience. Players will want to keep playing just to know how it ends, and most storytellers would love to hear that is their listeners' motivation. The game dips its toes in both the surreal and real in equal measure, and winds up being an enjoyable tale even through the most boring walking simulator-like parts. Odd Meter is doing interactive story-telling right, and Indika is a tale that will delight many and have them questioning everything.

The Games Machine - Daniele Dolce - Italian - 9 / 10

INDIKA's gameplay is at the service of its narrative, so as to tell an allegorical and satirical story about religious institutions and the power they have over people. It is a story that deals with existential themes in an often surreal way, taking advantage of a staging that thrives on contrasts and dissonances, managing to convey a message while always keeping the balance between the serious and the irreverent (and at times even blasphemous) irony.

Windows Central - Cole Martin - 4.5 / 5

Mundane chores in a convent and trekking across the frozen Russian tundra as a Nun doesn't sound like the best way to spend an evening, but the devil is in the details, here. Odd Meter, the developers behind Indika, have found a way to make this seemingly simple story work with the power of environmental puzzles, dark humor, and light psychological horror. Oh, and just a touch of experimental game design. You love to see it.

Gameffine - Subhasish Das - 80 / 100

Indika is a bold take on a memorable story that feels original to its core. Via unconventional story elements, it challenges players to question faith, authority, and the nature of good and evil. However, it struggles in gameplay due to uninspired puzzles which are partly redeemed by its sweet yet short 8-bit platformer sequences.

Zoomg - Afshin Piroozi - Persian - 8 / 10

Indika delves into the subjects like faith and explores them from a nun's point of view. the good news is that the game does this almost perfectly and even though there are some missed potentials in gameplay, the story telling and overall experience is definitely worth playing.

CGMagazine - Ridge Harripersad - 8 / 10

Indika was like a four-and-a-half hour long movie that heavily relies on the voice actors and its characters to tell a remarkable tale.

Everyeye.it - Gennaro Saraino - Italian - 8 / 10

There are few games that have dared to tackle religious themes with such sensitivity, and Indika is certainly one of them. It is a peculiar title that may struggle to be known to the general public, but we believe that those who are lucky enough to try it will keep a good memory of it. For better or for worse.

GameSpew - Richard Seagrave - 8 / 10

Indika is one of the most surreal games we've ever played. And while it's short, it's easy for us to recommended thanks to its dark and unpredictable story and thoughtful, engaging puzzles.

GameSpot - Jake Dekker - 8 / 10

Indika is a gorgeous psychological adventure that grapples with religion and the many difficult themes associated with it.

Gamepressure - Krzysztof Mysiak - 8 / 10

Indika is more than a game. It’s a fascinating, one-of-a-kind experience, playing with conventions and instilling disturbing thoughts in our heads. If only developers didn’t desperately try to avoid sticking a “walking sim” label to their work…

VG247 - Kelsey Raynor - 4 / 5

Ultimately, the more you give to Indika, the more you get out of it; whether it’s pondering the philosophical questions it asks you or soaking in the environment… just don’t anticipate any concrete answers. Indika wants you to come to those conclusions yourself, much like its troubled protagonist.

XboxEra - Jesse Norris - 8 / 10

Indika is an odd, wonderful title. Mixing 3D photo-realistic art with 2D-pixel graphics makes some bold choices. Excellent writing and voice acting help carry mediocre gameplay and created an experience I will never forget.

ZdobywcyGier.eu - Paweł Bortkiewicz - Polish - 8 / 10

INDIKA is a game that, with its specific themes, can intrigue the player and attract for a longer time. This was the case for me, especially since I am a huge fan of the directors who inspired the story. I am wholeheartedly able to recommend the game to people who like specific and unusual story experiences. I will look forward with curiosity to the next game from Odd Meter.

eXputer - Daniyal Sultan Malik - 4 / 5

INDIKA presents an intriguing narrative that features complex ideas and critical thinking complimented with amazing visuals.

PC Gamer - Shaun Prescott - 79 / 100

A bizarre, confronting and darkly funny descent into hell, Indika takes a lot of risks and mostly sticks the landing.

3DNews - Александр Бабулин - Russian - 7.5 / 10

Imperfect and insufficiently interactive, but an original game with thick atmosphere and interesting topics.

COGconnected - Mark Steighner - 75 / 100

Indika has a compelling and genuinely original story to tell. It’s by turns darkly humorous, thought-provoking, philosophically challenging, and emotionally shocking. It’s weird, too, but sometimes more attached to its off-kilter elements than it should be. Things like ignoring fun and narrative consistency for the sake of being quirky feel like missteps when they waste the player’s time or slow the pace. Indika is definitely original and sometimes daring, but stumbles a bit in its execution. Imperfect or not, I can’t help but admire the look of the game, the memorable characters, and the audacious themes.

Atarita - Alparslan Gürlek - Turkish - 70 / 100

INDIKA's story is really interesting and the main idea is very well realised. You can solve platform puzzles or play mini-games in this game with a strong cinematic narrative. However, the short length of the game destroyed my sense of satisfaction.

GameLuster - Jess Clayton-Berry - 7 / 10

While INDIKA is otherwise a unique, compelling and well-designed narrative puzzle game, its abrupt ending left a sour taste in my mouth. This tale of a nun's journey of self discovery is memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Screen Rant - Leo Faierman - 3.5 / 5

As an existential piece peppered with surrealist agitprop, Indika feels successfully distinct. There’s even something convincingly personal about the story that ably cuts a path through its weirdness, a core built around toxic romantic relationships. None of its decisions and ideas seem beholden to interference, but like an original concept produced with integrity and personality. Even if stretches of Indika may not be “fun” in the conventional sense, it’s an intimate and stimulating experience that sticks around long after it's over.

TechRaptor - Joe Allen - 7 / 10

Indika is a very strange beast, but its rote gameplay often fails to match the weird and wonderful qualities of its story.

GameSkinny - Ashley Erickson - 6 / 10

Indika is a creative, thoughtful narrative game with puzzle and platforming elements. However, it's not a title for the average gamer.

GameMAG - Russian - 5 / 10

To put it bluntly, INDIKA is a pretentious nothing. A theatrical production with a poorly written idea tried to put it in the form of a game, which is severely lacking both story and gameplay.

Console Creatures - Bobby Pashalidis - Recommended

Indika puts a spotlight on Christianity in a specific way that I've never seen before. Thankfully, it mostly succeeds in its thoughtful premise and stays within its welcome.

Entertainium - Gareth Brading - Worth your time

While the ending is rather anticlimactic and doesn’t really resolve anything (perhaps being set aside for a sequel), the journey across snow swept alternate 19th Century Russia in the shoes of a struggling nun was a memorable and worthwhile one. The writing is consistently interesting as Indika vacillates between her own concepts of good and evil, those of the Russian Orthodox Church, and those temptations and evil thoughts whispered into her mind by the Devil metaphorically on her shoulder. While she always tries to do the right thing, society and the establishment don’t necessarily see it that way. If you’re looking for a narrative adventure which is stylishly pushing the genre forward, Indika absolutely delivers.

Pack hunters are some of the most effective and successful hunters in the animal kingdom, coordinated attack strategies give them a distinct advantage when it comes to survival and taking down prey.
Hyenas are often misrepresented as puny scavengers that only exist to be play toys for lions but the truth is they are the most common predator in africa and arguably the most successful of them all the spotted hyena scientifically known as crocuta crocuta is the largest of four species of hyena and the only non solitary hyena species and they can be found throughout most of africa spotted hyenas live in large groups known as clans and these clans are the largest of all pack hunters which can range from 8- 80 members with the largest known hyena clan having 130 hyenas. Although spotted hyenas are often represented as evil scavengers like in the lion king they actually kill up to 95% of the animals they eat. When in a group hyenas often take down large mammals such as zebras, wildebeest, antelopes, and even giraffes, rhinos and hippos on occasion, but they prey on smaller mammals such as jackals, hares, birds, reptiles and insects, when they are looking for a cheeky snack.
Changing to a completely different climate, the undomesticated version of your pet dog is a feared predator by many. The grey wolf or canis lupus is the heaviest of all canine species with only the maned wolf which isn't actually a wolf being slightly taller. Wolves are extremely successful predators and can be found throughout north america, asia, europe and the arctic wolves live in groups called packs and these packs often have between 4 and 12 members but this number can range between as few as 2 and as much as 15 members wolves are carnivores and they eat a variety of animals they prefer to eat large hoofed mammals such as deer, elk, musk ox, bison, and moose but they also hunt smaller mammals such as beavers, rodents, and hares. Adults can eat 20 pounds of meat in a single meal.
It goes without saying a key factor that will influence which animal comes out on top is size. Hyenas are stocky, muscular creatures, with females often being larger and more dominant than males. They can weigh up to 80 kilograms and stand about 70 centimetres tall at the shoulder. Wolves, on the other hand, are lean and agile, with males typically weighing around 45 kilograms and standing about 80 centimetres tall at the shoulder. So, in terms of sheer size, the hyenas have the upper hand.
Next, let's discuss strength. Both hyenas and wolves are incredibly powerful predators, capable of taking down prey much larger than themselves. Hyenas have one of the strongest bites in the animal kingdom, exerting pressures of up to 1100 pounds per square inch which is almost on par with the bite force of a grizzly bear and surpasses the bite force of lions and tigers, the hyenas teeth and jaws are specifically adapted to crush bone and they do this with ease, making them feared by competitors in africa such as cheetahs as one bite from a hyena could make a cheetah unable to ever run again.
As for Wolves they rely on their teamwork and coordination to bring down prey, using their sharper teeth to deliver a lethal bite to the throat or hindquarters in a more tactical and planned way then a hyena pack, wolves have a bite force of 400 psi and aren't as heavily built as hyenas. So, when it comes to brute strength, hyenas are undeniably stronger.
Wolves are known for their stamina and are exceptionally fast, they hunt large prey such as bison by wearing them out and ensuring they suffer from extreme exhaustion which makes them far easier to take down. wolves can run at speeds of 35–40 or 56–64 km/h and easily travel a marathon every day managing their “territory”. Actually, they travel about 30 miles a day and a marathon is 26. Hyenas however aren't slow at all themselves. They are able to chase down prey while running at up to 37 miles or 60 kilometres per hour). And have enough stamina to pursue their prey for up to 5 km before slowing down or stopping. In relation to body size, spotted hyenas have the biggest hearts of all African predators. That gives them stamina which is far beyond the capabilities of lions or cheetahs, needless to say a wolf would easily be able to outmatch a hyena in terms of both stamina and speed
When it comes to strategy One of the Hyenas best strategies is calling for backup. With their distinctive laughing and wheezing noises they make one hyena can quickly call in a clan of over 50 in a matter of minutes. This cooperative hunting/screening behaviour can overwhelm any other animal in Africa except elephants. Strangely The brain size ranges dramatically depending on gender, from 170g to 220g with Males having significantly larger brains than females who are often larger. Despite this Hyenas are recognized to be very intelligent and their brains are in ways similar to those of primates, allowing them to utilise complex decision making.
Wolves are extremely strategic and are known for their cooperative pack hunting behaviour. They rely on teamwork, coordination, and communication within the pack to bring down large prey. Wolves often target ungulates such as elk, deer, moose, musk ox and bison, effortlessly bringing down prey much larger than themselves.Their brain weight does not match the hyena with only 120g. When initiating an attack wolves often use terrain features to conceal their approach before launching a coordinated ambush attack on prey. And engaging in pursuits over long distances, using their stamina and endurance to tire out prey before going for the throat and finishing the kill .
Hyenas typically hunt in larger groups compared to wolves. While hyena clans can consist of dozens of individuals, wolf packs usually consist of fewer members, typically between 6 to 10 individuals. Habitat Influence: The hunting strategies of hyenas and wolves are influenced by their- respective habitats. Hyenas are commonly found in savannas and grasslands, where they often encounter large herbivores. In contrast, wolves inhabit a variety of ecosystems, including forests, tundra, and grasslands, adapting their hunting strategies accordingly. In summary, while both hyenas and wolves employ cooperative hunting strategies, they have evolved distinct adaptations shaped by the areas they live.
Both hyenas and wolves have similar builds with long legs and large hearts, hyenas have a heavier build and stronger jaws compared to wolves whereas wolves have sharper teeth and claws but a skinnier build. This adapts the wolf to more of an endurance attack, tiring out the prey then attacking. Whereas hyenas, being much tankier, go straight into combat, making them very aggressive and unforgiving.
Both of these animals have fierce competition where they live, hyenas have to compete with lions, leopards cheetahs, and african wild dogs for prey although a lone hyena stands no chance against a lion a clan of hyenas is also the biggest threat to a lion and both of these animals often steal each others food and kill each others offspring and each other, leopards have a unfavourable chance against hyena clan but can kill a hyena in a 1 on 1 fight other then this hyenas have a favourable position over all other large predators in africa including and are more opportunistic then them which explains why they are the most common large predator here.
Wolves also have fierce competition having to compete for food and territory with mountain lions, bears, wolverines, lynx, coyotes, foxes and on rare occasions tigers, and snow leopards when their territories overlap. When it comes down to fighting bears, tigers and mountain lions, wolves don't stand a chance one on one as these animals are much larger and better equipped than wolves so a fight would be too risky. On the other hand wolves can gain the upper hand against predators such as snow leopards, wolverines and lynx. And coyotes and foxes don't stand a chance against a wolf and often end up as easy prey. It's important to note that since none of the predators wolves have to face are pack hunters like all of the predators hyenas have to deal with this gives wolf packs a huge advantage in their respectives habitats
Although both of this predators are well rounded and feared survivalists it's important to note there weaknesses to determine the winner of this fight, wolves have smaller frame and a weaker bite compared to a hyena and this could serve as a major weakness in a fight, wolves do however have much faster reflexes than a hyena and may be able to dodge these attacks.
When it comes down to it the hyena will end up having the last laugh. In a fight irregardless of whether it is a 1 on 1 fight between two fully grown individuals or a group fight between a large wolf pack and a hyena clan, although wolves have faster reflexes and are slightly more strategic in their attack style, hyenas are larger, have thicker skin a stronger bite, and live in a slightly more competitive environment then a wolf and are used to fighting other packs of predators whereas wolves are not.
Still Interested? Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMKPYxgE_wk

