Hey everyone! I work for a queer Youth organization in a small Canadian community that's looking to expand the amount of zines we have available for our kids. Recently, our director has seen the impact that zines and zines creation has had on our community, and we were wondering if any of the talented 2SLGBTQIA+ Zinesters on this reddit would be interested in sharing their zines with our library.
As we are a non-profit organization that focuses on helping the queer community, we realize that many creators cannot afford to digitize, send, or donate their zines, free of cost, to a rural community in what may be a completely different part of the world. That said, if you wish to contribute but cannot afford to donate your hard work, please consider sending us a link in the comments to your Etsy, Itch.io, or similar zine storefront! We cannot guarantee that we will purchase from every store as we're working on a shoestring budget for this project, but we will definitely consider buying any zines that we think would be a good fit for our community. We are also willing to trade some of our digital zines as well!
Some basic criteria for those interested:

• Zines should be age appropriate for our audience--we serve youths aged 12-25, so please keep that in mind in regards to zine content and language.
• While the zines can be about any topic, ones that center around self-love/care, queer stories, anti-racist or BIPOC/AAPI experiences, and perzines are especially welcome.
• We prefer any free zines to, if possible, be digitized and printable in order to save cost--what we do as zine makers is an art, and we don't expect anyone generous enough to donate that art to pay for shipping.
• Please let us know if you would allow us to make copies of your zines for free distribution! Some times kids like the zines so much they want to take a copy home, but we realize that many artists are not comfortable with that, and we will always respect your wishes.

If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to message me here on reddit, message The Youth Project on facebook, or email my supervisor at [madonna@youthprojectsociety.ca](mailto:madonna@youthprojectsociety.ca) .
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, whether or not you decide to participate!

Some notes that MIGHT be helpful if you’re planning on replacing a battery yourself. If there’s any extra tips or corrections, please lmk in the comments:
• Don’t use plastic tool when attempting to ply apart iPod - a thin flat metal tool (ex: New Elite Obsolete Electronics Jimmy Metal Opening Tool Flat).
• Don’t ply the Ipod apart starting near the 30 pin outlet - instead begin on the upper right corner near where the securing clips are. Go gently downward and a switch will release the case apart quicker. Avoid the left side of the iPod and especially near the aux outlet.
• When you finally separate both sides, don’t rip the battery ribbon wire attached. Carefully and mindfully open the iPod apart like a book. Be aware of the hard drive ribbon wire still attached to the other side. You can remove it too but not necessary.
• When disconnecting ribbon wire connected to old battery, don’t use pliers to remove or snap in new battery. While wearing plastic gloves, carefully and slowly pinch the end of the ribbon wire out to remove.
• Make sure for IPod Classic 7 Gen has the thin battery - 160 gb 580mAh (not sure how many volts)
• When removing the battery, use a plastic small lever, while holding down the ribbon wires surrounding the area near and underneath. Be aware of the ribbon wire under the battery and try not to be aggressive when separating old battery from adhesive. Try starting from the top. Discard.
• Remove adhesive from new battery and gently place. Then softly apply pressure to the ribbon wire and using your gloved hand place back in the connecter at the bottom right corner.
• Make sure to adjust clips to be properly placed back in tact.
• Apply hand pressure to sides of ipod back to make it fits better.
• If both sides of iPod won’t stay together, use a special glue and let dry for 24 hours.
• When opening ipod, you can use a printable guide to show where’s what inside, like the side clips.

Background: The Path of Distant Starlight was created to solve the problem that has plagued many sacred artists: a lack of natural strength. The path's techniques are almost entirely high range and movement oriented. Followers of this path are renowned for their ability to escape near any close-quarters situation and are considered quite annoying to fight.
Iron Body: Rain Drop Iron Body. With their incredible speed, the Rain Drop Iron Body is needed to ensure that the sacred artist can react quickly enough to their own movements in combat.
Jade Cycling: The Great Filter. By cycling their madra in a similar pattern to the script found on parasite rings, the sacred artist turns their own madra channels into a great filter, which burns away impurities in their madra and increases its potency. Many on this path are mistaken for higher advancement after continued use of this technique, though this requires constant dedication.
Goldsign: The Distant Starlight goldsign is a glowing ring around each of their limbs.
Techniques: Flashing Starlight-(Enforcer): The sacred artist infuses their body with madra, allowing them to move and accelerate at extremely high speeds. Visually, this technique presents itself as a glowing aura around the individual. The technique is widely considered inefficient, but can be sufficiently powered with high potency madra from the Great Filter, allowing its effectiveness in combat.
Shooting Stars-(Striker): The sacred artist conjures small, glowing orbs of madra and accelerates them to highly velocities towards their target. The result looks almost identical to that of a shooting star in the night sky. The attack is slightly more forged than normal, allowing for longer range use at the cost of build up. With their high potency madra and high speed, however, the orbs deliver a heavy blow to their targets.
Raining Starlight-(Forger): The sacred artist forges a small star of Madea over their opponent's head, able to hold it there and supply it madra until they decided to release it. The result is a spear of densely packed high power light madra that can spear through even relatively thick layers of gold steel. This technique however takes time to build to its maximum potential and is prone to being undone by others on light or pure madra paths.
The Falling Sun-(Ruler): Using a difficult method to gather large quantities of light aura, the sacred artist forms a large mass of energy above the battlefield. The technique requires soulfire to hold together and as such can only be used by peak truegolds or higher individuals. Upon impact, the light madra and aura are released freely in a chaotic explosion, decimating a wide area. This technique is less useful for fighting individuals, and is more often used in fighting larger forces or even clearing land for some other use. It is of course at its peak efficiency in direct sunlight and must be supplemented with extra madra in other situations.
Current Status: While the Path of Distant Starlight is most commonly practiced by individual sacred artists rather than any sort of Family or Clan, these individuals maintain an informal alliance with each other to ensure the path's continued existence. Each member of this alliance must take at least one disciple as per their agreement, allowing them to expand the path's reach and notoriety across Cradle. So far, their most advanced individual is an Archlord on the Rosegold continent who has recently joined the ranks of the Arelius army.

