I had three things on my mind walking home.
Firstly, figuring out how to get a ride back home. My best guess was that I was a good thirty minute drive from any type of civilization. There was a small possibility a car might come along from across the distance, but the chance they were heading in the same direction I was, was even slimmer.
I mean, I could probably manage to hotwire a car back at the farmhouse. But I didn't want to go back there. Not yet.
The second thing on my mind was my lack of shoes. The rocks were tough and sharp under my feet, scraping them raw with every aching footstep. I had settled on walking on the muddy, yet less painful, grass on the side. But I still wondered why. Of all the thing the man at the table could've taken from me, he took shoes.
It was a pretty clear answer, however. Mental games. He hires someone to drop me off in the middle of nowhere, with no feasible way of getting back. He knew the first thing I'd want to do is leave. So he took my shoes. He gave me two options, and he wanted to make one that displeased him hurt me, even if it was only in a small, petty way.
Mental games.
The last thing was that I had messed up. Badly. I had continually played into the man at the table's hand. He had always been two steps ahead of me and in hindsight, it was foolish of me to go confront him. I suppose I had visions of bravado, and of revenge, but all I had to show for it was one less arm, and a dead friend.
I can admit that I shouldn't have done that. But I can also change. One short phone call to the police, and I'd get rid of this nightmare. I had an address. I had a confession. I had evidence. And I had made up my mind. No longer I would face all this by myself.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed 911. No service. Great.
I continued walking for another twenty minutes, before I heard the roar of a car engine behind me. I turned around. There was a car peeking over the horizon, coming from where I came from, and going the direction I was going. Perfect. It was an old blue Chevy, that rumbled across the gravel, kicking up a plume of dust as it went.
I stuck my thumb out.
In that moment, I probably didn't look like someone you'd want to pick of the road, with missing shoes and only one arm, and all. But there was no harm in trying. I was hoping it was a kind farmer from hereabouts, heading to the main town to do some weekly shopping. The Chevy made its way to me, and I saw the driver eye me up and down, before pulling onto the shoulder of the road.
I opened the door and hopped into the passengers side, thanking the driver. He shifted his position to look at me. Well, rather look past me. He had short, cropped hair, three-day stubble, and a faraway look in his eyes, as if he couldn't rest his gaze, or if he was always searching into the distance.
It was the paramedic, from earlier.
I opened the door and got out. I wasn't doing this again. I would rather walk home. The paramedic drove forward a bit, cutting me off from the road, so that I would have to walk around his car to go forwards. I stopped walking. The paramedic got out of his car.
"Hey, Jonathan." He said, waving.
I didn't respond.
He moved forward towards me and extended a hand. I didn't accept it. He held it there for an uncomfortably long period of time, before placing it back by his side. "Look. We got of on the wrong foot here. The name's Michael. It's a pleasure to meet you again."
"The pleasure's all yours." I said, dripping with distaste.
He looked forward, his gaze shifting in and out of focus. "So. . .uh. You called 911. I can't let you do that."
"How did you know that?" I questioned.
He shrugged. "GPS tracker. In your arm. Shows us your location, and interferes with phone signals as well. Took the liberty of inserting it when you were out cold."
It wasn't a service signal problem, then.
He shifted position, and leaned against his car. "So, I'm going to set it to you straight. Come back with us. You obviously can't be trusted to not go back to the police. Let's make this fair. We're not here to hurt you. You said you'd work for us. Come back, Jonathan."
"And how would you stop me from going?" I said, tensing up for a fight.
He shook his head, looking hurt. He grabbed his keys from his pocket, and pressed a button connected to the keychain. I fell down in pain, as a sharp buzzing sensation shook my body, the intensity increasing ever few seconds.
Michael let go off the button. "I forgot to mention. The tracker also doubles as a. . .safety precaution. You just experienced setting three. Trust me, you wouldn't like setting eight." He tapped his eyes. "Messes up your internal hardware, as I'm sure you've noticed. Setting ten straight up kills you."
I automatically looked at my right arm. Inside of it, somewhere, was a small death machine.
"So, Jonathan. Will you come back?"
I didn't have much of a choice.
The drive back was uneventful, and spent mostly in silence. Every time Michael tried to start a conversation, I brushed him of with one word answers. I wanted to make it clear I didn't want to be here.
He pulled up the small driveway towards the farmhouse. The man at the table was sitting on the porch waiting for me. He knew I was coming. He tells me I have a choice in whether I leave or not, but I never really did. The illusion of choice.
Mental games.
He stood up to greet me as I got out of the car. "Jonathan! You're back! I am so glad to see you!" He waved me inside. "Come on in. I've got so much to tell you! The others are eating breakfast."
I walked in with him, towards the dining room where I had first met him. Seated around the table, there was a large group of nineteen people eating bacon and eggs, and various other breakfast items.
I knew most of them.
There was Sgt Langley, slathering some butter on bread. She smiled and waved at me as I came in.
Eddison was sitting beside her, pouring milk into a glass. He turned away from me, not wanting to look me in the eyes, I suppose. He was embarrassed to be here.
There was various other people I had seen in my time in the field,. Other paramedics and police officers, politicians, journalists, doctors and surgeons. All sharing a pleasant meal together. In the house of a murderer.
The man clapped his hands from behind me. "Ok, everyone! Let's make Jonathan feel welcome around here. He's the latest Keeper, but we're still expecting many more"
"Welcome, Jonathan." A unison of voices said.
I scanned the room, my throat dry and constricted. This was too much.
The man walked away and beckoned me towards him. He continued to walk through the house, pointing out every room, and giving a rundown of the layout. A kitchen, two living rooms, and three bathrooms spread across two stories. There was also a couple of bedrooms inside, but it seemed to me everyone was sleeping in tents outside.
He then took me down to the basement. "This is where the magic happens." He said, with a wink.
It was as I left it. A large operating table covered in dried blood filled the middle of the room. It was surrounded with various machinery, and tools. It was a stark contrast between a sterile IV machine on one side, and a rusted saw hanging of a nail on the other. And in the middle of it all were cameras, set up on tripods around the room.
I inspected one more closely. "What are the cameras for?" I asked.
The man chuckled slightly. "How else do you think I get the money to pay for all of this?"
I turned around to face him, the cogs clicking in my head. "You. . .sell videos of people being tortured."
He smiled. "You get it. Torture porn is extremely popular in some places of the internet. It's not the main reason I do this, of course. But it helps the cause. The video of your arm being sold, for example, was sold for just shy of five thousand." He clasped his eyes behind his back, seemingly very pleased with himself. "I cut paid to cut off a few legs, and then I have the money to cut off more than just legs. It's an endless cycle. It's perfect. You've seen firsthand the fruits of this system." He nodded towards the door on the side, still marked with elephant.
He continued. "That's where I keep my work-in-progresses. Of course, it's empty now. Which is a shame. He was shaping up to be my best elephant yet. No matter, we've got a cat picked out and coming in soon."
I shuddered at the way he talked about Thompson with such blasé. As if what had happened to him was a natural, everyday occurrence. It sickened me. There was no way somebody could do this all day, and believe themselves to be good.
There was something else as well, burning in the back of my mind. "You said before that the night my sister was kidnapped, she was doing something that I didn't know. What was it?"
He was silent for a moment. "How close were you with your sister?"
I shrugged. "Close enough. We talked about once a month, and came over every Christmas."
"Do you know what she did for work?"
"Yeah. She was studying something. Some sort of advanced anesthetic. She never worked it out, however."
"She did." He simply said. He waited for me to process that before continuing. "I met Alice on an online forum. From the beginning, she fascinated me. She talked about how the world was corrupt and poisoned by humanity, and her ideas for rebirth and restoration. She had plans, Jonathan. So many plans. Everything you see here is a result of her work. We met up at one point and clicked. She was perfect. She was smart. And she was mine."
"Then. . .why did you kill her?" I asked.
I could see his eyes clouding up, as if he was on the verge of tears. "Her anesthetic didn't work as intended. Instead of removing pain, it increased it. The way it truly works is beyond me, but even a little dose causes the most unimaginable pain. It feels as if your body is being removed from the inside and replaced with fire, atom by atom. Death would be preferable. But that's the thing, the anesthetic one small side-effect. It's downright impossible to die when the effects take hold. You just have to endure through the pain."
"So all the people I saw. . .?" I let my question trail of.
"It's easy to manipulate someone's body when they don't have the strength to retaliate, nor the capability to die." He paused, his body quivering with each shaky breath. "Alice wanted to be the first. She wanted to be the pioneer as the world transitioned into her vision. I begged her not to, as there were other, more suitable candidates. But she insisted.
And so we staged a kidnapping. There was no evidence because there was no struggle. There was nothing. She came to this farmhouse, and was the first person to be operated on that table. I spent years placing toothpicks in her skin, while she was drugged up under her special anesthetic. She pushed through the pain, and continued to talk to me. Sharing ideas that I would have never thought possible.
She told me to find others. In places of power. And if they wouldn't join willingly, then find a way to force them. Soon enough, they would come to realize we're working for the benefit of humanity. She told me to create animal-human hybrids to begin with. An evolution of our species. And the last thing she told me, before I laid her to rest in a park, was to find you. To hire you. To change your vision. And here you are."
I stood in silence. I, in fact, didn't know what to say. Everything that I though I knew about my sister was shattered in an instant. It was possible the man was lying. There was no way she really was a some sort of insane fanatical, hell-bent on torturing people.
It just wasn't the person I knew.
And yet, everything made sense. I didn't want to believe him, but I didn't see any way that I couldn't. He was right, and I knew it.
The man looked back at me. "Come, Jonathan. I've got one more thing you need to see."
He led me up, out of the basement, and through the back door. He led me past a large vegetable garden, and rows upon rows of tents, most of them unoccupied.
They were expecting many more.
I followed him past a fireplace, with upturned stumps placed in a circle around it, to the large barn behind the farmhouse. It was painted a classic red with a sloping roof, and white barn doors. I could hear various noises emanating from inside, different loud sounds, moans, and scrapes, seemingly as if a large machine was inside.
Or a large number of people.
"This," The man said, gesturing at the barn. "Is my crowning achievement. My life's work. It is the beginning of the vision that Alice had for the world. This is where your induction will take place, and you will become a fully fledged Keeper. You will learn to be a bringer of justice, and a waymaker into the new world."
He walked in front of me, and opened the large doors., letting me take a glimpse inside. It was dark and musky. "Welcome, Jonathan." He exclaimed. "To the human zoo!"
I stepped inside.
The smell hit me like a tidal wave. It smelled strongly of blood and fetid remains that permeated the air like a blanket. It gave me a nauseous feeling, and sent my head whirling, as it tried to breathe in clean air. It was no use. I felt a rush of bile spill out of my stomach and into my throat. I turned to the side and threw up onto the floor. And judging by the mess down there, I was not the first.
There was rows upon rows of cages, all lined up from wall to wall. In each cage there seemed to be. . .someone, and by the looks of it, most of them were already dead. Each cage was labeled with a different creature name. There was a worm, who had all of her limbs removed, and seemed to have segmented body parts every couple of inches, and was forced to crawl around by using her head as an anchor.
There was various dogs and cats, long needles inserted into the cheeks in place of whiskers, they had everything below their elbows and knees removed, forcing them to walk on all fours. Other human-animals had parts of their bodies elongated or exaggerate, turning them into various creatures. It didn't seem possible to look like that and live.
All of the inhabitants of the human zoo were filthy and ragged, cramped up in small living conditions and forced to eat small portions of what looked to be rotting meat, only fit for animals. When I walked past, they looked up at me with sorrowful, pleading eyes. They wanted freedom, just like Thompson. They were broken and they were hurt. But they seemed resigned to the fact that they were going to live out the rest of their lives here. There was no resistance in any of them. There was no struggle. They had all given up.
This place was hell.
It was hard to think clearly, the smell continued to invade my brain, and dampening my vision with black patches. My heart was pounding in my chest, a result of the horrors that laid before me. I couldn't breath. I couldn't move. This was all too much.
The man continued walking forwards. "This is where I hold all current specimens, before I decide to release them into captivity. And this is where you and all the other Keepers will work, feeding the specimens, continuing their evolution, and cleaning their chambers."
My blood boiled. He didn't care about the pain he caused. Nothing fazed him. "You're treating people like animals! This is inhumane!" I yelled at him.
He looked at me with disappointment. "Look at them. They are animals. This is all for the cause, anyways. Later on they will be glad to learn that they were the first steps in the evolution of humanity."
He led me forwards, until we ended up at a massive hole in the floor, in the middle of the barn. It was about ten meters in diameter, and the bottom seemed to stretch downwards for five or so meters. There didn't seem to be any way in or out.
The man spoke. "This is where every Keeper before you has proved themselves worthy of Keeper status. Your induction begins now."
I felt a large shove on my back. The momentum carried my body over the edge of the hole, with my feet quickly following suit. In an instant reflex, I covered my head with the nook of my remaining arm, and leaned forward, hoping to catch the grunt of the fall on my knees, before rolling away.
I landed with a large thump, which sent volts of pain rippling through my body, and spread me flat across the ground. I laid there, still. The breath was taken out of my lungs, and my knees felt if they had shattered. I tilted my head up, to get a clearer look at where I was. A small, dusty hole, in the middle of a barn where people went to die. Nothing special about it.
There was movement in the corner of my vision.
It was something circling me, walking with a slight strut, and over-the-top movements, as if it was hard to stay balanced. Every step it made caused a sharp clacking sound to echo throughout the hole. I slowly got up, despite the pain. I swiveled my body to the side to get a better look, even if it was under dim light.
The first thing that made itself clear was that the thing had no neck. Its head ended at its shoulders. The second thing was that it had no eyelids. It stared at me with large, unblinking eyes, taking in every movement. The third was the sharp, steel talons that protruded from every fingertip.
And then it opened its wings. It spread its arms out wide, to reveal a quilt-work of human flesh stitched together under its arms. It looked at me for a few moments, head cocked, arms in a display of aggression, then it swiveled its head around. A full one hundred-and-eighty degrees. I was looking at a human owl.
The owl lunged forward, talons aimed directly at my chest. I lunged to the side, fearing for my life once more since the past few days. I wasn't fast enough. Its talons ripped through my clothes like butter, and left three large gashes across my chest. I ignored the pain, and immediately turned around to face the owl. The penalty for letting my guard down would be death.
The owl was still facing the inner wall of the hole. It twisted its head around to face me, its large eyes looking at me with an intense hatred. I panicked, and hopped backwards, aiming to avoid another attack from the owl. But then I came to my senses. If I was going to survive, I knew I had to make a move right away. The longer I tarried, the weaker I would become, and the lower my chances of living through this would become.
I threw myself at one of its wings, hoping to bring the owl down. It avoided me. In a lapse of judgement, I forgot to realize there was still a human under all of that, wanting to avoid death as much as I did. I rolled backwards, and leaped to my feet. The owl lunged at me again, talons extended. My first instinct was to dodge once more, but I suppressed it. The owl would be expecting that. I instead waited until the last moment, and threw myself into the steadily approaching owl.
I caught it off guard.
The owl flailed backwards, stumbling under my weight. I dug my fingers in the small gap between its head and shoulders, and started tearing of the stitches that held them together. The owl continued to thrash, realizing what I was doing. It dropped to the ground, and tried to claw me of its back, but couldn't reach because of its wings.
I continued to tear. One after another. I could feel the tension loosening. Another couple minutes of this, and I would be home free. The owl's movements started to decrease in intensity, and hit seemed to realize the battle had been won. I removed on last stitch, and the rest of the owl's head came of easily, dripping with blood.
I threw it to the ground and collapsed, exhausted.
I woke up in one of the bedrooms. My chest hurt like hell. I sat up in the bed, and pulled the covers away. There was three large scars across my chest, painful and tender to the touch, but obviously treated by someone. I looked outside a nearby window. It was the dead of night. I couldn't hear any noises inside, so I assumed everyone was outside in a tent, sleeping. Everyone except the man. He was sitting in the chair, and simply watching me sleep.
Mind games.
He looked at me as I stood up and raised an eyebrow. I began to walk over to him, despite the pain. He clasped his hands together. "Well done. You are now a Keeper."
I continued my slow journey.
"You asked me once what my main purpose was in doing all this. It's for everyone. You. Me. All the peoples of earth. Humanity is the highest lifeform. I am treating it as such. With my guidance, and your help, humanity will enter a new era. A new evolution."
I still made my way towards him. Everyone's outside. I'm alone with him.
"This was your sister's vision, and then it became mine. I am eager to see it become yours." He tensed up in his chair slightly. "This is not the only human zoo out there, we have spread our philosophy, and we are many. But go ahead, kill me. Continue the cycle. You will follow your sister's footsteps and lead the world into salvation."
I didn't think about it twice. I grabbed a vase of the bedside table and ran at him, weapon raised. There was a flash of fear in his eyes. Clearly, he didn't actually expect me to do that. He wasted precious seconds fumbling for his key chain.
I swung the vase onto his head.
He pressed a button on his keychain.
The jolt of electricity struck my entire body. The pain was so much worse then I had previously experienced. Each separate buzz sent my entire body thrashing against itself. I tried to push past the pain, and get a hold of the button, but I couldn't move by myself, let alone think.
Setting ten will straight up kill you.
My vision turned a searing white. I could feel my organs vibrating within myself. The pain was endless and unrelenting. This was how I went. The electricity was frying my insides, turning it into a liquid mush.
And then it stopped. It took a while to regain my vision, but even then it was unfocused and blurry. The man was still lying on the ground, breathing but unconscious. Pieces of the vase were still ingrained into his skull, sending small trickles of blood down his face. I removed one and slit his throat. It wasn't the death he deserved, considering all that he did.
But it was what he got.
I stumbled out of the room, to see Eddison pouring what looked like to be gasoline on the floor. I tensed up, ready for another fight. He put the gasoline can down and put his hands up.
"Hey, man. You can relax. I'm the one who helped you out there. You would have died if it wasn't for me."
I scanned his face, and I believed him. I put my fists down.
He continued. "I hated it here as well, but I could never find an opportunity to strike back. What you did was very brave."
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Blowing up this fucking hellhole." He simply said.
We worked together for a few hours, silently and in the dark. He had almost finished with the farmhouse, so we moved onto the barn, and finished with the tents. We ended up at Michael's car, and Eddison handed me a lit match. Signifying that he wanted me to do it.
I didn't give a damn anymore. Everything could burn.
I threw the match into a puddle of gasoline, and quickly drove of with Eddison, before the small fire turned into a raging inferno. We were about two miles out when the night sky was lit up in a burst of white light.
It was done.
Eddison turned to me. "Where are we going, then?"
I gazed into the rearview mirror, watching the horizon be engulfed in flame. There was the wail of firetrucks moving in from the distance. Someone must have called it in. I looked forward, at the gravel road in front of me, pondering the question.
"Home."
x