So I have been thinking about buying some case fans that have “PST” technology (basically daisy chaining) and I was just wondering if connecting fans together like this is the same as using a Y-splitter when accounting for amps. For example, say a SYS_Fan header on a motherboard has a maximum amp of 2.0A/amps and a single fan uses up 0.5A/amps. If I were to combine three case fans using the “PST” cables that come attached to them, does this mean that the total amps being produced is 1.5A/amps? I apologize if this is a dumb question, but I really don’t feel like frying my motherboard and just want to make absolutely sure if this.
The case fan in question utilizing the “PST” technology: https://www.amazon.com/Arctic-BioniX-P120-Red-Pressure-optimised/dp/B07G7W8629?ref_=ast_sto_dp

taken from this tumblr post; https://spicysighs.tumblr.com/post/718136492512493568/matty-healy-taylor-swift-timeline
Matty Healy + Taylor Swift Timeline 11/7/13: Matty talking about Taylor liking the band and being asked to tour with her.
1/21/14: Matty talking about Taylor liking the band. xx
3/31/14: Matty talks about being asked to tour with Taylor and turning it down. "That was cool. It’s like, ‘We can’t, but that is really nice, thank you very much.”
11/4/14: Matty is pictured wearing a deluxe 1989 album cover tee at his concert in Milwaukee.
11/8/14: Taylor reblogs the picture on tumblr and says they are her favorite band.
11/9/14: Taylor likes these two pictures of Matty wearing the 1989 t-shirt.
11/9/14: Taylor liked this gif-set of Matty talking about whether he’s a dog or cat person.
11/19/14: Selena Gomez, Taylor and other friends went to The 1975 show in LA. Video of them singing along to ‘The City.’
11/19/14: Taylor & Matty making a video for a fan. (Jamie’s daughter Kitty)
11/22/14: Matty follows Taylor on Twitter.
11/23/14: Taylor was pictured wearing a The 1975 band shirt.
11/23/14: Taylor likes these two posts of them wearing each others merch.
11/24/14: Matty dedicates ‘Robbers’ to Taylor. Supposedly he’s done this multiple times. xx
11/25/14: Taylor likes these Tumblr posts. And this picture of Matty.
11/26/14: Taylor likes this Tumblr post.
11/26/14: Matty likes Taylor’s post on Instagram.
11/26/14: Matty wearing the 1989 t-shirt again.
11/26/14: Matty talking about meeting Taylor “I met Taylor Swift, that was really nice.” and when asked about possibly dating “I mean bloody hell, what am I going to do? Go out with Taylor Swift? She’s a sensation, I wouldn’t say no.”
11/28/14: Taylor is rumored to have attended The 1975 show in Chattanooga, TN.
11/29/14: Taylor likes this Tumblr post.
11/29/14: Matty signed this Polaroid for a fan, and the fan talking about the interaction.
11/29/14: Matty says he can’t kiss a fan because he’s taken.
12/2/14: Matty’s mom retweets this.
12/2/14: Matty likes Taylor’s Instagram post.
12/3/14: Matty about Taylor “Well, she’s amazing. She’s an amazing role model. And not only is she an incredible songwriter, she’s an incredible pop songwriter, which I think is even harder. I can’t speak highly enough about Taylor Swift.”
12/4/14: Taylor, Martha, Karlie and others went to The 1975 show in NYC. Where Matty dedicated ‘fallingforyou’ to her. Rumored that Matty missed the after-party and spent the night with Taylor. xx
12/5/14: Taylor likes this Tumblr post about Matty singing ‘fallingforyou’ to her.
12/5/14: Matty’s tweet in response to articles about him and Taylor getting his name wrong.
12/6/14: Matty has a breakdown on stage in Boston, MA. In 2015 talking about the incident he says “There was girl stuff. There was family stuff. There was financial stuff. There was drug stuff.”
12/6/14: Matty talking about a fan saying “I love you” to him. “What did I say to the poor fucking girl? ‘You don’t have the right to love me. You don’t know me. I love you but you don’t get to love me.’ Jesus. Can you imagine your favorite band shouting that at you? What a dickhead. What a horrible thing to say to a kid who fucking does love me.”
12/9/14: Matty at a show in NY “I was sad the other day as someone told me they loved me. And I said ‘No, you don’t. Not really.’ And today I told someone I loved them. And they said ‘No, you don’t.’ And it fucking sucks to hear that. Especially when you mean it. Don’t do that to someone. Don’t do what I did.”
12/14/14: Matty posts this on Instagram.
12/30/14: Matty deletes this Instagram post.
1/16/15: Matty denies dating rumors. Admits they exchanged numbers but “That didn’t really happen as much as it’d be amazing for me if it did, unfortunately it didn’t.”
2/25/15: They hangout at the BRIT Awards afterparty. (This weekend is when she met Calvin and they started dating)
2015: Matty & Halsey date and breakup.
11/15/15: Matty talks about Taylor in an interview “The things that surround her are like Barack Obama. I fell for her a little bit, but everyone falls for Taylor Swift” “The day after she’d been to a show of ours, someone sent me a screenshot of E! News with the headline ‘Who is Matt Healy?’ That freaked me out. I’m not ready to indulge in that world and I’m not ready to be judged by that world.”
12/8/15: Matty talks about reaching out to Taylor to have her in his music video.
Sometime in 2015: Matty & Gabriella Brooks start dating.
2/1/16: Matty talking about Taylor “She was a fan of the band and we just became friends, and we related to each other over how mental our lives were. But when you’re with people like Taylor, there are a million people flying around you the whole time, and this security guard is talking to that guy, and this guy is the new manager. I didn’t like the pace of it, because it makes me confused and I feel like I’m going to miss something. And being perceptive is one of the abilities that I like to think that I have.“
3/17/16: Matt Healy has suggested that dating Taylor Swift would have been “emasculating” for him because of her huge global fame.
3/18/16: Journalist who interviewed him writes an op-ed saying his words were misconstrued and “I saw an intelligent and liberal man wrestling with our culture’s gender roles.”
3/19/16: He apologizes for said comments and calls Taylor “One of the most gracious, hard working, creatively gifted, and beautiful women that I have had the pleasure to meet.”
6/1/16: Taylor & Calvin Harris breakup.
6/15/16: Taylor starts dating Tom Hiddleston.
8/17/16: Matty says he has Taylor’s number but “she’s probably changed her number by now.” And jokes “I keep texting her.”
8/30/16: Matty talks about Taylor on the BBCR1’s Breakfast Show. They joke about Taylor doing jury duty.
9/6/16: Taylor & Tom Hiddleston breakup.
October 2016: Taylor & Joe Alwyn start dating.
10/27/16: Matty about Taylor in Rolling Stone “She came to our show, and you would have thought that Barack Obama had come out. I don’t know another person on the planet that would elicit that kind of reaction.”
11/11/16: Matty again denies he dated Taylor and says “She came to a show and we hung out. We fancied each other, but then we couldn’t have it go any further, because it would be like going out with Barack Obama.”
11/20/17: Podcast talking about Taylor & Matty.
12/3/18: Matty talking about his journal “It’s mainly stories that I write about my dreams of being in love with other popstars.”
12/4/18: Matty retweets a picture of Taylor.
8/28/19: Matty & Gabriella Brooks breakup.
9/23/19: Mentions wanting to produce an album for Taylor in an interview (at 13:48 & 32:00) “Taylor, if you ever want someone to help you set up the mics for your little acoustic record, just so you know, I’m there.”
9/23/19: Matty retweets and tags Taylor in a post quoting him saying he wants to produce an album for Taylor.
9/24/19: Matty tweets “Taylor Swift. With an acoustic guitar. Doing her ‘Nebraska’. Doing her ‘Blue’. Kill me.”
January 2020: Matty & FKA Twigs start dating.
2/12/20: Both attend the NME awards and hug. Beabadoobee (who Taylor is talking to in the video) about meeting Taylor that day “Taylor’s so ethereal, So badass, I was like ‘Holy shit!’ She was walking towards me and I’m like, ‘She’s going to Matty [The 1975] not me.’ And then she comes up to me and I’m like… I vomited in my mouth. I couldn’t believe it.”
2/20/20: Matty mentions seeing Taylor and wanting to work with her in an interview with Zane Lowe. “She was just stood behind me. I mean, I haven’t seen Taylor in years so it was actually a really nice room. But it, unfortunately, wasn’t the time for me to pitch my post-rock Joni Mitchell project.”
10/22/20: Deuxmoi posts these.
2021: Matty starts working with Jack Antonoff on The 1975′s upcoming album.
November 2021: Taylor and Jack Antonoff start working on “Midnights.”
6/7/22: Matty & FKA Twigs breakup.
8/9/22: Matty Healy shares Taylor Swift’s reaction to The 1975’s new album, with her saying “it’s so funny.”
9/3/22: Matty says there will be no collab on Midnights. “I would love that! But unfortunately FAKE NEWS :(”
10/7/22: Matty tweets “You guys actually thought Taylor Swift was gonna have me on her album”
