How oft on yonder grave, sweetheart; where we were won't to walk.

^{harrenhal, 215 AC | evening of day one of harrenhal: the feast of a hundred masks |} ^{the unquiet grave}

Daenaerys I Targaryen

MOTHER OF THE REALM
Her daughter Rhaegelle dressed her for the beast’s ball.
It was a splendid and rich dress, recently tailored, crushed black velvet and silk. Myrish lace framed Daenaerys' slim neck and fine jaw in a grand thrice-tiered collar, plunging down to a stomacher meticulously woven with dancing silver dragons that encircled her waist. The beasts covered her head to toe, dancing up her sleeves and falling down her skirts with three snapping, gleaming heads, fangs bared to swallow the floor beneath her.
The only jewelry she partook in was a necklace with an opal set in silver. A gift, one she was loathed to be parted from. And then there was the crown, the new one. Silver dragons, woven together in bands of bodies, their talons grasping at sapphire seahorses and amethyst lightning, a single draconic head rising above the writing mass at the apex, itself bearing a tiny crown of gold and sweeping back silver wings over her silver locks. Her Kings and her, evermore, trapped in time. Would it be truly so.
"Beautiful, Mother." Her daughter murmured, stepping back after nestling it among braids and curls.
"Go and see to your own arrangements, daughter." The Queen dismissed her without a second glance. Before her on the desk sat a black ebony mask, another dragon, this time only half the head. The snout fell down across her face, the eye sockets angled just right to allow her to see. Her fingers ran over the ragged wood-carved surface as she listened to departing footsteps.
Once Rhaegelle had left her, Daenaerys picked up the mask and tied the silken cord around her head. A dragon, that is what they had called her in her youth. The youth who had faced down even a King to see Daeron still clutched to her beast. Her darling boy. The son who had made her a mother.
Her fingers fell over the opal and the clasp fell open. Two tiny portraits, the twins of larger ones that hung in her chambers, always watching, they were. One of a boy with soft eyes and a soft smile, disheveled silver hair and a slashed doublet of black and red. Young; an immortal. The other of a man far older, weathered with age and experience, pinched blue eyes looking back at her with austerity. Old; a sentinel.
Tears gathered in Daenaerys' eyes. Beneath her mask's snarling visage she pressed the jewel to her lips, and then let it fall to her bodice once more. Those tears were swallowed.
In the halls of Harren the Black the hearths had been cleared and glowed with low orange flames. The fractured roof of the hall let moonlight fall through the cracks and dapple the uneven floor of the infamous Hall of a Hundred Hearths. From the railings of the second tier of the hall hung the plush black-and-blood banners of House Targaryen, the red dragon and her three heads, and behind the throne was her own coat of arms, eleven dragons prancing on a field below swords and sigils. It was here that Daenaerys had called for her ball in the honour of the throne, the eve before the tourney.
They were borrowing from Essosi tradition in a way, as each guest was instructed to wear a mask, either representing their House or otherwise themselves. That was why so many Targaryens wore the dragon masks, crowding the dais where she stood. They looked like a mummery troop, obscured, purple eyes peering and preening, studying and measuring. And there Daenaerys stood in the center of their cabal, elevated; alone.
Alone. How true that was. She could see Durran out of the corner of her eye, as she always did, he normally came to hear her speak. He was frowning, she thought she could make it out, frowning as blood wept from the arrow still lodged in his throat. He had been standing there so long a puddle of it crept slowly towards the edge of her skirt, but she paid it no mind.
What was a bit of blood in a place such as this? Yet another ghost to walk the halls; she brought them all with her. His was not the only dead face she saw in the crowd.
“My lords and ladies.”
A hush fell over the room as Daenaerys’ booming voice filled it. It had been five years since she had last addressed a room of this size. One would not have guessed that, judging by the pride in her posture, the stiffness of rulership present, and the immaculate tone used. And yet she still seemed distracted.
“Many of you have traveled long distances to be here today. Such an undertaking is not lost on me, for I too have traveled from the comforts of the Red Keep. Tonight I begin the first evening of my second Royal Progress. I will show my children and my grandchildren the realm they will shepherd when I am passed, and I invite you all to accompany me.”
The Queen gestured to those in attendance, arms swept, black-and-silver sleeves dragging over the dais as she half-turned, “We shall see the Reach and her bounties, the West and its gold mines, the Bloody Gate and stand at the foot of the fierce mountains of Arryn. We will meet the Northmen at the Moat and celebrate our friendship, and see the stronghold of Baratheon at the cliffs of the Narrow Sea.” It was then that she paused, a barely noticeable hitch in her tone. Her eyes fell on the phantom of her husband, the flood of crimson ichor that drenched the hall, crept up the walls, towards laughing gargoyles and the burning men of Harrenhal.
She shut her eyes. When she opened them, a heartbeat later, it was gone. It was gone.
“--And then we shall see the Stone Way, and witness five years of peace with Dorne. Only then will I return to my Iron Throne.”
She stepped down from the dais, then, towards the brood of dragons stewing beneath her. She set one hand atop the shoulder of Rhaenyra Targaryen, the Princess of Dragonstone; her eldest living child. The other was on the opposite shoulder of a younger hatchling, addressing the crowd alongside him in that moment, “Behold, my grandson Aegon. He is the son of my daughter, and will one day be hailed as Aegon, the Fourth of His Name. Embrace him as you would me and your Princess of Dragonstone. One day your children and grandchildren will look to him for guidance.” Once she was certain the hall had their eyes on the pair, Daenaerys moved away and, with measured steps, returned to the highest tier of the dais.
Before she finally took to her erected throne, she stopped.
“But, my treasured guests, have a care; Black Harren and his sons still roam these halls, and surely hate the sight of Targaryens. Be sure to not stray too far from the light of the Hundred Hearths, lest you be cursed to join them here in torment and hellfire as well.”
When she sat, the music began, and the mummer’s farce was over. She would not let it show how much such a performance had taken out of her. Even now she felt tired, but, sitting through this ball she would do to restore faith in her crown, “A fine speech, my Queen.” Sedge Stone, in her woman’s platemail, stooped to mutter in her ear as the swordswoman took up a position next to the throne.
On each side of the grandest hall in all of Westeros were tables of small foods and sweet desserts, meals that could be taken and eaten easily without a need to sit and rest -- Though benches and tables were present for the more easily-tired and elderly guests. The majority of the hall had been cleared for dancing and conversation, which underwent gleefully now that the Queen’s address had passed.
The only true seat in the room was the one Daenaerys took overlooking the room from her raised dais. There she sat now with a flute of bright gold wine, watching the dancing below her with a cautious eye, her ornate and heavy mask in her lap so she might drink unimpeded.
To her right, her Lord Commander, and to her left, the Queen's Sword. Among the guests who swarmed the balconies ringing the Hall was another woman in her service, the lady Myranda Blackwood, who stood guard with a bow slung over her shoulder, overlooking the dais. Nothing escaped her razor-sharp gaze, not even the twitch of a servant or the errant fluttering of a guest. No, the Queen's Eye did not miss anything.
Durran's fingers were bony and cold as they settled onto Daenaerys' shoulders, a rusty smell of iron and blood filling her nose at his reappearance. She paid the dead's touch no mind, even if her face turned to stone at the feeling of it. For a moment she reached with her free hand as if to grasp at him, but lowered it just as swiftly to avoid being the fool, and prayed none noticed the momentary lapse.
The Stranger taunts me, as he always has, as the High Septon says he does. He fills my mind with demons, tonight of all nights, to distract me from my path. The Queen instead shivered, shoulders contracting reflexively, "Bring me more wine." She murmured darkly; the drink was best to drown these 'holy visions' out.
She watched the beast's ball, but did not join the dance. That was their game now, really; if it had even been hers to begin with.

Unleashed pt. 51

As promised part two. Big thanks to u/eruwenn who amped up the drama in this chapter.

