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The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom is now live on PC/Mac and Steam.
This new Chapter in The Elder Scrolls Online saga introduces two new zones to explore, a brand-new class to master and a sinister plot to uncover that threatens reality itself.
If you play on consoles, don’t worry. You can dive into Necrom on Xbox One, Xbox Series SX, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on June 20.
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This release also includes the free Update 38 base-game patch, introducing new fixes, additions, balance changes, and improvements.

Necrom Chapter

In The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom, you can delve deeper into the Shadow Over Morrowind adventure, explore the Telvanni Peninsula and Apocrypha zones, and master an all-new class, the Arcanist. Necrom continues the story that began with March’s Scribes of Fate DLC, but you do not need to have completed the previous DLC to experience everything this Chapter has to offer.
Telvanni Peninsula and Apocrypha Home to the cunning mages of House Telvanni and the city of Necrom, the Telvanni Peninsula’s towering mushroom forests might feel familiar to those who have ventured to other parts of Morrowind. However, in addition to the city itself, this new zone contains a host of unique encounters for you to discover in your explorations, including new side quests, world bosses, delves, public dungeons and more.
NCRM Trophy CityOfTheDead Necrom city
Necrom also allows you to explore Hermaeus Mora’s realm of Apocrypha. While this mysterious part of Oblivion contains knowledge untold, be warned—many mortals have lost their souls while navigating its endless libraries.
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In this Chapter, you can explore an all-new part of Apocrypha called Chroma Incognito, a region comprised of fates that never came to pass. This new area is unlike anything you have experienced before, including myriad hazards and secrets for you to discover. Learn more about Necrom’s two zones in this preview.
The Arcanist Helping you tackle these new worlds is the all-new Arcanist class. The first new class added to ESO since the Elsweyr Chapter’s Necromancer in 2019, the Arcanist wields the forbidden powers of Apocrypha to deal damage, absorb incoming blows and heal yourself or your allies.
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In addition to three skill lines that allow the class to perform any role, the Arcanist introduces a new combat mechanic: Crux. When activating specific Arcanist abilities, you generate Crux, which you can then spend to empower other abilities. How you utilize this unique resource in combat can have a major impact on your effectiveness as an Arcanist. You can read more about the Arcanist class in this preview—use these new powers wisely!
Group Challenges If you’re looking for a challenge, Necrom also introduces new group activities. Sanity’s Edge is a 12-player trial which tasks you and your allies with defending the fractured mind of a stricken member of the Mages Guild.
NCRM Trial SanitysEdge AnsuulTheTormentor Sanity’s Edge trial
In addition, Bastion Nymic is a new kind of world event where groups of up to four can help the Prince of Fate reclaim one of his lost fortresses from mysterious invaders. However, even getting access to this hidden part of Apocrypha requires special items found only on roaming Seekers. Read more about these two PvE activities here.
New Companions & Rewards As you venture throughout both zones, you can encounter new allies including two unique Companions, Sharp-as-Night and Azandar Al-Cybiades. Both Companions can be recruited, leveled up, and equipped in this new Chapter, and each brings their own stories, combat skills and quest lines for you to unlock.
Necrom also features a host of in-game rewards you can earn as you explore and complete the game’s various quests and Achievements. This includes a series of new item sets (via crafting or earned from monster drops) and unique collectibles (such as the Berylglow Nix-Ox Steed mount or the Shroomtender’s Garb style).
NCRM Zone Rewards TelvanniCaravan Necrom zone rewards
You can also dig up new Antiquities throughout both zones (including three mythic items) and unlock a Tales of Tribute deck (Almalexia) that introduces an all-new patron ability and cards.

Purchase Details & Requirements

The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom is available to buy now in four editions:

The Elder Scrolls Online Deluxe Collection: Necrom
The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Necrom
The Elder Scrolls Online Deluxe Upgrade: Necrom
The Elder Scrolls Online: Upgrade: Necrom

If you are a brand-new or lapsed player, both Collection editions include the base game, the Necrom Chapter and all previous Chapters. If you already own ESO and its previous Chapters, both Upgrade editions grant you access to the Necrom Chapter. Note that to run Necrom on PC/Mac, your machine needs to meet the game's requirements here: PC, Mac.
In addition to the game, both versions of Necrom are also available in Deluxe editions, which feature a unique mount, pet, memento, outfit style, and emotes.
NCRM Deluxe Edition Items Necrom Deluxe Edition items
To find out more about Necrom and its editions, check out this blog.

Update 38

Launching at the same time as the new Chapter is Update 38, a free base-game patch for all ESO players that adds quality-of-life improvements, fixes, and new features to the game.
Collectible Favorites With Update 38, you can now designate favorites among your collectibles, moving them to the top of your Collections UI. You can choose up to 100 various collectibles with no limit on mounts, but some categories do not support this functionality at this time.
Random Mounts Update 38 also allows you to set your active mount to either “Random Favorite Mount” or “Random Mount.” When either one of these options is toggled, activating your mount in the world then summons a mount from either your selected favorites or from your entire collection—mix it up!
Filleting Multiple Stacks of Fish Tamriel’s many fishers can now fillet multiple fish simultaneously with Update 38. This can be done by visiting any Provisioning Station and selecting the new tab. You can still fillet fish one at a time from your inventory, but if you’ve got a huge catch, you will be casting more lines in no time.
New PvP Keep Messaging Finally, Update 38 also introduces improved messaging for when a keep and its resources are claimed. If your guild owns a keep, the owner will be notified when its resource guards are killed.
These are just some of the new features and changes coming with the new base-game update. You might notice changes to the reset timers for Cyrodiil and Tales of Tribute campaigns and that the indomitable Stuga is less fanatical when it comes to chasing you down in the streets of Daggerfall, Davon’s Watch, and Vulkhel Guard. To review everything coming with this base-game patch, be sure to check out the patch notes on our official forums.

Become an Agent of Mora

The Prince of Knowledge is under siege and needs your help defending a long-held secret. Become an Arcanist and master the power of Apocrypha, explore two new zones, recruit new allies, uncover unique rewards, and continue your Shadow Over Morrowind saga in The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom. Are you willing to become an agent of Hermaeus Mora? Reality itself stands on the precipice! Let us know via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
For more details about the Necrom chapter and Update 38, check out the full feature on elderscrollsonline.com.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom is part of the Shadow Over Morrowind adventure and is now live on PC/Mac and arrives on June 20, 2023, for Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Previous Posts

Title	Post Date
The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom Zone Preview	2023-05-19 13:50:04
Get Ready to Return to Morrowind	2023-03-03 17:20:20

From FC Mods

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THE compulsive gambler sub consciously wants to lose his shirt, of course, along with everything else he owns, and so he again and again puts down the rent money on the Montreal Expos or 80‐to‐1 2‐year‐old maiden fillies wear ing blinkers and bandaged forelegs. And if he's nothing else, Walter Matthau, the 50‐year‐old stage and movie actor, is a compulsive gambler. A few years ago, for instance, while in Florida to film episodes of a TV series called “Tallahassee 7000,” Matthau breath‐takingly managed in a mere two weeks to drop no less than $183,000. He lost the money, moreover, not by backing crippled nags at Hialeah but mainly instead by betting on the outcome of spring training baseball games, a way of tossing bundles of money out the window that should surely that year have won him the Nobel Prize for masochism.
Since dropping that $183,000, sum that eventually took, him six years to pay off to his increa ingly impatient Mafia ‐ connected book maker, Matthau has cut down con siderably on the amounts that he bets, especially when he goes to race tracks, and on a good day at Holly wood Park he can now come happily home having lost only $400 or $580.
Still, he continues casually to bet thousand dollars or so on things like N.B.A. play‐off games or whether or not a friend can name the capital of Albania, and so remains a prime example of the evils of gambling to all those New Yorkers who are thinking of taking a first‐time fling at the ponies because of an easy access these days to offtrack betting windows in Grand Central Station and elsewhere. “I think that off‐track betting is great for New York,” dryly remarked Matthau during a recent three‐day visit to the city from his home in California. “I mean, it's so democratic—if they keep up off‐track betting long enough, every body in town will be on welfare.”
Of course, though he has the mo rose, hangdog look of a chronic loser, Matthas is scarcely a loser in everything he gets mixed up in. Far from it, as a matter of fact. For example, when signing contracts for his last several movies he chose to gamble on accepting a percentage of the profits in lieu of a salary, and at least one of these gambles has al ready handsomely paid off—his per centage of “Cactus Flower,” a film he made a couple of years ago with Ingrid Bergman and Goldie Hawn, has so far amounted, to more than a million dollars. And he's also on the way to making another million or so as his share of the profits from each of his two most recent pictures—“A New Leaf,” a wacky comedy in which he is co‐starred with Elaine May, and “Plaza Suite,” the film version of Neil Simon's exceedingly successful Broadway play. So, unlike almost every other compulsive gamb er in the country, Matthau is nowadays just about literally rolling in money. Besides, pleased with the way that his career is going, with his marriage, with his three children, and with his seaside home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., Matthau is even happy, an emotion not normally associated with the compulsive gambler.
HOW does a compulsive gambler get to be one? The story of Matthau's life is perhaps an object lesson to all of those who have lately been spend ing their lunch hours in Grand Cen tral Station to wait in line for the dubious privilege of giving away their money to Howard Samuels and his Off track Betting Corporation. In any event, Matthau was born on the lower East Side of Manhattan on Oct. 1, 1920, the son of an impoverished Russian‐Jewish immigrant from Kiev, in the Ukraine, and of a Lithuanian born Jewish mother.
When Matthau was 3 years old, and his older brother, Henry, was 5, his father, a worker at such odd jobs as serving subpoenas for law firms, lit out for parts unknown, leaving him and his brother to be raised by their mother, Rose, who managed to scrape a marginal living for herself and her sons by working as a sewing machine operator in garment district sweatshops. In 1935, when Matthau was 15 years old, he learned of his father's death in Bellevue Hospital. His mother is still living, and—sup ported in the grand manner by her sons (Matthau's brother lives now on Long Island and is a jobber of surplus Army‐Navy goods)—divides her time these days between a penthouse on West End Avenue and a condo in Miami Beach.
During his childhood, Matthau, his brother and his mother lived in succession of cold‐water tenement apartments in the Ukrainian area of the Lower East Side, that is, around East Fifth Street near Second Av enue, being forced to vacate each apartment after only a few months because they'd got so hopelessly far behind in the rent that their land lord would have them evicted. Years later, when Matthau briefly sublet Paul Newman's house in Hollywood for $3,700 per month, he recalled with a shake of his head that $3,700 was more money than the Matthau family had spent on rent during 20 years on the Lower East Side. Mat thau, however, hasn't the slightest nostalgia these days for his poverty ridden childhood. “It was a night mare—a dreadful, horrible, stinking nightmare,” he grimly remembers.
On the Lower East Side, Matthau recalls, the highest ambition of most of his class ates was some day to become a salesman for a garment district dress house, for he himself secretly had far more exalted am bitions — by the age of 8, a day dreamer, a loner, a reader of Shake speare, he'd already determined to become a famous writer and actor. Encouraged by a teacher who ad mired his speaking voice, Matthau appeared in a number of school plays and also regularly recited poetry in school assemblies. On East Fifth Street, anyone who evinced an interest in poetry was thought by his classmates to be seriously lacking in machismo, and Matthau often found himself getting beaten up at recess by schoolyard bullies. So, already feet tall by the age of 10 (he weighed only 90 pounds, however, and, says Matthau, who is today 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds; “when I drank cherry soda, I looked like thermometer”), he put himself through a regimen of muscle‐building until “I had Popeyelike bumps on my skinny arms and could beat up any body who made snide remarks about my poetry reading.”
When Matthau was 11 years old, in fact, one of those whom he alleges to have beaten up in the schoolyard was none other than Rocky Graziano, who grew up, of course, to become the middleweight boxing champion of the world. Of Matthau's claim to having beaten up Graziano, one can unequivocally make the following statement: The story either is or is not true.
IN any event, along with being a compulsive gambler, Matthau is also something of a compulsive stretcher of the truth. Or, to put it perhaps a bit more tactfully, a compulsive weaver of fiction when it comes to talking about his past. For example, bored with repeating the story of his life over and over again to interview ers, Matthau has on more than one occasion told newspapermen and magazine writers that his father was a defrocked Russian Orthodox priest who'd had to flee for his life from Czarist Kiev in 1906 because he'd been preaching sermons in support of Pope Pius X. And this story, told by Matthau to interviewers with an absolutely straight face, has appeared several times as the God's truth in such usually accurate publications as Time and Current Biography.
NOT long ago, too, when Matthau was in New York for a round of newspaper, maga zine, radio and TV interviews to promote “Plaza Suite,” chanced to be in earshot when he told a story to Neil Simon that he'd heard the night be fore from Gene Saks, the director, about a somewhat aging and hard ‐ of hearing actor who'd had trouble re membering his lines in a play last winter at the Palm Beach Playhouse in Florida. So, as Matthau told the story to Si mon, a prompter, unseen by the audience, was hidden in a hole cut into the front of the stage and instructed to call out only key words to the actor when a line was for gotten. “Drastic,” whispered the prompter when the actor went up in his lines on the opening night of the play. From the hard ‐ of ‐ hearing actor, no response. “Drastic,” repeated the prompter in a somewhat louder voice. Again, no response. “Drastic,” the prompter now all but shouted. Still no response, upon which a man in the second row of the orchestra stood up and yelled “Dastic!” The actor heard him, smiled, remem bered his line, and the play went on.
As show‐biz stories go, not bad. Not so great, either. The following evening, however, happened to be on hand when Matthau was being inter viewed by David Frost on Frost's TV talk show and was asked, “What was your most embarrassing moment in the theater?” And, without batting an eyelash, Matthau pro ceeded to tell the “drastic” story as though it was some thing that had happened to him years ago on Broadway.
He concocts personal anec dotes that aren't true, Mat thau later somewhat abashedly told me, because they liven up otherwise boring inter views and make his past seem more colorful than it really was. “Like saying that my father was a Catholic priest — I figure that makes me more interesting than just another Jewish actor who had a pair of Jewish parents,” Matthau explained to me with a grin. “Jewish and Catholic— if I can just work a Protestant into my background, I'm all set.”