10/11/22: Matty on working with Taylor “Oh we’re not. We’d love to. Love to work with Taylor Swift. Love Taylor Swift, think she’s one of the best songwriters, but yeah, no we haven’t done that. We’d love to though.”
10/11/22: The 1975 discuss covering ‘Lover’ for the BBC live lounge.
10/12/22: Matty briefly mentions Taylor in a Zane Lowe interview (45:53).
10/18/22: Matty briefly mentions Taylor in a podcast (1:22:40) when talking about who they would like to see on the podcast. Interestingly enough her name seems to be cut from the video version of the podcast.
10/23/22: Matty posted on his Instagram to stream Midnights.
10/26/22: Matty posted he was listening to ‘Hey Stephen TV’ on his Instagram story
11/27/22: Matty said he worked on Midnights with Taylor but their versions didn’t make the cut (4:52). “We actually worked a bit on that, but then the version of it never came out.” “It was for reasons not to be criticized.”
12/21/22: Matty said ‘Chocolate‘ reminds him of Taylor “Tumblr, Doc Martens, Taylor Swift, the 1975”
‘Question…?’ Played in The 1975 pre-show playlist. (Don’t have dates because it happened multiple times)
1/12/23: Matty & Taylor before The 1975 show.
1/12/23: Taylor does a surprise performance at The 1975 show in London. Deuxmoi later claims they stayed up until 4 am talking (later confirmed in his profile with The New Yorker.)
1/12/23: Matty “I’m not kissing anybody in front of Taylor Swift, have some respect. in front of the queen? not happening“
2/2/23: Matty briefly mentions Taylor and the Ticketmaster situation (38:06)
February: Allegedly spent several days at a Los Angeles recording studio together.
3/15/23: Matty seen with Ana Salazar.
3/17/23: First show of The Eras Tour
3/22/23: Puff-piece comes out stating Joe and Taylor are ‘great together’ and ‘super supportive of her career’ and will be travelling to her ‘when he can’.
‘About You’ plays at the same time as the Lover MV has been playing on The Eras Tour pre-show playlist. (Don’t have dates because it happened multiple times)
3/29/23: Matty’s ex says “Things were going well until around March 29th then, out of the blue, he stopped replying to my messages and calls.”
3/31/23: Taylor changes The Eras Tour setlist from ‘Invisible String’ to ‘The 1’
4/7/23: Matty follows Taylor on Instagram.
4/7/23: Matty likes Taylor’s Instagram post.
4/8/23: Matty’s birthday.
4/8/23: It’s announced Taylor and Joe have broken up.
4/8/23: Matty talking about love and how happy he is.
4/10/23: Matty deactivates his social media accounts.
4/10/23: Matty on why he deactivated “Everything happens in eras. The 1975 is a very eras band. And I think that the era of me being a fucking asshole is gonna come to an end.” and “I perform all the time and it’s my job and I love doing this, but I can’t perform off the stage any more as I just want to be a bloke.”
4/10/23: Matty says “Hey, I love you.” during ‘About You’.
4/10/23: Matty mouths “You know who you are.” and points during ‘About You’.
4/11/23: Matty “A call for something sincere and direct. That’s what we’re all looking for. That’s what I’m looking for. Maybe I’ve found it.. I’m feeling quite happy.”
4/13/23: Deuxmoi says she got a tip that Matty & Taylor are dating. (19:16)
4/14/23: Matty cheering during ‘Me & You Together.’
4/14/23: Matty “Romance is nice when it works, this next song worked.” ‘fallingforyou’ starts playing “Oh it’s a different song, this song did not work.”
4/14/23: Before ‘About You’ “Ok, this is the one that worked.”
4/14/23: Matty mouthing “I love you” during ‘About You’ and saying “Fuck yeah, I win!” after it ends.
4/16/23: Matty’s “Yeah you will!” during ‘Happiness’ after the line, “I’m never gonna love again.”
4/19/23: Matty says “It takes bit to get here but its worth it” and “true story” before playing ‘Me & You Together.’
4/21/23: Matty plays a cover of ‘The Best of Me’ by The Starting Line. Take note of the lyrics.
4/24/23: Matty spoke about how he sees people listening to ‘She’s American’ in three places: Manchester, Tokyo and Pennsylvania “that’s a whole other thing don’t worry about that.”
5/3/23: The Sun reports Matty and Taylor are dating and will go public with their romance at her shows in Nashville.
5/3/23: Matty introducing ‘Me and You Together song’, saying “I’ve got something real to tell you guys!”
5/3/23: Matty mouths “This is about you, you know who you are. I love you.” while playing ‘About You.’
5/3/23: Matty does a cover of ‘The Best of Me’ by The Starting Line again.
5/4/23: Matty introducing ‘Me and You Together song’, saying “So I’ve been trying to tell you guys” and “That’s right.”
5/4/23: Before playing ‘About You’ Matty mouths "This is why I’m happy. Who is it about? Who am I talking to?”
5/4/23: Matty is seen mouthing the words “I love you” before writing the letter T on the camera lens.
5/4/23: Matty saying “she sure is” before playing ‘She’s American.’
5/4/23: Matty flies from Manila to Nashville. (Which is around a 20hr flight)
5/5/23: Matty at Taylor’s concert. Nashville night 1.
5/5/23: Taylor mouths “This is about you, you know who you are. I love you.” during ‘cardigan.’
5/6/23: Matty grabbing coffee accompanied by Taylors bodyguard after leaving Taylors condo.
5/6/23: Matty at Nashville night 2. xx
5/6/23: Matty & Taylor pictured arriving at Taylor’s condo together.
5/7/23: Matty at Nashville night 3.
5/11/23: Matty and Taylor spotted on a date with Jack Antonoff in NYC. More pictures here.
5/12/23: Matty at Philly night 1.
5/13/23: Matty at Philly night 2.
5/13/23: Taylor performs ‘This Love’ with no introduction.
5/14/23: Taylor plays a request of “Hey Stephen”, but doesn’t say who requested it.
5/14/23: Matty pictured at the VIP tent at The Eras Tour Philly night 3
5/15/23: Matty and Taylor pictured leaving a party at Electric Studios in NYC.
5/18/23: Article comes out saying Joe is ‘distraught and slighted’ over Taylor & Matty dating, saying he ‘trusted’ Taylor when she said they were just friends.
5/18/23 Matty entering Taylor’s NYC Apartment.
5/20/23: Matty’s ex talks about Matty and Taylor.
5/20/23: Taylor’s speech before playing ‘Question…?’ in Foxborough, MA. “I want you all to know that I’ve never been this happy before in my life. It’s not just with the tour, I just sort of feel like my life finally feels like it makes sense. And so I thought I’d play this song, which brings me a lot of happy memories.”
5/20/23: Taylor plays ‘Question…?’ on night 2 in Foxborough, MA.
5/22/23: Matty dropping Taylor off at Electric Lady Studios.
5/24/23: Taylor and Matty leaving the Electric Lady Studios separately.
5/27/23: The Sun reports Matty and Taylor are moving in together.
5/29/23: Matty’s profile with The New Yorker comes out which includes multiple mentions of Taylor.
5/29/23: From The New Yorker “Healy found it annoying that, at a certain level of fame, celebrities can cultivate liberal auras while avoiding the risk of taking real political stands. (Swift, I thought, but didn’t say, seemed to be excepted from his critique.)”
5/29/23: From The New Yorker about Taylor & Matty dating “ Neither of their representatives would comment on the record, but I kept getting texts from people who knew them, and who insisted: this time, it’s real.”
6/5/23: Matty & Taylor reportedly break up.
6/6/23: People releases an article saying “There is no drama, and who knows what could happen again.” and "Taylor and Matty still care for one another but they are in the middle of world tours so both are incredibly busy. They’ve been friends for years and are still friends.”
6/6/23: While discussing Taylor on his podcast (21:06) Zach Sang says “I’m like kind of friends with Selena Gomez. We’ve known each other for a very long time and we share a lot of close friends. And from what I heard like in the aura around Selena, Taylor was talking about Matty Healy like he was the one."
6/11/23: Matty reactivates his Instagram.
6/11/23: Matty “You know what’s nice, playing songs in context“ before ‘Me and You Together song’
7/1/23: Matty mentions Taylor "I don’t wanna use this thing [the catwalk], it feels very democratic, it feels very… I mean Beyonce of course, Taylor, Machine Gun Kelly, whoever it may be… I don’t like it, it makes me feel exposed.”
7/5/23: The Sun claims Matty & Taylor are back together and “want to make it work at all costs.”
7/5/23: People declines claims that they are together.
7/18/23: Matty briefly mentions Taylor “I speak about this a lot, the Tumblr times, the simpler days, the golden days. When it was just us and Taylor and Lana and Arctic Monkeys.”
7/22/23: Taylor removes ‘About You’ from The Eras Tour pre-show playlist.
8/7/23: Matty is seen with Meredith Mickelson at an airport in Hawaii.
August 2023: Taylor starts dating Travis Kelce.
September 2023: Matty starts dating Gabbriette.
December 2023: Multiple people receive miss prints of “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” which appears to show the song “Slut” originally featured The 1975.
4/19/24: Taylor releases her new album “The Tortured Poets Department” where many songs are believed to be about Taylor and Matty’s previous relationship.