Background and severity of my illness:
I lived with severe ME/CFS for almost 2 years that left me not only housebound but largely bedbound. For months at a time the most I could do was get to the bathroom – sometimes having to take a break on the way. The illness fitted all the criteria of ME/CFS and was defined by post-exertional malaise which occurred if I tried to do a great number of things, including watching films, chatting for any length of time on the phone etc. Even sitting at a table to eat would trigger the malaise. I was only able to tolerate visits from a friend rarely and was cared for by my mum who cooked all meals etc. (I am an adult who previously lived independently and was going to the gym 2 hours a day etc.) Doctors I talked to were not helpful and had no insight into the condition other than diagnosing it as ME/CFS. I had many rounds of blood tests which were basically clear and even a brain MRI which was also clear. The only ‘treatment’ I was offered was CBT therapy which I refused because I was not depressed (other than sometimes struggling with my feelings about being ill) and in any case would not have had the energy to do therapy, even if it was available over zoom from my bed. Aside from the general crushing fatigue and post-exertional malaise I also had difficultly sleeping, which is another typical symptom. I suffered from some cognitive dysfunction during the illness which left me struggling to read things of any length or respond to written messages from friends. Often I also suffered from light and noise sensitivity. Anyone who has suffered from this condition will know how very lonely it can feel and how frightening it can be to not know how long it might go on for, especially when one believes there is no treatment. While ill I got most of my information about ME/CFS from the ME Association who collate research on a regular basis that supports a ‘medical model’ of the illness: that is, it flags up and sometimes funds research relating to finding an underlying biological/physical cause with the hope that one day a drug based treatment (or something akin to that) will be available to sufferers.
When things started to look more hopeful:
At some point, I became disheartened with the healthcare system as a whole since I felt so abandoned by doctors and I thought to myself that even if they eventually found a physical cause for ME/CFS that it would probably mean getting put on a drug with lots of side effects that I would have to take for the rest of my life… It was at this point that I started looking into alternatives that were not based in mainstream medicine. I looked up ‘functional medicine’ which is a more holistic approach to the mainstream medical model with functional-medicine-practioners considering the body as a whole system, rather than a bunch of individual organs and limbs, and the mind and body as being connected. Something that had been repeatedly dismissed by NHS Drs I’d spoken to was that I had mildly raised ALT levels (this relates to liver function). I had been told that this wouldn’t have anything to do with my ME/CFS and was not unusual. However, after looking into functional medicine, I decided to take a supplement to support my liver function since it is part of the body’s ‘system’. I took artichoke extract which I believe was helpful. I also noted that I had been suffering from mild constipation for some time and started taking a digestive enzyme supplement with meals: it took about 24 hours for my tummy to get used to this but after the short adjustment period my digestion seemed much healthier. It seems very important to me in the treatment of ME/CFS to consider the body as a whole system and not ignore minor issues, as they can be clues to what your body needs.
The Importance of Environment to Healing:
While ill I’d had to leave my flat and had moved into a spare bedroom at my mum’s place. Unfortunately this room was quite sparsely decorated, with not very much daylight and it looked out onto a public walkway where local youths often gathered and engaged in anti-social behaviour. In short, it was not a particularly relaxing space to be in. I was lucky that eventually, after many months, another room in the house was made available and this room was nice, quiet and had a lovely view of trees, as well as access to a balcony. Before this, I had not been able to get outside at all. I remember thinking to myself when I moved into the new room ‘this feels like a space I could heal in’. Since the mind and body are, after all, connected this was very important.
The Beginning of Recovery:
In almost two years of being ill I’d never spoken to a chronic fatigue specialist since I could only get to see one privately and this was expensive. However, it came about that I did talk to a private specialist over zoom – a Dr from a fatigue clinic in London – and he said to me that he had treated people over zoom and they had made a full recovery. He seemed credible to me but I was completely baffled as to how this could be true, seeing as my understanding was that it was an incurable condition. He said he had seen recovery in people with ME/CFS as severe as mine and that it was important to be hopeful. For some reason, this simple thing resonated with me and I reflected to myself that I did believe that I could get better… He also told me, which really confused me, that nobody gets better from ME/CFS just by resting and that he would advise me to sit on a chair on the balcony for a few minutes each day and build up tolerance. After our conversation I was still really confused as to why that advice would work to build up tolerance, but thought to myself that it must be both physical and mental tolerance. Following his advice, I went to sit in a chair – noticing that my symptoms were rising – and thought to myself that his advice sounded a bit like the way you would treat a phobia – by exposure therapy… It was then that I experienced a kind of eureka moment! What if, I asked myself, your body had decided for whatever reason that everything in the world was dangerous? I thought about various ways in which that might potentially come about. What if you’d had a virus and your body decided that to protect you it would maintain the symptoms of illness rather than risk you going out and being exposed to more viruses? What if you’d been so burnt out at work or struggling in a relationship or been just ‘keeping going’ for so long that your body decided to force you to stop after you had repeatedly ignored warning signs that you were becoming overwhelmed? What if you were a really high achiever, someone who didn’t let life get in the way of your ambitions, or an athlete who worked passed pain – and your body decided it needed you to stop and give yourself time? I can understand if this doesn’t resonate with you, but all I can say, is that while I was having these thoughts I realised that my symptoms were abating. For the first time in almost 2 years I felt that I could sit in a chair for as long as I wanted.
Ongoing Recovery:
At first I was really incredulous that just telling myself when symptoms arose, "It’s ok. You are safe. It’s ok to stand up and walk across the room. It’s ok to go into the kitchen. You are safe" etc. was really helping. But after a few days of saying this to myself every time symptoms arose, the progress was undeniable. I was able to do things that I hadn’t been able to do for all the duration of the illness. Within 3 days of reassuring myself that I was safe every time symptoms arose I was able to leave the house by myself, get a taxi and go visit my brother. It was astonishing. Now, here comes a hitch… soon after these big leaps forward in what I could do… and the really huge rush of excitement that came with it, I began to feel manic: I now had too much energy and couldn’t sleep at all! After the mania had passed, with some helpful medical support, I began to experience anxiety: my anxiety related to the relationship I was now well enough to go back to, and other family relationships, and the worries I had about how I was going to cope with various things in my life that I hadn’t had to think about while I was ill. It was at this point that I realised that in fact the illness had been ‘protecting’ me from dealing with certain aspects of my life which I found overwhelming. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a physical illness: it very much was in my experience of it. The illness was in fact the result of being overwhelmed in some respect. These things had not been conscious before and I had not greatly worried about them during my illness, but now they had come into consciousness. I share this because I am certainly in a better position now, supported by a therapist and working through my issues, which are not insurmountable, than when I was ill and bedbound. It’s been about 6 weeks now since I first regained most of my mobility and I have been visiting friends and going for proper walks and even doing active yoga from home while I work on my fitness. I am also pacing myself more sensibly than when I first realised I could engage with my condition on a mental level with efficacy. I now know that being kind to myself as I adjust and going at a slower pace is important.
Now that my perspective has shifted away from the purely medical model, I have found it interesting to watch videos about other people’s recovery stories. Everyone’s seems to be a bit different while they find what works for them. My recovery story is only my experience and obviously everyone’s journey towards ME/CFS recovery is unique to them and totally valid. It’s about finding what works.
Here is a link to a channel where lots of people share their recovery stories, in case you find it of interest: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNX_MIJ_pJAa_wpF1y9p9acM3cn443B0t
I’d also like to share this meditation link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiMQBfetkFbY6wuEptrmODXv50s-mKpjx These are guided meditations facilitated by a woman who lived with ME/CFS for 10 years and it is clear to me that she fully understands the mind-body connection and how deeply we can be unsettled without realising it. Her meditations offer support to healing, body and mind.
If you are reading this because you are living with this condition, I send you all my love and hope. Recovery is possible.