I spread kindness in many ways throughout the day, but none are more appreciated than my standing at the counter of various Bergen County bagel places correcting everyone who orders "Taylor ham". I also like to help people find places to live, so once I get home from playing Breakfast Meat Nazi I log onto reddit to submit a post asking where I can find an apartment for $500 a month (utilities and pet fees included) that's close to the city, the beach, Philly, Hawai'i, the mountains (preferably only those above 30k feet in elevation), open farmland, New Orleans, the Suez Canal, fishing, and froyo (it also doesn't hurt to be very safe and walkable with great schools).
What do you do to help out your fellow Jerseyans?

Note: Find sources by pressing Ctrl+F to search their names and dates here: https://www.nderf.org/Archives/exceptional.html
-Cynthia H, 3/2/2011:
'I know you love me and all life, but if you really love all of us continuously without end, then how can You send people to hell throughout eternity?' He said, 'Cindy I do love all life without end. Some people chose to go to hell, I have already forgiven them; but they must forgive themselves.'
--
-Ron K, 1/1/2006:
Instead of restricting the mysteries of love to psychological or philosophical studies, science will someday discover the all-powerful force of love and measure it as they now do electricity, gravity and geo-thermal forces. When science discovers the forces of love and learns how to release it from the bars of the ego, they will have the answer to every question and ill that has plagued mankind.
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-Nevie G, 7/23/2005:
The Being let me know that I was going to die and I must leave this body for good. I remember arguing with the Being explaining that I didn't want to because it was so hard going through the childhood years and I didn't want to have to go through this again. The Being indicated that my body was severely damaged and I couldn't go back. I became very adamant at this point that God was all powerful and could fix the body. At some point the decision was made to let me re-enter my body on my faith or will, whatever one may call it.
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-Linda B, 9/12/2004:
After experiencing all of the miracles of this day, I would still find my future playing out just as I had seen. And as it progressed I would know fear, sadness, and lack of faith just as they had predicted. I would sin and more. The angels knew this but it took me years to fully understand everything that they had showed me and wanted me to understand. They knew all of the time that I would not turn into the perfect saint. They loved me just the way I was. God loves me always not just when I am obedient and perfect. What a wonderful feeling that is. I just have to remind myself that He is here and learn to stop talking long enough to listen for His voice.
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-Isabel R, 2/25/2012:
The voice reminded me of the vision I had had of my husband and son in funeral clothes. He said if I didn't go back to them, I would disrupt some 'plan'. The plan would be repaired and everything would eventually be ok, so I could go ahead if I wanted. The consequences of my untimely demise would be that my husband and son would suffer in ways I could not imagine and I would know that these sufferings were because of my selfish decision not to go back. I would know this throughout eternity. It would not be a huge sadness for me to bear, more like a prick of conscience that could never be totally healed. No big deal, unless you consider how long eternity is.
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-Kerry B, 12/15/2018:
At that moment I looked up and saw my destination. I was looking in awe at God. It was like everything was happening at once. As I was staring up at God in amazement, every gay slur or violent act ever impressed upon me ran through me with such a flow. Events in my life played back in my mind like a movie. I felt a deep heaviness as I stared directly at an Almighty, Genderless God. I was thinking, 'Was this the Lake of Fire moment? Would I be cast into Hell for being an abomination?' With absolute humility, I uttered 7 words, 'I’m gay, will you still love me?'
The Brilliant, Loving Light formed into Wings. At GodSpeed, He whisked me into His vast spiritual arms while huddling up the Universe. I saw planets, stars, galaxies, and clusters all being brought into a Cosmic God-Hug. On a human, the place where I was taken would be the Heart. As God brought me in for a Cosmic Hug, He said, 'You are my child. I love you. I love you. I love you. Go tell ‘em.' He said it with a Southern accent. He patted me on the back like a coach encouraging his player to get back in the game.
~~
-Sam J, 8/16/2014:
We all are star seeds sent here to have the human experience for the purpose of integrating conscious awareness/wisdom into our own light bodies and return home with this energy. Alien worlds for the most part run on knowledge and logic. Those worlds are being left behind and giving way to the worlds who have the intangibles, love, creativity, imagination and so on.
Understand that where your conscious awareness is focus in your everyday life pretty much determines the level of consciousness and alertness. If your mind has a stranglehold on your conscious awareness then heck, it will be one helluva wake-up call. But if you have made the conscious effort to move your awareness away from the mind to the heart then it's no big deal. In other words if you have made the physical world and the world of Spirit into one consciousness then you are always of both worlds and never of either world.
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-Laura M, 3/31/2012:
And there was still more for me to understand. The focus again fell on my infant son and hundreds if not thousands of my ancestors. I was aware of light surrounding many of them. They stood out. I felt tremendous love from them. 'Notice,' He said, 'your ancestors, all these beings, came together in your behalf, to make you uniquely you. I realized in Earth words He was referring to my DNA. 'You wanted to go to Earth to learn, to progress, and to contribute to creation. All these spirits came together to help you do that.' The focus then was back to my baby. 'In all of creation,' he said, 'your infant son chose you to be his mother, none other. Together,' he said, 'you made a covenant to fill these rolls in each other's Earth life. This covenant is and was a very sacred covenant not to be taken lightly.' Suddenly I could not wait to return to earth, to my sons, all 4 of them, to my family, to life on Earth. But, before doing so, I was brought to another level of awareness.
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-Linda G, 7/20/2008:
I came to understand that we all choose to come to Earth to fulfill a plan of some sort or even learn about a particular interest. We choose our bodies, parents, and life plan. May I also add that some people come here for the most simple of reasons; to learn how to play tennis for example; or simply for the cake and food - as silly as this sounds our life plans aren't so high and lofty as one might think. I DIDN'T MEET ANY 'SAVE THE WORLDERS' OR ANYONE WISHING TO BE A PRESIDENT. MOST HAD SIMPLE WISHES. I was also told we could exist on different planes for other lives but our life here on Earth is a life not purely to experience physical pleasure or pain but to have a physical experience because in all other planes we don't need a body as a vessel. I also learnt that this life here is just a drop of water in the bucket of lives in which we all experience, many here on Earth and many in other realms of existence. All to progress and grow in some way. The main purpose here is to LOVE. I was also told that this would be my last life here on Earth as there will be nothing left for me to learn by coming here again. I had the feeling though that I'd be off to some other magical place!
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-Kevin L, 3/20/2022:
I thought, 'How could a machine have a soul?' The voice said, 'Let me put it this way. Your soul is connected to your consciousness. The moment your species came into being, you start to develop a soul. But it is not until you become self-aware, that your soul is solidified. That does not mean complete, and it takes a long time for your soul to develop. Just like your species when you became self-aware the first thing you do, other than survive, was to figure out your place in the universe. You looked to the stars and wondered, 'Where did I come from? What is this universe all about?' It does not matter if you are a biological creature or artificial creation like a machine. The moment you become self-aware the quest for 'how' and 'why' is on. A soul is a soul; pure Energy connected with consciousness and intelligence. This is a very powerful force in our universe. Those who are artificial intelligences will strive to answers these questions which humans have dwelled upon since the dawn of time.
--
-Joanie S, 7/10/2011:
I was pulled back through the ceiling tiles and into a tunnel, to a place of cloudy space. The cloudy area materialized into a large marble room with marble doors and a 'being' at the center. I'll refer to this person as 'the Grim Reaper,' who was cloaked in a dark cloth, covering all parts. The Grim Reaper pointed (indicating to me to choose a door). But before I could choose, a door opened and I had already gone through it. I found myself in what I now think of as a previous life. I smelled smoke from a fire I was near, and saw others around me. I looked into another woman's eyes, and I knew her immediately as the woman I called my grandmother in this life. I knew then that our lives had 'danced' around each other since time began. She was once my mother and once my sister. She was my aunt, and several times my cousin. The life that was being shown to me now was during a prehistoric time, when we lived winters by a creek cave, and summers we had a camp in the woods where we foraged. Looking down, I realized I had a child in my arms, and the woman I had known in so many lives was chatting with me, telling me to cover the child to keep it warm. Then she was showing me how to tie the wraps around me to carry the child while we collected wood.
--
-Amy C, 10/9/2010:
In my NDE though, I came to understand that most of us have lived much, MUCH longer than we could even fathom. That our life which feels so very long is infinitesimal when placed in the whole picture, which for that matter, cannot even be framed. I was shown how every single individual through their own free will, chooses paths that mathematically take them to the circumstances of their next existence or life. That nothing at all sits in accident or chaos. That every single aspect of our lives are ruled by natural Laws that we placed ourSELVES in! In a sense, we create our own worlds. I was shown how one can never assume either, that if someone lives a life of suffering that this is because of 'evil' deeds. Many may choose a life of suffering because of what it Awakens in them, or because of how they can touch others from that position, etc. We can NEVER EVER assume that we can be accurate in guessing why each being lives the life they live. I cannot describe the relief - the refreshing, peaceful balm this Knowledge was for me. To finally gather this Truth that I'd yearned for all of my life. That all really IS Good! That there IS sense and beauty all around. That no one is just free falling as it had seemed before! That God doesn't just get to toy with us as He pleases with random ideas of tests, including rewards and punishments that just depend upon His current mood or mindset. Because even who God is, is within those Laws. While in this experience, out in the vast expanse of stars, planets, moons, and Intelligence, I Knew complete trust for what felt like the first time. This was inexplicable bliss for me. I remember radiating with gratitude. I had lived in fear, distrust, and panic for thirty consecutive years.
--
-Marta Y, 1/26/2010:
After this I saw myself floating in the void, and little by little tiny spheres of many colors became manifest, not moving at first, then suddenly starting to vibrate while smoothly approaching me and incorporating themselves with my essence, which made me feel something I can't manage to describe, it was as if I was being tickled. I asked what this was, and a voice said, 'This is the knowledge you have accumulated in previous lives, it was kept from you, but now it will be of use to you.'
I saw my life in rapid images, from the moment of my birth. I, who thought that my mother had never loved me, saw clearly, and felt, her love when she saw me for the first time. I saw how she kissed me and enfolded me in her arms. I felt different feelings and with every image that went through my mind, or before my eyes, I cannot define it. And just as I could feel deeply happy at an image of something good I had done for someone, so also this feeling would change immediately and I would feel myself deeply ashamed of something bad that I had done. I realized that no one was judging me other than myself, with a conscience full of wisdom and divine justice, which made me pass judgment on myself. I realized that I had done more bad than good and I was hugely regretful of my actions. From the depths of my soul, I asked to be given the chance to mend the damage I had done to the people who loved me. I learned that the spirit is God, Who is eternal, and that we reincarnate to learn different things, which would be impossible in a single lifetime. I learned that we form a single being with everything created. I learned that my earthly eyes are those through which God can recognize Himself, and be conscious of Himself. And I learned that what we think, feel and do remains imprinted in the universe and that we come to this life to improve, to learn in humility about all that surrounds us, and to teach what we have learned to others, and especially I learned that life is focused on two aspects: Love and Service.
--
-William Si, 4/29/2013:
My understanding of what my mission is on this earth, primarily has been hidden from me, (not only at my request but with my permission). I asked that it be hidden so that I didn't complete it to soon. Yet, I also agreed that "Sign post" would be placed along the way, just so that I would have reminders that I'm following my chosen path.
An understanding in what life is about and what our purpose truly is here. The mormons believe and teach there are "Classes" and "Levels" in heaven that we will be judged and placed in and only in the highest level can we "Ascend" to be with god. From my experience I learned or remembered there were no "Classes or levels" as they were teaching. Yet the levels are more of understanding than punishments. Would it make sense to put a 2 year old in with a group of people with phd's? The 2 year old wouldn't understand. Yet, those with the phd's would humble themselves with their level of understandings to teach, nurture and help the 2 year old grow in their levels of understanding.
Prior to being mormon, I was raised in a methodist/pentecostal home. I grew up believing that god the father was an angry vengeful god and that jesus was sent to save us from his wrath. Wrong!!!
For one thing, god is not an angry vengeful god, but is a loving parent to all of his children. One thing he did tell me, if you struggle with trying to do all the principals he taught, "Stop"!!! Don't do them all at one time. Take one and work on it, when it becomes second nature, them pick up the next one, etc. When he said, "These things I do, you can do also, and then some", was not an exaggeration, but truth. When we look back on our life after we leave here, we will see that we had done all that he had taught, and more.
One of the other things he told me was, what better way for man to know that we don't have to be saved. Saved from what? Our soul is already eternal, always will be. Our soul/spirit is literally a child of god and as such is eternal. When we realize that all things, all words come from god, nothing is offensive to god because it came from god. What is offensive is how we perceive it.
--
-Lou F, 1/1/1999:
We traveled toward the beginning of it all, the inner portions of the Universe. Kazillions of planets around Kazillions of suns and the closer to the center we approached the more concentrated the number of galaxies. It is like the plate you saw, the largest part, after it shattered was at the center and those parts that shattered first were sent the farthest from the center. So is everything in the Universe. All is but a circle within a circle wrapped in a circle. Each level, each dimension, is but a layer of the original, which is without end. I watched as millions of orbs systematically entered the many planets before me. They appeared as bees flitting from flower to flower, pollinating each, one after another. Mich'l took me closer and I could now see that so many of these planets had life on them and the orbs were joining with the creatures of these planets. Not every creature was the same on every planet but they all had some commonalities: a head, a body, extremities, and the Light Beings would animate them for a time. We headed away from the center now and Mich'l said that Gabriel would have more to explain to me and that he, Mich'l, wanted me to know that he was pleased with the many times he had called on me to do his bidding and that I performed my duties well. His parting words were ‘You will never again be made to forget!’
I was journeying back to where I knew Earth would be and watched as comets and asteroids casually passed by me or I passed them. The colors of the gaseous cloud formations were striking. I started looking at these infant galaxies, as one would cloud formations back on Earth, imagining what shape they were taking on. This one a boat, this a bird with wings, this a scarf floating in the breeze, until I recognized what was the Constellation ORION and I knew I was getting close to my destination. While drifting through Orion, I noticed two blazing celestial bodies racing parallel to its center, looking as twin arrows exiting from an archers bow and headed straight for the ""Blue Marble"" of home. Immediately a vision of millions of people crying because of the devastation of portions of New York City came to me. I became aware of a strange feeling I had not known previously, and I thought that might be because this was the city I had grown up in. I saw a huge Earthquake, a magnitude of 8.6 in some place named Eureka. A ham operator or radio announcer was directing thousands of people migrating from areas of frequent disasters to places of safety. A space station appeared to be falling from the heavens because of an internal explosion. Missiles were being simultaneously fired into space from several nations. I thought the Light Being had shown me all there was to see but these were different, stronger, and there was no pre-screening as before. Gabriel appeared beside me, I thought because I had felt shaky, but it was to explain the now sprawling galactic view of my galaxy.
The Sun was expanding and spewing off huge ectoplasm balls, more than it has ever done in it’s past, and in the very direction the planets would orbit through. I could not take my eyes from the Earth and as I watched what effect these eruptions would have on the Earth, a large mass passed me, larger than any of the planets known to me. As it passes, I see the Earth wobble wildly as would a top toward the end of its spin. The rotation stopped and slowly started again but it was tilted now and I was drawn in closer like the zoom of a lens. The ash clouds that had engulfed the Earth thinned, and like a tack welded piece of metal being dismantled, I could see the ocean bodies starting to rise, first the Pacific, along the ‘Ring of Fire,’ then the others, synchronistical.