So, I have no idea why, but I felt a need to explain and describe how I set up biomes in Wyrlde. So, sorry -- brevity is not a strong suit of mine.
Part of why this matters is that I am creating a list of critters for each biome (including birds, fish, insects, and even monsters) and determining how it works. I get to do this because rather than being an 'evolved' world, it is a terraformed planet at its underlying core, and the wildlife that inhabits it is derived from the seed material that arrived long long ago in an age lost to time.
I already know the basic biomass metrics (did them in January) so the overall process of doing this is giving me a lot of stuff t think on, since I am not planning to "keep to the basics of earth" in terms of the natural world.
But I am going to stay "somewhat close" -- lions will still be around in areas that lions are, tigers in tiger areas, beas in bear areas, etc.
So, for my biomes, the first thing I did was define my climate regions: Cold, Cool, Warm, and Hot -- translatable to Arctic, Temperate, Sub-Tropical, and Tropical. this was key since I am simplifying in many respects.
next, I needed my core biome groups: Tundra/Alpine, Grasslands, Forests, Wetlands, Deserts, Steppe, Oceanic, Riparian, and Mediterranean are pretty common, but I also like to add in a "Cove" and a "croft" -- areas that are marked changes from the surrounding area like sheltered valleys and then any place where people have an active influence on the ecology (such as farms, towns, cities, etc).
I also needed terms for them that worked for the world, lol. So I have Frigid, Grasslands, Forests, Wetlands, Steppe, Deserts, Oceanic, Riparian, Sylvan, Sheltered, and Croft.
Now, Frigid areas are fairly limited -- only going to find them on mountains and then north of the Arctic Circle. The same applies to the Sylvan areas -- they are mostly going to be along the border area between temperate and Sub-tropical.
But the rest can happen in different areas. And so for the rest of them, there is a Cool, Cold, Warm, and Hot version of each, and they all have their own names. Swamp, Bog, Moor, Chaparral, etc.
This gives me:
Frigid -- Arctic, Alpine, Taiga, Tundra
Sylvan -- Sylvan, Idyl
Grasslands -- Moor, Meadow, Prairie, Savanna
Forests -- Forest, Woodland, Rainforest, Jungle
Wetlands -- Bog, Fen, Marsh, Swamp
Steppe -- Highland, Scrubland, Shrubland, Veldt
Deserts -- Barrens, Chaparral, Desert, Sand Sea
Riparian -- Lake, River, Oasis, Spring; (this is always close in to the area)
Sheltered -- Glen, Dale, Vale, Cove/Grotto
Oceanic -- Littoral, Benthic, Pelagic, Bathylgic, Benthic (Set up by proximity to shore and Depth; The Oceans on Wyrlde are comparatively shallow, settling in at 6400 feet deep maximum)
Agarthan -- this is set up for the "underworld', and includes Caves, Caverns, and Agarthan.
Croft -- Crop, Range, Orchard, Settled, Ruined
So we have just under 50 distinct Biomes.
As I collect my animal listings, i should note that I am sorting them according to the category, not the specific biome. So an animal that is found in temperate areas can be found across all the world within that range. A sub tropical animal the same -- provided they can be fit into the ecology of that area.
It also means I get to have some fun -- what does a Fen Badger look like? How did they adapt to the swampy conditions? What does a Desert Wolf survive on?
By having a really good idea of the particulars of each of my areas, I am able to start applying creativity that still works within the structure to do things like have a Sand Crocodile, or a Bog Raven, and so forth.
And my examples show some of the limitations that this will help me overcome -- By ignoring "continent of origin", and looking strictly at the biome and the types of animals that exist there, I can mix and match things much more effectively, such as having Lions, and Wolves, and Bears all be a real threat in a Woodland, Scrubland, or Meadow.
So, that's an example of how I approach world building in general -- a bit of grounding and then a lot of imagination -- but I work to create the foundation, the infrastructure, to support my imagination as I go.

~The Tundras: Overview: Culturally:
Dominate: android, automaton, kashrisi, lizardfolk, nagaji, skeleton, spririt Minority: catfolk, conrasy, fleshwarp, goloma, human, Kitsuné, orc, vishkanya Conclave: dwarf, fetchling, gnome, hobgoblin, kobald, Groups: elf, gnoll, halfling, shisk Individuals: azarki, leshy, shoony, vanara, Singular: ghoran, grippli, Strix, tangu,
Religion Npcs:
The current ruler is Tarok as super soldier in 6578 he killed his father in combat for the right to rule The tundra may be savage but not with out laws and fail safes
In the situation the ruler dies not in fair combat then the next ruler will be the current left or right hands the rulers closet guards the left hand will be designated ruler first but if they die early then the right will instead
In a case when all 3 are dead then a nation wide tournament will be held to find a strong warrior to be the next ruler The current hands are
Those being of current left hand rokal blood mane a barbairn from the borders And the right kotunata a swordsman able to slash threw space raised in a clan of bounty hunter to wich he defected to join the ruler
The ruler of the tundra is traditionally the strongest resident this is decide when a challenger fights the current ruler in a one on one fair fight to the death
Tarok king of nothing "from a young age taroks father told him he would become somthing great he was enfasinted with being strong trading every day evantually his father enrolled him into a new experimental produce but it went wrong changing his body and mind but was a success in other ways it turned him into an expert mage and a master of body manipulation letting him turn his body into practically anything but after this those around him saw him as a demon a monster but his father saw him as a weapon and a ruler for to conquer the world
Suba and the metal claw
In the coldest storms lurks the metal claw A tribe of roaming automatons for the old age they seek their masters but can never find them Due to their mechanical nature a large portion of them ar mechanics and inventors working on them selves to be of use to their master who will never return Their leader is suba a old war bot he leads his tribe in hopes of finding their masters but he knows they will never find them
Gota
In the deepest caverns of the tundra lurks the gota a race of dwarfs who hid them selves in the caves under this realm they built massive strong. Holds that even the king of nothing couldn't brake threw. they are known for their skills in makeing near impantrble forts their skin is pitch black and they are near blind using sense they developed after centruires of hiding in their caves
Regions
The mana waste
In the most north region of the tundra is the mana wastes this land is the Australia of the tundra old magics have fused with the radiation present making a area of death any thing that lives here can't be considered alive monsters and men mutate into twisted varients and mutants they will kill anything they find but this land comes with rewards rare metals resources and old tech can be found here but many consider it to risky to even try claim this bounty
Balton catacombs
Under an old city is a vast underground settlement made and ran by sentient undead who live in some what harmony Their clan is made up of all kind of undead seeking refuge but they are still undead and hunt kill and pillage for their survival
Events The white death In the tundra lurks an ancient white dragon who romes the lands surrounding it as a storm of ice crushing settlements under it power it simply roams looking for what it's lost The storm it makes is home to many who are nomadic and follow the dragon under it is a cult of kobolds who see it as a protractor and their god
The slayers guild In the moutnins of this vast land is a guild of trained dragon hunters their oriogons shrouded in their keeps that are old gato settlements They actively seek the white deaths youngling slaying them in hopes none of them will reach the power of their mother They adorn their armor in moments of their fallen allies believing it grants them courage
The steel coffin
Somewhere in the deep tundra is a ancient building. Its walls still glow doing something many a person has raided it the. Insides are filled with sentient machines and automatons working and repairing the ruins it's walls faintly glow with hovering panels of light but even tho it seems to have been ransacked there bound to be more secret tunnels passages and more