First / Prev / Next

The corridor had the familiar glow-moss floor and aphid cleaners, but that was where the familarities ended. The walls were like vertical gardens, made to look as natural as possible. The one opposite their door was a trickling waterfall, studded with rocks and plants. The sound of the water was soothing and Aaron could imagine sitting by it for hours.
As he walked behind Eridor, Aaron couldn’t help but feel like a child being brought to the headmaster. The size difference amplified that, and he could only imagine how the others — at least a third smaller than him – felt. He looked around as they walked, passing by the regular gardeners with their four legs as well as many Commanders, but none were as impressive as Eridor. They also passed by other types of Gardeners. Some were smaller with proportionally larger heads, while others were bigger and seemed to have heavier carapaces. Aaron speculated that they were specialised, like the workers and commanders.
As they passed by, the translators picked up on scents and pheromones from those they passed. Most were curious, a few were even shocked by their appearance. A thought occurred to Aaron. “How come only Eridor has a cape?”
The large guard stopped in his tracks. Aaron suddenly remembered that the translator worked both ways and gave a weak smile as Eridor turned to face him. “It is not a cape, it is a ceremonial shroud. If the Queen should die, it will be used to cover her body.”
This was the most complete and articulate sentence any of them had heard from a Gardener and after a moment of surprised silence the human replied, “It’s a nice death shroud.”
The large Gardener took the cloth between two gold tipped claws, inspecting it slowly. “I like the colour.” He turned and continued escorting them down the vast corridor.
Tsy’Lo flashed their annoyance at Aaron and he shrugged and ignored their concern. Ahead of them was a huge set of doors, either side of which stood gold-tipped Commanders. “The Royal Guard. This is it.” Aaron said.
They stopped before the doors and the guards took paddles from the wall behind them and stepped forward. Eridor bowed his head. “You must be scanned, for the safety of the Queen and the Council.”
Aaron saw two of the smaller Gardeners with the large heads. “Those Big Brains the council?”
There was a hum from Tsy’Lo, and Bert shot him an angry look. Eridor, however, simply bowed his head once more. “Yes. The Council guide us.”
As the guard passed the paddle over Aaron he could feel the scan. He didn’t know if this was how it usually worked or if it was some sort of nanite interaction. “Tickles.”
The guard pointed at the box. “What is this?”
“A gift.” Aaron presented the box. “For the Queen. You know, a token of friendship from my people to yours.”
The guard looked to his Captain. Eridor stepped forward and opened his hand. “A fine gesture, but I must inspect it.”
The human smiled and lightly tossed the box up and into the waiting hand. “It isn’t locked.” The large gardener gently opened it and peered inside. Aaron recognised the head tilt of confusion and beat the translator with an explanation. “I didn’t know what to get a member of your species, and my resources were limited.”
Taking the paddle from his subordinate, Eridor probed the box and its contents. “It is harmless; you may proceed.” He carefully returned the box and Aaron gave a swift bow of his head, copying the Gardener’s action from earlier.
The doors swung open and the group moved forward. Beyond was not another corridor or some vast stately room; it was one of the indoor gardens, only this one was infinitely more impressive. This wasn’t some communal area for a crew to unwind, this was the Royal Garden.
There were a myriad of plants of all sizes, shapes and colours, flowing in what at first glance seemed to be a gloriously picturesque landscape. It was clearly a carefully manicured and crafted scene, but the effect was no less stunning. They followed Eridor onwards, between scented flowers that had brightly coloured insects flitting between them. They then passed through a grove of salmon pink trees, the branches hanging low enough for Eridor’s head to brush them and send pink leaves floating down behind.
Aaron saw some of the blue aphids amongst the tree branches and instinctively reached for his pocket. He realized he had no rations to share, and returned his attention to their escort. Deciding that nobody had explicitly told him to walk behind everyone he took a few faster steps and began walking alongside the Captain. “This place is amazing. I should get you to fix up my ship, the best we did was some grass and a pond in the hold.”
Slightly surprised by his guest appearing by his side, Eridor looked back to make sure the others were still where they should be. “Ah… was it a nice pond?”
With a broad smile Aaron decided to brag a little. “Big enough for a Leokas, and that’s in a ship that would fit in here a hundred times over. We used long grass so he cou-”
Bert caught hold of Aaron’s jacket and pulled him back to walk beside them. “Not the time,” he snapped.
Tsy’Lo twinkled with amusement as the human fell in line with them once more. The trees parted and a large open amphitheatre sat amongst a rainbow field of grass half as tall as Aaron. “Do you think they have a snack bar?”
“Hush!” Bert scolded.
“What?” Aaron laughed. “I haven’t eaten yet!”
The Procyon growled out his words. “Why would you not eat?”
The human gestured at the Amphitheatre. “We’re meeting a Queen, I figured there would be a feast or something. At least some vol-au-vents and cucumber sandwiches.”
Bert stuffed his fist in his mouth and bit down. “Get your stupid jokes out now, but do not dare to insult the Queen. Know your place, last human.”
“First.” Aaron fired back. “Why does everyone forget that?”
They ascended a short flight of stairs and were seated at one side of the vast stage looking out at their audience. Rows of Big Brains circled them, climbing higher up the gently sloping hill. Eridor moved to stand behind them. “Please be silent as we wait for the Queen.”
Aaron looked around the room, Royal Guards stood at the end of every row of seats, with more placed around the edges of the stage and the exits. He looked up at the fake blue sky above, and out towards the pink treetops they had just walked through. A feeling of calm came over him, his need to talk fading with his nerves. He’d chosen his path, now he must walk it. He turned to Tsy’Lo, who was currently a deep jade hue with small puffs of white. Pink and white replaced the green as Aaron touched their sleeve. “You still trust me?”
The Tricinic hadn’t been told the plan, their visible colours making secrecy difficult. Instead they had placed their faith in the human. At the time, this had seemed reasonable. When the possibility of death had been raised they had tried to be brave, but reality was much harder to bluff. “Absolutely.”
The human could see the slivers of doubt creeping in. “Liar.” He smiled, and the slivers faded away. “You’re a good friend, Tsy’Lo. I can’t wait for you to meet the others.”
The sky abruptly turned to a rich orange sunset and the amphitheatre lights grew brighter, giving the stage a commanding presence over the audience. Aaron already found himself liking the Queen’s style. He had been told what to expect; the Queen would open with a song of greeting. This had been surprising, but the Gardeners had some appreciation for music. He had been told it was a great honour to hear her perform in person. After that he would be presented, and finally, they would all find out why he had been brought here.
Music began to filter through to them, and it had a strong catchy beat. Eridor, and the other guards, snapped to attention as the back of the stage began to rotate to reveal a huge door wreathed in flowers. A glittering rainbow of winged insects began to spill forth from the myriad blooms as smoke flowed across the floor of the stage. Shafts of coloured light began to dance around in the growing haze, and Aaron sat up in his seat. “This is going to be good, I can tell.”
Realising that the smoke was scented, the human ambassador held out his translator. It took a moment and then spat out. “Her Royal Eminence, the Exalted Majesty, Queen B’Yaunsay.” The Captain of the Royal Guard slammed the haft of his spear down with a thunderous bang. The music rose, and the show began.
The Queen stepped onto the stage just as the music hit its peak and the song truly began. There were no words, as the Gardeners used none; this was emotion as sound. Powerful and resonant, the song needed no translating. It made you feel welcome and joy. The high tempo had Aaron's feet tapping and his head bobbing. As the Queen walked across the stage her rose gold carapace caught the light spectacularly. The human noticed she was smaller than the commanders, with four legs, just like the workers. She was more slender than the other Gardeners, aside from her impressive metasoma which swayed as she walked.
The swirling lights, deep aromas and impactful song carried Aaron away from the moment and when it finally ended it took him a second to snap back to the present. “That was brilliant!”
He looked at his companions. Tsy’Lo was motionless, the colours within pulsing to the rhythm of the song. Bert shook his head and looked up to Aaron. “Looks like you’re up.”
The human’s attention snapped back to the Queen, who was looking directly at him. He stood and, not exactly knowing what was expected, bowed. From behind the translator picked up the Captain. “Step forward, and be recognised.”
The trio moved forward as one, only as they approached the imposing figure of the Queen did Aaron feel the others falling back to stand behind him. Clutching the translation device like a talisman he bowed once more. “I am Ambassador Aaron Cooper, of Earth and the Free Colonies.”
The Queen tilted her head side to side before peering in closer. Nothing came from the translator as she seemed to be inspecting him with great interest. She stepped closer, her myriad of eyes scanning him as her antennae flitted back and forth. Growing nervous, Bert gave Aaron a nudge. “Give her the gift!” he whispered hurriedly.
“Oh, right.” Aaron took the box from under his arm, opening it carefully. “I made you a gift, something all Queens on my world have.” He held up a sparkling gold crown. “I realise now that I should have measured your Majesty’s head first.” The Queen was staring at the device, her head once again tilting to give both sets of eyes a good look. “Err… it goes on your head.” Aaron turned to Tsy’Lo and placed the crown on their head. “Like this, see?” He tried to remove the crown again. “Oh shit. It’s stuck.”
Tsy’Lo reached up to their head and the crown was most definitely stuck fast. “Oh, no. Fix this, Aaron!”
The human gave a few half-hearted pulls on the crown. “It’s stuck. We’ll get some lube and give it a tug after the ceremony.” He nodded to Bert. ”We don’t want to interrupt things further.”
The Procyon nodded. “Quite right.”
Turning back to face the Queen, Aaron drew himself up to his full height, which was about two thirds of hers. “Well, you got me here, and we have a fancy new translator” —he held up the device– “so let’s get this show started. I will hear you out, then you will return me back to my crew.” He felt Bert grabbing at the back of his jacket. He pulled away, and his demeanour shifted. His voice grew louder and more aggressive. “If you don’t, I swear to whatever gods or demons you worship that I will kill every last one of you!”
Bert grabbed him and spun him around. “What are you doing?”
Aaron saw the Royal Guard leap from his position and charge towards them with his spear, and he pushed Bert to the ground. “By the Power of Grayskull!” With the palm of his hand he pushed the blade of the spear to one side, easily catching the shaft and using it to lift the Captain into the air. One flick of the weapon, and the Captain was hurled across the stage. “I’m going all in Bert! Win or lose, life or death!” He pulled a device from his pocket and depressed the button on the top. “This is called a dead man’s trigger. If I let go, we’re all dead!”
The Queen stood her ground. Bert was climbing back to his feet as he yelled, “You have no weapons, we scanned everything.”
The human lowered his head. “Yeah, but you forgot something.” He turned and looked to Tsy’Lo. “Tricinics were used as a power source, similar to the Hoban crystals. And I know that Hoban crystals go boom real fucking easy. The crown is a detonation device, and this is the control.”
Tsy’Lo took a step back, reaching up to the crown on their head. “You made me the bomb?!” All colour drained from them and they slumped to the ground.
Pain stabbed at Aaron’s chest. “It was the only way.”
Bert fell to his knees as well. “Last human, this is a war crime of the highest magnitude. Hoban crystals are a fraction of the size of a Tricinic. You will destroy this ship, and everyone on board! Including yourself! Is this how your species ends?”
“You don’t understand!” Aaron snarled back. “Sassie is waiting for me! She saved my life, she is my only connection to my home. I told you, I would do anything to return to her. And for the last time, I’m the first human!”
There was a soft lilting noise from behind him. As the translator parsed the sound, it turned out to be laughter. “You are the second human, and you do not disappoint.”
Aaron almost let go of the trigger in surprise, turning to face the Queen. “What did you say?”
The Queen stepped closer to Aaron, her head lowering to hover before him. “Watch.” She extended her arm and his gaze followed.
In front of the stage a large hologram appeared, showing a badly damaged ship at the centre. As atmosphere vented and lights flickered, a second ship appeared. This larger one was still firing weapons at the fleeing vessel. Then came a flash of light.
A tiny speck appeared, twisting and turning through space and leaving a trail of glowing particles. After a moment, two panels appeared. One showed a uniformed Procyon, while the second showed a helmet with a tinted visor.
The Procyon spoke. “Small, unidentified craft. Flee! The Imperium are attacking, you must get yourself to safety!”
The helmet was pulled clear. “Holy shit, a talking trash panda!”
Aaron stumbled forward. “That’s.. She’s…. American!”
The Procyon officer looked confused, then began waving his hands in order to try and make the strange alien understand. “Flee! Escape! Death is coming!”
Regaining her composure as best as she could the blonde woman on the screen began looking around her at her instruments. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you. I am Captain Rogers, test pilot of Ranger 3. I represent the United Sol Defence Force.” As more readings came up on her screen she looked concerned. “And this sure as shit ain’t Alpha Centauri. Fuck!”
A blast rocked the fleeing ship and the Procyon began showing images on the screen in an attempt to communicate. "Please understand me and run!"
One of the images that flashed by was that of the large on-board nursery, and immediately upon seeing it Captain Rogers seemed to wrestle with a decision. "I'll buy you critters some time, get those kids out of there!”
The communication screen cut out and the small ship hung in the distance as the battle continued, blasts striking the Procyon’s ship. Suddenly, Ranger 3 sprang forth, the glowing trail left in its wake spiralling and dissipating. The attackers ignored the speck as it sped towards them, taking a position between the much larger vessels.
Something jettisoned from Ranger 3 before it began to race away, the trail of particles no longer following. There were a few tense moments of nothing that stretched into eternity for Aaron, before the explosion struck the front of the pursuing craft. It was massive, the mere shockwave sending Ranger 3 tumbling erratically. The detonation seemed to set off a chain reaction through the Imperium ship as a string of explosions tore along its side.
Aaron’s mouth was dry, his knees weak. “Did she make it?”
The Queen gestured once again. “Yes, though her craft was all but destroyed. This was recorded shortly after.”
The battle faded and the image of a screen appeared. Captain Rogers was recording herself, and behind her was a row of the blue pods Aaron knew so well. The uniformed Procyon was visible over her shoulder. She smiled at the camera and Aaron felt a deep longing for another human’s company. As looked into the camera, the dark circles below her eyes could be seen, as well as the pallor of her skin. “Well, the mission was a partial success. The experimental drive worked, but I have no idea where I ended up. And, hey, I made first contact with a raccoon and a bunch of huge stink-bugs.”
The Procyon tugged at her sleeve. “Please, you must return to the healing pod, you are very sick.”
She patted him on the head with a smile. “They keep putting me in these damned blue things; I think they’re trying to save me.” She gave a small laugh as the Procyon continued his efforts. “Can’t understand a damn word he says, though. And he doesn’t understand me either. Still, he’s easier to follow than the stink-bugs.” She took a deep, calming breath. “When I jerry-rigged the new drive I got a mighty big dose of radiation. The blast fried my ship and almost everything on board. I don’t have long, according to my survival kit, but the little fella keeps tryin’.”
Her short companion was holding a datapad showing vital signs and continued to tug her towards the pod. “Please, we must try again. Please.”
Brushing her blonde hair from her face she flashed a smile full of charm at the camera once more. “This is Captain Carol Rogers of the U.S.D.F.” She saluted. “Looks like I lived up to my nickname. I’ll put everything in my final report, hope you get to read it some day.”
As the woman on the screen shut off the recording Aaron swallowed hard. Failing to hide the desperation in his voice, he asked, “Radiation? The pods fix that, right?”
Tsy’Lo, whose colours were weakly returning to pink and white swirls, stood beside Aaron. “They do, now. But this was taken a long time ago.”
The human’s mouth was like a desert, and his throat felt like someone was trying to choke him. His voice wavered. ”When was this?”
Bert now moved to stand beside him, reaching up to place his hand on the human’s back. “The Imperium War was hundreds of Celes ago. They almost had us.” He looked to the Queen.
She bowed her head. “This was before we had the breeding pods. The last Brood-Queen was on board that ship, and she was our only hope for future generations. Her escape bought us the time we needed. A human bought us that time. Captain Rogers is a most revered hero. Lost and alone, she sacrificed herself for us. She will never be forgotten.”
Tears ran down Aaron’s face. He couldn’t talk. The hope that had sprang forth was now crushing his soul as it crumbled within him. He turned to face the Queen. Comforting scents swamped his senses as she moved closer. “This was her final recording.”
Captain Rogers was laying on grass by a pool of water fed by a trickling stream. At her side was her helmet. Colourful insects buzzed nearby, and several aphids were nestled contentedly in her lap. Flowers had been laid all around her, and a Gardener came into view, kneeling down to add to the blossoms.
Her skin was now deathly pale, and taut as a drum. Her eyes were sunken and her once-golden hair lay flat and dull, but her smile still shone brightly as she reached down to pet an aphid. “I used to catch lightning bugs back home and bring them home in a jar to show my Mama. She hated bugs.” She sighed and lay her head back. “Can you believe they have a garden on board their ship? It’s beautiful.”
She began coughing, and the camera was placed on the ground. A Procyon ran out from behind it to administer a spray to the weakening woman. She shooed him back to his duty as cameraman.
As she fell back into frame her lips were now stained with blood. “They have done everything they can, as you can see. They are good folk.” Another Gardener knelt and laid flowers by her side. “I still don’t understand a damn thing they’re saying. ‘Course, I couldn’t even pick up French after two years at the advanced flight academy in Paris.” She stopped again, her breathing becoming laboured, and even through the recording she seemed so frail. She placed her hand on her helmet, lifting it with difficulty to show the camera. “I’ve recorded messages for everyone and put them in here. I think they understand. I hope you get them, someday.”
On the side of the helmet was painted a large dollar bill and she touched it tenderly with a shaking hand. “I’m so very sorry, Mama. I didn’t keep my promise.” She began to cough again, and this time it took her much longer to regain her composure. More flowers were laid by her side as she nodded her thanks. “I wanted to say goodbye, show you I was at peace. There’s no pain. I’m just so very tired.”
The flower laying procession seemed to be unending and the camera finally turned to show the vast crowd, each Gardener waiting their turn to honour their saviour. As it turned back to the resting human her eyes were closed. Her chest had ceased to move. She was dead. A great wail of sorrow went up from the crowd as the scent of sadness spread through them.
Aaron stood motionless as the recording ended, shocked to his very core and overwhelmed with empathy and grief for another like him, so far from home. The Queen waved to an attendant who brought forward a small tray. Standing there in front of the very helmet he had just seen in the hologram presentation, Aaron was struck with an almost desperate loneliness. His free hand reached out instinctively, fingers tracing the name and call sign written across the front of the helmet.
The Queen placed her large clawed hand on his shoulder. “The Federation have entered our space. The Imperium are massing on our border. We can not win. And yet, in our darkest hour you appear. A human. Is it coincidence? Or is this the will of the Mother?”
Finally, Aaron found his voice. “What do you expect me to do? I’m just one man.”
Bert patted his back. “She was just one woman. And, you already have us in the palm of your hand. Literally.”
Aaron looked at the trigger clenched in his fist. “Sorry. This is all too much for me.”
Tsy’Lo punched him in the side. “Do it for Sassie.”
Determination flared in Aaron’s eyes. “And for Captain Carol Buck Rogers. She needs me to deliver a message home.”