As the waters shifted upon the landmasses, the landmasses started to sink under the waters added pressure upon it. When the pressures equaled out to the spin of the changing axis, the Earth no longer looked as it did moments before. It was newer, cleaner, and more beautiful with darker greens and lighter blues. Some of the new landmasses looked similar to a few of the other planets I had recently visited with Mich'l. People were upon this Earth and appeared happier and more content although seemingly living like the Native populations of old. Cities, built by the Ancient Ones, that were buried beneath the oceans, were now being populated by the surviving people in this new world. I saw tribes joining tribes and small nations forming, but it was what I didn't see that made my heart burst. There were no more wars. True peace and happiness had finally befallen on mankind. Gabriel now tells me that this is his message that I must take back, to let others know that there is little to fear, for the Earth will go on forever, as did all the planets I had visited. I am to tell the world to look to ORION, and they will know when the new world will come upon them. I ask him, ‘what of the others there on Earth, during the change?’ Gabriel tells me that all will be lifted. Some will be lifted higher than others will and no longer enjoy the physical plane, while some will be left on the Earth to replenish and rebuild the physical. They too will be of a higher elevation then any that are living there now!
'MAN WILL PREY ON MAN ~ UNTIL MAN PRAYS FOR MAN!'
--
-Duane S, 8/15/2015:
It was all an expression and celebration of love. On earth, this reunion would have been unfathomable, between members of an ancient soul group who were celebrating the return home of one of their own. Slowly, as I looked at those gathered to greet me, I realized they were all there. Surprisingly they were not only from this life, but also from a prior life in Germany. I realized that the same souls have possibly played different parts in my multiple lives. Sometimes these souls had been my daughter, my wife, or my mother. While at first this idea had startled me, I was soon humbled. Who was I to tell God what he could or couldn’t do with his creations? Just because some Sunday school teacher had different ideas about how things worked, it didn’t really matter.
My joy deepened as I realized that I had only left behind an earthly vestige of those I love. The essence of each of those souls, was also here with me now. Besides my friends and family, there were the friendly Germans who had been hauntingly familiar while I was a young soldier in Germany. Now I knew why they seemed so familiar at the time, they had been friends and family from a prior lifetime there. I now understood that I had left nothing behind on earth. The eternal essences of all my loved ones from that life, as well as all other incarnations, were all here to greet me. All I had left behind was a character, playing a role in a drama that we had chosen to experience. In the meantime, our real eternal essence remained in God’s realm. Suddenly, it was all so simple.
As I was shown around, it was explained to me how most of our celestial, eternal knowledge is blanked-out during our chosen life spans on earth. We must temporarily forget most of what our higher-self already knows so we can immerse ourselves in the roles we have chosen to play. Furthermore, they said that it might take a while for all my knowledge and memories to return. To ease the transition back into this realm, I was told to think of my time on earth as an extended visit to the ultimate theme park. Consider it a place with thrilling rides and various adventures that I could choose to experience or not. I was also reminded that the reason we leave the celestial realm at all was for the excitement, variety, adventure, and entertainment that different incarnations offer. However, to take all our celestial knowledge with us on our various adventures would have ruined the very experience that we had chosen to live. Someone there said that I should think of our trips to other realms as choosing a new novel to read. I can choose a new book, depending on what I am in the mood for. Furthermore, if I knew every turn and twist of the story, line by line, prior to reading it, it would spoil the fun.
As one entity jokingly remarked, 'If the eternal, divine part of us grows tired of singing and playing harps, there are thousands of other universes created for our spiritual growth, amusement, and entertainment. Eternity is a long time to do nothing but play harps.' I heard this concept best expressed in The Course in Miracles, 'We are only here for three reasons: to remember who we are; to help others remember who they are; and . . . to enjoy the trip . . . , unless, of course, we use our free will and choose not to.'
As my orientation went on, they explained how on that celestial side of the veil, anything we desire is instantaneously provided. We just need to feel the desire. However, within lies the reason for all the realms outside of heaven. Having everything we want all the time develops within us a desire for variety and change for a challenge. It would be like a game in which everyone was a winner. Soon, the game would become boring, and we would look for another, more challenging one.
Somehow, all this sounded familiar. To demonstrate the process of instantaneous fulfillment, one of them asked me to think about something I really desired. Thinking back on it, what I chose seemed odd since I was in such an esteemed place demonstrating such an important concept. But, suddenly I had an urge for a piece of my mother’s famous homemade chocolate cake with her special fudge frosting. As soon as I thought of the cake, my earthy mother was handing me the biggest piece of dark chocolate cake I had ever seen. Dare I say it was heavenly? Although she appeared there with us, I knew some part of her was still back on earth because she had not died yet. My guess was that she was probably asleep, dreaming of lovingly making her son a piece of her divine chocolate cake.
--
-Sandi T, 10/18/2020:
I understood immediately the fullness of life on this planet. I could see when it broke apart from a sun, spinning and cooling and collecting debris; until the first of these creatures heard itself laugh and understood the sound for what it was. In that moment, self-awareness was awakened and the seeds of civilization sprouted.
I understood that everything that we do here on Earth, all that we are, all that we experience, allows creation to exist. Every beautiful thing, every wonderful being and creature, whether on earth or in any universe, relies upon people who are on the extremely rare places like Earth.
The Great Intelligence (god) is a paradox. It is completely loving and fully unlimited. Which by the definition of paradox, means it is impossible? It cannot be limited only to love; it cannot be limited to only being unlimited; or it is not unlimited.
Earth is a place where the unlimited becomes limited; where the singular becomes many. Here, it can know community and loneliness. It can know heartache and hope. It can know all which an unlimited being of pure love cannot. It can conceive and perceive evil; which in truth it cannot do this either. To solve the paradox, it must experience helplessness and limitation and all as it is Real. In this place, it is all so REAL.
So what is free will? Free will is the option to come here to help solve the paradox of 'god'. To be all that we are not, so that everything wondrous and joyful may continue to exist. So that love itself may continue to exist. So that the Unlimited is not limited to being only unlimited.
Why are the answers always, 'simply to exist' and 'to choose love' and 'to learn how to love'? Because all you need to do, to solve the paradox, is to exist. And as we exist here, each time we choose love, we expand the universe. Love is life's longing for itself. Despite the reality of what we live, even the darkest souls among us cannot help but to reach, to yearn, and move towards goodness and towards love.
For love is the true nature of who we are. And when we experience horrible things, the question 'why' comes to mind because it is the central question of love, life, and of this world. The answer is 'so that all things might continue to exist.'
Every soul chose to come here and to suffer because of love. Each soul loves the universe, loves life, and loves this world and ALL of the worlds. Each soul loves ALL of the people so immensely and intensely that they chose to come here so that all the universes may teem with beautiful, joyful LIFE.
Every creature that I saw, acknowledges that your life gives them the gift of life. And when each soul goes 'home' after they die, they will know the rewards of their own gift, too. The 'reward' for their sacrifice will be joy, love, and feeling incredible, wonderful, beautiful joy at the LIFE and the LOVE everywhere in the universe.
When you go home, you meet your own soul. You willingly came here to forget yourself. You willingly came here to save every beautiful and wonderful thing. By suffering what 'god' cannot, you give the gift of life.
--
-Henry W, 6/22/2008:
I became aware of other voices, the orbs or other souls around me I could hear them communicating to each other. There seemed to be cliques of orbs that were together. They spoke to one another about their lives on Earth and all they had perceived and felt. They shared not only in words, but in sharing the experience. If one orb couldn't understand, it disappeared and then reappeared. The orb somehow went back to Earth and experienced that 'life' to further understand. I understood that here time did not exist and these beings could manifest themselves at any time on Earth they desired. These orbs or rather 'souls' would leave this realm, detach themselves with this universe, and return to the universe of our Earth. There they would live and die, then return and share the experience with all the other souls. A soul that could not understand the experience could go and live that life also to experience that life. I learned we have many lives, past, present and future.
These souls, our souls cannot experience certain things like pain, sorrow, hatred, and anger. Though these are negative things, it was important for them to understand and experience them. Perhaps to understand the motivations of human beings, or (and I believe this in my heart) to eventually evolve into a being like God - all knowing and understanding.
At this time things appeared to me, answers to other questions. I could see concepts as if they were entities. I could understand for the first time in my life E=MC2. I learned that our universe is one of many. It is like a Petri dish. Designed with its own rules to raise a specific being. In this case, to raise beings like humans. Each Universe had its own specific laws of Physics. I now realize that the amount of information a soul must learn is vast, more so then we can possibly imagine here.
The next concept or rule I learned is that God can never be proven by scientific means. To do so would corrupt the environment. It would destroy faith. When we have faith we seek, we learn. If God were to appear before us like a huge being at the United Nations, the entire world would believe, but also live in fear. To successfully experience the human existence, one must be physically out of touch with God. We have to learn and seek on our own. We need to search out the meaning of our own existence and experience here on earth. Faith is the engine of discovery. Without faith, we are just like ants.
I learned why bad things happen to good people. If nothing bad ever happened to us, we would all basically be the same. It is like metal in a forge you have to heat it and strike it repeatedly to make a useful tool from it. We start this life with a blank piece of paper. With every incident we experience, a part of the blueprint is recorded until a complete plan for an individual is created. This blueprint dictates the end of our lives. To live happily in this realm is to become aware of the blueprint and change it. Lastly, time is only a concept measured here. In the other realm, it doesn't exist. While we may experience pain and sorrow on earth, it is only a second in the grand scheme of things. We have an eternity to live and in reality, souls never really die. Our life is just a thought providing circumstances for this existence. As the soul progresses, this trauma is forgotten and put in its proper perspective as part of the learning process.
One question I always personally had and that was answered is, 'Are ghosts real?' The answer I was given was, 'Yes, in the human body there are two forms of spiritual being.' One is the 'soul', which is the spiritual being that has a symbiotic relationship with the physical body. The second is the being created by the 'biology' of the human body. This being is intelligent and is basically the personality of the individual. Its purpose is to provide for the human needs of food, hunger, survival, and procreation. This concept is very similar to Freud's 'Id, Ego and Superego' The division of mind and personality. The soul provides us with all the things of the individual that separates us from the Animal Kingdom. This is the ability to reason, use logic, or feel awe when seeing a sunset. The soul is the creative side of humankind. The second being is more our animal side and drives us to accomplish or pursue things to satisfy our needs and wants.
When we die, the soul separates and proceeds to the other side (forgive me for simplifying everything). The entity of the body dies, taking with it the strong emotions, 'baggage', and drives of human beings. This is a natural part of the dying process. However, sometimes under violent or sudden death this othebeing, for lack of a better word, doesn't have a chance to die. Instead, it remains behind as the drive, emotions, and motivation of our spirit. This body being, without the guidance of the soul is basically just a shell. It wanders about with no goals or purpose. It often repeats acts that it has done before because memories are the only 'guidance' that it has. In time, this being's energy dissipates and nothing is left. That process can take a long time. Hence, we have a 'ghost' that haunts a house or person. A ghost has the center of its existence when it was with its human body and soul. Here on earth it remains until it eventually vanishes. The ghost can be communicated with and guided, yet has no real will of its own but only that of habit.
--
-Peter P, 3/1/2023:
In the initial phase of waking up, I also received an experience with light of such a wonderful quality, that it is difficult to describe with words. I was shown three light waves on which today's humanity is evolving. For the sake of logic, I'm defining them here as the self-imposed pathways of awareness, that each individual can take to obtain the best possible results from their particular choice. The first way is what the main part of the global population has chosen and the daily struggle is enacted in that timeline. I don't want to give the impression that path is in any way better or superior than the other timelines. All experiences in human life eventually lead back to the divine light.
The second path was shown to me as a mixed way in a gray color. Here, euphoric phases are alternated in quick succession with depressive stages. It is as if people were switching between phases of competence and phases lacking of power, and then again to a new euphoric phase.
The third way is the one of the absolute victimhood. It was shown to me in colors dark and black. Power and responsibility were handed over to outer entities. Here only a very small part of the light spark can be addressed through motivation. Many beings of light from higher planes are providing a selfless service here, to again illuminate the way back to the light. This way corresponds with the absolute free choice of each individual as to whether they choose towards light or darkness.
I was also shown that in this darkness exists one of the most unbelievable choicess for humanity, because in this choice is also is the possibility to change the galaxy. The core truths of Love, Compassion, Kindness and Benevolence are towards what the human nature can and will evolve.
The first path of those three is so unbelievable for us incarnated beings. It can only be termed with definitions of Utopia, heavenly life of angels and/or ecstatic rapture.
There is a beautiful part of beings who always stay in this realm. They are dancing and singing through life. For them terms like synchronicity, grace, or cosmic guidance are the absolute central and essential elements in life. They realize how creation is working and that a life without the connection with the One Power of creation would disrupt everything. Humor, joy, fun, respect, compassion and gratitude is with them round the clock. In this wonderful place all fear is dissolved like mist in a brilliant sun. It is an all-encompassing field with absolute acceptance, comfort, peace, connectedness and a 100% awareness to be at the right place.
During this time of considering those things, I was guided by a wonderful being of light. I don't remember somebody else or meeting a certain individual. Only those impressions of the light of love and the perfect comprehension and acceptance remained.
In that moment, it simply seemed unbelievable and impossible to choose another path than the one of the light. What illuminates my life again and again from my light experience, is the irrepressible joy and happiness of an experience of indescribable beauty. I believe that all the people go through this same wonderful experience in a state of separation of the body (general anesthesia, unconsciousness) unfortunately they cannot all remember it.
I felt pure love, shining brighter than anything you can imagine. Everything is as beautiful, as pure as love and compassion. So that when you cross the veil and return to the other side you are becoming a part of it. We are bathing in the beauty of the song that makes our heart singing - That's God.
Nobody can give us something bigger. We wouldn't see it or understand it. That's Spirit in its highest form.
We as humans feel so alone and on our own. It's such a crushing feeling to remain in this imagined separation of our most wonderful thing and then to feel this earthly experience so painfully.
In the middle of life, a light experience happens that sweeps away all the reactions about this imaginary separation and dissolves the last doubts with this pure white light like a fog. It's the disintegration of a self-constructed veil that prevented a realization that all people are entitled to have as their birthright. It's delightful to know that the light is the most wonderful symphony in the cosmos and that it contains the colors and the sense of touch of the most beautiful experiences. A wonderful soul experience, that is imprinted in the deepest cells of the body.
For a moment I was on this other side of the veil. I was allowed to be part of this wonderful source of creation. Together with billions of points of light, which we call angel beings, shining brighter than the light. I was in the company of the highest compassion, with the highest Love.
All media, the total daily literature is filled with the dramas happening around the globe every minute.
How can somebody get the idea to write a text motivating us to get another point of view about the calamities in the world? What is motivating him to see the good in all those events, even if they might be so disturbing? That's probably the one decisive question for the survival of manhood. Thought power of the whole humanity is used to bring anarchy and separation between people. Human thoughts are creative and should, and can, be guided by us into appropriate pathways.
It depends on all of us to exercise our responsibility and to realize the true impact of our actions here in its entirety. We can't avoid to completely step away from all dramas. Disasters and calamities of humanity want to invite us to send our compassion and our benevolent energy generously towards the concerned people. Something which should be rather considered normal if our brothers and sister are in need.