I need help as a new GM to PF2e. I knew the 5e system pretty much backwards and forwards so making homebrew was easy but I have almost no experience with this system. The following is a homebrew background important to my world and a player had it in the last system so I'd like advice on porting it over or perhaps backgrounds close enough to use instead.
Background: Dreamer
Overview: The Dreamers are a rare and mystical group of individuals in Ortalon who still possess the unique ability to have dreams. These dreams, believed to be echoes from the Void or remnants of the True Gods' power, are thought to provide glimpses into potential futures, lost histories, and hidden truths. Dreamers are often sought after by scholars, mages, and rulers alike, for their possible insights into the major events of Ortalon.
Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Arcana / Languages: One language of your choice / Tool Proficiencies: Herbalism kit / Equipment: A set of common clothes, a journal for recording dreams, an herbalism kit, a small vial of psyke (a drug thought to aid in recalling dreams), and a pouch containing 10 gp.
Feature: Your prophetic dreams grant you an uncanny ability to perceive truths hidden from others. You can use this feature to gain advantage on any Wisdom (Insight) or Intelligence (Investigation) check made to discern hidden details or to recall lore about places or events that have appeared in your dreams.

Background

Toronto's annual naked bike ride is around the corner. The event is intended as a protest against oil dependency, promoting cycling and body positivity. The group (aka, anyone wishing to join in) cycles naked through the heart of the city, chanting slogans like "less gas, more ass". The news of its return this coming Saturday brings mixed reactions.

Full Thread

Highlights:

1.

Remember when they used the bike share bikes? How gross was that!?

I mean honestly people's hands are likely far more disgusting in terms of germs and bacteria than their butt cheeks and balls.

2.

North America has a weird thing about sexualizing all nudity. Seriously, who the fuck care. All y'all getting outraged at this need to seriously chill TF out.

General expectation is to not interact with nudity in public places. You can feel whatever way you want about it but western society generally does not want to see a bunch of exhibitionists riding dick out downtown and it be simply tolerated because of “inclusion” or any other BS cause they are going for

Why don’t you just mind your own business?

3.

naked people riding past parks and schools with children playing...But yeah being upset at naked bodies near school children is a problem? Makes all the sense in the world.

4.

I don’t see why it’s necessary, like there’s camps and beaches for being naked and away from eye. But then they allow them to do this, they might aswell just allow them to do it all year around. Like I understand why it’s fun to naked and doing things you wouldn’t normally do naked, but doing those things especially in a heart of a city I’d say is unnecessary. It goes for people in the pride parades too, people bring their kids to that don’t be naked. Like you can be prideful without having to tie a ballon around your millimeter Peter to show it. I am straight but go to pride parades a lot for my friends and family who are in the community and its just a shock to see that, especially when I was young and went to my first in Toronto when I was 12 I was wayyy too immature back then

5.

Yeah this is absolutely disgusting. Nobody wants to see this.

Well it's been going on for 20 years.

19 years, 11 months, 2 weeks and 2 days isthe amount of time when USA pulled out of Afghanistan, if the USA wasted 2 trillion and left behind billions in military equipment the nudist can most certainly stop biking in Toronto and go to actual camps for nudist

6.
Small side drama about taking photos at nude beaches

I'm a nudist but wouldn't be naked in an uncontrolled space like a city where children are around. Hanlan beach yes. Side-note: clothed people at hanlan can fuck right off. especially those who take pictures of those naked or themselves with naked people in the background. Edit: ITT: creeps that take a whole ass BOAT and WALK 2 KILOMETERS to find one of two only tiny nude spots in the COUNTRY at the very edge of Toronto, past dozens of clothed beaches telling me they're not creeps.

Been working on a concept for a one-shot or mini campaign that takes place in the final hours of Cael Morrow before its destruction. Set against the backdrop of the battle between Alyxian and Gruumsh, a small team of trusted members of the royal court are tasked finding a way to preserve the city. The king/queen/regent of the city is not confident in their chances against Gruumsh and, riddled with doubt, uses a mysterious ancient technology, the Paradoxicon, to alter time/fate/realtiy itself. Players take on the roles of Court mages, quartermasters, royal guards, etc. and must compelte a ritual before time runs out.
Opening scene. Players are fighting a battle against a horde of orcs in the Sanctum of the Arch Heart where they have placed the Paradoxicon, a quartz-like dodecahedron. In the course of the battle the relic is damaged and explodes in white light.
Players wake up hours earlier as the ruler of the city gives a speech to calm the crowds, telling them to put thier faith in the gods. They have a strange sense of Dejavu as they are now caught in a time loop. The group is summoned and quickly learn that the ruler does not hold the faith they espoused moments earlier. They are tasked with performing a ritual, given instructions on who to see about the Paradoxicon, and where to take it. What ensues is a race against time to comelete the ritual with various things triggering another time reset, mainly damage to the relic and the clock ticking to the final blow dealt by Gruumsh.
Over the course of the loops the players will learn a few interesting things:

• Ludinus Daleth has a connection to the ruler, perhaps a romantic interest (providing some reasoning behind his desire to destroy the gods a century later.
• (obviously) The paradoxicon is a Luxon beacon and ultimately they need to channel enough power into it to make the ritual work. This could open up an a moral dilemma around using Alyxian to channel the power of the jewl of three prayers to power the ritual.
• The actions of the players and this ultimate result of this ritual will not save the city, but will help save Marquet and play a pivotal role in creation of a demiplane which would eventually become the Netherdeep.