Game just randomly crashes. Anyone know what the below error is from?
Ive done a memtest and wasnt that.. also done page file and thats not worked either
Cloud Imperium Games public crash handler taking over...
Details for StarCitizen.exe (md5=dd116e97607f50ba37c72362bad71e72)...
* Base of Image : 0x00007FF7944A0000 (mod), 0x00007FF7944A0000 (modc)
* Size of Image : 182427648 (diskoh), 182427648 (memoh), 182427648 (mod), 182427648 (modc)
* Size of Code : 88761856 (diskoh), 88761856 (memoh)
* Size of Headers : 1024 (diskoh), 1024 (memoh)
* Size of Initialized Data : 27439104 (diskoh), 27439104 (memoh)
* Size of Uninitialized Data : 0 (diskoh), 0 (memoh)
* Checksum : 116255039 (diskoh), 116255039 (memoh)
Saved dump file to C:\Users\thede\AppData\Local\Star Citizen\Crashes\error.dmp (md5=16b244af6d6d044250ef06c3f25e2d28)
Exception EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION(0xC0000005) addr=0x00007FF794A01F5D digest=39e6f903ada49e81591dbe145e775bcd
Run from internal: No
Is fatal error: No
Is reported bug: No
Is GPU crash: No
Is Timeout: No
Is out of system memory: No
Is out of video memory: No
Saved screenshot to C:\Users\thede\AppData\Local\Star Citizen\Crashes\screenshot.jpg
- Camera position: 11561408110.42, -261785.96, 11561408110.42
- Camera orientation: -0.4, 0.4, -3.1
Saved cvar dump to C:\Users\thede\AppData\Local\Star Citizen\Crashes\cvar.dump
Saved build info to C:\Users\thede\AppData\Local\Star Citizen\Crashes\build.info
No file system.cfg found
No file user.cfg found
Copying game.log...

Continuing with the exercise of sharing an easily digestible and smaller version of the main updates of the day in the world of AI.
​

• Google Research introduced a system for real-time visual augmentation of verbal communication called Visual Captions. It uses verbal cues to augment synchronous video communication with interactive visuals on-the-fly. Researchers fine-tuned an LLM to proactively suggest relevant visuals in open-vocabulary conversations using a dataset curated for this purpose. Plus, it is open-sourced.
• GGML, a Tensor library for machine learning, uses a technique called "quantization," which enables large language models to run effectively on consumer-grade hardware. This can democratize access to LLMs, making them more accessible to a wider range of users who may not have access to powerful hardware or cloud-based resources.
• Tafi announced a text-to-3D character engine that brings ideas to life by converting text input into 3D characters. It will transform how artists and developers create high-quality 3D characters. Introducing MeZo, a memory-efficient zeroth-order optimizer, adapts the classical zeroth-order SGD method to operate in place, thereby fine-tuning language models with the same memory footprint as inference.
• HuggingChat, the 100% open-source alternative to ChatGPT by HuggingFace, added a web search feature. It will help reduce hallucinations and get up-to-date knowledge on current events past the training window.
• According to images leaked by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, Instagram may be working on an AI chatbot.
• Google Chat now has Smart Compose, which uses ML to help you autocomplete your sentences.
• GitLab has announced plans to launch an AI-powered feature, ModelOps, to its DevSecOps platform.

More detailed breakdown of these news and innovations in the daily newsletter.

Thoughts? Planning on photographing a variety of scenes (landscape, wildlife, street, portrait), but probably not much at night. Also want to shoot videos to post on YouTube and recap my trips (both cinematic and vlog style). I've read and watched so many reviews but wanted to hear some more thoughts. Also still thinking about what camera system I'd rather build into. For video, the a6400 seems to be sharper than the Fuji typically? Even with similar lenses used. Thanks!

I do not accept paypal, game trades only
My rep from indiegameswap
Have:
FEBRUARY 2021 HUMBLE CHOICE
MARCH 2021 HUMBLE CHOICE
11-11 Memories Retold
2064: Read Only Memories
20XX
7 Grand Steps
7 Billion Humans
A Good Snowman is Hard to Build
A Hat in Time
A Mortician's Tale
American Fugitive
A New Beginning - Final Cut
Aaero
The Adventure Pals
AER Memories of Old
As Far as the Eye
Age of Wonders: Planetfall Deluxe Edition
Age of Wonders III
Agents of Mayhem
AI War: Fleet Command
Alien Spidy
All You Can Eat
The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines
ADOM (ANCIENT DOMAINS OF MYSTERY
Ancestors: The Humankijnd Odyssey
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
Assassin's Creed® Origins
Assault Android Cactus
Baba Is You
Bridge Constructor Portal
The Ball
Bastion
Batman Arkham Origins
Basement
Battle Chef Brigade
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock Season One
Beat Hazard Ultra
Beholder
BEE SIMULATOR
Bendy and the Ink Machine™
Binary Domain
BioShock™ Remastered
Blazing Beaks
Blue Fire
Biped
Bleed 2
Bone - Episode 1 & Episode 2
Broken Age
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Brutal Legend
Burly Men At Sea
Bury Me, My Love
Bridge Constructor Portal
Call of Cthulhu
Chasm
CHUCHEL Cherry Edition
Carto
Coffee Talk
Company of Heroes 2 +Pattern Pack
The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters
Crawl
Crazy Taxi
Cepheus Protocol
Crowntakers
Curious Expedition
Cultist Simulator
Darkside Detective
Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition
Darksiders Warmastered Edition
Death Squared
Drake Hollow
Dirt 5
Deleveled
Deadly Days
Distance
DISTRAINT 2 + Soundtrack
Distrust
Dungreed
Door Kickers: Action Squad
Double Fine Adventure Documentary
Drawful 2
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
DUCATI - 90th Anniversary
Duck Game
Dungeons 3
Dusty Revenge: Co-Op Edition
The Dwarves
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 + dlc and shit
EarthNight
Elderborn
Eastside Hockey Manager
Elite Dangerous
Ellipsis
Endless Space - Collection
Euro Truck Simulator 2 + Austraila paint dlc
Europa Universalis IV
Encodya
EVERSPACE™
Evergarden
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered
Feather
Fibbage XL
Finding Paradise
The First Tree
Fluffy Horde
Framed Collection
Freedom Force
Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich
Frog Detective
FTL
Full Metal Furies
Full Throttle Remastered
GameMaker Studio Pro
The Gardens Between
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
GNOG
God's Trigger
Gonner
GRAV (Early Access)
GRID 2
Guns of Icarus Online
Gunscape
Hacknet + Hacknet Labyrinths DLC
Hand of Fate 2
Hard Reset Redux
Heroes of Hammerwatch
Hello Neighbor Hide and Seek
Hexcells Complete Pack
Hidden Folks
HIVESWAP: Act 1
Hammerting
Hollow Knight
Hyper Light Drifter
I'm not a Monster
In Between
Injustice Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition
I am not a Monster: First Contact
INK Deluxe Edition
Into the Breach
Jackbox Party Pack 4
The Journey Down: Chapter Three
JumpJet Rex
Jurassic World Evolution - Deluxe Dinosaur Pack
Kerbal Space Program
Killing Floor 2
Kingdom Classic
Knights of Pen and Paper 2
Last Oasis
Late Shift
Layers of Fear
LEGO® Batman 2 DC Super Heroes™
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Premium Edition
LEGO DC Super-Villains Deluxe Edition
LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 2 Deluxe Edition
LEGO Marvel's Avengers
LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game
LEGO® Worlds
Lethal League Blaze
Leviathan Warships
Lostwinds
Lobotomy Corporation Monster Management
Lumino City
Luna's Wandering Stars
Machinarium
Mad Max
Magicka
Majesty 2
Majesty Gold HD
Marooners
Masquerade: The Baubles of Doom
Massive Chalice
Metro Redux Bundle key only
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor GOTY
Mini Metro
Minoria
MINIT
MirrorMoon EP
Monster Loves You
Moonlighter
MOTHERGUNSHIP
Mr. Shifty
Mushroom 11
Music Maker EDM Edition + 10 dollar voucher code
My Memory of Us
My Time at Portia
NBA 2K20
No Time to Relax
NIMBATUS - THE SPACE DRONE CONSTRUCTOR
Necronator: Dead Wrong
Neo Cab
Neon Drive (Steam)
Newt One
Niche
Nine Parchments
Ninja Pizza Girl
No Time to Explain Remastered
Not Tonight
>observer_
Offworld Trading Company + Jupiter's Forge
Old Man's Journey
OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood
Operation Flashpoint: Red River
Opus Magnum
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength
Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You
Out of the Park Baseball 18
Out There: Ω Edition
Out of Space
Overgrowth (plus a secret link)
Overlord II
PAC-MAN™ CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION 2
Pale Echoes
Paper Fire Rookie
Paperbark
Paradigm
Party Hard
Pesterquest
Pikuniku
Pinstripe
Plague Inc: Evolved
Paradise Killer
Planet of the Eyes
Plunge
Primal Carnage: Extinction
Police Stories
Project Highrise
Project Highrise
Psychonauts
Puzzle Agent
Puzzle Agent 2
Q.U.B.E. 2
Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut
Quest of Dungeons
Quiplash
Rapture Rejects + Safari Outfit DLC
Realpolitiks
Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville
Regency Solitaire
Regions of Ruin
Regular Human Basketball
Remnants of Isolation
Resident Evil Revelations
Retro Game Crunch
Rime
Rise and Shine
Rising Dusk
Rituals
Road to Ballhalla
Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball
Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder™
Rocket Birds: Hardboiled Chicken
ROCKETSROCKETSROCKETS
Rusty Lake Paradise
Sam & Max: Season 1
Sam & Max: Season 2
Satellite Reign
S.W.I.N.E. HD REMASTER
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Secrets of Raetikon
Sigma Theory
Shadows Awakening
Shelter 2
Shenmue I & II
shutshimi
Sigma Theory: Global Cold War
SimplePlanes
SIMULACRA
Slipstream
Sniper Elite
Sniper Elite 3
Sniper Elite V2
Song of Horror
Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing
SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising
SOULCALIBUR VI
Speed Brawl
Spelunky
Spirits
Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy
Squad (Early Access)
StarCrossed
State of Mind
Stealth 2: A Game of Clones
Stick Fight: The Game
SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising
The Stillness of the Wind
Streamline Early Access
Streets of Rage
Stronghold Crusader 2
Subsurface Circular
Sunless Sea
Super Daryl Deluxe
Super Galaxy Squadron EX
Super Hexagon
Super House of Dead Ninjas: True Ninja Pack
Super House of the Dead Ninjas
Super Time Force Ultra
SUPERHOT
Superliminal
Surgeon Simulator + Anniversary Ed. Content
Surviving Mars
Sword Legacy Omen
System Shock 2
System Shock: Enhanced Edition
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Tales of the Neon Sea
Tangledeep + Soundtrack
Team Indie
theHunter: Call of the Wild
Telltale Texas Hold'em
Think of the Children
Thirty Flights of Loving
This is the Police
This War of Mine
Throne of Lies® The Online Game of Deceit
Tilt Brush
TIMEframe
Titan Quest Anniversary Edition
Tokyo 42
Tooth and Tail
Torment: Tides of Numenera
Total Tank Simulator
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
Tower of Guns
Tower Unite
Train Simulator 2017 + Platform Clutter, Town Scenery
Tropico 4
Tropico 6 El Prez Edition
The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
Ultimate Chicken Horse
Undertale
Unexplored
Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York
Vampyr
Verdun
Vertiginous Golf
Vikings - Wolves of Midgard
Void Bastards
Volgarr the Viking
VVVVVV
Waking Mars
Wargroove
Warhammer: Chaosbane
Westerado: Double Barreled
We Were Here Together
Windward
The Witness
Wizard of Legend
World of Goo
Worms Revolution
Yooka-Laylee
YAKUZA 3 REMASTERED
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK HEADRUSH
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK MOVIES
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK SPORTS
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK TELEVISION
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 1 XL
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 2
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 3
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 4: The Ride
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 6 The Lost Gold
Ziggurat
And other shit i probably have from recent bundles
Deck Builder Bundle
Walking Dead 10th Anniversary Bundle
Humble Bundles I have
August 2022 - December 2022
July 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
January 2022
November 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
March 2021
February 2021
Figmint
Vermintide
Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition
Sudden Strike 4
The Surge
Pony Island
Little Nightmares
Zombie Night Terror
Screencheat
Freedom Planet
American Truck Simulator
Tales of Berseria
Kingdom: New Lands
KEYS ONLY
PC Building Simulator
The Beast Inside
Children of Morta
Overcooked! 2 + (DLC)
Path of Giants
Pathologic 2
Shining Resonance Refrain
Still There
Struggling
Tabletop Playground
Zwei: The Arges Adventure
Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
Crying Suns
Darksburg
Darksiders III
Darkwood
Imperator Rome Deluxe Edition
Little Misfortune
Rover Mechanic Simulator
Smile For Me
Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt
Tsioque
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Youropa
Autonauts
Basement
Fae Tactics
Fantasy Blacksmith
Goat of Duty
Iron Danger
Lightmatter
Shadows Awakening
The Suicide of Rachel Foster
Sunless Skies
Tropico 6 El Prez Edition
The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
A Case of Distrust
American Fugitive
Automachef
Call of Cthulhu
The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters
Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition
Hello Neighbor
Little Big Workshop
Through the Darkest of Times
Vampyr
Wargroove
We Were Here Together
Age of Wonders: Planetfall Deluxe Edition
Basingstoke
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock Season One
Beat Hazard 2
Don't Escape: 4 Days to Survive
Earthlock
Metal Unit
Railway Empire
Sigma Theory
Secret Neightbor
STUBBS THE ZOMBIE IN REBEL WITHOUT A PULSE
WORMS RUMBLE + LEGENDS PACK DLC
Panzer Paladin
MILKY WAY PRINCE - THE VAMPIRE STAR
Desolate
Other Keys
Battleborn Starter Skin Pack
GUNS UP! Starter Pack + TV Head
Mage and Minions - $10 In-Game Currency
Star Trek Online - Humble Trekkie Pack
Shadow Complex Remastered (epic launcher key)
Killing Floor - Community Weapon Pack 1 DLC
Killing Floor - Community Weapon Pack 2 DLC
Killing Floor - Community Weapon Pack 3 DLC
XCOM® 2: Resistance Warrior Pack
XCOM® 2: Reinforcement Pack
Effie
Darksiders Genesis
Hellpoint
Disjunction
Cook Serve Delicious 3
levelhead
Fury Unleashed
Size Matters
Morkredd
Relicta
Retimed
Family Man
Vane
Elex
Kingdom Two Crowns
WWE 2k battlegrounds
Hotshot Racing
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
Cyber Hook
Pesterquest
Ageless
Boreal blade
Valfaris
Lovecraft's Untold Stories
Iris and the Giant
Boomerang Fu
The Wild Eight
Train Station Renovation
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
WEREWOLF: THE APOCALYPSE HEART OF THE FOREST
OUTWARD + THE SOROBOREANS AND OUTWARD SOUNDTRACK
Want:
Offers (Ignore means no)
Oneshot (multiple copies are preferable)
Subnautica (multiple copies are good)
Wandersong
Indivisible
Xcom Chimera Squad
Hollow Knight
Everhood
Wishlist is sparse but im open to any offer
Anything on my wishlist
Feel free to offer any games for one of mine, preferably a list to browse

