Medium Length Hair With Layers

... of this exercise. Medium space knights were big boys with bigger shields but the... of sweat out of my hair, seeing my own reflection in the layers of clear crystal alloy that ... down below. Having grown my hair out to a neat, medium length, my own lightly tan skin ... Larkinsons were a military family with a huge support structure for ...

... hole right through however many layers of armor plating and hull ... Providence crossed its own 2000m length in that time frame, that ... Executor possessing shields with an output comparable to a medium star is even consistent with other Saxton figures... like live-action Anakin and his hair isn't a helmet), George Lucas ... anything added would fit in with the existing Star Wars mythos; ...

...horrible, how anyone enjoyed the medium I couldn't fathom. Books provided.... He was middle aged with greying hair and more wrinkles than pores...lining my costume to individual layers of tarmac on the streets ...of them, the fat one with the length of plywood, got his bearings ...than me, a younger dude with short hair and a single scar over ... wrapt against the glass with a measured force. Darkness gave ...

...horrible, how anyone enjoyed the medium I couldn't fathom. Books provided.... He was middle aged with greying hair and more wrinkles than pores...lining my costume to individual layers of tarmac on the streets ...of them, the fat one with the length of plywood, got his bearings ...than me, a younger dude with short hair and a single scar over ... wrapt against the glass with a measured force. Darkness gave ...

...on the kitchen island countertop with layers of sheets underneath. Planetarium ...blonde hair fell into my view. As he neared the end of the length ...Falling back into the couch with a shower of hair. I didn't know how much ... some sort of suspension medium to actually channel the sound .... Also issues with reverberation inside the chamber." "You could use salt water, or Gatorade as the medium. From there...

...on the kitchen island countertop with layers of sheets underneath. Planetarium ...blonde hair fell into my view. As he neared the end of the length ...Falling back into the couch with a shower of hair. I didn't know how much ... some sort of suspension medium to actually channel the sound .... Also issues with reverberation inside the chamber." "You could use salt water, or Gatorade as the medium. From there...

...anyway, one six in length. She could handle it with only this much. ...was a medium race, she could've shifted to a much higher gear in a shorter time with the ... before flipping her floofy white hair back. "Ahem. She is basically ... if it's hot, you remove layers, it's simple math." "Alright, never working out with you then to maintain my ... want to share this with them," Silence Suzuka whispered, loud ...

...nuclear this time. Amber shivered with remembered pain. Incredibly the elemental ... of warships could target effectively with their capital weapons. "Get lost!"... girl had a bronzed skin-tone. Hair of medium length, which was probably dark in ...recognise your outline under those layers of camo, nanodesu." "She is ... "Is there anything else?" Finished with packing surveillance-satellites, the Bug-Eye utterly ...

... An older human male, short-cut hair greying, with a square jaw, brown... extremely antiquated Protocol Droid model. Layers of rust give way to... female. Pale skin--likely Rattataki, with short white hair. N/A N/A... 2 Victory II-class Star Destroyers Length: 900 meters Armaments: Ten Quad-Light...) 10 Forward-Mounted Twin Medium Turbolasers 10 Dorsal-Mounted Twin Medium Turbolasers 20 Assault Concussion...

... as solid objects at arm's length. He fell down stairs. He... language. She was sixty-one. Her hair was grey - not uniformly... that had depth to it, layers, a quality that his growing ... turned the air into a medium, a substance with its own optical properties, so ... way her grey hair fell across her forehead in a manner she pushed back with the same... good soil after rain. Your hair is grey but it holds ...

... grey things. She tied it with a length of electrical wire. It went... had was a description. White hair. Sunglasses. Tall. Specific enough. Brockton ... straight. Female cape, unaffiliated. White hair, tall, dark glasses at night — ... city arranged itself in spatial layers. Street geometry nearest, familiar — she ... of infinity, expressed through the medium of cursed energy into the ...

... grey things. She tied it with a length of electrical wire. It went... had was a description. White hair. Sunglasses. Tall. Specific enough. Brockton ... straight. Female cape, unaffiliated. White hair, tall, dark glasses at night — ... city arranged itself in spatial layers. Street geometry nearest, familiar — she ... of infinity, expressed through the medium of cursed energy into the ...

...hair poured down the dryad's back like fertile earth, locks beset with...the caves between the layers of Tartarus. The unfortunate and... Leita wore a floor length gown, the silken skirt draping...bloodline potential as Low, Medium, or High. Despite rumors, there... traits through Awakening. Medium potential bloodlines are those producing ... bloodlines naturally evolve toward Medium potential. There are, however, many...

...hair poured down the dryad's back like fertile earth, locks beset with...the caves between the layers of Tartarus. The unfortunate and... Leita wore a floor length gown, the silken skirt draping...bloodline potential as Low, Medium, or High. Despite rumors, there... traits through Awakening. Medium potential bloodlines are those producing ... bloodlines naturally evolve toward Medium potential. There are, however, many...

... slouchy shape::, star-shaped hair accessories, silver metallic star hair clips, minimal glossy... front length, high-low hemline, off-white ruffled tulle underskirt, multiple sheer layers, victorian... pleated skirt, 2::below-knee length, soft flare silhouette, medium pleat width::, clean.... tactical and utility-inspired stage outfit with a strong, structured silhouette, sleeveless...

My hair is down to my butt crack. I like to keep very minimal layers, if any at all, because I feel like with my fine hair, it will look too thin towards the bottom. But after going through this sub a bit, I'm starting to think my issues lie around my hair being too long and being weighed down with length, maybe layers would help. It does the thing where if I don't do anything, it's not completely wavy but not straight either. Some parts kind of wave, some mild poof, some straight but with frizz. The frizz annoys me to no end. Heatless/overnight curls work amazing in my hair, both with and without product. The curls hold, minimal frizz. But I don't have the energy or time to do that all the time, or sometimes I wash my hair in the morning. If I can get myself to do the curl attachments on my shark flexstyle, those work too, but same thing, I'm lazy 😅 I tried top plopping once and it just made my hair look limp, stringy, and flat. But I was also still experimenting with products then and it's possible I was using something too heavy, I suppose I could try again 🤔 Sometimes diffusing from the bottom works fine but then sometimes it just gets frizzy but kind of wavy and also kind of fucked up looking. I saw on some other threads folks recommended diffusing from the side? Or maybe hammock diffusing? If I scrunch before air drying, the waves fall right out and then go straight when wet and then dry back in that annoying not straight but not nice waves pattern (probably because of length?) I've seen some things about timing and not touching it until the cast forms and then breaking it but I think I'm having a hard time figuring out how to do that or what method to do with it. My hair is very prone to being weighed down with product and looking stringy and actually getting moisture damage, so I can't use creams or anything that says "moisture." I'm using amika frizz me not right now and that seems to be the best thing I've used for the frizz that doesn't make my hair look gross, but it doesn't completely get rid of the frizz (because I'm assuming it's from lack of wave pattern). I've been using a giovanni mousse, layered on top of the amika, but it doesn't seem to do much. It didn't seem to do much layered on top of the giovanni smoothing detangler I was using before the amika either. I'm thinking about trying bumble and bumble thickening full form hair mousse? I've debated using something with more hold but I also like "touchable" texture, but now I'm starting to fear I can't have both. I use shampoo bars & conditioner, alternating between kitsch and earthling co. I was afraid of silicones for years but a few weeks ago did some research on water soluble silicones and then tried amika and my hair seems pretty happy with that, less breakage and tangles. Should I try shampoo or conditioner with water soluble silicones as well? Or would that be too much? I would love tips for styling that is easier/quicker than my shark curler, whether that's air drying, diffusing, plopping, or anything else for that matter. Is it hopeless with my length and no layers? Should I try layers? 🫣 submitted by /u/luna-morningstar to r/Swavyhair [link] [comments]

I’m looking for a barber/stylist in the STL area, preferably near West Co (obviously ok with driving if they’re worth it). I know it’s been asked before in this subreddit, but I’m looking for one who’s particularly good at texturing/layering medium-longer length hair since I know that it’s not the easiest thing in the world. I ask because I love the barber I have been to since I was a kid, but she mostly cuts older men’s who all have short hair (if they have some at all). I could tell when I went previously that she wasn’t the best with layering/cutting longer hair, and I really need someone who knows what they are doing in this regard. Thanks for the help. submitted by /u/CalligrapherExtra138 to r/StLouis [link] [comments]

Hey All, Been going to Martial Vivot downtown, but maybe not to the right person. Need a stylist that has experience working layers and texture on the sides and back of medium length hair. Thank you in advance for your help! submitted by /u/CharlesStreetFC to r/AskNYC [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/ooSniblet to r/HairStyleAdvice [link] [comments]

Hello all, this is a repost, (I asked the mods if I could), simply because I want any pet owners going through something similar to be able to find this post through google. And I wanted to expand more on what I did. I lost my Dexter around a year ago to really aggressive bladder cancer. I had always wanted to dna test her, but it was expensive, and then suddenly she was gone and I didn’t have the option. The only thing on deceased pet DNA tests that I could find was DNAmydog, which from this sub, I have learned is not reputable, so I didn’t want to waste my money. However, I have a box of her toys that have been put away and untouched, some of which have visible dried saliva on them. (Like the fur is crunchy looking, yk?) I also had a bone that she chewed on. I knew for a fact that no other dogs had any other contact with them. So, I went down a rabbit hole of learning how they lift dna from crime scenes, (logical next step lmao), and decided to give it a go. I ordered an embark test, without actually saying she was deceased. I got rubber gloves, and distilled water. I put her toys/bone on the counter and saturated paper towel in the distilled water, and put them over the toys to rehydrate things a bit. Then I used the swab from the kit and rubbed it on places I knew she had her mouth. And when I figured I had done it long enough, I did it longer for good measure. I mailed it off without much hope, and watched my email, and much to my surprise, I got results. Accurate results! If anyone is going through this, everything sucks, but this is a potential option. I wish you luck. submitted by /u/AdministrativeOne400 to r/DoggyDNA [link] [comments]

I'm in the process of growing my hair out and looking for a salon that could do a "curly flow" type haircut for a man - A scissor cut with some layers. All the barber shops I see specialize in fades and in my research I haven't seen many salons that have posted pictures of their male clients (again, not getting fades). Anyone have any suggestions preferably in Virginia Beach? submitted by /u/ForeverxJoker to r/VirginiaBeach [link] [comments]

Hey r/cutmuse! 👋 Spotted this great post from u/catluver373 on r/Hair — they tried short hair back in middle school and swore it off, but just went for it again (even shorter this time!) with layers, and it's working beautifully. This is a perfect example of how the RIGHT short cut makes all the difference. Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Hair/comments/1s26v0w/short_hair/ Why This Works So Well The key insight here: short hair without layers vs. short hair with layers are two completely different haircuts. The first time (middle school), it probably looked boxy or mushroom-shaped — that's what happens when you go short without proper layering and texturizing. Layers create movement, dimension, and shape that a blunt short cut simply can't. Facial Profile Face shape: Oval — balanced proportions with harmonious width-to-length ratio. This is the most versatile face shape for short hair because there's no need to create optical illusions with the cut. Skin tone: Medium-light with warm pink undertones. Beautiful natural warmth that pairs well with both warm and neutral hair tones. Current hair: Dark/medium brown, short with layers, appears to be medium thickness with natural body. Eye color: Brown (estimated from warm overall coloring) Facial features: - Jawline: Soft and balanced - Cheekbones: Naturally prominent — the short cut exposes them beautifully - The short layers frame the face and draw attention to the eyes and cheekbones Style Recommendations to Level Up The current cut is already great. Here's how to take it even further: 1. Textured Pixie Bob (Next Evolution) If you're loving the short length, consider going even shorter into a textured pixie bob territory. Think Halle Berry/Jenna Ortega vibes — short in the back with longer textured pieces on top and around the face. - Maintenance: Medium (trim every 4-5 weeks) - Styling time: 5 min with texturizing paste - Why it works: Your oval face can absolutely carry a pixie, and the texture keeps it modern and soft rather than severe. 2. Current Length + Curtain Bangs Keeping the short layered cut but adding face-framing curtain bangs. This adds a whole new dimension to the same length. - Maintenance: Medium (bang trims every 3 weeks) - Styling time: 5-10 min - Why it works: Curtain bangs on an oval face with prominent cheekbones creates that editorial, effortlessly cool look. 3. Asymmetrical Short Bob A slightly longer front with a shorter back. Adds edge and visual interest to the current length. - Maintenance: Low-medium - Styling time: 5 min - Why it works: The asymmetry creates movement and visual interest, and the longer front pieces soften the overall look. Color Recommendations Your dark brown is beautiful as-is, but if you want to enhance the short cut: 1. Rich Chocolate Brown with Subtle Highlights (#6B4226 base, #8B4513 highlights) Keeping the brown family but adding dimension with a few face-framing highlights. Short hair benefits enormously from subtle color variation — it shows off every layer and adds depth. 2. Warm Chestnut (#654321) A slightly warmer, richer brown that enhances those warm pink undertones in your skin. This is a "your hair but better" move. 3. Bold: Warm Copper (#B87333) If you're feeling adventurous — you already proved you can rock a big change! Warm copper with your pink-warm skin tone would be absolutely stunning and is very on-trend. Clothing Color Palette Your warm-toned skin + brown hair sweet spot: - Forest green (#228B22) — creates beautiful contrast with warm skin - Rust/terracotta (#CC5500) — harmonizes with warm undertones - Cream (#FFFDD0) — soft and sophisticated against brown hair - Navy (#000080) — classic contrast that makes warm skin glow Accessories/metals: Gold (#FFD700) and rose gold (#B76E79) — warm metals complement warm undertones perfectly. Eyewear Aviator with gold frames — classic and versatile, the soft curves complement the oval face shape and gold enhances warm undertones. Cat-eye in warm tortoiseshell — adds a bit of edge that matches the confidence of going short. Warm tortoiseshell tones harmonize with brown hair and warm skin. Seasonal Color Profile: Autumn Medium-light warm skin + brown hair + warm undertones = classic Autumn palette. Your best colors are earth tones, warm neutrals, and rich saturated hues. You can absolutely wear jewel tones too — burgundy, forest green, and deep teal will look incredible. Styling Tips for Short Layered Hair Texturizing paste is your best friend — work a small amount through damp hair for effortless texture Blow dry with a round brush for volume at the roots Don't skip heat protectant even for quick styling Refresh between washes with dry texture spray Want to see AI-generated images of how you'd look with these style variations and colors? Try Cutmuse — use code REDDIT30 for 30% off! ✂️ submitted by /u/jotaSe to r/cutmuse [link] [comments]

Basically, I’m looking for a stylist/hair dresser who knows how to cut men’s medium-to-long length hair well. I’ve been to three barbers with great reviews, but I think they’re best suited for short hair styles. They don’t really know how to add layers or thin out the hair so it doesn’t sit heavy or give it the shape I want when it’s down. On top my hair is about 12cm but I’m trying to grow it down to shoulder length again, so ideally it’s someone who knows how to prep/maintain the hairstyle till it gets to that length. I’m on the west side of Edinburgh but willing to travel across town. Appreciate any recs. submitted by /u/rmg20 to r/edinburgh2 [link] [comments]