First
Author’s Note:
How would you feel about me changing Dr. Anderson to sound British? I’m considering this change to give his character a bit more life and personality. Backstory draft - Dr. Victor Anderson is American-born, but has a British mother. After his time in the military, he pursued a career in archaeology, which had him work with the British Museum and a lot of Brits, resulting in a hybridized accent.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Author’s Note 2:
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– –
GB-2, Grenden Forest
November 29, 2024
The chamber lit up with a blast of white light – quick, like a flashbang, but silent. Even through his envirosuit’s filters, it was like getting flashed in the face with a high beam. He squinted hard, a bit annoyed. Must be the decontamination thing doing its job, he figured.
After the glare dialed down, Henry blinked away the spots in his vision. The wall melted open and he stepped into the dim corridor, his boots ringing on the metal. The way the door formed suggested nanotech, which would explain why the facility was so well-maintained and sturdy.
The section here was as quiet as the main hallway behind them, aside from some old machine’s soft hum somewhere out of sight. The air was still, almost oppressively so, as if something were lurking just out of sight. Well, as long as there weren’t any grotesque pustules and twisted biomass, he supposed they’d be fine.
Henry turned back to the small window within the chamber and gave a thumbs up. His team followed, each moving through the light.
“Well, ain’t that a kick in the pants,” Ryan muttered as he emerged from the chamber, his voice slightly distorted by his suit’s comm system. “Reckon these Gatebuilders coulda used a dimmer light.”
“Yeah, well, personally I’d take the lightshow over the risk of something crawling up my ass,” Isaac remarked.
Ryan gave a nod. “Touché.”
Ron stepped through, followed by Sera, Kelmithus, and Dr. Anderson. The two scholars were the most enamored by the sight, seemingly oblivious to the unsettling atmosphere. Hell, they were probably even excited by it.
The corridor led into a hallway with two ‘windowed' rooms on either side. Henry had seen enough of such setups to recognize them as laboratories, even if he couldn’t identify a single piece of equipment.
Dr. Anderson walked up to one of the windows, face plastered on the invisible field that separated the room from the hallway. “The technology here is incredible. To have remained undisturbed and operational for so long…”
“No signs of Baranthurian interference either,” Henry added, noting the fact that the various rooms hadn’t been stripped bare. “They must not have breached this section.”
Kelmithus summoned a few small orbs of light to illuminate their path. "Indeed. The Baranthurians either lacked the means or chose not to pursue this area."
They pushed deeper until they reached another doorway. The wall here seemed… dead. It gave off the same impression as seeing a pale body, even if the analogy was stretching it for the nanotech walls before him. Henry touched the wall. As expected, it lacked the same malleable feel as the other parts of the Gatebuilder site.
“Captain, here,” Sera announced over the silence, crouching down by the open doorway.
The team huddled around Sera, spotting a thin wisp of white in the corner. Cobwebs, and large ones at that. Not so undisturbed after all, Henry thought, eyeing the delicate threads moving in their wake.
He straightened up as Kelmithus sent some orbs of light through the doorway. The room had a box in the middle, accompanied by a chair and some sort of stand positioned directly in front of the chair. From the looks of it, it was some sort of containment unit or isolation chamber, large enough to accommodate a passenger airliner – or perhaps even the myriad of higher-tiered fauna on Gaerra.
As he peered further, Henry noticed a tube linking the box to the ceiling, likely a vent. Scattered around were desks holding alien tech so advanced he couldn’t even tell what they were. Though, there weren’t many of them. Most of the tables were empty. If he had to guess, the Gatebuilders probably materialized whatever they needed, just like with the walls. An empty panel decorated the wall beside the entrance – an empty weapon rack. Among the relics that were present, he spotted heaps of dust that had probably been important documents at some point, now just whispers of what was.
Henry approached the containment unit, studying it closely. The box was completely sealed, with no visible seams or openings. Whatever the Gatebuilders held in here had zero chance of ever getting out.
Dr. Anderson stepped up to the stand in front of the unit tapping it with his hand. The pedestal reacted, flashing a holographic screen above. “Incredible,” he said, stepping back.
“If only we found one of these when the gateway was unearthed, huh?” Henry remarked.
Dr. Anderson gave a light chuckle. “I can’t imagine it would’ve been any easier to activate it even if we did. We would have been like cavemen trying to figure out how an iPhone works.”
The screen was clean, devoid of clutter and icons aside from a set of lines, which appeared to be a menu. The archaeologist’s brow furrowed, a slight movement that Henry caught through the man’s helmet. Was he… stumped? Kelmithus joined him, beset by the same confusion.
“Any luck, Doc?” Ron asked, moving to stand beside him.
Dr. Anderson shook his head. “There’s just too little information on the Gatebuilders. This is my first time seeing their language. I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Kel?” Henry asked, looking at the archmage.
He, too, shook his head. “Absent one versed in the language, my translation magic finds no purchase.”
Despite the bleak outlook, Dr. Anderson didn’t seem like he was ready to give up. He hovered his finger over the screen and flicked it up. The screen reacted accordingly, scrolling through the menu. Then, he pressed one of the entries. A soft chime echoed through the room and an icon appeared on the display. It was a simple rectangular shape, reminiscent of a battery with a sliver of red at the bottom.
“Well, that’s something we can recognize,” Henry said, pointing at the icon. “Guess that confirms it – this section is lower on power.”
“Oughta be simple enough, right?” Ryan asked.
Isaac inspected the icon on the screen. “Yeah, I dunno about that one. Certainly won’t be like substituting wire for vine. For all we know, these guys could’ve used antimatter or, shit, even zero point energy.”
“Antimatter? Zero point energy? You speak in riddles, Specialist Yen. Though, should fortune favor us, mayhap the solution will be within our grasp, even if the means are yet unknown,” Sera said.
It was optimistic, probably even far-fetched, but there was still a chance. “Yeah, let’s hope all we gotta do is flip a switch…” Henry tilted his head, directing his team to begin the search.
They spread out, searching for clues. The room was relatively barren for its massive size. As they moved further in and away from the containment unit, the presence of cobwebs increased, particularly near a doorway at the far end. Seeing that was the only other door in the room, they gravitated to it.
Henry glanced at Kelmithus, who immediately responded by illuminating the doorway. It led into a room full of the stasis platforms they had identified earlier. The darkness inside seemed to permeate with greater effect. Was it just an optical illusion?
Sera paused, halting her approach a few feet away from the doorway. “I… hear something.”
Ron took up a position beside the ‘frame’, preparing for a breach. “Yeah… I hear it too. The fuck is that? Shit’s giving me the heebie jeebies.”
Henry checked his HUD, confirming that his helmet was picking up the audio. He adjusted the settings to enhance the sound. It was a strange combination of noises, like a brush running along wood, accompanied by a continuous whine of stretching rope and soft, rapid drumbeats.
These were familiar sounds, though he’d only heard them once before. It wasn’t a pleasant experience: he had put on a helmet prior to a training session only to hear strange scratching and tapping. Only when a spider crawled along his visor did he realize where the sounds originated from.
Here, the sounds were amplified, audible enough to be registered by Sera. The scratching noises – stridulating, as it was apparently called – were like a sinister whisper, promising something far worse than the average creepy crawly. He’d seen his fair share of oversized bugs in Gaerra, but hadn’t yet come across ones large enough to be deemed monsters and granted their own tier. If the size of the cobwebs were any indication, whatever created them was no ordinary spider.
Henry looked back into the room, then turned to his team. He signaled for Isaac and Ryan to stack up on either side of the doorway, their shotguns at the ready. Sera and Ron took up positions behind them, while Kelmithus and Dr. Anderson stayed back, prepared to provide support if needed.
Henry held up three fingers, counting down silently. Three, two, one. On the signal, Isaac and Ryan breached the room. Isaac went left while Ryan went right, their weapons sweeping the corners and potential hiding spots as they cleared the immediate area.
“Clear left,” Isaac reported.
“Clear right,” Ryan confirmed.
Henry and the rest of the team entered the room, following behind Isaac and Ryan. The corners in the ceiling and the blind spots behind the few desks scattered around were clear, but full of webbing, The stasis chamber was cavernous, rows upon rows of platforms stretching out into the darkness. Some of the pods had near-transparent fields around them, giving off a faint glow that cast eerie shadows on the walls.
“Owens, take point. Sera, cover our six. Kel, lights,” Henry ordered in a low voice.
As more orbs of light brightened their surroundings, they moved deeper into the chamber. The tapping and stridulating from earlier ceased, giving way to an eerie silence. As they progressed, Henry felt a growing sense of unease. The sheer number of creatures contained within the fields was staggering. Hundreds, maybe more, all from different regions.
Some were familiar, like the monsters he’d encountered and learned about in preparation for the Tier 5 test – likely distant ancestors of dradaks and rillifanes. Others, less so. They looked like they were pulled right out of a horror film or dystopian universe – clawed, insect-like monsters that seemed poised to swarm en masse, and unsettling aliens whose appendages looked perfectly designed to latch onto a person’s face. Hopefully, the fact that he couldn’t recognize them meant they were extinct.
Sera was drawn to a pod with a snake-like creature within. It had scales that caught the faint light, sharp teeth that looked capable of tearing flesh, and a pair of small, awkward wings. “This bears great resemblance to a fenwyrm. An ancestor, perhaps?”
Dr. Anderson inspected one of the active pods, his face practically pressed against the stasis field as he examined the creature inside. It was a formidable-looking beast, some sort of arthropod with a hardened carapace. “Fascinating,” he muttered, “The Gatebuilders were studying Gaerra’s wildlife. I wonder… did they have magic before coming here, or did they get it after?”
Henry glanced at another pod containing one of the primal fenwyrms. “Kel? What do you think?”
Kelmithus studied a nearby specimen and the stasis field containing it. “A perplexing query, that is. The Gatebuilders’ technologies are so thoroughly imbued with the Aether that discerning the origin of their magical prowess is a formidable task. However, the study of the various beasts herein suggests that magic is, indeed, endemic to our world. Had they brought magic with them, I gather they would have focused their efforts on other pursuits.”
“Research sounds about right. But hey, maybe they just wanted to collect specimens for a zoo,” Ron shrugged.
“A zoo?” Isaac scoffed. “More like a freak show. Look at this thing,” he said, pointing to a pod containing a creature with tentacles sprouting from its back, its maw filled with razor-sharp teeth.
Henry shook his head, scanning the rows of stasis platforms. The deeper they progressed, the more frequently they came across empty units. The power outage had done a number on this place. Some of the platforms were totally dead, their stasis fields – and whatever creatures were inside – long gone. Others flickered on and off, equally empty.
The scene before him made little sense. “Gatebuilder tech so far has been so well-maintained; I doubt decay or erosion could’ve caused this,” Henry noted.
Dr. Anderson nodded. “Agreed. Something must have managed to get inside, cause a cascading effect.”
Suddenly, a buzzing sound echoed through the chamber, like a power line got cut open. Henry whirled around, aiming his shotgun in the direction of the noise. One of the pods had shut down, its stasis field flickering and dying as the creature inside tumbled out onto the floor. It was a small, furry thing, with big eyes and a long tail – almost like a squirrel. It looked up at them and let out a pitiful whimper before scurrying off into the shadows.
“What the hell?” Ron started, scanning the perimeter with his weapon.
The scratching and drumming sounds were getting louder now, bouncing off the walls in an unsettling chorus that set Henry on edge. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, his senses on high alert. Whatever lay ahead probably wasn’t as threatening as a group of insurgents with AKs or a Sentinel Lindwyrm, but it sure as hell topped them in terms of creepiness.
“Let’s fall back to the containment unit room,” Henry ordered.
They retraced their steps quickly and without incident. The sounds faded behind them, but the unease they left in their wake remained. Once they reached the relative safety of the containment unit room, Henry took up a position near the entrance. “Yen, get the Black Hornet in the air. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”
Isaac wasted no time as he prepped the nano drone for launch. Hopefully, the profile of the small helicopter drone would be enough to allow it to sneak through undetected. The device powered up, rotors spinning as it lifted from Isaac’s palm. With deft taps on his wrist control, Isaac directed the Black Hornet through the doorway into the stasis chamber.
Henry watched the drone feed’s camera feed on his HUD, jaw clenched tight as the device navigated the rows of stasis pods. The thermal imaging revealed little. The stasis platforms seemed to produce no excess heat, as if neither the machinery nor the creatures suspended within the fields existed.
Suddenly, the feed focused on a large, shape crouched over a smaller heat signature. As the drone drew closer, the details became clearer – it was an arachnid figure, akin to a very large spider and easily the size of a desk, feasting on the remains of the furry creature they had seen earlier.
Henry noted the creature’s size and behavior, calculating the potential threat it posed to the team. Observing the creature’s aggressive dismantling of the pray and the apparent liquefaction associated with its feeding, Henry suspected it might employ ambush tactics, akin to terrestrial trapdoor spiders. In fact, it looked familiar… almost like a –
“Spiranid,” Sera muttered, finishing Henry’s thoughts. “Though, I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Spiranid that looks quite like this.”
“This appears to be a primal form of Spiranid, potentially a precursor to the species we’re familiar with today,” Dr. Anderson pointed out. “I’m not as well versed as Dr. Perdue, but the segmentation of the abdomen and structure of its mandibles don’t match Spiranid documentation from the Adventurer’s Guild.”
“Wonder how different these ones are…” Ron said.
The drone continued its sweep, revealing two more stasis chambers ahead. Each room was crawling with more of the spiders, cocoons of their unfortunate victims tucked away in the corners. The smallest were the size of stools, while the largest were as big as couches. Henry counted at least ten in each room, noting their general positions.
As the drone pressed on, it entered a larger area, one devoid of stasis platforms. In the center of the room, the camera picked up a large, webbed-up structure that looked like it could be a power unit. Surrounding it were several large, pulsating masses that could only be eggs, visible even in the low light.