I do not accept paypal, game trades only
My rep from indiegameswap
Have:
FEBRUARY 2021 HUMBLE CHOICE
MARCH 2021 HUMBLE CHOICE
11-11 Memories Retold
2064: Read Only Memories
20XX
7 Grand Steps
7 Billion Humans
A Good Snowman is Hard to Build
A Hat in Time
A Mortician's Tale
American Fugitive
A New Beginning - Final Cut
Aaero
The Adventure Pals
AER Memories of Old
As Far as the Eye
Age of Wonders: Planetfall Deluxe Edition
Age of Wonders III
Agents of Mayhem
AI War: Fleet Command
Alien Spidy
All You Can Eat
The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines
ADOM (ANCIENT DOMAINS OF MYSTERY
Ancestors: The Humankijnd Odyssey
Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
Assassin's Creed® Origins
Assault Android Cactus
Baba Is You
Bridge Constructor Portal
The Ball
Bastion
Batman Arkham Origins
Basement
Battle Chef Brigade
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock Season One
Beat Hazard Ultra
Beholder
BEE SIMULATOR
Bendy and the Ink Machine™
Binary Domain
BioShock™ Remastered
Blazing Beaks
Blue Fire
Biped
Bleed 2
Bone - Episode 1 & Episode 2
Broken Age
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Brutal Legend
Burly Men At Sea
Bury Me, My Love
Bridge Constructor Portal
Call of Cthulhu
Chasm
CHUCHEL Cherry Edition
Carto
Coffee Talk
Company of Heroes 2 +Pattern Pack
The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters
Crawl
Crazy Taxi
Cepheus Protocol
Crowntakers
Curious Expedition
Cultist Simulator
Darkside Detective
Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition
Darksiders Warmastered Edition
Death Squared
Drake Hollow
Dirt 5
Deleveled
Deadly Days
Distance
DISTRAINT 2 + Soundtrack
Distrust
Dungreed
Door Kickers: Action Squad
Double Fine Adventure Documentary
Drawful 2
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
DUCATI - 90th Anniversary
Duck Game
Dungeons 3
Dusty Revenge: Co-Op Edition
The Dwarves
EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 4.1 + dlc and shit
EarthNight
Elderborn
Eastside Hockey Manager
Elite Dangerous
Ellipsis
Endless Space - Collection
Euro Truck Simulator 2 + Austraila paint dlc
Europa Universalis IV
Encodya
EVERSPACE™
Evergarden
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered
Feather
Fibbage XL
Finding Paradise
The First Tree
Fluffy Horde
Framed Collection
Freedom Force
Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich
Frog Detective
FTL
Full Metal Furies
Full Throttle Remastered
GameMaker Studio Pro
The Gardens Between
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
GNOG
God's Trigger
Gonner
GRAV (Early Access)
GRID 2
Guns of Icarus Online
Gunscape
Hacknet + Hacknet Labyrinths DLC
Hand of Fate 2
Hard Reset Redux
Heroes of Hammerwatch
Hello Neighbor Hide and Seek
Hexcells Complete Pack
Hidden Folks
HIVESWAP: Act 1
Hammerting
Hollow Knight
Hyper Light Drifter
I'm not a Monster
In Between
Injustice Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition
I am not a Monster: First Contact
INK Deluxe Edition
Into the Breach
Jackbox Party Pack 4
The Journey Down: Chapter Three
JumpJet Rex
Jurassic World Evolution - Deluxe Dinosaur Pack
Kerbal Space Program
Killing Floor 2
Kingdom Classic
Knights of Pen and Paper 2
Last Oasis
Late Shift
Layers of Fear
LEGO® Batman 2 DC Super Heroes™
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Premium Edition
LEGO DC Super-Villains Deluxe Edition
LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 2 Deluxe Edition
LEGO Marvel's Avengers
LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game
LEGO® Worlds
Lethal League Blaze
Leviathan Warships
Lostwinds
Lobotomy Corporation Monster Management
Lumino City
Luna's Wandering Stars
Machinarium
Mad Max
Magicka
Majesty 2
Majesty Gold HD
Marooners
Masquerade: The Baubles of Doom
Massive Chalice
Metro Redux Bundle key only
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor GOTY
Mini Metro
Minoria
MINIT
MirrorMoon EP
Monster Loves You
Moonlighter
MOTHERGUNSHIP
Mr. Shifty
Mushroom 11
Music Maker EDM Edition + 10 dollar voucher code
My Memory of Us
My Time at Portia
NBA 2K20
No Time to Relax
NIMBATUS - THE SPACE DRONE CONSTRUCTOR
Necronator: Dead Wrong
Neo Cab
Neon Drive (Steam)
Newt One
Niche
Nine Parchments
Ninja Pizza Girl
No Time to Explain Remastered
Not Tonight
>observer_
Offworld Trading Company + Jupiter's Forge
Old Man's Journey
OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood
Operation Flashpoint: Red River
Opus Magnum
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength
Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You
Out of the Park Baseball 18
Out There: Ω Edition
Out of Space
Overgrowth (plus a secret link)
Overlord II
PAC-MAN™ CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION 2
Pale Echoes
Paper Fire Rookie
Paperbark
Paradigm
Party Hard
Pesterquest
Pikuniku
Pinstripe
Plague Inc: Evolved
Paradise Killer
Planet of the Eyes
Plunge
Primal Carnage: Extinction
Police Stories
Project Highrise
Project Highrise
Psychonauts
Puzzle Agent
Puzzle Agent 2
Q.U.B.E. 2
Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut
Quest of Dungeons
Quiplash
Rapture Rejects + Safari Outfit DLC
Realpolitiks
Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville
Regency Solitaire
Regions of Ruin
Regular Human Basketball
Remnants of Isolation
Resident Evil Revelations
Retro Game Crunch
Rime
Rise and Shine
Rising Dusk
Rituals
Road to Ballhalla
Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball
Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder™
Rocket Birds: Hardboiled Chicken
ROCKETSROCKETSROCKETS
Rusty Lake Paradise
Sam & Max: Season 1
Sam & Max: Season 2
Satellite Reign
S.W.I.N.E. HD REMASTER
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Secrets of Raetikon
Sigma Theory
Shadows Awakening
Shelter 2
Shenmue I & II
shutshimi
Sigma Theory: Global Cold War
SimplePlanes
SIMULACRA
Slipstream
Sniper Elite
Sniper Elite 3
Sniper Elite V2
Song of Horror
Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing
SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising
SOULCALIBUR VI
Speed Brawl
Spelunky
Spirits
Spyro™ Reignited Trilogy
Squad (Early Access)
StarCrossed
State of Mind
Stealth 2: A Game of Clones
Stick Fight: The Game
SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising
The Stillness of the Wind
Streamline Early Access
Streets of Rage
Stronghold Crusader 2
Subsurface Circular
Sunless Sea
Super Daryl Deluxe
Super Galaxy Squadron EX
Super Hexagon
Super House of Dead Ninjas: True Ninja Pack
Super House of the Dead Ninjas
Super Time Force Ultra
SUPERHOT
Superliminal
Surgeon Simulator + Anniversary Ed. Content
Surviving Mars
Sword Legacy Omen
System Shock 2
System Shock: Enhanced Edition
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Tales of the Neon Sea
Tangledeep + Soundtrack
Team Indie
theHunter: Call of the Wild
Telltale Texas Hold'em
Think of the Children
Thirty Flights of Loving
This is the Police
This War of Mine
Throne of Lies® The Online Game of Deceit
Tilt Brush
TIMEframe
Titan Quest Anniversary Edition
Tokyo 42
Tooth and Tail
Torment: Tides of Numenera
Total Tank Simulator
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
Tower of Guns
Tower Unite
Train Simulator 2017 + Platform Clutter, Town Scenery
Tropico 4
Tropico 6 El Prez Edition
The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
Ultimate Chicken Horse
Undertale
Unexplored
Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York
Vampyr
Verdun
Vertiginous Golf
Vikings - Wolves of Midgard
Void Bastards
Volgarr the Viking
VVVVVV
Waking Mars
Wargroove
Warhammer: Chaosbane
Westerado: Double Barreled
We Were Here Together
Windward
The Witness
Wizard of Legend
World of Goo
Worms Revolution
Yooka-Laylee
YAKUZA 3 REMASTERED
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK HEADRUSH
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK MOVIES
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK SPORTS
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK TELEVISION
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 1 XL
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 2
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 3
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 4: The Ride
YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 6 The Lost Gold
Ziggurat
And other shit i probably have from recent bundles
Deck Builder Bundle
Walking Dead 10th Anniversary Bundle
Humble Bundles I have
August 2022 - December 2022
July 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
January 2022
November 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
March 2021
February 2021
Figmint
Vermintide
Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition
Sudden Strike 4
The Surge
Pony Island
Little Nightmares
Zombie Night Terror
Screencheat
Freedom Planet
American Truck Simulator
Tales of Berseria
Kingdom: New Lands
KEYS ONLY
PC Building Simulator
The Beast Inside
Children of Morta
Overcooked! 2 + (DLC)
Path of Giants
Pathologic 2
Shining Resonance Refrain
Still There
Struggling
Tabletop Playground
Zwei: The Arges Adventure
Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
Crying Suns
Darksburg
Darksiders III
Darkwood
Imperator Rome Deluxe Edition
Little Misfortune
Rover Mechanic Simulator
Smile For Me
Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt
Tsioque
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Youropa
Autonauts
Basement
Fae Tactics
Fantasy Blacksmith
Goat of Duty
Iron Danger
Lightmatter
Shadows Awakening
The Suicide of Rachel Foster
Sunless Skies
Tropico 6 El Prez Edition
The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
A Case of Distrust
American Fugitive
Automachef
Call of Cthulhu
The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters
Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition
Hello Neighbor
Little Big Workshop
Through the Darkest of Times
Vampyr
Wargroove
We Were Here Together
Age of Wonders: Planetfall Deluxe Edition
Basingstoke
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock Season One
Beat Hazard 2
Don't Escape: 4 Days to Survive
Earthlock
Metal Unit
Railway Empire
Sigma Theory
Secret Neightbor
STUBBS THE ZOMBIE IN REBEL WITHOUT A PULSE
WORMS RUMBLE + LEGENDS PACK DLC
Panzer Paladin
MILKY WAY PRINCE - THE VAMPIRE STAR
Desolate
Other Keys
Battleborn Starter Skin Pack
GUNS UP! Starter Pack + TV Head
Mage and Minions - $10 In-Game Currency
Star Trek Online - Humble Trekkie Pack
Shadow Complex Remastered (epic launcher key)
Killing Floor - Community Weapon Pack 1 DLC
Killing Floor - Community Weapon Pack 2 DLC
Killing Floor - Community Weapon Pack 3 DLC
XCOM® 2: Resistance Warrior Pack
XCOM® 2: Reinforcement Pack
Effie
Darksiders Genesis
Hellpoint
Disjunction
Cook Serve Delicious 3
levelhead
Fury Unleashed
Size Matters
Morkredd
Relicta
Retimed
Family Man
Vane
Elex
Kingdom Two Crowns
WWE 2k battlegrounds
Hotshot Racing
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind
Cyber Hook
Pesterquest
Ageless
Boreal blade
Valfaris
Lovecraft's Untold Stories
Iris and the Giant
Boomerang Fu
The Wild Eight
Train Station Renovation
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
WEREWOLF: THE APOCALYPSE HEART OF THE FOREST
OUTWARD + THE SOROBOREANS AND OUTWARD SOUNDTRACK
Want:
Offers (Ignore means no)
Oneshot (multiple copies are preferable)
Subnautica (multiple copies are good)
Wandersong
Indivisible
Xcom Chimera Squad
Hollow Knight
Everhood
Wishlist is sparse but im open to any offer
Anything on my wishlist
Feel free to offer any games for one of mine, preferably a list to browse