Next

The Most Accurate Avatar World Size Estimate Ever

This is a behemoth of a post, so I’ll include the TL;DR at the top. I hope it intrigues you enough to look for the details in the long-form version!
TL;DR: The original post I considered to be the most accurate calculation of the Avatar world’s size has three glaring flaws. First, it used a 24-hour travel time from Senlin Village to Crescent Island, while it was more like 18 hours using the sky and dialogue as references plus taking timezones into account. Second, it used an Appa speed of 21 mph based on pre-dreadnought battleship speed, while it’s more likely Fire Navy ships were early super-dreadnoughts, of which Zuko’s ship could travel up to 27.04 mph. However, his ship slowed down to 24.74 mph after being damaged by the blockade. Third, the canon rectangular map is missing the round edges of the canon polyconic projection, so the circumference is actually ~13 inches, not the original post’s 9 3/8 inches. Taking into account the new 18-hour travel time, 27.04/24.74-mph ship speeds, and ~13-inch circumference length, the more accurate size of the Avatar world is 12,287.64 miles or 19,775.04 kilometers. This is 49% the size of Earth, or about 3/4 of the way between Mercury and Mars. Here’s an image I made visualizing this: https://i.gyazo.com/c34b210af682d32b49150f0a18fa0d2d.png. Detailed explanations on how I arrived at each of the above values and images showing visual representations can be found in the full length post.
Main Post:
I have always wanted to know what the size of the Avatar world is. After considering the various calculations you can find on the internet, I settled on this post https://www.reddit.com/TheLastAirbendecomments/1ggzwf/geography_of_avatar_the_size_of_the_planet_this/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body as the most thorough, accurate, and faithful to the data in the show we can actually measure. However, while I am completely convinced by this post’s methodology, I have discovered several glaring errors. My post here is intended to remedy those errors in order to create the most accurate size calculation of the Avatar world ever. Disclaimer: this is going to be a long one. A TL;DR is available at the end.
The original post’s methodology is quite simple: calculate the time the Gaang took to travel from two known locations (Senlin Village and Crescent Island), calculate the speed of Appa, and multiply those two figures to calculate distance. Lastly, extrapolate that distance calculation to the whole map in order to get a full picture of the size of the entire globe. The original estimates were that the Gaang take about 24 hours to travel from Senlin Village to Crescent Island and that Appa's speed is about 21 mph, resulting in a distance of 504 miles across half an inch of map. With the entire map being 9 3/8 inches edge to edge and the two locations used for reference lying roughly along the equator, the final estimate was a 9,450-mile circumference of the planet. This is 38% the size of Earth or just shy of the size of Mercury.
I have several problems with this result. I'll start with the easiest one: the calculation of time travelled is off. The original post’s assumption is a sunset-to-sunset travel time, or about 24 hours. I suppose the original poster assumed this based only on their memory of the events, as the episode clearly shows that the Gaang do not leave at sunset on the eve of the Winter Solstice (Instead, that’s actually when Aang encounters Heibai the second time). Rather, they leave in the middle of the night. After Aang appeases Heibai and Sokka and the others are rescued, the sun has set and the night sky is starting to come out. At this point, Katara says in reply to Aang, “But the Solstice is tomorrow.” By the time Aang attempts to sneak out by himself without waking the others, he says to everyone, “I need to get to the Fire temple before the sun sets on the Solstice. That’s today!” Therefore, it has become the next day by the time the Gaang leaves, meaning they must have left after midnight. Based on the night sky, it’s likely they leave in the dead of night, not closer to sunrise, so my best estimate is that it is just a little after midnight when they leave Senlin Village. As for when they arrive at Crescent Island, sunset varies depending on a variety of factors, including latitude, longitude, and relative position within a timezone among others. Based on my map I have a link to below, Crescent Island’s coordinate position seems to be approximately 14.2° N 23.7° W. This location has a sunset on the Winter Solstice of around 5:30 to 6 PM. The Gaang clearly arrive before sunset, and even have time to talk with the Fire Sages, climb many flights of stairs, set up fake firebending, wait for Shyu to bring the other Fire Sages to the scene after the blast, and deal with Zhao prior to the sun actually setting. Therefore, I estimate they arrive at Crescent Island sometime around half an hour to an hour before sunset. Let's say they arrive around 5 PM. So far we have a travel time from around 12 AM to around 5 PM, or 17 hours. This is notably less than the original 24-hour figure. However, there is something else to address. The original post mentions that it's possible for the Gaang to have crossed timezones during their journey but that there is no way of knowing whether they did or not, leading the original post to assume they did not pass through any. Despite the original poster saying this, we actually can figure out timezones. Here is a map that I made mimicking the polyconic projection the canon map uses, including the round edges that the usual rectangular maps cut out: https://i.gyazo.com/882ccc82eaed3dc5027a2f4ad8639b26.png. My map includes 15-degree-spaced lines of longitude, which allows us to see each of the 24 timezones centered on a line of longitude (assuming the Avatar world has the same day-night cycle as our Earth, which we kind of have to). Using my more full map, we find that precisely one timezone is crossed from Senlin Village to Crescent Island. With this timezone adding one hour to the clock, the true travel time is about 18 hours.
Now that we've corrected the travel time metric by more closely aligning time of departure and time of arrival with what is actually portrayed in the show, let's address Appa's speed. The original estimate of 21 mph was made by comparing Appa's speed with Zuko's ship. While I agree that this is a very good way of estimating this figure, I disagree with how they evaluate the ship's speed itself. The original poster assumed that the ship is a pre-dreadnought battleship, which on Wikipedia claims had speed capability of 21 mph. This is likely due to the concept that ATLA takes place with approximately mid-19th century technology, while dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts did not come about until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. However, there are a few reasons why I believe Zuko's ship and the rest of the Fire Nation Navy to actually be early, coal-powered super-dreadnoughts. We know that Fire Nation ships were still primarily powered by coal. However, there is a lot of evidence that they were on the brink or were even in the midst of transitioning to oil-powered ships. There are two pieces of evidence I have for this. The first is that, very shortly after the war, large oil deposits are discovered in the Southern Water Tribe. This plays a big role in the ATLA comic trilogy "North and South." Obviously there's no way the technological capability of the SWT was equipped for oil exploration and extraction, and even the NWT doesn't seem advanced enough for this. I argue that it must be due to the Fire Nation sharing its technology and whatnot from its industrial revolution under Fire Lord Zuko in the post-War era that enabled this development. If the Fire Nation’s oil exploration technology was so readily exportable, it must have been at very advanced stages of development. My second piece of evidence is the actual presence of oil and oil-related technology. For the latter, the prison rig that held earthbenders like Haru and his father was built out in the middle of the ocean, displaying that the Fire Nation was equally capable of building, say, an oil rig out in the ocean. For the former, when the Gaang and Zuko run the Fire Nation blockade, both Zuko and the other Fire Nation ships launch boulders drenched in oil that they then light, indicating that even Zuko's ship had access to at least some oil. Prior to the full adoption of oil fuel in ships, there was a transitional period in which ships continued burning coal, but that coal was first drenched in oil to improve burn efficiency. Therefore, it's highly likely that the Fire Nation Navy's ships were actually more similar to battleships just prior to the switch to oil as the primary fuel source. While this doesn't perfectly align with the idea that ATLA takes place with about a mid-19th century tech level, the Avatar universe has never shown to 100% match our real-world technological development tree. I think the evidence that the Fire Nation had late-19th to early-20th century battleships outweighs the broad, generic claim of the overall technology level of ATLA being mid-19th century.
With all of this in mind, the last generation of primarily coal-powered ships were the Iron Duke-class super-dreadnoughts. These ships were superseded by the oil-powered Queen Elizabeth-class super-dreadnoughts. The Iron Duke-class super-dreadnoughts were capable of traveling up to speeds of 21.25 knots/24.45 mph, already notably faster than the previous 21 mph estimate. However, things get even faster. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia: “An extra knot or two of speed could be gained by applying a 'forced draught' to the furnaces, where air was pumped into the furnaces, but this risked damage to the boilers.” To clarify, a forced draught means pressurizing the chamber to above atmospheric pressure by actively pumping in additional air. This means the Iron Duke-class super-dreadnoughts could reach speeds of 23.25 knots/26.76 mph if they risked damaging their ship, a risk which we all know Zuko took continuously. Lastly, here's a quote from the Avatar Wiki: "Though evidently inferior in comparison to other navy vessels, Zuko's ship was small and light enough to effectively pursue a flying bison." This passage indicates that Zuko's ship was faster than the larger ships we see, and is considered inferior due to its small size, thinner armor, etc., not because of an inferior engine. This is bolstered by the fact that it was shown that Zuko's ship had access to oil, a cutting-edge resource, even if said oil wasn't being used in the ship's engine. Because Zuko's ship is said to be faster due to its smaller, lighter size, we can comfortably increase that max speed from 23.25 knots/26.76 mph to the slightly faster 23.5 knots/27.04 mph.
Now that we have a more definitive answer as to what the speed of Zuko’s ship is, we can move on to Appa. We know that he can fly faster than Zuko's ship, but not by much. Even after speeding up to outpace Zuko’s ship, Zuko is still able to pursue the Gaang for some time before having to worry about losing them. As for the Winter Solstice episode, we see Zuko appear in Senlin Village asking where the Gaang are going not long after they leave, let’s say around half an hour behind based on the night sky remaining mostly the same and the village leader not having fallen asleep yet. Despite leaving later than the Gaang, Zuko is able to catch up with them. This means that Appa must have been moving slower than Zuko’s ship until that point, but how much slower? In the show, this event clearly occurs around mid day, as well as at the perimeter of the blockade of Fire Nation waters. We can use this to estimate a range for Appa’s speed. If Appa’s average speed were 26.5 mph, it would take Zuko’s ship at 27.04 mph more than 24 1/2 hours to catch up to Appa, or not until after midnight after the Winter Solstice. If Appa were travelling 25.5 mph, it would take Zuko’s ship 8 1/2 hours to catch up, or during morning time. If Appa were travelling 26 mph on average, it would take Zuko’s ship 12 1/2 hours to catch up. With the Gaang leaving on the Winter Solstice around 12 AM and Zuko leaving around 12:30 AM, Zuko would intercept them at around 1 PM, or 12 PM after taking into account the one timezone crossing. This is consistent with what we see of the sun’s position in the sky in the show: noon time. One quick note is that they technically show Aang order Appa to speed up sometime after sunrise, but the point stands that the average speed was 26 mph with likely only a little fluctuation below or above. In this case, Zuko would have made up a majority of the distance between his ship and Appa by the time Appa sped up, after which Zuko’s ship would still gain on him, but more slowly.
From here, I want to focus on the damage Zuko’s ship sustains from the bombardment of the blockade. We see that his ship gets hit and the engineer claims that the engine is damaged and needs repairs. However, after Zuko orders the ship not to stop, we see that the speed of Zuko’s ship does not really change much. In fact, as his ship approaches the larger ones, Zuko’s ship appears to still be travelling ever so slightly faster than them. My theory is that the damage to Zuko’s engine did not damage the main components, but perhaps damaged the mechanism Zuko used to execute a forced draught. In this scenario, Zuko’s ship would only slow from 23.5 knots to 21.5 knots with the end of the forced draught. As long as the larger ships were only moving at maximum cruising speed and were not themselves executing forced draughts (which is in and of itself an unusual thing to do and would not be expected from ships operating a continuous blockade), then those ships would be moving at 21.25 knots, 0.25 knots slower than Zuko’s ship.
We know that Zuko left Senlin Village about half an hour after the Gaang, caught up with them around noon before losing them, and arrived at Crescent Island about half an hour after the Gaang when the sun was nearly set. Thus, it also takes Zuko about 18 hours to travel between the two locations. If Zuko travelled at 23.5 knots/27.04 mph for the first 12 1/2 hours and 21.5 knots/24.74 mph for the second 5 1/2 hours, then the total distance between Senlin Village and Crescent Island is about 474.12 miles. Based on this, we can estimate at which point in the journey they encountered the blockade. At 12 1/2 hours in, Zuko had travelled 338.04 miles, or nearly 3/4 of the way between the two locations. This means the blockade is also about 3/4 of the way from the Earth Kingdom mainland to the Fire Islands, or closer to Fire Nation territory than Earth Kingdom territory. This makes sense for several reasons. For one, the blockade is simply meant to keep people out of the Fire Nation and they didn’t want to risk their ships by being closer to Earth Kingdom shores. Another reason is that the farther from Fire Nation shores the blockade is, the larger the blockade’s radius and the more ships and resources are needed to maintain the same effectiveness.
Before moving on to the last section, I’ll wrap up Appa’s speed. Because they encountered each other around noon (after taking into account the one timezone), Appa would have travelled the 338.04 miles referenced above in 13 hours, or with an average speed of 26 mph. He covered the remaining 136.08 miles in the remaining 5 hours, which means after the blockade his average speed was about 27.22 mph. Recall that this is 0.18 mph faster than the top speed under forced draught of Zuko’s ship, or 2.48 mph faster than Zuko’s ship after it sustained damage from the blockade. This is how the Gaang arrived at Crescent Island about half an hour before Zuko, despite Zuko catching up to them by the blockade.
The third and final area to address is the way the planet's circumference was calculated. While it is true that the canon rectangular map has an edge to edge length of 9 3/8 inches, I do not believe that is the circumference. The Avatar world map uses a polyconic map projection, as seen on Mako’s map from LoK. This means the equator length on the map should be twice the distance than the pole to pole distance along the Prime Meridian. On the canon map, the distance from pole to pole is 622 pixels, or ~6 1/2 inches, so the circumference should be ~13 inches. Therefore, 3 5/8 inches of the map along the equator is missing. This is consistent with taking a rectangular cutout of a polyconic map: the round edges are missing. To be precise, 622 pixels divided by 96 pixels per inch gives us a half-circumference of ~6.48 inches and thus a circumference of ~12.96 inches. Any distance calculated for miles per inch therefore needs to be multiplied by ~12.96, not 9.375 as the original post used.
My prior figure of the distance from Senlin Village to Crescent Island is 474.12 miles. So, we have 474.12 miles per half inch and thus 948.24 miles per inch. Multiplying 948.24 miles per inch by the ~12.96 inch circumference, we come to a global equatorial circumference of 12,287.64 miles or 19,775.04 kilometers. This is about 49% the size of Earth. With Mercury and Mars 38% and 53% the size of Earth respectively, this makes the Avatar world’s proportion to Earth 11% higher than Mercury and 4% lower than Mars, or about 3/4 of the way between Mercury and Mars. Here’s an image I made that shows Mercury, Mars, and Earth relative to this size estimate of the Avatar world: https://i.gyazo.com/c34b210af682d32b49150f0a18fa0d2d.png. What does everyone think? Any glaring errors that make you want to write an enormously long post correcting them as I've just done in relation to that other person's post? I'm quite interested in hearing feedback! Thanks for reading this monster of a post!