Henry brought his hand up, expanding the feed with his fingers. If that was the power source for this section of the facility, then those eggs were a problem. Clearing those eggs was crucial before even thinking about restoring power.
Just as he was about to give the order to recall the drone, the feed suddenly cut out. The last image seared into Henry’s mind – a massive, segmented leg filling the screen. “Damn,” he muttered, tightening his grip on his shotgun. “We’ve got a big one in there. Could be damn near the size of a truck, at least.”
“At least we got a map of the area,” Isaac said, uploading a basic layout of the rooms to their HUDs.
Henry glanced at the map at the top left of his heads-up display, which showed the rooms ahead and blue dots representing his team. “Alright, listen up. Stasis chambers first. Yen, get a new drone up. Owens, Hayes – flank security. Sera, Kelmithus, with me. Power room is the OBJ once we’ve cleared out the rooms. Sera, focus on the smaller targets. Leave the larger targets for our guns. We’ll try to minimize collateral damage as best we can. Kelmithus, focus on shielding and temperature: if these are anything like the spiders back home, extreme cold should slow them down a bit. Think you can manage that?”
Kelmithus nodded. “It shall be as the Lindwyrm’s magic. How great a chill must I summon?”
Henry gave it some thought. Their envirosuits were rated for extreme conditions, from the freezing Arctic to the void of space. The Gatebuilders’ technology could probably handle it as well. He figured Kelmithus could go all out. “As cold as possible, as quickly as possible. We’ll build up our tactical advantage; we push in after the temperature drops below freezing.”
“Once we reach the power room, our priority will be to neutralize the suspected queen and clear out the eggs. Expect CQB. Use the environment, maintain spacing, watch crossfire. Doc, identify any manual controls or interfaces. We’ll breach the rooms with flashbangs; no frags. Check your gear and we’ll head in.”
Everyone gave nods or thumbs up, signaling their readiness.
Henry raised his shotgun. “Let’s go.”
The archmage took a deep breath, focusing his energy as he approached the doorway. Henry watched as Kelmithus raised his staff, a faint blue glow emanating from its orb. The air around them began to cool rapidly, evident from a thin layer of frost that formed on the metal surfaces. As the temperature dropped, the corresponding icon on his HUD declined, finally plummeting below 30 Fahrenheit.
Kelmithus lowered his staff, the blue glow fading. “It is done,” he announced.
Henry signaled to Ron and Ryan, who were already stacked up on either side of the door. They acknowledged with sharp nods, waiting for the countdown. He held up three fingers, counting down silently. Three, two, one…
As Henry’s pinky went down, Ron and Ryan pushed through, their weapons sweeping the corners and potential hiding spots as they cleared the immediate area. Henry and the rest of the team entered the chamber. The spider’s must’ve retreated into the depths of the room, hoping to get away from the freezing temperatures as best they could. He noticed a glint of webbing tucked away in the far reaches of the room, near a light source.
“Sera, take point. Kel, lights,” Henry ordered with a hushed tone.
More orbs of light brightened the chamber. The soft tapping and stridulating from earlier had ceased, leaving an eerie silence. The stasis fields didn’t seem to be affected by the chill, their surfaces unblemished by frost, or any other indication of the freezing temperatures. They didn’t radiate heat, but he wondered if the Spiranids would’ve gravitated to them anyway, due to the faint light they gave.
Suddenly, a dark shape lunged from behind one of the active stasis fields, skittering towards them with alarming speed. Sera reacted instinctively, cleaving the dog-sized spider in two with almost no effort. The creature didn’t even have time to cry out, silenced by the sheer speed of its death.
Then, more jumped at them. “Contact!” Henry called out, already moving to acquire a target rushing at them from the right side.
He reacted instinctively, his shotgun snapping up as he squeezed the trigger. The blast echoed in the confined space, the buckshot tearing into the Spiranid’s carapace. It let out a high-pitched shriek, ichor splattering the ground as it thrashed. Henry blasted it again, following up in quick succession.
Sera whirled to her left, a blast of wind magic sending a pair of smaller Spiranids crashing into the wall. They twitched and went limp, their exoskeletons cracked. It seemed the stool-sized ones were fragile; he guessed that a basic stomp would be enough to neutralize them. The larger ones, however, seemed to soak damage much better than their miniature counterparts.
More Spiranids emerged from the shadows, scuttling along the walls and ceiling. Henry heard more weapons fire – powerful shotgun blasts, the dull cracks of an M7, and even the sound of someone’s M18. It was apparently Kelmithus, taking shots at a Spiranid that he’d impaled with an icicle.
The sight of an archmage in an envirosuit – wielding a staff in one hand and a gun in the other – was certainly a sight to behold. If he had to sum it up in one word, he’d say it was unreal. Maybe even badass. As unique as the scene was, he was sure he’d probably see more of it in the future. He kept the surprise in the back of his mind as he took down another Spiranid, this one the size of a desk and managing to eat a shot directly to the face.
A quick burst from Ron’s M7 took it down. That was the last one, for now. Henry signaled his team to move forward, reloading as they used the stasis fields for cover. He could hear the skittering of more Spiranids ahead, their shapes darting between platforms near the entrance to the next room. He held up a fist, signaling his team to hold position.
“Yen, Hayes, flank left,” he whispered into his comm. “Owens, with me. Everyone else, cover us.”
The arrows on his HUD spread out as his team moved to comply. Henry and Ron advanced slowly, their weapons trained on the gaps between the stasis units. The skittering grew louder. He didn’t know if spiders were capable of emotion, but if they were, the sounds now suggested they must’ve been completely pissed off.
As they reached the end of the row, Henry prepared a countdown. On one, he and Ron swung around the corner, weapons at the ready.
Four large Spiranids crouched behind the stasis platforms. Their glowing red eyes gave the impression of rage, mandibles clicking like a bunch of angry crickets on steroids. Yeah, they were definitely pissed off. Henry didn’t hesitate. He aimed at the nearest one and squeezed the trigger, the shotgun bucking in his hands as the buckshot tore into the creature’s carapace.
Ron fired simultaneously, hitting the closest target with a burst before quickly transitioning to the next. The monstrous spiders shrieked, their exoskeletons shattering under the onslaught of lead. Ichor splattered the walls and slid off the active stasis fields, pooling in sickly green puddles.
But one of them, larger than the others, didn’t want to go down easy. It lunged forward, faster than something that size had any right to move. It slammed into Ron, sending him sprawling. The creature then set its sights on Henry, its mandibles looking like it could crush the envirosuit plating. Henry brought his shotgun to bear on the Spiranid’s head and fired.
The creature reeled back, its face pockmarked with small holes from the pellets that struck it. Yet, it didn’t seem to be enough. Before he could get a second shot off, a blast of frigid air engulfed the creature. It screeched, its movements slowing as frost coated its exoskeleton. Sera stepped forward, her hand outstretched as the glow of magic faded from her gloved fingers.
Henry took the opening. He stepped in close, pressing the barrel of his Benelli M4 against the Spiranid’s frozen head and pulled the trigger. The blast shattered its carapace like a hammer through ice, fragments of frozen chitin tinkling to the floor. The Spiranid slumped over, its legs twitching in its final moments.
“Clear?” Henry called out, scanning the room.
“Clear,” came the response from Isaac and Ryan, who had circled around to the other side.
Henry helped Ron to his feet, checking him over for injuries. Thankfully, his envirosuit only appeared to have minor scratches – nothing that breached inside. “You good?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Ron grunted, rolling his shoulder. “Tough bastard caught me by surprise. Feel like a damn pinata today.”
“What doesn’t kill ya, am I right?” Henry remarked, suppressing a smile as Ron gave an annoyed sigh. He clapped Ron on the shoulder before turning to face the battlefield.
The floor was littered with Spiranid corpses, their ichor pooling on the metal. It was quite a mess; hopefully the collection personnel wouldn’t mind. The various parts here should be more than enough to satisfy Dr. Perdue for a while.
“Alright,” Henry called out. “Let’s keep moving. We’ve got more rooms to clear.”
As they regrouped, Henry checked his Holding Bag to keep track of his ammo expenditure. He still had enough to clear out a dozen more rooms if he needed to, thanks to the Holding Bag’s capacity. The standard buckshot worked well against the Spiranids, but sometimes he’d need to shoot two, maybe three times to take down one of the bigger ones. The white phosphorus ammo would definitely perform better, but these were hard to come by. After all, this ammo wasn’t supposed to exist or be in use anymore. He guessed he’d rather save them for the upcoming ‘ boss fight.’
Kelmithus had already moved toward the next chamber, staff glowing with an icy power. The team took up positions, ready to breach as soon as the temperature dropped.
The process was repeated, the cold slowing the Spiranids’ reactions as Henry and his team stormed the room. They moved from chamber to chamber, the routine becoming almost mechanical. Kelmithus would cool the room, they would breach, and the Spiranids would fall under a hail of lead and magic.
By the time they reached the final chamber, Henry’s stomach was growling from the constant effort – and he really needed to take a piss. The job was almost done. The stasis chambers were clear, the immediate threat neutralized.
As the team took a moment to catch their breath and regroup, Henry noticed Sera approaching him. She had a pensive look on her face, as if wrestling with a thought. “Captain, might I have a word?” she asked.
Henry turned to her, his brow furrowed slightly in concern. “Of course, Sera. What’s up?”
Sera hesitated for a moment, seeming to choose her words carefully. “Fighting alongside your party… ‘tis a far cry from what I’m accustomed to. Your coordination is impressive.”
Henry nodded. “Standard procedure for us. Having magic on our side though, it’s taken things to a whole new level. Those ice blasts? Damn handy.”
“You mentioned that the ‘offer’s always open’. Being with you –” she cleared her throat, “Fighting alongside you all... ‘Tis given me pause… about your offer.”
Henry raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Thought you weren’t really interested in joining up.”
“I have dabbled,” she admitted, “Yet beholding what we may accomplish jointly… it compels me to rethink.”
Sure, Sera knew how to fight, but she wasn’t a soldier. Henry regarded her carefully. “It’s a big decision. We operate differently than Adventurers. More structure, more rules.”
Sera scoffed. “Rules, I can abide. ‘Tis just…” She hesitated, looking away for a moment. Joining your team, ‘twould change things. For me.”
Henry nodded. “Yeah, it would. But y’know, you’d still be you. Your skills, your magic… that doesn’t change. You’d just be applying them in a new way.”
Sera looked up at him, her eyes telling him all of her concerns without the sound of a single word. It was obvious – she had been a solo adventurer for so long, and joining Alpha Team was a huge shift. However, Henry could also see that her time with them was probably the most exciting experience she’d had in a while, perhaps ever.
Sera’s eyes then grew determined. “I… I have decided. Seldom have I bound my lot with that of others. I oft find Adventurers distrustful, but I see now that it was a mistake to see you as I did others. Might I join your party? Would you accept me into Alpha Team?”
Henry offered a smile. “Sera, you’re one hell of a fighter and a valuable asset to any team. I’d be honored to have you join us, but it’s not entirely my decision to make.”
Sera tilted her head. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I am the leader of Alpha Team, but I still need to answer to my superiors back at Armstrong,” Henry explained. “Specifically, General Harding. Yeah, we’re a Party of Adventurers, but above that, we’re a military unit. So, the General’s the one who gives the final approval on any new members.”
Sera nodded. “I understand. And when might we seek his approval?”
“After we finish this mission and return to base,” Henry said. “I’ll vouch for you, and I’m sure the General will see the value in having you on the team. For now though, we’ve got other matters to focus on.”
“Right. The secrets of the Gatebuilders await.”
With a nod, Henry turned back to the others. “Alright, let’s get this done. We’ll sort out the rest later.”
As they rejoined the team, Henry noticed Isaac on his wrist controls, monitoring his HUD while tapping away.
“What’s our status?” he asked.
Isaac glanced up, sharing a live feed to Henry’s HUD. “See for yourself. Looks grim, Captain. Almost twenty hostiles, and…” He paused, “Think there’s another contact by that central obelisk. Bringing the drone around to get a better visual.”
The power room was expansive, centered around what appeared to be the main… generator? Encircling it were several pulsating masses resembling eggs. Shadowed corners revealed distinct Spiranid silhouettes, with one form dominating the others in size.
Just as the Spiranid Queen came into view, a string of white darted toward the display, the feed jostling as the drone was caught in what appeared to be a web. The Queen approached the camera, giving a menacing chitter as it crushed the drone under one of its legs.
Henry crossed his arms as the feed went dark. “Damn, that shit’s big,” he muttered. Turning to his team, he started his briefing, “Alright, we’ve got visual confirmation on a Spiranid Queen in there, plus about 20 smaller Spiranids. Hayes, switch to Whiskey Pete. Everyone else, check your gear, standby for breach.”
Ryan gave an amused grunt. “Been waitin’ for a chance to break out these beauties,” he murmured, sliding the white phosphorous-tipped shells into his shotgun.
Henry turned to Ron. “Owens, you’re on point with the Gustaf. On breach, engage the Queen. Prioritize the cephalothorax.” Catching Ron’s confused expression through his visor, Henry continued, “Uh, the head and neck area. Hopefully, we neutralize it quickly.”
Ron nodded, pulling a launcher out of his Holding Bag. “Solid copy.”
Henry addressed the rest of his team. “Everyone else, focus on the smaller Spiranids. Nades and suppressive fire the moment we step in. Watch your angles, control your bursts. Keep them away from the central unit; we don’t wanna accidentally make a reactor go critical. Kel, you’ve been throwing out a lot of magic. You good to chill the room ahead?”
Kelmithus gripped his staff. “Fear not, Captain. I yet have abundant reserves of mana.”
“Solid,” Henry acknowledged. “Sera, you’re our wildcard. Move smart, watch crossfire, and stay vocal.”
Sera unsheathed her sword. “Understood, Captain.”
Henry checked his Benelli M4 one last time. “Alright, stack up. Kel, work your magic. Breach on my mark.”
Henry watched the temperature drop, the warm colors on infrared giving way to the chilling blues. They were so close to finally unraveling the mysteries of the Gatebuilders. They’d dealt with the imposing Sentinel Lindwyrm outside; now, only the monstrous arachnid ahead stood in their way. As the room’s temperature dipped below freezing, Henry initiated the countdown. Three, two, one… execute.
-- --
READ 2 WEEKS AHEAD: Chapter 16 is now available for Tier 2 Manifest Fantasy Patrons and higher!
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Next