Just a heads up, this guy is used in a universe where hawkmoth treat crime more like a bossiness and as such akumatizes criminals and villains rather than peeved teenagers and disgruntled citizens... basically hawkmoth isn't stupid

OC details:

Name: jonathan hughes
Alias: shadow spider
Miraculous: none/ tech based hero
Symbolism: death and creation

Backstory:

Johnathan was raised by his dad as a single man, An estranged sister, and a mother who died giving birth to john, as such his dad gave him all the love that he could in the small town in the middle of kent england where his dad made hid money as an engineer before moving off to paris with john who was just 3 years old. Life took a swift turn for the best, quickly establishing his talents for weapon creation and design, johnathans father quickly folded a company called Hughes industries where he designed weapons for the parisian military, rubbing shoulders with the elites of france including the agreste's, the tsugurgi's, and the Bourgeois's leaving john to become good friends with both adrien and chloe(shes still a bitch though). All the while johnathans technological prowess also grew, he was making his own video games at 4, designing web browsers at 5, and age 6 made a military grade AI for hid own amusement called SpyDar(spy radar, also sounds like spider😁) with his dad using johnathan on occasion to help implement some of the code to his more advanced weapons. Hawkmoth had wanted johns father to supply his goons with new weaponry, when he refused.... so, at age 10 johnathan watched as hawkmoth crushed his beloved fathers head between his hands like it were a balloon forever traumatising him and essentially killing the boy as well. He since spent his days training to become as strong as possible, his evenings developing his tech to make up for his short comings, and his evening trying to find out who hawkmoth is and where to find him. He's softened up a bit over the course of those 5 years, from wraithful vengeance to a dark defender of the night having even turned his base of operations(which is a big empty warehouse) into a hostel for families who have lost everything to villain attacks, and doing what he can to protect the hurt and innocent

Appearance:

Civilian form
Jonathan is a mix between max and kim, he's tall with an athletic build though tends to wear geeky clothes, not much caring for fashion. He wears his super suit under his shirt, the black sleeves clearly visible, though wears a green comic shirt over it, making it look like a more estethical choice. He also wears brown cargo pants and plain black runners. His shield compacts down into his watch with most of his gear ready to go at a moments notice. His only bit of equipment that is missing is his helmet which is kept in his bag which he takes every where with him. His hair is a plain black with blue high lights, his skin is extraordinarily pale and his eyes are a very dark blue.
Hero form
An almost entirely black suit with a white outline marking holes in his mask, they are sharp looking eyes that are pointed to look like a permanent scowl with a thin white outline. small holes that allow him to breath through the mask (ill give him a water upgrade later) which leads into a grey chest piece that covers and created the illusion of pecs, Abs, and runs down to his crotch to protect that as well. On his chest is a large spider web that forms a semi circle, and hanging from it, a large black spider with sharp edges and somewhat realistic anatomy. On my shoulders are thick metal plating which is also present on his knees and elbows, a blue LED strip denotes wheres the endoskeleton is which is his most armoured point and is meant to draw fire, it can also be turned off either by removing his helmet or per his request. His bottom half is quite plain bar the same black runners he wears in his civilian form, shiny black metal knee guards, and blue LED that runs down the side of his legs. The shield is a mat black with a web pattern on it that has 4 lines that go through the centre and create 8 segments with 3 webs between each larger thread. The webs are white.

Personality:

Johnathan is ultimately altruistic but reserved, knowing that showing off could get him discovered as shadow spider, pretending to basically be a weak coward so no one would suspect him to be shadow spider. Quite nerdy, he's a part of multiple super hero fandoms, usually using them for inspiration for tech and techniques. Johnathan is also prone to bouts of anger where his facade will drop and he'll act more like shadow. Also as johnathan has a high pitched voice with a notable french accent.
As shadow spider he's a different person entirely, even his voice becomes much lower, slightly gravely and distinctly english. His altruistic nature subsides somewhat and has little compassion for criminals and villains, often brutalising them so badly that without immediate medical attention they'd likely die of their injuries. With that being said, he'll only do that to someone who has taken a life, if you didn't understand the weight of you're actions, or you were otherwise justified in his eyes then he will put his life in the line to save yours.

Powers/abilities:

Web generation
Through the use of specialised gauntlets he is able to generate a strong web like substance which is also used for transportation and through the use of various nozzles can be adjusted suit any given need.
Spiked gloves/soles
Through specialised tech his shoes and gloves can produce extremely sharp claws which can be used in combat, but are primarily used to climb walls and other surfaces. These claws also have small injectors that allow him to inject a villain with a neurotoxin that causes paralysis for 24 hours.
Parkour
Jonathan is adept at utilising his environment in order to maximise his mobility options, able to beat an olympian in a race across paris due to his parkour prowess this is just to give him reason to be able to be able move that quickly)
Exoskeleton
A lightweights exoskeleton hidden beneath his suit allows for super human strength feats, up to roughly 3x peak human strength, though only about half as strong as a miraculous holder, also allows for super speed whilst running, hits like a truck, and 5 meter high jumps
SpyDar
An ai that jonathan developed to help analyse his environment including xray vision, internet access, telecommunications access, hacking and many other abilities. He formed his hero identity after his SpyDar systems.
Tech wizard
He's good with computers
Titanum weave suit
Though not impervious to damage jonathan is still able to take hits from your average akuma victim and keep fighting. This weave is light and breathable, though some areas are clearly better armoured including the full metal face shell, the knee and elbow pads, and thicker padding around the chest area.
Repulse canon/ explosive shield
And finally jonathan's shield, though it is made from the same titanium as his face shell it has a web pattern 'engraved' on it. Though these engravings are in fact outlets for a repulse canon which is strong enough to knock down a brick wall without having to use his main suits power supply. Along its edges are another outlet except this one for c4, allowing jonathan a chance against akuma victims with real fire power. The back is also equipt with some smaller devices including trackers, additional cameras to scope an area out more effectively, web grenades, audio lures and an electromagnet to both summon the shield when needed and attach it to his arm or back. It also has small spikes that can inject a neurotoxin into his opponents that will paralysise them for the nest 24 hours

Weaknesses:

Low battery
If jonathan's shield runs out of power he can still carry it around with him, however if his suit does the same then not only does he loose his powers but he's now weighed down and essentialy trapped inside of a metal tomb during a fight
Emp blasts
See above
Fatigue
Jonathan is only human without any additional powers and general combat will slow him down quickly and leave him tired and unable to operate
Being hacked
A simple computer virus is enough to stop most of his powers except for the endoskeleton and web shooters, beyond that he is helpless afterwards
Hand to hand combat
Jonathan knows very little about combat and relies on his gear and environment to neutralise an opponent, getting up close and personal is a great way to deal with him.