That's where I'm at, I am working out the ritual requirements, etc. Any other ideas or suggestions are welcome.

First Previous Wiki
Paizma stood in front of Edu'frec and Gaia. Both of them had grim looks on their faces. She'd been briefed on what they expected of her but worried over exactly what could go wrong. The age of the object was the first problem. The second was that it had some fourth-dimensional properties, like herself.
That meant it could damage her, which she didn't want to deal with. Damage could mean collapse or death, since she might actually be attacked. Paizma pulled in some of the three dimensional matter in the area from an asteroid a few billion miles away.
The extra material fattened her tail, increasing her reserves. The extra weight didn't show in the form she presented before the two, though. Despite that, Edu'frec's brows rose. It seemed he really could monitor her partially in the fourth dimension, which meant he might be accompanying her along the way.
"So is it doable?" Gaia asked again. The young concept entity looked worried. Paizma supposed that made sense since Gaia had named themself after an old word for Earth. And with the planet threatened, they were worried.
Paizma could see it in the subtle shaking of Gaia's hands and the posture they kept, which wasn't as proud as usual. Paizma wondered where Brey was.
"She's making additional preparations for the Psychic Investment Plan," Edu'frec said.
"What?" both of them asked.
"Paizma was wondering where Brey was."
"I don't like my mind being read."
"I can't read your mind, I just predict it," Edu'frec shrugged.
"Are you really going to be like this?" asked Paizma irritably. She inflated her form, increasing its size and height to exceed that of the android. More matter poured in, which Paizma regulated. She missed John already. But keeping two avatars in this way was taxing on her reserves. Plus, he was sleeping.
"Whatever. I am going to take a short look, that is all for now. Do you have your devices ready?" Paizma asked, shimmering with psychic energy. She mustered the force in the third dimension.
"Yes."
She moved it to the fourth. An invisible and massive body surrounding her curled and lashed out, up, and through reality. The vibrations came with a single android in its wake. He made a small mental connection to her, the only way to talk clearly for him in this space.
Paizma took him down to the approximate location of Earth. In the mindscape, it was a nexus of incredible power in two ways. The first was a mere blip, which was the alien facility they were so concerned about. It was sending out a constant pulse of power, as well as a thinner modulated one.
The second nexus of power was the Source. While it didn't really correspond purely to Earth in the third dimension, higher locations were different. With the fourth coordinate point, the Source sat almost directly below the facility. It opened a great eye.
Psychic power smashed into Paizma, then pulled back. The massive weight of the Source pressed her down and out, without moving at all. The psychic energy swirling around it was so immense she could barely survive it. All from its eye opening to look at her. The power of its gaze would have cooked her flesh, if that was possible in this dimension. Instead, the atoms shifted and moved, growing and shrinking in the fourth dimensional equivalent of temperature changes.
And then the eye closed. The nexus of power that was the Source buried itself deeper and lower, where she could still see it. But the swirling array of psychic energy was mostly drawn downward and inward, along with glimmers of darker things Paizma knew better than to pursue. She checked that Edu'frec had survived.
So far, he had. Paizma disgorged him from her mouth, so they could look at the object in Earth. Paizma shared what she was with him. The image was massive, bloating their connection to a large degree. She could see thousands of processors work on deciphering her sight, and then the connection narrowed again.
Now he understood.
"I won't be able to see anything myself," Edu'frec admitted. "You'll have to share your sight."
"How does it feel?"
"Immense. This would definitely break a weaker and smaller mind than mine. Do you filter it, or is this the natural vision?"
"I can expand it, if you can handle it."
"I certainly can. I'd like to see all I can. Can you show me the view you have of the facility from 'above' please?"
"Yes," Paizma said. She moved him closer and around the top. The facility's walls partially stretched to block her sight, but not entirely. She drifted closer, moving in and around. Slices of Earth's crust and mantle popped up in her vision, along with an increasing whole of the facility. With her higher dimensionality, she didn't just see the inside of the facility. She saw all of it, light or not, exposed or not. She saw everything inside the walls, everything on and around the walls, and every single atom within.
Her connection with Edu'frec swelled to fifty million times its normal size. Programs filed away the data neatly into an almost infinite quantum memory. They noted a small siphon of psychic energy from the facility, which seemingly connected downward somewhere.
Paizma followed it, searching and sniffing out everything she could. Something attacked her, throwing Edu'frec out and away. The connection between them snapped.
She moved back, feeling something dig into her side. She let off a flash of psychic energy, and a thousand more of them appeared. She recognized them, too. Reavers.
She lifted herself back to the third dimension, becoming too small for them to detect properly. Her real body appeared above Earth, thrashing for a moment before she steadied herself. She shrunk back down to her normal size and met up with Edu'frec and Gaia again. The android she'd left was rubbing its head.
"What happened?" Gaia asked.
"This was a military research facility for the Sprilnav faction you seem to be from. I think they might still exist, or their guardians do."
"What would that mean?"
"An extreme danger to all of you, if you poke the facility. But the same if you leave it be, now that it is active."
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The Council Director weathered the silence in the virtual meeting, which Phoebe had called upon reestablishing contact with Penny. Penny was wearing battle armor and had a distinctly cold aura about her. Juan had felt a shiver when first witnessing her, and the hivemind, through him, analyzed her appearance.
She looked incredibly angry. Clearly, something had eaten away at her, and she'd gained even more psychic energy in the process. Her skin glimmered with it.
"I'm sorry," Blistanna said, looking at the hologram Phoebe was projecting of Penny. "Can you repeat that? I mean, it almost sounds like you started a war against the Sprilnav in the middle of a Judgment by the same species that determines whether we all live or die. Surely I misheard."
Beside her, a Skira drone turned to gaze at the Guulin with an inscrutable expression. Penny took the question in stride, her firm demeanor not lessening like it usually would when confronted by her allies.
Something's definitely changed, Juan thought.
"You did not," Penny said. "The gangs enslaves billions of innocents, and they killed my friend. So they will be wiped from the planet."
"Perhaps you aren't getting with the program," Izkrala added. The matronly Acuarfar stood in her seat, her wings flapping involuntarily. The Empress was incredibly upset, but keeping it contained. But even she couldn't keep the slightest of a buzz out of her voice. "We actually need to win this Judgment, Penny Balica."
"Elder culture works differently," Penny said. "By declaring an official war, I will be capable of garnering more respect among their people and their elite class. I will show that I can and do act within their rules, artificial or stupid they may seem to all of us. I understand I've been playing it fast and loose beyond the Alliance, but I am not your slave. None of you have any true right to order me around. I am taking steps to help the Alliance in my own way, and that may be counter to your opinions."
"Well then," Dilandekar said. "Her ideas are set. It appears ours are as well. The recourse in this situation is clear. Penny currently has an Alliance citizenship, and is still subject to our laws. While no law exists to incarcerate her, and she hasn't done anything truly worthy of that, there is still the possibility of treason charges. Or, perhaps, stripping her of Alliance citizenship."