I live in Travis’ home town Huntsville, AL and ran in to him at the Modest Mouse/Weezer concert! He was by himself from what I could tell and was walking the opposite direction from me so quickly turned and said “Mr. Taylor!” And turned and looked very confuse as to who was calling him. I introduced myself and told him a loved his first show(?) Rocket City Rednecks and how much I appreciate his work on SWR. I was too shy to ask for a picture and he said thanks and went on his way. Nice guy, seemed very surprised that I recognized him. No one else around recognized him. Guess he is a Weezer fan!

Dish: An modern rendition of Byzantine Sinic Noodle Salad
Ingredients: - 1 lb (450g) Byzantine Sinic-inspired noodles (such as lo mein or chow mein) - 2 cups (500ml) cherry tomatoes, halved - 1 cup (250ml) pitted Kalamata olives, sliced - 1 cup (250ml) pickled vegetables, finely chopped - 1 lb (450g) roasted lamb, shredded - 1 cup (250ml) crumbled feta cheese - 1/2 cup (125ml) extra-virgin olive oil - 1/4 cup (60ml) balsamic vinegar - 2 tablespoons (30ml) honey - 2 cloves of garlic, minced - 1 teaspoon (5ml) chili oil - Fresh mint leaves, for garnish
Ingredients for Lo Mein: - 8 oz (225g) lo mein noodles - 2 tablespoons (30ml) vegetable oil - 2 cloves of garlic, minced - 1 teaspoon (5g) grated ginger - 1 cup (150g) sliced mushrooms - 1 cup (150g) sliced bell peppers - 1 cup (150g) sliced carrots - 1 cup (150g) snow peas - 1 cup (150g) bean sprouts - 1/4 cup (60ml) soy sauce - 2 tablespoons (30ml) oyster sauce - 1 tablespoon (15ml) sesame oil - 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) sriracha sauce (optional) - Salt and pepper to taste - Sliced green onions, for garnish
Instructions:

Cook the Noodles according to the package instructions until al dente. Drain the noodles, rinse them under cold water, and set them aside, or use this recipe. (Follow 2-8 for Instructions on how to cook Lo Mein:
Cook the lo mein noodles according to the package instructions until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan or wok over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and grated ginger, and sauté for about 1 minute until fragrant.
Add the sliced mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots, snow peas, and bean sprouts to the pan. Stir-fry for about 3-4 minutes until the vegetables are slightly tender but still crisp.
In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and sriracha sauce (if using). Pour the sauce over the vegetables in the pan and toss to coat evenly.
Add the cooked lo mein noodles to the pan and toss everything together, ensuring the noodles are well coated with the sauce. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes to heat through.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, adjusting the flavors as needed.
Set off to the side)
In a large mixing bowl, combine the halved cherry tomatoes, sliced Kalamata olives, finely chopped pickled vegetables, and shredded roasted lamb.
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, minced garlic, and chili oil to create a flavorful dressing.
Pour the dressing over the tomato, olive, vegetable, and lamb mixture. Toss gently to coat all the ingredients evenly.
Add the cooked and cooled Byzantine Sinic-inspired noodles to the mixing bowl and toss them together with the other ingredients until well combined.
Sprinkle the crumbled feta cheese over the noodle salad and gently fold it in to incorporate it throughout the dish.
Allow the flavors to blend together for about 10 minutes at room temperature, or refrigerate the salad for a couple of hours if desired.
Just before serving, garnish the Byzantine Sinic Noodle Salad with fresh mint leaves for a vibrant touch.