The whistleblowing by well credentialed insiders such as David Grusch, is not occuring in a vacuum. I think it's important to remember the context of the last 5 years.
The “modern disclosure movement” (post 2017)- started with claims of insiders from within the secret UAP programmes, communicating exactly the same information - alleging secret UAP programmes going back decades, including crash retrievals and reverse engineering. Efforts which had been hidden from executive oversight due to national security concerns.
Namely, through the To the Stars Academy (TTSA) initiative, which brought to the public’s attention key individuals -still intimately involved in the process - such as Chris Mellon and Lue Elizondo. Their actions directly led to the 2017 NY Times article,and pilot testimonies to congress. And indirectly, to the Senate hearings, and the formation of the UAP Task Force and AARO. As well as the continued activism of pilots.
I cannot assess Grusch’s claims on the basis of the frankly ridiculous sound bites televised, but nevertheless - I think this information is key to evaluating his claims - and those of others who come forward.
The story is too elaborate to recap fully, but I recommend RedPandaKoala's excellent video on the origins of this movement, which provides good suggestions as to the identities of the people involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BjUK5V5sTg&t=611s
I've included information on claims by previous insiders or those connected to them, which may or may not accord with future leaks.
Recap:
Tom DeLonge claims to have had a series of meetings with someone he calls "The General" and other top brass, including an executive at Lockheed Skunkworks, which ultimately lead to the formation of TTSA.
These claims are lent weight by the leak of Hilary Clinton's emails in the run up to the presidential election, which established that he, and Podesta were in communication with General McCassland, head of Foreign Technology Research Division at Wright Patterson Airbase. The same base long linked to UAP secrecy, since at least the Roswell era. And the same base where multiple senators recently gathered for a briefing.
It has been specualted that the original plan was for the "disclosure" process to occur through the expected Hilary Clinton administration, but plans were put on hold due to Trump's win. This was probably as Clinton was sympathetic to disclosure, and this could be established directly by the insiders without revealing their identity, and without elaborate public engagement methods made against a hostile Executive. Instead the TTSA intiative was formed to trigger diclosure through the media and Senate engagement. It doesn't seem to be disclosure as is normally understood - it's not coming from the highest levels of Government, but from insiders who want to disclose what they know without reprisals.
According to multiple sources - including Eric Westeinstein and Sam Harris, some of these insiders have continued to reach out directly to public intectuals, claiming to have irrefutable evidence of Non Human Intelligence.
His claims are also lent weight by the fact that he was connected with UAP insiders including the head of Lockheed Skunkworks Steve Justice, Chris Mellon (DoD), Jim Semivan (CIA) and Lue Elizondo - who had recently left the Government's as yet unacknowledged UFO programme AATIP, to form what would become To The Stars Academy (TTSA). If DeLonge has no sources or connections, how was he put in touch with these people, and why did they ally with him, risking their own reputations?
He claims to have been told by The General, that they encountered a lifeform during the Cold War. He told him that some bad decisions were made in response, but this occurred in the context of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear destruction. This may relate to the cover up from executive oversight, or to certain actions taken against the intelligence(s) behind the UAP phenomena.
This also accords with Richard Dolan's work suggesting that the UAP phenomena was discovered at the same time as the national security aparatus were being set up after WW2, and was classified higher than the atom bomb, due to the fact that it interacted with nuclear assets, and displayed a more advanced technology that would be key in winning the Cold War. In effect a perfect chain of events occured to make it pressing to keep this secret and secure it from other nations to gain advantage, at the same time frame in which the US had unequaled power to create new legislation for secrecy, having just done so with the Manhattan Project.
DeLonge also claims that an elaborate and well hidden project was set up to respond to the NHI (Non Human Intelligence) presence, funded secretly by the petrodollar and hidden until such time as they had the means to defend against incursions. If true, there should be evidence of this in budget anomalies.
He claims, like the Robert Hasting's documentary UFO and Nukes, that both the US and Russia knew about the ET presence, as craft had been present at numerous nuclear tests. And that they cooperated on this issue, which was one of the reasons the Cold War did not go "hot".
He claims that the intelligence behind UAP is referred to by insiders - as The Others . Subsequent information shared by his associates including Elizondo and Jim Semivan, suggests they are best considered NHI (Non Human Intelligence) or ultraterrestrial. I.e unknown form of life - not likely ET. Allegedly Grusch also uses the term NHI based on his sources.
He claims that the Phenomena may not be local to our spacetime/reality frame and is popping into this frame and out again, creating physical manifestations before disappearing. He refers to it as emerging out of “stacked frequencies”.
He claims these "advisors" told him that they wanted the truth of the UFO cover up to come up , as the lie was damaging the Republic and democracy, and that they considered the time was right.
Former CIA manager and future TTSA member Jim Semivan, confirms he first became aware of DeLonge after he grew concerned about how he could be getting such accurate information - though he declines to mention specifically what it was that concerned him. I believe this relates to claims made in DeLonge’s Sekret Machines books. One point that features quite heavily is that multiple powers recovered UAP and were reverse engineering them, another is that they consider that there were multiple NHI’s that were manipulating the geopolitical situation to cause conflict between different nations through delieberate "crashes" of technology. (personally I suspect it has to be something much more specific than this).
Following this DeLonge set up TTSA with Lue Elizondo and Chris Mellon, which led to the UAP videos being released and the NY Times article being written. Specifically Mellon and Elizondo were invovled in getting the leaked UAP videos released and briefing the NY Times authors about AATIP. The same authors involved in the Debrief's new article about Grusch
This then led to pilots coming forward and briefing congress with the assistance of Chris Mellon.
This has subsequently led to the formation of the UAP Task Force, now AARO and the whistleblower legislation.
The information suggests that TTSA were dropped as a vehicle for these insiders to disclose informationm after their efforts gained significant media and Senate enagement. As many have suggested DeLonge may have been used as both a well known public figure to gain traction, and because he injected a degree of plausible deniability. It’s notable that two of the most instrumental figures behind the scenes in Senate/DoD developments were TTSA members, and that there is suggestive information from Elizondo’s comments that he may have been read into the more clandestine program. Mellon also claims direct knowledge of secret UAP projects - does this date back to the TTSA period, and was he also read in?
There are multiple other claims that corroborate this picture of secret UAP crash retrieval and reversal engineering projects, including the Wilson Memo and claims of Dr Eric Davis. As well as the claims made by Ross Coulthart in his book In Plane Sight. I've summarised some of them at the end.
Implications:
It is proven that -at the very least - DeLonge and associates had connections to highly placed insiders within the military industrial complex, and that the TTSA effort significantly contributed to the current Senate oversight and whistleblowing legislation, in particular through the continued involvement of Chris Mellon and Lue Elizondo:
If his claims are true:
This whole initiative started with a faction in the classified world with direct knowledge of UAP crash retrievals ,who had concerns about a lack of democratic oversight and sought for the information to come out in a controlled way. We can interpret this as accurate, or as propoganda (DeLonge refers to them as heroes). Regardless, it seems probably, though not certain - that UFO hearings and whistleblower protection were the long term goal, if not full disclosure.
In this context, the disclosures made by whistleblowers are not surprising at all. They are the result of a series of actions behind the scenes which have allowed insiders to privately state what they know ,without facing sanction for breaking their NDA's.
Why is this important?

1. We already have lines of enquiry about secret UAP projects, and suggestions of the personnel involved, as well as information on who may have been subsequently read into them. This provides an avenue for congressional and journalistic enquiry, which may be important should the story escalate.
2. We can evaluate emerging claims made by whistleblowers in light of claims already made by seemingly well connected insiders such as DeLonge and the TTSA alumni to see if they agree.
3. Conversely, we can retrospectively evaluate the claims made by DeLonge and TTSA to see if the information accords with current disclosures.
4. The narrative proposed suggests that the whistleblowers are a direct result of initiatives by insiders within these same UAP projects. That makes it important for considering who benefits, and why people are coming forward now.

Questions:
⦁ Have Tom's advisors - such as the General and Lockheed executives given evidence to Congress? And was this the plan all along - to create a safe mechanism to do so without revealing themselves directly?
⦁ Was Lue Elizondo read into the "real" deep state UAP programme after he left AATIP? He certainly claims to have far more information about the nature of the UAP intelligences and the actions taken by the Government than would be easily explained by his role in AATIP - which was a sub devision of the broader AAWSAP programme. This may also explain why DeLonge's advisors - within the programme - put them both in touch.
⦁ Will David Grusch's information (if the full details are published/shown as promised) - accord with what DeLonge has said about the cover up and secret UFO programmes?
⦁ If as DeLonge claims - and Grusch also claims (according to Couldhart) the Russians and other powers are aware of the NHI presence and have been in an arms race to recover and reverse engineer crashed craft, (potentially with some form of collaboration) - does this have a bearing on current disclosure? Presumably the disclosure of NHI tech would have a significant bearing on the current geo-political situation? Particularly if the US or other powers have functioning craft or tech derived from UAP's. Also, if there was some kind of accord, do the insiders consider that Russia has broken this by threatening to use nuclear weapons?
⦁ What do Chris Mellon, Jim Semivan, Steve Justice et all know about the real UFO reverse engineering projects. It's impossible to believe that as members of TTSA and confidants of DeLonge ,they did not know about his claims to have been briefed by the insiders from within the deep state UAP project.
⦁ Are Senators aware of how the current process began, and the claims made by DeLonge that it started with insiders from within the military industrial complex. Has DeLonge been invited to give evidence?
Points to look out for in Grusch's longer interview:
I consider that there are some major claims already out there about the nature of the UAP Phenomena and the coverup, that it’s important to consider in light of new evidence. Most relate to information that DeLonge/Elizondo and TTSA put forward, but where appropriate I have noted other sources that agree. Unfortunately, it’s not practical to source them all, but you are welcome to look into them if you have the time.
I have only included claims/observations that come from people I consider may have have direct insider knowledge, as opposed to speculations from ufology in general. It's highly unlikely all of them will be accurate.
UAP projects:
⦁ AATIP/AAWSAP/AARO are not the real UAP projects - other projects exist within hidden mechanisms of the deep state. (Delonge/the Wilson Memo/Mellon)
⦁ The projects exists within unacknowledged special access programmes.
⦁ The cover up is connected to Wright Patterson , Lockheed Martin and the Department of Energy (DOE).
⦁ In particular the Foreign Technology Research Division at Wright Patterson AFB.
⦁ The DOE mechanism for secrecy is effective, as they are a civilian organisation, and I believe are not subject to FOIA, with their own parallel Q Clearance. It's suggested it also it fell into the pervue as it was determined at an early stage post WW2 that UFO encounters were correlated with nuclear tests and facilities.
⦁ Materials are also held by private contactors, some of which may no longer be under government pervue.
⦁ There are two reasons for this - firstly their scientific and technological know-how, and secondly that as private organisations they are immune from FOIA.
⦁ In many cases the cost of security on these contractor programs is vastly more than the R & D costs (Dr Eric Davis - if memory serves).
⦁ As well as Lockheed, Battelle is also implicated as having UAP materials. (Jacques Vallee)
⦁ There are reverse engineering projects that have been in existence since at least Roswell.
UAP craft and materials:
⦁ The recovered crash material shows unusual metamaterial properties. Such as unusual bismuth zinc alloys which are possibly waveguides for Terahertz radiation. (Putoff/TTSA)
⦁ The metamaterials show unusual Isotope ratios which may indicate they are not manufactured in the solar system (TTSA, Vallee, Nolan)
⦁ These properties of recovered crash materials -were discovered before the advent of metamaterials science.
⦁ The craft show signs of being manufactured at the nanoscale using quantum entanglement and the polarized vacuum. (DeLonge's advisor).
⦁ There is a significant correlation between nuclear facilities and UAP incursions. UAP have turned off and turned on ICMB missiles. (DeLonge, Mellon etc, also Robert Hastings and just about everyone!)
⦁ Multiple UAP were downed by EM pulses from nuclear tests - some on purpose. In particular Starfish Prime. UAP have also been downed in lightning storms. (I believe that relates to Roswell). (DeLonge, and others I believe)
⦁ It's suggested that some UAP were deliberately "crashed" to give different nations technology that would perpetuate conflict. (DeLonge/TTSA)
The nature of the UAP intelligence:
⦁ Insiders believe that the UFO phenomena occurs at the nexus of Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics, and no one really understands it. (Semivan).
⦁ Insiders believe the intelligence may not be alien, but ultraterrestrial. There are no compelling signs they are from outer space. (Delonge, TTSA, Elizondo, Semivan) - seems to be the most striking comonality IMO.
⦁ There are multiple NHI presences with competing goals. (TTSA/DeLonge)
⦁ The phenomena can take/create multiple forms which may not necessarily be representative of their true form or point of origin. (AAWSAP, Kelleher, Semivan)
⦁ EM/plasma manifestations are connected and potentially more primary than the craft/bodies. (AAWSAP)
⦁ The phenomena has been with us through much of our pre-history and may have initiated contacts that were designed to create religious ideologies that favored the NHI’s goals. (DeLonge/Vallee - tentative).
⦁ The phenomena may not be material in out frame of reference, but creates physical manifestations - from EM orbs to craft - from the “ground up”. (AAWSAP, Kelleher et al)
⦁ The phenomena is linked to Psi “paranormal” effects. (AAWSAP/Davis/Vallee)
⦁ The phenomena is linked to the Hitchhiker Effect, where exposure leads to persistent and escalating “paranormal” / Psi” type effects akin to a viral vector. (AAWSAP, Kelleher, Dr Travis Taylor, Dr Eric Davis)
⦁ Exposure to the phenomena including UAP drives and Contact events is correlated with non ionizing radiation injuries and brain changes in the Caudate Putamen region. (Nolan, KelleheAAWASP)
⦁ There are tells that the Phenomena may be from a different frequency of reality emerging into our own, or from that we can observe through the EM spectrum. (Elizondo/DeLonge)
⦁ Highly placed insiders within NASA and the intelligence agencies seek to directly contact the phenomena. See Tyler American Cosmic, and UFO’s of God (Pulsaka/Blesdoe)
⦁ Some if if not all NASA astronauts encountered the phenomena in space and bought something home with them that persists. (Blesdoe referring to information from "Tyler")
⦁ The Phenomena can create religious type manifestation,s including what insiders call manifestations of "the Lady" (Semivan/American Cosmic/Blesdoe/Semivan)
⦁ The UFO phenomena is in direct contact with individuals and the intelligence agencies know this .(DeLonge, Semivan, Pulsaka, Blesdoe etc)
⦁ The Phenomena can appear at will and there is nothing the government can do to stop it. Such as appearing in your room at night - if the Government told people they would need therapy. This is one reason for the coverup, as it’s so disturbing (Semivan)
The Coverup:
⦁ The coverup dates back to at least WW2 - DeLonge claims that the Nazi's recovered UAP.
⦁ The cover up is not what people think it is - it's global. but America are leading it. (DeLonge)
⦁ It's managed by a "different kind of mechanism" - it's not the government or intelligence agencies per se. (DeLonge)
⦁ The real Cold War was between humanity and the NHI. (DeLonge)
⦁ The US Government has been reverse engineering craft to give them an advantage against NHI while keeping it hidden under cover of the Cold War. (DeLonge)
⦁ Senior DoD/intelligence agency staff such as Admiral Wilson were denied access to UAP projects. (The Wilson Memo, Dr Eric Davis)
⦁ Their is a clandestine organisation possibly goverment contractor involved in the coverup that has commited crimes including assasinating people who knew too much. (DeLonge).
Technological implications:
⦁ The technology for clean energy exists within the study of the UFO phenomena. (DeLonge, Greer {sorry!} )
⦁ America has utilized some aspects of UAP technology and may have hybrid craft. (DeLonge)
⦁ One of the concerns for not disclosing this technology is that it could be used to make weapons by terrorists and humany is not ready for it. (can't remember the source of this - British analysist who did the UAP report for Israeli intelligence)
Geopolitical situation:
⦁ America works (or has worked in the past) with its enemies on the subject - presumably including Russia. (DeLonge)
⦁ Multiple nations are aware of the NHI presence and trying to retrived crashed tech or down UAP in order to gain technological advantage. (either against each other or the NHI). (DeLonge).
There's probably much more, but these are the points that stick in my mind, and the ones I am most interested in knowing about.