"That is a poor idea," Juan said. "I will not stand by and allow that. She is a member of Humanity and a citizen of Luna. Before the Alliance, and after the Alliance, if there is such a thing. While your outrage is shared by me, you must recognize the situation. Penny is what links us to Kashaunta in truth. She is also the one actually going to the Judgment. Given the lawyers and legal analysts that Kashaunta has access to, do you really presume this would harm her so massively in the Judgment? We could call down Kashaunta herself to have this discussion, though I am loath to breach the security status of these meetings to do so. But the presumption that she has no plan is one that I find objectionable."
"Of course you would defend this," President Iontona said. "She is your kind."
"Yes, I would, not only because of that, but because she actually is doing exactly what we want. Getting rid of slavery is a good thing. She has an Elder in her head, too. Do you really think she's entirely out of control, merely because she doesn't wish to be controlled right now by us? To the Sprilnav, she is the weapon, not us. All we can do is look divided and weak to make them want to overlook us. And who knows. If you don't like the way we do things, you can continue your internal discussions on whether this is worth it for you."
Juan stared at the wanderer, his unhappiness clear.
"What are you referring to?" Blistanna asked.
"They plan to cut and run," Izkrala said. "If it looks like we'll lose the Judgment. That's what he's upset about. Granted, I was pissed when I heard of it, because of all the trouble we've gone through to try and help you."
"What trouble have you gone through, Izkrala? You sit on your ass and eat all day. All of us wanderers are looking at death because of your human, even more so than the painful cancer the Sprilnav already cursed us with. She's the one who garnered the anger of Yasihaut. You want to know why we want to run? It's because of their sadism. What's to say that they don't put a cancer gene in all of you, or make ours even more excruciating? I have stood at the side of thousands of hospital beds, watching my people wither away. Each ship is looking at resorting to different things. But for you to sit here and pretend you know the fear we're facing is the height of arrogance, disrespect, and rudeness. I will not stand for this. The Sprilnav are going to roll over us if they choose. Penny is nothing to them, and we are nothing to them. They don't care. They're all evil alien animals, which would gladly feast on all our bones if they happened to taste good. This ludicrous idea of provoking them that the Council Director appears to support is exactly why these conversations are happening in the Wanderer Confederacy."
"Look, I know you all want to argue," Penny said. "But really, we should try to be united on this."
"Oh? How will you help with that, then? Perhaps by abandoning another agreement to help us with our cancer? Maybe making more of them, even? I'm sure you can tell us all what unity looks like. Go ahead. Look me in the eyes, and tell me I'm wrong for wanting what's best for my people."
Penny strode over to him. "You don't know what's best for your people."
"See? She-"
"You presume that because you are the President, that you somehow are more capable of understanding the needs of your species. You are a politician more than a person. Everyone here is. Do not forget what the Sprilnav have done to you, but remember that things are different now. We do have the backing of Kashaunta. That is a boon that few nations have possessed in the past. I have power that they respect, so they respect me in turn, or respect my power. Why complain that I am not here to complete my end of the deal when I am actually fighting for the Alliance? The ideas of freedom and liberty are not things to be tossed aside when convenient. I am not trying to insult you. I am trying to understand why you are so upset with me, when this is according to the plan of a Sprilnav elite of the highest order. Kashaunta needs me for my power, so she would tell me which actions are the most beneficial to my position. The same would apply to your position, which is linked to my identity among the Sprilnav. The Progenitors are a non-issue now."
"Considering that they are the gods of all civilization, they are hardly a non-issue."
Penny smiled. "I beat the absolute tar out of Twilight a while back. So yes, they are a non-issue."
"I think it is time to continue the heart of the discussion," Fyuuleen said. "Penny, you need to actually consult us on these things before you do them. While we can't tell you off like a mother Vuureensleev, we still are the rulers of the Alliance. If you don't respect us, who can you respect?"
"The people who put their money where their mouth is. You're not here, dealing with a dead friend. You're there, dealing with passing laws, catching spies, and signing bills. While yes, that job is important, it isn't nearly as stressful as being surrounded by aliens, and only knowing few of them. I can't make friends here without them being killed. There's a war across the planet right now, and I've freed tens of millions of slaves. The Judgment is in one day, and I've been preparing for that, too. I can't really say that I haven't been doing anything right."
"I understand, Conclave Leader. Recent days have been... difficult for me. Perhaps as a war veteran, you can understand my mindset right now. I know that you all expect to serve as some sort of oversight on me. I am willing to accept that, but your advice needs to be useful. Insulting me over avenging my friend is not the path to reconciliation. Nilnacrawla is telling me to keep your interests in my mind, and I am. But I will listen, not bow. I am not a soldier. I am not a general, or a commander. I am not part of any chain of command. I will ask Elder Kashaunta to establish better contact with you all, and will have Phoebe relay reports of what is going on. I do not plan to begin any major offensives before the Judgment."
"You do not think capturing a city is a major offensive?" Izkrala asked.
"Not compared to capturing hundreds of them," Penny said. "I am the Liberator. That means that I am fighting for everyone."
"But fighting for the Sprilnav is a waste of your time, effort, and talent," Iontona said.
"They are people too," Penny said. "This mentality of us and them is what has destroyed every nation of our kind before us. We need to accept that we need Sprilnav allies to win this war. To turn their strength against them, I must help them too. Kashaunta is a brutal despot, but she is fair in her rule, as much as many of you. She has fought wars of grander scale, which necessitates larger death tolls."
"You are not here to play defense for Kashaunta. You are here because you are threatening our future with your antics."
"I know," Penny said. "But my actions will have a positive impact, not a negative one. We have a plan in place to exploit the traps Yasihaut will seek to set. We have lawyers capable of defending us. I know you do not trust me, not truly. But that is acceptable. I will not let us lose this Judgment."
"And if you do?"
"There are plans in place for that, as well. The nuclear option is not something I will talk about now, and will only discuss if things get far worse."
"Very well, Penny," Fyuuleen said. "Do what you must."
"If you don't, billions of people will die," Iontona added.
Penny nodded again. "That weighs on me every day."
She left the meeting. The rest of them followed. Juan led Blistanna aside before she exited.
"What is it? I have things to do."
"Yes, we all do. But I wish to know what suggestions you have. I can tell that you are upset, and I believe it would be better for me to present your ideas to her."
"It is not anger at her, not really. I am upset that we have to forgo freeing slaves because of the Judgment. I am angry that it might endanger our own freedom and continued survival, because of this situation that has been concocted. Most of all, I am angry because they can just do this again and again. Nothing stops them. The Sprilnav have us at our throats, without having to lift a claw. All with one court case. They can just arbitrarily decide to kill us, and there's nothing we can do."