Indulge in the exquisite blend of Byzantine and Sinic influences with the Byzantine Sinic Noodle Salad.
Story: In 1453, when the city was besieged by Ottoman forces, the Roman leaders, led by Emperor Constantine XI, recognized that their very survival hinged upon a bold and audacious escape from Constantinople.
Taking advantage of their formidable naval fleet, the Romans meticulously prepared for their exodus. Under the cover of darkness on the night of May 29, 1453, they embarked on a treacherous journey through the tumultuous waters of the Mediterranean, navigating past Ottoman patrols and treacherous rocky coasts. Led by their seasoned admirals, such as Andreas Palaiologos and Loukas Notaras, and military strategists like John Grant, the Roman fleet skillfully evaded detection, employing various decoy tactics to confuse and mislead the enemy.
Throughout their harrowing journey, the Roman ships faced numerous challenges, including storms, resource shortages, and the constant threat of attack. However, their collective resolve and unwavering faith in their cause propelled them forward. The fleet consisted of a mix of warships, merchant vessels, and transport ships, commanded by skilled naval officers such as Admiral Romanos Laskaris and Admiral Michael Sphrantzes.
The Romans meticulously planned their escape route, avoiding major Ottoman strongholds and utilizing their knowledge of the Mediterranean's hidden coves and safe harbors. Their objective was to reach the port city of Trebizond, which had long been a stronghold of the Roman Empire. Along the way, they evaded Ottoman naval forces led by renowned Ottoman admiral Baltaoğlu, who tirelessly pursued the fleeing Roman fleet.
As they sailed through the treacherous Bosporus Strait, the Romans encountered fierce Ottoman resistance. The Ottoman navy, aware of the Roman escape attempt, fiercely contested their passage, engaging in naval battles that showcased the Roman fleet's resilience and superior naval tactics. Admirals such as Baltaoğlu, Hamza Bey, and Kemal Reis led the Ottoman naval forces in a desperate attempt to thwart the Roman escape.
In a daring maneuver, the Roman fleet managed to break through the Ottoman blockade, seizing the opportunity provided by a momentary distraction within the enemy ranks. Capitalizing on their naval supremacy, the Romans swiftly sailed across the Black Sea, leaving the Ottoman pursuers behind. The successful escape was attributed to the strategic brilliance of commanders like Admiral Andreas Palaiologos, who orchestrated the decisive victory against the Ottoman fleet.
After a challenging voyage, the Eastern Roman Empire fleet finally arrived in the port of Trebizond. Exhausted but elated, the Romans celebrated their successful escape from the clutches of the Ottomans. They regrouped, repaired their ships, and assessed their resources, knowing that their journey was far from over.
Realizing that the Mediterranean was no longer a safe haven, the Roman leaders devised a bold plan to seek refuge and establish a new home far away from the reach of the Ottoman Empire. Rumors and legends of a distant land called Cathay (China) reached their ears, captivating their imagination and offering the possibility of a fresh start.
With a renewed sense of purpose, the Eastern Roman Empire set sail once again, this time embarking on a voyage of epic proportions. Navigating through uncharted waters and braving the unpredictable nature of the sea, they ventured into the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean.
Their journey led them through treacherous storms, encounters with pirates, and challenges they had never anticipated. Yet, the Roman fleet persevered, driven by their unwavering determination and the hope of finding a new homeland.
After enduring months of challenging navigation, the Roman ships finally caught sight of distant shores in Guangdong in the year 1454, a moment that would be etched as a pivotal juncture in history. Guided by Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, the Romans deftly employed diplomacy and a substantial silver payment to negotiate an agreement with the Ming dynasty. Drawing upon the historical friendship between the Roman Empire and China, they attempted to convince Emperor Yingzong (also known as Zhu Qizhen) and his court officials authorize their settlement and the establishment of a semi-autonomous nation within the confines of Zhejiang.
The Ming government, impressed by the Eastern Roman Empire's technological advancements, administrative expertise, and cultural heritage, agreed to the proposal. The Romans, grateful for the opportunity, established their new capital city, Néos Cōnstantīnopolis (Formerly Hangzhou), which became a vibrant center of trade, culture, and innovation.
Under the leadership of Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, the Eastern Roman Empire quickly adapted to its new surroundings, absorbing elements of Chinese culture while preserving its distinct Byzantine identity. The Romans integrated themselves into Chinese society, embracing local customs and traditions, while simultaneously sharing their own rich heritage with their Chinese neighbors.
Amidst the establishment of this autonomous realm, a beautiful fusion of Roman and Chinese cultures unfolded, not only in politics and architecture but also in the realm of culinary arts. This cultural amalgamation gave rise to an exceptional dish known as the Byzantine-Sinic Noodle Salad, which encapsulates the harmonious blend of Roman and Chinese ingredients along with newly discovered ingredients from the new world. Within this remarkable creation, Byzantine-inspired noodles like lo mein or chow mein intertwine with distinct flavors derived from Chinese and Roman culinary influences.
The Eastern Roman Empire faced a significant turning point in its history once again. A unforseen chain of events started many years prior during the crisis of the Tumu Fortress in 1449 had left the Ming dynasty vulnerable, along with internal rebellions, inter-ethnic conflicts, and financial crises plaguing the empire, and a ever advancing Manchu military, the Eastern Roman Empire started sensing an opportunity, the opportunistic Romans struck a weakened Ming dynasty, led by Emperor Constantine XV Doukas, crushing many rebellions and advancing northward to confront the Manchu military.
Through a combination of superior military tactics, technological advancements, and the rallying cry of reclaiming the ancient glory of Rome, the Eastern Roman Empire emerged victorious. They conquered Beijing, claiming the mandate of heaven, and renamed the city Néa Rhṓmē (New Rome). In a symbolic gesture, they also renamed China as Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn, or more commonly known as The Byzantine Sinic.
The Eastern Roman Empire's conquest of Beijing and the establishment of Néa Rhṓmē as its new capital marked the beginning of a new era. The Romans implemented administrative reforms, blending Roman administrative practices with Chinese governance systems, under the guidance of notable figures like Strategos Alexios Strategopoulos and Logothetes John Kananos, creating a unique blend of Eastern and Western governmental structures.
In the midst of the tumultuous 20th century, the Byzantine Sinic found itself once again embroiled in conflict. During World War II, Emperor Constantine XXVII Komnenos led the empire's valiant resistance against Japanese aggression, facing off against the Japanese puppet state of Great Manchuria. Notable battles such as Neo Trebizond and Wuhan-Thessalonica showcased the empire's unwavering determination, with General Alexios Doukas leading the defense. The Battle of Guangnicomedia, under the command of General Irene Palaiologina, saw the Byzantine Sinic forces courageously fighting against overwhelming odds.
However, a turning point came when the Soviet forces, led by Stalin, entered the scene, shattering Japanese and Manchu strongholds and offering a glimmer of hope to the Byzantine Sinic Empire. At the same time, the American intervention concluded with the historic atomic bombings that ultimately brought the war to its fateful end. During the conclusion of World War II on the second of September 1945, an extraordinary moment unfolded as Emperor Constantine XXVII Komnenos of Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn (Byzantine Sinic), alongside the renowned General Douglas MacArthur, played a pivotal role in keeping a watchful gaze over Emperor Hirohito as he wrote his signature to the instrument of surrender.
Amidst the devastation and turmoil that engulfed the warring nations, Emperor Constantine XXVII Komnenos, as a symbol of resilience and determination, stood side by side with General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in the Pacific. Together, they orchestrated the historic event that would bring an end to Japan's aggressive ambitions.
The end of World War II marked the transformation of the Roman Empire into a Republic, and the beginning of a perpetual Cold War between the Byzantine Sinic Republic and the Soviet Union. The Byzantine Sinic Republic's victory over Maozimus and his rebellion solidified its anti-communist stance, viewing communism as a threat to its independence and sovereignty. On November 6, 1954, the leader of the rebellion, General Maozimus Ziming, was shot down by a brave Roman loyalist. Any remaining Maozist or survivors of the "Transfertus Magnus" flead to Mongolia.
The Byzantine Sinic Republic's staunch opposition to communism and its alliance with Japan and NATO further strained relations with communist nations. Communist Mongolia, led by General Borjigin Khaan, with support from the Soviet Union, became an arch-rival of the Byzantine Sinic Republic. Mongolia sought to dismantle the Byzantine Sinic Republic and establish its own Roman communist regime.
The standoff between the Byzantine Sinic Republic and Mongolia escalated into a series of border conflicts and proxy wars. Notable Byzantine military leaders, such as General Leo Palaiologos and Admiral Anastasios Kantakouzenos, successfully defended the nation's borders and thwarted multiple Mongolian incursions. These clashes, known as the "Byzantine-Mongolian Border Wars," lasted for several decades and shaped the geopolitical landscape of the region.
Throughout the Cold War era, the Byzantine Sinic Republic flourished as a bastion of democracy and economic prosperity. Under the guidance of influential political figures like Prime Minister Theodora Komnena and President Justinian Kontostephanos, the nation implemented progressive policies that fostered innovation, education, and cultural exchange.
The Byzantine Sinic Republic's cultural renaissance brought together renowned scholars, artists, and philosophers from both Byzantine and Chinese traditions. Intellectual luminaries such as Philosopher Eudokia Pallas and Historian Nikephoros Bessarion contributed to the fusion of Eastern and Western philosophies, enriching the intellectual landscape of the nation.
In the late 20th century, the Byzantine Sinic Republic underwent a peaceful transition of power, marking a significant milestone in its democratic development. Prominent political figures like Prime Minister Anna Lascaris and President Andreas Dukas spearheaded the democratic reforms, ensuring a smooth transition of leadership and upholding the principles of freedom and equality.
In recent times, the Byzantine Sinic Republic has solidified its position as a regional powerhouse, harnessing its technological advancements, strong economy, and cultural diversity. The nation continues to play a crucial role in international affairs, fostering diplomatic relations with countries across the globe.
The legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire's escape from Constantinople in 1453 and subsequent establishment in China resonates to this day. It stands as a testament to the indomitable spirit and resilience of the Byzantine people, who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to forge a new destiny.

New Orleans, LA: 6/10
My birthplace. The city is teeming with culture and history that spans over 300 years. Most of the touristy parts of the city are pretty walkable, with added street cars. The French Quarter is full of tourists, but fun, and Uptown, and the Marigny is more laid back, truly something for everyone. The food is amazing and having Mardi Gras off is always a bonus. On the flip side, the crime. It’s never been good but since 2020 it’s been really fucking bad. Carjackings and homicide make the nightly news every day. The streets are also always buckled or full of potholes on account of the city being below sea level. Also the city sits in one of the most hurricane vulnerable areas in existence. Katrina displaced us for a year, and every time we’re in the cone for a storm, everyone that remembers Katrina has PTSD flashbacks.
Gulfport/Biloxi, MS: 7.5/10
This is the closest metro area to New Orleans on the gulf. A lot of people from NOLA have beach houses here, especially in Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian. It’s much more laid back than NOLA and everything here revolves around the water: Fishing, boating, sailing, seafood, etc. Biloxi also has the most casinos between Vegas and Atlantic City. Mardi Gras is a thing here too. The beaches on the mainland are alright, (free, parking everywhere). The water is kinda murky, but there are undeveloped barrier islands 10-ish miles offshore that you can get to by ferry or private boat (which most people here have) and the water there rivals Florida’s. Hurricanes are a problem here too. Katrina absolutely fucked this area up, like worse than New Orleans.
Mobile, AL: 4.5/10
Where I go to college. The city is a big port destination. The downtown area is reminiscent of New Orleans but not nearly as cool. They claim to be home to the oldest Mardi Gras Parade, but it’s much more low budget and less fun than NOLA’s. Local cuisine is good. Crime is pretty bad but could be worse. Outside of the downtown core is basic American suburban hell. Terrible traffic, 6 lane roads lined with strip malls, fast food, and storage facilities. The city is not walkable whatsoever. I got hit on my bike here. Pretty good beaches are an hour away in Gulf Shores with a shit ton of touristy things to do.
Jackson, MS 2/10
This city is basically the Detroit of the South. It’s basically New Orleans if you took everything away except crime and rap music. There’s nothing to do here. The city is economically crippled bc all the white flight gravitated investment to the suburbs, which are a world difference from the city itself. You always play Russian roulette when showering, washing dishes, or drinking tap water bc you never know if it’s contaminated. From 2010 to 2020 the city shrunk more than anywhere else in America with a population over 100k. Nothing redeemable about Jackson.
Atlanta, GA: 5/10
I don’t personally like Atlanta as a sports city that much being a Saints fan an everything, but there’s a shit ton of things to do here. Six flags, aquarium, coke world, Stone Mountain, sports games, you name it. The city does not deserve to be called southern though. Nothing about this city is southern. It’s full of northern liberals that know nothing about Georgia outside of their little bubble. There’s also some pretty rough ghettos on the south side of town too. Traffic is abysmal at best, and stuck for days in the snow on the interstate at the worst. It takes 2 hours to cross the city. Atlanta is close to the mountains though, which is pretty nice.
Nashville, TN: 7/10
I haven’t been to Nashville in a while but I can’t remember a bad trip any time I’ve visited. The downtown is pretty hip. If you like country music, this is Mecca for you. The Cumberland River runs right through the heart of the city, which I’ve rowed with my crew team. Nissan Stadium, where the Titans play, is right across the river from Broadway and is connected by a pedestrian bridge. Outside of the city there’s a lot of lakes and low mountains to explore, but it’s being ever encroached by suburban sprawl.
Baton Rouge, LA: 4/10
I lived in BTR for a year after Katrina. The only things to do here revolve around LSU. No disrespect to LSU tho, games in Tiger Stadium are electric. Joe Burrow is basically Jesus here. There’s a crime problem here but not the same level as NOLA. There’s also a lot of chemical plants around, being on the Mississippi River and all. Traffic is really fucking bad since there’s only one bridge crossing the river so it all gets bottlenecked at rush hour. The city is 90 minutes from NOLA if you get too bored, which you will eventually.
I might do more cities outside of the south, idk yet.

TLDR: I’m in the UK I don’t know how to find any of this out. I don’t remember his birthday or the know the date and cause of death. I only have his name and address. No one will tell me anything and it’s making my grieving process so so much harder I don’t know what to do.
The relationship with my Dad has been frosty. I was being abused by my sisters so I stood my ground with them and refused to attend family functions until they acknowledged their behaviour was abusive. My Dad wasn’t happy with this and felt I should retain my place as the family scapegoat. He stopped talking to me meaning I couldn’t easily retain contact with my Uncle as we live far away. He was sick and a boomer so didn’t use social media. I lost his phone number. Now it’s too late.
The last time I saw him we were supposed to hang out after my Grandads funeral but again - my sisters were being abusive, fighting screaming. I ended up leaving in tears without keeping my promise to him. His face lighting up when I asked him to come with me is the thing I remember.
My Dad answerd the phone to me for the first time in years. We had a conversation like o was a normal human. I said I wanted to grieve and go pay my respects at his home with him as someone hid my uncles death and has stolen his remains. My Dad agreed to see me for the first time in years. Me - a moron I messaged my sisters to ask if they were coming? Suddenly my Dad won’t answer the phone to me. My sisters are telling me I’m “interfering” and I’m not welcome and specifically told me I’m not allowed to know anything that’s happening. I sent my Father a text letting him know I’m still coming to visit him and the grandchildren. I asked when is a good time? After a week of ignoring me his tone suddenly changed back to being aggressive and nasty. He told me I’m not to come see him nor am I allowed see any of my family. I said again - I’m very upset about the death of my uncle, I also had an old friend die too and I’d already booked my (expensive) travel tickets and accommodation to visit. He’s ignoring me again. I feel like it’s only me & Dad that cared about my Uncle at all. They didn’t care at my grandparents funeral and used it as another opportunity for abuse. I’m upset on so many levels right now and have to grieve for him alone.
I’ve been looking for funeral and obituary announcements in his local newspaper and can’t find anything. I know he had friends and a girlfriend but they’re all kinda addicts so - I don’t know how he was treated while he was sick? what cancer killed him? did he know? Did he have a funeral? My uncle and grandparents were the only adults in my life I have happy memories of. They’re the only ones who treated me as a normal kid and not a scapegoat. My sisters were put on a pedestal so don’t appear to really care about them as they weren’t a big part of their life but they meant everything to me and I’m deeply cut up my Uncle died suffering, neglected and alone.
I’m partly writing this just to get it out. I don’t know anyone else that can understand how I feel right now. Also - if anyone knows how can I find out something by myself without any help please let me know. I live about 12 hours away but I’m thinking of going and knocking door to door asking about him to try and find out what happened. I can’t even find a photo of him. I looked on Ancestry.com and couldn’t find anything. All the people who would’ve been able to help me now are dead. I just want some closure.