Special Report – Summary

As established over the last season, we got a special report, that went over the most important topics of this update, what Year 5 will add to the game and presented answers to the most burning questions.
 

Manhunt: Broken Wings

=> Manhunt Targets
=> Manhunt Roadmap
 
Story Recap: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1840144692?t=0h3m4s
The new Manhunt Broken Wings continues exactly where we left off: The White House was attacked by Black Tusk, some key members were abducted and it is now our task to rescue these hostages. This is a big change in contrast to the other Manhunts, because now instead of neutralizing targets, we need to rescue them.
Once we rescue these people, they will help us rebuild the Castle Settlement and unlock additional facilities there.
 
Manhunt Trailer: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1840144692?t=0h5m11s
 

Castle Settlement Rebuild

For each hostage that you rescue, one of the facilities of the Castle Settlement will open up until you have a fully operational settlement.
This way you have a real progression throughout the seasons and see the impact of your actions.
 

Manhunt Season Pass Rewards

These are the rewards from the Season Pass that you can buy optionally:
 

• 9 new weapon skins
• 10 new gear dyes
• 3 new emotes
• 3 new arm patches
• Special Year 5 Season 1 vanity outfit
• A Splinter Cell outfit
• New helmet available as the level 100 reward

 

Escalation Apparel Event

This Apparel Event is inspired by SHD Gear and how this would be included in an outfit. It is more on the tactical side of things.
 
These are the so far previewed outfits:

• Overview
• Dunne
• Conley
• Ward
• Espinoza
• Johnson

 

PTS Changes

PTS are there to test things out, see what response they get from the players, so sometimes there are extreme changes between the PTS phases.
This time around they tested two versions of the Cavalier Gear set and they decided to go with the "preventing Skill damage" from the first PTS instead of the "general damage" version. It makes the set more specific and not as tanky as the one from the second PTS.
That was the biggest change, the others were mostly balancing adjustments.
 

Descent Game Mode

=> PTS Changes
 

Difficulty

Based on the feedback they increased the post-Nemesis difficulty.
The goal of the game mode is that all players should be able to reach the Nemesis encounter. That was the deciding factor for the difficulty up until Nemesis – some may struggle, but it is realistic to reach that progression. Once you move past Nemesis, the difficulty really ramps up. Descent post Nemesis is designed for players that want to push for leader boards and that is where the difficulty really increases until it becomes almost impossible to progress.
 

Rewards

=> Caches
=> XP
 
Blueprints

• The blueprints of named items from previous seasons have been added to the Descent rewards. You can get them from the Caches that you are rewarded after you have finished the session.

 
XP

• You will also earn XP towards all progressions of the game: Character level progression, SHD Rank progression and Manhunt progression. (Depending on what stage of the game you are)

 
Patches
For each 10 loops, that you complete in Descent, you will get a season themed arm patch. The steps are 10 / 20 / 30 / 40.
 

Access

• You don't need to own Warlords of New York to play Descent.
• You can play it solo or in a group of 4

 
They are still listening to feedback and see what they can include in the game mode.
 

Quality of Life Changes

Some of the quality of life changes that are added with TU18:
 

• Grants Tab
  • New addition to the game, to solve the issues that they had when items were awarded to the players.
• Quick grenade selection menu
• Mark apparel items as favorite
• Directive selection for raids
• Mission difficulty can be changed regardless of the world difficulty
• In loadouts section
• Conflict also adds to the SHD Rank progression

 

XP Revamp

=> Overview
 

• Overall, the XP gains were increased by 12%.
• The goal is that all activities grant the same XP per hour – that includes NPC kills.
• Convoys have been adjusted to be on par with the others.
• The goal is that you can enjoy a variety of activities and still get a good amount of progression and not just chasing convoys.

 

Spec Revamp Scrapped

The Spec Revamp that was announced a couple of years ago has been scrapped. They refocused to work on the endgame revamp and the package they are putting together there.
Once they are ready to show the endgame revamp that they have been working on, they will start including players in feedback loops.
 

Cheaters

As any players they don't like cheaters and they want them gone. They have put additional systems in place to track down cheaters and exploiters and they are getting more successful in banning them.
Additional systems will go live with TU18.
Depending on the offence, players will be sanctioned and get a temporary ban, but when it is a clear cheat, or a repeat offender, it will be a permanent ban.
 

Countdown Matchmaking Patch

There has been an issue with the Countdown matchmaking system that breaks the session for all players of the group and that fix will be dropped with TU18.
 

Blueprints From Season 9-11 / 3

When you did not get the blueprints from the season 9-11, after TU18 you can earn them from Level 4 Control Points. The Season 3 blueprints will be added a bit later.
 

Year 5 Roadmap

These are some additional details about the different Seasons:
=> Roadmap
 

• To clear up any speculations - the Season 4 "Story DLC" will be set in Brooklyn / New York.
• Castle Rebuild will be done after Season 2 and all facilities will be active at that point.
• When you did not participate in Season 1 – you will get the Castle Settlement progression automatically.
• Season 2 Incursion will be an encounter against the cleaners and more "raid like" than Division 1 Incursions.
• Season 3 "Back to NY" will be the big story piece of the year – no further details have been given.
• Season 3 also adds a more gameplay rewarding Holiday Event
• Season 4 will get its big conclusion with the "Story DLC" and the Overhaul of the Endgame.

 

Q&A

Skins for Exotics

• At the moment there is no way to put skins on Exotic items.
• It is still being debated if that should be an option down the road.
• Dr. Home will get a permanent visual rework and is not selectable.

 
Castle Settlement our new BOO?

• The White House remains the BOO
• But Castle becomes part of your assets
• You can do different things in the Castle Settlement than the White House

 
Will you add checkpoints to Descent?

• No, this is just not the nature of the game mode to have a checkpoint
• When you crash, you still get the XP

 
More unique or exclusive talents to Descent

• They might add more talents down the road, but the team is now focusing on the other updates.

 
Would it be possible to play the incursion solo?

• Short answer "no"

 
New Global Events?

• No additional global events are planned – more clarification after the Endgame Revamp

 
Will there be a New York Dark Zone?
As of now they don't want to comment about the Season 4 Story DLC.
 
Add DZ Exclusive Blueprints to Descent
Not sure – should be only the Seasonal Items.
 
PC Crashes

• It is a topic that they are still working on
• They are still adding people to the team that focuses on these issues.
• They have reduced causes for crashes, but they are not done with the topic.

 
DLC Free or paid?

• They are not ready to get into that at this point.

 
=> Video

Hey everyone,
Reddit recently announced some changes to their API that may have a big impact to how you use Reddit. You've probably already seen quite a few posts like this on other subreddits you browse. We're joining those subreddits.
TLDR:

• This subreddit will be made private (meaning you will not be able to view any of its contents) on June 12th.
• Reddit is making it impossible for third-party apps used to browse the site to exist, as some of them will have to pay upwards of $2 million per month. This means they will most likely shut down or impose monthly fees on their users.
• You can help. Read below to learn how.

Context
Third-party Reddit apps such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, Narwhal, Boost and others are going to become a lot more expensive for their developers to run. This, in turn, will either kill the apps, or result in their developers imposing monthly fees to users if they choose to use the apps to browse Reddit. Why? Because these apps make requests to the Reddit API to fetch data among other things, and each request made by any user will cost the app developers money. For example, the developers of the very popular third-party Reddit browsing app Apollo were quoted upwards of $2 million per month for their current API usage rates. The only way for third-party apps to be viable is if you, the user, pay a monthly fee. However, realistically, this would most likely kill them. To put it simply:

If you use a third-party app to browse Reddit, you will most likely no longer be able to do so or be charged a monthly fee by its developers.

In addition to this, NSFW content will no longer be available in the API. This means that you will no longer be able to access NSFW content on third-party apps, and will only be able to access it on the official mobile Reddit app. Also, bots such as video downloaders or reminder bots will not be able to access any NSFW content. It will also become harder for moderators of NSFW subreddits to combat very serious violations such as CSAM due to moderation tools not being able to access the content.
Why This Matters

• According to our traffic stats, over 27% of you use a third-party app to browse this subreddit. This is a big portion of our users who are being forced to change the way they browse Reddit.
• People with visual impairments have problems using the official mobile app. The removal of third-party apps will significantly hinder their ability to browse Reddit.
• Many moderators, including people on our team, are going to be significantly hindered from moderating their communities. Third-party apps provide us moderation tools the official mobile app simply doesn't have. For you, this means longer wait times on post report decisions, modmails, etc.
• We use Reddit's API for user-facing subreddit features we've developed in-house, such as the highlighting of post comments made by PUBG staff, or the automatically updating subreddit banner we had during PGS 1. The changes would likely impact these systems.

Open Letter to Reddit
In light of what's happening, an open letter has been released by the broader Reddit moderator community. guitars is supporting it. Please consider giving it a read and signing on.
Subreddit Blackout
On June 12th, lots of subreddits will be going dark to protest these changes. Some will return after 48 hours, while others will go away permanently unless this is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to all the work they do with the poor moderation tools available in the official app. Us, subreddit moderators, do what we do because we love Reddit, we love our communities, and truly believe that these changes will make it impossible to keep doing what we love, which is why we've decided to join all of those subreddits.
This collective action is intended to raise awareness and urge Reddit to reconsider their recent API changes. Our primary goal is to initiate a productive dialogue with Reddit, leading to a reversal of the detrimental modifications they have implemented.

guitars will be going dark indefinitely starting June 12th, 12am CEST. We'll be back once this has been adequately addressed.

"Going dark" means the subreddit will be made private. You won't be able to view any of its contents.
We understand this will be an inconvenience but believe it's necessary for the long-term future of Reddit as well as the broader PUBG community. Over 200 thousand people visit this subreddit each month, so we want this to be something the community cares about enough that we can all come together and say something collectively with our actions.
What You Can Do
From Save3rdPartyApps

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit, who are the admins of the site. Submit a support request. Comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one.
2. Spread the word. Discuss on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Complain about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord. (Please don't spam modmail inboxes or anything like that though!)
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th. Instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite and reasonable as possible.

Sincerely,
The guitars mod team.

"Does the Sphere recognize and understand the point of this trial?" Grand Hierodule of the Theningan Commonality and his species representative in the Confederate Senate, Seven Sacred Rivers, stood on three legs above the representing delegates the Terragen Sphere had brought. Surrounding him on raised desks, perches, water tanks, and other containment units were representatives of the hundred different races of the entire Confederacy, all in varying states of disapproval or outright anger.
A Corvian and Par stood on the same perch, while a human and chim sat at a desk appropriate for their sizes. However, above them stood the largest sophont in the room. A Spermatisape in its exoskeletal-harness, a thing of industrial strength in holding its multi-ton weight on four large mechanical legs directly beneath it. Around it, a field of water flowed over its skin, while its many manipulator arms were all curled beneath its prodigious jaws.
The human spoke first, his graying reddish facial fur neatly cropped to give him fur on his cheek and upper lip that connected, but none underneath his chin. A bald head with small spots of brown contrasted oddly to Seven Sacred Rivers senses, graying fur with balding Spotty skin was associated with disease to his people, reminiscent to livestock brights they had faced in the ages before modernized medicine. "Yes. We understand that this is a farce. We are not subject to Confederate law, nor are you subject to Terragen law." The human spoke calmly, reaching for a complimentary glass of water and draining it before setting it back down, a drone quickly detaching from a containment blister on the ceiling to refill the glass, and await on stand by.
"Moreover, while under Confederate law, the Grykl Agglomeration may have performed a legal operation against illegal settlers, the Terragen Sphere had no knowledge that they even had a settlement claim on that planet. And that is STILL a poor excuse for orbital bombardment of a civilian colony." The Grykl Agglomeration's empty seat in the chambers spoke of the true reasoning for this trial aside from the matter of illegal settlements.
"That is only a portion of it, Admiral Wallace. Your warships proceeded to bombard that same planet until it was nothing but a molten husk with anti-matter bombs." A floating holoscreen appeared and portrayed footage of the aforementioned planets destruction, the once blue seas and varying colors of plant life gone. Antimatter bombs reducing the surface to a molten hell with the ignition of volcanism all over the planet.
"The Sphere did attempt diplomacy after this Senator Rivers. It can be shown on record that after this, the Agglomeration officially declared war without the Confederacy's knowledge." The chim representative spoke up, a furred hand raised and pointed at the screen.
The holoscreen once again changed, this time to varied video captures and pictures showing troops of multiple speeches fighting across planetary surfaces, stellar naval contingents fighting over planets or in barren space. A particularly noteworthy image that stayed up was the image of Grykl Hive Soldiers running from large sonic weapon equipped quadrupedal mechanical apparatuses being operated by Orcans. One of the Hive Soldiers were caught forever mid-still being blown apart by the offensive weaponry.
"This… was unconscionable. There are standards, regulations, and RULES to warfare! The Terragen Sphere committed directly twenty-two different types of warcrime repeatedly over the course of your war with the Agglomeration. A war we only discovered because of a sudden influx of refugees fleeing the "Hellworlders.""
Finally, the viewscreen changed to an image of the deep purple and green homeworld of the Grykl, Tykrliki.
"This… this has never happened in the history of the Confederacy."
The Par representing gave a raucous caw before speaking clearly, in the Hierodules native language, instead of using a gifted translator as the others did. It was unnerving, hearing the squeaks, clicks, and whines the avian performed nearly perfectly. Seven Sacred Rivers greatly wished the alien had chosen to use a translator rather than this unsettling form of communication.
"They had slaughtered an innocent colony from our own kinds homeworld Senator. Children, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters. Families, those seeking a new life. What they received was fire and damnation."
The Par jumped down to the desk and took a drink from the cup that the human had before flying back up to her perch.
"The ancestors do not forget. They do not forgive unless justice is wrought. We did what you are about to see, despite pressure from others within the Sphere that it was enough to simply win the war."
The video played, and a world was broken in an instant so fast as to be nearly instant, reduced to three broken cinders.
"An… FTL bomb. You took a ship's reactor core and fired it at a planet directly from the edge of the solar system." The Hierodule grit his grinding oral plates, a singular twelve fingered manipulator reaching and gripping onto his desks edge, looking at them intently with four brilliant emerald eyes.
"You destroyed two habitable worlds, one of which was the homeworld of a member race that has been a Confederacy state for over [eight hundred years]!"
The Spermatisape spoke finally, a deep voice that echoed and vibrated the chamber with its native tongue but translated into something almost musical in its tone. "Yes. However, even Confederate laws state that while the destruction of a habitable world is punishable by reparations to member states for associated biological resource destruction, we are just that. We are a separate entity from you. Yes the Grykls treaties with the pther member states of the Confederacy prevents internecine conflict, they chose the conflict with the Sphere and its races, and because we were not members, did not have any sort of legality to drag others into a war over a settlement claim."
The colossal alien unfurled and raised a multi-tooled arm forward.
"That occurred because of the debt incurred. They both attacked us, and declared war for no other reason than the Sphere were nearby and the Agglomeration did not want us as neighbors, the legitimacy of that may be recognized by your governments," the aliens multitool formed into a rough holo-projector that showed an alien world of green lands and blue oceans, with four moons around it, "but we are NOT a Confederacy member, nor are we a protectorate or associate state."
The projector broadcast the images of raining fleets of Grykl Hive Ships attacking colonies and resource transportation fleets. Several Grykl fleets may have been destroyed in the initial conflict that started it all, but even so, they had an Expanse of nearly a hundred stars and ancient resource stockpiles that had made this war an extremely tough nut for even the Hellworlders.
"That… is secondary to the true point of this assembly, delegates of the Terragen Sphere."
The speaker had been the member of the oldest species within the Confederacy, not the ancient Founders, but instead one of their associate states from that period, the last of those ancient empires. The Yol. They were seated on a small perch, not an avian race, but instead a small bipedal brachiator. They were covered in short fuzzy fur, with two tails that possessed small numerous tendrils that functioned as fingers. The lack of arms was noticeable but complimented a small bulbous four eyed head on a long serpent like neck.
The Yol's delegate was their head of state, The Taehua Emperor, and the highest ranking member in the entirety of the Confederacy, having been the last of the Founding races from nearly seventy million standard Terran years. "The Terragen Sphere went to war. This is acceptable, even admirable, that you would go and seek retribution for such a blatant slight as the burning of a colony." The entire assembly gave murmurs of surprise and even outrage. How could he agree?
"The usage of biological weaponry, the Spheres "uplifts", in war is punishable to nearly the fullest extent of our law, regardless of your association status." The Emperor's high-pitched and crackling voice sounded over their collective earbuds across the assembly rotunda, bringing silence from the delegates. The Terragens stiffened.
"The last time this article was broken was nearly seventy million cycles ago, not long after the Great Assembly. The war with the Destroyers that slaughtered half the Founders and a dozen other species across the galaxy." Images of great ships that seemed to be formed of bone and metal, arranged into articulate shapes similar to that of great aquatic beasts. There were great carrier ships that seemed to resemble snakes strung through turtles, with powerful technological armaments all along their necks and backs, while their mechanical maws fired balls of superheated plasma.
More and more ship types, literal avian fighter craft, massive reptilian tanks, more and more that flashed across the screen until finally both the Par and the Corvian delegates started screeching at a specific image that came. Admiral Wallace's mouth was agape, his eyes wide in recognition of something.
The Senate's many delegates were confused. The image they had stopped on was a graphic that showed the geography of that races home planet, as well as the race themselves.
An upright ave-reptilian species, though they were horizontal in their gait, with a long tail thay held balance. They possessed blue and grey feather coloration, with yellow scales in the few places their dermis was exposed. In fact, looking at it, the creature somewhat resembled the Par and Corvian delegates, as if it were convergent evolution.
However, the attention of the council was drawn to the fervent ramblings of both as they suddenly flew up to and began examining the image intently, raucous screeching and caws coming from them, translated into the many races ears, "THE ANCESTORS! THEY CRY FOR JUSTICE NOW! THE ANCIENT ONES, THE DYNASTY WAS ENDED BY THEM!"
Admiral Wallace went pale as he looked at his associates. Both the Chim and Spermatisape were agog just as he was as the realization he had come to. The Par and Corvians had come to develop an ancestor worship culture based on the existence of their most ancient ancestors and relatives. The dinosaurs. And any slight to the ancestors and the "Dynasty of Kings" was met with retribution.
It was one of the many societal differences between Humanity and their children. Most seemed to be diverging farther and farther from any human route and were becoming their own separate minds and people. In this case, the mind was alien to a human.
Wallace was broken from his trance by the Grand Hierodule, "Exactly what are they speaking of Admiral?"
Wallace sighed and pulled a holo-projector from his waist coat and put it on the desk. A representation of the planet Earth popped up into the assembled faces.
Silence came over them all. It is different now, obviously plate tectonics shift over time. There was no doubt, however. This… this was the same planet as the Destroyers.
The Taehua Emperor looked in shock at what he saw. They had bombarded that world with asteroids and ended the last remnant populations of the Destroyers. It was known that the world fell in the Terragen Sphere, but it would never have supported enough life after to produce another sapient species!
The humans had never revealed the location of their homeworld, something that was odd at the time of their discovery, but now it took on an almost sinister meaning.
"We come to an impasse. The Confederacy now has legal claims to declare open war -"
"SILENT MURDERING WHELP!" The Corvian delegate shrieked and flew up to the stand of the Taehua Emperor, the bird nearly twice the diminutive sophonts' own size.
It looked down at him, spreading its wings, on them were two clawed fingers.
"This! This is the pride of the Par and Corvian Flocks! Our great link to the ones you call Destroyers!" The assembly was now in open outrage, yelling, braying, honking, oscillating, and more, the Terragen Delegates yelling for him to get back here.
The Emperor was terrified. It was like looking at a beaked nightmare from the sky, one that could rip him to shreds with ease.
"THE FLOCKS OF MOREAU DO NOT STAND FOR YOUR BLUSTER, WE OF THE FLOCK RENOUNCE THIS ASSEMBLY, YOU ARE NO LONGER WORTH EVEN TRADE! YOU ARE MURDERERS, THE ENDERS OF THE DYNASTY OF KINGS!" The Corvian jumped and flapped its wings once, the wind nearly causing the Emperor to fall from his own perch and suddenly flew upwards as fast as possible out of the assembly hall, the Par delegate screeching similar phrases. The Emperor pressed a small button on his desk shakily, hearts pounding in his chest.
Drones began dropping from the ceiling and surrounded the Terragens, all of them suddenly forming bristling weapons out of imported hardlight. "Under Section 8789-7656 B of the Confederacy Great Assembly Charter Accords, you are under arrest for biotechnological warfare and attempted violence on a head of state, remain seated until authorities arrive."
Admiral Wallace sat there with an almost blank look on his face, his fellow delegates the same. He looked up and asked one last question.
"Do you understand what this means for both our civilizations?" The Emperor did not answer, nor did any other delegate. They only waited for security.

Hey everyone,
Reddit recently announced some changes to their API that may have a big impact to how you use Reddit. You've probably already seen quite a few posts like this on other subreddits you browse. We're joining those subreddits.
TLDR:

• This subreddit will be made private (meaning you will not be able to view any of its contents) on June 12th, 12am CEST and will return 48 hours later, on June 14th.
• Reddit is making it impossible for third-party apps used to browse the site to exist, as some of them will have to pay upwards of $2 million per month. This means they will most likely shut down or impose monthly fees on their users.
• You can help. Read below to learn how.

Context

Third-party Reddit apps such as Apollo, Reddit is Fun, Narwhal, Boost and others are going to become a lot more expensive for their developers to run. This, in turn, will either kill the apps, or result in their developers imposing monthly fees to users if they choose to use the apps to browse Reddit. Why? Because these apps make requests to the Reddit API to fetch data among other things, and each request made by any user will cost the app developers money. For example, the developers of the very popular third-party Reddit browsing app Apollo were quoted upwards of $2 million per month for their current API usage rates. The only way for third-party apps to be viable is if you, the user, pay a monthly fee. However, realistically, this would most likely kill them. To put it simply:

If you use a third-party app to browse Reddit, you will most likely no longer be able to do so, or be charged a monthly fee by its developers.

In addition to this, NSFW content will no longer be available in the API. This means that you will no longer be able to access NSFW content on third-party apps, and will only be able to access it on the official mobile Reddit app. Also, bots such as video downloaders or reminder bots will not be able to access any NSFW content. It will also become harder for moderators of NSFW subreddits to combat very serious violations such as CSAM due to moderation tools not being able to access the content.

Why This Matters

• According to our traffic stats, over 27% of you use a third-party app to browse this subreddit. This is a big portion of our users who are being forced to change the way they browse Reddit.
• People with visual impairments have problems using the official mobile app. The removal of third-party apps will significantly hinder their ability to browse Reddit.
• Many moderators, including people on our team, are going to be significantly hindered from moderating their communities. Third-party apps provide us moderation tools the official mobile app simply doesn't have. For you, this means longer wait times on post report decisions, modmails, etc.
• We use Reddit's API for user-facing subreddit features we've developed in-house, such as the highlighting of post comments made by PUBG staff, or the automatically updating subreddit banner we had during PGS 1. The changes would likely impact these systems.

Open Letter to Reddit

In light of what's happening, an open letter has been released by the broader Reddit moderator community. PUBATTLEGROUNDS is supporting it. Please consider giving it a read and signing on.

Subreddit Blackout

On June 12th, lots of subreddits will be going dark to protest these changes. Some will return after 48 hours, while others will go away permanently unless this is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to all the work they do with the poor moderation tools available in the official app. Us, subreddit moderators, do what we do because we love Reddit, we love our communities, and truly believe that these changes will make it impossible to keep doing what we love, which is why we've decided to join all of those subreddits.
This collective action is intended to raise awareness and urge Reddit to reconsider their recent API changes. Our primary goal is to initiate a productive dialogue with Reddit, leading to a reversal of the detrimental modifications they have implemented.

PUBATTLEGROUNDS will be going dark for 48 hours starting June 12th, 12am CEST. We'll be back on June 14th.

"Going dark" means the subreddit will be made private. You won't be able to view any of its contents. After the 48 hours, everything will come back to normal.
We understand this will be an inconvenience, but believe it's necessary for the long-term future of Reddit as well as the broader PUBG community. Over 200 thousand people visit this subreddit each month, so we want this to be something the community cares about enough that we can all come together and say something collectively with our actions.

What You Can Do

From Save3rdPartyApps

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit, who are the admins of the site. Submit a support request. Comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one.
2. Spread the word. Discuss on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Complain about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord. (Please don't spam modmail inboxes or anything like that though!)
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th. Instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite and reasonable as possible.

Sincerely,
PUBATTLEGROUNDS mods