https://preview.redd.it/g376v7j78ajg1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77542a1dd939f7c2771641cc32b378e87ca8c591 Season 2 begins February 17th with Game Update 1.2.1.0, introducing a new map, limited-time modes, the Little Bird helicopter, weapons, gadgets, and progression to Battlefield 6. At 09:00 UTC, players will be able to download the update, with Season 2 challenges becoming available. At 12:00 UTC, all Season 2 content goes live, including new game modes, map, weapons, tiles, the Battle Pass, and additional progression content. New Map: Contaminated A large-scale European mountainside battlefield set around a strategic German airbase. Supports all combat sizes Includes land vehicles and helicopters Available across Conquest, Breakthrough, Escalation, Squad Death Match, and Strikepoint New Limited-Time Modes Season 2 introduces a set of limited-time experiences built around VL-7, a new psychoactive smoke weapon spreading across multiple battlefields. As contaminated zones emerge, squads must adapt their tactics, manage masks and filters, and fight for control in increasingly hostile environments across multiplayer, Battle Royale, and Gauntlet. VL-7 Strike: A limited-time mode where the psychoactive smoke VL-7 spreads across select areas in multiplayer and REDSEC. Players must use masks and manage their filters carefully, as running out will leave them exposed to VL-7’s disorienting effects. Battle Royale - Synthesis: Smoke engulfs Fort Lyndon, transforming the battleground. Fight and loot within contaminated zones while securing masks and filters to survive the smoke’s effects. Gauntlet: Altered State: Gauntlet returns with a new twist. Squads compete in a knockout-style elimination format while navigating psychoactive smoke and racing to complete missions under pressure. New Vehicle AH-6 Little Bird: The iconic attack helicopter returns for NATO forces, offering high mobility and lethal firepower in skilled hands. New Weapons M121 A2: A belt-fed machine gun delivering high damage, especially effective at close range. GRT-CPS: A semi-automatic designated marksman rifle designed for mid- to long-range engagements, featuring a high-capacity magazine for sustained fire. VCR-2: A short-range assault rifle with a rapid rate of fire, built for intense close-quarters combat. New Gadgets 9K38 IGLA: A lock-on, anti-air missile launcher that requires active guidance from engineers to stay on target. Provides superior missile maneuverability to adept users. HTI-Mk2: A short- to medium-range Recon device that can detect and reveal enemy gadgets, overload recon drones, and neutralise incoming rockets. Protective Mask: Essential equipment for contaminated zones, protecting players from psychoactive smoke. Additional filters can be acquired and equipped to extend protection time. Battle Pass & Progression Season 2 Battle Pass: Instantly unlock 6 rewards and progress through 4 themed paths featuring new hardware, weapon packages, soldier skins, XP boosts, and more. Complete all paths to unlock the Ultimate Path. BF Pro: In addition to the regular Battle Pass, BF Pro includes 6 instant unlocks, 25 tier skips, BF Radio, Portal Server Hosting, and access to an exclusive bonus path with additional tactical rewards https://preview.redd.it/ncsu8sg68ajg1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=4eeb872c67c2697ae5426a15ab2c70553f1b1fdd Game Update 1.2.1.0 delivers over 240 gameplay improvements and quality-of-life fixes across nearly every part of Battlefield 6. These changes are shaped by community feedback and real match data, with a focus on improving weapon handling, movement, vehicles, gadgets, UI, audio, and overall gameplay reliability. This update continues our ongoing commitment to improve consistency and reliability across the core Battlefield experience. Major Updates for 1.2.1.0 Weapon Balance and Recoil Improvements: Delivered a broad recoil tuning pass across automatic weapons, alongside targeted balance fixes to improve consistency, role clarity, and long-term weapon handling. Movement and Traversal Fixes: Improved soldier movement predictability with refined acceleration, slide and jump behaviour, smoother vaulting logic, and improved ladder animations in both first- and third-person. Vehicle and Gadget Reliability: Resolved multiple issues affecting vehicles and gadgets, including anti-vehicle interactions, drone behaviour, deployables, and vehicle damage feedback. Maps and Mode Fixes: Addressed numerous map exploits, traversal issues, capture logic problems, and world reset bugs across Conquest, Breakthrough, Strikepoint, Gauntlet, and other modes. UI, HUD and Progression Polish: Introducing a new stat screen in the Player Profile, as well as Improved clarity and reliability across the HUD, Battle Pass, challenges, End of Round flow, matchmaking, and party systems. Portal Stability and Tooling Updates: Fixed a wide range of issues affecting Portal creation tools, scripting, mutators, assets, exploits, and server stability. Audio, Visual and Stability Improvements: Improved audio reliability, visual consistency, cosmetic presentation, and overall game stability across platforms. AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT As part of Update 1.2.1.0, we've made improvements to both how recoil behaves at a system level and how recoil is used to balance automatic weapons. Since launch, recoil compensation could feel inconsistent in certain situations. In some cases, the amount of aim input required to counter recoil did not reliably match the recoil being applied, which could make weapons feel harder to control than expected. While improvements were made during Season 1 to reduce the most extreme cases, some inconsistency could still be noticeable during regular gameplay. With this update, recoil compensation has been made fully consistent, ensuring that the aim input required to counter recoil now correctly matches the recoil applied. This results in more predictable and reliable weapon handling. Separately from this systemic fix, we've also made a broad recoil tuning pass across automatic weapons. Recoil is one of the main ways we balance weapons across different engagement distances: higher-damage weapons are intentionally harder to control, while lighter weapons trade raw power for ease of use and consistency. Over time, we saw this balance starting to drift once we looked at how these weapons were actually being used in live matches across common combat ranges. This tuning pass brings recoil behaviour back in line with each weapon's intended role. You should expect automatic weapons to feel more consistent and better differentiated across ranges, with higher-impact weapons demanding more control and positioning, while others remain reliable and forgiving in closer engagements. CHANGELOG PLAYER: Adjusted the acceleration curve of slide and jumps to better account for the player's speed when entering a slide or a jump. All squad members now display animated health icons when downed, clearly indicating who is able to revive you. Fixed a matchmaking error that could occur when a player left the party while the party leader was already in a match. Fixed a movement extrapolation issue that could cause other soldiers to appear jittery when traversing uneven terrain or changing states. Fixed a rare issue where melee could become unusable if switched to immediately after being revived. Fixed an issue where a player’s legs could clip through thin walls or objects when backpedalling into them. Fixed an issue where a soldier could become invisible and continue moving after dying in a swimming pool. Fixed an issue where a victim’s facing direction could be briefly incorrect when starting a melee takedown on a prone target. Fixed an issue where accepting a squad invite on Xbox could unintentionally select a highlighted tile in the main menu. Fixed an issue where Battle Pickups would sometimes be dropped after being revived. Fixed an issue where deployable Gadgets could be used while on a zipline. Fixed an issue where equipping a camo skin on one vehicle could cause vehicle thumbnails or icons to incorrectly appear camouflaged across all vehicles. Fixed an issue where melee animations could break when initiated immediately after exiting a vehicle in first-person. Fixed an issue where revived players could occasionally receive an unintended weapon state. Fixed an issue where soldiers could be launched unexpectedly when entering a ladder positioned above the camera. Fixed an issue where stickers were not applied correctly on the War Wolf Legendary weapon package for the L85A3. Fixed an issue where the left hand could be seen floating while doing a takedown with the knife equipped. Fixed an issue where the selected player patch could appear duplicated and incorrectly placed on the backpack when using the Veritas Epic skin. Fixed an issue where the Spiteful Mirage skin was missing hair during the End of Round flow. Fixed an issue where the Thunder Engineer skin did not focus the camera on the correct uniform patch location. Fixed an issue where the uniform patch appeared twice on the Peregrine Sniper Epic skin. Fixed an issue where the Wraith Recon skin could become partially transparent in first-person view when starting a match in King of the Hill. Fixed an issue where unlocking characters via the Battle Pass deeplink would not correctly unlock the character. Fixed an issue where unlocking the Brodie character via the Battle Pass deeplink would not correctly unlock the character. Fixed an issue where vaulting onto a vehicle could sometimes destroy it and launch the player unexpectedly. Fixed an issue where weapon pose could fail to update correctly when firing while sprint-jumping. Fixed an issue where weapon switching after being revived could leave players without a usable weapon. The game now prioritises equipping a weapon with available ammunition. Fixed case scenarios where it would sometimes be possible to grab ledges much higher than intended with vault grab Fixed duplicate naming for some of the weapon charms. Fixed excessive mud weathering on the Two-Faced Epic skin’s character model. Improved first-person ladder animations for entering, climbing, and exiting. Improved foot placement when climbing ladders. Improved predictability and consistency of player movement with new acceleration curves instead of linear accelerations. Those updated accelerations retain responsive movement while allowing micro-adjustments of movement (i.e. to peek corners) and ensure that other players' movement looks more correct to improve the quality and predictability of gunfights. Improved the transition of the soldier’s lower body in first-person view when stopping movement. Improved third-person ladder animations, including hand and foot placement on ladders. Improved vault detection near overhangs while airborne. Made animation and logic improvements to vaulting over medium-sized obstacles, refining momentum and smoothing transitions into movement. Prevented players from vaulting back onto the same ladder when jumping down backwards from it. Reduced the intensity of hit reactions while on fire to improve visual clarity during combat. Reduced the maximum slide impulse length by 25% to improve balance and readability during fast movement. Updated the Winter Warning cosmetic to better align with Battlefield’s visual identity. VEHICLES: Disabled angle-based damage mitigation on the Traverser Mark II to better reflect its lighter armour profile. It now takes consistent damage from all directions. Fixed an issue where attack helicopter rocket trails could disappear when firing at long distances. Fixed an issue where helicopter rotary cannon tracers could sometimes originate behind the muzzle. Fixed an issue where jet throttle input could remain active after ejecting from the aircraft. Fixed an issue where tank turret aiming speeds differed between first-person and third-person zoom views. Fixed unreliable bullet collision on Anti-Air vehicle radar dishes. Reduced muzzle flash intensity on Anti-Air Tanks and stationary Anti-Air weapons when zoomed in. You can no longer move vehicles forward or backward while the Big Map is open, preventing input conflicts with map zoom controls on controllers. GADGETS: Fixed an issue where Anti-Tank Mines could fail to deploy correctly in first-person view. Fixed an issue where attached M4A1 SLAM AV Mine explosives on the XFGM-6D Recon Drone did not correctly affect battery life or top speed. Attached explosives now behave consistently and detonate when the XFGM-6D Recon Drone is destroyed. Fixed an issue where the RPG-7 and the MBT-LAW launchers would be inaccurate if fired right after the zoom transition is completed. Fixed an issue where the Smoke Grenade was missing from the Support class Loadout #2. Fixed an issue where the XFGM-6D Recon Drone could be destroyed when its operating soldier was downed. Fixed an issue where the CSB IV EOD Bot could instantly regain an ammo charge when destroyed. Fixed an issue where the LTLM II Portable Laser Designator could prioritise already-painted targets instead of the vehicle being aimed at. Fixed an issue where the Repair Tool torch flame video effect was misaligned in third-person view using non-default FOV values. Fixed an issue where the Repair Tool would not repair vehicles when targeting glass components. Fixed an issue where the RPG-7 could fire unintentionally when switching weapons after releasing the trigger. Fixed a bug that prevent the player from returning properly to the previous weapon after throwing a supply pouch and would keep throwing more supply pouches Improved consistency when destroying Anti-Tank Mines and M4 SLAM AV Mines with explosives. Clearing out minefields should be easier and more consistent using a tank. Improved consistency of Defibrillator revives detection on stairs and uneven terrain. WEAPONS: Adjusted in-world spotting range when firing a weapon without a suppressor or flash hider, reducing it from 75 to 54 metres. Adjusted minimap spotting range when firing suppressed weapons, increasing it from 15 to 21 metres to better align with intended balance. Fixed consistency with recoil compensation, making sure that the amount of aim input needed to compensate for recoil matches the amount of recoil. Fixed a visual issue with the standard fire mode on the SL9 being incorrectly set to safe; it is now set to full auto by default. Fixed an issue where locked weapon skins could be used in the Firing Range. Fixed an issue where shooting the first target dummy could generate particle effects at the player’s position. Fixed an issue where the 5 mW Green Laser was too expensive to equip on the DRS-IAR. Fixed an issue where the Flashlight could appear slightly misaligned when equipped on the MP5. Fixed an issue where the LA-23 Laser pad could appear floating when equipped on the RPKM. Fixed an issue where Scope glints and laser sight lens flares would be visible through the cover of smoke grenades. Fixed inconsistent knife melee timing to improve reliability during close-quarters combat. Fixed multiple weapon attachment visual issues, including lasers, flashlights, and optic alignment. Fixed the LMR27s Fast 15- and 20-round magazines not reducing reload time as intended. Fixed the SGX RO-M 1.75x sight to function consistently with other weapons. Fixed visual issues with bolt-action rifle animations, including intrusive ADS motion and incorrect finger placement. Improved scope glint orientation at long distances so enemy aim direction is more accurately telegraphed. Knife takedowns against enemies who are prone on their back now correctly connect with the defender. Reduced the Mini Scout muzzle velocity from 880 to 800 m/s. Reduced the Mini Scout limb damage to better align with lower-torso damage values. Updated the M433 Level 50 Mastery Package to use the correct magazine mesh. Updated the Range Finder custom zeroing to not apply its effect instantly; it now requires a short delay before taking effect. Updated player-facing descriptions for non-sniper grippod attachments to better reflect their gameplay effects. Updated player-facing name of the TR-7's fluted barrel to match the formatting of its other barrels. Weapon Recoil Tuning: Adjusted recoil behaviour across automatic weapons to better reflect real combat ranges and ease-of-use expectations, improving ranged consistency while preserving intended weapon roles. AK-205: Adjusted recoil behaviour to better match expectations for a 5.45×39mm weapon, with minimal impact on overall handling. B36A4, L85A3, M433, SOR-555 MK2: Reduced recoil randomness, improving consistency and effectiveness at longer ranges. DB-12: Increased rate of fire and faster pump action to improve reliability in close-quarters combat. L110: Reduced recoil to reinforce the handling differences between belt-fed Machine Guns and Assault Rifles. LMR27: Increased damage at close to mid ranges to better reward accurate headshots. M123K: Reduced recoil to improve sustained-fire control and reinforce its role as a belt-fed Machine Gun. M277: Reduced recoil, improving effectiveness at range. M417 A2, QBZ-192: Reduced recoil randomness to ensure they remain competitive relative to updated Assault Rifles. PW5A3, SGX: Increased recoil, making them slightly harder to control and less precise at longer distances. PW7A2, USG-90: Adjusted recoil behaviour to improve effectiveness at range while slightly increasing handling difficulty up close. SCW-10: Increased recoil to reduce effectiveness at range and reinforce its close-quarters role. SG 553R: Increased recoil to limit effectiveness at range and better align with its strong close-range performance. SOR-300SC: Adjusted recoil to ensure it remains competitive alongside updated Assault Rifles. MAPS & MODES: Added Rush as a new mode to Mirak Valley. Fixed an issue in Escalation on Operation Firestorm where vehicles would not spawn at HQ as intended. Fixed an issue in Squad Deathmatch where locked squads could cause the scoreboard to appear partially empty. Fixed an issue in Sabotage where attackers could reach elevated positions and spawn-camp the defending team on Blackwell Fields. Fixed an issue in Sabotage where attackers could spawn within direct line of sight of defenders when deploying at HQ on Blackwell Fields. Fixed an issue on Siege of Cairo where players could reach the top of buildings in Sector D3 using the Deployable Cover gadget. Fixed missing water and visual issues in several swimming pools across Eastwood. Manhattan Bridge Fixed an issue where destroying a garage by D objective could trigger a whiteout effect across the map. Fixed an issue where destroying an office building by F objective could incorrectly trigger a blackout and cause other players to see random colors and bright lights across the map. Fixed an issue where destroying parts of a plaster ridge at C objective could expose occlusion problems, causing large sections of the map to disappear when viewed from certain positions. Fixed an issue where players could stand on top of the bridge, creating unintended gameplay advantages. Fixed an issue where points of interest on the minimap were incorrectly labelled as “Dumbo” instead of Manhattan Bridge. Empire State Fixed an issue where players could capture Point B (Sector 2) on Breakthrough from an unintended upper floor. Fixed an issue where players could place the Assault Ladder on invisible collision near the NATO HQ. Fixed an issue where players could reach unintended areas above the D flag after being launched into the air. Strikepoint Fixed an issue on Liberation Peak, Operation Firestorm, and Iberian Offensive where multiple world and vehicle assets would not restore correctly after the halftime world reset. Fixed an issue where matches could end prematurely when teams were tied at 5:5. Fixed an issue where players joining a match late could spawn under the map. Fixed a rare issue where a wiped team could be incorrectly awarded a point. Added the Scout Helicopter to the following maps and modes: Conquest Manhattan Bridge Operation Firestorm New Sobek City Mirak Valley Escalation Manhattan Bridge Eastwood Operation Firestorm New Sobek City Mirak Valley PROGRESSION: Battle Pass Tokens are now earned more quickly through Career XP and Weekly Challenges, allowing for faster progression through regular gameplay. Fixed an issue where rerolling challenges could become unavailable when switching between the Battle Pass and Daily Challenges. Fixed an issue where the assignment tracker did not correctly track missions from the Unit page. Fixed incorrect tracking for multiple weekly and assignment-based challenges. Fixed multiple issues with challenge criteria displaying or progressing incorrectly across REDSEC Gauntlet and Weekly Challenges. Fixed incorrect progress display for Week 2 challenges. Fixed an issue where exploration assignments could complete with fewer actions than intended. UI & HUD: Engineer icon changed to improve readability and make role more clear based on community feedback. Fixed a localisation issue where the Loadout Zeroing and Attachment prompts could overlap in several languages. Fixed an incorrect icon for the M3A3 Bradley. Fixed an issue causing Field XP UI animations to trigger too frequently. Fixed an issue causing low minimap shadow quality and rendering artefacts on some multiplayer maps. Fixed an issue on PC where the Big Map displayed keyboard and mouse icons even when using a controller. Fixed an issue where Battle Pass points earned from weekly missions were not reflected correctly on the End of Round screen. Fixed an issue where Battle Pass progression tokens were not updating correctly on the End of Round screen after completing Bonus Paths. Fixed an issue where closing the pause menu from the Deploy Screen using a controller could immediately reopen it. Fixed an issue where completed assignments could appear incorrectly sorted as completed on the End of Round screen. Fixed an issue where equipping or previewing gadgets and melee weapons could cause them to appear under the vehicle section in the Loadouts screen. Fixed an issue where locked Battle Pass rewards could appear stuck in the Loadout screen after navigating back from the Battle Pass. Fixed an issue where mortar hit indicators and damage numbers were not displayed correctly. Fixed an issue where the Big Map and scoreboard button prompts were missing in Gauntlet End of Round screens. Fixed an issue where the crosshair could briefly display incorrect spacing when switching weapons. Fixed an issue where the gunner seat aiming indicators on attack helicopters remained static while the helicopter was moving, leading to incorrect aiming feedback. Fixed an issue where the “Go to Store” button prompt was not functional for vehicle customization on PlayStation 5. Fixed an issue where item previews could persist after exiting Store bundles. Fixed an issue where item rotation and zoom could shift to other items when rapidly switching during inspection. Fixed an issue where the Free-to-Play tutorial for custom loadout access did not trigger correctly under certain conditions. Fixed an issue where the map could flip back and forth when rolling an aircraft. Fixed an issue where the resupply message was not visible even when resource indicators were enabled in settings. Fixed an issue where the revive in-world icon for squadmates could disappear too early. The icon now remains visible until the player is fully dead and no longer revivable. Fixed an issue where the “Show Game Mode Events” option did not function correctly when disabled. Fixed an issue where the “Stay with Squad” option was missing from the End of Round screen. Fixed an issue where the “Steady Aim” prompt unintentionally appeared on Designated Marksman Rifles; it is now shown only on bolt-action rifles. Fixed an issue where the tank damage screen effect would not properly cancel when exiting the vehicle. Fixed an issue where the “Tracked” section could display an incorrect number of tracked missions. Fixed an issue where UI elements could overlap or misalign during fast menu navigation. Fixed an issue where weapon package deeplinks did not navigate to the correct challenge tile. Fixed duplicate ladder indicators appearing on the jet HUD. Fixed enemy lock-on in-world icons displaying incorrect state colours when targeting vehicles. Fixed missing deeplinks for Dog Tags unlocked via challenges or through the Store. Fixed missing or incorrect icon art for several assignment and unit challenge rewards. Fixed inconsistencies between Battle Pass progression shown on the End of Round screen and the Battle Pass menu. Fixed incorrect unit descriptions for select NATO and Pax Armata forces. Fixed missing high-definition feedback when the Phalanx HQ Defence destroyed incoming projectiles in Conquest. Fixed missing or incorrect game mode tiles appearing on launch or after finishing a match. Fixed multiple issues causing in-world icons to flicker, including look-at, occlusion, and delayed occlusion updates. Fixed new reward markers not resetting correctly when switching between Season and Bonus Paths. Fixed player pickup request icons not displaying correctly. Improved readability of missile intercepted indicators. Improved the revive in-world progress bar to more closely match the downed player’s screen, reducing the gap where a revive was no longer possible but still appeared active. Reduced delay of UI hit indicators showing up when a hit has been confirmed. Reorganised killer information on the kill card to improve readability. Season 2 introduces a new stat screen in the Player Profile, featuring Career Total, Career Best, and Accolade stats. Each of these three screens showcases a variety of detailed statistics. The Career Total stats header includes both overall totals and breakdowns by game mode, while Career Best stats are tracked for both "In a Match" and "In a Life" categories. SETTINGS: Added an accessibility option for flash and stun grenades that replaces the white flash effect with a black screen effect, reducing sudden brightness while preserving gameplay impact. This option can be enabled in the Accessibility settings. PORTAL: Fixed a memory leak that could occur when specific scripting events were triggered repeatedly. Fixed an exploit that allowed players to farm excessive XP by repeatedly destroying AI-spawned vehicles. Fixed an issue where Battle Pickups spawned via Loot Spawners were missing minimap and big map icons. Fixed an issue where certain rules events triggered at incorrect times, including capture point enter/exit events. Fixed an issue where experiences in the “In Review” state could not be edited or deleted. Fixed an issue where modifying reinforcement multipliers could cause incorrect ticket counts to be displayed during sector progression. Fixed an issue where players could be reassigned incorrectly or prevented from deploying when squads reached maximum size. Fixed an issue where players could create AFK farming experiences that bypassed intended progression limits. Fixed an issue where players could not report a server while in the redeploy screen. Fixed an issue where Portal Sandbox displayed an incorrect map size in map rotation. Fixed an issue where removing all maps from a map rotation could cause the editor panel to disappear. Fixed an issue where spawning ammo via Loot Spawners had no effect. Fixed an issue where the Export button displayed a placeholder icon. Fixed an issue where users could bypass editor limits by importing modified workspaces. Fixed asset conflicts and errors that could appear when uploading or editing certain maps. Fixed incorrect Front End indicators related to limited-time events. Fixed incorrect map availability and categorisation for Custom Portal modes. Fixed incorrect or lingering UI elements related to respawning, squad reassignment, and mission flow. Fixed incorrect or missing tooltips, placeholder text, and untranslated labels in the Web Editor. Fixed issues that could lead to very long loading times for some Portal experiences. Fixed issues where certain assets could cause players to be returned to the Front End when hosting experiences. Fixed issues where certain gadgets, weapons, vehicles, and Battle Pickups were missing from restriction settings or did not respect configured restrictions. Fixed issues where strike package markers, beacon indicators, and objective icons could behave incorrectly across sessions. Fixed issues where values entered for certain seasonal and environmental mutators were not saved correctly. Fixed issues with Rules Editor lists being scrambled or inaccurate when selecting weapons, gadgets, or ammo. Fixed issues with scripting functions and nodes, including incorrect vector calculations, squad lookup limits, and long-running player events stopping unexpectedly. Fixed missing maps, assets, and set dressing in the Portal SDK, including Season 2 content and winter environment assets. Fixed missing or incorrect indicators for heat warnings, second chance states, and beacon pulses. Fixed multiple issues in the Portal Web Editor where weapons, gadgets, vehicles, and maps were missing, incorrectly categorised, or displayed with placeholder names, images, or meshes. Fixed multiple mutators that had no functionality or incorrect default values, including reinforcement, health regeneration, zoom snap, passenger seat, and verification-related settings. Fixed multiple placeholder or low-resolution vehicle and object meshes appearing when placed in Portal experiences. Fixed rare server hangs affecting Linux-based Portal servers. Fixed server log spam related to loot physics and proximity systems. Updated and replaced several Battle Royale and Portal-related challenges that were no longer functioning as intended. AUDIO: Fixed an issue where pinging a Vehicle Supply Crate did not trigger the correct supply voice-over line. Fixed audio stuttering when vehicles are sabotaged using the Repair Tool. Improved audibility of enemy ziplines and parachutes, as well as friendly blowtorches, when many sounds are playing. Improved audio obstruction for vehicles, weapons, and soldier footsteps by refining sound source positioning. Improved clarity of distant enemy footsteps by better aligning layered audio content. Improved panning for close non-player footsteps at very short distances. Improved reliability of multiple sound effects under heavy load, including defibrillators, blowtorches, ziplines, and parachutes. NETWORK: Fixed rare cases where the game could become unresponsive after reconnecting network cables during gameplay or while accepting invitations on Xbox Series consoles. REDSEC PLAYER: Fixed an issue where dying with a Data Drive could prevent the Extraction mission from progressing. Fixed an issue where in rare cases soldiers could take higher than intended damage when wearing armor. Fixed an issue where mission completion rewards could fail to drop correctly if the player initiating the mission was killed just before completion. Fixed an issue where the deploy input during Battle Royale insertion was not triggering consistently. Fixed an issue where the party leader would be returned to the Front End after selecting Stay with Squad in Battle Royale Duos. VEHICLES: Added the Traverser Mark II to select Large, Medium, and Small Gauntlet layouts. Fixed an issue where the weapon could rotate incorrectly in first-person view when using the Traverser Mark II Remote Weapon Station. Fixed an issue where incorrect or missing crosshairs could appear for side passengers in the Traverse Mark II. WEAPONS: Improved attachment setups for M4A1, M277, SVDM, Mini Scout, UMG-40, and 18.5KS-K, ensuring these weapons use their intended attachments and are better balanced when found as loot. CALL-INS: Fixed an issue where the UAV call-in sound effect could continue playing if the action was cancelled by vaulting. Increased the drop speed of Custom Weapon Drops, Supply Drops, and Mission Rewards after being spawned in the air. Introducing a new, limited, tactical Strike Package, allowing players to call in a volley of gas discharging artillery shells on a targeted location of the map. This Strike offers a unique way to disrupt and deny key areas to enemies. MAP: Fixed an issue where tanker container ramps could clip through large deployables; ramps now correctly damage or destroy objects and vehicles when lowering. Fixed multiple terrain and object placement issues. PROGRESSION: Fixed an issue where Battle Royale “Special Forces Operator“ Challenge rewards were not granted correctly. UI & HUD: Fixed an issue where strike package map markers would not disappear when joining a Gauntlet session right after playing a Battle Royale match. Fixed an issue where the Clear Ping action did not work with default controller bindings. Battle Royale Fixed an issue where helicopter insertion flight paths on the Big Map could become misaligned when the helicopter or endpoint icons were off-screen. Fixed an issue where the Decryption Beacon displayed an incorrect texture. Fixed an issue where the loot feed could incorrectly increment the number looted when picking up the same item repeatedly. Fixed an issue where players could toggle flashlight and laser attachments while navigating the inventory. Fixed an issue where the UAV icon was too small on the minimap and big map. Fixed multiple issues with the Second Chance UI, including incorrect timers, widgets persisting after squad wipes, and incorrect visibility when players left the match. Removed outdated soldier voice-over lines referencing “supply drops” when pinging crates or supply vehicles. Gauntlet Fixed an issue where the Beacon Pulse icon could appear too far away when first picked up by an enemy. Fixed an issue where the countdown icon on the Mobile Respawn gadget could disappear too early. Fixed overlapping UI elements when rapidly exiting the Edit Loadout menu. Fixed overlapping UI elements where “Random Deploy” could appear behind class selection buttons on the redeploy screen. AUDIO: Fixed an issue where dropped items would not correctly play pickup sound effects. Fixed missing collision sounds for dropped ammunition. Improved reliability of audio feedback for UAV call-ins and mission-related interactions. This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible. submitted by /u/battlefield to r/Battlefield6 [link] [comments]