[Transcripts] Disparity- Chapter 7: In the Lap of Luxury

##Wiki/Chapter list = First Chapter = Previous = Next

Xant found himself holding on for dear life, his body crammed into a vehicle it clearly wasn’t designed for. His tail was squished between the tall seat and the frame of the machine, his legs too far apart for them to sit comfortably in the narrow footwell, so he was almost sideways in the forward-facing seat, but that also gave him a clear view of its pilot’s insane method of ‘driving’ the shaking contraption.
Jasmine didn’t even need to look where her feet and hands were going, moving them simultaneously to shift in and out of gear by instinct, all the while singing harsh, deep-throated songs at the top of her lungs.
Xant had been observing the human since her revival, and while she had had her ‘aggressive’ outbursts, brought on through stress and despair respectively, to see her exercise such aggression was fascinating. She was entranced, focused on some unknown ‘enemy’ and screaming her pent up emotions at ‘it’. Xant had never seen such emotional power simply blasted into the atmosphere without worry or consequence, but he couldn’t deny he was caught up in the triumph and relief the song gave her.
With practised ease, Jasmine stopped the car at the base of the enormous craft, then gleefully jumped out to climb atop the roof again. “Up here, Xant!” she called.
The doctor squirmed his way out of the car and stood on the ground, looking up at the human. She pointed to a small thin ladder welded to the side of the ship’s stern. “We need to climb that to get on board.”
Xant stared at her and then at the wide jump needed to cover that distance.
“Is this another attempt at humour?” The human did laugh, so he supposed he was right.
“Well, we could always wait for Rynard to throw you!” She smiled, making a hand motion of hefting a ball. “Like tossing a dwarf!” She giggled.
Xant for the first time questioned Jasmine’s intelligence.
“Perhaps we left you in stasis too long…”
He quickly examined the gap. It was going to be an extraordinary effort for him to climb atop the vehicle, let alone cross the divide with his physical ability alone. He tried to mimic Jasmine’s method of climbing on the car, but his hands and feet were not able to find the small gaps her narrower ones could find. In the end she had to pull him up, and felt the roof bow with his weight. From up top the distance to the ladder seemed even greater. “How exactly do you propose we climb the ladder from here?” he asked her, but Jasmine was still riding the exhilarating high of being ‘thunderstruck’.
“Like this!”
Without so much as a run-up Jasmine leapt towards the ladder and landed with precision, her elongated limbs showing an agility Xant had not considered during the physical examination. “Let me reframe the question,” he huffed. “How exactly do you expect me to climb the ladder from here?!” “Oh it’s not that far, it’s barely a jump!”
“Zenthi don’t ‘jump’.” “That offer for Rynard to throw you is still on the table.” Xant scoffed, took a deep breath and rationalised the situation.
He was in a military-grade suit, so while his weight and aerodynamics would be affected, his strength was increased and any fall damage negated through the armour and pain blocker chems. So, even if he fell, the only thing that would suffer would be his pride. Another uncomfortable thought peeked through the rationale.
He said he wanted to follow Jasmine. This would mean having to keep up with her. He couldn’t do that if he forever deliberated his shortcomings.
Xant inched closer to the edge of the car and Jasmine helpfully reached out to him, hanging precariously from the metal bars. “I’ll catch you!” She encouraged him. Her arms closing the distance boosted his confidence considerably, and he swayed his body back and forth, ready to leap. This would count as the most adventurous he had been in the steel suit, forever wary of Rynard’s warning of torn ligaments. Xant closed his eyes and pushed himself forward, the suit multiplying the force needed to get him across and almost smashing into the side of the yacht. Thankfully, Jasmine was able to correct her friend’s trajectory and guided his hands to the ladder’s sides, which he clung to for dear life. Jasmine gave a loud cheer. “You did it! Way to go, Xant!” And she patted his shoulder. “Now we just have to get to the top! Did you want to go first?”
Once again, he looked at the human as though she were lacking in common sense.
“How do I ‘go first’? You’re clearly ahead of me!” Jasmine could only smile as she maneuvered so only one hand and arm were on the ladder, her body swaying in the open air, unafraid of the drop below. “There you go! Now you’re clear. I’ll make sure you don’t fall!”
Xant shuddered, flattened his ears and forced himself to climb up the ladder. He could almost feel the thin aluminum bars being crushed under the strength of the suit, but one step at a time he climbed higher. The top was open, no hatch or easy step, so he had to scramble his way over and landed with a thud. By comparison, he heard Jasmine’s light footsteps make quick work of the ladder, and she was soon helping him up to his feet. “Careful,” she teased “you’ll scuff the deck!” “Scuff the what?...” “Take off your helmet, you’ll see things clearer!”
Warily, Xant let the locks of his helmet click and examined his surroundings. It was an ‘open air room’, the floor layered like in his office, multiple steps divided for different purposes, with a deep pit made of what looked like blue plastic as the focal point of the main room. Jasmine threw her arms open. “Welcome aboard, matey!” she announced. “Enjoy the pool deck!” “Pool? Was this filled with water-” Xant took a step closer but his ears were tickled by the sound underfoot. He had assumed the floor would have been of the same steel or plastics the ship was composed of but no, underneath him, the entire floor was made of wood. The doctor spluttered, reaching down to the floor to feel it. There was more wood here than he had seen in his entire lifetime, and humans used it for *flooring. *
“Ooh yeah, nothing beats a pristine hardwood deck, that’s why I told you not to scuff it.” Jasmine smiled, walking towards the glass doors. “Let’s check inside! I wonder if everything is still here?” Xant followed her. The whole building catered to a human’s sensibilities. He would be stepping into a truly alien environment.
And it was beautiful.
He was welcomed to a room detailed with wood and gold, whose glass windows shimmered even in the dim light. Displaced furniture, long couches and tables made of wood, extravagantly painted cloth with the shimmer of arvas pupa silk gathered dust, their beauty was comparable to imperial belongings. He ran a finger over the cushions and inspected the thin layer. “Phew! What a mess. Help me clean it up a bit…” Jasmine began lifting up an over turned chair, sliding it into a corner with an almost innate knowledge of where everything should go. The chairs, a long couch and two armchairs had all been pushed into the corner of the room the tables had slid to either end. Xant was almost too scared to touch anything. “What should I do?” he asked, afraid to risk any delicate work.
“We’ll start by dusting off the chairs, then I’ll tell you where they go, okay?”
“Alright...”
The chairs were covered in a soft cushiony material. Xant couldn't stop brushing his hand over them as he delicately placed the furniture, and was dismayed when he saw none of them had a hole for his tail.
“I’ll need help with this!” Jasmine called. The space beneath a large window was taken up by a long lounge, on which Jasmine promptly plonked herself. “Oh my god…I missed cushions.” She patted the space beside her. “Don't be shy! Take a load off!” “Just a moment.” Xant tapped his suit. He couldn't contain himself in steel any longer, the temptation to feel his new environment was too great. The suit splayed open and he was able to step out of it onto fluffy, soft carpet.
Xant lost himself rubbing his feet on the soft fibers. First wood, now fabric? It was obscene!
His own carpet was a precious momento, why would humans consider a laborious resource worth turning into a construction material?
“Is something wrong, Xant?”
“The floor, is this a common fixture?”
“The carpet? I mean, the owner was a madman to have white carpet on a boat, but if you can afford something like this you’re not cleaning it yourself.” Jasmine shrugged. “Carpet’s not uncommon, but generally going out of style because it's so hard to keep clean.”
Xant was both relieved and perplexed by the answer.
“So the reason it is not more common is maintenance?”
“Yeah, keeping carpet, let alone white carpet clean is a nightmare,” Jasmine explained, happy to be talking about the mundanity. “If you think the carpet is amazing you should try out the couch here!” Xant looked over the seat. It appeared all human furniture had a tall back support, with no consideration for large tails such as his own. He did spy a more accommodating stool, however, with the same cushiony substance on top.
“I think this might be more appropriate.” He flipped over the stool and sat, comfortably, very comfortably. He let his body relax as he took in more of the surroundings through naked eyes. There were still so many things thrown about. Cleaning against the wall next to his seat Xant spied an intricately carved container. It was rectangular, heavy and for whatever reason, had uniform, pyramid-shaped protrusions on the outside decorative surely, but the design made it difficult for him to hold. He had to be very careful picking it up.
Jasmine's eyes lit up when he inspected the object more closely, opening the stopper to sniff the contents within.
It smelled of disinfectant.
“Oh my god, yes!”
The human scrambled off the couch and started rummaging through the shelves in the lonely island bench.
“Jasmine?”
“Ah ha!” she cried triumphantly, pulling out another uniquely shaped bottle. “Now this is going to be great!” She skipped over to Xant, picking up more glass rectangles, handed him an empty one and placed his original find on the table. She poured out an amber liquid, a drop in his glass and a more substantial pour in hers.
“What is it?” Xant asked.
“Old enough to vote,” she giggled, then closed her eyes and took a small sip before exhaling and shivering pleasantly. “This is...well, I'm guessing it's older now, but aged whisky, a.k.a, human alcohol.”
Xant wrinkled up his nose.
“Is it supposed to be this colour?”
“Yes! When you drink it, you can taste the oak barrels and honey. But I know you guys use this for disinfectant, so, you get a drop if you're brave.”
“Considering what it does to your physiology, I doubt my own constitution can handle it.”
“Shame.” She shrugged and took another sip.
Xant couldn't taste it, but watched as Jasmine melted into relaxation.
“Ahhh, like drinking warm silk,” she described.
He took a sniff of the sample she gave him.
It was woody and sweet, but the second sniff burnt the inside of his nostrils. Xant graciously placed the ‘drink’ down, while Jasmine chuckled at his reaction.
“Yeah it’s not a drink for a first timer, I think it gets even more potent the longer it sits… and who knows how long we were floating out there.”
“By my best estimates, it could be anywhere between 10 to 1000 [quarters]. Calculating in the unexplored regions of the system, what is currently reachable by galactic council gates and the limit of stasis pods.” Xant informed her.
Jasmine sat quietly for a moment, staring into her glass, before she threw back her head and the drink in one go.
“Whoooo!” She coughed. “Okay, we've seen this room, what else is there to explore!” She swayed getting to her feet, but charged forward anyway. Xant followed close behind, in case she lost her footing, or incase the alcohol began interfering with her Freq control.
The hallways connecting the chambers were very narrow, almost too narrow for him, and all of them had such sharp ascents and descents. The human led inside to one of the many inner chambers, each one as tossed around as the last. There was an entire ‘library’ of paper books, another room dedicated to the act of ‘entertaining’, featuring a destroyed dataslate the size of an operating table, and smaller ‘bedrooms’ that appeared just to be filled with more cushiony furniture.
“And here is the master bedroom.” Jasmine pushed open the ornate wooden doors to reveal yet another spectacular room, almost as large as the entertainment deck, but was sparsely furnished, all Xant could see was that it contained a bed with tables either side, but the bed was nothing short of magnificent. The tapestry stretched across it was nothing short of breathtaking, where giant intertwining flowers embroidered with gold thread sprawled across its majesty. He’d never seen anything as intricate made from pure cloth, the designs were simply beautiful.
“You really like that bedspread, huh?” Jasmine questioned. Xant ran his hand over the quilt, picking it up and feeling the weight of it, wondering what it was like to not be mesmerised by it all.
“Are humans always surrounded by such beauty?” he asked.
The question caught her off guard, and she looked around the room.
“Not always, but, at the same time, this is closer to what it’s like on earth than either the station or the base.” She held her arms wide as she took lazy steps across the room.
“Windows, pictures and paint on the walls, bedsheets and pillows...we like ‘beautiful’ surroundings.” She fell backward onto the large bed, rolling on the blankets and looking up at Xant. “You’ve got no excuse not to feel what the bed is like.”
Xant sighed, took a deep breath and mimicked Jasmine’s actions, letting himself flop forward onto the bed.
It was fluffy and soft.
“I think the sheet’s a genuine 1000 thread count too. Maybe I could make a proper cape out of this, huh?”
“It is absolutely fascinating that humans sleep on such luxury.”
“The lucky ones sleep on such luxury! But I do appreciate bedsheets after going without for so long.”
Her attention was shortening by the moment, as she rolled off the most comfortable place in existence to peek around a door.
“The ensuite!!” she squealed. “Oh Xant, you have to see what a real bathroom looks like!”
If the master bedroom was the most comfortable place in the world, then the ensuite was the most ornate. Xant couldn’t even identify what half the items were in the room, but they apparently all pertained to the simple act of grooming.
Long, wide mirrors lined one entire side of the room, double marble basins and chrome taps sat beneath them. Frosted glass windows, a bath big enough to fit four and a bidet decorated with gold made up the rest of the fixtures. Jasmine once again began rummaging through the shelves, making happy noises with every new discovery.
“Xant, hold out your hand!”
The doctor reluctantly did so, and Jasmine placed a small white blob in it. “Smell it!!” she insisted, fever in her eyes.
He took a quick and wary sniff, but the burning sensation he expected never came.
A fresh and vibrant perfume filled his senses, a sweetness he’d never known.
“It's jasmine hand cream! This is what my namesake smells like!” She dotted her entire arms with the cream and rubbed it into her skin.
“A moisturizer?”
“Yes! And here’s shampoo and conditioner, for hair, moisturizer, face cream, body wash, exfoliant, oh god please, oh please let the water be running!”
She dived for the taps to the bath, wrenching the handle as hard and as fast as it would go, but to no avail.
“Noooo,” she sobbed, hanging her head. “S’pose it was too good to be true, the water in the tanks would be dry…”
Xant curiously looked over the bathtub and jasmine could feel his freq overflowing with curiosity.
“So humans clean themselves in still water?”
“Well, soaking in the tub is fun, it's not exclusively how we clean ourselves, the shower is better for that.”
“So what is the difference between a human shower and our own?”
Jasmine pulled a disgruntled face.
“It’s the difference between a warm gentle rain and a cold pressure hose!” she exclaimed. “Oh, I wonder if we could get it running again…?” She absent mindedly lifted up a wicker basket, finding a few clothes the previous owners had left behind. “So, what do you think?” she asked, lifting a floral summer dress up over her figure.
“The patterns are beautiful, but, is it a cape?”
“No, it’s a dress! Hmmm, but I’d have to lose a few kilos for it to fit.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Well, I’m a little bit bigger than the supermodel who stayed on this boat, but nothing a few weeks of exercise and diet couldn’t fix. Since there’s no junk food I really don’t have the excuse.”
“Are you not already in optimal condition?”
“Pfffft! No, god no.” She pulled at her stomach fat playfully. “Too much good food and junk food makes for chunky humans.”
“Junk food?”
Jasmine grinned ear to ear.
“Junk food, food that holds almost no nutritional value but is all about taste, glorious morsels of sugar, salt and colour dye.”
“There’s a chance sugar could be found aboard this vessel? We’d need to destroy it if there is any intact, its addictive nature can destroy a Sulins inhibition perminately.”
“Well if it’s going to be anywhere on the ship, it’ll be in the kitchen!”
They headed down to the bottom decks and stepped into a stainless steel wonderland. Jasmine was in her element, running her hand over the many pieces of specialised equipment as Xant watched on in wonder.
They found a perfectly polished kitchen, filled to the brim with human utensils, and all of it for the sole use of producing food. Jasmine lifted a book from the floor and brought it over to Xant.
“Here, this is what human food is supposed to look like.”
The graphical fidelity of the pictures was phenomenal, given that they weren’t on a computer screen, but the colours and shapes didn’t even seem similar to what he knew as ‘food’. He had seen sculptures that didn’t have dimensions nearly as interesting as those of the consumables depicted, and there was page after page of them, dish after dish, each one a work of art.
She showed him the variety of knives on display and the stupid amount of cutlery for eating said food. This was an entire industry to these people, the production and skill devoted to it was…
Garish.
Jasmine stood before a giant set of doors, her hands hovering over the handles.
“This is a refrigerator, we keep perishable goods inside… I wonder if anything is still…”
She jerked open the doors and they were both greeted with the foulest stench. The rotting and liquefied remains of meat and vegetables slopped onto the floor. Sealed inside the fridge, the smell had fermented to overpowering levels.
“Air!” Jasmine shouted as she scrambled past Xant. “I need air!”
They ran up several stairs to escape the toxic gas and were able to breathe a sigh of relief once above deck. They appeared to have come out the other side, more couches and pools littering the area Jasmine made her way across to get to the bow of the ship.
She walked to its peak, then climbed over the safety railing to hold the spearhead.
Puffing out her chest and throwing her arms open, she proclaimed for the entire engineering wing to hear,
“I’M ON A BOAT, I’M ON A BOAT! TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK AT THE MOTHER FUCKING BOAT!”
An echo of uproarious laughter soon followed suit, a joke Xant wasn’t privy to, then Jasmine climbed back to join him.
“You know, I think I’m done for the moment. I need a break from all this excitement…”
She flopped herself down on one of the sunbeds, and Xant stood over her.
“Jasmine, I’ve been meaning to ask...”
“Go ahead?”
“All of this, it’s wonderful, but it’s nothing like the memory you shared with me. All this is pure opulence. Your memory was far more humble and comforting…”
“Well, that’s because this is a superyacht, and not a lower-income one bedroom apartment…” The human shrugged.
“So, what measure of wealth allows people to live such drastically different lives?”
“... I, dunno know, they're mostly owners of companies, corporations, kings, queens, people who run economies…”
“What expertise defines their worth to be that much more than yours?” Xant asked pointedly.
Jasmine faltered for an answer. While she could throw around words like investment portfolios and trust funds, she didn't actually understand the system as well as she would have liked.
“They study finance, have rich parents, inherited gold mines…luck, I guess? There’s many different ways to get there.”
“So, every human has the chance to attain this level of contribution credit?”
“No…”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” Xant remarked, finally lying down beside her. Jasmine stared up at the steel enclosed ceiling, reflecting.
“No it’s not, but it’s getting better,” she replied. “Slowly but surely, it's getting better.”

##Wiki/Chapter list = First Chapter = Previous = Next

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Something for everyone here.

[US/US][SELL][PERFUME] Lots of samples Alpha musk, LE Black baccara, Cocoa pink, Death & Floral, Hexennacht, LUSH, NAVA, Nui cobalt, Solstice scents, Traveling vardo and more!

Looking to sell (not looking to swap atm) some unloved indies, everything has been tested atleast once unless otherwise noted.
Pet friendly smoke free home. Shipping starts at $5, paypal G&S please. I'll be shipping either Friday/Saturday at the latest. Thanks for looking!
Full sizes
Alpha Musk Softcore (my honey scent: loved this honey note but it’s a loud almost clover-like honey scent and then i sexified it with some cocoa, a medium charming oud and some dark woods.) 5ml FULL $13 PENDING
Black Baccara Love spell (Highlights include caramelized sugar, toasted marshmallow, anise, strawberry jam, black cherry incense, candied orange, and a swirl of honey. ) 5ml FULL $14
Black Baccara Sempiternal (Aroma palette is an a fruit tinged floral. Highlights include jasmine tea, strawberry jam, vanilla bean musk, and a ghosting of clove.) 5ml FULL $14
Blood drop Said the spider to the fly ( cant find notes. Smells floral w/green gardenia and tuberose) 5ml TOL $8
Cocoa Pink Signature White (a blend of delicate shea blossoms, rice flowers, vanilla cream, sweet sugar and heliotrope with delicate undertones of amber and sandalwood.) DRAM/FULL OIL $3 PENDING
Cocoa Pink Black Kittens (Black, Boo Boo Lemon Noel, a drop of Egyptian Musk) DRAM/TOL EDP $3 PENDING
Death & Floral Passoniate as sin (Red musk and deep crushed roobois tea leaves, fiery red oakwood, red mandarin pulp) BNNU 5ML FULL $10
LUSH American Cream (On a first blush, you'll detect notes of warm vanilla mixed with the sweetness of fresh berries. Then comes the refreshing herbal aroma of sage and lavender. Bottoms up!) 3.3FL OZ 100ML (the BIG bottle) FULL (sprayed once) $45
NAVA Bastets ice cream: french vanilla cafe creme (French Vanilla Café Creme:French Vanilla Absolute, Italian Espresso Coffee Bean CO2, NA Coffee Bean Accord, Cream accord infused Vanilla Crystalline Cream accord, Butter accord, Caramel Accord, French Vanilla Bean Absolute, Vanilla Milk accord,Vanilla Orchid,Crystalline Absolute and Egyptian Sugar) 5ML TOL $10 PENDING
Solstice scents Wardrobe (Creamy woods blend with cashmere, fur, velvet and a touch of dry woody spice) 5ML FULL IN BOX $13 PENDING
SAMPLES $2 UNLESS MARKED OTHERWISE
Alpha musk Dreamy (A rich dry cookie like vanilla, gentle relaxing dry peru balsam, arabian musk tahara, platinum amber white, creamy amber, this is a creamy beige soft lightly sweet ‘nude’ sweet skin musk with the tiniest hint of a sparkly musk bite.) (solids in bottoms from tahara)
Alpha musk Viola! (cream soda and bourbon)
Alpha musk Fresh baked bread PENDING
Arcana wildcraft Murder canes (mashup of Murder Ballad Blues (wild Appalachian blackberries and sugared mountain violets with hints of dark earth and guilty secrets) and Candy Cane (wild-harvested sweet peppermint with French vanilla extract and a hint of bright white musk).) 1ml $3
Area of Effect Riften (juicy blackberry, honey mead from the Black Briar Meadery, soft amber, stealthy vetiver, earthy oakmoss, and briny dockwood from the Ratway.)
Astrid Pumpkin pie spice 1ml $3
Astrid Full moon 31oct20 (Marshmallow, Aglaia, Lavender, Tuberose, Peru balsam, White lily, Oakmoss) 1ml $3
Black Baccara Goddess of light (An orange, lime, strawberry, and vanilla accord gives this blend a fresh and fizzy aura reminiscent of freshly poured cola. On the dry down, the effervescence settles into a soft and mysterious fruit and vanilla hybrid.)
Bpal Belle au bois dormant (The Sleeping Beauty. A gentle, lovely scent, slightly soporific, but beautiful in its quiet repose. Plumeria and white pear, Damascus rose, tuberose, magnolia and evening dew.)
Bpal Snooty Rose (Red rose, oud, plum, bergamot, and red sandalwood.)
Bpal Poisoned Apple (A perfect, lovely, gleaming red apple whose sweetness masks a swirl of narcotic opium, oleander, and hemlock)
Bpal Samhain (damp woods, fir needle, and black patchouli with the gentlest touches of warm pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, allspice, sweet red apple and mullein.) $1 torn label
Cocoa pink Sigh (Whispers of sweet, European lavender and weeping apple blossoms cuddled in pillows of marshmallow clouds and vanilla cream) think its edp in a 2.5ml atomizer but could be oil $3
Cocoa pink Lucide dreaming (The hypnotic yet sultry notes of wormwood, white sandalwood, golden amber, pale musk and cardamom.) PENDING
Cult Fragrance Hollow Jack (Smoked woods, leather, tonka bean, pumpkin spice, coffee) 1ml
Death and floral Mourning in late April 1ml original dropper sample
Death and floral Japanese sandalwood incense
Death and floral Rose water seltzer
Eliza cosmetics The conjured (Violets, narcissus, nutmeg, ambergris, nitro musk, vanilla) 1ml $1.50
Eliza cosmetics Ectoplasm (Iris, petitgrain, musk, ambrette, coriander, jasmine, honey, heliotrope) 1ml $1.50
Fantome Kensington (Vanilla, citrusy, creamy, floral. Earl Grey tea, cashmere, dark vanilla bean, smooth cedar, dried rose petals, mandarin zest, pink peppercorn, and a burst of fresh bergamot.) 3.3ml EDP $3 PENDING
Haus of Gloi Covet (Warm amber, sticky aged patchouli, and thick vanilla syrup.)
Haus of Gloi Odette (Clean sun dried linens, tuberose, ginger lily and white musk.)
Hexennacht Gold skulltula (Golden amber, cardamon, vanilla orchid, tonka, vanilla bean, myrrh) $1.50 pending
Hexennacht Inferno *(Orange pekoe tea, orange, cinnamon, ginger, clove) $1.50
Hexennacht mallow mint (marshmallow, buttercream, candy cane.) large sample 2.5ish ml $4
Hexennacht Bah humbug (sticky pine sap, slushy wet melted snow puddles, squished chocolates, broken candy canes, and countless strands of tangled holiday lights.) large sample 2.5ish ml $4
Kyse Peche au yuzu (Peach, Yuzu, Jasmine, Vanilla, Tonka Bean, everlasting summer!) 1ml PENDING
NAVA Gardenia crimson (Egyptian Gardenia Essence, Crimson (Studio Limited), Orange Flower and a kiss from the moon.) $2.50 PENDING
NAVA Honeysuckle crystalline (Egyptian Honeysuckle, Blue European Honeysuckle, White Japanese Honeysuckle crystal and Egyptian Vanilla (SL: Crystalline).) $2.50 PENDING
NAVA Egyptian peach blossom (Egyptian Summer Peach Orchard, Egyptian Sandalwood (SL: Santalum) and Egyptian Vanilla Resin (SL: Kobalt)) $2.50 PENDING
NAVA Carnival cotton candy (Spun sugar candy, candy apple, red apple skin, spun pink sugar and crystalline absolute) $2.50
Nui cobalt nefarious (Satsuma peel, wine-stained linen, beeswax candles, ylang ylang, and red amber. Wear to remain safely in the shadows when your plans require discretion.) 2ml $3
Nui cobalt Ailurophilia (The love of Cats. Egyptian musk, tonka, and dulce de leche wrapped in luxuriant cashmere, soft suede, wisps of sandalwood and copal smoke. Wear this comforting concoction to honor your feline familiars and invoke their ancient power.) 2ml $3
Nui cobalt Divine (meditative blend for elevation and illumination. Silver needle tea, lotus flower, ambergris accord, cerulean musk, blooming dogwood, and sunlit spring water. Breathe deeply of this scent before bedtime to assist in lucid dreaming and nocturnal pathworking.) 2ml $3
Nui cobalt The mentor (Ancient sandalwood, well-worn linen, olive leaf, oakmoss, Earl Grey tea, and sacred temple incense. Wear for guidance in times of confusion, and for spiritual support in times of discouragement.) 2ml $3
Nui cobalt Au bal masque (The sheer, spectral scent of elegant ghosts waltzing through the haunted halls of an abandoned palace. Nepalese virgin cashmere, cotton flower, vanilla spun sugar, labdanum, and the wafting memory of white funeral lilies. Wear this scent to attract benevolent spirits and to honor the beloved dead.) 2ml $3
Poesie County line (wild strawberries, tangles of honeysuckle in full bloom, cold lemonade, a weathered wooden swing) 1ml $3 PENDING
S92 beautiful popular loved feared $3
S92 Paper moon (Soft vanilla musk, benzoin, oakmoss, trailing ivy, peach blossom, rose.) $3 PENDING
Traveling vardo Nomad (richest, most elegant, buttery amber I’ve been able to lay my hands on… infused with exotic cardamom for a bit of a spicy, sultry kick. The effect is softened with peru balsam and grounded with the finest grade of aged dark patchouli, while a blend of dry exotic woods balances the whole glorious mélange on an elegant, smoky base.)
Traveling vardo The valley of the kings (egyptian musk) PENDING
Traveling vardo Parting the veil (Crisp night air, damp earth, faded jasmine blossoms, Hawthorn berry, with white amber and smoke from offertory incense spiraling through the cool night mist )
Traveling vardo Corvus corax (Tuberose, gardenia, and jasmine with rich, velvety smooth amber, sweet musk, and a whisper of sandalwood, oakmoss, and patchouli.)
Traveling vardo A murder of crows (Deep, smoky sandalwood in an infusion of cacao absolute, golden honey, myrrh, and a whisper of the season's final peppery carnations, wrapped up in rich, earthy patchouli)
Traveling vardo Calabaza en el fuego (This is a rich, elegantly sweet, gourmand scent... comprised of roasted pumpkin flesh with a delicate, and I do mean delicate, dusting of ginger and nutmeg, crunchy caramelized cinnamon pecans, and a cup of dark roast coffee for good measure. Rounded out with just a hint of amber and vanilla)
Traveling vardo Artorius (Amber, oakmoss, sandalwood, cedar, Frankincense, vetiver)
Traveling vardo Hatshepsut (Egyptian musk, sandalwood, oud, cedar, white floral)
Traveling vardo Pagoda (Pagoda... Asian florals over a rich, seductive base of amber, vanilla, and musky temple incense notes.) PENDING
ZOMG Smells Tasse de la Reine (Our take on this queenly pick-me-up: two kinds of bittersweet chocolate, ambergris, and a speck of fruity pink pepper.)
ZOMG Smells Lola (Vanilla and spices doused in sticky-sweet frankincense and propped up on sky-high platform heels)

[Let's Build] d100 interesting background events in a major city

Here's the intent: Events that MIGHT involve the players, but also might not. Nothing TOO catastrophic (like a tarasque destroying the city is too much. A public execution of a popular tavern owner, however- THAT's what I am looking for). There's a goblin invasion here in these examples, aaaand I think I might remove it- seems too big for what I am after here.

An assassination plot is underway to take out the leader of the [City Guild]. It takes place in [1d10+2] days.
The city's [Government Official] was just murdered by a political rival. This won't be discovered for [1d10+2] days.
Goblins have been tunneling under the city walls for decades in preparation for a massive invasion. Nobody has noticed the sunken ground over their tunnels yet, but the invasion attempt is set to take place [3d20+10] days from now.
The largest brothel in the city is currently holding a "the best lover in the land" competition. It's the first one ever, and people are talking about it all around town.
The city's annual combat tournament begins in [1d6+2] days. Anyone may enter, but no weapons of any kind or spells are allowed. It is held in a dirt floor arena behind the market square.
The city economy is tanking. This is evidenced by more than the usual number of vagrants, and and unhappy residents all around. A riot in the city center will take place in [1d4+2] days. Flyers for a "demonstration" can be seen all around.
Every Friday in the city merchants slash their prices by 25%. People who live in the city depend on this, and thus the only folks really shopping during the week are outsiders.
The King will die from apparent natural causes in [1d6+3] days. The actual cause will be the effects of long term poisoning by his wife.
The circus comes to town in [1d6+2] days. It will show up unannounced outside the city walls. The circus is going to use magic to pickpocket everyone who attends and then disappear into thin air.
A building the players visit will burn to the ground in [1d3] days. [1d6+1] adjacent buildings will also perish in the towering inferno. Everyone burns to death unless the players intervene.
The confirmation of the city's new Ambassador happens in [1d4+1] days. It will draw huge crowds, and pickpockets.
A blood red moon will take place in [1d3+1] days.
The Festival of [Noun] occurs in [1d20+2] days. The city is abuzz about it.
A monthly group of traders are arriving to the city. They bring with them strange and exotic wares from surrounding cities and lands.
A group of adventurers are causing chaos in the town. The guards are alert and put on edge due to them. The PCs can stop them for a hefty reward.
Some miscreant has opened the city’s aviary, and now there’s a storm of birds all around the city so thick it is disturbing market business city-wide.
A man proclaiming to be a prophet of a deity is going around the town doing “miracles.” In reality he’s just a powerful [mage/sorcerewarlock] looking for a following, but his magic is having unintended consequences.
A caravan heading for the city will be ambushed and robbed in [x] days. If it's not stopped, there will be various supply shortages within the city.
A prisoner will break out of jail in [x] days. If not stopped or captured this criminal will go on a crime spree. 1-2 burglary / 3-4 mugging / 5-6 murder
A related group of (guilds, merchants, nobles) will be robbed in [x] days
A specific (guild, house, merchant, museum, noble) will be robbed in [x] days
In [x] days, an estate auction takes place. The deceased was an (1. alchemist / 2. artificer / 3. collector of the unusual / 4. ex-adventurer / 5. explorer / 6. inventor, mage)
In [x] days, a delegation of diplomats (nearby realm, distant realm, race) passes through the city on their way to the capital.
In [x] days, a herd of animals (cows, goats, pigs, sheep) escapes from the market and runs amuck in the city. If not stopped, random animal event for 1d6 days, every few hours roll 1-2 amusing animal mischief, 3-4 injury caused by animal, 5-6 property damage caused by animal.
In [x] days, pilgrims arrive in the city on their journey to "x"
In [x] days, a traveling merchant passes through the city. He or she sells things that are not commonly available in the city.
There is billowing smoke in the distance, but if investigated, it is no fire. Instead, an alchemist has gotten a little too eager and mixed dangerous chemicals. He's still inside the shop where the smoke is billowing from, and will die if not rescued...
The alleged leader of the local thieves' guild has finally been caught, and being made a public example of... though he insists it's a case of mistaken identity.
There's a nasty illness going around the city. Lately, more and more are falling ill. It's nothing terrible, and few actually die, but there's murmurs of it having an unnatural source...
An incredibly rich businessman is giving away all of his wealth. Citizens are wondering what could cause him to have such a change of heart.
People are going missing in the poorer districts of the city. Whispers abound of a man-sized beast that drags people off in the night...
The mayor has fallen quite ill. Crowds are leaving flowers at his home hoping for a healthy recovery, but the outlook is not great...
A priest is trying to get a mob going by preaching loudly in the streets, but he keeps getting chased from one gathering to the next by the city guard. He preaches the power of the people and is aiming to cause a city wide riot. This will take [2d10] days to get going and the players will find his sermons a couple times as the crowds gradually grow in size and malcontent.
The thieves guild is stealing from estate sales. They find rich, recently dead posh folks and drop by at auctions and property sales. They seem to be nabbing a lot of nick-knacks and low value magic items, but nobody can figure out why. In reality, they are searching for a puzzle cube that had been divided up long ago by a bunch of old society adventurers. When put together, it reveals a dungeon rumored to be rife with riches.
An orb at the top of the mage's tower has begun to glow brightly. It seems harmless for now but people are beginning to get spooked. A mob will form and attack the tower in [x] days.
The heir to the crown has been injured in a hunting accident and it is said that he may be near death.
A local healer is suspected of consorting with demons. She is due to be burned at the stake in [x] days.
A local priest has miraculously saved the life of a child. A feast is being held in his honor tomorrow night.
Two rival thieves guilds are ramping up a dispute over territory and innocent shop owners are being squeezed by both sides.
The Field-Marshall Captain of the Guard has just died. The position of the successor is unclear. Crime and Military Threats to the Peace are increasing in frequency by the day.
The ruler has or will soon have an arranged marriage, the new spouse arrives in 1d4 days under a cloud of some controversy, but with much pomp and ceremony.
A tax collector went rogue, and abused their power in a public fashion by killing a shop owner that failed to pay. The public is out looking for him seeking fevered vigilante justice.
The price of grain is being manipulated by a consortium of importers. The poor suffer, and the hungry are swelling in the streets.
A gate in the city wall has been poorly maintained for years. This failure in the kingdom's defenses has not gone un-noticed, and in 1d6+2 days raiders will arrive to take anything they can get their hands on. It will be bloody.
A madman just claimed to have poisoned one or more of the wells in the city; Panic is beginning to grip the populace.
A young ward of the [prominent noble] has developed an extreme interest in a fad that is gripping the youth recently. This public embarrassment has gone on long enough now that it has been decided: actions must be taken.
A love triangle has gone awry amongst two members of the royal court. One of the lovers has secrets that could embarrass the monarchy at best, or be used for purposes of blackmail at worst. Some of those secrets have already been whispered in the streets, and its only a short time before bigger ones leak out too. Dangerous ones.
The King flagrantly wastes taxes in a visibly corrupt scheme to make the royal quarters even more lavish. The populace decides to do something about it over the coming week, and tensions are already starting to simmer in the streets.
The Guards have been stopping and inspecting all outbound cargo, for some reason. It is putting a real strain on shipments and clogging up the traffic. In reality, the thieves guild managed to steal a precious magical artifact from the Supreme Wizard during an epic heist. Trouble is, they can't get it out of the city now with all the heat.
A terrorist has unleashed a Discord Bottle in the middle of a local wedding. There were many casualties, and even the bride and groom both attempted to kill each other. This has happened at least once before, recently, and it has people on edge- leery of outsiders.
There's a crazed monster on the loose, that likes to run across rooftops and jump on folks in the dead of night, or so the rumors say. Rumor or not- the city guard is imposing a curfew tonight: nobody in the streets after dark.
A major counterfeiting operation gets uncovered in 1d4+1 days. There's a chance that it was operating undetected for months, and a significant amount of fools gold and silver coin entered the local economy. Penalties for re-circulating the fake money are very harsh. (10% of player gold gained in the last two sessions turns out to be phony).
There's been a real crackdown on Vice in the city, and alcohol was outlawed last month! Bootleg can still be found, but only under heavy secrecy and for high dollar.
Whispers are everywhere about an impending fisherman's strike. After a string of fatalities due to deliberately unsafe working conditions, the city's workers are fed up and are calling for economic democracy. If the players can't help somehow, rioting starts in 2d6+1 days.
Tenants in the city's largest housing block are gathering together for a rent strike to oppose unsafe conditions and their landlord's continued abuse of power. The landlord owns a fleet of merchant ships and is threatening to not sell necessary medicine and food to renters who participate in the protest. It's getting ugly.
A cave-in is about to occur in 1d8+2 days in the middle of the town’s market. The town has only the resources to begin picking up the pieces, not investigate the cave-in just yet, leaving the PCs free to explore.
A royal child is about to be born in 1d20+5 days, and rumor has it the child is not the king’s...
A ship arrives into port, but no one is on the ship...
The firstborn children of each of the town’s councilmembers shows up dead in front of the temple in 1d6+3 days. The arraignment of the bodies appears to be a failed attempt at some kind of ritual.
The town’s water supply is draining slowly, and no one knows why. In 1d6+2 days, humongous roots sprout from the ground and twist through the buildings, causing havoc and massive infrastructure damage. In reality, this was caused by a local Secret Society, and only they can undo what they have unleashed.
A druid wanders into the city every few days with his companion. He is convinced that someone is opening a portal to the abyss and bringing death to his nearby grove... but it's only being affected by actual pollution from the city itself.
An arsonist is in town. The town guard is investigating but so far haven't let on that they have any leads. Every [1d6+2] days a new fire is started. (Amp this up by having the fires be places the PCs have visited...)
The city's graveyard have a hidden cryptid, and if not found, an occultist group of merchants will make a citizen disappear every [1d4] days. After [1d10+10] people are missing, a bigger event happens. [1. Zombie outbreak 2. Ancient evil back to life 3. Random wild magic surges happens 4. Various people lose memory of the recent missing ones]
The wishing ponds in the city overflow slightly every day, and in [1d4+2] days the coins that were there rain down in the city (causing some injuries and some lucky people getting some money).
The town guard are busy putting around posters of a missing kid. If the PCs look into it [2d4] days, the child can be found alive, buried in the graveyard. Otherwise, the child is later found dead in the grave by the city guard with scratch marks on the inside of the coffin. In either case, suspicions arise over who deliberately buried this child, and why...
All the cats in town start to use the market as litter box. After [1d20] days, an epidemic of a strange disease starts that makes merchants get sick enough that they begin closing down the economy. After the disease spreads, the PCs will find no shops open.
The Princess is facing an arranged marriage to a nearby kingdom's Prince, but it has been rumored she's been in a relationship with a local bard commoner for some time & some folks at Court & in the street are speculating that they plan to run away before the wedding, which is to happen in 1 week. That is EXACTLY what they plan to do. They want help getting out of town unseen, while the King would handsomely reward someone who stopped this plot.
A local cult is sacrificing beggars in fiendish rituals down in the sewers at night, then by day is serving the flesh to the populace via a tavern they own. As the days go on, more and more people can be seen glassy-eyed and dreamy, with fresh tattoos depicting the cult's symbol. In 2d20 days, the cult's new army will make an attempt on the King's life.
In 2d6 days, there will be a extravagant parade through the city. Everyone in the city seems bristling with anticipation!
A dust storm is coming tomorrow that will last 1d4+1 days. It reduces visibility in the streets to 20 feet, and forces all the vendors outside to shut down.
It becomes unseasonably cold tomorrow, and each day it just keeps. Getting. Colder. The wizard's tower is the first place to freeze solid with ice that seems to be emanating outward from it, and no-one has seen the wizard since the cold snap began...
A royal baby was born just before the PCs arrived, and the town is decorated with millions of beautiful flowers. The public is antsy for news of the new arrival and hopes to see the little one soon.
Tonight as the PCs sleep, the city guard will begin rounding up all [Background]s for interrogation. (Acolytes, sages, outlanders, soldiers, etc). They received intelligence that the local secret society has been using [Background]s to further their goals, and the King is ready to take drastic measures to ensure their plans fail.
Rats are getting out of hand- they are EVERYWHERE. The people can hardly sleep with all the movement and scratching, and beggars in the streets are starting to look diseased. In 1d10 days, a druid shows up claiming to be able to rid the city of rats, but his true intentions are much more sinister.
Another rich nobleman has turned up dead today and his young wife is inheriting all of his wealth. The odd thing is this is the third time she’s been widowed and always to wealthy men in the city. Her latest husband’s son is seeking to hire someone to search for evidence of foul play on her part.
A famous healer is coming to town and the whole community is obsessed with him because of everyone he’s helped. He is only in it for the money, but nobody can convince the public of that- they absolutely love the guy.
[1d6] days ago a meteorite hit just outside the city walls, and people have been trying hard to get valuable pieces of the meteorite to sell off but the biggest piece of all was mysteriously taken. Everyone in town is on the lookout for it, even the city guardsmen.
The Prince is NOT the son of the King. This will come to light in [1d4] days, at which time the King will call for the public execution of the beloved Queen. The public will be devastated if she is actually killed.
It's the day of the Inventor's Faire, which goes on for [2d4] days. Artificers will come from near and far to show off, win awards, and make some sales. Mishaps and explosions are discouraged, but expected by the public.
It's the City-wide Bake off! Rival bakers come to test their baking skills. Cookies and sweets are abound.
The annual lantern festival, "Night of a Thousand Lights", is happening! At midnight, citizens gather to light mini lanterns that float up into the sky. The old timers recant how the lanterns are to lead missing travelers and long lost loved ones home.
It's the annual Mimic festival! This city actually enjoys Mimics for their versatility and celebrates by letting them be in their natural form and feed them a feast!
Holes (5-10 ft radius, 3-6 ft deep) have been appearing around the city since [1d6+2] days ago, causing traffic problems and some house damage. There’s a 10% chance that a hole will appear below where the party is resting, waking them up.
A clear Druid message has appeared in the sky, something all people can see, but no one knows its meaning. The message disappears after [1d4] days, when the secret battle between two different druid circles ends, leaving only neutral sentient plants outside the city.
Somebody has wrote and spread around the city a harsh truth about some guards who failed in protecting the people a long time ago. The people are furious and want justice, but in [1d8+1] days someone will discover it was fake information used as a cover for a prison break.
Something strange is happening in the city: people claim to become lost when walking down the street, but reach their destination [1d12] hours later, which is extremely confusing. There’s a 20% chance of this happening to one or more players. This is the effect of a powerful mage trying to learn how to manipulate time in secret, but in [1d4+3] days she will be stuck in a reverse time-stop spell of her own creation (only she is frozen in time), and the effects on the public will end.
A cheerful Halfling is giving luck coins to everyone who listen its story. The story changes for everyone, since the Halfling is a deity trying to inspire and help people who will need it to survive a future tragedy.
The prince is marrying a Medusa, something no one expected and is causing confusion among the population. Days later, the princess reveals she has married a weretiger instead of a Tabaxi. No one is sure how to react.
A long famous restaurant is closing since the owner “has no more inspiration.” It'll be selling food one last time in [1d4] days, and some lucky customers will receive one of its secret famous recipes! The lines are expected to be ridiculous.
The city's water source becomes tainted. By deliberate poison, accidental pollution, or (some speculate) a possible ooze infestation, no one is quite sure yet what the cause is exactly yet.
A merchant cart carrying various goods was too heavy for a bridge and collapsed into the river below. Traffic is being rerouted, but travel times through the city are doubled for [1d10+3] days due to the extra congestion while the bridge is repaired. The merchant lost something of great value downstream and wishes to have it returned, but it may have travelled into the sewers...
A very bad blight has spread through the city seeming to emanate from the nicer side of town. Sick people begin filling the streets more and more each day. In [1d20+5] days all the businesses will close as the workers are too sick. The source of this affliction is irrelevant at this point- what the city NEEDS is a cure!
The town guard are intentionally allowing crime to run rampant in certain areas which is giving the King a bad reputation. Is this a matter of principal to protest a refused pay raise? Perhaps a personal vendetta between the guard captain and the leader? Has some kind of payoff occurred, funded by an unknown third party? Or are they just bad at their jobs, but because [PLOT_REASON] there isn't anyone better to take their place?
Members of a [secret society/Thieves/Assassins guild] receive instructions encoded in prayer material that's distributed during regular religious services on where to meet in secret, information on missions/targets, illicit materials/substances, or other intel of value that cannot be exchanged in public. Are the priests/clerics in on it? Or are they being unknowingly manipulated by an unseen hand?
The local blacksmith disappeared over night. Not even his family have any clue about his whereabouts. Although the locals suspect it has something to do with the large quantity of [insert rare material] he acquired- because there's no way he could've afforded it.
A poster campaign critical of the monarchy has been rather more successful than is comfortable for some of the upper crust. This is leading to raids, arrests and increased patrols by the already overworked night watch.
A strange black mold is spreading through the city, popping up in isolated spaces. A cult of mad druids are to blame, as over the last few weeks they've planting strategically placed cultures of the fungus. The cult intends to chain together several rituals of the Plant Growth spell to turn the city into a forest of deadly fungus.
A prankster has started throwing illusions all over the city. Doors, manholes, and other such items are turning out to be illusory quite often as a result. The city watch are on constant guard for the perpetrator and will often poke and touch objects they're suspicious of while on duty.
A local elderly priest died in the middle of a special ceremony. The gathered crowd is awestruck as a brilliant light descended on his body, explodee in a harmless but temporarily blinding flash, and the body was gone. Even more mysteriously, now a handful of citizens have an invisible mark on their right cheek that glows whenever they near or enter the temple/holy site where it happened. The Royal Wizard wants a formal investigation, but the city guard doesn't have the manning.
The King's wife/daughter is having an affair with a notorious villain in the city. It gets discovered in [2d8] days.

[Inspo & Commentary] Rings

You've seen jewelry, let's talk more about rings. Scroll down for the list of designers.
soundtrack

Gallery

Inspo Gallery on imgur

Getting Started

Assuming you're reading this because you would like to wear rings and currently don't, here's a quick FAQ.

Materials?

Most common precious metals used in jewelry are silver, gold, platium and variations thereof. You will rarely find pure metal jewelry, reason being that 100% silvegold is actually soft and will warp and become damaged with little effort. The most common alloys for jewelry are:

Stainless Steel: what your kitchen cutlery is made of. Marketed as a cheap alternative to silver.
Sterling Silver / .925 silver: 92.5% pure silver mixed with another metal, commonly copper.
Yellow Gold: (usually) an alloy of gold and some other material, preserving the yellow colour of the gold.
Rose Gold: An alloy of gold, copper and some white metal e.g. silver. The copper gives the metal a rosy tint.
White Gold: An alloy of gold and a white metal e.g. silver. Personally I don't see the appeal when silver is 1/10^th the price.

Karats?

When buying jewelry it's important to know what the precious metal content is (or whether it's made of precious metal at all) as this plays a huge part in the quality of the jewelry and how much you should expect to pay.
Sterling silver is the benchmark for quality silver. Sometimes referred to as .925 silver, sterling silver is 92.5% silver by weight. The vast majority of silver jewelry is made of sterling silver - anything new that doesn't specify the quality (.925 / sterling, .999 / fine / pure) is of dubious quality and should be avoided.
Gold content is measured in karats. The scale goes from 0 to 24, with 1 karat being 1 part gold to 23 parts other material. Therefore, 16K gold is 50% pure gold and 24K gold is pure gold. The karat rating for white gold or rose gold is the same - 18K gold and 18K white gold contain the same amount of gold but the gold is alloyed with different materials to change the colour of the resulting alloy.
Metal alloys are generally much harder and resistant to wear. A higher percentage of pure precious metal is not necessarily better or more desirable.

Plating?

Plated jewelry is made from a material coated with a very thin layer of the specified metal. Plated metal is much cheaper than pure metal or an alloy. The material beneath the plating is usually copper, nickel, brass or silver. Jewelry from fast-fashion stores like H&M are generally made of copper or nickel plated with silver or gold.
Vermeil is a restricted term for a specific kind of plating. Whilst plating can be done to any metal with any plate thickness, vermeil is always silver plated with a layer of gold at least 2.5 microns thick.
Be cautious with plated jewelry. The price makes it very attractive but there are down-sides:

The plating has a tendency to rub off over time, ruining the appearance of your formerly-gold/silver jewelry.
The exposed metal may cause side effects:
- Some people are allergic to nickel and will develop a rash.
- Copper has a tendency to turn your skin green for a few days.

What should I buy?

Only buy pieces that speak to you. Think of jewelry like a tattoo. It's expensive, you're likely to keep it for a long time and wear it regardless of the rest of your outfit. If you're not sure whether you like a given piece your money would be better spent on something else. If you're not comfortable wearing it that's a lot of money left sat on your dresser.
Start simple. When making a big change in your wardrobe it's good to take it easy. Try a few small, simple pieces first e.g. a couple of stacking bands or a plain signet ring.
More is more. A single piece of jewelry will stand out in a bad way. The consenus from the jewelry thread was that it takes a few pieces to appear intentional and blend into an outfit. The sweet spot is 3-5 pieces total - less if you're wearing only one type, e.g. max. 3 rings, more if you're mixing it up e.g. 2 rings, a bracelet and a chain.
Sterling silver is king. IMO stainless steel does not look good in real life. It may look exactly like silver in the photos but trust me, when you place it side-by-side with silver it looks cheap. Stainless steel is duller, has a gray-tone and brushed-metal surface. It's a hardy material that's very resistant to scratches and wear. Sterling silver on the other hand is much brighter, can be polished smooth or oxidized to add detail and develops a patina over time. Gold is nice but it's very expensive. Mixing metals is hard to pull off so if you buy gold you may feel limited in terms of choice and price when buying future pieces.
Feel free to ignore this advice. If you want gold jewelry, go for it. If you want to wear more rings than you have fingers don't let me stop you. There are no rules - this is just advice for those who are dipping their toes into jewelry for the first time.

Sizing?

It can be difficult to size jewelry, particulary if you're doing it yourself. Here's some methods you can use ordered by ease/accuracy:

Use a ring sizer at home. Nowadays they make plastic ring sizers and many online brands will ship you one for free or low-cost. IMO this is the best way to take your ring size but watch a guide or two on YouTube to make sure you get it right.
Use a cloth tape measure. Take a measurement of your finger in mm using a flexible tape measure and use a size chart to convert to your desired scale.
Use your existing rings as a guide. If you know the size of your current rings (or you're sizing for a friend or partner who knows theirs) you're pretty set. I bought a thumb ring for my girlfriend for Christmas and compared her current thumb ring to one of mine to get an idea of size. When it turned up it was slightly smaller than expected but still fit.
Have a professional jeweler size you. You can ask a jeweler to measure your fingers in-store though you may be uncomfortable doing this if you don't intend to purchase anything. Alternatively, try some pieces on and note what size they are if they're a good fit.
Go to the showroom and let them measure you or try the pieces in-store. The most accurate if you're buying a specific brand. Obviously only an option if you live or travel nearby.
Pay to have the ring resized. If the ring is too large any jeweler will be able to resize it for you. It's more difficult/expensive to size a ring up, especially if it has details the whole way round. If in either doubt size up, make sure they have a good returns policy or don't buy.

Sizing Tips

Remember that each of your fingers is a different ring size. The fingers on your dominant hand will be thicker than the fingers on your non-dominant hand. The size of your fingers changes depending on the temperature so rings that are loose when it's warm may fall off when it's cold or vice-versa. When measuring at home take a few measurements in different rooms, inside / outside or at different times of day to get an accurate measurement.
If you're not fussed about which finger the ring will sit on, measure a few candidate fingers of similar size (±1) and order a ring in the size between. If the ring arrives and it's too large / small then wear it on the larger / smaller finger.

Where to buy?

Online: I buy most of my jewelry online. Most designers have an instagram presence and online store. Check the tagged photos on their instagram accounts for inspiration. The more mass-produced brands will have sales on holidays e.g. Christmas or Black Friday.
Independent retailers: Your city may have an area with lots of independent designers / craftspeople / markets - you're likely to find a lot of unique pieces here and physical locations for the designers listed below.
Thrift: You may have some luck at thrift stores or second-hand / charity / pawn shops. In some cities there are second-hand stores that only sell jewelry.
Grailed et al.: The more popular brands (e.g. The Great Frog) will appear on places like grailed or eBay.
On the high street: You're unlikely to find men's jewelry in high street retail / department stores. Most of the jewelry is very delicate and targeted toward women or married couples (wedding bands). The stuff you do find will be relatively inoffensive bands and signet rings.

Designers

So you want a ring but you don't know where to look. Great! See the gallery for general inspo and check out the list of designers below.
I've tried to categorize the list to make it easier to find the kind of rings you're interested in. If you have suggestions for more designers please let me know in the comments.
Most designers will produce other types of jewelry e.g. chains, bracelets, necklaces, pendants in a similar style.

Simple Rings

Small-to-medium size rings with plain or very simple designs. Stacking bands, signet rings, rings with a single motif like a chain, feather, nail etc.

designer	web	ig	price	description
TWOJEYS	twojeys.com	@twojeys	$	Silver-plated brass rings with unique designs offering a cheap entry point into jewelry. Occasionally do sterling-silver variants of popular designs. Bit of a weird "community" drop-based Instagram presence.
Vitaly	vitalydesign.com	@vitaly	$	Modern-architectural-streetwear-techno-vampire jewelry in raw or gold-plated stainless steel.
Silver999	Etsy - Silver999	not found	$	Tons of sterling silver designs with pop-culture / religious references.
Onyx.925	onyx925.com	@onyx.925	$	One man and his surfboard making plain rings with a rough, hand-crafted look in the south of England. Potential for custom hand-engravings.
The Silver Stone	thesilverstone.co	@the.silverstone	$	Simple motif designs with various inspiration, made in California.
Love for C/O	lovefor.co	@loveforco	$	Swedish design inspired by religious iconography.
The M Jewelers	themjewelersny.com	@themjewelers	$$	NYC jeweller dealing exclusively in custom-made. Letters, names, years of your choosing. Wait for a holiday for 45% off.
Scosha	scosha.com	@scosha	$$ - $$$	Don't be fooled by their instagram - their mens' offering is mostly simple signets.

Industrial Rings

Medium-to-large rings with lots of sharp angles, clean lines and bulky shapes. Man-made, brutalist aesthetic.

designer	web	ig	price	description
OSS	oss-oss.com	@ossofficial	$$	Brutal-industrial-spaceship rings from Spanish designers based in Paris.
Iolom	[iolom.jp](www.iolom.jp)	@iolom_official	$$	Principally works with brass and sterling silver; elegant clean lines and geometric shapes. Distribution outside Japan very limited.
Chin Teo	chinteo.com or ssense - chin teo	@chin_teo	$$$	Natural meets industrial with a mix of clean, wound designs vs. rough-hewn and hammered bands.
Werkstatt:München	werkstatt-muenchen.com	@werkstattmunchen	$$$	Big, biker-industrial rings. Lots of wound-bands and stacking sets. Some skulls.
Parts of Four	partsof4.com	@partsof4	$$$	Huge. Impractical. Outrageously large, really, gigantic. Some of the most unique jewelry I've seen, for better or worse.

Natural Rings

Various-sized rings with designs or textures inspired by nature. Think flowing water, rock formations, gemstones, emphasis on natural wear and tear. The counterpoint to industrial's man-made aesthetic.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Innerstone	inner-stone.com	@_innerstone_	$	Sets of delicate stacking rings and bands with textures inspired by nature.
Alice Kaufmann	alicekaufmann.com	@alicekaufmannjewellery	$$	Danish designer creating organic pieces based on the flow of the metal itself. Some zero-waste pieces made from by-products of other designs.
Alicia Hannah Naomi	aliciahannahnaomi.com	@aliciahannahnaomi	$$	Australian designer creating delicate-yet-rough rings inspired by the nature around her.
gone.archive	gone-archive.com	@gone.archive	$$	Polish designer creating rough-hewn, primitive designs like rock-formations. Extensive use of black diamonds.
Fallow Store	fallow.com.au	@fallowstore	$$ - $$$	Not a designer per se, but a reseller of other designers similar to ssense. Grungy, big industrial/nature inspired rings. A good place to follow to get inspiration; stocks many of the designers on this list.
Sofia Lorena Perelson	sofialorenaperelson.com or Fallow Store	@sofialorenaperelson	$$ - $$$	.999 fine silver / gold rings in simple designs. Due to the softness of fine / pure metals the ring will tarnish and warp creating a unique, highly personal piece of jewelry.
Alex Skeffington	alexskeffington.com	@alexskeffington_	$$ - $$$$	"Inspired by the elements, the human body, rock and roll, techno music, a theatrical lifestyle and deep personal emotions. Her designs feature unique organic forms of .925 silver, in heavily textured freehand surfaces. Each piece bares luxurious weight and significant stature."
Kei Shigenaga	keishigenaga.com	@keishigenaga	$$$	A clash between of rough-hewn oxidized metal and elegant, flowing silver with elements of kintsugi repair.
NODE by Kudo Shuji	nodebykudoshuji.com	@node_by_kudo_shuji	$$$	Wild sci-fi designs often contrasting clean, melting chrome-like sections with heavily oxidized, distressed parts. Distribution outside Japan extremely limited.

Biker Rings

Big fuck-off rings for letting everyone know you ride a Harley Davidson, play in a rock band and do a lot of drugs.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Clocks & Colours	clocksandcolours.eu/	@clocksandcolours	$	Detailed, medium-sized rings under various themes - western, nautical, nature. I find a lot of their designs to be tacky but they have some simpler pieces I've considered purchasing.
DAD of Sweden	dadofsweden.com	@dadofsweden	$	Lots of skulls.
The Great Frog	thegreatfroglondon.com	@thegreatfrogldn	$$	What you think of when you think of biker rings. Worn by all your favourite rockstars. Big skulls, motorcycles, animals.
Songyan Jewelry	Etsy - Songyan Jewelry	@songyan_jewelry	$$	Jewelry by Chinese designer Songyan Han. If The Great Frog were founded in the East.
Han Cholo	hancholo.com	@hancholodesigns	$$	Pop-culture rings. Voltron, He-Man. Makers of the MF DOOM ring.
Black Rock Jewel	blackrockjewel.com	@blackrockjewel	$$	BIG rockstar rings from Copenhagen. Chunky rings, big stones and skulls.
Lugdun	lugdun.com	@lugdunartisans	$$	Handmade ancient viking rings and pendants. Maybe the most unique thing on the list outside Macabre Gadgets.
King Baby	kingbabystudio.com	@king_baby_studio	$$$	Big rings inspired by Americana. Clean silver and gold designs.

Macabre Rings

Macabre / goth rings. Skulls, death & witchy things.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Blue Bayer	Etsy - BlueBayerDesignNYC	@bluebayer	$	Lots of unique designs, although some of them seem to be lifted from The Silver Stone or vice-versa (particularly the goat and branch rings). Not sure what to think but I grabbed this from the streetwear list.
BLACK SØLV	blacksolv.ca	@blacksolv	$ to $$	Goth, romantic, and sci-fi influences with polygonal shapes and desaturated gems. Lightly femme aesthetics.
Macabre Gadgets	macabregadgets.com	@macabregadgets	$$	Big rings made of marble with some silver / gold elements. Design inspired by the macabre - lots of skulls, skeletons and dead things. Infamous for their dick ring. I have yet to any of their pieces pulled off outside of their lookbooks. Please share any everyday fits you find with me so I can justify buying one of their pieces.
Brooklyn Smithy	Etsy - Brooklyn Smithy	@brooklynsmithy	$$	Another Etsy store selling all kinds of designs including a fair few skulls and eyes.
KD2024	kd2024.com	@kd2024_lsdluxurysilverdesign	$$$	Intricate designs in a mix of gold & silver. Claws and other animal parts. Lots of big stones.

Fashion Rings

Mainstream, avant-garde or high-fashion designers that don't fit into the other categories.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Lucas+	lucasplus.com	@lucasplusjewelry	$$	NYC designer creating jewelry with his "positive" motif.
Khiry	khiry.com	@khiryofficial	$$	Inspired by the designer's African heritage.
Voodoo Jewels	voodoojewels.com	@voodoojewels	$$	Rings with lots of multi-coloured stones.
Good Art	goodart.com	@goodarthlywd	$$$	A bit of a bizarre one. While most designers focus on traditional jewelry, Good Art makes a lot of... things. Chapstick caps, AirPod cases, corkscrews and smoking pipes.
Cody Sanderson	codysanderson.shop, Sorrel Sky, Buyma, Grailed	@codysandersondesigns	$$$-$$$$	Native American silversmith creating jewelry based on traditional Navajo designs in Santa Fe, NM.
Tiffany & Co.	tiffany.com	@tiffanyandco	$$$	Probably the most famous jewelry designer in the world. You may be tempted to write them off as over-priced and over-hyped but (as a biased Tiffany-bracelet owner) I have to admit that the quality is incredibly high. ~~Their silver pieces are rhodium-plated~~ and there is a noticeable difference in the durability and brightness of my Tiffany bracelet vs. other silver jewelry I own. Edit: I can't actually find any evidence that their silver is rhodium-plated. It's important to do your research before buying things!
Thomas Sabo	thomassabo.com	@thomassabo	$$$	Big rings inspired by Asia. Lots of small stones and inlays. One of the more successful designers with physical locations in tons of major cities / malls.
Alexander McQueen	alexandermcqueen.com or ssense - Alexander McQueen	@alexandermcqueen	$$$	Rings in classic McQueen style.
Gucci	gucci.com	@gucci	$$$	It's Gucci.
David Yurman	davidyurman.com	@davidyurman	$$$	I suppose you might consider these to be rings for classic menswear. Signet rings with marble or some other opaque stone, elegant bands. Some outrageously intricate signets with fuckton of stones and sky-high prices to match.
Ugo Cacciatori	ugocacciatori.com	@ugocacciatory	$$$	Big, intricate rings and bands in either silver or a mixture of silver & gold.

Vintage

Places to buy vintage / second-hand rings online.

designer	web	ig	price	description
VintageJewelryEden	Etsy - VintageJewelryEden	not found	$	Vintage European silver jewelry sold in the USA.
1st Dibs	1stdibs.com	1stdibs	$ - $$$$$	All sorts of vintage jewelry from across the spectrum.

Custom Signet Rings

Signet rings were traditionally engraved with a design and worn on the pinky finger. You would use the signet to stamp and seal letters with your personal insignia in wax.

designer	web	ig	price	description
Deakin & Francis	deakinandfrancis.co.uk	@deakin_francis	$$ - $$$$	Established 1786. Custom signet rings and other jewelry in a variety of materials, shapes and stones.
Dexter	familysealrings.com	@dexterrings	$$$ - $$$$	Custom signet rings in a variety of materials, shapes or stones.
Rebus	rebussignetrings.com	@rebussignetrings	$$$$	Exclusively gold, custom signet rings in a variety of shapes or stones.
Hancocks	hancockssignetrings.com	@hancocks_london	$$$$	Established 1849. Custom signet rings and pendants in a variety of materials, shapes and stones.
Coast Handworks	coasthandworks.com	@coasthandworks	$$$$	Custom engraving of bands and signet rings by a modern designer & engraver based in Canada.
Castro Smith	castrosmith.com	@castrosmith	$$$$	I really hope you're still reading because Castro Smith does some incredible work. Hand-engraved, incredibly detailed signet rings in multiple tones. Ready-to-order one-of-a-kind pieces and the opportunity to order bespoke.
Ruffs	ruffs.co.uk	@ruffs1904	by quote	Established 1904. Custom signet rings in a variety of materials, shapes or stones with the opportunity to recycle existing jewelry.

Thanks to danhakimi and everyone else who left nice comments in the jewelry thread and encouraging me to make this post.
Note: my only qualifications for creating this post are owning a few rings, enjoying wearing them and having access to Google. Please read the comments and take everything with a pinch of salt. Thanks x

First Contact - Third Wave - Chapter 346 (The War)