For a bunch of reasons - celebrating third soapiversary, about to hit over two-hundred different soaps shaved with, and there's that little matter of the Lather Games coming up - it's time for some PIFing.
Because 42 is the precise number of mixed samples that fit into a small USPS Priority Mail Box for reasons that only the mice know, that is what this is about. I PIF'd Volumes 1 & 2 of All Your Base PIF Packages back in 2022, took a hiatus from social media much of last year, and back today with All Your Base Volumes 3, 4, 5, & 6. As I wrote the first time, when I learned about the PIF concept, I wanted to build the sort of PIF I'd have wanted back in my early days - a soap sampler that puts the focus on exploring a wide range of soap bases. My philosophy is it's better to have a great base and a good fragrance than the reverse.
This is the final of four LatherBot run PIFS for four sets of forty-two (42) soap samples. The PIF will run for 75 hours with a minimum karma requirement of 75. Open to CONUS residents. Limit one win per unique human. If someone wins more than one, they can pick their choice of the winning packages and I will randomly pick someone from the qualified entrants to serve as runner up for the unpicked package(s). Once all the details are squared away, I will get these out no later than the weekend of 11May2024 so they will arrive in plenty of time for the Lather Games.
Each set shares the below eighteen (18) bases

• Ariana & Evans (Kaizen)
• Barrister and Mann (Omnibus)
• Catie's Bubbles
• Cella (Green / Vegan)
• Cella (Red / Tallow)
• Dr. Jon's (guaranteed unobtainium)
• Hendrix Classics & Co.
• House of Mammoth
• Noble Otter
• Proraso (White)
• Red House Farm
• Southern Witchcrafts
• Stirling (Mutton)
• Stirling (Standard Tallow)
• Summer Break Soaps
• West Coast Shaving (Duck Fat)
• Wholly Kaw (Tallow)
• Zingari Man (Sego)

There's ten of the sixteen March Madness competitors if you haven't had the pleasure including the champion and runner ups (and there's three more among the packages). Each package contains two bases unique to it and there are five (5) additional bases shared unequally across the packages. In all, each package contains at least 23 different soap bases from the mass produced to the ultra small batch.
Up for grabs is the fourth of four sets of 42 shaving soap samples, All Your Base Vol 6.

• Ariana & Evans (Kaizen) - Vanille de Tabac
• Barrister and Mann (Excelsior) - Le Grand Chypre
• Barrister and Mann (Omnibus) - Electric Mayhem
• Barrister and Mann (Omnibus) - TFH: Death
• Barrister and Mann (Omnibus) - TFH: Famine
• Barrister and Mann (Omnibus) - TFH: Plague
• Barrister and Mann (Omnibus) - TFH: War
• Catie's Bubbles - La Terre Verte
• Cella (Green / Vegan) - Bio Organic
• Cella (Red / Tallow) - Cella (Almond)
• Chiseled Face - Trade Winds
• Dr. Jon's - Propaganda
• Hendrix Classics & Co. - Havana Breeze
• Hendrix Classics & Co. - Ladies Man
• House of Mammoth - Dammusi
• House of Mammoth - Embrace
• House of Mammoth - Rumble
• House of Mammoth - Smash
• House of Mammoth - Voices
• Maggard Razors - Mango Sage Tea
• Noble Otter - Neon Sun
• Noble Otter - Orbit
• Proraso (White) - Green Tea & Oatmeal
• Red House Farm - Lumos
• Red House Farm - Prairie Dog
• Southern Witchcrafts - Grave Fruit II
• Southern Witchcrafts - Samhain
• Stirling (Mutton) - Glastonbury
• Stirling (Standard Tallow) - Ben Franklin
• Stirling (Standard Tallow) - Duke
• Stirling (Standard Tallow) - Gatlingburg
• Stirling (Standard Tallow) - Hot Apple Cider
• Stirling (Standard Tallow) - Margaritas in the Arctic
• Stirling (Standard Tallow) - Sandpiper
• Summer Break Soaps - Homecoming
• Summer Break Soaps - Woodshop
• Talbot Shaving - Holland Glen
• West Coast Shaving (Duck Fat) - Pear-brrr Shoppe
• Wholly Kaw (Tallow) - Entropy Man
• Wholly Kaw (Tallow) - Merchant of Tobacco
• Zingari Man (Sego) - The Wanderer
• Zingari Man (Vegan) - The Traditionalist

These are split more or less evenly between partially used commercial samples and hand packed sample containers from larger samples (e.g. Stirling) or tubs. The partially used commercial samples have anywhere from 2-5 shaves left in them. The hand packed have as many as 6-7 shaves available. Available shaves are based on a level quarter teaspoon per shave. Put another way, this is about two tubs worth of shave soap, just spread out out across many tiny containers.
NOTE: All the used commercial samples were only scooped with a clean metal spoon. Some of the hand packed samples are from tubs that were previously brush loaded from. Those soaps were thoroughly rinsed and the upper layer removed before packing. I would have no issue using soaps from someone else prepared like this, but if you’re a hardcore germophobe, please pass on this PIF.
This last package is a little different, it contains the complete BaM Four Horsemen soaps. Do NOT use War with a natural fiber brush, might not even want to use it with a favorite synthetic. Unlike most samples, that one was used exactly once and I was still picking up whiffs of it months later from a synthetic. I can only imagaine how bad it would set into natural fiber. At any rate, for the final PIF, going to go with a Geolocation PIF. Good luck
LatherBot geo 75 75

Self produced Arctic Conda hatchling exploring their new home. This is the first of four that was ready for an upgrade last weekend. You can’t see the hides because they’re buried in the substrate as burrows. Their name is Aspen. They are 12g. 🥰

Respect Superman

"My most vivid memories are of the days my life changed. I remember coming to this earth. Feeling the sun on my face for the first time. Hearing the voices of my parents. "

Theme Music

General Information

Name: Clark Kent, Kal-El, Superman
Nationality: American
Weaknesses: Kryptonite, Red Solar Radiation, Specific sonic frequencies
Bio: Like most Supermen Clark survived his planet's destruction as a child, was raised by the Kents in Smallville and then later moved to Metropolis to work as a journalist. This story takes place much later in the timeline than most Superman stories, after Superman and Lois had married, had two kids and the kids had grown into their teens.

Key:

[Young] - Feats performed by Superman as a child
[Weakened] - Feats performed when under the affects of Kryptonite or Red Solar radiation
[Sun-Amp] - Feats performed after sun dipping

Note: All scans save from the comic "Earth-Prime" are from the show Superman and Lois

Background

General

• The Alt U Evil Superman from Steel's universe has nearly the same history as this universes Superman - S01E08
  
• Resists being possessed by Zod - S01E12
  
  • It took a while for him to break - S01E12
• Has to hold back to exist in a human world - S01E13
  
• [Sun-Amp] Has too much energy for Ally to absorb - S02E15
  

Strategy/Intelligence

• Uses the lower oxygen levels of higher altitudes to calm a guy - S01E04
  
• Can speak Cantonese - S01E11
  
• With Tal-Rho tricks DoD soldiers to enter their cells so they can escape - S02E07
  

Physiology/Biology

• He has barely aged since high school - S01E01
  
• Recovers from kryptonite before he completely falls form orbit - S01E01
  
• Is capable of releasing all his solar energy at once, in one large Solar Flare - S01E10
  
• Powers are derived from the sun, allowing him to produce nearly endless energy - S01E11
  

Senses

Vision

Enhanced Range

• Zooms in to see Sam Lane in his car from a few hundred feet away - S01E02
  
• Can zoom in to see Steel 2 miles ahead as if he was standing feet in front of him - S01E07
  
• Zooms in on an object from miles away using his infrared vision to identify it inside a tent - S01E10
  
• Sees a car blocks away as if its in front of him - S01E11
  
• Zooms in and tracks a charging Psuedo-Kryptonian from a distance - S01E13
  
• Zooms in across like half of Metropolis - S01E14
  
• Zooms in pretty far - S02E01
  
• Zooms in from orbit - S02E03
  

X-Ray

• Uses X-ray vision to ID a crack in a nuclear reactor - S01E01
  
• Uses X-ray vision to identify that his sons are under some debris - S01E01
  
• Uses X-ray/Infrared vision to find some firefighters - S01E05
  
• X-ray vision can see through a wall to read a business card on the other side - S01E11
  
• X-rays through hundreds of feet of water to see inside a sinking sub - S02E01
  
• Uses to X-ray to confirm that Atom Man wasn't killed by bullets - S03E01
  
• Scans a building with X-ray vision - S03E05
  
• Sees tumors - S03E06
  

Infrared

• Uses IR vision and enhances hearing from a similar distance - S01E07
  
• Infrared vision seems to also be able to show him mechanical stress - S03E01
  
• IR lets him see black mold behind a wall - S03E01
  

Other

• Can see the microcracks forming in glass due to an earthquake - S02E01
  
• Cycles through multiple parts of the spectrum - S02E12
  

Hearing

Calls For Help

• Hears Sam Lane's signal and listens in on scientists from easily thousands of feet away - S01E01
  
• Hears Sam Lane's signal in Smallville - S01E02
  
• Hears Jordan telling him that Jon's hurt from across the country - S01E06
  
• While at DoD headquarters hears Lois calling for him - S02E01
  

Disaster Detection

• Hears alarms going off at some nuclear facility somewhere in the US - S01E01
  
• Hears a bridge collapsing in China - S01E03
  
• Hears a bank robbery in Mexico - S01E09
  
• Hears a submarine sinking somewhere in Asia - S02E01
  
• Hears an attack at an airport - S02E02
  
• Hears an avalanche in Russia - S02E06
  
• Hears a crane breaking in China - S03E01
  
• Can hear a mudslide in Nepal - S03E03
  

Searching

• From Smallville overhears that the US government has found the suspect they are looking for - S01E10
  
• Filters through all the planets noise to find a specific target - S02E03
  
• Recognizes that Lex Luthor is approaching on footsteps alone - S03E12
  
• From orbit finds Lex just by listening - S03E12
  

Other

• Overhears a conversation from Lana Lang and her family - S01E01
  
• Identifies that Sam Lane's car is driving up based on its sound - S01E02
  
• Can basically hear every sound on the planet at once, he's just trained himself to filter out sounds of people in danger - S01E03
  
• Hears sounds from all around the planet - S01E03
  
• Filters through the noise of an entire city - S01E06
  
• Eavesdrops on some soldiers outside of the building he's in - S01E06
  
• Hears the bus pull up to his house - S01E09
  
• Hears an incoming missile - S02E07
  
• Hears a woman's heart beat to know that she is worried - S03E02
  
• Filters through all the sounds across a city - S03E02
  

Smell

• Can smell Jordan's cologne well before anyone of the humans in the house - S02E01
  
• Should be able to smell alcohol on his son if he had anything to drink - S03E11
  

Physicals

Strength

Lifting/Pulling/Pushing

Vehicles

• Early in his career he catches a falling car - S01E01
  
• In a series of news clips is shown lifting a space shuttle and righting a falling smoke stack - S01E01
  
• Lifts a car - S01E01
  
• Stops Steel's ship in motion and pushes it into orbit - S01E02
  
• Lifts up his tractor - S01E03
  
• A compilation of news clips showing Superman lifting part of the a satellite, a large ship and helping a plane fly - S01E05
  