Blistanna's tentacles shook with anger. Her skin was paled in distress, and she stared at the place Penny had left. "Truth be told, maybe she's doing it right. But the politics of all of this is just nasty. Iontona's a coward, Dilandekar's cold, and Izkrala is too angry over the principle instead of the situation. We can't have more of these sorts of National Exchanges, Juan. If we do, we'll either drive Penny away entirely or rip ourselves apart. Maybe that's what the Sprilnav want. The more we bicker and argue, the worse it all gets. This is exactly how nations crumble."
"So we need to do something about it, then," Juan said.
"What grand idea do you have for this one? I hope it's not bringing Earth into this. They'll really tear it apart."
"No. We need an outward facing front. So what we need to do is push the youth against the leaders that are problematic, or the ideas that are. We showcase this division on the national stage, plug it with Phoebe's propaganda, and those in power will be forced to look like they're working together. The resentment won't last. We can get Kashaunta on board, if possible."
"Bad idea. She only speaks to her own interests."
"Not entirely," Juan said. "Tell me, what do you know about Sprilnav Soul Blades?"
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Penny watched the massive doors of the Fort Court swing open. Hundreds of thousands of guns, lasers, and missiles fixed upon her as she gently walked forward. The facility was mostly bare bones, with high amounts of alloy and stone visible in the upper layers. But at the lower levels, there was a large amount of holograms showing various symbols and golden overlays. It reminded her of the patterns on lace.
The Court was twenty miles tall, larger than a mountain. Even the doors went up for nearly two miles. They swung using unknown means, letting a second layer of sunlight fall upon the hardened floor.
Behind Penny was her own entourage. The Refined Elders, Pundacrawla, Phoebe, Kashaunta, and a few of her retainers were followed by guards, a thick shield, and several Correctors. But not just them. In a gradually widening triangle, tens of thousands of freed slaves also followed.
Penny had explained what she planned to Kashaunta to get this to happen, and the Elder enthusiastically accepted. While they would not be let within a certain radius of the Court, and their camps were widely spaced to prevent hiding anything of interest to the security, it would help to show the support Penny had of the people.
They were already tailgating. Music played from alien boom boxes and even a band Kashaunta had hired. Guides and security drones watched from afar but had already ensured the security threat would be minimal.
There were shields in place to prevent anything serious. In the distance, smoke from the dormant volcano the Court was built atop rolled out of specialized vents. The Sprilnav apparently could control when volcanoes erupted, which wasn't surprising to Penny once she'd learned of it. The Court was gigantic, and there would need to be a lot of stability for it to exist for as long as it had.
Inside, the chamber was circular. The Court was shaped like the Coliseum, complete with some pillar designs that held up the area where the High Judges were sitting. The twenty seats had been prepared ahead of time, and featured holograms below them on the sheer wall that supported them above the columns. The holograms read out various names in both Justicar Standard Script and in English.
Penny could see the High Judges themselves, but her gaze went to the 'empty' stands. The only people inside were either Guides, Correctors, or holograms of spectators. The holograms had a distinct unrealistic orange glow, probably some security apparatus.
Two house-sized tents were in the center, separated by a black and purple painted line. Above the line was a triple layer of shields: one yellow, one purple, and another yellow. The purple shield was so strong that Penny couldn't sense anything on the other side. It also surrounded her half of the Court in a bubble that met the ground in the same painted lines, suggesting that the shield went underground. The mindscape dropped away as soon as Penny crossed the threshold behind the massive doors.
The Court quieted. Millions of eyes, real or not, were all fixed upon Penny's waist. When Penny had passed the purple barrier, the Soul Blade had appeared on her hip. Penny didn't react, continuing to move forward to reach the Defendant's Booth. She could faintly see the Challenger's Booth on the other side through the shield.
Yasihaut had entered the Court first, as was tradition. Clearly, Justicar had decided to limit the contact between them. A sound decision. Penny didn't want to have to see her anymore.
The thick shields became more transparent, revealing Yasihaut's delegation. Elders and various Sprilnav, all wearing conceptual power blocking armor, stood in front of the Challenger's booth. The eerie silence soon ended when an Elder stood. Justicar wore an incredibly elaborate armor set, with designs that looked a lot like lace.
"In the name of Justicar, this Court is brought to order. I am High Judge Justicar. I am one of the 20 presiding High Judges over this case, appointed in this role by my birthright. This is the 4th day of the 18th year of the 803rd Age of Justicar. Let the record reflect that this trial's start time is exactly midday."
Justicar's imperious expression passed over them.
"Now, with that out of the way, I shall introduce the Challenger and Defendant, along with their submitted arguments for this Judgment. In summary, Challenger Elder Yasihaut, 1st Named in the Everlasting, has opened this Judgment claiming that the Defendant and her home nation, the Sol Alliance, should be classified as Class 9 Hostile Alien Threat and Class 7 Hostile Alien Threats, respectively.
The justification she provides for this is that the Sol Alliance hosts two psychic-variant AIs, has shown a willingness and future interest in attacking the Sprilnav people, and the capacity to carry out a destructive attack against Sprilnav civilians. Additionally, she claims that the influence of the Defendant has grown to a state unmanageable by any other party, including both the Elders and the Progenitors due to the backing of Elder Kashaunta. She claims the Defendant is capable of mass-casualty terrorist attacks and has shown continued interest in killing Sprilnav, with no regard for civilian lives lost in the process.
She claims the Defendant's conceptual and psychic power represents an active and severe danger to her life and those of her friends and family, the Defendant is disrupting the current order, and is conspiring with Elder Kashaunta to assassinate her enemies by illegal means. The sentence the Challenger requests as a result of this Judgment is the execution of every current member of the Sol Alliance, as well as the execution of the Defendant immediately upon the conclusion of the case by Conceptual Suffering doses. She cites Judgment 1826 of the 9th day of the 7th year of the 803rd Age, Judgment 662 of the 336th day of the 93rd year..."
As Justicar continued talking, Penny looked at Yasihaut, who smiled smugly back.
The death penalty, Penny thought. How fitting, considering what I will do to her.
"...the 28300th year of the 730th Age. It is important to note that this Trial by Majority will not only determine the guilt or innocence of the Defendant but also the means of the sentence within the realms of law according to the severity of the possible sentence found. It is also important to note that this Judgment will be the final matter between Elder Yasihaut and Penny Balica that will be approved for 30 years. An appeal of this decision will not be allowed, as this trial is of the highest jurisdiction possible, and I am already a High Judge involved in its arbitration. No lower courts or extraplanetary courts may argue this issue again for the same 30 year period, or sanctions will be placed on the offending party with extreme prejudice."
"The Defendant is Penny Balica, a human from the Sol Alliance with the title of Liberator, Champion of Humanity, and... holder of a Pact of Blades with Elder Kashaunta, 1st Named in the Everlasting."
He allowed for the proper amount of time for people to absorb the sentence.