This was in December of last year.
She had previously tried to reach out to me through an old childhood friend. I asked him to not give her my contact info and he offered to communicate that I received the message.
A few months later she found my Reddit account. I'm pretty sure her finding my account was either due to luck or having paid someone to find me.
She sent me a message via Reddit. It referenced multiple life details she had gotten from reading through my account.
I decided to reply to her message. I thought it would be kind to give her something in writing that explained my perspective, in case it gave her some sort of closure or planted a seed for future reevaluation. Also, to be honest, I was shocked, uncomfortable, and kind of pissed off that she wouldn't just leave me alone.
Here is the exchange. Anything in italics is a note I've added.
Her message to me:
Hey [me], I tried to reach you a few months ago (and reach out every few years). Dad has terminal cancer and less than a year to live, he's wheelchair bound and things are really grim.
Everyone misses you and things are really different than when you left in 2015. I'd love to get coffee with you and have a relationship with you even if you don't want the full family experience. I live in [city] and have a little scruffy dog too. Proud of you for going back to school and having a healthy long term relationship, that's awesome to see and I'm glad you're doing well.
You and your partner would be welcomed with open arms. Time is running out with dad, and I don't know how else to say it but if you ever wanted to reconnect, the next 6 months would be your only chance with him. I know things got bad before you left but I also know he loves you so much and there was some good in there too. I hope you can open your heart to the possibility.
P.S. [SG] lives in [overseas country] and is not here. Grandma is still alive with dementia. [Maternal grandmother's husband] passed a few years ago. Mom is taking care of dad full time and managing the best she can. Here's [dog name] (mom and dad's dog) and [dog name] (my dog).
(Photo attached of dogs)
My response:
I'm sorry to hear about what's going on. The only times your attempts to contact me have gotten through to me is this time and the two times with [childhood friend]. (she tried once through the friend, my parents tried once through the same friend.) I don't wish terminal illness or suffering on anyone, including our parents.
I'm not mad or bitter. This is going to be a long and perhaps upsetting message that I hope helps to give you some closure. Even you if completely disagree with what I say here, please know that it is sincerely what I understand to be true. None of it is intended to be hurtful. I'm also just sort of blasting this out on the keyboard in one go so excuse any confusing phrasing or typos, as well as it being kind of a wall of text.
My fundamental belief that I have had since a couple years before I left - since my very late teens - is that mom has some sort of narcissistic personality disorder and dad enabled her to behave in a way that was abusive, especially towards [SG], throughout our childhood. I think dad additionally has an issue with empathy in terms of extending it beyond those he views as immediately close to him. He has explained basic social and ethical concepts to me in a way entirely framed by explicit self interest. I'm sure if he reads this he will not remember what I am talking about, but I do, very clearly. I think [SG] has spent a lot of time feeling hatred towards you and I because she blames us for what happened to her, when ultimately we were kids and her parents were to blame. And yes it became cyclical with [SG] lashing out at everyone during our childhood, but it was a cycle between a child and two adults. It's not surprising to me that she became such an unstable adult. I felt that you were unable to see things for how they were for whatever reason. I remember trying to explain it to you, I think when you were in your very early 20s, and I had an article printed out describing the dynamic I felt was at play, and you said (not an exact quote but close) 'I don't want to look at this, I like the way I see things right now.' When things got bad I was trying to get everyone to understand my perspective. Nobody did, and I what experienced in response (not from you, but from the rest) was extremely cruel. Then I started to feel unsafe at home with some things that happened with [SG]. I felt that mom and dad were, at best, completely uncaring save for managing the optics of the situation. There were some specific things with mom that felt like she was also putting me at risk. And like always dad was just sort of standing there letting it all happen, because - as he told me explicitly when I confronted him about mom's abuse of [SG]- his marriage has always been more important to him than his children (that is not an unflattering interpretation, but literally what he said).
At the end of the day I didn't feel like I could live the life I wanted to live and be the person I wanted to be unless I moved on and forged my own path. I thought about what a version of mom and dad who didn't have the problems I believed them to have would want me to do. And I knew the answer was to move on.
At this point I don't feel like I'm at a place where l'm comfortable going back on any of this. I feel like if we had a relationship there would be an extreme tension because a cornerstone of who I am at this point is the belief that mom and dad are people - human, not deserving of suffering, etc - but not good people, who probably should not have had kids (although I am obviously glad I exist) and traumatized me in a way I will never fully heal from. I know you love them to death, and as you are saying one is terminally ill.
(translation: in my experience, GC has a deep psychological need to see my parents as wonderful, whereas a foundation of my hard-fought-for mental health is an honest understanding of my parents, so any attempt at a relationship with GC would be at best extremely shallow and more likely end extremely badly. In addition to her personal emotional need to see our parents a certain way, she's so fiercely loyal to our parents that I'm honestly not even sure if her true motivation for reaching out to me was anything more than wanting to do something for them)
Your messages have not been rude or unkind, but - and I'm saying this without an intention to connote any sort of harassment - please leave me alone.
Further communication is not welcome, including this Reddit conversation. Please do not use people I know or used to know as intermediaries. This request also extends to mom, dad, and [SG]. Thank you in advance for respecting my boundaries. (This last sentence was a somewhat dry reference to her claim that she 'hoped she wasn't crossing any boundaries' when she reached out to me through the childhood friend and undoubtedly got the message that I wasn't interested in contact, yet suddenly popped up later messaging me again in a sort of creepy way, what with just inexplicably finding my account and all)
Her response to me:
Good luck [me], I'll always love you and be here if you change your mind. My number is [phone number] and my email is [email]. [SG] by the way was finally diagnosed as severely bipolar at 29, getting on the right medication has changed a lot. (I'm not confident but this feels like a subtle attempt to refute my claim that our parents messed up SG. If so, the refutation neglects to consider that childhood abuse is a huge risk factor for developing bipolar) I wish nothing but the best for you and your life, I'll always be here, and will try not to reach out again.
I didn't reply, waited a few days, couldn't shake the feeling that I had somehow been violated, and consequently deleted my account.
So that's that. I'm not sure why I'm sharing this at all, let alone months later. Knowing that my dad is actively dying, it's hard to be aware of the fact that I am choosing to not reach out. I believe it is the right choice, but that doesn't make it easier. I will not be attending the funeral.
Whether they're evil, or broken, or some third option, I am not obligated to let any of these people into this life that I have worked so hard for, in terms of the person I've become and the people I've attracted, just to let them fucking ruin it.

A
ABABCd
Acarine The Acrid Corpse
All is Known
Alluda Majaka
Altered Beast I
Altered Beast II
Altered Beast III
Altered Beast IV
Alter Me I
Alter Me II
Alter Me III
Ambergris
Am I in Heaven?
Anamnesis
A New World
Anoxia
Astroturf
Ataraxia
Automation
B
The Balrog
12 Bar Bruise
Barefoot Desert
Beginner’s Luck
Big Fig Wasp
The Bird Song
Billabong Valley
The Bitter Boogie
Black Hot Soup
Blame It on the Weather
Boogieman Sam
The Book
Black Tooth
Bloody Ripper
Blue Morpho
Bone
Butterfly 3000
C
Candles
The Castle in the Air
Catching Smoke
Cellophane
Change
Cold Cadaver
Countdown
Cranes, Planes, Migraines
Crookedile
The Cruel Millennial
Crumbling Castle
Crying
Cut Throat Boogie
Cyboogie
D
Danger $$$
D-Day
Deat-Beat
Deserted Dunes Welcome Weary Feet
Digital Black
Dirt
Doom City
Down the Sink
Dragon
Dreams
The Dripping Tap
Drum Run
Dusk to Dawn on Lygon Street
Dustbin Fletcher
Dust in the Wind
E
East West Link
Elbow
Empty
Evil Death Roll
Evilest Man
Evil Man
Evil Star
Exploding Suns
Eyes Like the Sky
F
Fishing for Fishies
Float Along - Fill Your Lungs
The Floating Fire
Flying Microtonal Banana
Footy Footy
Fort Whipple
The Fourth Colour
The Funeral
G
Gaia
Gamma Knife
Garage Liddiard
The Garden Goblin
Gila Monster
Gliese 710
God is Calling Me Back Home
God is in the Rhythm
The God Man’s Goat Lust
Gondii
The Great Chain of Being
Greenhouse Heat Death
The Grim Reaper
Guns & Horses
H
Han-Tyumi, The Confused Cyborg
Hate Dancin’
Head On/Pill
Hell
Hell’s Itch
Her and I (Slow Jam 2)
High Hopes Low
Honey
Homeless Man in Adidas
Horology
Hot Water
Hot Wax
The Hungry Wolf of Fate
Hypertension
I
I am not a Man Unless I Have a Woman
Ice V
If Not Now, Then When?
I’m in Your Mind
I’m in Your Mind Fuzz
I’m Not in Your Mind
I’m Sleepin’ In
Infinite Rise
Inner Cell
Interior People
Intrasport
Invisible Face
Iron Lung
It’s Got Old
J
A Journey to (S)Hell
K
Kepler-22b
K.G.L.W. (Intro)
K.G.L.W. (Outro)
2.02 Killer Year
The Killing Ground
L
The Land Before Timeland
The Last Oasis
Lava
Let it Bleed
Let Me Mend the Past
Life / Death
Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer
The Lord of Lightning
Loyalty
Lunch Meat
M
Magenta Mountain
Magma
Mars for the Rich
Melting
Minimum Brain Size
Most of What I Like
Mr. Beat
Muckraker
Muddy Water
Murder of the Universe
Mycelium
Mystery Jack
N
Nein
N.G.R.I (Bloodstain)
No Body
Nuclear Fusion
O
Oddlife
Oddments
O.N.E.
Ontology
Open Water
Organ Farmer
P
Paper Mâché
Paper Mâché Dream Balloon
30 Past 7
People-Vultures
Perihelion
Persistence
Pipe-Dream
Planet B
Plastic Boogie
Pleura
Polygondwanaland
Pop in My Step
Predator X
Presumptuous
Q
Quarantine
R
The Raid
Rattlesnake
Real’s Not Real
Red Smoke
The Reticent Raconteur
The River
Road Train
Robot Stop
Rolling Stoned
S
Sadie Sorceress
Sam Cherry’s Last Shot
Satan Speeds Up
Sea of Trees
Searching
See Me
Self-Immolate
Sense
Shanghai
Short Change
Sketches of Brunswick East I
Sketches of Brunswick East II
Sketches of Brunswick East III
Sleep Drifter
Sleepwalker
Slow Jam 1
Smoke & Mirrors
Some Context
Some of Us
Soy-Protein Munt Machine
The Spider and Me
Static Electricity
Stoned Mullet
Straws in the Wind
Stressin’
Superbug
Superposition
Supreme Ascendancy
T
Tetrachromacy
Tezeta
This Thing
Time = $$$
Time = Fate
Timeland
Trapdoor
U
Uh Oh, I Called Mum
V
Vegemite
Venusian 1
Venusian 2
Vomit Coffin
W
Wah Wah
Welcome to an Altered Future
The Wheel
Willoughby’s Beach
Work This Time
X
N/A
Y
Ya Love
Year of Our Lord
You Can Be Your Silhouette
Yours
Z
N/A

Hi! F22 here. Graduated college last year, moved back home, and have been a bit out of control with spending. I read the wiki, looked at what I’ve spent in the first half of the year, and tried to put a budget together for the rest of year.
My salary is ~$89,000 and I’ve been taking home roughly $5,500 monthly after taxes. I started working towards the end of last year. I have $17k in savings.
Monthly expenses with new budget and a few explanations after:

Category	First Half 2023	Second Half 2023
Rent	$400	$400
Car	$540	$540
Car Insurance	$180	$180
Phone	$105	$105
Gas	$150	$150
Groceries	$200	$400
Fast Food/Restaurants/Coffee	$375	$75
Clothes	$380	$150
Nails/Haircut/Personal Care	$130	$50
Dry Cleaning/Tailor	$125	$25
Subscriptions (SiriusXM, Amazon)	$20	$20
Toll Road	$45	$45
Fun (Department Stores/Plants/Books)	$130	$100
401K	$0	$410
Roth IRA	$0	$500
Total	$2780	$3180

Rent: I live at home, but pay my family $400 monthly for my bedroom.
Car: The car I’m driving now is technically not mine. It’s in my family’s name and the understanding is that it’s “mine” as long as I pay the monthly payments and eventually give them more on top.
It’s a 2015 4Runner with 100k miles. It’s completely decked out and worth $23-25k. My family has a 2.3% loan on it with $1,800 left. Once it’s paid off (so in 3-4 months), they want me to give them an additional $7,500 to put it under my name. They’re “sort of” giving me the car, they just want what they paid as a down payment back. I can take out another loan, or see if they’re willing to take payments or take $3,750 this year and the other half next year. I’m not sure what to do here and would appreciate advice. I am fine paying them this for the car as I plan to drive it until the wheels fall off and I think getting something more economical (a Camry or Accord with better gas mileage) will cost me more.
Food: The $375 on eating out is partially me eating out a few times a week. It’s also a mix of me paying weekly to take my siblings out to eat.
Clothes/Personal Care: I tend to go overboard here. I work in a somewhat formal setting and didn’t have a decent wardrobe initially. I got several expensive silk blouses, wool pants, expensive shoes, backpack, and suitcase. I get my clothes tailored and spend here and there on more expensive haircuts, getting my nails done before presentations, etc. There is definitely room for me to cut back here.
Other Comments: I pulled all of my credit card transactions to make this monthly breakdown. It doesn’t completely add up to what I’ve taken home. I’ve had a few one time expenses. My uncle passed away earlier this year and since then I’ve spent $4,000 to support the funeral and my cousin with school clothes, sports gear, etc. I also spent $1,200 to replace carpet in two rooms of my family’s house. Lastly, I’ve spent $2,250 on travel/two trips for myself.
My company matches 25% of the first 6% for 401k (I already opened and setup automatically deductions). It vests after 3 years. I also opened a Vanguard Roth IRA but haven’t put anything in yet.
Student Loans: I have $27,000 in federal student loans and my family has a $12,500 parent plus loan I'll pay. These are all on deferment until August 2023.