• Catches a falling dump truck - S02E01
  
• Lifts a sinking North Korean Submarine - S02E01
  

Debris

• Casually tosses away some debris - S01E01
  
• Catches a falling truck and collapsing chunk of bridge - S01E03
  
• Catches and lifts a falling flaming tree - S03E04
  

Other

• Lifts a huge chunk of ice - S01E01
  
• Holds up a falling water tower - S02E01
  
• Catches a falling crane - S03E01
  

Striking/Throwing

• [Weakened] Throws a foe far away - S02E10
  
• [Weakened] Hits a foe over the horizon - S02E10
  
• [Young] Throws a toy rocket through the side of a house - S01E01
  
• [Young] As a child the Alt-U Evil Superman punches down/warps a metal door - Earth-Prime #2
  
• Punches through a concrete wall - S01E01
  
• Obliterates Steel, hitting him down into the ground hard enough to create a large crater - S01E02
  
• Craters the ground - S01E02
  
• Punches a guy through a concrete wall - S01E03
  
• Per Steel a blow from Superman is more force than required to destroy a tank - S01E07
  
• Hits a Psuedo Kryptonian to the ground, cracking it - S01E14
  
• Beats on Bizarro and hits him so hard he goes supersonic - S02E04
  
• Sends Bizarro flying back hundreds of feet through multiple buildings - S02E05
  
• Hits Atom Man back, tearing up the ground and destroying a car - S03E09
  
• Hits Doomsday into the Moon creating a huge crater - S03E13
  
• Punches Lobo through a concrete ceiling - Earth-Prime #2
  

Flying Slams

• Pushes Steel through a concrete wall - S01E02
  
• Slams through a wall - S01E03
  
• Bodyslams through a thick re-inforced concrete roof, damage for reference - S01E05
  
• Matches Bizarro's blitz - S02E03
  
• Slams through the top of a building, collapsing one of its walls - S02E05
  
• Breaks through a ton of rock - S02E05
  
• Slams himself and a foe through part of a building, a large concrete highway bridge support pillar and through various walls, floors and pillars in another large building - S03E01
  
• Slams through a concrete roof - S03E03
  
• The shockwaves of his movements are enough to send people flying - S03E03
  
• [Sun-Amp] Slams into Earth hard enough to separate it from Bizarro Earth - S02E15
  

Other

• [Young] Snaps a gun in half - S01E07
  
• Preforms a thunderclap, creating a shockwave with enough force to send people flying - S01E04
  
• Thunderclap sends a guy flying back - S03E05
  
• Breaks out of a ton of ice - S02E05
  

Durability

Blunt Force

Objective - Distance

• [Weakened] Under a red sun takes being hit high into the air and then slammed back down to the ground - S02E10
  
• [Weakened] Takes a hit that sends a car flying off screen - S02E10
  
• Takes a hit from Steel's hammer with enough force to send him flying and crack the ground - S02E04
  

Objective - Moderate Collateral

• Takes a hit from Steel that sends him through a concrete wall and flying back - S01E01
  
• Gets hit to the ground, through part of a building and tearsup the street - S01E01
  
• Is fine after being hit back really far with enough force to send him through/collapse a grain silo - S01E05
  
• Takes a blast that sends him flying back with enough force to warp a van - S01E14
  
• Is fine after a crash landing that tears up the ground - S02E03
  
• Tanks being hit back into a gas truck, and the ensuing explosion - S03E01
  
• Slams through a concrete roof - S03E03
  
• Gets sent through/slams through a concrete wall - S03E05
  
• Withstands a sonic blast that sends him back through a concrete wall - S03E06
  

Objective - Extreme Collateral

• He's fine after being hit through multiple large stone structures by Tal-Rho - S01E10
  
• Slams through the top of a building, collapsing one of its walls - S02E05
  
• Takes being slammed through part of a building, a large concrete highway bridge support pillar and through various walls, floors and pillars in another large building - S03E01
  
• Takes being slammed into a subway system by Doomsday - S03E13
  
• Takes being slammed face first through a ton of brick/concrete pillars - S03E13
  
• While fighting in a subway he survives a hit to the chin that collapses the ceiling - S03E13
  
  • Reference for the collateral - S03E13

Objective - Other

• Withstands sonic blasts that shake the entire city and send him flying miles back - S03E11
  
• Tanks a giant sonic blast that presumably would have leveled a decent chunk of the city - S03E11
  

Scaling

• [Weakened] Takes multiple hits from Steel's Hammer while under red solar radiation - S01E07
  
• [Weakened] Even while weakened by a lot of kryptonite he still withstands a prolonged blast from Onomatopoeia - S03E06
  
• Is fine being hit in the face by Tal-Rho - S01E10
  
• Takes a hit from Steel to the face - S01E12
  
• Is fine after Bizarro counters his body slam and sends him flying back the opposite direction - S02E04
  
• Trades blows with Bizarro - S02E05
  
• Survives a beating from Doomsday - S03E13
  

Piercing

• [Young] As a child the Alt-U Evil Superman has a needle bend against his skin - Earth-Prime #2
  
• Tanks various automatic gunfire - S01E06
  
• Tanks bullets - S01E06
  
• Takes bullets even when notably weakened by an experimental kryptonite bioweapon - S01E09
  

Extreme Temperature

Heat

• [Weakened] Withstands heat vision from a Psuedo Kryptonian, after being exposed to kryptonite - S02E07
  
• Takes the heat and radiation of a melting down nuclear reactor - S01E01
  
  • When he returns with a huge chunk of ice to cool it down, the interior temp is in excess of 2000 C - S01E01
• Tanks a flamethrower - S01E11
  
• Withstands being dunked into lava - S01E15
  
• Withstands his own heat vision - S02E03
  
• Takes Bizarro's heat breath - S02E05
  
• Survives entering the sun, even though his powers aren't working as normal - S02E15
  
• Tanks Doomsday's fire breath - S03E13
  

Cold

• Is fine in the Arctic with minimal winter gear - S01E02
  
• A young Superman is fine in the Arctic/being buried in snow with just a hoodie - S01E11
  
• Is fine after being frozen solid - S02E05
  

Other

• [Weakened] Withstands a red sun missile that has enough force to crater him into the ground - S01E05
  
• Contains a grenades explosion in his hands - S01E11
  
• Withstands pressure that can crush a submarine - S02E01
  
• Flies through an interdimensional portal that requires a special suit to not be torn apart by, and handles it fine - S02E09, - S02E10
  
• Requires a lot of electricity to restart his heart - S02E13
  

Healing

• Rapidly heals from damage - S02E10
  
• Seems to basically instantly heal after krytptonite shrapnel is removed from his body - S02E11
  

Speed

Movement/Flight

General

• Very clearly makes a vapor cone while flying - S01E06
  
• Appears to make vapor cones soon after starting a flying blitz - S02E04
  
• Is significantly faster than Jordan - S03E01
  
• Out flies an explosion - S03E03
  
• Flies faster than Doomsday's fire breath propagates - S03E13
  

Precision

• Runs into a house on fire so fast that no one notices - S01E05
  
• Even when flying at fast speeds can still maneuver through the fortresss - S01E07
  
• Flies into a hospital at superspeed - S02E05
  
• Flies incredibly fast through a cave system, saving people from a wormhole - S02E08
  

Interstate Distances

• Very quickly flies from Metropolis to Smallville - S01E01

Intercontinental Distances

• [Weakened] Quickly returns to orbit, after being stabbed with a kryptonite dagger - S01E01
  
• Quickly flies into orbit - S01E01
  
• Quickly flies from Smallville to the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic - S01E02
  
• Very quickly flies form Samllville to China - S01E03
  
• Quickly flies from Smallville to Mexico - S01E09
  
• Quickly flies form Smallville to some ocean near Asia - S02E01
  
• Flies to Russia to stop an avalanche - S02E06
  
• Quickly flies to China - S03E01'
  
• In seconds flies from orbit to Smallville - S03E12
  

Planetary+ Distances

• [Weakened] On Bizarro Earth flies from the Arctic to Smallville in seconds - S02E10
  
• Flies across an appreciable chunk of the planet very quickly - S01E01
  
• Quickly flies across the planet - S01E12
  
• Flies over various global cities while looking for his son - S01E15
  
  • More of the same search - S01E15
• Flies from the asteroid belt in the time it takes Lois to take a cab cross town - Earth-Prime #2
  
• [Sun Amp] Flies insanely quickly, flying through a portal in space and back in seconds - S02E15
  

Combat

• [Young] Rapidly disarms a foe - S01E05
  
• [Young] Hits a bullet out of the air - S01E05
  
• Abuses his speed against a foe, and couples it with his freeze breath - S01E03
  
• Well after bullets have been fired Superman crosses a room and blocks them before they hit their target - S01E06
  
• After bullets have been fired he crosses a couple of feet and blocks them with his body - S01E06
  
• Blocks a flamethrower after its begun spraying - S01E11
  
• Dodges Bizarro' Jon's flame breath - S02E11
  

Operational (Non-Combat Complex Actions)

• Operates so fast that a bridge falling is viewed as slow by him - S01E03
  
• Very rapidly harvests some corn - S01E05
  
• After a train is derailed, after its rails are warped Superman at superseed uses heat vision to soften the rails, brings them back into position and guides the train back onto the rails before any damage is done - S01E06
  
• Changes out of his Superman costume very quickly - S01E11
  

Other Powers

Heat Vision

• [Weakened] Tears kryptonite bullets out of his chest and then vaporizes them with heat vision - S01E06
  
• Seals a crack in a nuclear reactor - S01E01
  
• Destroys a gun - S01E04
  
• An alt-universe version of him destroys a large chunk of a building with his heat vision - S01E07
  
• A young Superman vaporizes a lot of snow with his heat vision - S01E11
  
• Safely destroys a grenade mid-throw - S01E11
  
• His heat vision slightly damages him - S02E03
  
• Vaporizes an avalanche - S02E06
  
• Precisely vaporizes kryptonite bullets embedded in Tal-Rho - S02E07
  
• Cuts through a door - S03E05
  
• Alt U Evil Superman's heat vision vaporizes people - Earth-Prime #2
  

Freeze Breath

• Freezes a large chunk of water - S01E01
  
• Freezes a guy solid - S01E01
  
• Quickly extinguishes a large fire - S01E05
  
• Instantly extinguishes a fire - S01E05
  
• Counters a flamethrower - S01E11
  
• Freezes a lot of water to support a falling water tower - S02E01
  
• Stops an avalanche by creating a wall of ice - S02E06
  
• Freeze breath freezes through a solid wall - S03E05
  
• Uses a combination of flight and breath to cancel out a tornado - S03E12
  
• Freezes Doomsday solid - S03E13
  

Fights

• [Weakened] Does well vs a Psuedo-Kryptonian Soldier despite having been doused with an experimental kryptonite bio weapon - S01E08
  
• Vs. Steel - S01E02
  
• Vs. A remotely piloted Steel - S01E02
  
• Vs Steel while mind controlled - S01E12
  
• Easily beats some Psuedo-Kryptonians - S01E15
  
• Vs. Bizarro - S02E05
  
• Defeats some soldiers while depowered by red solar radiation - S02E06
  
• Beats a mercenary who can phase - S03E05
  
• Matches Atom Man in a short fight - S03E09
  
• Fights Doomsday: Pt 1, Pt 2 - S03E13
  

I discovered Fontaines thanks to the last Arctic Monkeys tour and now they are one of my most listened to bands.
It seems like they have been growing quite fast since then, what with signing to XL as well as their latest project being produced by James Ford.
How and when did you find out about Fontaines D.C.?
How big do you think they will get in the near future?