"The Defendant has opened a counter case, suggesting that the Challenger is misrepresenting the Sol Alliance and herself as a threat to the Sprilnav, citing her cooperation with Elder Kashaunta, the Alliance's cooperation with the Van family, and her record of following and upholding treaties with Elders. Furthermore, she has opened a counter case, suggesting that the public statements the Challenger has published fall against the Justicar Defamation Law, notably Sections 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 20, 46, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 154, 155, 162, 177, 192, 201, and sixty-seven others, and is requesting 2 billion credits and a 30 year censure on public statements from the Challenger and affiliated parties on the Defendant."
"Now that the stakes of this Judgement are laid out, I will instruct the parties in this case on decorum, as neither of them are Justicar natives. The Court expects that the Defendant and the Challenger will hold to the rules of decorum, as will their company. The Court also wishes to avoid unfortunate incidents, so it has hired Progenitors Filnatra and Arneladia to uphold the security of the Court."
"It is also important to note that this Court is backed by the full might of the Elders of Justicar, the Status Quo Party, the Sprilnav Freedom Party, the Justice and Security Party, Elder Lilliana, Elder Napei, Elder Mashae, Elder Aryacrawla, Elder Nulyihaut, Elder Poleia, Elder Crissi, Elder Olei'paushe'ani, Elder Taubelibelibax, Elder Somalia, Elder Aneyti, Elder Wuseniau'palacrawla se Hautni'pelshinomalia, Elder Commu nar Galvi, Elder Commu nar Jelpha, Elder Radia, Elder Hwe'iaspehaut, Elder Maggracrawla, Elder Tishaunt'pali, Elder Kashaunta, and the Progenitors. Its legitimacy is their legitimacy."
Some of those names were downright hilarious. Penny kept her face straight. Justicar said basically the exact same thing Tassidonia had said weeks back.
"I shall instruct the parties of the rules of decorum. High Judges within this room are to be referred to either as 'High Judge' or 'Elder.' No other names or titles apply, with the exception of Progenitor Indrafabar, who is allowed his aforementioned title. No parties may threaten or influence the Challenger or the Defendant and their retinues. Camera drones and other news equipment are to be kept outside the main court chamber the allotted section at all times, unless the express verbal permission of at least 6 High Judges is given to allow a specific instance.
The Challenger and Defendant are to remain on their given sides of the shield, though they may be required to exit their booths upon request. They are not to engage in any actions construed as attacks upon their counterparts under any circumstances. Challenger Yasihaut and Defendant Balica may request breaks to consume food or water within reason.
The booths are equipped with bathrooms compatible with human and Sprilnav physiology, and the Challenger and Defendant are both allowed to declare their retirement to a bathroom and enter it for a period of 1000 pulses, or 1020 human seconds, which is also 17 minutes. Challenger Yasihaut and Defendant Balica are allowed to use Justicar-provided lawyers or may utilize those they have brought here today to assist with their arguments.
These conditions will not be changed by petition from either claimant but only upon the agreement of 16 High Judges and the condition of necessity to the point of impeding the progression of the Judgment.
Devices are to remain within booths unless they are direct admissible evidence in the case. Furthermore, they are to be silenced to prevent any interruptions. Documents to be displayed will be given to the Guides or Correctors standing by both booths. These documents will be shown to the entire Court with translations in both Justicar Standard Script and Post Modern North American English."
Justicar stepped back and moved to his seat. Progenitor Indrafabar stood and moved to the podium.
"Do either of you request additional clarifications on the rules of the Court? If so, indicate it verbally."
His voice was almost hypnotic. Penny resisted the effect. "I wish to know the punishments for violating these terms so both of us have an impetus not to."
Microphones carried her voice to the ears of everyone inside the Court, as if she was right next to their ears, with remarkable quality for such a massive room. Penny wondered if shields were aiding in the sonic feedback.
"This would have been stated in the next section of this proceeding, but I shall say it now for the Court. The punishments will vary based on the severity of the infraction. For this case, under the authority of Justicar, we have decided to fully reinstate Section 4 of the Justicar Common Case Conduct Law. It states the following:
'When any contempt is committed in the immediate view and presence of the Court, the Court may punish it summarily by fine, or imprisonment, or both. If any contempt occurs outside the immediate view and presence of the Court, the Court may levy the same punishments as before after an opportunity for defense has been given. Punishment for Contempt of a Judge, High Judge, or their Court will result in a 1% fine of the violating party's assets, 10-day imprisonment, a rescheduling of the hearing, a published apology to the aggrieved party, an update of their legal record to reflect the fact, and 4 days of community service. If the alleged misconduct has caused an actual loss or injury to any person, the Court shall order the offending party to pay the aggrieved party a sufficient sum to indemnify them, in addition to the other penalties that may be imposed. The payment and acceptance of this sum is an absolute bar to any action by the aggrieved party to recover damages for the loss or injury.'
The full law section is provided below. If either party wishes to read the law, time shall be allotted within reason. Express the decision verbally. When you are finished, you may give the tablet back to your assigned Guide."
"I wish to read the law," Penny said.
"I wish to view the law," Yasihaut said.
Guides carried a tablet to both of them. The display was purplish, and it had a hologram feature available upon selection. Penny took hers, reading the top, and then the next lines one by one. An information note at the top said 'Translation Available,' so she picked it. The English became Justicar Standard Script. The word count changed from 19,283 to 8,740. Justicar Standard Script had been built from the bottom up, so it could express broader concepts in fewer words.
Though her psychic energy enabled her to read incredibly fast, Penny took the time to understand everything that was said. Pundacrawla's tablet beside her showed the same law, though it looked like he'd finished it using his implant. Penny reached the bottom of the list in 10 minutes and handed the tablet back to the Guide.
Five minutes later, Yasihaut finished also.
"Do either of you have additional requests of the Court? If so, express them verbally."
Penny didn't. The more questions she asked, the longer this would take and the less favorable it would look. In a case like this, perception was everything. She didn't even pretend it had to do with fairness under the law.
"Now. The High Judges came to an agreement for this trial. Exactly 197 full laws will be relevant to this trial. We will peruse each relevant section, and each party will confirm their understanding until they move on to the next one. While this level of guidance is not normally necessary, interested parties want to ensure that no breaches occur during this trial."
Indrafabar gave them both a pointed look.
"The reason we are doing this here despite these sections being included in the necessary reading for the trial is for the interest of transparency."
Really, it was Justicar establishing his dominance over them. By making them sit for hours and read in front of millions of people, he was attempting to show that he was above them. Or to convey another message to his backers.
She also suspected Yasihaut's side had influenced this, trying to make Penny look worse by taking longer. It would set her up as the 'slow barbarian alien' in the High Judges' brains, which would unconsciously prejudice them against her a little more.
Unfortunately for them, Nilnacrawla was carrying the definitions for every single unfamiliar legal word in his memories. If each of the laws took her ten minutes, it would require almost 34 hours of reading to finish them all. Whoever took even a few seconds longer would lose respect in the Court, adding more time to the length of the Judgment.
Penny would win even this tiny, petty battle and set the tone for the rest of the Judgment.

So, the concept and discussion of Staples/Non-Engine has been around since the start of the game. Early ones like Pot of Greed, Mirror Force, Graceful Charity, to backrow like Compulsory Evacuation Device and the Forbidden set, to modern handtraps like the Ghost Girls and generic extra deck monsters like Baronne and Underworld Goddess-generic good stuff has always been there in the game.
But...around Chaos Format or GX, the meta shifted more to archetypes which, barring things like general Stun, ruled the game. I mean, a lot of the middle eras of yugioh are defined by the archetypes that were at the top-TOSS, Dragon Rulers, Tear, etc.
However, while that still....kind of holds true, I (and I think a lot of folks) have felt yet another shift in the meta-the rise of Engines and Non-Engines, a mish-mash of both eras.
Engines make use of the one-card combos and faster speed of the modern age to slim down and mash archetypes together to at best synergize to a better whole (like with Tear and Kashtira) and at worse, get that extra negate or interaction to give the main deck extra resilience (Melodious, Fiendsmith).
And with the sliming down of archetypes to Engines, there is more room for Staples/Non-Engine to make sure you survive just that one turn or break the board just once to get your own OTK/unbreakable board (embodied perfectly by Tenpai which, in essence, a svelte OTK Engine backed-up by a lot of non-engine, and Snake-Eyes replacing OTK with control through sending your cards into your backrow.)
And again, the concepts themselves are not new, but rather, I feel that the way those concepts have been implemented in the modern game has been, with decks less focused on explosively big plays and more flushing your opponent out of their plays before you then do yours-most every deck being pseudo mid-range, essentially.
(And, to lay it plain, this has been a discussion rolling in my brain for a bit, but truly sparked by the intro discussion in MBT's Lightsworn video where he postulates that Lightsworn might be one of the few decks that still fits more of the Archetype mold rather than the Engine mold...to its detriment.)
So the discussion I wanna pose is...is this the beginning of a new era of YGO? And if so...is this era of small Engines that do so much with a boatload of Staples/Non-Engine to stop plays a good thing, leading to quick and exciting games with lots of interaction and counterplay? Or does it show that the ever-increasing speed of the game is also speeding it to decline, with multiple hand-traps killing your turn dead or a lack of them leading to an insurmountable board?