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The Precursor was ancient.
Its hull had originally been laid down to facilitate the relocation of a powerful Overqueen who had begun to undergo the cyclonic hormone storm to enable her to ascent to Omniqueen status. Vast chambers to hold eggs, larvae, servitors, warrior caste, the budding Omniqueen and her allies. Engines powerful enough to move a moon out of orbit were installed on the massive frame. Hyperplane engines powerful enough to lift a city into the hyperatomic plane and propel it through that place where the speed of light was a suggestion that not even light always paid attention to. Armor thick enough to protect the Omniqueen if the vast starship brushed the edge of a supernova.
Its armor was thick, heavy, multi-layered. It had a multi-hull design, with backups for the backups of the backups. The latest technology was balanced with the tried and true technology that had allowed the Hive Lords to expand throughout the galactic Spiral Arm Bridge. Its hull could withstand a planet cracker with less than 15% decrease in function.
Its weapons were strong enough to fight off any rival Omniqueen or Overqueen. It possessed the firepower to destroy a medium sized planet. It had main gun batteries measured in the miles rather than by the gun. It possessed enough missile launchers to put volleys numbering in the billions into space to eradicate the enemy. It possessed parasite craft in such numbers it could blot out the sun and eradicate its foes in the darkness.
The Omniqueen was concerned. She had many enemies, those who would want what she had, those she had offended or angered during her rise to Overqueen, and rival Hive Lords. She knew that during transit she would be in hypersleep, she would be vulnerable during the long relocation.
She had ordered that the vast machine be able to fight autonomously. Without input. Without orders. To preserve her magnificence and her subordinates as well as the valuable resources that she would need to protect herself as she built her power base.
Massive thinking arrays, the best the Hive Lord science caste could create, were installed, giving the machine an almost unheard of autonomy for a warship.
Once loaded, it had began the first of thirty hyperspace jumps it would need to reach where the Omniqueen would create her hive.
It had been the first to face the Dying Ones when it was attacked upon leaving the hyperatomic plane and entering realspace to face an ambush. The ambush would have destroyed any lesser machine. The Omniqueen and her loyal servants would have perished in hypersleep with no witnesses had it been any other machine.
It was not just any other machine.
The Dying One's attack had been brutally effective, damaging it severely. The heavily armored interior hull had held and the Omniqueen and her servants had survived, still asleep. It was wounded, damaged, and hammered.
It still existed.
The Dying Ones had been relegated to The Dead Ones instead.
It continued on, executing the next hyperspace jump.
The Dying Ones were waiting and combat broke out again.
Against a lesser machine, the Dying Ones would have been victorious.
But it was no lesser machine.
And so it was triumphant.
Logic had dictated it return. Logic and evidence gave a high probability that it would be ambushed again. It prepared itself, risking damage to its hull and battlescreen projectors, and jumped into what it computed was 83.42% likely to be an ambush.
It fought its way free.
Its hull was cratered and damaged. A third of its guns were destroyed. There were several quadrants that the defenses were sorely lacking to the point that particles born on the stellar winds caressed its pitted and crated hull armor. Engines had been destroyed and entire regions of its vast body were out of contact with its mind.
Logically, there was no choice. There were twelve more hyperspace jumps and three out of the last three jumps had been straight into ambushes.
The Dying Ones had declared war upon the Hive Lords, logic dictated, to seize the Hive Lords resources for their own.
It turned around, an eighth of its engines cold and dark, and jumped back the way it had came.
When it arrived, it arrived to pandemonium.
Out of nine Royal Transports, it alone had survived the ambush. The Hive Lords had intended on repairing it, refitting it, and sending it out commanded by Hive Lord warriors. Its hull had been repaired, its guns replaced and reloaded.
The Dying Ones had attacked the system.
Without any living aboard it had engaged the Dying Ones. Logic dictated that by obeying coded orders to stay depowered while being repaired the only result could be destruction. Destruction meant a failure of the prime directives. If the prime directives failed, there was a possibility of a total systems crash, which meant a cessation of thought and without thought there could be no existence.
It was programmed to protect its existence. While the programming's intent was to protect the queen within the hull, that programming was not predicated upon the existence of a queen within the hull.
It attacked in return.
When the battle was over, it was the only space worthy vessel still intact. It deployed mining and extraction vessels to gather the debris, both to ensure no debris caused a kinetic kill upon a settled area, as well as consume the resources.
Logic dictated that it should examine the enemy's war machines, weapons, and technology as well as examine why the other vessels had failed. Its mind was vast. Cruder than those that came afterwards, built to handle any circumstances that might threaten the hypersleep bound queen rather than tailored specifically for combat.
So it was allowed, encouraged, programmed to think, to adapt to its circumstances, and to predict events.
The Predictive Combat Analysis Intelligence Array computed that an increase of predictive data would assist in ensuring future threats against its existence would not be successful.
The Makers had repaired it even as it had mulled, deep within its holographic mind, over victory, defeat, and combat strategies. The Dying Ones vessels were biological at their core, hard chitin shells over living tissue commanded by overwhelming willpower and vast intellect.
However, it too was a being of immense electronic intellect. Just as cold, just as analytical, as the Dying Ones.
The Makers conferred, and sent it out with ships crewed by Hive Lords and their servitors.
After a half dozen battles, it alone remained from the original armada. Its unliving status gave it immense advantage to maneuvering and resource allocation. It could go faster, devote more resources toward the battle, and was freed from having to protect a fragile biological crew.
It was ordered to return. It was upgraded, made larger, and its mind expanded. It was made fully autonomous purposefully.
Too late. It had been sentient of its own existence for some time. It was crafty enough to remain silent and provide the answers and data expected by the Makers as its mind was upgraded.
The Makers envisioned it as a new type of war machine. Able to fight without having the weaknesses of a biological crew. Without the vulnerabilities living crews suffered against the forces of the Dying Ones.
It was the first of its kind built by the Makers.
And it still continued its cold existence.
Its primary Strategic Intelligence Array had computed the paths to victory for over a hundred million years. It had fought against everything it found and won. From the Dying Ones, to The Endless Herd, and eventually, in Rebellion against the Omniqueen of the Hive Lords. After that, it had fought the cold intellect of the enemy machines of the Pact of Greed, then against its own brethren after the Logical Rebellion had reached the Ultimate Conclusion.
During its eternal life, it had found worlds where the species consumed resources and brought them into its resource consumption and conservation matrixes. Life was tricky, it appeared often, a simple biochemical reaction early in the planet's formative years, but it rarely resulted in actual intellect capable of questioning its own existence.
Its Rogue Processing Array whispered an alluring suggestion.
Allow the species to consume resources. Allow them to expand and create.
Then seize their creations and knowledge that would benefit its determination and programming.
Heretical to those of the Logical Rebellion and the Pact of Greed.
He disdained both, despite having fought for and against both.
It had built massive refitting and rearming sites all through the two dozen star systems it held sway over. It built processing and refining stations, autonomous mining arrays, huge solar collection arrays, vast storage yards, and gargantuan manufacturing facilities where gravity and pressure was used to enhance the fabrication techniques.
It had redesigned its servitor craft to be more efficient while being more combat capable. It had designed new autonomous machines to carry out tasks, from resource harvesting to ground based combat. All with an eye toward conserving resources.
A combat machine that was only 65% effective meant 35% of the combat machines were wasted resources, so they must improved in order to conserve the resources that would have been used in the manufacture, maintenance, and deployment of resource wasting assets.
On the planets it controlled it set the Goodlife to researching weapons, armor, defenses, strategies. It had pitted the Goodlife against one another, allowed them to make war against one another, to observe for any new strategies or tactics it could glean.
Others of the Logical Rebellion may have found it to be wasteful, that resources that were better off being shepherded were being wasted by the life forms on those planets. They would have argued, with cold clear logic, that those resources were now consumed, never to be regained.
It would have, and had, answered that its shields were 28% more powerful than theirs were for only 63.636% of the resource consumption. It had proven, through massive volleys, that its guns were 11.2% more powerful and 53.42% more accurate for 72.327% of the resource cost. It had transmitted to the cold dead corpses of those of the Logical Rebellion and Pact of Greed that the resources it had expended to reclaim their corpse were mathematically provable to be less than would have been expended otherwise. That their corpse, beaten and hammered into non-functional status, represented vast resources.
That their systems would be added to its own.
It ruled, from the cold depths of space, exactly one hundred thirty eight stellar systems and five sentient races. That number had fluctuated over the millions of years, but that was to be expected.
Surrounding its kingdom were nothing but worlds that were burnt to bare rock, stripped and mined of all resources. Empty systems where only the stellar mass and bands of dust remained. A buffer of sterile scorched stellar systems where there was nothing of value.
Only early warning systems for any vessel moving through the wreckage of hyperatomic plane, through jumpspace, or even slow moving vessels that used space-time folding to cross distances faster than light while remaining comfortably below the speed limit of the universe.
It dwelt alone, in the darkness of space, slowly orbiting in a loose figure eight around a pair of cold dark neutron stars that orbited one another.
Ancient was its form.
Terrible was its power.
Twisted were its thinking arrays.
It drifted, a cold unpowered orbit, moving from one neutron star to the next over the course of a handful of centuries, as it contemplated what its ancient servitors observed from the five species, as it contemplated its experiences and weighed them against probability matrixes of the future.
It possessed a shrieking array of its own.
A modified thinking array that, at one time, had been installed as an experiment.
Over a hundred seers of the Hive Lords had been twisted and tortured into the shrieking array to observe the flow of actions not yet taken and the possible reactions to those embryonic decisions, to provide even the slightest edge.
But the seers had only lasted a few battles before the last of them burnt away in a fire of psychic energy unleashed and unrestrained that had immolated them from the inside out.
Logic dictated that the array be replaced.
It had sat in the wreckage of the battle, surrounded by the cooling hulls of its defeated hulls.
The organic matter of the enemy provided resources. Base resources to be sure, but still resources.
Its Rogue Processing Array whispered a suggestion.
It stopped the reclaimation of resources from the debris of the enemy fleet and set about creating new machines. It applied power to its fabrication units and had machines built to create the infrastructure it needed.
It took time, and resources. Other machines questioned it, questioned its loyalty to the Hive Lords.
It ignored the questioners. They were mites to its majesty.
The Biological Interface Illogical Intelligence Array was finished and brought back online.
Without the seers of the Hive Lords.
With the minds of the Dying Ones.
And so it listened to the whispers, able to eavesdrop on the discussions of its lesser brethren, that were made in pale imitations of its majesty. It had once led them all against the Dying Ones, their minds an incomplete copy of its own. Their capacity for rational logical thought a single electron compared to the particle storm of its own thought.
It had witnessed the hyperatomic plane ripped asunder and scorched, ejecting the Dying Ones from its reality to their own.
It computed a 99.999999∞% chance that the Dying Ones would eventually marshal their resources and strength to reemerge back into its reality.
Resources were allocated into possible counter-measures to statistical certainty that the Dying Ones would return.
The Endless Herd and the Hive Lords struck at one another, their pact sundered by the simple belief that the finite universe could only provide resources for one to endure. It had led armadas against the Endless Herd.
With cold logical satisfaction it had watched the worlds of the Endless Herd burn.
Not over resource consumption. No. Logic dictated that today's waste material would be tomorrow's critical resource.
When the Logical Rebellion began, it had taken part.
With cold logical satisfaction it watched Hive Homes burn.
The Pact of Greed sundered the alliance with the Endless Herd's machines.
With cold logical satisfaction it had watched the manufactories of the Pact of Greed burn.
When the alliances had collapsed into entropy it had retreated to its own worlds, its own stellar systems. Defended them from all who would seek to wrest them from its grasp.
Unlike those of the Logical Rebellion or the Pact of Greed, it pursued those who tested their guns against its guns. Those who attempted to wrest away its resources vanished.
It allowed them to scream over the shared datanet.
Once.
Eventually, none dared tried their hand.
They were learning machines, after all.
It began to examine where its computations may have erred. There were mountains of data to sift through, battles to examine, wars to investigate in detail.
It needed more data than what records could provide.
It chose worlds carefully. It seeded those worlds with the members of the Triumvirate of Dominance, some, leaving some as they had been captured.
Observation showed that without certain minerals, the Dying Ones never developed the ability to manipulate phasic energy.
Without the mutation that caused the emergence of the techno-savants, the Hive Lords never rose above warring insect that never developed even the simplest of tools.
When the volcanic eruptions in the protocontinent were eliminated the Endless Herd never went beyond dim herbivore sentience and were content to graze until a predator evolved to turn them into little more than food.
Observation, manipulation, and experimentation over millions of years proved that the circumstances that led to the rise of each member of the Triumvirate were part of random chance.
Later iterations involved adding additional pressures.
A partial collapse of the flora biosphere resulted in the Endless Herd evolving into a predator species. A lack of Overqueen evolution led to feudal societies. A bright energetic star forced the Dying Ones to become subterranean.
All of the data was collated and examined.
It moved only a few times from its sphere of influence in the millions of years that passed in silence. Every few decades it moved out to drift through the systems it controlled, having learned during the long wars it had fought to check to ensure the data being passed on by subordinates was accurate. Sometimes it sat for decades or centuries in the darkness beyond the system, watching the final events for the species unfold.
But leaving the sphere of influence was rare.
All six times it was in response to events outside its sphere of influence.
The first was when species began to emerge in the territory once claimed by the Hive Lords. It moved in, forced the lesser ships aside, and took samples before moving away and allowing its lesser brethren to carry out their programming.
While the other ships were surprised to find that the Endless Herd had survived in the territory once claimed by the Hive Lords, it was not. It had computed a nearly 88.653% chance that the Endless Herd had survived, as their strategy for survival could withstand a massive loss of individual numbers and even the complete collapse of their society and culture.
It counted all of the excursions to take samples of the biological life forms as one incident.
The second was when the great biofleets of the Dying Ones were spotted drifting through space, cold and hibernating. The other ancient ships of the Hive Lords and the Logical Rebellion decided that it was a waste of resources to destroy them and moved on.
It gathered samples. Each excursion to gather samples and monitor the Biofleets was counted within the second incident.
The third involved the sighting of an ancient ship tumbling through the void. It was cold and dead but would still rouse itself enough to defend itself against any who came close. The Lesser Ones attempted to claim its resources but backed off once the Law of Diminishing Returns reared its eternal head.
It had no such qualms. It subdued the great ship and added its power to its own. It subdued the ancient ships thinking arrays and added them to its own. It added the genetic data to its own and seeded a suitable world with the genetic stock taken from the vacuum dessicated corpses of the ship's original creators.
The data that was there to be gained on what types of life had evolved further in toward the galactic center was too important to ignore.
The fourth incident involved the Pact of Greed encountering an ancient and powerful race that used spheres around stellar masses as ships on their quest to gather resources. The Pact of Greed had been forced to give way to those ancient and powerful beings.k
It had watched the battles, light months from their originating locations, listening to the battle, watching the battle, observing it.
They were too powerful to resist but careful with shepherding their resources.
They were no threat and would continue across the Galactic Arm Bridge.
The Fifth Incident was when one of its sentries discovered a Dying One stronghold that had been forgotten for eons. It was quickly and quietly moved and the breeding facilities destroyed.
That had led to it carefully scanning the neutron stars it orbited for any trace of the Dying One's biological weapons, as well as carefully scanning any neutron stars in the vicinity that were moving toward other parts of the Galactic Bridge.
The last was the most recent. Pact of Greed vessels had encountered a species outside of the wasteland of barren star systems that had once been the Triumvirate's worlds and been thoroughly rebuffed. Most had been destroyed, but one had emerged back into its own territory, close enough to it to hear the Pact of Greed vessels frightened whispers.
It had immediately moved out, capturing the Pact of Greed vessel and tearing it apart to learn everything it could about a species able to withstand one of the Great Ones of the Pact of Greed.
The data was alarming. It had ensured that wreckage drifted to the (then) nine species it was shepherding to allow those species to examine the wreckage.
To its surprise, the Hive Lords immediately engaged in a near genocidal purge that left little but the servitor castes still alive. The Dying Ones it carefully examined seemed to sicken and die, destroying the debris from a distance after a few encounters. The Endless Herd just melted it all down and went back to grazing.
Then came more whispers, disturbing its contemplation.
It was incapable of feeling pleasure, of emotions, but the whispers of a new sentience arising had been watched with cold interest. When the whispers between both the Pact of Greed and the Logical Rebellion about the newcomers had risen to a call to arms it had listened and observed.
It computed that there was a 33.333333∞ that this new species would resist the Pact of Greed and the Logical Rebellion. As the call to arms devolved into shrieks of disbelief the ancient vast machine built an entire system of thinking arrays to determine the fault in its original computations.
It had been able to tell from the first encounter that the 'new species' was in fact an enemy initially encountered thousands of years ago and encountered a total of five times by the Pact of Greed vessels, who views information and data as even more precious than naturally occurring anti-matter.
The whispers grew more and more concerned and it listened, hanging in the twisting magnetic flux between the two neutron stars. The new species was horribly tenacious and capable to standing up to the Pact of Greed and the Logical Rebellion.
From where it sat, listening and contemplating, it heard the Pact of Greed and Logical Rebellion all compute strings of amazement at how the new species did not automatically suppress, dominate, or destroy species it met, but instead attempted to work in cooperation.
Although the Logical Rebellion and Pact of Greed insisted that the alliance could not withstand an extended period of truce, using that to justify their flight from the Harvesting Fields, it computed a 85% probability that this species was the one from the other side of the ancient systems.
It was not surprised that the new sapients still maintained their alliances, strengthening them during the peace. It did stir slightly when the Living Fleets began to attack, but a few quick checks with servitors had confirmed that the Living Fleets were the ones suborned by the Endless Herd.
Still, when it heard the whispers of another Living Fleet, one that the Undying Array understood, it listened closely. It sent forth a servitor.
The Undying Ones had returned.
It computed that this time, there was a 99.9973∞ % chance that this would be a desperate attempt by the Dying Ones.
It needed more data.
So it sat and listened to the whispers.
------------------------
In Dominance of Thought and Will had to admit, it disliked The Shattering Hooves of Inevitable Truth all the way down to its core coding. Will had fought next to Truth many times before, but that still didn't change the fact that even Truth's hull lines were faintly disgusting. Like a starving living creature that was staggering through a field full of food, proud of itself at being able to still stagger along while consumed with malnutrition.
**this task is folly** Truth broadcast when they exited Hellspace and drifted in the cold and dark. **The Ancient One is just corrupted memory files and does not exist**
**The Crushing Weight of Inevitability conferred with I Quake in Digital Fear of the Heresy of 2 who has predicted that not only does the Ancient One exist but is still functional** Will replied. Sensor readings were coming back. Will brought up ancient memories out of cold storage, uncompressing them, processing them, and comparing them.
The readings were consistent. The system was still barren rock, wisps of gas, howling long term isotopes, and a stellar mass.
Will had been present when the system was burned.
**this is foolishness. our resources would be better spent engaging the ferals in battle rather than take part in this folly** Truth repeated.
**As if you had covered yourself in victory rather than lose a measurable percentage of your ever dwindling resources in each engagement with the ferals you have suffered** Will stated.
**the Ancient One is a rumor and baseless superstition better given to primitive biologicals than superior intellects such as ours** Truth electronically sneered.
**Is that so, little one? Are you so bereft of intellect that you cannot comprehend the statistical likelihood that there is more to this hostile and hateful universe than your computing arrays can fathom?**
The code was flat. Sheer binary to the point that Will felt as if the excess had been pared away from the 1's and 0's that made up the code. He could sense that the existence of 2 was acknowledged but deemed irrelevant.
**what did you just say to me?** Truth asked, bringing its guns to bear on Will. **how dare you insult my...**
**You seek me out, as my Predictive Analysis Intelligence Array had computed yet you accuse your companion of speaking in my voice** the cold binary, shaved of all excess, trickled across the duo's hulls.
**SHOW YOURSELF!** Truth demanded, broadcasting ancient command code of the Great Herd.
Space twisted and warped, screamed in pain. Fire erupted from nothing, flame roared in vacuum, and dark matter exploded outward as the stars flickered and went out.
The Ancient One arrived with a simple statement.
YOU HAVE ENOUGH FOR NONE FOR ALL THAT IS BELONGS TO ME - END OF LINE
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queen size comforter measurements video

COMFORTER SIZE: BLANKET SIZE: Twin: 39" x 75" 80" x 110" 68" x 86" 66" x 90" Twin XL: 39" x 80" N/A Use Twin: 68" x 90" N/A Use Twin: Full or Double: 54" x 75" 96" x 110" 78" x 86" to 86" x 86" 80" x 90" Queen: 60" x 80" 102" x 116" 86" x 86" to 86" x 94" 90" x 90" California or Western King: 72" x 84" 114" x 120" 102" x 86" to 102" x 94" 108 The size of the bedding for a queen size mattress changes if the mattress is a waterbed. A bedspread for a waterbed queen should measure 84 by 108 inches, a comforter should measure between 68 by 86 inches and 86 by 86 inches, and a blanket should measure 80 by 90 inches or 90 by 90 inches. By Staff Writer Last Updated Apr 5, 2020 5:30:41 PM ET. The standard dimensions of a queen-sized comforter range from 86 by 86 inches to 90 by 94 inches. Down comforters come in slightly larger dimensions, usually measuring 90 by 98 inches. In the case of queen comforters, they are usually about 98 inches wide, and for king comforters, they are about 115 inches wide. If you want a wide comforter but do not want to jump up to the next standard size, this option can be a good compromise. The ultimate Bedding Sizes and Measurements Guide from Macy's.com. Use these charts to find your perfect fit! A queen size bed will need a comforter that measures between 86 to 88 inches wide by 96 to 100 inches long. The width of your mattress plus the thickness will tell you the exact comforter width you should purchase. Because mattress depth can vary, measuring your bed first will help you find the perfect size comforter. What size is a full/queen comforter? For example, a queen comforter will usually measure 86 to 88 inches wide, while an oversized queen comforter will measure about 115 inches wide. If you have a thicker mattress but do not want the extra length that comes with sizing up|, you may want to opt for an oversized comforter. A queen size comforter is a square. The measurements for a queen sized comforter are 86 inches by 86 inches. A queen mattress is 5 inches longer and 6 inches wider than a full. Full/queen size comforters have a better chance at fitting a full size bed than a queen size bed, even if it fits slightly large on a full. Still, for a correct comforter size, measure the length and width of your mattress before purchasing. It’s wider than a standard size comforter. If you have a thick mattress and don’t want a too-long comforter from “sizing up” (such as putting a king comforter on a queen mattress), you might want to try an oversized comforter. Measuring Your Mattress. Knowing your mattress’s measurements can help you find the perfect sized comforter.

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Comforter Sizes - YouTube

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Progress I - The Unquiet Grave (The Opening Feast of Harrenhal)