	Amount	Interest
Personal Federal	$5,640	5.05%
Personal Federal	$6,532	4.53%
Personal Federal	$7,500	2.75%
Personal Federal	$7,500	3.73%
Parent Plus	$12,500	6.28%

Future Goals: I feel overall pretty aimless in life right now. I want to feel more in control of my finances and have goals I'm working toward. I’ve always been interested in FIRE/early retirement. I am also interested in having a condo or my own property in the next few years, but live in a MCOL (but leaning toward HCOL nowadays) city and not sure how attainable it’ll be on my salary alone. I am interested in travel and would like to add in travel savings too. I also feel obligated to help my family when I can (especially my siblings and younger cousin who’s father passed away).
I am not sure how long I will plan to live at home and honestly sometimes can’t take it, but think if I play my cards right it can help set me up for success down the road. Any advice overall is SO SO appreciated, thank you in advance!

Hi! F22 here. Graduated college last year, moved back home, and have been a bit out of control with spending. I read the wiki, looked at what I’ve spent in the first half of the year, and tried to put a budget together for the rest of year.
My salary is ~$89,000 and I’ve been taking home roughly $5,500 monthly after taxes. I started working towards the end of last year. I have $17k in savings.
Monthly expenses with new budget and a few explanations after:

Category	First Half 2023	Second Half 2023
Rent	$400	$400
Car	$540	$540
Car Insurance	$180	$180
Phone	$105	$105
Gas	$150	$150
Groceries	$200	$400
Fast Food/Restaurants/Coffee	$375	$75
Clothes	$380	$150
Nails/Haircut/Personal Care	$130	$50
Dry Cleaning/Tailor	$125	$25
Subscriptions (SiriusXM, Amazon)	$20	$20
Toll Road	$45	$45
Fun (Department Stores/Plants/Books)	$130	$100
401K	$0	$410
Roth IRA	$0	$500
Total	$2780	$3180

Rent: I live at home, but pay my family $400 monthly for my bedroom.
Car: The car I’m driving now is technically not mine. It’s in my family’s name and the understanding is that it’s “mine” as long as I pay the monthly payments and eventually give them more on top.
It’s a 2015 4Runner with 100k miles. It’s completely decked out and worth $23-25k. My family has a 2.3% loan on it with $1,800 left. Once it’s paid off (so in 3-4 months), they want me to give them an additional $7,500 to put it under my name. They’re “sort of” giving me the car, they just want what they paid as a down payment back. I can take out another loan, or see if they’re willing to take payments or take $3,750 this year and the other half next year. I’m not sure what to do here and would appreciate advice. I am fine paying them this for the car as I plan to drive it until the wheels fall off and I think getting something more economical (a Camry or Accord with better gas mileage) will cost me more.
Food: The $375 on eating out is partially me eating out a few times a week. It’s also a mix of me paying weekly to take my siblings out to eat.
Clothes/Personal Care: I tend to go overboard here. I work in a somewhat formal setting and didn’t have a decent wardrobe initially. I got several expensive silk blouses, wool pants, expensive shoes, backpack, and suitcase. I get my clothes tailored and spend here and there on more expensive haircuts, getting my nails done before presentations, etc. There is definitely room for me to cut back here.
Other Comments: I pulled all of my credit card transactions to make this monthly breakdown. It doesn’t completely add up to what I’ve taken home. I’ve had a few one time expenses. My uncle passed away earlier this year and since then I’ve spent $4,000 to support the funeral and my cousin with school clothes, sports gear, etc. I also spent $1,200 to replace carpet in two rooms of my family’s house. Lastly, I’ve spent $2,250 on travel/two trips for myself.
My company matches 25% of the first 6% for 401k (I already opened and setup automatically deductions). It vests after 3 years. I also opened a Vanguard Roth IRA but haven’t put anything in yet.
Student Loans: I have $27,000 in federal student loans and my family has a $12,500 parent plus loan I'll pay. These are all on deferment until August 2023.

	Amount	Interest
Personal Federal	$5,640	5.05%
Personal Federal	$6,532	4.53%
Personal Federal	$7,500	2.75%
Personal Federal	$7,500	3.73%
Parent Plus	$12,500	6.28%

Future Goals: I feel overall pretty aimless in life right now. I want to feel more in control of my finances and have goals I'm working toward. I’ve always been interested in FIRE/early retirement. I am also interested in having a condo or my own property in the next few years, but live in a MCOL (but leaning toward HCOL nowadays) city and not sure how attainable it’ll be on my salary alone. I am interested in travel and would like to add in travel savings too. I also feel obligated to help my family when I can (especially my siblings and younger cousin who’s father passed away).
I am not sure how long I will plan to live at home and honestly sometimes can’t take it, but think if I play my cards right it can help set me up for success down the road. Any advice overall is SO SO appreciated, thank you in advance!

Hi! F22 here. Graduated college last year, moved back home, and have been a bit out of control with spending. I read the wiki, looked at what I’ve spent in the first half of the year, and tried to put a budget together for the rest of year.
My salary is ~$89,000 and I’ve been taking home roughly $5,500 monthly after taxes. I started working towards the end of last year. I have $17k in savings.
Monthly expenses with new budget and a few explanations after:

Category	First Half 2023	Second Half 2023
Rent	$400	$400
Car	$540	$540
Car Insurance	$180	$180
Phone	$105	$105
Gas	$150	$150
Groceries	$200	$400
Fast Food/Restaurants/Coffee	$375	$75
Clothes	$380	$150
Nails/Haircut/Personal Care	$130	$50
Dry Cleaning/Tailor	$125	$25
Subscriptions (SiriusXM, Amazon)	$20	$20
Toll Road	$45	$45
Fun (Department Stores/Plants/Books)	$130	$100
401K	$0	$410
Roth IRA	$0	$500
Total	$2780	$3180

Rent: I live at home, but pay my family $400 monthly for my bedroom.
Car: The car I’m driving now is technically not mine. It’s in my family’s name and the understanding is that it’s “mine” as long as I pay the monthly payments and eventually give them more on top.
It’s a 2015 4Runner with 100k miles. It’s completely decked out and worth $23-25k. My family has a 2.3% loan on it with $1,800 left. Once it’s paid off (so in 3-4 months), they want me to give them an additional $7,500 to put it under my name. They’re “sort of” giving me the car, they just want what they paid as a down payment back. I can take out another loan, or see if they’re willing to take payments or take $3,750 this year and the other half next year. I’m not sure what to do here and would appreciate advice. I am fine paying them this for the car as I plan to drive it until the wheels fall off and I think getting something more economical (a Camry or Accord with better gas mileage) will cost me more.
Food: The $375 on eating out is partially me eating out a few times a week. It’s also a mix of me paying weekly to take my siblings out to eat.
Clothes/Personal Care: I tend to go overboard here. I work in a somewhat formal setting and didn’t have a decent wardrobe initially. I got several expensive silk blouses, wool pants, expensive shoes, backpack, and suitcase. I get my clothes tailored and spend here and there on more expensive haircuts, getting my nails done before presentations, etc. There is definitely room for me to cut back here.
Other Comments: I pulled all of my credit card transactions to make this monthly breakdown. It doesn’t completely add up to what I’ve taken home. I’ve had a few one time expenses. My uncle passed away earlier this year and since then I’ve spent $4,000 to support the funeral and my cousin with school clothes, sports gear, etc. I also spent $1,200 to replace carpet in two rooms of my family’s house. Lastly, I’ve spent $2,250 on travel/two trips for myself.
My company matches 25% of the first 6% for 401k (I already opened and setup automatically deductions). It vests after 3 years. I also opened a Vanguard Roth IRA but haven’t put anything in yet.
Student Loans: I have $27,000 in federal student loans and my family has a $12,500 parent plus loan I'll pay. These are all on deferment until August 2023.

	Amount	Interest
Personal Federal	$5,640	5.05%
Personal Federal	$6,532	4.53%
Personal Federal	$7,500	2.75%
Personal Federal	$7,500	3.73%
Parent Plus	$12,500	6.28%

Future Goals: I feel overall pretty aimless in life right now. I want to feel more in control of my finances and have goals I'm working toward. I’ve always been interested in FIRE/early retirement. I am also interested in having a condo or my own property in the next few years, but live in a MCOL (but leaning toward HCOL nowadays) city and not sure how attainable it’ll be on my salary alone. I am interested in travel and would like to add in travel savings too. I also feel obligated to help my family when I can (especially my siblings and younger cousin who’s father passed away).
I am not sure how long I will plan to live at home and honestly sometimes can’t take it, but think if I play my cards right it can help set me up for success down the road. Any advice overall is SO SO appreciated, thank you in advance!

Hi! F22 here. Graduated college last year, moved back home, and have been a bit out of control with spending. I read the wiki, looked at what I’ve spent in the first half of the year, and tried to put a budget together for the rest of year.
My salary is ~$89,000 and I’ve been taking home roughly $5,500 monthly after taxes. I started working towards the end of last year. I have $17k in savings.
Monthly expenses with new budget and a few explanations after:

Category	First Half 2023	Second Half 2023
Rent	$400	$400
Car	$540	$540
Car Insurance	$180	$180
Phone	$105	$105
Gas	$150	$150
Groceries	$200	$400
Fast Food/Restaurants/Coffee	$375	$75
Clothes	$380	$150
Nails/Haircut/Personal Care	$130	$50
Dry Cleaning/Tailor	$125	$25
Subscriptions (SiriusXM, Amazon)	$20	$20
Toll Road	$45	$45
Fun (Department Stores/Plants/Books)	$130	$100
401K	$0	$410
Roth IRA	$0	$500
Total	$2780	$3180

Rent: I live at home, but pay my family $400 monthly for my bedroom.
Car: The car I’m driving now is technically not mine. It’s in my family’s name and the understanding is that it’s “mine” as long as I pay the monthly payments and eventually give them more on top.
It’s a 2015 4Runner with 100k miles. It’s completely decked out and worth $23-25k. My family has a 2.3% loan on it with $1,800 left. Once it’s paid off (so in 3-4 months), they want me to give them an additional $7,500 to put it under my name. They’re “sort of” giving me the car, they just want what they paid as a down payment back. I can take out another loan, or see if they’re willing to take payments or take $3,750 this year and the other half next year. I’m not sure what to do here and would appreciate advice. I am fine paying them this for the car as I plan to drive it until the wheels fall off and I think getting something more economical (a Camry or Accord with better gas mileage) will cost me more.
Food: The $375 on eating out is partially me eating out a few times a week. It’s also a mix of me paying weekly to take my siblings out to eat.
Clothes/Personal Care: I tend to go overboard here. I work in a somewhat formal setting and didn’t have a decent wardrobe initially. I got several expensive silk blouses, wool pants, expensive shoes, backpack, and suitcase. I get my clothes tailored and spend here and there on more expensive haircuts, getting my nails done before presentations, etc. There is definitely room for me to cut back here.
Other Comments: I pulled all of my credit card transactions to make this monthly breakdown. It doesn’t completely add up to what I’ve taken home. I’ve had a few one time expenses. My uncle passed away earlier this year and since then I’ve spent $4,000 to support the funeral and my cousin with school clothes, sports gear, etc. I also spent $1,200 to replace carpet in two rooms of my family’s house. Lastly, I’ve spent $2,250 on travel/two trips for myself.
My company matches 25% of the first 6% for 401k (I already opened and setup automatically deductions). It vests after 3 years. I also opened a Vanguard Roth IRA but haven’t put anything in yet.
Student Loans: I have $27,000 in federal student loans and my family has a $12,500 parent plus loan I'll pay. These are all on deferment until August 2023.

	Amount	Interest
Personal Federal	$5,640	5.05%
Personal Federal	$6,532	4.53%
Personal Federal	$7,500	2.75%
Personal Federal	$7,500	3.73%
Parent Plus	$12,500	6.28%

Future Goals: I feel overall pretty aimless in life right now. I want to feel more in control of my finances and have goals I'm working toward. I’ve always been interested in FIRE/early retirement. I am also interested in having a condo or my own property in the next few years, but live in a MCOL (but leaning toward HCOL nowadays) city and not sure how attainable it’ll be on my salary alone. I am interested in travel and would like to add in travel savings too. I also feel obligated to help my family when I can (especially my siblings and younger cousin who’s father passed away).
I am not sure how long I will plan to live at home and honestly sometimes can’t take it, but think if I play my cards right it can help set me up for success down the road. Any advice overall is SO SO appreciated, thank you in advance!

Harbinger:

Genres: thriller, scifi, fantasy, war, mythology, space

What is Harbinger really about and who is the messenger of doom? Chapter One Starts with the origins of the Fenshian and the Dochani, it tells of them being of one race. It is an excerpt of a text book written by the main character's ancestors. Dochani Beta refers to the planet that the Dochani came to colonize after several wars fought on other planets, their home world is not known. The Vortex and The Map of the Universe is mentioned so soon in the story, like it is and is not the premise of the book. It mentions the civil war between Dochani on Dochani Beta. War preparations are listed, which includes laying eggs on several million planets. It continues to refer to the Dochani Archives, which are pretty much scattered across the universe. After the civil war, the Dochani are found by the Fenshian and a massacre occurs. Chapter Two starts with hiding in the ocean. The Dochani school system is explained, the Dochani under school is explained, and the Dochani colonies are discussed. Dochani Zeta the planet is introduced at this point in the story. The planet Sevle that the mother of Alexandra, Kenjin, is introduced with the prophesy of destruction for the planet Sevle. With regards to the prophesy, the planet Primus Mortus is mentioned. Kenjin's home planet is mentioned. The Kingdom of Shinra is introduced in the story. Dochani are egg laying beings and as such, this is where Kenjin's Egg is mentioned. The last egg of a Dochani mother, last before her death, gains the previous powers of all of the mothers that had passed, not all Dochani have a last egg before death.