https://preview.redd.it/4mnqvvky7ajg1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=71e391ac04809e2f61a836f8d1750be14f6822bd Season 2 begins February 17th with Game Update 1.2.1.0, introducing a new map, limited-time modes, the Little Bird helicopter, weapons, gadgets, and progression to Battlefield 6. At 09:00 UTC, players will be able to download the update, with Season 2 challenges becoming available. At 12:00 UTC, all Season 2 content goes live, including new game modes, map, weapons, tiles, the Battle Pass, and additional progression content. New Map: Contaminated A large-scale European mountainside battlefield set around a strategic German airbase. Supports all combat sizes Includes land vehicles and helicopters Available across Conquest, Breakthrough, Escalation, Squad Death Match, and Strikepoint New Limited-Time Modes Season 2 introduces a set of limited-time experiences built around VL-7, a new psychoactive smoke weapon spreading across multiple battlefields. As contaminated zones emerge, squads must adapt their tactics, manage masks and filters, and fight for control in increasingly hostile environments across multiplayer, Battle Royale, and Gauntlet. VL-7 Strike: A limited-time mode where the psychoactive smoke VL-7 spreads across select areas in multiplayer and REDSEC. Players must use masks and manage their filters carefully, as running out will leave them exposed to VL-7’s disorienting effects. Battle Royale - Synthesis: Smoke engulfs Fort Lyndon, transforming the battleground. Fight and loot within contaminated zones while securing masks and filters to survive the smoke’s effects. Gauntlet: Altered State: Gauntlet returns with a new twist. Squads compete in a knockout-style elimination format while navigating psychoactive smoke and racing to complete missions under pressure. New Vehicle AH-6 Little Bird: The iconic attack helicopter returns for NATO forces, offering high mobility and lethal firepower in skilled hands. New Weapons M121 A2: A belt-fed machine gun delivering high damage, especially effective at close range. GRT-CPS: A semi-automatic designated marksman rifle designed for mid- to long-range engagements, featuring a high-capacity magazine for sustained fire. VCR-2: A short-range assault rifle with a rapid rate of fire, built for intense close-quarters combat. New Gadgets 9K38 IGLA: A lock-on, anti-air missile launcher that requires active guidance from engineers to stay on target. Provides superior missile maneuverability to adept users. HTI-Mk2: A short- to medium-range Recon device that can detect and reveal enemy gadgets, overload recon drones, and neutralise incoming rockets. Protective Mask: Essential equipment for contaminated zones, protecting players from psychoactive smoke. Additional filters can be acquired and equipped to extend protection time. Battle Pass & Progression Season 2 Battle Pass: Instantly unlock 6 rewards and progress through 4 themed paths featuring new hardware, weapon packages, soldier skins, XP boosts, and more. Complete all paths to unlock the Ultimate Path. BF Pro: In addition to the regular Battle Pass, BF Pro includes 6 instant unlocks, 25 tier skips, BF Radio, Portal Server Hosting, and access to an exclusive bonus path with additional tactical rewards https://preview.redd.it/nw1lcdhx7ajg1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=295236f8d550f40c1ba4a3d54dbe7a796b29a30e Game Update 1.2.1.0 delivers over 240 gameplay improvements and quality-of-life fixes across nearly every part of Battlefield 6. These changes are shaped by community feedback and real match data, with a focus on improving weapon handling, movement, vehicles, gadgets, UI, audio, and overall gameplay reliability. This update continues our ongoing commitment to improve consistency and reliability across the core Battlefield experience. Major Updates for 1.2.1.0 Weapon Balance and Recoil Improvements: Delivered a broad recoil tuning pass across automatic weapons, alongside targeted balance fixes to improve consistency, role clarity, and long-term weapon handling. Movement and Traversal Fixes: Improved soldier movement predictability with refined acceleration, slide and jump behaviour, smoother vaulting logic, and improved ladder animations in both first- and third-person. Vehicle and Gadget Reliability: Resolved multiple issues affecting vehicles and gadgets, including anti-vehicle interactions, drone behaviour, deployables, and vehicle damage feedback. Maps and Mode Fixes: Addressed numerous map exploits, traversal issues, capture logic problems, and world reset bugs across Conquest, Breakthrough, Strikepoint, Gauntlet, and other modes. UI, HUD and Progression Polish: Introducing a new stat screen in the Player Profile, as well as Improved clarity and reliability across the HUD, Battle Pass, challenges, End of Round flow, matchmaking, and party systems. Portal Stability and Tooling Updates: Fixed a wide range of issues affecting Portal creation tools, scripting, mutators, assets, exploits, and server stability. Audio, Visual and Stability Improvements: Improved audio reliability, visual consistency, cosmetic presentation, and overall game stability across platforms. AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT As part of Update 1.2.1.0, we've made improvements to both how recoil behaves at a system level and how recoil is used to balance automatic weapons. Since launch, recoil compensation could feel inconsistent in certain situations. In some cases, the amount of aim input required to counter recoil did not reliably match the recoil being applied, which could make weapons feel harder to control than expected. While improvements were made during Season 1 to reduce the most extreme cases, some inconsistency could still be noticeable during regular gameplay. With this update, recoil compensation has been made fully consistent, ensuring that the aim input required to counter recoil now correctly matches the recoil applied. This results in more predictable and reliable weapon handling. Separately from this systemic fix, we've also made a broad recoil tuning pass across automatic weapons. Recoil is one of the main ways we balance weapons across different engagement distances: higher-damage weapons are intentionally harder to control, while lighter weapons trade raw power for ease of use and consistency. Over time, we saw this balance starting to drift once we looked at how these weapons were actually being used in live matches across common combat ranges. This tuning pass brings recoil behaviour back in line with each weapon's intended role. You should expect automatic weapons to feel more consistent and better differentiated across ranges, with higher-impact weapons demanding more control and positioning, while others remain reliable and forgiving in closer engagements. CHANGELOG PLAYER: Adjusted the acceleration curve of slide and jumps to better account for the player's speed when entering a slide or a jump. All squad members now display animated health icons when downed, clearly indicating who is able to revive you. Fixed a matchmaking error that could occur when a player left the party while the party leader was already in a match. Fixed a movement extrapolation issue that could cause other soldiers to appear jittery when traversing uneven terrain or changing states. Fixed a rare issue where melee could become unusable if switched to immediately after being revived. Fixed an issue where a player’s legs could clip through thin walls or objects when backpedalling into them. Fixed an issue where a soldier could become invisible and continue moving after dying in a swimming pool. Fixed an issue where a victim’s facing direction could be briefly incorrect when starting a melee takedown on a prone target. Fixed an issue where accepting a squad invite on Xbox could unintentionally select a highlighted tile in the main menu. Fixed an issue where Battle Pickups would sometimes be dropped after being revived. Fixed an issue where deployable Gadgets could be used while on a zipline. Fixed an issue where equipping a camo skin on one vehicle could cause vehicle thumbnails or icons to incorrectly appear camouflaged across all vehicles. Fixed an issue where melee animations could break when initiated immediately after exiting a vehicle in first-person. Fixed an issue where revived players could occasionally receive an unintended weapon state. Fixed an issue where soldiers could be launched unexpectedly when entering a ladder positioned above the camera. Fixed an issue where stickers were not applied correctly on the War Wolf Legendary weapon package for the L85A3. Fixed an issue where the left hand could be seen floating while doing a takedown with the knife equipped. Fixed an issue where the selected player patch could appear duplicated and incorrectly placed on the backpack when using the Veritas Epic skin. Fixed an issue where the Spiteful Mirage skin was missing hair during the End of Round flow. Fixed an issue where the Thunder Engineer skin did not focus the camera on the correct uniform patch location. Fixed an issue where the uniform patch appeared twice on the Peregrine Sniper Epic skin. Fixed an issue where the Wraith Recon skin could become partially transparent in first-person view when starting a match in King of the Hill. Fixed an issue where unlocking characters via the Battle Pass deeplink would not correctly unlock the character. Fixed an issue where unlocking the Brodie character via the Battle Pass deeplink would not correctly unlock the character. Fixed an issue where vaulting onto a vehicle could sometimes destroy it and launch the player unexpectedly. Fixed an issue where weapon pose could fail to update correctly when firing while sprint-jumping. Fixed an issue where weapon switching after being revived could leave players without a usable weapon. The game now prioritises equipping a weapon with available ammunition. Fixed case scenarios where it would sometimes be possible to grab ledges much higher than intended with vault grab Fixed duplicate naming for some of the weapon charms. Fixed excessive mud weathering on the Two-Faced Epic skin’s character model. Improved first-person ladder animations for entering, climbing, and exiting. Improved foot placement when climbing ladders. Improved predictability and consistency of player movement with new acceleration curves instead of linear accelerations. Those updated accelerations retain responsive movement while allowing micro-adjustments of movement (i.e. to peek corners) and ensure that other players' movement looks more correct to improve the quality and predictability of gunfights. Improved the transition of the soldier’s lower body in first-person view when stopping movement. Improved third-person ladder animations, including hand and foot placement on ladders. Improved vault detection near overhangs while airborne. Made animation and logic improvements to vaulting over medium-sized obstacles, refining momentum and smoothing transitions into movement. Prevented players from vaulting back onto the same ladder when jumping down backwards from it. Reduced the intensity of hit reactions while on fire to improve visual clarity during combat. Reduced the maximum slide impulse length by 25% to improve balance and readability during fast movement. Updated the Winter Warning cosmetic to better align with Battlefield’s visual identity. VEHICLES: Disabled angle-based damage mitigation on the Traverser Mark II to better reflect its lighter armour profile. It now takes consistent damage from all directions. Fixed an issue where attack helicopter rocket trails could disappear when firing at long distances. Fixed an issue where helicopter rotary cannon tracers could sometimes originate behind the muzzle. Fixed an issue where jet throttle input could remain active after ejecting from the aircraft. Fixed an issue where tank turret aiming speeds differed between first-person and third-person zoom views. Fixed unreliable bullet collision on Anti-Air vehicle radar dishes. Reduced muzzle flash intensity on Anti-Air Tanks and stationary Anti-Air weapons when zoomed in. You can no longer move vehicles forward or backward while the Big Map is open, preventing input conflicts with map zoom controls on controllers. GADGETS: Fixed an issue where Anti-Tank Mines could fail to deploy correctly in first-person view. Fixed an issue where attached M4A1 SLAM AV Mine explosives on the XFGM-6D Recon Drone did not correctly affect battery life or top speed. Attached explosives now behave consistently and detonate when the XFGM-6D Recon Drone is destroyed. Fixed an issue where the RPG-7 and the MBT-LAW launchers would be inaccurate if fired right after the zoom transition is completed. Fixed an issue where the Smoke Grenade was missing from the Support class Loadout #2. Fixed an issue where the XFGM-6D Recon Drone could be destroyed when its operating soldier was downed. Fixed an issue where the CSB IV EOD Bot could instantly regain an ammo charge when destroyed. Fixed an issue where the LTLM II Portable Laser Designator could prioritise already-painted targets instead of the vehicle being aimed at. Fixed an issue where the Repair Tool torch flame video effect was misaligned in third-person view using non-default FOV values. Fixed an issue where the Repair Tool would not repair vehicles when targeting glass components. Fixed an issue where the RPG-7 could fire unintentionally when switching weapons after releasing the trigger. Fixed a bug that prevent the player from returning properly to the previous weapon after throwing a supply pouch and would keep throwing more supply pouches Improved consistency when destroying Anti-Tank Mines and M4 SLAM AV Mines with explosives. Clearing out minefields should be easier and more consistent using a tank. Improved consistency of Defibrillator revives detection on stairs and uneven terrain. WEAPONS: Adjusted in-world spotting range when firing a weapon without a suppressor or flash hider, reducing it from 75 to 54 metres. Adjusted minimap spotting range when firing suppressed weapons, increasing it from 15 to 21 metres to better align with intended balance. Fixed consistency with recoil compensation, making sure that the amount of aim input needed to compensate for recoil matches the amount of recoil. Fixed a visual issue with the standard fire mode on the SL9 being incorrectly set to safe; it is now set to full auto by default. Fixed an issue where locked weapon skins could be used in the Firing Range. Fixed an issue where shooting the first target dummy could generate particle effects at the player’s position. Fixed an issue where the 5 mW Green Laser was too expensive to equip on the DRS-IAR. Fixed an issue where the Flashlight could appear slightly misaligned when equipped on the MP5. Fixed an issue where the LA-23 Laser pad could appear floating when equipped on the RPKM. Fixed an issue where Scope glints and laser sight lens flares would be visible through the cover of smoke grenades. Fixed inconsistent knife melee timing to improve reliability during close-quarters combat. Fixed multiple weapon attachment visual issues, including lasers, flashlights, and optic alignment. Fixed the LMR27s Fast 15- and 20-round magazines not reducing reload time as intended. Fixed the SGX RO-M 1.75x sight to function consistently with other weapons. Fixed visual issues with bolt-action rifle animations, including intrusive ADS motion and incorrect finger placement. Improved scope glint orientation at long distances so enemy aim direction is more accurately telegraphed. Knife takedowns against enemies who are prone on their back now correctly connect with the defender. Reduced the Mini Scout muzzle velocity from 880 to 800 m/s. Reduced the Mini Scout limb damage to better align with lower-torso damage values. Updated the M433 Level 50 Mastery Package to use the correct magazine mesh. Updated the Range Finder custom zeroing to not apply its effect instantly; it now requires a short delay before taking effect. Updated player-facing descriptions for non-sniper grippod attachments to better reflect their gameplay effects. Updated player-facing name of the TR-7's fluted barrel to match the formatting of its other barrels. Weapon Recoil Tuning: Adjusted recoil behaviour across automatic weapons to better reflect real combat ranges and ease-of-use expectations, improving ranged consistency while preserving intended weapon roles. AK-205: Adjusted recoil behaviour to better match expectations for a 5.45×39mm weapon, with minimal impact on overall handling. B36A4, L85A3, M433, SOR-555 MK2: Reduced recoil randomness, improving consistency and effectiveness at longer ranges. DB-12: Increased rate of fire and faster pump action to improve reliability in close-quarters combat. L110: Reduced recoil to reinforce the handling differences between belt-fed Machine Guns and Assault Rifles. LMR27: Increased damage at close to mid ranges to better reward accurate headshots. M123K: Reduced recoil to improve sustained-fire control and reinforce its role as a belt-fed Machine Gun. M277: Reduced recoil, improving effectiveness at range. M417 A2, QBZ-192: Reduced recoil randomness to ensure they remain competitive relative to updated Assault Rifles. PW5A3, SGX: Increased recoil, making them slightly harder to control and less precise at longer distances. PW7A2, USG-90: Adjusted recoil behaviour to improve effectiveness at range while slightly increasing handling difficulty up close. SCW-10: Increased recoil to reduce effectiveness at range and reinforce its close-quarters role. SG 553R: Increased recoil to limit effectiveness at range and better align with its strong close-range performance. SOR-300SC: Adjusted recoil to ensure it remains competitive alongside updated Assault Rifles. MAPS & MODES: Added Rush as a new mode to Mirak Valley. Fixed an issue in Escalation on Operation Firestorm where vehicles would not spawn at HQ as intended. Fixed an issue in Squad Deathmatch where locked squads could cause the scoreboard to appear partially empty. Fixed an issue in Sabotage where attackers could reach elevated positions and spawn-camp the defending team on Blackwell Fields. Fixed an issue in Sabotage where attackers could spawn within direct line of sight of defenders when deploying at HQ on Blackwell Fields. Fixed an issue on Siege of Cairo where players could reach the top of buildings in Sector D3 using the Deployable Cover gadget. Fixed missing water and visual issues in several swimming pools across Eastwood. Manhattan Bridge Fixed an issue where destroying a garage by D objective could trigger a whiteout effect across the map. Fixed an issue where destroying an office building by F objective could incorrectly trigger a blackout and cause other players to see random colors and bright lights across the map. Fixed an issue where destroying parts of a plaster ridge at C objective could expose occlusion problems, causing large sections of the map to disappear when viewed from certain positions. Fixed an issue where players could stand on top of the bridge, creating unintended gameplay advantages. Fixed an issue where points of interest on the minimap were incorrectly labelled as “Dumbo” instead of Manhattan Bridge. Empire State Fixed an issue where players could capture Point B (Sector 2) on Breakthrough from an unintended upper floor. Fixed an issue where players could place the Assault Ladder on invisible collision near the NATO HQ. Fixed an issue where players could reach unintended areas above the D flag after being launched into the air. Strikepoint Fixed an issue on Liberation Peak, Operation Firestorm, and Iberian Offensive where multiple world and vehicle assets would not restore correctly after the halftime world reset. Fixed an issue where matches could end prematurely when teams were tied at 5:5. Fixed an issue where players joining a match late could spawn under the map. Fixed a rare issue where a wiped team could be incorrectly awarded a point. Added the Scout Helicopter to the following maps and modes: Conquest Manhattan Bridge Operation Firestorm New Sobek City Mirak Valley Escalation Manhattan Bridge Eastwood Operation Firestorm New Sobek City Mirak Valley PROGRESSION: Battle Pass Tokens are now earned more quickly through Career XP and Weekly Challenges, allowing for faster progression through regular gameplay. Fixed an issue where rerolling challenges could become unavailable when switching between the Battle Pass and Daily Challenges. Fixed an issue where the assignment tracker did not correctly track missions from the Unit page. Fixed incorrect tracking for multiple weekly and assignment-based challenges. Fixed multiple issues with challenge criteria displaying or progressing incorrectly across REDSEC Gauntlet and Weekly Challenges. Fixed incorrect progress display for Week 2 challenges. Fixed an issue where exploration assignments could complete with fewer actions than intended. UI & HUD: Engineer icon changed to improve readability and make role more clear based on community feedback. Fixed a localisation issue where the Loadout Zeroing and Attachment prompts could overlap in several languages. Fixed an incorrect icon for the M3A3 Bradley. Fixed an issue causing Field XP UI animations to trigger too frequently. Fixed an issue causing low minimap shadow quality and rendering artefacts on some multiplayer maps. Fixed an issue on PC where the Big Map displayed keyboard and mouse icons even when using a controller. Fixed an issue where Battle Pass points earned from weekly missions were not reflected correctly on the End of Round screen. Fixed an issue where Battle Pass progression tokens were not updating correctly on the End of Round screen after completing Bonus Paths. Fixed an issue where closing the pause menu from the Deploy Screen using a controller could immediately reopen it. Fixed an issue where completed assignments could appear incorrectly sorted as completed on the End of Round screen. Fixed an issue where equipping or previewing gadgets and melee weapons could cause them to appear under the vehicle section in the Loadouts screen. Fixed an issue where locked Battle Pass rewards could appear stuck in the Loadout screen after navigating back from the Battle Pass. Fixed an issue where mortar hit indicators and damage numbers were not displayed correctly. Fixed an issue where the Big Map and scoreboard button prompts were missing in Gauntlet End of Round screens. Fixed an issue where the crosshair could briefly display incorrect spacing when switching weapons. Fixed an issue where the gunner seat aiming indicators on attack helicopters remained static while the helicopter was moving, leading to incorrect aiming feedback. Fixed an issue where the “Go to Store” button prompt was not functional for vehicle customization on PlayStation 5. Fixed an issue where item previews could persist after exiting Store bundles. Fixed an issue where item rotation and zoom could shift to other items when rapidly switching during inspection. Fixed an issue where the Free-to-Play tutorial for custom loadout access did not trigger correctly under certain conditions. Fixed an issue where the map could flip back and forth when rolling an aircraft. Fixed an issue where the resupply message was not visible even when resource indicators were enabled in settings. Fixed an issue where the revive in-world icon for squadmates could disappear too early. The icon now remains visible until the player is fully dead and no longer revivable. Fixed an issue where the “Show Game Mode Events” option did not function correctly when disabled. Fixed an issue where the “Stay with Squad” option was missing from the End of Round screen. Fixed an issue where the “Steady Aim” prompt unintentionally appeared on Designated Marksman Rifles; it is now shown only on bolt-action rifles. Fixed an issue where the tank damage screen effect would not properly cancel when exiting the vehicle. Fixed an issue where the “Tracked” section could display an incorrect number of tracked missions. Fixed an issue where UI elements could overlap or misalign during fast menu navigation. Fixed an issue where weapon package deeplinks did not navigate to the correct challenge tile. Fixed duplicate ladder indicators appearing on the jet HUD. Fixed enemy lock-on in-world icons displaying incorrect state colours when targeting vehicles. Fixed missing deeplinks for Dog Tags unlocked via challenges or through the Store. Fixed missing or incorrect icon art for several assignment and unit challenge rewards. Fixed inconsistencies between Battle Pass progression shown on the End of Round screen and the Battle Pass menu. Fixed incorrect unit descriptions for select NATO and Pax Armata forces. Fixed missing high-definition feedback when the Phalanx HQ Defence destroyed incoming projectiles in Conquest. Fixed missing or incorrect game mode tiles appearing on launch or after finishing a match. Fixed multiple issues causing in-world icons to flicker, including look-at, occlusion, and delayed occlusion updates. Fixed new reward markers not resetting correctly when switching between Season and Bonus Paths. Fixed player pickup request icons not displaying correctly. Improved readability of missile intercepted indicators. Improved the revive in-world progress bar to more closely match the downed player’s screen, reducing the gap where a revive was no longer possible but still appeared active. Reduced delay of UI hit indicators showing up when a hit has been confirmed. Reorganised killer information on the kill card to improve readability. Season 2 introduces a new stat screen in the Player Profile, featuring Career Total, Career Best, and Accolade stats. Each of these three screens showcases a variety of detailed statistics. The Career Total stats header includes both overall totals and breakdowns by game mode, while Career Best stats are tracked for both "In a Match" and "In a Life" categories. SETTINGS: Added an accessibility option for flash and stun grenades that replaces the white flash effect with a black screen effect, reducing sudden brightness while preserving gameplay impact. This option can be enabled in the Accessibility settings. PORTAL: Fixed a memory leak that could occur when specific scripting events were triggered repeatedly. Fixed an exploit that allowed players to farm excessive XP by repeatedly destroying AI-spawned vehicles. Fixed an issue where Battle Pickups spawned via Loot Spawners were missing minimap and big map icons. Fixed an issue where certain rules events triggered at incorrect times, including capture point enter/exit events. Fixed an issue where experiences in the “In Review” state could not be edited or deleted. Fixed an issue where modifying reinforcement multipliers could cause incorrect ticket counts to be displayed during sector progression. Fixed an issue where players could be reassigned incorrectly or prevented from deploying when squads reached maximum size. Fixed an issue where players could create AFK farming experiences that bypassed intended progression limits. Fixed an issue where players could not report a server while in the redeploy screen. Fixed an issue where Portal Sandbox displayed an incorrect map size in map rotation. Fixed an issue where removing all maps from a map rotation could cause the editor panel to disappear. Fixed an issue where spawning ammo via Loot Spawners had no effect. Fixed an issue where the Export button displayed a placeholder icon. Fixed an issue where users could bypass editor limits by importing modified workspaces. Fixed asset conflicts and errors that could appear when uploading or editing certain maps. Fixed incorrect Front End indicators related to limited-time events. Fixed incorrect map availability and categorisation for Custom Portal modes. Fixed incorrect or lingering UI elements related to respawning, squad reassignment, and mission flow. Fixed incorrect or missing tooltips, placeholder text, and untranslated labels in the Web Editor. Fixed issues that could lead to very long loading times for some Portal experiences. Fixed issues where certain assets could cause players to be returned to the Front End when hosting experiences. Fixed issues where certain gadgets, weapons, vehicles, and Battle Pickups were missing from restriction settings or did not respect configured restrictions. Fixed issues where strike package markers, beacon indicators, and objective icons could behave incorrectly across sessions. Fixed issues where values entered for certain seasonal and environmental mutators were not saved correctly. Fixed issues with Rules Editor lists being scrambled or inaccurate when selecting weapons, gadgets, or ammo. Fixed issues with scripting functions and nodes, including incorrect vector calculations, squad lookup limits, and long-running player events stopping unexpectedly. Fixed missing maps, assets, and set dressing in the Portal SDK, including Season 2 content and winter environment assets. Fixed missing or incorrect indicators for heat warnings, second chance states, and beacon pulses. Fixed multiple issues in the Portal Web Editor where weapons, gadgets, vehicles, and maps were missing, incorrectly categorised, or displayed with placeholder names, images, or meshes. Fixed multiple mutators that had no functionality or incorrect default values, including reinforcement, health regeneration, zoom snap, passenger seat, and verification-related settings. Fixed multiple placeholder or low-resolution vehicle and object meshes appearing when placed in Portal experiences. Fixed rare server hangs affecting Linux-based Portal servers. Fixed server log spam related to loot physics and proximity systems. Updated and replaced several Battle Royale and Portal-related challenges that were no longer functioning as intended. AUDIO: Fixed an issue where pinging a Vehicle Supply Crate did not trigger the correct supply voice-over line. Fixed audio stuttering when vehicles are sabotaged using the Repair Tool. Improved audibility of enemy ziplines and parachutes, as well as friendly blowtorches, when many sounds are playing. Improved audio obstruction for vehicles, weapons, and soldier footsteps by refining sound source positioning. Improved clarity of distant enemy footsteps by better aligning layered audio content. Improved panning for close non-player footsteps at very short distances. Improved reliability of multiple sound effects under heavy load, including defibrillators, blowtorches, ziplines, and parachutes. NETWORK: Fixed rare cases where the game could become unresponsive after reconnecting network cables during gameplay or while accepting invitations on Xbox Series consoles. REDSEC PLAYER: Fixed an issue where dying with a Data Drive could prevent the Extraction mission from progressing. Fixed an issue where in rare cases soldiers could take higher than intended damage when wearing armor. Fixed an issue where mission completion rewards could fail to drop correctly if the player initiating the mission was killed just before completion. Fixed an issue where the deploy input during Battle Royale insertion was not triggering consistently. Fixed an issue where the party leader would be returned to the Front End after selecting Stay with Squad in Battle Royale Duos. VEHICLES: Added the Traverser Mark II to select Large, Medium, and Small Gauntlet layouts. Fixed an issue where the weapon could rotate incorrectly in first-person view when using the Traverser Mark II Remote Weapon Station. Fixed an issue where incorrect or missing crosshairs could appear for side passengers in the Traverse Mark II. WEAPONS: Improved attachment setups for M4A1, M277, SVDM, Mini Scout, UMG-40, and 18.5KS-K, ensuring these weapons use their intended attachments and are better balanced when found as loot. CALL-INS: Fixed an issue where the UAV call-in sound effect could continue playing if the action was cancelled by vaulting. Increased the drop speed of Custom Weapon Drops, Supply Drops, and Mission Rewards after being spawned in the air. Introducing a new, limited, tactical Strike Package, allowing players to call in a volley of gas discharging artillery shells on a targeted location of the map. This Strike offers a unique way to disrupt and deny key areas to enemies. MAP: Fixed an issue where tanker container ramps could clip through large deployables; ramps now correctly damage or destroy objects and vehicles when lowering. Fixed multiple terrain and object placement issues. PROGRESSION: Fixed an issue where Battle Royale “Special Forces Operator“ Challenge rewards were not granted correctly. UI & HUD: Fixed an issue where strike package map markers would not disappear when joining a Gauntlet session right after playing a Battle Royale match. Fixed an issue where the Clear Ping action did not work with default controller bindings. Battle Royale Fixed an issue where helicopter insertion flight paths on the Big Map could become misaligned when the helicopter or endpoint icons were off-screen. Fixed an issue where the Decryption Beacon displayed an incorrect texture. Fixed an issue where the loot feed could incorrectly increment the number looted when picking up the same item repeatedly. Fixed an issue where players could toggle flashlight and laser attachments while navigating the inventory. Fixed an issue where the UAV icon was too small on the minimap and big map. Fixed multiple issues with the Second Chance UI, including incorrect timers, widgets persisting after squad wipes, and incorrect visibility when players left the match. Removed outdated soldier voice-over lines referencing “supply drops” when pinging crates or supply vehicles. Gauntlet Fixed an issue where the Beacon Pulse icon could appear too far away when first picked up by an enemy. Fixed an issue where the countdown icon on the Mobile Respawn gadget could disappear too early. Fixed overlapping UI elements when rapidly exiting the Edit Loadout menu. Fixed overlapping UI elements where “Random Deploy” could appear behind class selection buttons on the redeploy screen. AUDIO: Fixed an issue where dropped items would not correctly play pickup sound effects. Fixed missing collision sounds for dropped ammunition. Improved reliability of audio feedback for UAV call-ins and mission-related interactions. This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible. submitted by /u/battlefield to r/Battlefield [link] [comments]

First | Previous | Next Patreon | Official Subreddit | Series Wiki | Royal Road Earth - Atlantic Ocean - Special Administrative Zone under requisition by the United Nations Science Advisory - Institute of Anomalous Studies (IAS) Pilot Research Facility Codename: ATLANTIS II - R&D Wing. Local Time: 2345 Hours. Dr. Ivo Mekis — Head of the Applied Exoreality Studies Department Four thousand meters of water might as well have been forty thousand meters of vacuum for how isolated the depths can be. Not since my brief stint on Titan had I observed this sort of solitude, this type of isolation, this distance between myself and the beating — at times fibrillitic — heart of civilization. And this was just the way I preferred it. Yet peace did not come from distance and isolation alone. The calm of true silence only dawned after dusk had settled, especially in the midst of what would otherwise be the most active and bustling section of this facility. Desks upon desks, interspersed between workstations and workbenches, lay dormant beneath my alcove of an office. What would have otherwise been the vibrant symphony of clacking keyboards and buzzing haptics setting the stage for the occasional clink and clank of bleeding-edge tinkering now sat uncharacteristically silent beneath perpetually twilight rays. Indeed, the dimmed lights of this hour provided for a tasteful ambiance when set against the brightly lit depths of the ocean floor, visible not only through the occasional porthole but also through the innumerable cameras that provided a seamless transition between the opaque metal walls and the views just beyond them. I kept this AR view open, just in case of another chance encounter — a titanic clash — between whale and squid. These occasional sightings were what made this tenure more colorful than Titan’s or any other lifeless rock for that matter. Because even this far down, Earth’s inexplicable gift for harboring life did not relent. If anything, it demonstrated that gift in far more extremes. This momentary foray into reflection soon gave way into the rhythms of work, as I scanned through line after line of pertinent data that— FWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I swiveled my chair around, my eyes widening not out of surprise but out of a subtle satisfaction of this age-old ritual. With a slide towards the back of my office, I reached for the screaming kettle, pouring its boiling contents into my teapot’s built-in infuser. I savored this moment, the calm, the break from— BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. My eyes flicked up. Charts, graphs, and all manner of visual overlays suddenly took the place of everything else on my workspace, as monitoring systems and cross-sectional subsystems peppered my field of view, displaying ambient exoreality radiation signatures. The ECS was active. … But not in the way we’d ever observed. The spike in readings was neither discrete nor transient. If anything, it expanded exponentially, a series of diagnostic warnings conveying that the ECS was far surpassing what it was designed to— BWWWOOOOP! BWOOOOOOPP! BWOOOOOPPPP! “PRIORITY ALERT! UNSCHEDULED EXOREALITY ENTANGLEMENT ACTIVATION! SOURCE: ECS HOLDING CHAMBER!” Sol - Trans-Neptunian Military Exclusion Zone - LREF Ranger Station Epsilon - Ring 01 - Deck 01 - Command and Administration Center - Flag Officer’s Private Office. Local Time: 1145 Hours. 12 Hours Prior to the UEEA Incident Captain Calico Li Docking with the behemoth… was never once an underwhelming affair. This effect was doubled, tripled, and perhaps even quadrupled the longer one spent away from this rotating bulwark of composalite and plasteel. Because unlike most ‘megastructures,’ measured in double-digit kilometers but ultimately built as a ‘shell’ for what dwelled within — O’Neill cylinders, Stanford Toruses, and the like — Ranger Station Epsilon wasn’t built to house communities nor to simulate the P-MASL comforts. It wasn’t built to look ‘inwards.’ Instead, it was built in typical true spacer fashion: to look out at the stars themselves. What would have normally been a hollow interior pumped full of breathable gases, layered in dirt, and peppered with an ecosystem resembling a slice of pristine Earth was instead devoted to a single defined purpose — command and control. No square meter of space was wasted, no volume was reserved for life-giving gases or aesthetic consideration. In lieu of it was an environment as hostile as the space that surrounded it, an unapologetic glut of computing that filled the stations’ confines from surface to surface, along with the infrastructure necessary to keep this beast alive. At its heart were stellarators that pulsed with energy, each doughnut wrapped around a central axis that formed the ‘spine’ of the station. Surrounding it and snaking into each and every nook, cranny, and crevice were the fluid coolants — impossibly long tracts of piping that permeated everything. From the reactors themselves to the kilometers' worth of computing hardware, the heat generated from their mere operation was effortlessly wicked away. Ensuring that these machines, by their own existence, didn’t melt into slag from the mere act of thinking. This culminated in one of the most visually striking features of the station; an unexpected aesthetic expression apparent in its five-layered radiators. Imbricated like flower petals, each layer was an engineering feat unto itself, reaching so deep into space that it dwarfed the cylinder that it was attached to. And owing to its function, eschewing any sense of stealth for sheer heat-dissipating efficiency, each ‘petal’ glowed. Creating what was in effect a radiant display of light that many likened to a glowing orchid, pulsing intermittently in between cycles of heat dissipation all along its various ‘layers,’ completing a phenomenon no engineer had ever intended, but all quietly admired; a ‘living’ spectacle born entirely of thermal necessity. It was in essence a living, breathing titan of technology. A flower that blossomed brightly in the dark — the Orchid of Neptune. A sight which this fresh rotation of bridge officers were not-so-subtly enamored by. “Whoa… this was so worth it…” Helmsman Pham uttered out the moment we completed our final approach, his eyes finally taking in the sights outside the viewport without the weight of the ship resting on his shoulders. A series of beeps would bring him back down to earth, however, as he was quick to crane his head back towards me in a fit of apologetics. “Er, sorry, sir.” “Don’t be.” I replied with a firm smile. “I’d be more offended if you kept your thoughts to yourself.” I quickly added with a reassuring chuckle. “You’ll find that things work a bit differently here than our other half over in the Expeditionary and Response Element. You answer to your fellow Scouting and Recon Element Rangers now, and by extension, Sci-Advisory’s Director-General, not the Defence-Sec. And while I still expect a certain level of discipline to be upheld, take it from me when I tell you that it’s okay to drop the occasional quip and remark. In exchange though, you’ll be rubbing shoulders with more Collegiate types than you’d believe, so prepare for the onslaught of Academo-speak.” I grinned. “So take it easy, at least while we’re in home space.” “Yes, sir.” Pham acknowledged with a respectful dip of his head, just as the docking clamps firmly clasped the ship’s port and starboard. “Oh, and on that note, welcome to the Cool Kids Club, ensigns.” I announced cockily. “You’re entering one of the Stellocenic Titans of Sol.” A series of affirmative nods, excitable murmurs, and the occasional gasp of excitement echoed throughout the bridge, my eyes soon coming to settle on the docking boom that sent a gentle vibration throughout the whole ship. The scale of the structure never truly landed for most until this final procedure was complete. As the single docking boom — the only human-scale analog present anywhere in visual range — truly reminded even the most seasoned of Rangers just how small we were to the titans of our own design. A titan… whose true mass lay far beneath us, while its creators occupied only its skin. … 15 Minutes Later The Admiral’s office was one such space where that scale became easy to forget — an expansive open-plan room with more wooden slats than exposed metal walls, more plants than mandatory emergency O2 packs, and more splashes of vibrant colors, instances of boxy monitors, and paintings of rocket ‘ships’ than what most could ever imagine, all hearkening back to an aesthetic era of space exploration that never was. It felt as if I’d just been teleported into a Venusian apartment. Though, frankly, the Venusian ‘Jetsonian’ aesthetic was a breath of fresh air from what ‘hardcore’ spacers often touted as the height of style. This culture of Venusian vibrancy translated all too well to its sole occupant — down to the rebreather facemask, amulets, and charms all hanging by the belt of her uniform — as the Admiral was quick to approach me the moment I entered through those unnecessarily ‘wooshing’ doors. “Ah! Captain.” She announced chipperly, approaching me with a skip in her step, as I couldn’t help but to match that enthusiasm with a wholehearted salute of my own. “I trust you’re breathing well?” “Admiral Shelby.” I responded warmly, remaining where I was until she reached for a reciprocal salute. “Indeed I am.” “Good to hear!” She beamed before craning her head out to the panoramic viewscreens, zooming onto my ship with an appreciative nod. “From the abyss that is his domain to the planet that bears his name, your current commute never ceases to be as poetic as it is amusing, Captain.” Shelby spoke in earnest, gesturing for me to follow, as we both came to a stop at the very center of the room. “Though frankly, I wish the topic of our little soiree was just as forthcoming with such levity.” There, we both intuitively reached our usual stations around the massive holoprojector — one of the few places in the room to have been spared the Admiral’s stylistic makeovers. It was here that the ambient blue hue of the grid-like space in front of us erupted into a flurry of shapes, transposing live and past feeds alike into a three-dimensional projection of local space. Or more specifically, the immediate ‘sphere’ of control that constituted de facto GUN territory. The lights in the room dimmed in reaction to this, giving way to what felt like a near-virtual experience that dragged both of us into a physical manifestation of humanity’s domain. We both stood at opposite ends of this 250-light-year bubble, as star after star and sector after sector was shaded in until practically the entirety of the space had been filled with teal. However, that was just the start of it. Because from there, a further 100-light-year sphere was drawn out. Though, as was the case with the first bubble, this too was colored in teal until no gap nor empty space was left. This finally prompted the both of us to make eye contact, with both of our features coming to land on the same languid disappointment we always ended up wearing in every single one of these meetings. “Operation Black Lantern II is a bust.” Shelby spoke under a tired breath, moving her hands swiftly across the projector to bring up patrol routes, expedition trails, and the veritable fleet of ships that had since become an integral part of this reality-defining mission. “Interplanetary space, and even what were supposed to be high-interest hotspots, turned up nothing. And before you ask, we’ve already done a complete sweep of interstellar space within the buffer.” She quickly highlighted the vast swaths of empty space between each star system before using her other hand to quite literally ‘grasp’ the near hundred-strong patrol group as each ship came to fit snugly atop of her open palm. At about the same time, I began flipping through the various visualization overlays, cutting out everything on the electromagnetic spectrum until we were left with nothing but Quintessence readings set against plain astronomical features. Not a single statistically significant spike existed, nothing beyond background noise and the ever-present hum of the cosmic background radiation, nothing… aside from a lone red spike in Sol; more specifically on Earth. “So have your civilian counterparts cracked the code yet?” The Admiral promptly questioned as she twiddled heavy cruisers between her fingers. “Only insofar as practical application and its anomalous properties are concerned, yes.” I answered plainly. “So more of the same, but none of the how or the why, then?” “Correct, Admiral.” “Should’ve expected as much.” She sighed out in tepid disappointment. “Listen, I get that it comes with the territory of working with a sample size of one. I empathize with the scientific process. Hell, I know anyone in the LREF would. But the more space we cover, and the rarer Quintessence seems to be… the more I find myself wanting answers sooner rather than later.” “You and I both, Admiral.” Both our eyes now landed on Earth, the Admiral’s features soon shifting to one of indignant frustration. “I’m expanding the search radius by another 100 light-years, and I don’t intend on stopping until we’ve found another viable source. We need Atlantis II dismantled and taken off-world yesterday.” “Dr. Weir’s ready and willing to pull the trigger on that offer the second we confirm said viable source, Admiral.” I concurred, prompting a dark huff from Shelby. “Of course she would. It’d be an easy exit strategy for her and that shortsighted charter of hers.” The Admiral commented with just a hint of animosity, causing me to quickly search for a pressure release valve. “There’s still some victory to be snatched from the jaws of defeat here, Admiral.” I began abruptly, slicing through the tension with the subtlety of a Jovian mega-hauler blasting into restricted space. “At least we didn’t find any Quintessence sources within the 250-proper.” I offered with a sly smile of encouragement. The admiral, quickly catching onto the joke, acknowledged that jab with a dry chuckle of her own. “That is a rather fortunate boon, yes.” She nodded. “With how much grief the Exo-Atmospheric Forces have caused us during the liaising of Dark Lantern, having them breathing down our necks in perpetuity would be a very hard ask. Though I can imagine it’d probably be easier than the Army.” That comment prompted the both of us to share in a collective sigh of frustration, as we both turned back to the Quintessence-rich Earth. “Why’d it have to be there of all places?” She continued. “Security risks aside, having the IAS chartered as an Earth-bound institute has caused headaches for all of us.” The admiral’s eyes tensed, her focus shifting from Earth to the small star-shaped blip that was GOVStation. “Both of our bosses are tearing their hair out right now. Defence-Sec Nguyen’s running laps around the conference table trying to find workarounds for the IAS’ damned charter. While Sci-Advisory Director-General Seong-min is risking her own neck by getting the Expeditionary and Response Element onboard with what is ostensibly a purely Scouting and Recon Element operation.” “And I’m guessing the only reason why the orders for Black Lantern II weren’t relayed through SECDEF, but instead the Director-General, is because Nguyen’s constitutionally locked from giving that order due to the IAS’ Extended Confidentiality statutes.” The Admiral acknowledged my words with a hard sigh. “Black Lantern II would’ve been impossible to accomplish within our timeframe using purely Scouting and Recon Element assets. That’s why we needed the Expeditionary and Response Element’s Long Patrols to aid in the search.” Shelby breathed in deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose in the process. “Everything was easy when it was just us — the SRE — and the Director-General. But the moment we start dishing out operations to the ERE, we start getting into pure military orders.” “Requiring explicit approval by the Assembly before SECDEF has the authority to send it down the military chain of command.” I completed the admiral’s sentiments, sharing in her frustrations. Shelby nodded sullenly before laying the crux of this whole mess out to bear. “Suffice it to say, none of this would be an issue right now if we were chartered as the IAS’ partnered sec-ops.” “To be fair on both points, Admiral, the former security issue has been addressed with enough Q-Type radiation-resistant materials that comply with existing safety limits. As for the latter, well… despite us not formally being institutionally entrenched to take on the IAS’ sec-ops, we at least still have enough legal channels of bilateral cooperation to effectively act as such. Cadet Booker’s deployment proves as much, no?” “Cadet Booker simply proves that the bureaucrats haven’t fully succumbed to protocol complacency.” The admiral shrugged. “The fact of the matter is, the administrative effort required to maintain this whole mess of a bilateral relation isn’t sustainable. We need the Army out of the IAS charter… because the whole reason they’re even in it in the first place is absolutely inane.” “Comes with the territory of doing anything on Earth. Holdover clauses from the Planetary Unification Charter and all that.” I shrugged. “This could all be changed, or at least given special exemption, if the case was pushed to the Assemblies.” “It would.” I nodded. “But the statutes of confidentiality—” “Will expire soon. And the moment it does, and the moment this thing goes public, is the moment we can finally start getting some much-needed meaningful reforms on the charter done. Which leads me to my next point… has the cadet reported back yet?” “Not yet.” I responded calmly. “She’s not due for about another week.” “Then I hope for all our sakes that she touches base soon. The Army’s the third-to-last branch I’d trust with an extraction mission, especially a fully automated one.” The latter reminder sent a chill down my spine, my left arm reaching to grip the hard metal of my right. “I’ve seen the contingency protocol, the reports on applying experimental limiters to the bots on that extraction squad to prevent emergent intelligences from spawning during the mission. But I think I’m not alone in saying that no amount of limiters can prevent another Charon Innovations incident.” The admiral paused before moving to place both hands down on the projector controls in front of us. “My apologies for bringing up a particularly raw topic, Cal.” “I appreciate the sentiments, Admiral.” I nodded. “But it’s a necessary point to bring up.” “You have made your objections to this clear, right?” “Oh, I have. But frankly — and this is a rare instance of me agreeing with the man — the General’s right. With our current stockpile… or lack thereof, we simply lack the chemical catalysts for the production of more E-ARRS armor sets. Fully Autonomous Modular Combat Platforms are the only thing we can viably send over, as a result.” The Admiral went silent, her eyes now shifting back to the freshly designated 100-light-year bubble beyond the buffer. “Let’s just hope that the next viable source of Quintessence has a larger deposit and rate of replenishment for Q-Type catalysts, then.” However, before the air of the room could get any more dour, I quickly dropped another, far more optimistic slant on the otherwise pressing circumstances. “The universe never looks kind from the inside of a cockpit. It only makes sense once you’re far enough away to see the entire arc.” I began poignantly, prompting the Admiral’s brows to quirk upwards. “Jackie Setanta.” She acknowledged before gesturing for me to continue. “It’s in our nature to be wary, Admiral. The more unprecedented the circumstances, the worse it gets for us compared to any other branch. It’s our duty to watch the horizon, to look past the hill and over the fence for threats. But we can’t afford to ignore the whole journey either. We’re standing on a genuine paradigm shift. Yes, it'll demand a painful rethink of grand strategy and every security assumption we've ever held. But it also means that now, after countless generations of wondering, wandering, and searching for answers, we’re finally going to see the end of that question. Not just on alien life, but civilization and culture. Of minds that looked back at the universe and wondered, just like we did.” The admiral paused. This time, however, the trajectory wasn’t towards that inevitable look of tired frustration but instead an amused sort of smile that more suited her. “You truly are a Scouting and Recon Element poster boy, Cal.” “You flatter me, Admiral.” I responded sheepishly. “Especially considering I haven’t even signed up for an Outbound Flight yet.” “The spirit of an SRE officer isn’t just measured in distances traveled. It’s also in the lengths to which sacrifice for the creed is shown. Charon Innovations proved that. Don’t ever forget, Cal.” “It’ll be difficult not to, Admiral.” I responded with another sheepish smile. Dragon’s Lair. Central Cavern ‘Foyer.’ Local Time: 2340 Hours. Kaelthyr Pulse. I reached into the dark. Pulse. I held my neck into the void. Pulse. I extended my soul, my being, my senses, and myself into the depths of nothingness. Pulse. And I felt nothing. … There was no dark, only the absence of all, including light. There was no direction, no position, nothing… save for a guiding lure. I grabbed onto that lure, pulling, tugging, reaching and grasping desperately towards— … Pain. I was shattered, shackled, siphoned, and held taut. My existence was halved. And I recalled exactly why this was the case. Eschewing the discomfort, ignoring the pain, and setting aside pride and honor, I reached into this shattered crystal. And from that anchor, held taut by will and linked firmly through resolve, I called forth resonance. A familiar voice entered the chorus of my symphony. Broken. Shattered. Mishapen and malformed… but ultimately my own. I embraced it, beckoning its eyes and ears. At which point, did I finally glimpse into the interloper's world… if one could even call it as such. I was met with a static world, a pristine world, a space far too perfect for anything living. A space defined by impeccable geometry, inlaid with glossy whites and stark chrome. It was as pristine as it was cold, artificial, and entirely dead; devoid of the natural, the magical, or even the sensical. Then, in a matter of seconds after my resonance, the world itself reacted. Stark whites were replaced with flashing reds; entire walls awoke at my presence, as surfaces alive with crawling symbols spat bellowings of an unknown language all across this holding cell. Following which, after satisfying my curiosities, I focused on increasing the definitive range of my symphony’s resonance. It required effort and an impossible concentration. But after a moment of reflection, I called forth that accessory sense. … My world shattered following that call. What had been silent, pristine, and impossibly unassuming… was immediately contrasted by the presence of an impossible cacophony of voices. They crackled, mumbled, screamed, and sang all at once, every thread an impossible string of incoherent gibberish, all speaking without thinking, all calling out in cries that could only be described as the voices of infernium itself. Yet in this insanity, a single cry went through from where I sat: the young matriarch’s cry. I sat there, attempting to blot out, ignore, and shut out everything else… while allowing the matriarch a chance to commune with her fellow voidborn. Earth - Atlantic Ocean - Special Administrative Zone under requisition by the United Nations Science Advisory - Institute of Anomalous Studies (IAS) Pilot Research Facility Codename: ATLANTIS II - Administration Wing. Local Time: 2335 Hours. 5 Minutes Prior to the UEEA Incident Dr. Laura Weir “You aren’t nervous?” I questioned pointedly, raising a brow between two clasped hands from behind my desk. “Not particularly, no. It’s in keeping with LREF tradition to report at the 11th hour.” The Captain responded with a sly grin. “Besides, I have faith in the Cadet. We gave her a generous time window for a reason, after all. I’m sure there’s either some technical difficulties, or just circumstances preventing her from dropping us a line just yet. Reality is rarely conducive to calculated textbook ideals after all.” Li shrugged. “If there’s anything I’m nervous about, it’s your memo.” He continued, immediately branching into the interrogatives of organizational politics. “You can’t be serious, right?” “Oh I very much am, Captain.” I smiled back politely. “Laura, you’re dealing with the Science Advisory here. You can’t just do an organizational rug pull. It’s one thing to amend the IAS’ charter, it’s another to just… wipe and replace it in a single pen stroke.” “It’d solve the growing interservice friction.” I countered. “There’d be no air gap. The organization and apparatuses of the IAS, including the charter, would simply be sunset and replaced in situ.” “The friction in question only exists because we’re on Earth.” He shot back. “Listen, I just think it’s much more realistic if you go down a more conventional route. Allow the confidentiality statutes to expire, then call for the establishment of a special assembly committee to push through an exemption clause for the LREF to replace the Army as sec-ops. It’s a simple open-and-shut case. We’re on Earth, sure, but the operational parameters are anything but. The only reason why the Army’s even entrenched in your charter is due to the PUC being so airtight about any sec-ops on Earth. The Assembly will see that, and they will allow a simple amendment.” “You’re saying this as we’re on the eve of the General sending through fully autonomous—” “I’m ready to file a motion against that.” The Captain concluded. “This can either be resolved martially through the Unified Central Command, civilly through SECDEF, or legislatively through the Assemblies. With the statutes still in effect, that leaves the latter off the table. So until then, I’m ready to pull the trigger on this for your sake, Laura. That’s the direction we should be headed… with all due respect, of course.” I let out a long and tired sigh, reaching for my forehead before resting it between both my hands. “And here I thought I wasn’t dealing with your sister.” I responded with a slight jab and a chuckle. “You know what they say, Laura. You can take a Li out of politics, but politics never quite leaves a Li.” The Captain responded with a cocky grin before shifting towards a few more documents on the table. “Anyways, the Admiral’s given the green light for Dark Lantern III.” “But?” I preempted. “You know our situation too well…” The Captain sighed. “Getting another Long Patrol involved is going to test the patience of the Expeditionary and Response Element, which means we’re going to need a green light from the Unified Central Command and SECDEF this time around, not the Science Advisory. So we’ll have to—” BWWWOOOOP! BWOOOOOOPP! BWOOOOOPPPP! “PRIORITY ALERT! UNSCHEDULED EXOREALITY ENTANGLEMENT ACTIVATION! SOURCE: ECS HOLDING CHAMBER!” Earth - Atlantic Ocean - Special Administrative Zone under requisition by the United Nations Science Advisory - Institute of Anomalous Studies (IAS) Pilot Research Facility Codename: ATLANTIS II - ECS Holding Facility. Local Time: 2350 Hours. Captain Calico Li All hands were on deck. The small and otherwise unremarkable room that housed the controls, monitoring equipment, and sensitive overlays for the ECS was now a veritable smoshpit of scientists and engineers, all led by the Jovian science boss himself, as a flurry of virtual activity buzzed across a hundred instances of the holding facility’s intranet. “Dr. Mekis, report.” Came Weir’s first directive, as the scientist began listing through anomaly after anomaly, until suddenly— RING! RING! RING! —all of our terminals began ringing. What I saw… defied both reason and protocol, as I felt my gut twisting at the sight of the caller ID. With a quick cock of my head to the systems administrator and a nod of Dr. Mekis’ head, I answered the call. At which point… a familiar face in that titular helmet-cam view came to dominate all of the Command Staff’s commlines. Nobody spoke a word. At least, none amongst the command staff. Instead, the flurry of activity only intensified amidst the scientists and tech specialists as they ran like headless chickens between each and every terminal present in the room. Emma too… was speechless. But a quick nod between the both of us jogged us back into action. “Mission Control…” She began, her voice practically breaking. “Request authentication and IDENT challenge from LREF mission commander.” “That shouldn’t be possible…” Murmurs erupted from the background, voices that were promptly silenced by a shush from the security personnel. I cleared my throat, swallowing my disbelief, before continuing. “Inbound signal under Cadet Emma Booker’s credentials claims IDENT: Pilot II Actual. Initiate Unscheduled Comms IDENT Protocols.” A pause soon fell across the entire room, as all eyes now fell on me. “Pilot II, complete phrase set: ANDROMEDA FIVE.” I breathed in, starting the set. “When the maps disagree—” The Cadet’s eyes quivered, but she responded just as promptly. “—follow the stars.” The silence continued as I rattled on unimpeded. “State your last authenticated request.” “New rotor for the training flight pack. Damage during the last training session totaled the left rotor blade.” I didn’t nod, nor give any signs of acknowledgement, only proceeding with the verification. “Confirm contingency fallbacks.” This prompted the cadet’s voice to harden instantly. “Negative. Fallbacks are off the table unless compromised. Escalate properly.” That was it. That was the tell. I exhaled, letting out a sigh of relief in the process. “Pilot II Actual IDENT confirmed. It’s good to hear your voice, Cadet Booker.” The Cadet smiled widely in response, her breaths heavy, before she just as abruptly broke out into a half-cry, half-laugh. “Took you long enough.” I interjected teasingly, attempting to bring the cadet back to her senses as she simply nodded and took a moment to breathe. “Captain… Director… I… this is imperative.” She began warily. “Mana radiation overpressure is going to flood the portal room on a scale far, far more intense than what you’ve ever recorded. Do not, I repeat, do not attempt to open portals any larger than what we’ve done so far. Do not open portals for transit, save for instances where the portal techs on this end are actively aiding you.” “And precisely why—” “Permission to upload sensor data and mission reports?” She urged, cutting Dr. Mekis off. “Permission granted.” Weir chimed in, nodding at the various IT staff to begin offloading the glut of data about to be sent over. “Dr. Weir?” “Yes, Emma?” “The polity known as the Nexus is to be considered hostile.” She urged, her eyes rife with a wariness that shot deep into my own. “I say again: the Nexus is hostile. It is an existential threat to the existence of our culture, our civilization, and our very being. Our very existence as living beings stands in defiance to their state-enforced dogma. There’s… a full report on this in the files. But I have—” She breathed in deeply before being cut off by Mekis. “Cadet Booker.” The scientist began. “Before you continue, I need you to tell me exactly how you’re doing this. How did you trigger and sustain an active Exoreality Entanglement episode?” The Cadet paused before opening up another camera feed, panning to her left to reveal… “Is that a fucking dragon?!” First | Previous | Next (Author's Note: Hey everyone! This is the first time we're seeing things on Earthside proper, and I'm super excited to see what you think of it! I really wanted to like show how Earth politics work in 3047, especially with the unique relationship the LREF has with its bilateral command structure, with one half dedicated to the exploratory arm under the Science Advisory that being the SRE, and the other, the ERE, dedicated to its more expeditionary response role under the traditional Defense Department command structure! :D I also wanted to explore the politics of the world here, as I worldbuilt a lot of it and wanted to show it in action! :D But yeah! Erm, other than that I have an important announcement to make. I'm really sorry about this guys but I am going to have to take a one week hiatus next week. I'm in the middle of moving out of my apartment and I also have a friend over too, so things are really hectic right now. I've technically been moving over this past week too and I'm just beyond exhausted at this point and I just... really need a week to get things sorted haha. I hope that's alright with you guys!) [If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 159, Chapter 160, and Chapter 161 of this story are already out on there!)] submitted by /u/Jcb112 to r/HFY [link] [comments]

Looking to get a "90s mod cut" so the ideal place would be somewhere where they're good with scissors, able to cut layers, and create lots of movement/texture. Not sure whether I should go to a barber, salon, or stylist if there even are any in waterford. Thanks for any recommendations in advance. submitted by /u/1ilrx to r/waterford [link] [comments]

I wear my hair long because I like it. I'll be 50 soon. An acquaintance asked me if I plan to "finally" cut my hair because I'm going to be 50. I asked what does my age have to do with my hair length? She said long hair was for our youth. I told her that I have a lot of life left in me, and that my hair makes me feel beautiful, so no freakin way I cut it bc SHE thinks 50 is old. For context, my hair is somewhere between medium and long, curly, and layered. Have any of you encountered this? Do any of you think long hair is for the young? I'm completely shocked by this and I'm interested to know your take! Edit: Thanks for all the kind words, everyone! It really helped. Funny enough, after this I found an app (link) where you can virtually try on different styles. Seeing myself with a pixie was a trip, but it confirmed I'm a long-hair person at heart! Thought I'd share. submitted by /u/vefair to r/AskWomenOver50 [link] [comments]

I wear my hair long because I like it. I'll be 50 soon. An acquaintance asked me if I plan to "finally" cut my hair because I'm going to be 50. I asked what does my age have to do with my hair length? She said long hair was for our youth. I told her that I have a lot of life left in me, and that my hair makes me feel beautiful, so no freakin way I cut it bc SHE thinks 50 is old. For context, my hair is somewhere between medium and long, curly, and layered. Have any of you encountered this? Do any of you think long hair is for the young? I'm completely shocked by this and I'm interested to know your take! EDIT: Thank you all for your feedback! It's really appreciated ❤️ submitted by /u/Spare_Flamingo8605 to r/AskWomenOver50 [link] [comments]

Images from google search. Looking into getting curtain bangs to add texture/dimension. Has anyone had any positive or negative experiences with this? Looking to get it done relatively soon for upcoming holiday gatherings, but also want to get it far out enough for my wedding in May 2025 in case I dont like it so I have time for regrowth! Trying to take attention away from my chunky neck/chin. My hair currently sits all at the same length just below my shoulders. TIA! submitted by /u/PuzzleheadedSpare324 to r/finehair [link] [comments]

First | Previous | Next Patreon | Official Subreddit | Series Wiki | Royal Road The cultural exchange database was vast, expansive, and most importantly of all… it was dynamic. It was designed to be that way, such that the information conveyed within could be tailored and trimmed to fit the socio-cultural particularities of whatever entity, polity, or civilization existed on the other side of the portal. I, along with the EVI’s very-specifically coded subroutines for this very eventuality, could effectively pick and choose from the compendium of all human knowledge, the cumulative sum total of all that had ever existed; barring of course a good chunk of specifics and details that would’ve otherwise taken up too much drive space. Still, the condensed cumulative sum of all human experience was nothing to scoff at. What’s more, it was way more than what I needed for the purposes of this little demo. I needed to be selective, gradual, and conservative in my approach in information dissemination after all. Because if Thacea’s experience was anything to go by, Fundamental Systemic Incongruency was something that I’d need to consistently consider; lest I show Earth Ring in the first five seconds of my demo, and the whole thing just ends up flying over everyone’s heads, killing not just the whole vibe and mood of the reveal but actively sabotaging one of the core tenets of my mission altogether. Ruining any meaningful capacity to understand by outright overloading them with knowledge they would have zero reference points for. I needed to start simple. Or more specifically, I’d have to start off with something they could relate to. Something that was topical in-the-moment. A jumping off point that the group could easily comprehend. A subject matter that was close to home for them, before eventually slowly zooming out, expanding outwards, and building brick by brick the progress humanity had made on matters they were familiar with. It was metal foundries and forges in Thacea’s case, given how the conversation topic at the time trended towards my armor and the material sciences behind it, and even then I halted it at around the 21st to 22nd century Earth-bound forges. “Alright then! It’s decided, I shall be going first.” Thalmin began with a wide eyed look of excitement, slamming his open paw down on the table in a display of emotive telegraphy. “Well let's hear it!” I matched Thalmin’s excitement with beat for beat. “Not just yet, Emma.” Thalmin responded cryptically, standing up to full height. “For I doubt mere words will be sufficient to convey the beauty and majesty that is Havenbrock. It would be far, far too common of me to simply resolve to oral descriptions to illustrate my home, my people, and my heritage. Not especially to an audience of peers.” He spoke with a certain swagger that matched his pace. A beam of excitement continued through each and every one of his steps as he marched his way towards his room. This prompted me to begin preempting various topics whilst Thalmin was away. My eyes continued to scroll across topic after topic, the seemingly endless library of information being more than familiar to me given the sociology department and diplomatic corps’ methodical lessons and constant drilling. There was just so much to pick and choose from, and part of me simply wanted to just go for a complete timelapse of civilization, but I’d hold off on that for now. At least until Thalmin comes back with the accompanying equipment he needed to start his own demo off with. And return he did, now with an eclectic collection of objects cradled in his arms. Objects ranging from a book that looked more akin to a massive party-sized ancient tome that could literally be used as a bludgeoning weapon in a pinch, a metal bracket that looked like the love child between an ancient bear-trap and an archaic dentistry apparatus, along with a mysterious satin sack that rattled with each and every step he took. The lupinor promptly, and proudly, placed this random assortment of items on the coffee table in front of us, and within the span of the next few minutes got to work assembling it all. First by opening the book with a dull, table-rattling THUD, flipping the book several pages in. Then by attaching the gnarly metal bracket up and along the spine of the book, before clamping it down with a hair-raising clank! The clamp extended outward to reveal several ‘sockets’ extended on spindly arms above the pages of the book, clearly intended for something. The whole thing currently looked like an orrery had been fused into a book, with the different ‘sockets’ empty and awaiting some final addition. That something soon turned out to be the contents of the red and white velvety sack, which consisted of an array of crystals, rocks, and strangest of all - a small vial of iridescent liquid. Thalmin soon began the careful and meticulous process of placing crystal after crystal in each of the sockets, before grabbing a few glass lenses, and pouring the mysterious liquid over them, causing them to glow a bright pink hue. The ‘completed’ product turned out to literally just be a book caged in a metal clamp, with various crystals, rocks, and a vial of glowing liquid all suspended above it within the ‘jaws’ of the clamp. Again, like an orrery pulled straight from a heavy metal album cover. “If you’ll excuse my ignorance, Thalmin… what the heck am I supposed to be looking at here?” “Heh, now you know how it feels when you bring out another reality-defying artifice out of your pocket, Emma.” Thalmin replied with a cocky jab, complemented by a smile that more or less confirmed his friendly and facetious intent. “Right then, this here is-” “-a common implement, one that has been seen by an untold realms’ worth of eyes, across an unimaginable length of eons. An implement that has been reproduced in innumerable quantities, with an equally lengthy number of design iterations. The commoners call it a pocket play. We call it the poor man’s transportium. For reasons that are very, very apparent of course.” Ilunor placed a single hand upon his frilly neckerchief at that, letting out an obnoxious laugh only a noble was capable of. This was however swiftly shut down by a growl from Thalmin as he not-so-subtly urged the Vunerian to move on. “Ahem, as I was saying, it is actually referred to by the proper-monicker of Sight-Seer.” I blinked a few times at that name, cocking my head as I did so. “Does… does that imply what I think it implies-?” “Indeed, an ingenious name if I do say so myself. For you see, you see different sights through this seer. As if you were a sight-seer, a tourist, a visitor, an adventurer embarking on new realms.” Ilunor paused. I didn’t really have anything to respond to that with, as I simply stared Ilunor down with a stone cold expression. “Okay, first off, I admit… I love the pun.” Ilunor, completely flabbergasted and not expecting my response, responded with an incredulous retort. “It is not a common jape, Emma Booker, it is a thoughtful and well worded title for such a time-honored artifice. Even if it may have lost its novel luster over the generations, it is still prudent to respect the title given to it by its original artificer.” “I’m not dissing it, Ilunor. I’m saying that I actually enjoy the humor in that title.” “But there is no humor to be found! This is a serious matter befitting of your newrealmer respect-” “And respect it I will.” I quickly interjected, halting what sounded like the start to an enthusiast’s defensive tirades. “Depending of course on how it stacks up to what I have packed away.” I quickly added with a wink. “And I’m gonna hold off on any comparisons with my holo-projector for now, at least until I see how well this thing works.” I quickly added, prompting Thalmin’s eyes to grow wide with concern over exactly what I meant, but doing nothing to either placate nor intimidate the Vunerian. I soon turned towards Thalmin with a nod. “Alrighty then, let’s see it.” I urged, attempting to cut off any further potential for interruptions from the Vunerian. Thalmin didn’t waste any time as he turned his full attention towards the magical contraption, hovering both hands a few inches above the two lenses that flanked the twisted orrery. ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 200% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS A surge of mana radiation preceded what was in effect, a tightening of the clamp onto the pages of the book, the harsh metal at one point seemingly melting into the parchment-like paper, before releasing a sudden and abrupt whirr as the different extensions began flailing to and fro. The rocks and crystals glowing quickly after, before suddenly and abruptly, raising mana radiation levels even higher. ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 250% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS Though not by too much considering the other mana radiation blips I’d experienced so far. Not a second later, the room was bathed in a piercing white light, followed by shades of black and sepia that began layering themselves one after the other, until finally, the a rainbow of colors flashed before my eyes in a blinding instant; revealing what looked to be a watercolor painting that surrounded us on all sides. My rear and side facing cameras revealed that there was now, in fact, a three dimensional projection being overlaid all around us; like an immersive holographic experience. However, where holographic experiences generally took up more space and required a sparse, if not empty, room to operate optimally; this projection managed to more or less ignore our cluttered surroundings almost entirely. Or more accurately, it actually managed to morph its surroundings for its own purposes, deconstructing and reconstituting it into whatever it was projecting. To the point where the world around us slowly melted into something new. The large bookshelf near the dining room table had suddenly become part of the thick and impenetrable door of some guard house. The dining room table and chairs themselves had similarly been transformed into a series of rustic-looking equivalents, with the silverware and fine decor becoming little more than spare parts and equipment, alongside a few jugs of ale, and a whole load of dull weapons currently in the process of cleaning and sharpening. Regaining my bearings, it felt like we’d just been thrust into a whole other world, with only the immediate epicenter of the book itself spared from this strange holographic projection. We were now, in effect, a small bubble of our own reality - two sofas, a coffee table, and the cold granite floors beneath us, surrounded by a living, breathing, water-color painting of an idyllic medieval world that would’ve fit right at home with the Chronicles of Zelza series. More specifically, the most recent hit: the Cries of the Empire. I looked up from my seated position to see the gates of some large medieval city in front of me, surrounded by a winding river with a single, large, white sandstone bridge whose design looked strangely roman-esque. A large guard house and guard tower stood in our way between the river and the city walls proper, manned by a platoon’s worth of lupinor guardsmen of varying heights, sizes, builds, and even equipment. With some looking like they’d just walked out of spawn with starter-tier cloth armor, and others donning full plate with dings and dents. Yet despite that, everything still had this toony, almost cell-shaded look to it. Which was, again, the hallmark of the Cries of the Empire series. Something that the sparse yet expansive stretches of farmland surrounding the city seemed to really add to as well. “Ugh, this infernal artifice requires more fine tuning. Spare me a moment.” Thalmin interrupted abruptly, kneeling down to tweak and reseat some of the crystals, which for a moment caused the world to lose color, then outline, then fine shading, almost reverting it to what looked to be a flip-book like animation. “I’m going to assume that it isn’t supposed to look like a watercolor painting at the start?” “Yes, it’s supposed to be realistic, not some fairytale brought to life…” Thalmin growled out in annoyance, more towards his equipment more than anything. “Have you tried hitting it?” The lupinor paused, turning towards me with a befuddled expression. “Trust me, it works.” I offered once more through a sheepish smile, prompting the mercenary prince to let out a sigh of frustration, before slamming the whole thing gently with his fist. Things started to radically shift almost immediately, as that bout of percussive maintenance resulted in yet another burst of mana radiation, coupled with the scenery surrounding us suddenly clearing up. Going through layer after successive ‘layer’ of animation: from sketch, to linework, to flat colors, to shading, before suddenly turning photo-realistic. It was as if someone had just cycled through the different texture packs for Blick Block from the least to the most graphics intensive settings. Needless to say, it finally worked, as we were now well and truly immersed in a photo-realistic holographic experience. “Well then.” Thalmin blinked rapidly in response, before turning towards me with a bewildered expression. “I guess that works too.” He spoke with a bemused chuckle. “Alright then, I think it should be apparent enough what this is.” The lupinor turned to the rest of the group, garnering a few nods, before landing his eyes back on me. “For Emma’s sake, I will explain it. This particular sight-seer was made with the intention of recording my own personal experiences, for the purposes of demonstrating the current state of Havenbrock’s capital to those that may request it, or to those that I may wish to show of my own volition.” The lupinor paused, as if pondering his next few points carefully. “However, I would be remiss if I did not mention the alternate uses of this artifice, as it likewise acts as a reminder of home for those instances I may wish to escape the stuffy confines of the Academy for the familiar comforts of home. Furthermore, the court mages have likewise taken it upon themselves to translate everything from Havenbrock to High Nexian, so everything being spoken will be understandable to all of you. So with that out of the way, let us commence.” The panoramic cinematic VR-esque experience around us quickly resumed, most obviously evidenced by everything around us moving again, but likewise by a second, rather unexpected addition that should’ve been obvious from the start. “Welcome back, my prince.” Sound. Most notably in the form of the guards in front of the bridge speaking, before bowing each and every one of their heads low in greetings of the POV of this immersive experience - Thalmin himself. It hadn’t yet occurred to me that there was a speaker system hidden within this ramshackled magical device. But then again, it was magic, so I guess full Kolby Digital surround sound was to be expected. “Glad to be back, I’m afraid I have to report that there remains nary a straggler corp’s worth of Greyfang Knights for you to hunt down now, Sir Rehlin.” What was undeniably Thalmin’s voice spoke from the perspective of the ‘camera’ recording the whole experience, prompting me to do a double take as I cocked my head at the man. “It wouldn’t be a proper Royal Hunt if that wasn’t the case, my Prince.” The red-furred wolf responded with a proper predatory grin on her face, soon backed up by a chorus of howling cheers from the rest of the guard unit, who each picked up their weapons and began clanging them against their shields. This act bothered the Vunerian to no end, as he hissed in response. “With that being said, here’s a gift from old man Balnan himself.” The POV recording of Thalmin continued, pulling out a heavy leather satchel, before opening it to reveal a bloodied sword. “Is that…” “The coveted greatsword.” Thalmin responded with a confidence imbued with both authority and regality, the man carrying himself in a way that honestly fit his title.”Take it, it’s yours.” “But I can’t-” “Remember The Promise, Sir Rehlin. The spoils of victory shall go to those that carry the blade-” “-loyal to the House that bears the Writ of the Call to Arms.” The red furred wolf completed Thalmin’s sentence for him, nodding to him respectfully before handing the sword off to an older looking wolf who began inspecting and cleaning it almost instantly. The whole exchange felt as if I'd just been plonked into the middle of one of those multi-decade running fantasy shows, as whilst I got the context clues for it, I was now more or less just… lost for the greater context of the scene. “That accounts for the last of the Balnan rebellion’s regular forces. It shouldn’t be long before they collapse under the pressure.” POV-Thalmin continued up again, now walking across the bridge with the red wolf in tow. “Just in time for your departure to the Nexus, your Grace.” She responded, changing the manner in which she spoke and the titles she used for him just as they passed through the towering front gates. What were effectively two, monolithic, turreted towers flanking a metal gate, with arrow slits and embrasures meticulously carved into the thick stone bricks. Some of them even looked too seamless to be done by hand, whilst others seemed to glow with a faint magical aura. “A departure which I most graciously look forward to…” Thalmin responded in a sarcastic growl, before turning to the quickly-gathering crowd of onlookers - lupinors of varying shades and colors of fur, dressed in anything from shabby rags to colorful robes. Raising a hand, the crowd began cheering, but just as the festivities began, so too did it take a sudden shift. As a sudden, loud rattling emerged from behind the pair, belonging to a colorful and decked out carriage painted in scenes of battle. With streaks of crimson coating the side, unclear of whether they were part of the canvas itself, or actual blood from some recent battle. The crowds really began gathering at this point, as another lupinor poked his head out from the carriage, before rising to the top like some sort of a 23rd century politician in a sunroof motorcade. This wolf looked eerily familiar to Thalmin, prompting me to do a double take with the man in real life, just before the question of his identity was quickly addressed by the holographic recording as it continued playing. “Make way! Make way for the return of the Crown Prince’s hunting party! Make way for His Royal Highness Crown Prince Krahmin!” A booming voice from the front of the carriage shouted, prompting both POV-Thalmin and Rehlin to step aside, as the long line of carriages, horsemen, pikemen, and a thousand other assorted melee-weapon carrying soldiers began marching down the large open paths of the main street, now truly drawing the cheers, hoots, and hollers of the gathered crowd. There was a split second where POV-Thalmin’s eyes seemingly met what I assumed was his eldest brother, as the more decorated, lauded lupinor gave him a visible nod before just as quickly being driven off towards a castle in the far distance. The pace of the recording seemed to slow down now, coinciding with the leisurely pace of the POV’s walking speed, as I now took the time to take a good look at the world around me. All around me were what looked to be three to four story townhouse developments. With storefronts and open gutters leading to larger storm drains just beneath the roadside. Brick and mortar storefronts were practically cluttered and blanketed by a never-ending sea of informal and temporary-looking market stands that lined almost every inch of ‘raised’ sidewalk, forcing the pedestrians onto the streets, as they shared a large three-lane ‘road’ with the constant traffic. A traffic consisting of buggies, the occasional chariot, and the seemingly ubiquitous open-back wagons that carried anything from livestock, to hay, to sacks of grains, and barrels of ale. It was around this point that all pretenses of Havenbrock to High Nexian translations ended, as I could now hear the unfiltered speech of a thousand different lupinors speaking in anything from casual speech to loud shouts. More of the latter as well, given how the street hawkers seemed to be absolutely dominating the local space, selling anything from cured meats and salted fish to leather sandals and handmade baskets. Some stores even sold both alongside one another, advertising a sign that looked to be fish sandals. Looking further down the main road, which was notably constructed out of cobblestone and not paracrete, unisphalt, composalite, or a composite of the three, the path seemed to head straight through to an imposing castle that sat atop of what was ostensibly a plateau. A distinction that needed to be made from a simple hill, as the large walled structure sat atop of a natural elevation significantly higher than the rest of the city. In fact, there seemed to be a winding path that needed to be taken to actually reach the castle itself from ground level, a path that was barricaded by yet another set of walls deeper still into the city. Indeed, the more I looked, the more the city seemed more akin to a sort of fortress… a stronghold even. With layered defenses increasing the deeper and deeper you went, and structures rising in both height and grandeur the closer you got to the castle proper. If it wasn’t for me knowing Thalmin personally, the whole city would’ve given me real evil empire capital vibes. With its propensity for darker color palettes, and its preference for martial traditions in the form of these excessive defenses, not to mention the villain-like lair atop of a plateau. However, even if I didn’t know Thalmin, a few minutes worth of people watching would’ve been enough for me to tell that aesthetics alone couldn’t tell the whole story. As despite the seemingly bustling chaos, there was an order and respectfulness to everything. As younger working age lupinors aided the more elderly wherever they could, and storefronts despite always being seemingly on edge of violent altercations, seemed courteous enough to help set up shop where two sets of hands were needed as opposed to one. Indeed, there was a strange sense of community here that wasn’t that far off from both my hometowns, a vibe that continued the further Thalmin and his guard went. Low-rise developments soon gave rise to five, ten, and even twenty story structures occasionally interrupted by a Cathedral or other large public buildings; all of which seemed to be a cross between this mediterranean Roman-esque design what with the lupinor’s seemingly never ending obsession for pillars and colonnades, but crossed with a more medieval style of building with the wooden and stone construction, as well as facades adorned with wood and coarse plaster. Thatched roofing also quickly gave rise to red and orange tile roofs, as well as increasingly cleaner and cleaner streets, larger open public spaces, and what seemed to be large buildings with steam coming out of all sides. “Ugh, is that what I believe it is?” Ilunor piped up. “What-” I spoke up, only to have Thalmin answer first. “Public bathouses, yes.” The real-life Thalmin responded proudly. “I cannot understand how you went through the Nexian reformations without reforming that specific aspect of your culture.” “Hey, hygiene was one of the great innovations cited by the reformations, right? Well that’s hygiene right there, public hygiene at that, so why don’t you just reform your own tongue before going off on my people.” Thalmin growled in response, prompting the Vunerian to simply shrug as the video continued. Throughout the whole walk, conversations over daily life clued me into how things were run in Havenbrock. With Thalmin more or less giving enough context clues through his back and forths with the guard to address the elephant in the room. “You should’ve remained with your brother, your Grace. It would have been-” “Are you suggesting, advising, or ordering me, Sir Rehlin?” POV-Thalmin cut her off before she could continue, prompting the red furred wolf to straighten up. “A mere point of question and advisory wisdom, your Grace.” The rest of that conversation seemed to devolve into a muted garbled mess, clearly on purpose, given how everything up to this point had been relatively clear so far. However, by the end of it, the guard eventually dipped her head down in acknowledgement of whatever was said. This was just as they both now reached what looked to be a magical elevator, completely circumventing the long winding road that went a good thousand and a half feet up towards the castle. It was clear now why Thalmin had chosen this particular memory to show, as the near-wordless elevator ride through what was effectively a glass elevator made for a spectacular bird’s eye view of the city below. A city that seemingly stretched on for tens of miles. Densely packed pre-industrial urban sprawl carefully separated through the strategic placement of walls, diverted canals, natural rivers, even incorporating natural barriers such as hills, cliff faces, and rocks. Beyond the city walls proper were large, open cultivated fields that extended for farther than the eye could see, before ending in what seemed to be a well kept forest just beyond the distant horizon. The elevator soon stopped, the doors opening to the tune of trumpets and a herald announcing Thalmin’s return. “All bow for the return of Prince Thalmin Havenbrock, Royal Bearer of the Spoils, Keeper of the Writ, Tracker of Traitors, and Royal Emissary for the Nexian Sacrifice.” The hologram just as quickly and abruptly came to an end at the foot of this grand castle, what looked to be the cross between the acropolis and a high-walled star-fort. It was undeniably grand, going up a good twenty stories, with conical towers further raising that height by ten more stories. Altogether, the entire castle took up the entire square footage of the plateau, its dark cobblestone exterior and lack of apparent windows giving it an all-too appropriate vibe consistent with the mercenary prince monicker Thalmin held. “Grand, truly grand.” Ilunor piped up once again, an annoyance flaring through his nostrils in the form of a few latent flames. “I find this whole show exceedingly distasteful and very much in poor taste.” “Okay, seriously Ilunor, what is it now?” I finally took the bait, turning to the Vunerian in the same way I’d turn to someone constantly and incessantly nitpicking a good movie. “All that you see here? It doesn’t belong to our mercenary prince’s family. It was taken, stolen from those who had the rightful claim to the throne.” “What the hell are you even-” “It’s alright, Emma.” Thalmin let out an annoyed growl, more towards Ilunor than me, as he abruptly brought the hologram to a stop with a flick of his wrist. “Since this matter seems to be a sore sticking point for a few of us-” He glared at the Vunerian for good measure. “-I may have to address it one way or another.” He took a breath in, before exhaling just as frustratingly. “I am known as a mercenary Prince for a reason. For what Ilunor says is true - my family were not the original incumbents of the throne of Havenbrock.” “He took it.” Ilunor added abruptly with a dismissive hiss. “Indeed we did.” Thalmin replied unapologetically, as if he was simply stating a fact set in stone with no reservations as to how it was taken by anyone else. This seemed to take Ilunor by surprise, as if he was expecting something of a sheepish or a more remorseful acknowledgement. “You took it.” He reiterated harshly. “Yes.” Thalmin repeated himself. “We did. We took it all. The throne, the titles, the castle, the cities, and the entire realm.” “How can you be so-” “Because it’s the truth, Vunerian. We took it all, for it was what we were owed.” The Vunerian, in a rare moment of shock, couldn’t find the works to retort with. This prompted the lupinor to continue unabated, as he now expanded on this whole drama with me, filling me in on the context; and at the same time hammering home the point to Ilunor for good measure. “The former ruling family had outstanding debts in the form of unpaid and unsettled balances to the Mercenary Company of DeMott. A company that, owing to the unique laws carried over from prior to the Nexian reformations, placed my land-owning family in equal standing to that of the Entrusted Nobility through what is known as the Writ of the Call to Arms. As such, with debts refusing to be settled between the Royalty to the Nobility, we took it upon ourselves to resolve the outstanding debts on our terms. Requisitioning their royal assets, and placing ourselves in control to rectify this imbalance.” Thalmin stated in no uncertain terms, what amounted to a coup. “The standing army of Havenbrock was likewise, up to this point, unpaid for their services. Our first act as the House of Havenbrock was to clear up these debts, and in doing so, emptying the royal coffers to fill the coffers of those owed their dues.” “Which makes the so-called mercenary family of Havenbrock the single poorest ruling family in the entirety of the Adjacent Realms.” Ilunor spat back with a degree of cockiness. “The wealth of a family means nothing if the coffers of those upholding their rule goes unfilled.” Thalmin replied without hesitation, prompting me to finally chime in with a grin on my face. “Thalmin?” “Yes, Emma?” “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.” Thalmin, in response to this, gave me the cockiest smirk imaginable. “I am pleased to hear that, Emma of Earthrealm.” A small pause punctuated the air after that, before Thalmin spoke up once again. “Now then, who’s next?” First | Previous | Next ​ (Author’s Note: We get a healthy dose of everything in this chapter, from banter to puns to a brief glimpse at the life of a mercenary prince! Thalmin's realm ranks quite below average all things considered, but they still enjoy the fruits of magic as seen in quite a few of the innovations present in his home city! With that being said, it seems as if Thalmin has set a trend of showing off one's own home town for the purposes of this little cultural exchange, so let's see how the rest of the realms compare to his realm! I hope you guys enjoy! :D The next Chapter is already up on Patreon if you guys are interested in getting early access to future chapters!) [If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 60 of this story is already out on there!)] submitted by /u/Jcb112 to r/HFY [link] [comments]

First | Next 10 Months Prior to Arrival Emma Booker There was once a time when I liked fantasy. A time when things were simpler, and the world just seemed like one big adventure waiting to be undertaken. I’d grown up on newsreels of the first interstellar drives to break the Warp V limit and films that documented the first landings on habitable worlds not of our own design. I’d spent hours upon hours on the soft, carpeted floors of my living room, reading and fantasizing about hidden worlds just beyond the snowy forests that flanked our small two-story home. Not a weekend was spent without me and my parents regaling each other with tales of heroes and kingdoms in far off lands. Not a season was spent without a new hyperfixation, a new campaign to be played between schoolwork and chores. I was living a fantasy, until one chilly autumn morning when it all came crashing down. One phone call was all it took; a single conversation ripped a line between what I’d call my idyllic youth and the wake up call that was my teens. In the weeks that followed, I watched as the world around me was torn apart. Relatives and adults I barely knew began barging in and picking apart the warmth and comfort that had been my home. Family photos stored in boxes, shelves emptied and dismantled, the attic where mom and I would go on adventures to kingdoms in faraway lands, cleared out without hesitation. The spaces and places that I had once known slowly transformed into a hollow shell of themselves as the days and weeks went by. Until they finally took me as well, away from the only place I knew, and then only life I’d known. I never saw my home again. I never even set foot in my hometown after I was relocated to my distant aunt’s apartment in the city. Sometimes I even wondered if my memories of that small town life were all part of the fantastical stories I’d grown up with, because imagining a world so perfect, so untouched by everything, was almost too fantastical in and of itself. Plaster and wallpapered walls replaced the warm oaks and pines I once took for granted. A skyline soaring hundreds upon hundreds of stories overhead likewise became the norm, as was the finely manicured park that was a twenty minute subway ride away from the apartment I now called home. No longer could I just exit the kitchen to find an expansive open yard surrounded by a dense patch of conifers, and no longer could I spend hours upon hours staring out the little nook in the front porch’s windowsill, gazing as the seasons shifted from one to the other. The city was a whole different beast, and it was one that I’d grown to love, in a strange sort of way. People here wouldn’t bother you, even if you were in the middle of a crowd of thousands or an apartment complex filled with thousands more. The faces all blended together, everyone was too busy forging their own paths in life, so much so that I found it difficult to form any attachments. It’s been an entire decade since I left my childhood behind, and I can proudly say that I’ve come to call the concrete jungle my new home. My case workers told me that many people in my situation would prefer to retreat further into fantasy and fiction, but I did the exact opposite. The illusion of fiction was just too much to bear after having the rug torn from under me. So I focused on what mattered instead: real life. I was running on auto-pilot, as some of my friends would say. I got good enough grades at school, volunteered in extracurriculars as decorative pieces for my college application, and did what was expected of me. I needed to move on from what I lost. I wanted to leave that past behind in any way I could. I found structure and direction in the JROTC and from what few conversations my aunt and I had, it was clear she agreed with me – not surprising given how she was a veteran of the Jovian Uprisings. Yet I wouldn’t have expected that my journey into the military would lead me to a fate that further entangled me with a past I so desperately wished to move beyond. Indeed, I wasn’t expecting what was supposed to be the start to my college life to be a backtrack into fantasy. The Institute for Anomalous Studies, Earth. 10 Months Prior to Arrival. Director Laura Weir Emma was the perfect candidate. A nineteen year old college freshman with an impeccable academic record, alongside commendations on her JROTC reports. This alone wouldn’t have made her stand out, if it wasn’t for the fact that she had little in the way of familial or social attachments. This latter factor was especially vital, given the sensitive nature of this operation. An operation that would see the greatest risk ever undertaken by a single human being, second only to the perilous flights of humanity’s first FTL-capable vessels. An operation that would indeed see her flung into a great, perilous unknown, disconnected and completely cut off from the rest of civilization, just like those brave pioneers centuries ago. Whilst the first human flights into the great unknown were preceded and accompanied by much fanfare, this great leap however, would not. For it presents a risk far greater than any FTL experiment ever could, carrying with it the weight of an existential threat we’ve been tasked with studying and neutralizing. For centuries now, we’d been observing, tracking, analyzing, and studying what is undeniable evidence of a world parallel to our own. A world that lurks just underneath the surface, that served as a source of myths and legends for our ancestors, and that continues to serve as a limitless pool of inspiration to those gifted enough to peer across the veil, inadvertently acting as a source of inspiration for countless works of fantasy and fiction Indeed, this world would’ve been left at that, fiction, if it wasn’t for us. Shunned and practically excommunicated by the scientific community, our outlandish claims were pushed aside as the march of progress continued ever onwards. Even so, as evidence began to stack, and as proof continued to mount, we eventually garnered the attention of the United Nations Science Advisory, who eventually saw fit to incorporate us into what is now the IAS. What we discovered was irrefutable evidence of what could only be described as a world of magic and sorcery, a fantasy world by every metric, and one that had the potential to upend our own. It was because of this existential threat that every resource was eventually poured into peering deeper into this world and its non-analogous scientific principles. Yet the more we tried peering in, the less information we got back. It was a battle of diminishing returns that lasted for centuries before we finally made a breakthrough. Our equivalent of discovering the Rosetta Stone. We discovered a means of communicating with the powers on the other side of the fence, and indeed, we later discovered this was intentional. The journey we’d been on for the past few centuries, the discovery of this puzzle, as they called it, was all a test. It was a test to determine the “magical potential” for those “gifted” from other worlds. Indeed, it was a test that was considered commonplace and had been in place for what was described to us as “eons” now. We were just late to the party. Mumbles were heard on the other side discussing how we technically weren’t ever expected to pass this test, given how magically deficient our species naturally were. It was later revealed to us that every other civilization in our own galaxy had long since passed, and that we were effectively the last to follow suit. As a result, we would be the last to enter this realm of magic and sorcery. This perhaps explained why it was that we had detected no other technologically advanced civilizations, even as we developed FTL and roamed the galaxy for intelligent life. Theories abound on how this divergent pathway could have stagnated technological development, but that was a story for another day. Our correspondences led us to the understanding that upon completion of this test, that a single candidate be sent through the threshold for further evaluation before their host civilization was allowed to fully peer into this great unknown. It called for a candidate of 19 years of age, of any rank and station, with what they described to us as “a heart of gold and a willingness to accept what is beyond the known, and willing to sacrifice everything should it come to it”. Yet as we sent our first candidate through the threshold, it was clear that not only were we ‘magically deficient’, but that magic was actively rejecting us. Despite being in full PPE that should have protected against every hazard known to science, our first candidate was returned to us in a near unrecognizable state. An autopsy revealed the signs of a breakdown of cellular matrices at a microscopic level, and what would only be described as near-liquefaction of our first human candidate. But after some time was allowed for grieving, alongside whatever cover stories were needed to keep this under wraps, we knew we had to try again. It was decided then, that we would spend however much more time was necessary in order to study, probe, and poke at the dangers that lie beyond this threshold. In order to best counter it using every tool at our disposal. Decades, and after what we hoped weren’t lethal doses of ‘mana’ radiation later, we finally pulled it off. The ultimate expression of human defiance against an environment that would see us dead without an iota of empathy or compassion. The culmination of centuries of work, of sacrifice and hardship: the Mark I Exoreality and Atypical Radiation Resistant Suit (E-ARRS), or what most in the team now colloquially referred to as the enchanted power armor. Based on the framework of modern power armor expressly designed for combat in the vacuum of space, the suit was nothing short of a technological marvel. Layers upon layers of exotic materials protected the wearer from a total of 29 distinct types of magical radiation. A hermetically sealed oversuit and helmet prevented any exposure to the air, and kept any foreign contaminants (be it biological or chemical) from coming into contact with the wearer. Pieces of composite armor were attached almost identically to the original design, with all of this weight carefully distributed and compensated by an exoskeleton sandwiched between the undersuit and oversuit, hence the term power armor. Gauntlet-mounted laser and kinetic personal defense weapons were attached to both arms, despite the other side calling for the candidate to be sent unarmed. Despite all this effort, a candidate was still needed to cross the threshold. And that’s where Emma comes in. The Institute for Anomalous Studies, Earth. 10 Minutes Prior to Arrival. Emma Booker To say that the situation presented to me all those months ago was nothing short of unreal would be an understatement. Indeed, for a while I had assumed me being taken here was part of some elaborate psyops recruitment drive targeted at new unsuspecting members of the ROTC. It took hours before I was finally convinced that this entire situation was what the Director claimed it to be. I should’ve guessed as much though, because I doubt grabbing a college freshman straight out of a parking lot and into the backseat of a blacked-out SUV was anything but standard protocol. The offer presented before me was something that no other human in history had ever been given. The opportunity to travel not just beyond the speed of light, or beyond the galactic quadrant, but to a whole other dimension. It was a world of (as the Director had put it herself) swords and sorcery, of indescribable history and culture, a world that I fundamentally had no interest in. Yet still, somehow, drew me in despite my desire to escape its allure. Perhaps this was the real reason why they chose me. Perhaps this was why, out of the countless more candidates they probably had, I would be the one to don the encounter suit. Perhaps they knew that I just couldn’t help but to accept such an offer. Indeed, even I didn’t know why I signed up without hesitation. Perhaps it was because I craved to follow the motions of what was expected of me. Perhaps it was a latent drive to tap into that childhood fantasy. Perhaps it was just that innate human spirit of adventure, of breaking yet another barrier that stood in the way of human progress. Whatever it was, I knew that by signing I was more than likely never going to see home, family, or friends again for at least a whole year while attending this ‘academy’ on the other side of the portal. So much for my plans for college. Who knows, maybe they’ll accept transfer credits? The loss of contact with friends and family didn’t bother me that much. It wasn’t as if I had any tangible attachments anywhere anyways. The military was what gave me purpose in recent years, and it would be the military that would be backing me up in this adventure going forward. If anything, I would have all to gain and nothing to lose from this venture. So, with a single stroke of a pen, the grueling training began in earnest. It was months of specialized training. Focusing on theory, protocol, but most important of all: the practical instructions necessary for a life of prolonged suiting. The power-armor was described to me as being more akin to a spacesuit, and it was promptly drilled into me that it would be the only barrier between myself and the other dimension’s unrepentantly volatile environment. How any native civilization, let alone species, had managed to evolve and survive there I did not know… What I did know however was that an entire year of being cooped up in PPE would be challenging to say the very least. Which was also why I was given a sort of inflatable tent. One that had the same “mana”-resistant properties as the suit, but with the downsides of being unbelievably fragile, so fragile that even an off-the-counter kitchen knife could pose a real threat to it. Yet it would be my only respite in between prolonged periods of suiting, and would be required for routine maintenance when the time did call for it. Weapons, survival, and tactical exercises were all part of the training regimen, all with a heavy emphasis on the suit’s various subsystems. A fine piece of technology that I was beginning to grow fond of, given the lengths that the UN’s best and brightest have gone to transform an EVA workhorse into a platoon’s worth of force projection. Yet training and briefing on the other dimension was worryingly lacking. The Director herself admitted that we were going in half-blind. With far less than they would’ve liked to work off of. It was admittedly up to me to “make up for the lack of intel in situational adaptability and personal initiative”. I wanted to tell her that would be easier said than done, but given the circumstances, I held back on it. Eventually however, the time did come for my training, my skills, and my resolve to be put to the ultimate test. As I stood there in the middle of a lab straight out of a science fiction movie, with administrative staff, military attaches, and leading scientific minds all hiding behind a veritable bunker that overlooked a room filled to the brim with monitoring equipment and strange runic markings on the floor. “Whatever happens, Cadet. Know that you’re making history, and that you’re making your country, your people, and the entirety of the human race, proud. Out of the 252 billion humans in this galaxy, you will be one of the only two to have stepped through this threshold.” The Director spoke in a rousing speech which elicited a few claps from behind her, as I responded with a single thumbs up and a nod. “Neil Armstrong, Peter Li, Jean Rousseau, and Eleanor Sobeck all had something to say before they made their big leaps forward, didn't they?” I asked, as the portal before me started to grow in increasing size and intensity. “If I can even be compared to any of them that is… I’d like to say something as well.” “Whatever it is, you better make it a quick one cadet, the portal’s about to reach criticality.” “Humanity has always reached for the stars, reaching ever outwards towards the heavens. Today, humanity reaches beyond the stars, beyond the heavens, into the pages of fiction itself.” The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts, Nexus. Emma Booker It happened almost instantly. In fact, it felt as if nothing had happened at all, as all I saw was the drab concrete and composite walls suddenly disappearing for a split second, only to be replaced with a room that looked like it was pulled straight from a recreation of Versailles. It was the same feeling you’d get when leaving one room and entering another. Except without ever actually physically moving at all. My eyes had barely adjusted to that sudden shift in my surroundings before I was met face to face with what could only be described as three humanoid figures pulled straight from a fantasy novel. They all stared at me with the same shocked expression I probably had underneath the opaque lenses of the helmet. Yet as I noticed their robed figures, and most importantly, the distinct coloration between each of them, it became clear to me that these three most likely belonged to whatever staff, faculty, or hierarchy that existed here. Different colored robes, denoting different ranks, departments maybe? Clearly some sort of hierarchy, which means, officials, staff, faculty, teachers? I thought to myself as I held up a single, suited hand, and waved. “Hi. I’m Emma. The new student from Earth?” My whole body tensed as I spoke those words, realizing what I’d just done… I gave my speech before I arrived here. Which means… the first words ever spoken by a human in this new reality would be… oh god what have I done. It didn’t take long however before the silence was promptly broken by the most striking figure in the group, a blue-robed elf, who immediately came to my side with an expression of growing concern. “Emma was it? How are you feeling?” He seemed fixated on my helmet, tapping at the armor’s composite chest-plate before continuing in a voice that did little to hide his rising anxiousness. “I hear no breaths coming from… er, through that suit of armor. C-can you breathe? I-if someone has gone wrong with this… contraption, please inform me immediately so that we may take you to the infirmary in order to remove-” “Whoah whoah whoah!” I raised up both hands defensively, the mere mention of removing the suit sent my survival training into overdrive as I took a few steps back, taking a moment to gather myself. “I… I’m fine. I feel fine at least. And the suit’s fine as well. I erm. If I feel off or anything I’ll be sure to tell you… sir?” I cocked my head, realizing that none of the three have yet to introduce themselves. “Ah, yes, the introductions.” The black-robed one spoke next. This one was also elvish… except, darker, almost purple? A purple with a heavy hint of charcoal. Like someone had poured activated charcoal into grape soda. His hair was black, slick, and was formed back into two distinct locks. “I am Council-Appointed Professor Mal’tory, I am in charge of administrative duties relaying matters I deem of significance to the Privy Council and His Majesty the King, himself. As a Professor I am in charge of the Arts of Perception and Light.” The man refused to acknowledge me in any other way than a piercing stare. I bowed my head all the same though, not wanting to break any social faux pas on my first day. “And I am Professor Vanavan, assistant to the Dean, and Professor of Mana-field Studies.” The blue-robed elf who had rushed up to me spoke, giving me half nod before turning to the older, clearly winded red-robed professor. “This is Professor Belnor, she is in charge of the Potions Department and Professor of Potions crafting.” He spoke, before raising both arms up a welcoming gesture. “We’re happy to have you here, Emma of Earthrealm.” Once introductions were firmly out of the way, I gave a firmer, deeper bow. The three responded with varying degrees of acknowledgement, before Vanavan once more took charge of the group, gesturing for me to follow. “You will have to forgive me for the brashness in my outward concern. The fate of your predecessor still looms over the academy like a specter of great shame; a tragedy that none of us wishes to see repeated. I have personally taken it upon myself to ensure that you do not suffer this fate. So long as you remain within my purview, within the walls of this academy, I will see to it that your life is free from harm.” Vanavan spoke with a certain severity that sent chills down my spine. The polite, caring expression contrasted heavily with the intensity of his speech. Yet that intensity seemed to die down almost immediately as we left the foyer, now morphing to a more amicable, excitable expression. “So, it is clear that we will have much to discuss regarding your uniform and your manner of dress, Emma of Earthrealm. Though we should make haste to the orientation first and foremost! Everyone has been waiting with bated breath for your safe and timely arrival!” As the grand double-doors of the foyer closed behind us, I took note as the black-robed professor seemed to linger behind, his eyes fixated on a small slit nestled high up in a far flung corner of the room. First | Next ​ (Author’s Note: I had a lot of fun writing this one! :D Again this is my first time delving into fantasy so I hope you guys enjoyed! The next Chapter is already up on Patreon if you guys are interested in getting early access to future chapters!) [If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 3 of this story is already out on there!)] (Author's Note 2: I wanted to give credit to u/coldfireknight for helping with editing here!) submitted by /u/Jcb112 to r/HFY [link] [comments]

To make this subreddit more palatable instead of y'all pumping out new posts every single time SYP or Hxg_Diluc tweets one detail.... I have taken a few hours to go through and compile my own Chinese-to-English translation of every single Twitter post from Hxg_Diluc (and some from SYP) about the upcoming Sumeru characters. I will attempt to keep this post as updated as possible to try to prevent future spam. Please also correct me if my translations are off. ​ Changelog: 6/19/22: added another comment by Hxg_Diluc on Su’s chest being similar to Archer from Fate/Stay Night. 6/20/22: added a comment by SYP on a fanart of the Hydro tall female character, as well as an addendum by Hxg_Diluc regarding the chest gemstones on “Su”. 6/21/22: added a comment by SYP on a fanart of the Dendro Archon, and a comment by Hxg agreeing with the recently leaked Su “puzzle piece” image. 6/23/22: added Hxg_Diluc’s last words upon apparently quitting leaking, and added a correction by SYP on Nilou’s kit 6/25/22: added Hxg_Diluc revealing the Genshin name of the Su equivalent character, and added SYP giving more details about Dori's design 6/26/22: added Hxg_Diluc's and SYP's comments on Dendro Archon not being Theresa, SYP's comments on a Dori fanart, and SYP discussing Cyno. 6/29/22: added many updates on various characters, and pared down descriptions now that official art has leaked 6/30/22: updated pretty much every entry, cut down almost all appearance descriptions for those characters whose official in-game models have now leaked ​ Miscellaneous Comments: Hxg_Diluc reports "Mihoyo seems to have started trying to give characters color schemes that are separate from the standard elemental colors. ex: Shikanoin Heizou being more brown/yellow despite being Anemo, the Electro female child character being more Cryo-colored despite being Electro, and Collei having red gems on her chest even though she is Dendro." Original text: "米家似乎開始嘗試配色和元素割裂的配搭 例如平藏的土黃和風 雷蘿莉的冰系配搭和雷 柯萊胸前的紅石和草" Previously on NGA, this same leaker apparently going by the name FkDiluc claimed there will be three male characters released "in a row". It is unclear whether the male characters are directly consecutive banners, or if they are merely being released in three consecutive patches. Hxg_Diluc also summarized all the characters they know about: Hydro Tall Lady Pyro Tall Lady (=Dehya) Electro female child (=Dori) Hydro teen female (=Nilou) Tighnari Collei Kusanali "Su" (=Al-Haitham) Scaramouche Cyno Now onto the characters! I will break the many Twitter posts down and categorize them by the character they are referring to. (I am putting the Su posts last because there are a tonnn of them so those who are tired can just scroll past.) ​ 1) Dendro Archon/Kusanali/Nahida Hxg_Diluc recently commented: "The Dendro Archon is not a Theresa-expy." [Theresa referring to Theresa Apocalypse from Honkai] They further noted that "No, I will not answer or leak any further description of the Dendro Archon, as her related information is strictly prohibited by my source, and data related to Dendro Archon is extremely sensitive." SYP agreed with Hxg_Diluc, saying the Dendro Archon "does not look like Theresa at all." Hxg_Diluc agreed with a previous leak by BLANK that Nahida is another name for Kusanali, the Dendro Archon. Hxg_Diluc reports that Kusanali/Nahida and Yae know each other, to the point where Yae has a voiceline about her. ​ 2) Collei SaveYourPrimos previously claimed Collei will be a Forest Patrol-type member who tries very hard to seem normal to others. Her hair will have grown past her shoulders. She wears a green shawl over a short black dress, as well as asymmetrical stockings with short black heels. Her outfit has lots of cute adornments, with a color scheme of Black > Gold > Yellow/Orange. A user on NGA drew a fanart based on this description which SYP rated as 8.5/10 in accuracy. ​ 3) Tighnari SYP commented that "Tighnari should be Dendro, short male model (Chongyun/Kazuha). big ol poofy tail." SaveYourPrimos further described Tighnari as having long shorts with laced boots, a long shoulder cape colored with a gradient of bright greens. His hair is reportedly dark, short, and straight, with two lime green stripes in his bangs. He is apparently an expert botanist. Hxg_Diluc describes his personality as being serious on things related to the forest and the study of plants, overall similar to the EN Albedo portrayal by Khoi Dao. SaveYourPrimos also clarified the matter of his ears, saying that: I think his profile ties him to foxes (?), but his ears are like a fantasy jackal's. Very tall, point upwards, mirrored (flat on one side, round on the outside), but also fluffy in the middle. ​ 4) Electro Female Child = Dori Hxg_Diluc reports there is an Electro female child character. As mentioned above, her color scheme appears to be closer to the usual color scheme of Cryo characters. When Ubatcha leaked that this character is Dori and will be releasing in 3.0, SYP confirmed her identity. They further commented: I mistook Dori for Diona when I first saw her because she has light pink hair and a giant pale blue gem in her hat. ​ 5) Cyno SYP agreed with Ubatcha's prior claim that Cyno is an electro polearm. His design has undergone next to no changes from his appearance in the teyvat chapter video, the red gem on his waist is in fact a gem and not a Vision He's a card game nerd. I do not use "nerd" lightly he is completely and thoroughly a nerd ​ 6) Nilou Hxg_Diluc (AKA FkDiluc on NGA) previously claimed Nilou is a Hydro teen female with long red hair who also has horns on her head. In response to Hxg_Diluc above, SaveYourPrimos claimed there will be an upcoming Hydro girl who is a dancer. She has pale skin and horns roughly the same shape as Azhdaha's but a different color. SYP recently clarified that Nilou is not a primary Healer after all. Instead her kit revolves around the Dendro + Hydro reaction. SYP further described Nilou as having long red hair split into two ponytails behind her, teal eyes, Azhdaha-shaped black and pale gold horns above her ears on the sides of her head. She wears a white veil trimmed with white and blue, and has a halo crown behind her horns and on top of her veil. Her clothing is white > ocean blue, and she wears pale gold trimmings and jewelry. Her tummy and back are exposed. Her top is long-sleeved (though parts of the sleeves might be cut out) with gold cuffs and a gold collar. Her skirt is knee-length, longer in the back compared to the front. She wears gladiator sandals. ​ 7) Pyro Tall Female = Dehya Hxg_Diluc claimed there is an upcoming Pyro Lady character of unknown rarity. SaveYourPrimos claims this Pyro tall female character appears to have cat ears. They also report her skin color to be a peachy tan/olive similar to this art. Hxg_Diluc added that her name is Dehya and she apparently uses a Claymore. ​ 8) Hydro Tall Female Hxg_Diluc clarified this character is not Nilou. She has some Egyptian elements to her design, and the closest thing to her original art may be Cleopatra? 水成女有一定程度的埃及元素. 剛找了一下資料，最貼近的原型可能是埃及艷后？ SYP retweeted them, and followed up (with a reiteration this is not Nilou): tall female body type (jean/raiden). darker-skinned. navy hair in twin tails that reach just past her chest. purple/gold heterochromia. adorned with gold accessories, including an ankh as a collar pendant. crescent moon motifs. flowy clothing, tummy and legs exposed. hydro, if we're not mistaken (difficult to tell). weapon type unknown. her design reminds me of looking at the night sky. When asked about whether her twin tails are low or high, SYP added: low twin tails, but the length of them (just past chest-length) isn't very thick/flowy so it's less extravagant, kinda like this there's a chance she has a third, longer part of her hair hidden behind her. can't tell for sure. SYP later commented on this Twitter fanart: lots of similarities with the design--there's more fabric to the layers she wears and she's slightly more covered up, but the vibes are on-point especially that starry sort of gradient pattern of the inner lining of the wrap around her waist Hxg_Diluc reports her name is NOT Layla or any of the names mentioned by Auntie Fish Touching above. SYP commented on another piece of fanart, saying: 8.5/10 for accuracy... Maybe lighten her skin tone as her skin isn't this dark (closer to Xinyan) and add a halo crown like this, except it's shaped like a crescent moon... ​ 9) Last but not least, the Su Expy/Counterpart = Al-Haitham (Expy = "exported character" AKA a Genshin character clearly based off a Honkai character. Think Venti, Yae Miko, Raiden.) Hxg_Diluc (AKA FkDiluc on NGA) claimed Su will be the next Honkai character who has a Genshin counterpart. Hxg_Diluc on Twitter: If Yae Sakura is about 50% similar to Yae Miko, then "Su" [from Genshin] and Su [from Honkai] are about 35-40% similar. It's the kind of situation where "Even if you know this is a character from Honkai, you still can't tell at first glance." 如果八重櫻和八重神子的相似度是50% 那“蘇”和蘇的相似度是35%-40% 屬於「即使知道崩三這個角色，第一眼也可能看不出來」的情況 When this leaked “puzzle piece” image of Su appeared, Hxg_Diluc commented: “The picture is real.” Most recently, Hxg_Diluc took guesses as to his Genshin name. They said "No" to many different guesses, but replied "..." when BLANK posted this cutscene name: "Cs_Sumeru_AQ300614_AlhaithamPlay", effectively confirming his name is some variation of Alhaitham/Al-Haitham. Hxg_Diluc also again confirmed Alhaitham (Su) is an important or high-standing figure in Sumeru society. Hxg_Diluc also made a comment that "Su" does not give off the aura of a human being. Hxg_Diluc reports that Al-Haitham and Zhongli know each other. SYP noted that he is confirmed to have short hair, and will likely not be released before 3.3 at the earliest. ​ Phew, that was a lot. Please ping me if a new entry needs to be added to this database of questionable leaks. submitted by /u/Callanthe to r/Genshin_Impact_Leaks [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/youcancallmealcarru to r/femalehairadvice [link] [comments]

I’m going to get straight to the point. Monsters are real. All of them. You might think you know a lot about them but you don’t. The stories and legends got so much wrong and I’ve had the privilege of getting to learn the truth about most of them. For example, no self respecting vampire would be caught dead - or alive - standing at your door waiting for an invite. And shapeshifters do not change once a month and howl at the moon. That’s just ridiculous. And the popular ones are just the tip of the iceberg. Do with that information what you will. One thing that the stories did get right, however, was the teeth. Sharp, crowded, tall, tiny. They all have them, and sometimes they need attention. A monster without teeth loses a huge percentage of its scare factor in an instant. It’s something they pay handsomely to avoid. That creature that’s haunted your nightmares, the one with a few too many teeth? Real. And probably in acute oral pain. My name is Dr Dayna Danworth and I own a dental practice for the paranormal. It wasn’t what I expected when attending dental school, to be sometimes shoulders deep in some of the most putrid and awful smelling mouths you’ve ever seen. But the opportunity fell into my lap and it more than pays the bills. The money is worth the risk and I get to live very comfortably. Regardless, the risk is very real. I was reminded of that last night during my appointment with a new patient. It left me somewhat shaken; a rarity in my field. Some of my patients are able to present as human for at least enough time to make it to the practice without issue. To the general public it looks like your average, private, city dentist and the daytime patients are generally the easier ones to deal with. This particular patient was not able to feign humanity. This meant overnight work, something that I was no stranger to but that I always detested. Overnights and the rare home visits generally always yielded difficult patients. Thankfully I was able to charge double for the inconvenience, triple if I had to travel. Often the astronomical price turned out to be entirely justified and this was no different. My receptionist, Coco, had booked him in. I love her to pieces and she’s a true friend, who has the best of intentions, but she’s truly terrible at the basics of her job. She never collects the relevant information for new sign ups and doesn’t ask any questions that might prepare me. If it weren’t for her relentless charm I would have fired her years ago. But Coco has been with me from the beginning, has her own skill set and despite my frustrations she’s here to stay. Mr Eurastix was booked in for 11pm. He wanted the full cover of darkness for his arrival. That was all Coco knew. Blackout blinds down I prepped the room, knots forming in my stomach. “Dayna, do you want a coffee?” Coco shouted from the front desk, where she watched the security camera waiting for our arrival. “Water’s fine.” “You’re mad aren’t you. I’m sorry Day. How the fuck are you supposed to ask someone what kind of monster they are? I feel rude.” Coco was always worried about offending, it was sweet, but useless. “You could at least ask what the problem is! Didn’t you learn from the incident with the woman of the water. Traipsed me all the way out to a rock pool with a bag of tools and no informa-“ My rant was cut off by the sound of the buzzer. My patient had arrived and he was stood just outside. Coco shot me a guilty and apologetic look and approached the door to unbolt it. Within milliseconds she was floored and totally winded. The door was left swinging with not a soul to be seen. Great. I squinted, searching for a minuscule creature, or something translucent perhaps, but nothing. Instead there was a sinister, high pitched voice from behind me, inches from my left ear. It sounded like one of those cringe worthy, over enthused children’s tv presenters and it made my skin crawl. “Nice to meet you Doctor! My name is Mosaph Eurastix. You can call me Mo if you prefer.” His presence cooled the immediate area around me and Coco wrenched herself up from the ground to bolt the door shut. I would’ve gone to help her, but I assure you she’d faced much worse whilst working with me and I felt there were more pressing matters in the moment. Instead, I turned to face my newest patient. I understood immediately the need for darkness. Mo wasn’t a big, hairy creature. He was far more humanoid than I expected from a patient requesting an overnight appointment. He wore a floor length hooded cloak swamping his seemingly average body. But Mo had a fleshy face. He had striking red irises, with pupils that were shaped differently to a human. Over the top of his eyes was a thin, fleshy layer that created a veiny, translucent veil. As if an eyelid had formed but never separated, leaving him with his own protective eye windows. The same paper thin skin veiled the opening to his mouth, ever so slightly muffling his high pitched words and failing to conceal a perfectly circular arrangement of small, razor sharp teeth. His mouth didn’t move like you would expect, instead the voice projected from the back of his throat and through the skin. Where most people would be horrified, I was fascinated. There’s a certain point in an industry like mine where you’re entirely desensitised to the horrific sights of these monsters. I’d never seen one like Mo before. I wasn’t scared, more curious. “Welcome Mo. I think you owe my employee here an apology don’t you?” I stared him firmly in the eyes. “Dr Danworth.” I stretched out a cautious hand. This was something I did often, I was always fascinated to see their hands. Mo’s were like mine. Except for the thin, veiny pieces of skin that connected each finger. It made a change from the array of claws I’d become accustomed to. “I do apologise, I was merely concerned that I might be seen. I didn’t mean to cause any harm! That could’ve caused some trouble.” He laughed. The excess skin was everywhere. The more I looked at him the more I noticed. It covered his ears, connected his lobes to his head, covered his nostrils and seemingly his actual skin beneath it and even webbed his chin to what I presumed was his chest under the cloak. It was a mess. “Can I get you a coffee sir?” Coco beamed, unfazed as ever. It was the kind of moment that reminded me why I kept her around. Top notch customer service, however useless her admin was. “Not for me, thank you. In fact that’s partly why I’m here, as you can see I have some restriction drinking at all.” He lifted his webbed hand, flesh covering the fingernails and stroked the delicate skin that covered his mouth. “Let’s get straight to it then, follow me.” I lead Mo into my treatment room, winking at Coco as a signal for her to keep an eye on the treatment room camera. He took a seat on the chair and I turned my lamp on. The bright light shining through the flesh made for quite a sight, illuminating the perfectly circular jaw underneath the clung on skin and creating ghastly shadows. “Please tell me a bit about yourself and what I can do for you.” “Woah. I wasn’t expecting a date doctor. What do you want to know?” His voice was cheeky and came laced with giggles but something about it still made my skin crawl. It was as if Mo sucked all the joy out of the room; some of them had that effect. “And you aren’t going to get one. But I need to know about your specific afflictions and diet etcetera in order to treat you correctly.” I watched as Mo became visibly uncomfortable at the prospect of explaining what he was. “Don’t worry, there’s no judgement here.” “Well doc, I don’t always look like this for a start. It’s never gotten this bad before. Usually the skin appears... then it hardens and... I eat it.” He looked at me as if I was supposed to be in some kind of deep shock, but I’d kept geckos as a kid. When a gecko sheds its skin it does it in one go like it’s taking off a tiny cardigan, then they consume the remains. It’s highly nutritious. Mo’s red eyes were quite reptilian. I stupidly thought at that stage that I had him all worked out. “So you need some assistance with removal? I work with teeth Mr Eurastix, not the rest of the anatomy.” “You just need to cut this, doc.” He nonchalantly pointed at the flap of skin stretched across his circular jaw. “The rest should dislodge easy then you can get to work on the teeth.” “And what appears to be the issue with those?” “Isn’t it obvious? I did tell your receptionist.” Mo rolled his red eyes behind their horrendous fleshy windows. For fucks sake Coco. That’s what I thought but I didn’t say it. I would never lament her in front of a patient. I inspected what I could see of the rounded jaw and gathering of pointed teeth through the lamp and tried to ponder what he could possibly want. “I’m sorry, Mr Eurastix, but I haven’t worked with anyone with your particular afflictions before. You will have to bring me up to speed.” “Well I don’t subsist entirely on my shed, doc. My teeth were designed for a purpose but they’ve lost their... edge. Part of the reason I’m dealing with all of... this.” His eyes brightened with a ravenous hunger and he pulled at the skin connecting from his chin. “So you’re looking for a sharpening? May I ask what you eat?” I was curious. I make it my business to catalogue each monster that I work with for my own personal research, but I couldn’t liken him to any other. He wasn’t reminiscent of even an old urban legend. I couldn’t place him but over the years I’d come to understand that most were defined by their bite. It was always a good starting point. “I eat brains.” He answered in the most unassuming voice I’d ever heard. I’d had worse, but this was new. Was he what your average person might describe as a zombie? I had been certain that they were nothing but a myth. I would’ve regretted it had I not asked the question but that still didn’t prepare me for the answer. “No!” Mo laughed a high pitched, false and cold laugh. “What I am is far worse than the laughable construct of a zombie. All we share is diet. Nothing more. Now I think it’s time you got to work, doc.” I gulped but didn’t respond. I picked up my scalpel and prodded at the excess skin covering his rounded jaw with the point. Despite its delicate appearance, even with force it remained infallible. Within minutes I found myself viciously stabbing at my patients mouth. Yet another occurrence I hadn’t expected in dental school. I placed the scalpel down and walked over to the locked cupboard in the corner of the room. It was the one I used to house my special tools for special cases. Mo didn’t even flinch when I returned with a diamond tipped drill in my hands. My second attempt was more successful. The drill met some resistance and created an awful noise in the process, but after breaking a sweat it finally pierced the layer, sending grotesque blood and unidentifiable matter across the floor. The smell that filled the room was indescribable. I dropped the drill on the side as I heard Coco gag at the front desk. It almost stunned me enough to stop me catching Mo’s next move. Each flap of excess skin started to pull and tear away from its position on his face and hands, moving upwards from beneath his cloak and making it very apparent that he was covered head to toe in the stuck shed. He sucked in with the ferociousness of an angry Henry hoover as he consumed his own flesh as it ripped to reveal fresh, raw skin. The scene was truly horrific. But as the thin windows of skin peeled away from Mo’s eyes to reveal a brilliant scarlet he looked truly satisfied. That’s what I want right? Satisfied patients. Placing a new face mask over my mouth and nose I attempted to combat the smell that had saturated the first one. “Better?” I asked, as Mo slurped the final bloodied pieces of himself down. He nodded with glee. “I can’t wait for a real meal now. I’ve been sooo hungry.” He looked at me like dinner. I held in vomit as I tried to get a look at his now unobstructed teeth. “Well if you want to enjoy a real meal then you won’t make one of me before you’re teeth are done.” I laughed nervously and he delighted at my discomfort. “Are you scared of me Dr Danworth? I thought you were experienced. You came highly recommended by the Beast of Cordyline Hill.” Of course I did. I fucking hated that guy. He was the patient I always dreaded and now he’d sent me another living nightmare. “Not at all Mo, just a joke. Shall we move on with the sharpening?” I could see that he knew I was lying. Although he couldn’t contort his circular mouth it was in the eyes. I’ve found that even in the most monstrous of eyes there is emotion. People say that they’re windows to the soul, but they’re also windows to the soulless. I picked up my file and got to work. The jaw was solid and perfectly fused into its shape. Lining the entire edge were around 80 roughly three inch long, incisor shaped teeth. They had clearly been blunted with time, but it didn’t make them or him any less intimidating. They sharpened up with ease. Grinding against them I felt like some sort of Classical Greek sculptor. Carving my masterpiece. I tried not to give too much thought to the poor victims that would fall prey to those particular teeth. I couldn’t work out how he got to the brain but I was certain that it wasn’t pretty. Nasty, but natural. Think of it like the food chain of the animal kingdom; it’s just the part no one talks about. I put my all into my work and soon found myself faced with a perfect set of monster gnashers - if I do say so myself. “You’re all done Mr Eurastix. Would you like to take a look?” I lowered the circular mirror slowly and he snatched it from my hands at a similar speed to how he’d entered the practice. It took me aback a little. With his red raw hands he ran his fingers along the jagged edges of his teeth, checking that each individual one was to his liking. It made me incredibly nervous, watching him scrutinise my masterpiece. “They’re perfect.” He uttered under his breath. I smiled sweetly, determined to get the patient out of my practice and into the world... away from me. “I’m glad you think so, you can make payment at the front desk with Coco.” I turned my back to him to tidy my equipment for mere seconds. A rookie mistake. Seconds were more than enough. I felt a harsh pulling on my hair accompanied by suckling noises. It was painful, each individual strand being tugged hard from the end, roots snapping. Fuck. I screamed. The slurping noises coming from behind me intensified. THUD With one final tug on my hair Mo hit the floor and I turned to see Coco standing over him with a large ceramic tooth that usually decorated reception. She dragged him out of the treatment room and into the entrance as I tried to tidy my hair with my fingers and compose myself. I tried to remain professional but I found myself hyperventilating. “What do you think you’re doing sir? The doctor here provided you a service, now please pay up and leave.” Coco bit at him the moment he opened his creepy eyes. These were the moments that I was best reminded of the reasons she retained her job. Mo looked up at her in shock, steadying himself on his raw hands. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me doctor. I’m just so hungry, and I’m sure you’ve got such a juicy brain.” He stared me dead in the eye with his bright red irises and extended an equally bright red tongue, licking each sharp tooth gently. Menacingly. His tone wasn’t genuinely apologetic at all. Desperately shaken I waited with baited breath as he reached into his cloak pocket and handed a stack of cash to Coco. “It’s time you leave Mr Eurastix. I can recommend a colleague in the industry for further appointments but I won’t be continuing to treat you.” I opened up the bolted door and gestured for him to leave. “Oh doctor, whether or not you treat me we will meet again, I assure you.” After a lingering glare Mo lifted his hood to cover his face and stepped outside into the dark night. My relief soon turned sour. I hadn’t noticed the drunken gentleman walking along the path, but Mo certainly had. I watched in abject horror as he grabbed the man by both shoulders and latched on hair first to the back of his head. The man screamed in pain, pleading. The awful slurping noise was unbearable. I ran towards my patient but before I could make it outside to try and help he latched his ring of fangs around the man’s scalp. The bite was followed by an almighty crunch, deadening the screams. There was no hope for the man. Mo slurped at the inside of his crunched skull as if it were a delicious fresh oyster. He moaned and groaned with intense pleasure as he chomped down on the contents of the head. When he was finished he dropped his victim to the ground, hollowed out, and turned to me. “Thanks doc, I feel so much better now. I’ll tell the Beast you said hello.” He practically chirped those words. Then he was gone. Disappeared. Mo had moved so fast and destroyed the passer by with such deadly precision; I realised that if he had wanted me dead then I would have been. And his final words, about the Beast. It made me wonder if the Beast of Cordyline Hill had sent him in the first place. Coco made a call to PSEC, or for those who don’t know The Paranormal Services Emergency Cleaners to dispose of the body. They were swift and professional... as always. It’s terrible, but this hadn’t been the first fatality on my watch because of a patient, and my guilt was unfathomable. Today I’ve spent hours pondering why I continue to do this job. Why I put myself at risk of death on a nightly basis. But in all honesty it’s quite simple. My fascination just won’t allow me to quit. Adding my notes on Mosaph Eurastix to my research files I felt electrified. Another monster for my collection, and I can’t wait to find the next one. The old hag. submitted by /u/newtotownJAM to r/nosleep [link] [comments]

I recommend reading The humans do not have a hive-mind first, as the story begins there. (Previous part.) ​ Steady tonal vibrations moved harmoniously in the cool darkness, their changing interference creating an evolving picture that felt three-dimensional in its acoustic depth. Strewn throughout were soft pings that made spots of light in the ambience which blinked into existence and dissipated rapidly. Occasionally a high note drew a clear, shiny streak across the flowing randomness like a falling water droplet. Slowly and subtly, the ensemble lowered its volume, until after many minutes, only pure silence remained. A deep and heavy mind stirred in the void that was left, slowly unravelling the clumped together mass of thoughts and making light in the surrounding consciousness. Nyarn'Enth-Hep awoke from her meditative rest and, before anything else, checked her ship and surroundings. She quickly concluded that everything was perfectly fine and the human spaceship still hung silently besides her own. Three-hundred and eleven minutes of rest had passed and provided her with renewed mental vigour. There was still time left, but also things to do. For one, she had to re-shape the visitor room and distill the special atmosphere into it that was needed by the human. And also she wanted to address the issue with her translator and refine it. Right now she did desire some refreshing drink, even if her energy storage would be well sufficient for a long time. So she reshaped the wall outlet by her side and took in a small portion of the sweet liquid before closing it up again. Now, on to the translator. She opened her eyes and made her chamber light up with a thought, then she took the tiny disc where she had planted it to the wall. Carefully she scanned its structure and thought more about the mechanism that humans used to communicate and what she had learned from direct observation. Their way of creating air vibrations functioned vastly differently from the way they sensed them. The translator design was based upon a reverse of the latter, since it did seem the more efficient way of doing things, especially because it did not involve moving the air itself. Nyar deduced after a moment of thinking, that the issue had not been the way of creating the vibrations, but her own misunderstandings of the limits of information density. Since the humans could only create a singular string of vocalizations of their language, it made sense that their capacity would be limited to following a single string as well - even though mechanically they would be able to sense a high density of parallel inputs, coming close to how she would communicate with her species. If she wanted to convey their language more like a human, this translator would not do. Its transformation range was too wide and would make it difficult for her to stay within the single string output she wanted. But redesigning the internals was not possible as it was a mixture of flexible and rigid structures. So she crush-melted it in her hands and re-absorbed the building blocks. Then she pulled up fresh ones to her fingertips and began building a new one along the improved design. --- A cup with the remains of a lukewarm black liquid rested on an indented circle besides the physical keyboard of the console. Two screens were up, both of them filled with diagrams, text and pictures of unrecognizable things. Neil was reading up on, and barely understanding, the analysis report of the alien translator device. The summary had not satisfied her initial wonderment of the building abilities of the alien being. Or should she now think of it as Near-and-Chap? She did get the alien beings name from the transcripts, though she had to listen to the isolated sound to be able to repeat it and still was very unsure of the proper pronunciation. As she had understood from the report, which essentially amounted to a research paper with dozens of names on it, the whole outside of the alien device was made from a hydrocarbon polymer lattice that had a near-perfect repeating structure in the micrometer range and looked slightly reminiscent of an organic cellular structure. The makeup changed along the disc shape, apparently depending on what mechanical properties were desired from the macro-material. In the paper were mentioned several different lattice structure archetypes, each showing sub-variants that together with the material thickness fine-tuned the properties to a degree that vastly surpassed anything human-made from single materials. Noticeable as well was the overall shape - while Neil had thought it to be a circular disk, it was slightly off from an ideal circle and also the material structure was not perfectly symmetrical radially. About the internal molecular makeup was no information, the scanner had apparently not been able to do much more than a surface material analysis due to the thickness and density of the outer layer. But judging from the versatility of this polymer lattice, it would be a good guess to assume the whole thing was made from it. Thinking about the size difference, that translator must have been miniscule for it and still, it had created an object that Neil would say was profoundly more intricate than either the mechanical clock or the interpreter device. Which it had been very impressed by, for some now incomprehensible reason. She checked the current time on the corner of one of the viewscreens and noted that she had less than thirty minutes until the next meeting - time to don her all-purpose pressure suit with the interpreter and check in with her point of contact before going over onto that alien ship again. ​ "Greetings representative of the humans and welcome back to my ship. I sincerely hope you have rested and recharged well", a voice boomed that was definitely not the one she had listened to before. Neil was so surprised, she stopped in her tracks a few steps into the corridor. What she had heard actually sounded a bit like her own voice, though fuller and slightly deeper. From here she could already see that the meeting chamber barrier was transparent. Somewhat bewildered she continued her way there, to see a waist-high white cube besides a comfortable looking chair and a differently coloured translator device resting on the latter. Two black eyes were already fixed on her, belonging of course to the massive creature behind the barrier. Again, it seemed to comfortably rest on its arms and to hold its head specifically to Neils eye-height. "Greetings as well. I am happy to be back and I am indeed well-rested. May I ask if you have made a new translator?" It was definitely the new yellow-tinted disc that spoke: "Yes, I have now seen the limitations of my understanding and the previous translator device. So I have taken to a changed way of communicating the words of your language and built this new device that will translate my thoughts narrowly and directly." Truly, the speech fully came from the translator without any distortion or background noise and decidedly louder. Her interpreter also had nothing to say. Neil was positively stunned on how quickly that being had not only devised but also built a new translator, especially after learning about the insanely intricate makeup of the old one. While removing the earpiece and dismounting the flat rectangular main body of the interpreter from her chest, she complimented: "I am very impressed by your building abilities and also with the speed with which you can create things. Could you tell me if this translator is made from the same material as the old one?" "There is only this material for building and everything I build is made from it." "Your whole spaceship is made from the same stuff the translator is?" "I have built the structure and shape of my ship from this material as well. But there are other elements encapsulated within my ship that I need to sustain my well-being and to create movement. From those I also draw the components to create the atmosphere and conditions necessary for your well-being." Neil put the interpreter down onto the chair besides the translator, because she already had spun a length of cable around her finger. To her delight this new voice was much nicer to listen to than the old one, but she still had the feeling that she had been used as a template for it. "So, from the old translator human scientists were able to learn that the molecular structure is very special and impressively complex. They deduced that the function of it came solely from how it was arranged in the device, which is of course exactly what you have told me. I would like to know how you are able to create this structure on a molecular level? How do you influence it so it will be the way you need it?" A moment of silence followed before the translator spoke up: "I cannot explain, I know of no words in the human language to properly express it." "Well then use some from your own language and I might be able to get it from the context." "My species' way of communicating does not introduce this layer of abstraction as the humans' do by using language. There are no words of my language I can provide you to substitue the ones you do not have." "You don't use words to communicate?" "My species can transfer knowledge and experience without the need for them." Now she had the desire to pick up the interpreter again to busy her hands. What it had said did not quite add up though and Neil objected: "You do have words, you gave me your name; Near-and-Chap." A slight shift in its body position followed before it replied: "You had asked for a name, as you have a specific designation for each and every human. My species does not have the need for names as I know every individual and they know me. When you had asked for my name, I could only think of the sound I had been addressed by when I still was in development on the body of my ancestor. And that is Nyarn'Enth-Hep." While it had said its name through the translator, Neil could pick up a barely audible low-frequency noise without a clear point of origin. Concentrating rather on stepping up the politeness level again, she began explaining: "I could not imagine not having words. The human thinking process is heavily influenced by the way we communicate, and even my internal thoughts are mostly formed around my language. I apologize for assuming you would have the same basis", then she did her best to repeat the name, "Near-Hand-Jeb." "There is no need to apologize as I have not told you about any of this yet. And you may call me Nyar." "Thank you, Nyar. Then you can call me Sam." --- How strange was it to think of an individual not as the very thing it was, but as a disconnected one-word denotation. But Nyar recognized that with a species made up from thousands of millions of individuals, a straightforward identification system had to be necessary and it was only logical that it would be based on the language they used. Then she staggered in her train of thought. Quickly she sent her thoughts to the translator word by word: "You have only provided me with words of communication from your language. But I have not learned the words you use as names. Am I missing twenty-two billion and five-hundred million names?" Amusement flavored the reply that there were not. Apparently there were a number of designated human forename words - a few hundred-thousand at most - that then were paired with a surname from another set of words designated for that purpose that only partly overlapped with the other. Sam explained that resulting full name would then be the official identifying name of a specific human, though she mentioned that it was not necessary amongst humans to conform to the common name words and mentioned the example of colonists of a planet in their home system that had a tradition of names made from seemingly random letter and number combinations. More than just one forename or surname could also be used in combination, as names carried ancestral significance. And they continued by saying that commonly a human would be addressed by others by their forename or surname only, and sometimes an individual may choose a different name altogether to be addressed by that might or might not be based on either of their official names. Then Sam used her own name as an example, as it officially was Samantha Daniella Neil, which were two forenames combined with a surname and she preferred to be called by Sam which was based on Samantha. "So only the entirety of your name is the unique designation which all humans could use to identify you?" They replied back that they were unsure if that was the case. And that even full names were not unique across all currently living humans. So that whole confusing illogical mess actually was not even useful to identify an individual amongst humans? Nyar nearly burst out with the question of why they relied on such a convoluted and disconnected system if that was true. As if sensing that there was the need for more clarification, Sam added that names were paired with more information to make that unique identification possible in official dealings. And also that other context, paired with the name, was usually sufficient to identify an individual that had been encountered before when trying to convey information about any human. Still, Nyar did not know what to say. She had wanted to know the names of all of the humans after learning about the concept, but now she doubted that it would be as useful as she had imagined it to be. --- The translator boomed: "Could you please provide me with the names of all humans the same way you have given me the language information? I desire to learn them and see no efficient way to communicate this extensive number of words through direct communication." "What...", Neil trailed off. They wanted to learn the names of all humans? As in - the full names of 22.5 billion individuals? She double-checked by asking Nyar: "I'm sorry, I don't think I understand. Do you want a list of all the names we are using? Or do you want a list of the names of every single human being?" "To clarify my previous inquiry, I am asking for the pseudo-unique full name identifyer of every human." "Ok, well", she dug her hands into the curly hair on the back of her head, "That might not be possible. I think even as a first contact ambassador I'd have problems to get at all that information." "Do you not know?", came the question from the translator. She imagined an accusing undertone, but the voice from this device, while much nicer in timbre, still spoke without emotion. "Do you mean if I, personally, know every persons name? Because I am excellent with names, but on the spot I may be able to recall a few hundred people plus their names if you give me enough time, but very much less than one thousand and absolutely definitely not twenty-two billion." "I am having difficulties seeing the reason of using names to identify individual humans, if you do not know the names so you may identify them. How do you instigate communication if you are unable to address them or know their identity?" The point had been reached again where Neil felt the urge to begin pacing. "I can't follow. You knew nothing about me when we first met, right? And we still began communicating", she said while also very much aware of the fact that the exchange was somewhat rough before she had been able to make use of the interpreter. "Humans had communicated to me that a representative of the human species would be coming to the place of meeting. Though I had accepted I would not know more about either the representative or your species in advance, since this is the first contact. But since you are one individual from your species, I thought you would know the identity of all others of your species." Neil took a breather. Did Nyar really mean what they had said before? Did their species continuously learn who every other individual was, possibly without even the intention of meeting them? Slowly it dawned on her that their population count had to be very low to even make that possible, that conclusion was further justified by the total number of all of their children that was in the 1,700s. She explained: "Humans usually only learn the names of a low number of special individuals if they are not meeting them. Otherwise, we learn the name from the individual directly, after having already communicated with them." "Do you have communicated with less than one-thousand humans?" "Oh. No I've-", she quickly thought of a way to properly elaborate, "Humans may deal with any number of other individuals, but if there is no need to offer or learn a name for future relations, we won't. I must have met several thousand humans in the two days before our meeting, but only a few of them have actually offered me their names." --- Having said that large number in connotation with the short time-frame, Nyar involuntary imagined a swarm of them running on the ground around and beneath her. It was a severely unpleasant mental picture and made her tense up reflexively. To distract herself, she tried to concentrate on that whole naming and identity thing. Those were seemingly heavily tied together, but any given human individual did only know a number of others to which they had direct relations to. How then could a representative of the humans even exist, if they could not possibly know all the other humans and understand their desires and wishes? Did all of this had to do with their immense population count? Though she did not get to express her desire for further explanations on that topic, when Sam asked - shaded by eager curiosity - to continue talking about Nyars age. They quickly provided the information that Nyar apparently was a century older than the humans' ability to rapidly duplicate their first wide-spread medium of external information storage. Surprised by the sudden change as well as mildly confused by the provided information, she sent some words to the translator: "I am sorry to say that I do not know the significance of this event or understand why you have provided this piece of information." Sam began explaining that the human world had been vastly different at the time when Nyar had came to life. They talked about things she did not understand the meaning of, apparently describing technology. It did not help with providing an explanation. Nyar put together a question to ask back. --- Mid-sentence the translator talked over her: "I am unable to follow why you are providing me with information from your past." Neil crossed her arms, then switched them to hanging loose and then buried her hands back into her hair, all withing two seconds. How could she approach the question she actually wanted to ask without some context? She gave up and bluntly threw out: "Nyar, how old can you get?" "I can get three-hundred and sixty-four-thousand, four-hundred and five days old." "That's how old you are now. I mean, how old can you get before you die of age." "I do not understand the question." ​ ​ --- There is more of these two available in the direct continuation The humans are not made up of two separate species. --- This series is a fully fledged book on amazon now - check it out here. I also have a patreon page submitted by /u/CherubielOne to r/HFY [link] [comments]

November 2nd, 1959. It was an exceptionally chilly day. Professor Guedes do Amaral, a biologist and headmaster of a local college was sitting at his desk going through his notes. From his window, he could see the clear blue skies of Southern Portugal as the majestic Mediterranean sun shone up above. If it wasn't for the cold, it could have been high summer. When the clock struck twelve, he got up from his chair and went to get his coat, thinking about the pork stew he was going to have for lunch. That was when he heard the excited screams outside. He had walked halfway down the hall when two of his students almost crashed into him as they ran around the corner. Professor Amaral cleared his throat to reprimand them, but he was abruptly cut off. One of the two young men was blabbering about a strange airplane, while the other eagerly took his arm and dragged him outside. As the sun blinded him for a split second, the older man wondered what had gotten into his usually respectful and civil pupils. But what he saw next made the admonishing words forming in his throat completely slip his mind. He quickly wiped his glasses and blinked several times, but it was still there. A small, grey-blue glowing object, flying far up above, in a pattern, unlike any bird or airplane he had ever seen. That's strange, he thought, maybe some type of atmospheric phenomenon? Intrigued, he briskly walked back inside, making a sign for the two students to follow him. Back in his office, the professor swiftly adjusted his telescope and pointed it at the object in the sky. It looked nothing like a natural atmospheric phenomenon. It was a seamless, elliptic object, perhaps the size of a commercial jetliner. Except it had no wings, no windows, and no visible propellers. Sometimes it would hover in place, then move Southwest at a speed that defied the laws of physics. Minutes later, a second flying object popped up out of nowhere. It was similar to the first, except much larger. In his report, Amaral would describe it was colossal. The first, smaller disk appeared to orbit the larger one as they flew in an uncannily undulating pattern (jellyfish-like, in his words). Sometimes, both objects appeared to decrease altitude, and one could guess how large they must have been, then climb back into the heavens so fast they became two minuscule dots in a sea of blue. Amaral was mildly troubled. Was this it? Old age finally catching up with him and messing with his senses? Without a word, he got up from his chair and ordered his students to take a look, convinced his eyes were playing tricks on him. Both young men and a few other teachers looked into the eyepiece, and he watched their amusement turn to surprise, then confusion, then unease. The incident lasted about half an hour until the vessels sped up and disappeared into the celestial sphere without a sound. *** More than 100 km Northwest of Professor Amaral's quaint hometown, a team of fighter pilots were preparing to take off for their routine flights at the Sintra airbase. Captain Silva had his helmet on, his plane's controller in one hand, and a checklist in the other. Today, flying was going to be a piece of cake. Not a cloud in sight, the visibility was perfect. It was the kind of day that made him proud of his choice to become a pilot. He just needed the control officer to give him the green light to approach the runway, and in a couple of minutes, he would be enjoying the dazzling view of the lush Sintra mountains, framed by the bright blue Atlantic ocean in the horizon. And then he noticed something off. An odd, slimy substance had begun to form on his canopy. Captain Silva rubbed it with his gloved hand from the inside. It was not condensation. It couldn't be snow or hail, as there wasn't a single cloud in sight. Ice crystals? He radioed the pilot right behind him, and he, too, reported the same observation. There was a strange, slimy substance coating the outside of his plane. And he was bummed because he had spent hours washing it. Minutes later, the men were asking for take-off to be postponed by a few minutes so they could investigate. Their boots landed on the ground with a thud, and Silva had begun to rub the outside of his canopy with his sleeve when one of his comrades showed up in his line of sight. Wait, you've got something on your---, he began to say, noticing white streaks on the other man's hair. But then he saw that he too had strange white streaks in his hair. And on his uniform. And everywhere. Fine, colourless filaments were falling from the cloudless sky in a perfectly vertical pattern. *** Back in Évora, Professor Amaral stood outside with his hands outstretched to catch the filaments. He had never seen anything like it. The substance looked similar to spider webs, except there were tons of them. So many, they quickly began to form clumps on the ground. And not a single spider to be found. Amaral asked for someone to bring him a Petri dish, but he could barely hear himself above the sound of his students' agitated chatter. They, too, were busy trying to catch the odd, hair-like filaments, only to watch them melt as they met the warmth of their palms. Their professor nervously yelled to warn the youngsters that they shouldn't bring the unknown substance to their eyes, nose, or mouth. Nobody listened. He could hear the phone ring in the distance. Hundreds of people in town and beyond had spotted the flying objects and wanted his opinion on them. He quickly ran inside, grabbed a dish, and held it at arm's length. A clump of delicate, colourless string landed in the very centre of the glass. Fine and sheer, yet packed with secrets, he was determined to investigate. In town, the phenomenon was quickly dubbed "angel hair" due to its uncanny resemblance with very fine, white hair. It was described as sticky, and the clumps melted into a light, clear or yellowish slime. The angel hair rain lasted a total of four hours. By the time it was over, there was so much of it, the red clay roofs were snow white. *** Upon landing, Captain Silva decided to give his father a call to ask him about the strange phenomenon. Professor Conceição e Silva was a physicist and an astronomer, as well as a member of a circle of reputable European researchers. He listened, puzzled, as his son told him about how he and his men had found their planes covered in a mysterious, white, stringy substance. It had lasted no more than half an hour, and the men easily washed it from their aircraft with a hose upon landing. Professor Silva was convinced it could be the work of flying spiders, a rare phenomenon where a particular breed of arachnids that leap long distances through the air deposit their silk all over the place. It might look like cobweb rain, but it is actually the result of the webs the spiders use as gliders being pulled down by gravity. Entire fields might end up covered in unsightly gossamer, a rare occurrence in Europe, albeit very common in Australia and New Zealand. But as his son insisted that no spiders had been observed and that there was so much of the stringy substance it formed clumps where it fell, Professor Silva decided to call a biologist friend for a second opinion. After all, as an astronomer, his knowledge of biology and exotic flying crawlies truly was minuscule. His friend happened to be Professor Amaral. *** Amaral jumped when the phone rang. And he was even more startled to hear that his friend's pilot son, too, had seen mysterious "angel hair" fall from the firmament. What were the odds? If the same phenomenon had been observed 100 km Northwest, chances are many other people all over the country had seen it. Unfortunately, in 1950s Portugal, it wasn't easy to find out for sure. Amaral began to pace around in circles, then sat back down at his microscope to report his findings to Silva. I might be totally wrong, he said, but this is unlike anything I've ever seen. And it certainly was no cobweb. As he extracted a sample of the substance from the Petri dish onto the slides, and after magnifying it about 120 times, he could see a tiny organism, about 1 mm wide, with a seemingly unicellular central core. When pushed between the slides, ten slime-covered tentacles emerged from the core. It expanded and moved. The slime itself was a clear yellowish colour, while the limbs were darker. Convinced there must be a simple explanation for what his friend was seeing, Professor Silva scoffed, but ended up sending him a taxi. *** The two men took turns handling the microscope, then just looked at each other, their eyebrows raised, and their jaws tense. Could this be an elaborate heavenly prank? All they could identify as familiar was the sodium line. Everything else was a question mark. The thing moved. It reacted to stimuli. And it was unlike any organism the two seasoned scientists had ever seen. It looked like it was alive. At the University of Biological Sciences of Lisbon, experts first treated reports of an unknown creature falling from the skies, tangled in spiderweb-like filaments, as a laughable hoax. Professors Silva and Amaral were either looking at minuscule spiders, or at an exceptionally clever student prank. Or maybe a phenomenon so common and easily explainable it had managed to fool even their complex, fact-oriented brains. And then they received Amaral's samples. Under their much more powerful microscope lenses, the unknown filaments exposed some of their secrets: the central body was egg-yellow, while the tentacles were bright red. When under stress, it exhibited what they described as "intense defensive reactions," "akin to an animal's." Akin to an animal's, because its reflexes were too swift and intuitive for a plant. The tentacles appeared to emerge from the body when the thing tried to break free, showing impressive strength and endurance for its size. Actually, it was so strong, it could slightly lift the microscopic slides as if it feared being crushed. The body itself was able to withstand pressures of up to 350 grams, after which it would change colours from bright yellow to a dark brown. Then, it would presumably die. The tentacles are formed of parallel filaments, their final report reads, joined together by a gelatinous substance. Each filament, or strand, is transparent, showing corpuscles inside of it, whose number increases over time. These filaments project strongly on the glass sheet, drawing on it a perfectly defined contact line, where certain seem to emerge in organised formations. In the middle of the central body, there is a mouth-shaped opening, around which there are very fine lines, corresponding, perhaps, to existing folds or fissures in the substance that composes it. One can also see dark and round spots that draw a pentagonal shape that becomes increasingly regular. After about two years, the preserved samples showed disintegration of the tentacles from the body and a progressive fraying of the structure. The substance's spectrometry showed that it contained sodium, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, tin, boron, silicon, calcium, and magnesium. The only animals I can think of that could resemble this "being" are the Coelenterata (coral animals, and certain types of jellyfish), states Professor Santos, an expert biologist, in her report. But I confess that my knowledge of Biology is insufficient to classify this particular organism. All I can tell from looking at it, is that it is some form of "being," writes Professor Godinho, also a leading biologist. But I cannot tell you what it is, because it is unlike anything I have seen before. The sample you sent me is of an animal, says Doctor Resende, Professor Emeritus of Botanics, and general-director of the National Institute of Botanics. And thus, we consider it outside of our field of expertise. It can be admitted that such beings could come from the Earth's extra atmospheric space, or from another neighbouring planet, theorises another scientist, who agreed to provide his controversial opinion under cover of anonymity. Professor Amaral, who was now in charge of filing an official report, found himself back at square one. He did, however, receive a number of non-extraterrestrial theories from the experts he reached out to. One believed it could be deep-sea debris that found its way to the continent on a weather balloon (that would explain the organism's primitive features that resembled those of a single-celled organism, such as an alga or a larva ctenophore). Another suggested the filaments were vaporised meteor fragments. And yet another implied it could be the residue of an unknown, inorganic gas. Maybe Cold War stuff. No hypothesis was adequately backed up by credible elements of comparison. Aware of how weak his report's rationale was, Professor Amaral decided to go ahead and submit it anyway. It contained all the information and opinions he had been able to gather, as well as speculation on how it might be related to the unidentified flying objects he and the people of Évora had observed on the morning of November 2nd, 1959. He handed over his microscopic samples to the University of Lisbon, in hopes someone might recognise the mysterious organism and make sense of the incident. But Professor Amaral's life would soon take a steep, downward turn. In the 1960s, Portugal was a conservative, pious and authoritarian state. Nationalist politics made it uncommon, if not impossible, for local scientists to share their findings with their foreign counterparts. Censorship and religion ruled over science, and many considered UFOs a thing of the devil. Researchers discredited Amaral's report as sensationalist bogus. When he had it translated and ready to be sent to universities in France, England, and the United States, he was threatened with suspension. Powerless, he turned to Professor Silva, but the latter was unable to get foreign experts from his own circles sufficiently involved. A few articles, containing pictures of the mysterious creature, were published in Spain and France, but nothing much came out of it. In the years that followed, disorderly students would barge into Amaral's office, cackling about imaginary flying saucers. Cotton, flour, and pillow stuffing would get thrown at his office window by pranksters, teasing him about the mysterious white filaments. He became less and less vocal about his findings, to the point where he adamantly refused to speak publicly about them ever again. But he never gave up his quest to get to the bottom of it. When he went to his grave in the 1990s, he left behind an impressive compilation of his research on the "angel hair" phenomenon, proving that in the vast majority of cases, it was preceded by UFO sightings just like his. In 2008, investigators reached out to Professor Azevedo, an expert cell biologist who had first examined pictures of the being back in 1980, and who agreed to reexamine them in light of modern science. Azevedo, a professor emeritus at the University of Lisbon, then retired, dedicated his life to studying previously unknown cellular structures and phenomena. From what I can tell from the photos I was sent and that I am now reexamining many decades later, Professor Carlos Azevedo wrote, this structure, or "microorganism," as some called it, is still unknown to contemporary science. It is made up of a body with ten arms, and [its appearance] vaguely resembles a starfish. The photos do not show any type of cellular organisation. I was unable to identify a single structure akin to an earthly single-cell organism. Almost 50 years later, I reread the reports, including my own report, and I restate what I wrote back then: this could have been an organism. However, the samples were not prepared correctly [by Amaral back in 1959], which makes it impossible for me to make an educated guess. Professor Carrapiço, also a cellular biologist, argues that we could be looking at a sea-dwelling microorganism, like the billions that live in the deep Atlantic ocean. He believes microscopic jellyfish larvae could be a good comparison candidate. Looking at the photos, and knowing what we know about certain biological organisms, we cannot deny the similarities between this unknown structure and a young, microscopic jellyfish, he says. But how would billions of microscopic jellyfish make their way from the Atlantic ocean into the skies, only to rain down in filaments all over Southern Portugal? Professor Berenguel, who conducted both the 1980 and 2008 investigations on the case, believes the organism comes from somewhere in the top layers of the Earth's atmosphere. Berenguel is a historian who specialises in fringe science breakthroughs and accounts of unexplained phenomena. He is no scientist, but after many years of showing photos and sharing the Évora account with the world's top experts in meteorology, biology, and astronomy, he is convinced the "being" is a microscopic vegetable species with properties similar to those of a carnivorous plant (as demonstrated by the vigorous protective reflexes Amaral first observed in 1978.) But what about the UFO incident? Could the hair-like filaments have been carried to the Earth from outer space and dropped from an interstellar vessel? Professor Berenguel often dances around this question. The truth is that he simply doesn't know. Most quality accounts of UFO sightings and unexplained phenomena from the Cold War era seem to hail from either the United States or the Soviet Union. The Space Race transcended their reckless technological ventures - it was not just about who would put the first man on the moon. It was also about who would bring the first batch of little green men from the impenetrable darkness of the heavens. But accounts of astonishing discoveries, such as Professor Amaral's, can be found all over the world. Unfortunately, many got lost in translation over the decades. The author of this write-up entertains the faint hope that someday, someone out there will open the pictures linked below and make sense of the microscope pictures in the official report. Because frankly, the possibility of alien jellyfish flying overhead is a fairly unsettling thing to live with. *** Endnotes Tragically, in 1978, the University of Lisbon's labs burned down in a massive fire, and the original samples were lost. Some believe another sample was taken from Professor Amaral's laboratory in 1960 by an independent group of researchers. This sample, which could be key to solve the mystery in light of modern science, seemingly vanished. "Angel hair rain" is a mysterious phenomenon that has been observed on several continents over the centuries. The first official record of it dates back to 1561, and it happened in Nuremberg, Germany. In the wake of the Miracle of the Sun, white, hair-like filaments also reportedly fell from the sky in Fatima, Portugal. The same phenomenon was observed again in 1898, in Montgomery, in the United States, then in 1952, in Oloron, France, and yet again in 1954 at St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. Italian scientists were able to collect and analyse samples, and their findings were similar to Amaral's. Soviet scientists supposedly carried out a counter-analysis and concluded that the substance was "unlikely to be formed by nature." The Portuguese government asked the Air Force for an advisory opinion on the matter. Since no UFO was observed on radar and no unique atmospheric phenomena was detected (regardless of pilot accounts), their report was inconclusive. Lots of pictures, newspaper clippings, and interviews can be found here (in Spanish and Portuguese). Documentaries here (in Portuguese) and here (in English). Further reading: https://elpais.com/diario/1978/10/13/sociedad/277081215_850215.html https://www.cmjornal.pt/mais-cm/domingo/detalhe/ovnis_entre_nos http://ctec.ufp.pt/ Fronteras de lo Imposible, a book by Iker Jimenez submitted by /u/lucycatwrites to r/UnresolvedMysteries [link] [comments]