So I'm millimeters away from closing on a very lightly used Ibis DV9 (Deore spec) for $2k which seems like extremely good value for one of the best XC/Trail hardtails that's not 5 grand. It also fits my use case as I'm returning to MTB from a 4-5 year break and I'm mostly looking for something that can pedal around town, hit pump tracks/beginner jump lines, and be fun for learning blue/green trails. As you can see my use case pretty closely fits with hardtail target demographics but with how many deals (both new and used) there are for FS in the <$2500 range right now, I thought it might be a good idea to at least get some feedback on what's out there.
Given that one of my near-term goals is just working on fundamental bike control (pump tracks, manuals, bhops, small jumps, stepups, etc), and I need a bike that's not totally tragic on pavement/for light commutes, hardtail definitely makes more sense but I guess what I don't know is how much more difficult it would be to meet these requirements on a FS in this price tier (1800-2200). Obviously the tradeoff is that a FS gives me better access in the future to more advanced trails and eventually I would like to gradually up the ante on the trails I'm able to handle, but obviously that wouldn't happen for some time. This is basically all a very long way of saying:
TL:DR - How good are modern FS (used or new) in the ~2k range compared to modern hardtails for handling beginner to intermediate trails and techniques?

So I have had a Janome MemoryCraft 6500 on loan from a friend for over a year now. It belonged to her late mother so obv has sentimental value so been trying extra hard to look after it.
Today I accidentally dropped a small item into the machine (don't ask, fr) which I have not been able to fish back out. My only other idea has been to open the face plate.
One screw to loosen: every video I have seen does it in seconds......but in my case, the screw won't budge a millimeter. Tried multiple sizes of both flat and Phillips head screwdrivers, tried using an electric screwdrivedrill......still zero response. I really don't want to strip the case screws on this machine, but I also definitely need to get the interior cleared out.
I don't know what my next step shoudl be - pls help!

I always thought I was around average, until last night. My girlfriend and I were fooling around in the living room and my girlfriend saw a ruler laying on the table. She asked if she could measure me just for fun and I said sure. She measured about 4 inches and then the dreadful words came out of her mouth: ‘oh that’s a little small, more than an inch below average’. When she saw my red face, she quickly added: ‘but who wants to be average anyway, they sometimes hurt’. FML, it was so uncomfortable for the both of us and quite humiliating … Is it really small or more like close to average?