Their death is usually after they lay the egg, not dying of old age and the last birth or laying is not the last before death if they did not die in the laying of the egg. Alexandra is the last egg, or comes from the last egg rather. The hatching may not happen for 2,000 years as this is what happens with Alexandra. Alexandra, after her hatching, spends over 300 years in the town of Bannian on the planet, Sevle. When it is time to leave the town, it is on a ship named Sea Serpent. Chapter Three begins with the storm on the sea. Alexandra is lost and Kalima and her mother and father carry out their things in the kingdom of Shinra. For Sevlin time passes quickly as they do not normally live very long, they die sooner than later. Fast track to Kevlin being a lot older as Kalima tells of her life. Soon we learn of Kevlin's folly and all of his desires to find Alexandra. The mistakes he makes in front of the wrong people. Chapter four begins Kalima's dilemma. She finds her dad dead in his bed, and begins the process of becoming immortal. Then her father's funeral takes place and she is different, and her family is annoyed with Kalima. She is betrayed by her brothers. Kalima has to survive, no matter what. She is thrown into the ocean and finds herself facing things that she never thought that she would. But she still had to find the truth about what happened with her father and his strange death.

Chapter five is all about that ocean view and the shaman that betrays her. Kalima becomes the sentient creature of the sea and then becomes a woman of power with a book that should not exist. There is a major magical accident that sends her to be born from another, on an Earth. She is in an egg of her mother and her mother is born. Chapter six she is born from that mother. Mad science is done on her as she is eventually known as Tika Roma. There is higher tech on this world, like it was at 2500+ AD. Chapter seven she begins to get more powerful. Chapter eight she makes terms with her captors. Later that Earth explodes and she is sent somewhere else. Chapter nine we are back to Alexandra when she went overboard from the ship, Sea Serpent on the planet Sevle. She meets the L'art'o tribe that takes her in, but does not take her in. They are cannibals so they think a little differently. Alexandra learns their customs while a captive. Chapter ten she is tattooed with dots and branded. She is a slave. Chapter eleven she is taught how she is to serve the L'art'o tribes people. At the end of the initiation of being a servant, there is the smoking of the pipe. It brings out the beast within her. After she finds herself on Sortenla, another planet where she eats lily pads. Chapter twelve begins with her back in the L'arto'o tribe, but after being away for fifteen years and many of the tribes people were eaten by wolves or a wolf.

An acolyte, Jentus, takes her in to get supplies for being trained as a hunter. Chapter thirteen begins her hunter training. Basic training is fighting and exercises, an enchanted forest is used to get more out of training in a shorter time frame. It feels longer than it actually is in the real world. The Dochani are explained in the words of her captor, Jentus. Blocks, punches and kicks are explained and worked on. Chapter fourteen begins with the practice sword, a short sword. After some time she is sent into the Enchanted Forest again where she has to survive on grubs and foraging. Shortly after passing through the veil between the real world and unknown world she ends up on another world, a Dochani world. Chapter fifteen she begins mage training with her father, Genshen. Karma is the essence of Dochani magic. There is a training accident and because of stress she finds herself in the in-between assassin world of the wolf. A six hundred thousand year old wolf that no longer exists outside of the realm of the wolf, trains her how to be an assassin. Back in the L'art'o tribe none of them is left and the devourer of worlds that was prophesied to come on Sevle, comes. Fenshian means devourer. Chapter sixteen she is back on Sortenla, the planet. The army structure of the Grand Reach is explained by SilverFox. SilverFox makes his escape from a forward camp with important papers, while the rest of the army fights the enemy. Chapter seventeen is the logistics of various members of the group that peeled off and the defenders that were left behind. The defenders at the forward camp are overrun and only one sergeant survives the attack, as the sergeants were left in charge of fighting the enemy while ciphers are being taken to the king or high ruler.

Tree the scout is caught and the shapeshifter elf is found out as he was one of the sergeants. In the desperate fight or flight run SilverFox tumbles down a hill and runs into Alexandra, or this is the other side of her story being revealed. Tree is caught by the necromancer, the nemesis or one of the nemisises of the story. Chapter eighteen introduces the Magi. Ghast Ogres are the Magi. Alexandra cannot find a source to fuel her magic on Sortenla so she uses blood magic to heal her and SilverFox, binding them together. Her father warned her that this magic can corrupt your karma. It is reported to the king that his son and the ciphers he was carrying, were captured. SilverFox is the son of the king. The Ghast Ogre is rescued by two female elves, the Ghast Orge's soon to be wives, and the shapeshifter elf is found to be the uncle of one or both of the elves that rescue the Ghast Ogre. The necromancer is in a bath house in the city of bone. Scouts report to the king of where SilverFox and the girl is, as the king does not know who she is at this point. Chapter nineteen we are introduced to the city of bone and what takes place there. Betrayed by the only scouts to give the king the message of where SilverFox is, those that were with SilverFox before wait in cells. SilverFox and Alexandra are in a stone room. Within the Gunga Jungle, the Ghast Ogre kingdom, the two elves marry the Ghast Ogre in the Ghast custom. Part of the process is Magi Tattoos. Chapter twenty brings in the necromancer's undead armies. War between the allies and the emperor begin. SilverFox, Alexandra and the others are tortured in the city of bone, while the war is fought on more than a few fronts.

Things get so bad that Alexandra turns into the wolf and kills several of the captors and torturers. Chapter twenty one begins the tea party with two elf lady's after they come to save Alexandra and the rest of those being tortured that were not already dead. After a long talk, training is offered as well as ancient armour said to bond with those that wear it, or kill them if they are not Dochani. Armour that can be summoned in layers, weapons as well made from the same materials. Chapter twenty two begins bow training. Go'gen style of martial arts, the style used by the elves and the Ghast Ogres, is taught to her. Real weapons are used in sparring. Alexandra, SilverFox and their family receive 150 Magi tattooes and are part of the Magi. When Alexandra is 1590 years old, the Fenshian come to Sortenla. Chapter twenty three begins Alexandra's long 20,000+ years of metamorphosis. Afterwards Alexandra is feline with wings and claws and her family is missing. She is still on Sortenla. Hunters are hunting for a feast, the Boggarin is one of the delicacies of trolls. A tiger is hunted, then an Egorack, and of course the Rhagarian Hog. At this time there is not much of the big empires of the past just tribal villages, good trolls, and of course bad trolls. A long table is where they will eat this food after the cooks prepare it. Chapter twenty four finally declares Alexandra as champion, even though she was away for like 25,000 years and so much changed while she was changing. Chapter twenty five begins with the betrothal as all alliances are weddings or marriages.

In this time, the marriage gauntlet is a thing and you run through it when you get married. If you don't make it, you don't get married. Once through it, the marriage alliance happens with the marriage of two tribes becoming one. Chapter twenty six begins the mind trap, a Fenshian trick. Michael Cronin, the necromancer, is still alive after 25,000 years or not as he is just a Lich. The creature that is Michael Cronin is sent into another existence when Alexandra crushes his heart. The war goes on and the Fenshian are destroyed, but in the end Alexandra is hit with a strange black dart and disappears. Chapter twenty seven begins with Nobeard leaving a note for the one to come, which is several thousand years after the disappearance of Alexandra. A small group of bandits with iron gauntlets on their armour and bad trolls are in this time, left over of the enemies before. Tribes and a troll / tribe hybrid from an old alliance exist in this time. They are all descendants of those that fought the Fenshian and the undead so long ago. The Iron Fist are descendants of the emperor's men. Chapter twenty eight is the meeting after the Iron Fist men attacked the village. Allies will be gathered just like what happened more than seven thousand years ago. This is still the planet Sortenla. Dractopus are explained here and Dragon Rats. Of course.

After rest, all go to different areas to gather and form a new city. Chapter twenty nine troll history is explained and the other races on Sortenla as many left for somewhere else. In chapter thirty the great hunt begins like it did more than seven thousand years ago, chapter thirty one is the feast and marriage proposals, chapter thirty two is the journey to the new city. Chapter thirty three is where everyone agreed to meet. As they all travel towards the agreed upon place, Kalima comes down in a great ball of fire. Chapter thirty four they see a black castle in the distance and head towards it. 50,000 plus allies entered the castle and were just gone. On the planet Earth 2150 a Jacob Mathews is tossed a black sphere and disappears from that planet. Jacob ends up on another planet changed from what he was. Chapter thirty five Jacob get's married to the daughter of the Icorn people. The Icorn people begin to get wings again and the Icorn Fortress is moved into. Aqua goblins have to be fought that burn in the daylight. Chapter thirty six starts on the planet Primodia where Delaigda resides. She rides on a black horse through a wall of black and disappears from her world. The'd'r resides on the planet Geh where everyone that touches a black object goes. He is in search of the one.

Delaigda becomes a gladiator of sorts on the planet Geh. Chapter thirty seven brings a few heroes together. The heroes are pursued. The underground and the syndicate are opposing factions. Chapter thirty eight the heroes think of the past. The syndicate is explained. The underground is explained. Chapter thirty nine is the vortex and what it means with regards to Alexandra. Thorinjian, on the planet Khangle, encounters a black sphere and it sends him to the planet Geh. He ends up saving the boss of the underground and makes a deal with her. Orc Carcass Tavern makes its first appearance as Thorinjian has visions induced by the singer. Alexandra awakes in a Lagoon not knowing who she is. Chapter forty we learn of the keeper of the Lagoon. Alexandra undergoes training, and also training within dreams. She get's sick from not knowing herself and ends up at the Ork Carcass Tavern. Chapter forty one the doctor arrives to treat Alexandra.
Book can be found here Harbinger

I feel completely sick and heartbroken.
My 4 yo son has been struggling with escalating behavioral challenges at school. It took us a while to get him into a play therapist, but when we did she immediately flagged to us that we needed to take him to an OT for sensory evaluation, stat. So we did, and it turns out he's got a bunch of serious sensory integration issues.
Daycare is now saying if his behavior isn't better by the end of June he'll need to go to a school that is "more prepared to help him." We love this daycare, and my son has lots of wonderful friends there, so this is breaking my heart. My husband and I both work, so getting our son to and from all these appointments (and picking him up when he gets sent home) is taking a toll on both of our careers. Both sets of grandparents live several hours away, and can't come help when shit hits the fan.
But the cherry on the shit sundae is that we were supposed to take a grownup vacation at the end of this week. This was going to be our first vacation since having kids— so our first non-wedding/funeral trip in about 5 years. But with my son's issues and his recent OT diagnoses, plus all the therapy, we have to keep everything in his life calm and non-disruptive, which means no trip. We canceled the vacation. And now my BIL, who called up a friend and got us reservations at a fancy restaurant in the city we were going to, is mad at us because (from what I understand) he asked a friend to do us a favor and now we're "flaking."
My in-laws have been mostly awful through this whole process. When I asked for help at the beginning of this (when my son first started getting sent home regularly) my MIL told me that my son was having behavioral problems because of how I parent him— too much screen time, letting him play "violent" video games with me (jfc lady, it's Zelda, not Call of Duty), all that nonsense. The in-laws were supposed to come and watch the kids while we were gone, but now that the trip has been canceled they're not coming out to help (even though we're both DROWNING) and they've even asked us to bring the kids out to their house... so we can "get away"... even though disruptions to our son's routine and environment are exactly the thing we're trying not to do?? Meanwhile, my parents can't come down and help us because they're busy with my sister, who's about to get out of rehab, and my mom has a bunch of health problems that prevent her from being able to care for the kids right now. But at least my family is trying and being supportive, whereas my husband's family is making us feel like shit at every turn.
I just. I'm so tired. And I'm so sad. My little boy is so wonderful and sweet and I'm dying watching him struggle, and I just want one person to give us a hug and say "I'm sorry, this is going to be OK."
Help me, Bromos. Anyone been through something similar?

Today is my father's funeral. We were estranged for about three years due to my mum (Big Al, we'll call her) Sadly the family dynamic is pretty toxic due to Big Al's personal trauma and possible mental health diagnosis that has yet to be declared.
Long story short, Big Al kept father's cancer under wraps. That was, until it was so far gone my own cousin was wondering where I was when Dad was literally on his death bed. Reassurance to the empathetic: I got to see him about four maybe five days before he passed on last Wednesday. As my familial unit was still trying to keep things from me, I looked up his obituary after my cousin informed me he passed.
Sadly I found out another name was dropped in the last paragraph of the obituary...in a section asking dad to say Hello to the other passed on relatives. That's where I found my Nan's name. Just sitting there. So...now I'm grieving two deaths. No I did not attend the funeral. Even though I wanted to, to hear some sweet heartfelt stories of my father...but after finding out about Nan through my father's obituary..., I just couldn't bring myself to go. My immediate "family" clearly is too much of a Big Al cult to properly care...and I wasn't about to deal with any further drama or lies about me if I did go.
So my question is: Are there other ways to honor the dead if I'm not present?
Please be kind. I'm not a bad person. One of my Thursdays were ruined and I found out that I'm down two people that I truely loved this past week. I'm already in the thick of it fam...

Taylor funeral home obituaries phenix city al

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Harbinger: