Negative prompt: lowres, low quality, crossed eyes, poorly drawn, blurry, ugly, long face, old, duplicates, twins, 2girls, long neck, extra limbs, text, signature, artist name, bad anatomy, poorly drawn, malformed, deformed, mutation 

(masterpiece), (extremely intricate:1.3), (realistic), portrait of a girl, the most beautiful in the world, (medieval armor), metal reflections, upper body, outdoors, intense sunlight, far away castle, professional photograph of a stunning woman detailed, sharp focus, dramatic, award winning, cinematic lighting, octane render, unreal engine, volumetrics dtx 

female barefoot summoner levitating with blonde hair robes and cape arms lifted up over a broken earth bright lava light from below asteroid field (jagged rocks boulders and debris shooting into the air:1.3) (windy dust debris storm:1.1) volumetric fog mist ray tracing z pass bright light from below, (masterpiece) (best quality) (detailed) (8k) (cinematic lighting) (sharp focus) (intricate) 

photo of woman, sexy, large breasts, punk, pink hair, one side shaved head, ([Emma RobertsElizabeth OlsenEmma Roberts]:0.85), [stanleylau stylesamdoesart style], armor suit, hips, sensual, shinny skin, oily skin, tattoos, close up, face focus, detailed face, lips, choker, jewelry, [(colorful explosion psychedelic paint colors:1.21)::0.2], kitchen, masterpiece, best quality, rainbow colors, colorful, high contrast, 

complex 3d render ultra detailed of a beautiful porcelain profile woman android face, cyborg, robotic parts, 150 mm, beautiful studio soft light, rim light, vibrant details, luxurious cyberpunk, lace, hyperrealistic, anatomical, facial muscles, cable electric wires, microchip, elegant, beautiful background, octane render, H. R. Giger style, 8k, best quality, masterpiece, illustration, an extremely delicate and beautiful, extremely detailed ,CG ,unity ,wallpaper, (realistic, photo-realistic:1.37),Amazing, finely detail, masterpiece,best quality,official art, extremely detailed CG unity 8k wallpaper, absurdres, incredibly absurdres, robot, silver halmet, full body, sitting 

a closeup portrait of a playful maid, undercut hair, apron, amazing body, pronounced feminine feature, busty, kitchen, [ash blonde ginger pink hair], freckles, flirting with camera 

8k portrait of beautiful cyborg with brown hair, intricate, elegant, highly detailed, majestic, digital photography, art by artgerm and ruan jia and greg rutkowski surreal painting gold butterfly filigree, broken glass, (masterpiece, sidelighting, finely detailed beautiful eyes: 1.2), hdr, 

(dark shot:1.1), epic realistic, portrait of halo, sunglasses, blue eyes, tartan scarf, white hair by atey ghailan, by greg rutkowski, by greg tocchini, by james gilleard, by joe fenton, by kaethe butcher, gradient yellow, black, brown and magenta color scheme, grunge aesthetic!!! graffiti tag wall background, art by greg rutkowski and artgerm, soft cinematic light, adobe lightroom, photolab, hdr, intricate, highly detailed, (depth of field:1.4), faded, (neutral colors:1.2), (hdr:1.4), (muted colors:1.2), hyperdetailed, (artstation:1.4), cinematic, warm lights, dramatic light, (intricate details:1.1), complex background, (rutkowski:0.66), (teal and orange:0.4) 

a portrait photography of a gorgeous redhead in open unbuttoned white space suit, cleavage, standing inside spaceship, attractive, flirting, looking at viewer, detailed skin, highly detailed, diffused soft lighting, hyperrealism, cinematic lighting 

(Jedi meditation:1.3), serene photo,1girl, Jedi master in deep meditation, in jedioutfit, sitting cross-legged, (desert oasis:1.1), surrounded by blooming desert flowers, harmonizing with the Force, spiritual retreat, transcendent tranquility, desert enlightenment, Absurdres, hdr, ultra detailed illustration, extremely detailed face, RAW photo, film grain, skin pores, trending on deviantart 

(((multicolored hair, [white hair]))), ultra realistic 8k cg, picture-perfect face, flawless, clean, masterpiece, professional artwork, famous artwork, cinematic lighting, cinematic bloom, perfect face, beautiful face, beautiful eyes, (((perfect female body, narrow waist))), gorgeous queen, royal, divine, goddess, godlike, (royal palace), fantasy, dreamlike, unreal, science fiction, (huge breasts), beautiful clothes, lace, lace trim, lace-trimmed legwear, nsfw, breasts out, absurdly long hair, very long hair, (rich:1.4), prestige, luxury, jewelry, diamond, gold, pearl, gem, sapphire, ruby, emerald, intricate detail, delicate pattern, sexy, charming, alluring, seductive, erotic, enchanting, hair ornament, necklace, earrings, bracelet, armlet, looking at viewer, 

portrait, sitting on bed, naked, (8k, RAW photo, best quality, ultra high res, photorealistic, masterpiece, ultra-detailed, Unreal Engine), legs wide, kneeling, missionary, camera low, camera close, absurdres, best quality,1girl, solo, streaked hair, choker, (graffiti:1.25), paint splatter, arms on hips, breasts perky, leaning back, looking at camera, armband, thigh strap, streaked hair, paint on body, upturned eyes, head down, head tilt, tight, thin, small, perfect face,tattoo 

a 42 yo woman, blonde, (hi-top fade:1.3), dark theme, soothing tones, muted colors, high contrast, (natural skin texture, hyperrealism, soft light, sharp) 

((best quality)), ((masterpiece)), (detailed), alluring succubus, ethereal beauty, perched on a cloud, (fantasy illustration:1.3), enchanting gaze, captivating pose, delicate wings, otherworldly charm, mystical sky, (Luis Royo:1.2), (Yoshitaka Amano:1.1), moonlit night, soft colors, (detailed cloudscape:1.3), (high-resolution:1.2) 

Greetings, my fellow authors and character crafters! Today I come seeking your thoughts and criticisms for the design and characterization of one of the main characters for a series of stories I've been planning out.
Name: Bauciel Tremok
Etymology: Wise Little Sage (first name) Swineherd (last name)
Nicknames: Boss, Boss-man, ye Bossy Bastard!
Background/Back Story:
On the world of Cengearde, time and space are regularly breached by a migration of mile-high eldritch abominations in a once-every-century cataclysm known as the Red Parade. Red, because wherever these monsters tear into the realm, the lands and skies burn red from the near radioactive arcane energies radiating off their bodies.
This in turn, forces the peoples of the various fiefs and kingdoms of The Wrought-Iron League to seek shelter in bunkers built into the hearts of mountains and bowels of cave and cavern systems. Hoping that they'll avoid both being crushed underfoot and/or reduced to a boiling puddle of blood and bone.
However, it can take upwards of 30 plus years for both the monsters to move on and the magics staining the countryside to reach levels for mortals to once again live safely in. Plenty of time for food supplies and resources to run out, disasters and mechanical errors to occur, and good old human nature to rear its ugly head.
So the Radamancers (individuals capable of harnessing, making safe, and manipulating the radioactive magics) of the Sahrevatian Protectorate of Independent Radamantic Research and Experimentation (The SPIRE) are hard-pressed to develop new techniques and technologies to make the lands safer that much quicker.
One such experiment occurred in Yalurey Fiefdom 35 years prior to the beginning of the story. Where the populations of certain provincial towns and hamlets were allowed out of the bunkers and sanctuaries early with the promise that the levels were within levels habitable to humans. However, in reality, the levels of magic were slightly above the recommended levels. With the researchers of the SPIRE hoping to:

1. Study the effect of long-term exposure of mid-danger magic on the citizenry.
2. Collect their tithe of magically adept from the test group (people become capable of manipulating magic after low, long-term exposure to the energies and are given over to the SPIRE as payment for their services).
3. Potentially curb the population so as to both save resources as well as not draw the eye and attention of servants of Talmaw, goddess of death. Who frequently demands a tithe of lives to ensure both life is sustainable and to maintain a healthy life/death ratio.

And it was in one such testing group that Bauciel was born. However, the constant exposure to the toxic magics while in utero left his body physically frail, mute, and his eyes blind to light. Much to the dismay and disappointment of his father, but his mother quickly discovered that what he lacked in physical aptitude, he made up for it with his mind and magic. As he was able to sense and absorb the emotions and thoughts of his mother via magic, so he was very easy to settle as a baby, as well as teach. Learning words and emotions quickly, which he could then project back to his family via a magical telepathy. And despite being unable to see with light, the ways his eyes developed allowed him to "visualize" magic as it interacted with his surroundings. Giving him a general understanding of the shape and distance of things.
However, years of exposure to both the above-average magic and the magic Boss was using to communicate with those around him slowly ate away at the people in the test group. Racking them with sickness and cancers until, at 5 years old, only he remained. His father, having never truly accepted him, cursing him as a blight and monster with his dying breath.
Fortunately, before he could starve, a clean-up crew from The SPIRE found him and brought him into the fold. Buying his trust by claiming Boss had accidentally killed the group because the thoughts he projected into their heads had poisoned them with magic, and only they could train him to keep him from hurting others. And that service with The SPIRE could help him atone. Keeping him from probing their minds and discovering the truth through guilt and gratitude.
From there, he was trained and tested in magic. His body having developed to handle better and distribute magic, and his "vision" allowing him to better attune that magic to the materials he wished to manipulate. However, as Bauciel continued to grow in power, his handlers began to fear that he might one day learn the truth about his birth and the death of his home. So, through subtle suggestion and playing off his guilt, Boss was convinced to act as a tithe to The Red Library. A hidden repository of knowledge run by the church of the god of Knowledge, that is hidden and kept safe until the time comes to start rebuilding society.
There, he had his body and humanity stripped away as he was prepped to have a servitor (angel) of the Knowledge god shackled to him in order to become a Repositor, a walking repository of knowledge who can psychically impart others with information.
First, key/complex nerve clusters in his right hand, left leg, torso, and both arms were removed from his body to both limit his magical output and to be studied and hopefully duplicated.
Secondly, all secondary organs and digits were removed. Leaving him with his right hand, left leg, right lung, and left kidney. Once again, to limit his arcane output and to further study.
Finally, nails of a magically conductive alloy were bolted into his skull and limbs where nerves had been severed or removed. Effectively lobotomizing Boss while simultaneously binding the servitor to his body and giving it anchor points to puppet his body.
But thanks to the intervention of another MC, rather than himself winding up brain dead, it was the servitor. He was then able to manipulate the servitor through the connection bolts to both move and use magic so he and the other MC could escape. In the years following his liberation, he has since further modified his body to better work with and past the disabilities The SPIRE and Library imposed upon him. Having his rescuer tattoo lines using ink made from the same metal as the bolts to conduct magic and simulate the nerves that had been stolen from him. Going so far as to color all 5 fingers on his right hand to allow him to feel. Puncturing his prostheses into his nerve endings so he can move them with magic. And has even discovered that he can manipulate the flow of energy from his nervous system into different parts of his brain to grant himself a form of synesthesia.
However, he still struggles physically, socially, and psychologically as the magic he channels through his nerves racks his body with pain. The metal bolts peppered throughout his head and body heat up whenever he uses magic, further damaging his nerves and causing lesions in his brain, as well as seizures. And the servitor, despite being mentally destroyed, has imprinted its need to absorb and disseminate knowledge. Creating an obsessive compulsion within Boss to gather information and share it, with the angel's face clamping down over his like an iron maiden and forcing him to "see" as he is made to read and take in the contents of any tome he finds.
Socially, he is considered a non-person because he is both an unregistered mage and was converted into a Repositor, making him a product of The SPIRE and the property of the Library. So, in public, he has to act as if he is subservient to the MC who befriended and rescued him, making it near impossible to act or do anything independently. As well he and his partner are attempting to stay out of the spotlight so as not to draw the attention of The SPIRE or Library should they want to reclaim or destroy their property.
And psychologically, Bauciel is still convinced he is responsible for the death of his parents and village and that service is the only way to atone. Which, yes, makes him a supportive and caring friend, but that selflessness can turn self-destructive. For example, he smokes cigarettes wrapped in paper dipped in a mixture of water and a powdered solution of the metal conducting the magic through his body to supplement the metals in his blood, having lost a lot of marrow as a result of the various amputations. He pierces his body with even more nails to improve his physical and magical efficiency. And is more than willing to run enough magic through his body to leave blisters in his brain as the metal bolts heat up.
All in his pursuit of achieving his goal of helping and saving as many people as possible from the cycle of marching monsters and poisoned magics by discovering the source of the Red Parade and ultimately bringing it to an end.
Appearance:
Height: 6' 7"
Build: Frail/Lanky/Gangly
Weight: 140 lbs
Hair Color: Bright Brick Red
Hair Style: Long and straight along the sides and back that falls down to his shoulders. Kept long and bushy to hide the bolts set into his skull
Facial Hair: Goatee of a similar color to the hair on his head that runs along his jawline and connects to his sideburns.
Eye Color: Bauciel was born without either corneas or retinas. Just sclera the color of rotten tomatoes with lines of golden veins and nerve clusters marring the surface like cracks in a snow globe.
Piercings: Scattered across his limbs, body, and skull, where nerves were cut or key clusters removed, are bolts of a magically conductive metal.
Tattoos: Connecting the bolts and piercings studded across his body are series of lines and scrimshaw following and filling in where nerves once were. Now, should he wish to grab something with his right hand, he has to infuse his nerve impulses with magic, run the signal through the nerve until it makes contact with the bolt. From there, the charge travels through the ink to the next bolt and into another nerve. The fingers on his right hand are tattooed entirely black, allowing him to pick up sensations in the digits. He can then redirect the nerve signals from touch, smell, taste, or hearing into different regions of the brain. Allowing him to see what he touches, taste what he hears, etc.
Prostheses: Originally given a high-end decorative left hand with a basic clamping function and rotating wrist and right leg with rollable ankle and stabilizers, as he was going to be sold into the court of a high-ranking nation. Bauciel and his partner have since upgraded the pieces with the same magically conductive metal as his piercings and connected them to the nerve endings left from where the limbs were removed. Allowing him to move them and pick up base sensations whenever he channels magic through them.
Apparel: Prefers softer fabrics in loose styles as he can feel more acutely to compensate for his loss of sight. Generally gravitates towards darker colors as it better absorbs heat and light stained with magic while out adventuring, but prefers lighter colors during downtime. All his clothes have a golden filigree added to their designs, typically in the shape of a wheel or a butterfly’s wings/antennas, all symbols and motifs of Sahresh, god of magic.
Travel/Combat Gear: Black, wide-brimmed hat with a rounded cap and gold trimmings/filigrees used to further hide the bolts and tattoos on his head. Long-sleeved, black leather duster with similar decorations that can be fastened at his shoulders like a cape. White undershirt, velvet for cold, silk for warm, and loose-fitting black pants. Soft inner lined black leather gloves and boots to hide the bolts and tattoos covering his hand and not make it as obvious his left and right leg are prosthetic. Over his eyes, he wears a dark splotchy wrap so as not to scare people with his eyes. Splotchy because they often leak or bleed from over-exertion.
Khiabara Staff: Etymology-Needle. A wooden quarterstaff with a pointed end and an eye-like indentation at the other housing a metal sphere. Used by wizards of The SPIRE to help channel magic and seal rifts in space/time caused by the marching monsters. The sphere in the needle’s eye serves as a censer for Bauciel to burn incense that helps him steady himself and act as a hidden source of flame he can draw upon for his magic.
Bandolier Patches: Four-hole holsters sewn into the right hip of his belt and the left upper arm sleeve of his duster to hold the Epi-Pen-like injectors mages of The SPIRE use to empower themselves.
Worn Leather Knapsack: Satchel strung across his left shoulder and hung on his left hip. Holds supplies such as first aid equipment, iron shavings, cigarette case, paper, herbs, iron filings, pens, and ink.
Casual Wear: The same white undershirt and loose black pants, but he will keep the duster hanging off a chair. Will roll up the sleeves and legs of both if it is hot or humid out, but only in private. White dress tunic and slippers if it gets too hot or cold.
Formal Wear: Loose-fitting black silk shirt and petticoat with golden buttons and similar filigrees. Black velvet cape attached at the shoulders with a red lining that falls to his heels. Black velvet band with stylized moth’s antennae to cover his eyes.
Holstered book: Worn, leatherbound tome chained shut and hung from his left hip. It is used to record memories as between the servitor latched to him and the bolts piercing into his brain, Bauciel is highly prone to seizures that can impact his long and short term memory. However, because of the servitor’s need to consume that which is recorded and its perfect memory, Bauciel can use it and the book to somewhat back up his memories.
Personality:
Boss is pretty laid back and chill, the calming element and straight man to his partners' more loud and aggressive persona. He is typically content with hanging back and blending into the scenery, preferring to hear what others have to say before chiming in, rarely himself initiating a conversation as most aren’t aware of how to decipher his personal sign language, writing notes disrupts the flow of conversations, and he is incredibly hesitant to direct thoughts and feelings into others minds for fear of hurting them. He has a bit of a dry sense of humor that can come off as a bit deadpan or understated though he has trouble with timing as he can’t verbalize the quip or punchline.
Hobbies: Hanging out with others and experiencing new things. Whether it is helping somebody go shopping or listening to a performance at a theatre, he enjoys experiencing new things with people he cares about. Though he does have a preference for trope subversions and nonstandard musical compositions as his life within The SPIRE and Library was very ordered and routine based. So he gets a rush whenever something chaotic or unexpected disrupts his expectations. He also enjoys attempting to experience the memories and knowledge forced upon him by the Library and their angel. Feeling as if the information burned into his brain is a separate part of him, creating a dissonance that leaves him uncomfortable. So he tries to settle this by trying out and experiencing the real world equivalent to what was imprinted upon him.
Love Language: As he is unable to speak or emote as well as others, he shows others he cares through gifts and offering them assistance.
Strengths:
Bauciel is the Book Smarts of his team, as extensive training and study in The SPIRE and the subsequent coupling of the Knowledge Servitor to his body have given him a near encyclopedic memory to help him and his partner accomplish their goals. This typically takes the form of Buaciel identifying the strengths and weaknesses of whatever problem they have encountered and using his magic to help or giving that knowledge to his teammates, who can then formulate a plan.
He is also a good ear to vent problems to. As his desire to help and connect with others, along with his unique knowledge and perception of the world, lets him assist others in very unorthodox and unexpected ways.
Weaknesses:
As mentioned above, he can be downright self-destructive in his desire to be helpful and selfless. More than willing to self-mutilate and poison his body should it make him move more efficiently and thereby allow him to be more beneficial to his companions.
He also has trouble understanding the underlying emotional connection to actions and conflicts, especially as he tries not to connect with others via magic, and can view those conflicts as mere problems to solve. For example, he hears a member of his team break a cup and become upset. Now, he can hear that they are upset, and through his ability to sense magic, he can “see” that a person is feeling those emotions but is unable to truly empathize with them. Not really understanding the weight of those emotions. Almost like he is seeing a sign that says “upset” when the cup breaks and one that says “happy” when he fixes it. Unable to grasp that the person is so distraught and happy because that cup was the last gift they had gotten from their grandmother before passing. As such, he can sometimes come off as a bit insensitive when he tries to help others solve their problems which can, of course, lead to misunderstandings and conflicts in the group.
Questions and Concerns:
First and foremost, I’d like to hear what you think of the concept, design, and characterization.
Does everything make sense? Are there any confusing portions? Or does anything need to be further clarified?
Secondly, in regards to things like his light blindness, magic sight, and the angel that forces him to read, have I gone too far or given him too much? One of my arcs and goals for Bauciel is to show a character adapting to and finding a place for himself in a world that sees him as lesser and subhuman because of his disabilities. But, if I just gave him an alternate means to see, either through his own natural ability to visualize magic or the angel that lets him see words on paper, would that be taking away from that theme?
And lastly, are there any things I have overlooked or misapplied in Bauciel’s character design? I am very much a new writer without any real background in biology or technology, so any critiques or criticisms would be most welcomed before I move forward.
Thank you thank you THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read all this and comment! I look forward to what you have to say, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Greetings, my fellow fantasy fans and authors! Today I come seeking your thoughts and criticisms for the design and characterization of one of the main characters for a series of stories I've been planning out.
Name: Bauciel Tremok
Etymology: Wise Little Sage (first name) Swineherd (last name)
Nicknames: Boss, Boss-man, ye Bossy Bastard!
Background/Back Story:
On the world of Cengearde, time and space are regularly breached by a migration of mile-high eldritch abominations in a once-every-century cataclysm known as the Red Parade. Red, because wherever these monsters tear into the realm, the lands and skies burn red from the near radioactive arcane energies radiating off their bodies.
This in turn, forces the peoples of the various fiefs and kingdoms of The Wrought-Iron League to seek shelter in bunkers built into the hearts of mountains and bowels of cave and cavern systems. Hoping that they'll avoid both being crushed underfoot and/or reduced to a boiling puddle of blood and bone.
However, it can take upwards of 30 plus years for both the monsters to move on and the magics staining the countryside to reach levels for mortals to once again live safely in. Plenty of time for food supplies and resources to run out, disasters and mechanical errors to occur, and good old human nature to rear its ugly head.
So the Radamancers (individuals capable of harnessing, making safe, and manipulating the radioactive magics) of the Sahrevatian Protectorate of Independent Radamantic Research and Experimentation (The SPIRE) are hard-pressed to develop new techniques and technologies to make the lands safer that much quicker.
One such experiment occurred in Yalurey Fiefdom 35 years prior to the beginning of the story. Where the populations of certain provincial towns and hamlets were allowed out of the bunkers and sanctuaries early with the promise that the levels were within levels habitable to humans. However, in reality, the levels of magic were slightly above the recommended levels. With the researchers of the SPIRE hoping to:

1. Study the effect of long-term exposure of mid-danger magic on the citizenry.
   
2. Collect their tithe of magically adept from the test group (people become capable of manipulating magic after low, long-term exposure to the energies and are given over to the SPIRE as payment for their services).
   
3. Potentially curb the population so as to both save resources as well as not draw the eye and attention of servants of Talmaw, goddess of death. Who frequently demands a tithe of lives to ensure both life is sustainable and to maintain a healthy life/death ratio.
   

And it was in one such testing group that Bauciel was born. However, the constant exposure to the toxic magics while in utero left his body physically frail, mute, and his eyes blind to light. Much to the dismay and disappointment of his father, but his mother quickly discovered that what he lacked in physical aptitude, he made up for it with his mind and magic. As he was able to sense and absorb the emotions and thoughts of his mother via magic, so he was very easy to settle as a baby, as well as teach. Learning words and emotions quickly, which he could then project back to his family via a magical telepathy. And despite being unable to see with light, the ways his eyes developed allowed him to "visualize" magic as it interacted with his surroundings. Giving him a general understanding of the shape and distance of things.
However, years of exposure to both the above-average magic and the magic Boss was using to communicate with those around him slowly ate away at the people in the test group. Racking them with sickness and cancers until, at 5 years old, only he remained. His father, having never truly accepted him, cursing him as a blight and monster with his dying breath.
Fortunately, before he could starve, a clean-up crew from The SPIRE found him and brought him into the fold. Buying his trust by claiming Boss had accidentally killed the group because the thoughts he projected into their heads had poisoned them with magic, and only they could train him to keep him from hurting others. And that service with The SPIRE could help him atone. Keeping him from probing their minds and discovering the truth through guilt and gratitude.
From there, he was trained and tested in magic. His body having developed to handle better and distribute magic, and his "vision" allowing him to better attune that magic to the materials he wished to manipulate. However, as Bauciel continued to grow in power, his handlers began to fear that he might one day learn the truth about his birth and the death of his home. So, through subtle suggestion and playing off his guilt, Boss was convinced to act as a tithe to The Red Library. A hidden repository of knowledge run by the church of the god of Knowledge, that is hidden and kept safe until the time comes to start rebuilding society.
There, he had his body and humanity stripped away as he was prepped to have a servitor (angel) of the Knowledge god shackled to him in order to become a Repositor, a walking repository of knowledge who can psychically impart others with information.
First, key/complex nerve clusters in his right hand, left leg, torso, and both arms were removed from his body to both limit his magical output and to be studied and hopefully duplicated.
Secondly, all secondary organs and digits were removed. Leaving him with his right hand, left leg, right lung, and left kidney. Once again, to limit his arcane output and to further study.
Finally, nails of a magically conductive alloy were bolted into his skull and limbs where nerves had been severed or removed. Effectively lobotomizing Boss while simultaneously binding the servitor to his body and giving it anchor points to puppet his body.
But thanks to the intervention of another MC, rather than himself winding up brain dead, it was the servitor. He was then able to manipulate the servitor through the connection bolts to both move and use magic so he and the other MC could escape. In the years following his liberation, he has since further modified his body to better work with and past the disabilities The SPIRE and Library imposed upon him. Having his rescuer tattoo lines using ink made from the same metal as the bolts to conduct magic and simulate the nerves that had been stolen from him. Going so far as to color all 5 fingers on his right hand to allow him to feel. Puncturing his prostheses into his nerve endings so he can move them with magic. And has even discovered that he can manipulate the flow of energy from his nervous system into different parts of his brain to grant himself a form of synesthesia.
However, he still struggles physically, socially, and psychologically as the magic he channels through his nerves racks his body with pain. The metal bolts peppered throughout his head and body heat up whenever he uses magic, further damaging his nerves and causing lesions in his brain, as well as seizures. And the servitor, despite being mentally destroyed, has imprinted its need to absorb and disseminate knowledge. Creating an obsessive compulsion within Boss to gather information and share it, with the angel's face clamping down over his like an iron maiden and forcing him to "see" as he is made to read and take in the contents of any tome he finds.
Socially, he is considered a non-person because he is both an unregistered mage and was converted into a Repositor, making him a product of The SPIRE and the property of the Library. So, in public, he has to act as if he is subservient to the MC who befriended and rescued him, making it near impossible to act or do anything independently. As well he and his partner are attempting to stay out of the spotlight so as not to draw the attention of The SPIRE or Library should they want to reclaim or destroy their property.
And psychologically, Bauciel is still convinced he is responsible for the death of his parents and village and that service is the only way to atone. Which, yes, makes him a supportive and caring friend, but that selflessness can turn self-destructive. For example, he smokes cigarettes wrapped in paper dipped in a mixture of water and a powdered solution of the metal conducting the magic through his body to supplement the metals in his blood, having lost a lot of marrow as a result of the various amputations. He pierces his body with even more nails to improve his physical and magical efficiency. And is more than willing to run enough magic through his body to leave blisters in his brain as the metal bolts heat up.
All in his pursuit of achieving his goal of helping and saving as many people as possible from the cycle of marching monsters and poisoned magics by discovering the source of the Red Parade and ultimately bringing it to an end.
Appearance:
Height: 6' 7"
Build: Frail/Lanky/Gangly
Weight: 140 lbs
Hair Color: Bright Brick Red
Hair Style: Long and straight along the sides and back that falls down to his shoulders. Kept long and bushy to hide the bolts set into his skull
Facial Hair: Goatee of a similar color to the hair on his head that runs along his jawline and connects to his sideburns.
Eye Color: Bauciel was born without either corneas or retinas. Just sclera the color of rotten tomatoes with lines of golden veins and nerve clusters marring the surface like cracks in a snow globe.
Piercings: Scattered across his limbs, body, and skull, where nerves were cut or key clusters removed, are bolts of a magically conductive metal.
Tattoos: Connecting the bolts and piercings studded across his body are series of lines and scrimshaw following and filling in where nerves once were. Now, should he wish to grab something with his right hand, he has to infuse his nerve impulses with magic, run the signal through the nerve until it makes contact with the bolt. From there, the charge travels through the ink to the next bolt and into another nerve. The fingers on his right hand are tattooed entirely black, allowing him to pick up sensations in the digits. He can then redirect the nerve signals from touch, smell, taste, or hearing into different regions of the brain. Allowing him to see what he touches, taste what he hears, etc.
Prostheses: Originally given a high-end decorative left hand with a basic clamping function and rotating wrist and right leg with rollable ankle and stabilizers, as he was going to be sold into the court of a high-ranking nation. Bauciel and his partner have since upgraded the pieces with the same magically conductive metal as his piercings and connected them to the nerve endings left from where the limbs were removed. Allowing him to move them and pick up base sensations whenever he channels magic through them.
Apparel: Prefers softer fabrics in loose styles as he can feel more acutely to compensate for his loss of sight. Generally gravitates towards darker colors as it better absorbs heat and light stained with magic while out adventuring, but prefers lighter colors during downtime. All his clothes have a golden filigree added to their designs, typically in the shape of a wheel or a butterfly’s wings/antennas, all symbols and motifs of Sahresh, god of magic.
Travel/Combat Gear: Black, wide-brimmed hat with a rounded cap and gold trimmings/filigrees used to further hide the bolts and tattoos on his head. Long-sleeved, black leather duster with similar decorations that can be fastened at his shoulders like a cape. White undershirt, velvet for cold, silk for warm, and loose-fitting black pants. Soft inner lined black leather gloves and boots to hide the bolts and tattoos covering his hand and not make it as obvious his left and right leg are prosthetic. Over his eyes, he wears a dark splotchy wrap so as not to scare people with his eyes. Splotchy because they often leak or bleed from over-exertion.
Khiabara Staff: Etymology-Needle. A wooden quarterstaff with a pointed end and an eye-like indentation at the other housing a metal sphere. Used by wizards of The SPIRE to help channel magic and seal rifts in space/time caused by the marching monsters. The sphere in the needle’s eye serves as a censer for Bauciel to burn incense that helps him steady himself and act as a hidden source of flame he can draw upon for his magic.
Bandolier Patches: Four-hole holsters sewn into the right hip of his belt and the left upper arm sleeve of his duster to hold the Epi-Pen-like injectors mages of The SPIRE use to empower themselves.
Worn Leather Knapsack: Satchel strung across his left shoulder and hung on his left hip. Holds supplies such as first aid equipment, iron shavings, cigarette case, paper, herbs, iron filings, pens, and ink.
Casual Wear: The same white undershirt and loose black pants, but he will keep the duster hanging off a chair. Will roll up the sleeves and legs of both if it is hot or humid out, but only in private. White dress tunic and slippers if it gets too hot or cold.
Formal Wear: Loose-fitting black silk shirt and petticoat with golden buttons and similar filigrees. Black velvet cape attached at the shoulders with a red lining that falls to his heels. Black velvet band with stylized moth’s antennae to cover his eyes.
Holstered book: Worn, leatherbound tome chained shut and hung from his left hip. It is used to record memories as between the servitor latched to him and the bolts piercing into his brain, Bauciel is highly prone to seizures that can impact his long and short term memory. However, because of the servitor’s need to consume that which is recorded and its perfect memory, Bauciel can use it and the book to somewhat back up his memories.
Personality:
Boss is pretty laid back and chill, the calming element and straight man to his partners' more loud and aggressive persona. He is typically content with hanging back and blending into the scenery, preferring to hear what others have to say before chiming in, rarely himself initiating a conversation as most aren’t aware of how to decipher his personal sign language, writing notes disrupts the flow of conversations, and he is incredibly hesitant to direct thoughts and feelings into others minds for fear of hurting them. He has a bit of a dry sense of humor that can come off as a bit deadpan or understated though he has trouble with timing as he can’t verbalize the quip or punchline.
Hobbies: Hanging out with others and experiencing new things. Whether it is helping somebody go shopping or listening to a performance at a theatre, he enjoys experiencing new things with people he cares about. Though he does have a preference for trope subversions and nonstandard musical compositions as his life within The SPIRE and Library was very ordered and routine based. So he gets a rush whenever something chaotic or unexpected disrupts his expectations. He also enjoys attempting to experience the memories and knowledge forced upon him by the Library and their angel. Feeling as if the information burned into his brain is a separate part of him, creating a dissonance that leaves him uncomfortable. So he tries to settle this by trying out and experiencing the real world equivalent to what was imprinted upon him.
Love Language: As he is unable to speak or emote as well as others, he shows others he cares through gifts and offering them assistance.
Strengths:
Bauciel is the Book Smarts of his team, as extensive training and study in The SPIRE and the subsequent coupling of the Knowledge Servitor to his body have given him a near encyclopedic memory to help him and his partner accomplish their goals. This typically takes the form of Buaciel identifying the strengths and weaknesses of whatever problem they have encountered and using his magic to help or giving that knowledge to his teammates, who can then formulate a plan.
He is also a good ear to vent problems to. As his desire to help and connect with others, along with his unique knowledge and perception of the world, lets him assist others in very unorthodox and unexpected ways.
Weaknesses:
As mentioned above, he can be downright self-destructive in his desire to be helpful and selfless. More than willing to self-mutilate and poison his body should it make him move more efficiently and thereby allow him to be more beneficial to his companions.
He also has trouble understanding the underlying emotional connection to actions and conflicts, especially as he tries not to connect with others via magic, and can view those conflicts as mere problems to solve. For example, he hears a member of his team break a cup and become upset. Now, he can hear that they are upset, and through his ability to sense magic, he can “see” that a person is feeling those emotions but is unable to truly empathize with them. Not really understanding the weight of those emotions. Almost like he is seeing a sign that says “upset” when the cup breaks and one that says “happy” when he fixes it. Unable to grasp that the person is so distraught and happy because that cup was the last gift they had gotten from their grandmother before passing. As such, he can sometimes come off as a bit insensitive when he tries to help others solve their problems which can, of course, lead to misunderstandings and conflicts in the group.
Questions and Concerns:
First and foremost, I’d like to hear what you think of the concept, design, and characterization.
Does everything make sense? Are there any confusing portions? Or does anything need to be further clarified?
Secondly, in regards to things like his light blindness, magic sight, and the angel that forces him to read, have I gone too far or given him too much? One of my arcs and goals for Bauciel is to show a character adapting to and finding a place for himself in a world that sees him as lesser and subhuman because of his disabilities. But, if I just gave him an alternate means to see, either through his own natural ability to visualize magic or the angel that lets him see words on paper, would that be taking away from that theme?
And lastly, are there any things I have overlooked or misapplied in Bauciel’s character design? I am very much a new writer without any real background in biology or technology, so any critiques or criticisms would be most welcomed before I move forward.
Thank you thank you THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read all this and comment! I look forward to what you have to say, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

I’m a tattoo apprentice looking to practice designs to transfer onto fake skin! Send me your ideas and if it stands out I’ll create a line work drawing/ sketch for you :) I will try to get to as many as possible
Some things I love to draw - plants/ flowers/ nature -portraits -animals -whimsical creatures - filigree/ ornamental -skulls/ anatomy/ eyes
Check my account to see some of my posted drawings for reference of my style 😊 cheers!

Hi guys,
I'm one of those people that rarely remembers their dreams (mostly only snippets) and I'm uncertain of what to make of this particular one.
I dreamt of seeing an azure ink well with golden filigree on a shelf in what I assume was a bookstore. It was valued at a rather high price, but that didn't deter me from purchasing it. Added to that, I got high quality paper or blank books. I sat down at my desk at home, dipped my quill in the ink, and began writing. I can't remember what I wrote, because that's about when I woke up.
As an added explanation (if it helps in any way), it was a pretty weird week for me. I had a breakthrough in therapy, someone is trying to find the right words to talk about their feelings for me (I'm thinking about that a fair bit) and I got a druid sigil tattoo.
Any thoughts or interpretations you have are greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

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Malazan Military Disposition pre-Fall of Pale : Malazan (reddit.com)
Laseen-era Malazan Military Organisation and Hierachy : Malazan (reddit.com)
Laseen Era Malazan Battle Doctrine : Malazan (reddit.com)
Malazan Siegecraft : Malazan (reddit.com)
Laseen-Era Malazan Navy : Malazan (reddit.com)
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So, this is the sixth part of my series on the Malazan military, and unless something grabs my attention the last for the foreseeable future, as there's something else I'm working on.
This one's intended as an overview of the various weapons, armour and uniforms described throughout the series, and how they vary from unit to unit.
It's pretty clear in the books that while there is some standard regulation equipment, there frequently (especially for marines) isn't any strict enforcement of this, so Malazans will loot, salvage or just show up to recruitment with whatever weapon or armour they like. Given this, there's no guarantee that the equipment descriptions for any individual will be true for the Malazan army as a whole (for example, Trott's helm). That said, let's begin.
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Generic Elements:
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Materials:
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The scout shrugged. ‘Seems likely. According to some Malazan scholars, the discovery of iron occurred only half a thousand years ago – for the peoples of the Quon Tali continent, in any case. Before that, everyone used bronze. And before bronze we used unalloyed copper and tin. Before those, why not stone?’
‘Ah, I knew you had been educated, Toc the Younger. Human scholars, alas, tend to think solely in terms of human accomplishments. Among the Elder Races, the forging of metals was quite sophisticated. Improvements on iron itself were known. My father’s sword, for example.’

Memories of Ice, Chapter 5
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Steel:
Appears to be rare in the Malazan world, restricted to specific cities or peoples who presumably keep it a tightly guarded secret. Within the Malazan Empire the only explicitly given source of steel is the city of Aren in the Seven Cities subcontinent, hence it being referred to as 'Aren Steel'. Despite indications that Emperor Kellanved in his conquests acted to break open the insular guilds that acted to restrict the attempts of any outsider to conduct trade, there's little indication of Aren Steel having become more widespread under Imperial rule. It is possible that, as with Otararal, it is a secret the Imperial Throne would rather keep out of hostile hands than equip its own soldiers with, and as such equipment made of steel is a rarity in the Malazan army, acquired on a personal basis.
Iron:
Swords, crossbow bolt heads, the crossbow bolts themselves, mail, jazeraint cuirasses and at least some of the helmets in the Malazan army are made principally out of iron. Standard issue swords in particular are noted to originate from Unta, where 'red iron' - I don't know enough about metallurgy to know what this actually means - is abundant.
Bronze:
There are - to my recollection - Bronze is used primarily in armour. The scale hauberks used by regulars and some heavies are made of bronze, as are many of the helmets (although some of these are described as being reinforced by iron bands). Shields also frequently seem to have a layer of bronze plating their surface.
Leather:
Leather can be more or less separated into soft leather and boiled leather. Soft leather, or 'leathers', as far as I can tell refers to material that is often used fiarly regualrly as very light armour or just regular clothing (trousers/leggings and shirts/tunics/jerkins). Boiled leather is treatened to become harder to provide more effective armour, and will also become rigid and can be moulded into specific shapes. As a side note, leather armour clothing is very popular in fantasy, frequenty in a way that is somewhat inconguos with how it was used historically. See the video below on the properties of boiled leather.
Leather Armour - will it stop arrows? - YouTube
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Uniform:

She adjusted the strap of her helm, and looked down to examine her worn, oft-mended Malazan uniform. The burgundy was faded, the grey worn to white in places.

The Crippled God, Chapter 22
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Their surcoats were a dark grey edged in blood red.

Stonewielder, Chapter 2
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They wore surcoats over chain, uniforms, she realized, to mark allegiance to some foreign army, grey and magenta beneath frozen bloodstains and crusted gore.

-Dust of Dreams, Chapter 13
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His grey surcoat and cloak appeared dark, so fresh were they from their dyeing. An Imperial Marine recruit.

Night of Knives, Chapter 3
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He stood straight, which made him seem taller than his five and a half feet, wearing simple, unadorned leathers, stained as much by sweat as by the Imperial magenta dye.

Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 2
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A heavy leather sack thumped into the dust, and Gamet turned to see a squat soldier, blunt-featured beneath a leather cap, wearing barely half of a marine’s standard issue of armour—a random collection of boiled leather fittings—over a threadbare, stained uniform, the magenta dye so faded as to be mauve.

House of Chains, Chapter 8
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The corporal rolled back the sleeve of her dusty shirt, revealing, in the heavy wool’s underside, its burgundy dye.

Memories of Ice, Chapter 2
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Paran drew up the tattered hood of the military rain-cape covering his shoulders, then hunched over as the rain hammered down.

The Bonehunters, Chapter 13
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...two marines wrapped in black raincapes stood guard outside the main gate.

GotM, Chapter 4
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‘It ain’t none of ours. See that heel? That’s a marine heel, them iron studs in a half ring like that.’
Smiles snorted. ‘You idiots. Half the army wears those!’ She looked round. ‘Gods below, you’re all wearing those!’

Dust of Dreams, Chapter 9
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Malazan soldiers typically wear trousers or leggings of leather, linen or wool, and shirts, tunics or jerkins of the same. Cloth wraps are sometimes mentioned covering their legs. In addition to this, standard issue hobnailed leather boot worn by the majority of Malazan soldiers, including what is known as a 'marine heel' where a half ring of iron studs set in. Raincapes are also standard issue, and are recognisable enough that they can be identified as such upon a casual inspection.
The Malazan uniform is frequently described as grey/black and magenta/burgundy (black tends to come up more frequently in Esslemont's books), with some variation for different units and postings. Grey jerkins are mentioned twice, but more typically shirts and tunics are described as being dyed burgundy or magenta, while surcoats are always grey or black, sometimes being described as trimmed in burgundy or magenta. The description of Keneb's surcoat mentions a clasp, so its possible that these surcoats open from and are clasped shut at the front.
Notable deviations from the grey and burgundy uniform are outpost detachment units (light grey and dark grey) and garrison units with black and gold surcoats.
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The youth’s leather boots alone looked to be worth more than Temper made in a year, and he looked down at his own patched open sandals, ragged cloth wrapping his legs, and the threadbare black and gold surcoat of a Malazan garrison regular.

Night of Knives, Chapter 1
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Short and wide, he wore the tattered remnants of an Outpost detachment uniform, light-gray leather jerkin, dark-gray surcoat...
... The clasp of his surcoat ranked him a captain.

Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 9
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Interpretation of the colours of a Malazan Amr Regular (a very shoddy recolouring I did of one of my drawings).
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The Helmet:

...and bronze helmets reinforced with iron bars wrapped in a cage around the skullcap. Chain camails protected their necks and shoulders.

Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 13
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“Not now,” she snapped, donning her helmet and locking the cheek-guards in place. “Get below.”

Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 17
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A visored helm with a chain camail disguised much of his features, but the Mhybe sensed in him an immeasurable strength of will.

Memories of Ice, Chapter 3
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The first woman grinned beneath her half-visor.

Memories of Ice, Chapter 13
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Whiskeyjack watched through the slits of his helm’s visor from where he had reined in at the hill’s crest, his horse tossing its head at the smell of blood.

Memories of Ice, Chapter 18
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‘Aren steel, sir. Hasn’t needed hammering out once, so the metal’s sound. The camail’s Napan, yet to see a sword-cut.’

Memories of Ice, Chapter 20
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Blend and Picker were thrown through the doorway. The lieutenant's head snapped back to the thudding, staccato impact of flying stones against her helm and the lowered visor and cheek-guards. Those that made it past lanced fire into her face, filled her nose and mouth with blood.

Memories of Ice Chapter 25
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...visored and cheek-guarded helms with lobster tails,...

House of Chains, Chapter 8
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... lobster tail of chain descended from the slightly flared neck rim.

House of Chains, Chapter 12
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She was helmed, the cheek guards locked in place. There was no visor covering her eyes—many fighters found their vision too impaired by the slits-

House of Chains, Chapter 26
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Tarr stood nearby, shield already strapped on his left arm, short sword in his gauntleted right hand, most of his face hidden by his helm’s cheek-guards.

Bonehunters, Chapter 7
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There isn't really a singular description of a Malazan helmet (or at least a helmet covering the most often referred traits) in the series, but there are lots of scattered fragments. The most basic component is a skull-cap covering the top of the head, which can be made out of bronze, iron or in one case Aren Steel. In the case of the Seventh Army this was also described as being reinforced by iron bars.
The lower half of the face is protected by cheekguards that lock into place, as well as a 'half-visor' that seems primarily to protect the eyes but not the lower face, with (presumably) a slit for each eye to see through.
The other feature is the camail (an attachment of mail to the rear lower half of a helm to protect the neck). The camail is referred to in books 1 through 3. In HoC, Erikson starts using the term 'lobster-tail', but given that the only time he describes one's composition in HoC it is in fact still made out of chain mail, I'm assuming that this is just a different term for the same thing. Thereafter both terms become much rarer, but also seemingly more distinct, with camails being described as mail and lobster-tails being made of different materials.
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Interpretation of a Malazan helmet.
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Swords:

Steven Erikson: Malazan weapons and armour. No real plate armour. Banded or scaled or chain. Longswords are more Norse or Saxon than a spartha. Normally one-handed. Longknives are usually single-edged, with a slight downward taper beginning two-thirds of the way down. Thin-bladed, the blade itself about thirty inches long.

(Q and A with malazanempire No 1 (2003))
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I saw them as pretty plain, like the narrower examples of Norse swords.

-Steven Erikson on the Otararal swords, AMA, July 22, 2022
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The Malazan longsword’s basic design and manufacture is originally Untan, from the imperial mainland. Three centuries old, at least, maybe older. The empire still uses the Untan foundries and they’re a conservative bunch.’
‘Well, if the damned things do what they’re supposed to do, why make changes?’
‘That seems to be the thinking, yes. The locals have gone mad folding and refolding, trying to capture that rough solidity, but the Untan smiths are in the habit of working iron not hot enough. It’s also red iron that they’re using – the Untan Hills are rotten with it even though it’s rare everywhere else.

Toll the Hounds, Chapter 17
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I haven't got that much to say here. The Norse/Saxon descriptions that Erikson has given in QandAs isn't really precise, but it's good enough to give a solid idea, and I've attached some examples below. It's worth noting that the books mention varying lengths of weapon: long swords, short swords, broad swords etc.
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https://preview.redd.it/fk5nyo5e9i4a1.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=163b4c3f49f7d8bbc0f76e2b0b2efc266c98caa6
https://preview.redd.it/3g7u23rg9i4a1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd94a5e0b6f36b6e67760006cf24e9f40d99d8a4
https://preview.redd.it/3usskszj9i4a1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c386a931e9ce5bc3a8aaa404362832c0f728673
Modern reproductions of several different styles of viking and saxon swords.
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Shields:

...full-body shields of bronze...

Dead House Gates, Chapter 13
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...round shield was strapped to his left forearm,...

Memories of Ice, Chapter 11
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The shield strapped on his back was enormous, hardwood, sheathed in tin and rimmed in bronze.

House of Chains, Chapter 22
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– grunts from the corporal as both lances slammed solidly against the bronze-scaled face, one of them punching through a finger’s length to pierce Tarr’s upper arm.

Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21
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The sapper set his weapon down behind him, swung his shield round, slipping his arm through the straps, and drew his short sword.

The Crimson God, Chapter 24
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They carried broad rectangular shields blackened and edged in burgundy.

Orb, Sceptre, Throne, Chapter 5
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Malazan shields (and shields in the Malazan world in general, seem to consist of a sheet of bronze or other metal layered over one of wood, posibly with a layer of leather, boiled leather or rawhide incorporated as well. Shield bosses are never mentioned in the MBotF (although they are once in Esslemont's RotCG). Shields being strapped to the arm are described fairly consistently, although there is at least one example where a shield is dropped very rapidly ( a lot harder when the shield is strapped to your arm) that could imply it has a handle instead.
Malazan shields are also painted, something that is referenced only once and without further description in the entire main series, but is described at least once in slightly more detail by Esslemont.
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The Malazan Assault Crossbow:

Peeling back the flap he removed the contents. A minute later he'd laid out the mechanisms for a goat's-foot arbalest. The crossbow's metal parts had been blued, the narrow wooden stock soaked in pitch and dusted with black sand.

Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 13
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The remaining two warriors crouched twenty feet away, loading their crossbows. The weapons were Malazan, assault-issue, and both men revealed a fatal lack of familiarity with the loading mechanisms. Kalam himself could ready such a crossbow in four seconds.

Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 9
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Two quarrels every seventy heartbeats, both of us.

Memories of Ice, Chapter 13
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Swearing, Mallet sheathed his shortsword and unlimbered his crossbow. A quarrel already rested in the slot, held in place by a loop of leather that the healer now pulled clear. Ignoring the bellows and singing iron, he hooked the clawfoot over the braided string and cinched it back.

Memories of Ice, Chapter 25
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'All right.' Lobe reached under the table and lifted into view a crossbow. A truly foreign weapon, constructed entirely of iron – or something very much like Letherii steel. The cord was thick as a man's thumb, and the quarrel set into the groove was tipped with an x-shaped head that would punch through a Letherii shield as if it was birch bark. The soldier cranked the claw back and somehow locked it in place.

Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13
It took a while to confirm it to myself (how the heck would I know to search for the word arbalest instead of crossbow?), but in a fairly big anachronism, the crossbows of the Malazan army seem to use some form of the medieval goat's foot lever developed in and used in the 14th century. I've attached a couple of videos below that explain how it works better than I could. It fits the in-text description fairly well, down to the fairly rapid firing rate for a crossbow. The main difference is that in Erikson's books nobody is ever described as carrying the mechanism seperately or mentioned detaching or reattaching them in the middle of a battle, which could either be taken as authorial simplification or that the Malazans developed a system of integrating it directly into the weapon. It's also worth noting that in addition to the reload speed, such a mechanism would also make it much easier for Malazans to reload on the run or from prone positions, such as they are often described doing in the books.
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The goats foot lever.... - YouTube
Tod of Todsstuff using a medieval goats foot lever crossbow - YouTube
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Unit Specific:
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Marines :

The other footmen consisted of marines and sappers, the former a combination of heavy infantry and shock troops—the old Emperor's invention and still unique to the Empire. They were armed with crossbows and short swords as well as long swords. They wore blackened chain beneath gray leathers.

Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 13
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Paran watched Trotts emerge from the crowd. The tattooed Barghast wore the standard issue Malazan armour for marines: studded boiled leather with iron bands over the shoulders and hips. His half-helm had been collected from a dead officer among the soldiers of Aren, in Seven Cities. Bridge-guard and cheek-plates bore a filigreed design of inlaid silver. A chain camail protected the sides and back of his neck. A round shield was strapped to his left forearm, the hand protected by a spiked, iron-banded cestus. A straight, blunt-tipped broadsword was in his right hand.

Memories of Ice, Chapter 11
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Marines probably get the most individual descriptions out of any other Malazan unit, but there's still a lot of vagueness regarding what constitutes 'standard' equipment, especially as the Marines seem to adhere to that concept less than anybody else bar the sappers.
The Deadhouse Gates description is brief, but to the point, and tallies more or less consistently with how marines are described throughout the rest of the book. A javelin is mentioned glancing off a marines chain armoured back in the Tithansi assassination attempt scene, and an arrow is described penetrating Duiker's leather clad chain armour on his shoulder later. Indeed, we see plenty of marines that do wear mail throughout the series, such as Detoran, Picker, Blend and Tarr (Dust of Dreams). It's worth noting that padded shirts or gambesons worn beneath the mail or other armour are consistently mentioned, which is a nice touch. The blackened amour (also sometimes muffled and tied down) is mentioned elsewhere, presumably to make them less distinguishable at night or in other stealth related operations.
Trott's description on the other hand describes a 'standard uniform' of studded leather armour with iron bands protecting the shoulders and hips. The iron bands are never mentioned again, except perhaps mention in The Crippled God of the armour bands protecting Tavore's thighs having worn through their padding.
The boiled, studded leather armour is something that can come in multiple forms. As mentioned above, boiled leather implies a rigid material. Cuttle treats his boiled leather hauberk with wax in Dust of Dreams. In Reaper's Gale, Hellian is described wearing an armour of leather shingles, implying some form of leather scale or lamellar. Kolansii in the Crippled God are mentioned wearing banded leather, and in Blood and Bone Esslemont describeds an ex-Malazan soldier wearing a 'hauberk of layered leather bands' - although this may have been something adapted locally as the book references various Jacururuku wearing this style of armour. In Memories of Ice, Paran is also described as wearing some form of banded armour, although the material is never specified. Hauberk could imply that the armour is somewhat akin to a maille hauberk, i.e flexible and reaching to at least the mid-thigh, but both Erikson and Esslemont seem to sometimes use words like, cuirass, hauberk and breastplate fairly fluidly, so it's hard to consider this exact.
In Night of Knives, Esslemont reinforces the use of boiled leather, referencing 'regulation' and 'army standard' boiled leather hauberks worn by garrison units and a number of ex-Bridgeburners.
In short, I have no idea what this leather armour is supposed to look like. It could be banded, scaled, a rigid cuirass, a flexible layer etc.
One final note on the leather armour, is that during Trott's's duel in Memories of Ice, his opponent is several times described going for the 'hinges' of his armour at his elbow and knee joints. I'm assuming these weren't literal hinges, but it does imply that Trott's shins were armoured with greaves and his forearms by vambraces or gauntlets of some variety, and that similarly his upper limbs were guarded either by the aforementioned iron bands or further separate armour pieces.
The description of longsword and shorter blades being dual wielded from the Deadhouse Gates excerpt is reinforced upon several occasions (Detoran, Silverfox's bodyguards, Stormy during the flight to the Ripath, Koryk once his shield broke during the battle of the mound.) However, other Marines prefer to use shields (Trotts, Tarr, Koryk) which are typically described as round (although Tarr's is noted to be particularly round. Indeed, weaponry seems to be largely a matter of preference, with some marines even fighting with just knives (Smiles, Sorry, Blend, Throatslitter) or with weapons they brought with them into the service (Deathskull's twin blades, Badan Gruk's bonekisser). On occasions where Marines are expected to hold an actual battle formation instead of engaging in their hit-and-run style of warfare, they appear to be more consistently equipped with shields (the battle of Gelor Ridge).
The only weapon that is effectively universal is the Malazan assault crossbow, with some marines being selected specifically for being good at handling them. Time and time again in the series we see the Marines rely upon these weapons in ambushes and running skirmishes.
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Interpretation of a group of Marines in action.
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Interpretation of a squad of Malazan marines, including varying forms of armour and weapons.
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Regulars:

The medium infantry, who formed the bulk of the army, were arranged by company, each company consisting of cohorts that were in turn made up of squads. They would go into battle with full-body shields of bronze, pikes and short swords. They wore bronze scale hauberks, greaves and gauntlets, and bronze helmets reinforced with iron bars wrapped in a cage around the skullcap. Chain camails protected their necks and shoulders.

Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 13
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The marines were next. Ranal's 4th, 5th and 6th squads. Following them were the bulk of the company's troops, medium infantry, the 7th to the 24th squads. Only slightly less armoured than the heavy infantry, there was, among them, the addition of soldiers skilled in the use of the short bow, the longbow, and the spear. Each company was intended to work as a discrete unit, self-reliant and mutually supportive.

House of Chains, Chapter 8
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Malazan infantry in scaled armour under grey surcoats.

Night of Knives, Chapter 4
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Quite possibly the least well described of the main Malazan infantry units, both Erikson and Esslemont make references to bronze scaled hauberks, with Esslemont also more consistently noting surcoats as part of the uniform. As far as I can tell, Erikson never once mentions the shape of a 'full body' regulamedium infantry shield other than implying it's quite large. Esslemont on the other hand frequently references rectangular shields (although whether or not these are Roman style scutum or something else depends on how you interpret the near absence of references to bosses or shield handles as opposed to strapped shields. We do get a one-off mention that they're painted in tCG (although not as what) which may be slightly clarified by an Esslemont description of shields that were blackened and edged in burgundy.
The 'standard weapons' we see for the regulars are shield and sword, which we see being used to fight in formations throughout the books, but they are also shown to be versatile with equipment in regards to their situation. When the situation calls for it they can be equipped with crossbows, or in the case of some Genabackan units, javelins, to provide ranged fire. Spears, pikes and polearms are mentioned from time to time, with pike formations being seen in action most significantly during the battle of Gelor Ridge.
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Interpretation of a Malazan Medium/Regular infantry soldier.
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Interpretation of a Malazan RegulaMedium Infantry Squad with assorted weapons.
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Heavies:

Squads 1, 2 and 3 went first. These were heavy infantry, thirty soldiers in all, loaded down in scale armour and chain vambraces and gauntlets, kite shields, weighted longswords, stabbing spears strapped to their backs, visored and cheek-guarded helms with lobster tails, dirks and pig-stickers at their belts.

House of Chains, Chapter 5
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Elite heavy infantry. Campaign stripes marked them as veterans of every engagement on these, to them, foreign Genabackan lands. They carried broad rectangular shields blackened and edged in burgundy. Shortswords swung belted high at their sides. Crossbows and javelins rode strapped to their backs.

Orb, Sceptre, Throne, Chapter 5
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Heavies get a basic description in House of Chains. Scale armour is mentioned amongst Heavies later (Uru Hela is mentioned wearing it immediately before her death). Searching 'stabbing spear' on google brings up references to Zulu spears, although I have no idea if this is what Erikson was actually describing). Kite shields can have round tops or flatter tops, but again, the shape of the Heavies' shields is never again referenced beyond being large. Ellesmont on the other hand consistently describes Malazan shields, regular infantry and heavy, as being broad and rectangular.
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Interpretation of a Malazan Heavy, based upon the description in House of Chains.
Another distinction between Erikson and Esslemont's descriptions of Malazan armour is the presence of armour of banded iron strips As mentioned above, Erikson mentions Paran wearing banded armour once without any further qualification as to material. Esslemont on the other hand makes numerous references to higher officers and heavies wearing what is to at one point referred to as a 'janzerian cuirass', although some heavies are still described as wearing padded scale hauberks. We actually get an in depth description of such a cuirass from Stonewielder.
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‘These are for you, armour and weapons.’ Suth knelt at the nearest, began untying the leather strapping. Rolled around the outside was a padded leather and felt undergarment, called an aketon by his people, fully sleeved. When he pulled it over his head it hung down to his knees. Inside the bundle he was amazed to see two halves of a cuirass of banded iron, a hauberk with mailed sleeves, and a sheathed longsword. When he forced his arms through the hauberk and pulled it down, it hung just shorter than the aketon. Next he pulled on the cuirass and began lacing up the open side. He was stunned; among his own people only a king could afford such a set. How the Malazans had acquired such bounty, however, was revealed by the black stain of dried blood on one side and the gap between bands where a broad blade had penetrated.
Lard was holding up his own shirt of scaled armour and scowling. ‘What is this beat-up old shit?’

Stonewielder, Chapter 2
This depicts a number of differences between Malazan banded armour and the roman lorica segmenta that tends to spring to mind with descriptions of the term. For one, the janzerian cuirass is laced together at the side instead of the front. For another, the cuirass is worn in conjunction with padded underarmour, including mailed or scaled sleeves providing arm protection. An additional note is that several times in Stonewielder someone is described gripping or squeezing Suth's shoulder. This could just be down to an authorial oversight, or it could be taken to suggest that the shoulders are protected by the maille or scale armour as opposed to any form of projection from the cuirass.
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We also have occasional references to heavy infantry equipped with crossbows or javelins, although javelins seem to be a tactic distinctive to Onearm's Host and other Genabackan elements in the Malazan army, possibly adopted from their Moranth allies.
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Interpretation of a Malazan Heavy, based on descriptions from Stonewielder
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Interpretations of a Malazan Heavy Infantry squad, mixed descriptions.
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Cavalry:
Malazan heavy and medium cavalry is referenced on a handful of occasions, but are rarely well described. Even in the opening chapters of Gardens of the Moon, the ill-fated 19th regiment of the Itko Kanese 8th Cavalry get very little in depth description (this is NOT a criticism of Erikson's writing style in this instance, it's just not that important to the way the scene is presented), although we do get mentioned of scaled gauntlets, maille and shields. We get a couple of other brief depictions in RotCG, mentioning maille armour and swords, sometimes specifically sabres. There's never a reference to them using spears or lances.
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Interpretation of a Malazan Cavalry Soldier

Hey guys!
As you've read in the title, I need help! One of my one piece tattoos is a poneglyph on my leg. No frame, no stone, just the poneglyph letters.
I love it, but.. well.. it looks kinda out of place and unfinished..
Now I thought some kind of "frame" could make it look much better but I can't come up with anything good.
It should be:

• one piece related
• relatively filigree
• good looking in black and grey (don't want colors and some motives just aren't made for black and grey)

Any ideas? Please?

In the fine arts world, they’re called their actual name but why are they called “filigree” in tattooing? Is that just a slang for them?

Morocco Friendly Travel
Marrakech Travel Guide, Things To See in Marrakech
📷The Bahia Palace:
The Bahia Palace, meaning brilliance in Arabic, is perhaps one of the best-preserved historical sites and certainly most interesting in Marrakech. Built between 1866 and 1867 by Si Moussa, the Bahia palace is set over two acres in the middle of the Marrakech medina and features 150 rooms, including a harem section located just off the sun-filled Court of Honour. Having housed the Resident General during the French Protectorate era, today the Bahia Palace is a must-see historical museum open to the public daily and has previously hosted events such as the Marrakech Biennale.
Originally built for the personal use of Si Moussa, Grand Vizir of the Sultan, a former slave who climbed the ranks, the Bahia palace was soon after occupied by his son Bou Ahmed. He slyly rose to power in 1894 when he managed to gain complete control over the state until his death in 1900. It was during Bou Ahmed’s reign that the brilliance of the Bahia palace was really enhanced with the addition lush gardens, the small riad surrounding private gardens (of which visitors today pass through immediately upon entering the palace area) and each of the rooms decorated in truly elegant Moroccan style – carved stucco and cedarwood to decorate each of the rooms.
The Bahia palace houses council rooms with impressive zellig fireplaces, flooring and painted cedarwork, a large riad surrounded by citrus trees, and the Court of Honour that was built during Si Moussa’s power. The palace was also the residence of Bou Ahmed, his four wives and several concubines. Though the harem, as it is often known, is off-limits to visitors, you can visit the traditional style gardens that are filled with orange trees and splashing fountains with living quarters and apartments, most notably that of his wife Lalla Zinab. Beautifully zellig-tiled fireplaces and floors and colourful stained-glass windows create colourful patterns in the afternoon sun, and beautifully painted and carved cedarwood are just some of the interesting features in his wife’s apartment.
The Bahia Palace
Following Bou Ahmed’s death in 1900, it is said that the palace was ransacked and all valuables were removed. With the arrival of the French in the early 1900s, the residents were forced to move out to make way for the Resident General. In her book, In Morocco, Edith Wharton describes her stay her during the Protectorate years, a Marrakech must-read for those looking for more about the Bahia Palace.
📷 Koutoubia Mosque
The Koutoubia Mosque is the main landmark in Marrakech. You can see it from almost every square and it’s one of the unmissable Marrakech sights, with a minaret that stands 77 metres tall.
You haven’t been to Marrakech unless you’ve seen the Koutoubia Mosque. I mean this literally, as this Marrakech landmark is actually visible from almost anywhere in the city. Additionally, you can spot the minaret from further afield. On clear days, it’s even visible from 25 kilometres away.
The Koutoubia Mosque is the main landmark in Marrakech (Photo: Travelguide Marrakech)
When visiting Marrakech, you’re bound to catch sight of this imposing monumental building sooner or later. If you ever get lost, it’s easy to find your bearings according to the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque.
The design, architecture and construction of the Koutoubia Mosque
The construction of Koutoubia was largely inspired by the archetypal style of the hypostyle mosque. This is similar to the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia, which was built in 670 and has long been considered as an architectural reference by the Islamic world. Ceilings supported by multiple columns in large spaces are characteristic of this style. There’s a wide transverse nave aligned to the south end wall of the prayer hall and three wide central naves to the north that run perpendicular to the hall. The prayer room is a pillared hall with 17 parallel longitudinal naves and seven transepts. The big central nave alone has seven domes.
The Koutoubia mosque was built using rammed clay and rough-cut sandstones. It’s total floor space is 90×60 metres and it can accommodate 25,000 worshipers.
The minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque stands 77 metres tall and has six floors, connected by sloping ramps inside the tower. These are so generously proportioned that you could ride up the path to the terrace of the minaret on horseback. Yes, that’s right: The Koutoubia is built to allow you to ride into the tower on a horse. So, to say that this an early type of lift isn’t a inflating the truth.
The upper section of this 77-metre high tower has a 2-metre frieze of green mosaic tiles that envelop the minaret. Upon this stands a secondary tower with a smaller base. This smaller tower is known as a lantern. On each side are two arches with windows, decorated in a distinctive diamond pattern and above these, another band of mosaic tiles. At the tip of the lantern is a ribbed cupola.
A Jamur extends from the top of the minaret (in the shape of an arrow, piercing 3 golden brass balls). The green flag of the Prophet is hoisted up here before Friday prayers and religious holidays. The 10th Century minaret of the Great Mosque of Cordoba has similar balls, which can also be seen on almost all the major mosques of the Islamic world. Often, they’re accompanied by a crescent moon at the pinnacle.
The historical artistic significance and symbolism of the Koutoubia Mosque
The three balls are all made from the jewellery of Yacoub el Mansour’s wife and there are different interpretations as to the significance of these. On the one hand, they symbolise the three most significant Arab mosques: The Al Haram Mosque in Mecca, the Prophet Mosque in Medina and the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. On the other hand, they represent the three elements of life: water, air and fire.
The prayer pulpit (Minbar) that was used until the 1960s also needs a mention when talking about the Kouotubia. It was made in Cordoba, Spain in the 12th Century. The Minbar has now been extensively restored and, since then, has been on display in the El Badi palace.
📷Badi Palace
Badi Palace was once the biggest and most splendid palace complex in Morocco. Today, little is left of the splendor of the Saadians, yet the remaining ruins indicate the dimensions of the former palace. And there is another worthwhile destination hidden away in El Badi.
Towards the end of the 16th century, the Saadian sultan Ahmed el-Mansour ordered the building of Badi Palace (French: Palais El Badi) south of the Medina. Unfortunately, the splendid complex didn’t survive the following dynasty of the Alouites. In 1696, under their sultan Moulay Isma’il, the palace was stripped down. Many of the more precious materials were brought to Meknes, where they were used for the construction of the sultan’s Ville Impériale, a second Versailles. Only the foundations of Badi Palace remained.
Storks have become the symbol of Badi Palace
The spacious area is structured by a big water basin and smaller gardens. The vaults can be visited – some were used as duty rooms by the servants, most, however, as dungeons. On site, the Minbar has been put on display. The wooden pulpit of Koutoubia Mosque was manufactured in Spanish Cordoba in 1137 and shows the precision and splendor of the Andalusian-Moorish arts and crafts. If you want to learn more about the restoration of the Minbar, read the article Conservation of the Koutoubia Minbar.
Gigantic clay walls separate Badi Palace from the rest of the city. As they still are in pretty good shape, they have been a home to many storks for a long time. The graceful birds have become the symbol of the place, and many cafes and restaurants on the other side of the wall are named after them.
Insider tip for Badi Palace: Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Arts
In Badi Palace, you will also find the Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Arts (MMP). Currently, it is located in two rooms in the southern part of the complex, but an architecturally impressive new building is in the works on site. By 2016, so it is planned, the MMP will be moved into the new building. For now, you can see works of contemporary Moroccan photographers as well as different special exhibitions, e.g. works by Eve Arnold. In addition, the Marrakech Folklore Festival takes place in Badi Palace every June.
Badi Palace in a Nutshell
You will be disappointed by the ruins, if you expect Badi Palace to be a magnificent residence with costly marble pillars, stuccoworks, and mosaics, as they can be found in the Saadian Tombs, in Bahia Palace or at Madrasa Ali Ben Youssef. Nevertheless, it definitely is worth a visit! The sheer size of the complex is a plus – especially when you compare it with the cramped Medina. There is peaceful quiet in the huge patio. Because of the generous space, people can scatter, so the place never feels uncomfortably crowded. The almost 900 years old Minerba is definitely worth a look or two, but even more so is the MMP with its well-curated exhibitions – a real insider tip.
Location:
Badi Palace is in the southern part of the Medina; the entrance is close to the Place des Ferblantiers. The bigger part of the complex – including patio, Minerva, and the MMP – is accessible by wheelchair.
📷Ben Youssef Madrasa
On a trip to Marrakech visiting the Ben Youssef Madrasa is a must. The quranic college, founded in the 14th century, is one of the most beautiful sights in the city – maybe even in the whole country. With its delicate stucco work and mosaics, the Madrasa is a a brilliant sample of the art of islamic architecture.
The quranic college was supposedly founded in the beginning of the 14th century by Morrocan monarch Abou el Hassan.Yet only with the reign of the Saadians who enlarged and redecorated the building splendorously in 1570, the Madrasa flourished as the largest islamic college in the whole Maghreb region. Up to 900 students are said to have lived there to study law and theology. The monarchy supported them by providing food and accomodation – the cooking, however, had to be done by the students themselves.
The Ben Youssef Madrasa was turned into a museum in 1960 and since it was refurbished in 1999, it is one of the most popular sights in Marrakech. The bronze gate at the entrance of the college alone, decorated with fine cedar wood carvings and mosaics, is an impressive masterpiece of its time.
Through a passage way you reach the interior with its large patio, made of marble with an artfully decorated water basin in its centre. The whole inner courtyard is lined with beautiful mosaics, its walls and columns are decorated with outstanding carvings and stuccoworks. Enjoy a fabulous view on this masterpiece of oriental architecture from the second floor where you will also find the chambers of the college’s students arranged around the smaller inner courtyards and the large patio.
Next to the patio there is a prayer room characterised by three marble columns. Looking up, you can see the impressive dome – artfully crafted from cedar wood with 24 little mosiac windows in it.
Ali Ben Youssef Madrasa in a Nutshell
If you are visting Marrakech not only for a stopover, you should definitely put a visit to Ben Youssef Madrasa on your list. Amidst the turmoil of the Souqs you will find a quiet break here and indulge in the magical art of Saadian architecture. Unfortunately, you will not be the only one and you will hardly find the Madrasa lonesome and empty. So if you want to have a look at the Quranic school in a quiet atmosphere, try to be there as early as possible in the morning to avoid the tourist masses.
Info
Ben Youssef Madrasa is located in the northern medina and a ten-minute walk from Djemaa el Fna. Take for example, the 1 km route through the souks Stailia, Harazzine al Bali and al Qassasine — watch out for the signposts leading the way to the Madrasa.
📷The Majorelle's Garden
The Majorelle gardens in Marrakech is a small haven of peace located in the heart of the city of Marrakech. The Majorelle garden is a tourist botanical
The advantages of hiring a writer On the opposing side of the spectrum, write my paper sometimes you really will need to employ a writer on staff. Each writer is a master in a specific area of science. Most writers will always comply with a traditional approach towards the tasks whereas there are a few experts who only understand how to create the content seem good. When you employ a professional research paper writer to finish your assignment, you’re hiring someone who knows precisely what your professor is expecting of you.
Majorelle garden has about 3000 species on nearly 1 hectare, an art deco villa labeled house of Illustres, and a museum of the history of Berbers. It is one of the most visited places in Morocco. In the shaded alleys of the Majorelle garden, you wander among trees and exotic plants whose origin is dreaming. One is soothed and bewitched by the harmony of this luxuriant and alive picture where the senses are delicately solicited to offer a magic walk, out of the city so animated yet so close, in the enclosure protected by the high walls of ground, out time. It dazzles with its frank colors and lush greenery, completely cut off from the outside world.
The Majorelle Gardens were designed by the French Artist, Jacques Majorelle in 1924, was purchased by Yves St Laurent in 1980. Some 300 species of plants from 5 continents, including cactus palms and aquatic plants are represented here.
Majorelle’s garden: a declaration of love in Marakech…
May is a good month for long weekends. So take your vacation. Marrakech opens its green lungs to you, not its heart! It is the most essential public garden in Morocco: the Majorelle garden. It was created by Jacques Majorelle, an artist from Nancy who fell under the spell of Marrakech. In the 1930s, he acquired land adjacent to the villa he had built earlier. Passionate about plants, he designs a Moroccan garden decorated with plants from the five continents. After a car accident, he died and the Majorelle garden was abandoned.
In the 1980s, the famous fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent bought the Majorelle garden to save it from a hotel project that would destroy it. It makes it once again a splendid green space. Marrakech recovers its splendour on this side of the city, northwest of the Medina. Today, the Majorelle Garden is a meeting point. If you are looking for a café-restaurant in Marrakech, you can settle down on its shaded terrace. You will have the opportunity to taste a delicious Arabic cuisine.
Musée Berbère
Majorelle garden’s electric-blue art deco studio houses the fabulous Musée Berbère, which showcases the rich panorama of Morocco’s indigenous inhabitants in displays of some 600 artifacts, including wood and metalwork, textiles and a room of regional traditional costumes displayed with the flair of a catwalk show. Best of all is the brilliant mirrored chamber displaying a collection of chiseled, filigreed and enameled jewels.
📷Jemaa el-Fna Square
The Jemaa el-Fna Square is one of the main cultural spaces in Marrakesh and has become one of the symbols of the city since its foundation in the eleventh century. It represents a unique concentration of popular Moroccan cultural traditions performed through musical, religious and artistic expressions.
Located at the entrance of the Medina, this triangular square, which is surrounded by restaurants, stands and public buildings, provides everyday commercial activities and various forms of entertainment. It is a meeting point for both the local population and people from elsewhere. All through the day, and well into the night, a variety of services are offered, such as dental care, traditional medicine, fortune-telling, preaching, and henna tattooing; water-carrying, fruit and traditional food may be bought. In addition, one can enjoy many performances by storytellers, poets, snake-charmers, Berber musicians (mazighen), Gnaoua dancers and senthir (hajouj) players. The oral expressions would be continually renewed by bards (imayazen), who used to travel through Berber territories. They continue to combine speech and gesture to teach, entertain and charm the audience. Adapting their art to contemporary contexts, they now improvise on an outline of an ancient text, making their recital accessible to a wider audience.
The Jemaa el-Fna Square is a major place of cultural exchange and has enjoyed protection as part of Morocco’s artistic heritage since 1922. However, urbanization, in particular real estate speculation and the development of the road infrastructure, are seen as serious threats to the cultural space itself. While Jemaa el-Fna Square enjoys great popularity, the cultural practices may suffer acculturation, also caused by widespread tourism.
📷 ANIMA GARDEN
Universal artist André Heller’s opulent, two-hectare botanical staging is a magical place of sensuality, of wonder, of contemplation, of joy, of healing, and of inspiration. For people of all ages who want to experience the unforgettable.
ANIMA is a magical place of sensuality, of wonder, of contemplation, of joy, of healing, and of inspiration. Created by the famous Austrian artist André Heller, this unusual garden/museum of more than three hectares amazes with its exuberance, its monumental sculptures by Pablo Picasso, Keith Haring, Alexander Calder or Auguste Rodin and other colorful works of art which are enthroned in the heart of a richly wooded park. More than just a visit, this lively museum offers a sensational experience with its hundreds of types of plants and trees, from bamboo over palms and cacti.
Visitors stroll along shady paths, between precious trees and shrubs, miracles of flowers and fragrances, pavilions and sculptures. Only a few kilometers outside of crowded and often noisy Marrakech, ANIMA offers an intoxicating view of the often-snow-capped Atlas Mountains with the 4,167 meter high Jbel Toubkal. Furthermore, two museum rooms present artists from around the world. Onsite, the Café Paul Bowles offers refined Moroccan cuisine and international meals. All meals are made with spices and ingredients grown in the garden – like saffron, herbs or olives.
📷 Jardin Secret
Le Jardin Secret is opening its doors to the public for the first time in its history. The origins of the complex date back to the Saadian Dynasty, more than four hundred years ago. Rebuilt in the mid-Nineteenth century at the behest of an influential kaid of the Atlas Mountains, Le Jardin Secret has been the home of some of Morocco and Marrakech’s most important political figures. Today you are able to fully appreciate it, thanks to the recent renovation; Le Jardin Secret is part of the great tradition of stately Arab-Andalusian and Moroccan palaces. As a result visitors can discover its gardens and buildings, which are outstanding examples of Islamic art and architecture.

Thanks everyone for your help with reviewing all my versions! I’m pretty happy with the 5th attempt after the last edits, but I have prepared an alternate version below from the other POV in my novel. I plan to do some pitch events soon, and I have pitches both from Locke and Jane’s perspective. So, I want to have queries to match both. I have also included my first 300 words here, which I hadn’t done before.
Previous version (Locke’s POV): https://www.reddit.com/PubTips/comments/xeg20i/qcrit\_ya\_science\_fiction\_the\_machinery\_of\_magic/
Dear [Agent],
Jane has normal eighteen-year-old struggles: finding a job, trying to move out on her own. Except she lives in a world where magic is real. A world where forbidding goblin fortresses hide valuable potions, a world where arguments can be settled with a duel of fire and lightning. When her family’s farm is vandalized by a rival faction of mages called the Scorpori, Jane is spurred to compete in dueling tournament to represent her faction and show they will not be intimidated.
As she both prepares for the competition and tries to figure out her life, every day is overshadowed by more news of attacks by the Scorpori. Magical dueling is intense but nonlethal, and Jane hopes the event will allow both sides to blow off steam. Her first match puts her skills to the test, requiring her to master wandless magic on the spot, but she barely eeks out a victory. Jane’s triumph is short lived however, as the whole competition ends abruptly when a Scorpori puts their opponent into a coma.
Then when she visits the Scorpori’s capital with her mother after the tournament, it’s supposed to be a routine shopping trip. However, they soon find themselves treated as potential criminals. They’re both made to wear armbands to mark their faction, and avoided as undesirables by Scorpori townspeople who used to be their friends. With the tensions only growing worse, Jane comes to a choice: will she hide away on her family’s farm and hope the violence passes? Or will she join the city guard and put her life on the line to protect her people?
THE MACHINERY OF MAGIC is a 68,000 word, dual point-of-view, young adult science fiction novel. It melds a young adult adventure with high concept world building in the vein of Westworld (HBO Series) and Questland (Carrie Vaughn). I am a software engineer by day, and this is my first novel.
Thank you for your consideration,
OriginalLoriean
​
First 300 Words:
Jane drew in a quick breath that made her chest ache. For a moment she watched the clouds drifting across the sky. She felt the gravel beneath her back poking at her spine. Then Jane pushed herself up off the ground with a groan, painfully aware that she would have already lost a real duel. As she stood, she snatched up her wand from among the stones, and took care to stay concealed behind the rough stone pillar in front of her
That pillar was one of a dozen forming a ring in the center of the small arena. Each was about two meters high, and just wide enough to conceal a person. Jane’s eyes scanned the arena for her opponent. Two of the walls were lined by trees. Another side had a set of stone bleachers, and the last wall was inset with two imposing wooden doors, studded with weathered iron.
“Jane, are you alright back there?” came a voice from the far side of her pillar.
“Ali, don’t check on me!” Jane shouted back. “Try to pretend this is real!”
“I’m just afraid I hit you rather hard,” came Ali’s reply, apologetically.
She didn’t respond, but glanced down at a glowing tattoo on her left arm. A delicate filigreed pattern spread from her wrist to midway down her arm. Half of the tattoo was a deep purple, the rest a bright azure blue. This meant she’d already spent at least half her mana sparing with Ali, without scoring any hits to speak of.
Jane was generally the more talented one of the pair when it came to magic. She tended to pick up new spells quickly, and with a calm confidence. But dueling did not come so naturally to her. It had a certain physicality that better suited Ali’s nature.

Just curious if anyone in the community knows of any shops/artists that do good Filigree / Scrollwork style tattoos around Midwest area (one state in any direction from Illinois preferably) but open for travel for good work if you have some longer distance reference to drop! Thanks all!

Name / Alias: Priscilla Millianne von Ulm /Carnage Conductor
Age: 27
Alignment: Villain
Other Aliases: The ConductoConductor Carnage/Engineered Destruction/Miss Topham Hatt/C.C.
Public Information
As her ‘public’ debut, she was seen making off with a diesel locomotive and three detached box cars and one flatcar worth of materials, roughly split evenly between steel, and wood, and copper, as well as a single tank car full of diesel. The small train made its way west out of devilfish’s stockyard and disappeared down the track.
It is an open secret to the higher up rail union workers in the Devilfish area exactly who C.C. is, however she is also family to most of them. There are more than a few daughters named after her. So when the train crews are asked to describe what exactly happened to their trains, the rails, their shipments, or where C.C. went, they tend to be less than helpful, and if she ever needs a few extra hands for high paying jobs she knows where to look.
Starting Reputation: C*
Physical Appearance
Civilian: Pricilla is a simple woman. At 5’11, she is tall, and built with corded muscles from her efforts to stay in shape as well as her work as a train mechanic/engineer. In her day to day life she tends to wear jeans, white muscle shirts, and a grey jumpsuit that covers her legs with the sleeves tied around her waist. She tends to keep her jet black hair cropped shortish with an undercut. Her hands are often greasy and dirty, but when she decides to clean up she has an air of quiet beauty. She has a large back/upper arm tattoo that depicts clockwork angel wings.
Costume: In costume Carnage Conductor wears a stylized Train Engineer outfit. Blue overalls that are more form fitting than usual. She wears heavy, black leather lace up boots that end at her knees. She wears thick leather gloves the go up to her elbows. Her top is a white, flowy silk button up shirt that is rolled up to her elbows as well. Around her neck is a red bandana. Upon her head is a blue and white cap that is made to look like a steamer’s smokestack with her personal logo on the front. Said logo looks like a pair of gears overlaid by a simple steamer. Her mask is a pair of welding goggles as well as a red, bandana-ish, mouth/nose covering. She also wears a large tool belt at all times.
Vehicles: All vehicles built to be a part of the C.C.R. (Carnage Conductor Railroad) project will, no matter their build or aesthetic, carry the same paint job. The vehicles are painted black with burgundy as the secondary color. Gold is used as the accent, filigree, and type print color. She adds a personal touch of classic painted filigree depicting rail lines in the shape of flowers. Every car will follow proper procedure as far as having the required rail codes painted on the sides as well as the company code and car number.
Mentality
Priscilla is a jovial, caring, hard-working soul. She cares about the poor and working class. She tells awful puns and cracks jokes almost nonstop. This joviality, however, stops when she sees abuse, especially abuse by those who have the funds and ability to make changes. Would happily throw a brick through a billionaire’s empty skull. She sees the rail workers in the Devilfish area as family and would happily die, or kill, for them.
Resources
Priscilla owns, now that she paid off the mortgage, a nice sized family home she inherited from her parents. Due to her career, she ‘owns’ (read: is paying off the bank's loan for) a very small repair shop, turntable, and shuntyard. It has enough room for one locomotive in the shop and three short shunting lines for carriages that are to be repaired. Connects directly to BNSF Line and is located Directly South of Devil Track and just East of 435.
Wealth Level: 4
Equipment

• Cell Phone
• Tool belt
• Extendable baton
• Pump-action shotgun (in the locomotive center console)
• Large medkit (in the locomotive)
• Large mobile tool station (in the mobile crane)

Skills

• Intimate knowledge on how to operate a wide variety of rail vehicles
• Knows the local railways, old and new, inside and out
• Adept at repairing trains, even without her tinker power
• Public Speaking
• Throwing improvised weapons
• Carpentry
• Improvised survival
• Painting
• Speaking a variation of German. Not truly 'proper' but passable and full of slang terms

Power
C.C. is a Tinker focused on building, upgrading, and maintaining any vehicle that could be considered a train or be necessary to the function of a train.
She is also able to produce a few tools that allow her to work on tains or rail lines, but these are fairly limited in nature. Tools like rail spike launchers, basic exosuits for moving heavy parts, etc.
As examples of what she can create, below are a few ideas that are possible

• A carriage that lays hard light tracks to allow the train behind it to travel as it pleases
• A drill that allows a tunnel to be dug in front of the train
• Upgraded wheels that allow the carriage under it to levitate
• A road based engine on treads allowing for all terrain travel
• A car that can open a single, temporary portal once every 30 minutes allowing the train to pass to a far off place immediately.
• A mine lift attached to a wire to continually haul full buckets of ore out of a pit.

Trigger type: Single Natural, Waivered
Example
C.C. walks her way down the ramp, a jaunty tune on her lips. She could leave her pride and joy behind her, secure in the knowledge that it is safe and sound in the capable hands of her goons. Hitting the bottom of the ramp, she spins her weapon about her hand like a baton, flipping in the air, before catching it and leveling the aim at the door in front of her.
“Knock knoooock, my little pretties. I know that you don’t want to surrender that shipment of yours, I sympathize with that I really do, but your boss just tried to railroad me, and I don’t enjoy people backing out on a deal. Now…open the door, and we won’t tie you lot up and leave you tied to the tracks, hmmmm?”
She waits three, hears nothing from behind the secure metal door, and sighs. “Well, I tried, can’t say I didn’t. Right boys?” She calls out behind her, arms out in a wide shrug, seeing the excited nods up the ramp. Suddenly, without warning, the weapon fires, burying itself deep into the door’s bolt. She pauses, waits for another sound, then sadly sighs again. “I did warn you, lovelies.”
The bolt, stuck deep into the door, lets loose a large electric charge, causing various pained cries from behind the locked door. She snaps her fingers, and a pair of goons levels a certain weapon from the top of the armored car behind her. As she closes her fist, a large harpoon fires, high enough to not hit any of the knocked out thugs inside, and rips down the wall itself.
“Now let's go find my property, eh boys?”
Backstory: Pricilla is a rail rat. Always has been. Her father was an engineer, her mother a signalman, and her family has worked for the railroads for generations. She had always been fascinated by the heavy machinery, the logistics of it all, how everything fits together. At the age of 16, with her parent’s help, she opened up her own repair garage near Devilfish where she would work under her father’s tutelage learning how to fix up trains.
After her parents' deaths, she was thankfully self-sustaining. Sadly, as she is technically a business owner, she is not able to hold a union card, but over time, she grows to be a respected figure to the union presence in the Devilfish area due to her familial connections to the rest of the RWU. At the age of 23 the BNSF company announces that they are going to be raising hours, while getting rid of many benefits. The Union immediately gets upset about this and talks start immediately. Priscilla is one of the non-union members to be pushing back on this, fighting doggedly for the workers, and the memories of her parents, to be respected.
Priscilla fights and struggles for years, losing business from BNSF in the process, trying her best to make the company see reason. She starts to get threats of foreclosure on her business. She’s forever blackbooked to the rail companies. Yet she puts her everything into this fight. She feels it’s worth it. The rail workers rally around her, seeing the sacrifices she’s making, seeing how she hits her head against a brick wall over and over, looking for a way to make people see reason. At the age of 26 escalations eventually lead to threats of strikes turning to mobilization…all with Priscilla being one of the loudest voices in the crowd, standing arm in arm with her fellow workers. The Federal courts rule that their strike is illegal. BNSF starts hiring scabs. Pinkertons start to be seen in Devilfish Minnesota. Despite all this, Priscilla keeps to the front of the Picket, ready to fight tooth and nail for what she wants.
All of her work proves for naught. When the Pinkertons arrive in town rumors suddenly start to spread about her family. The courts start investigating her and charges are laid against her for inciting unrest. At the start the union supports her, cries out for a mistrial, and tries to help. But as time goes on, public opinion shifts, the court rules against her, and so the union, despite their love for her and the closeness she has with the rail workers, asks her to stop striking with them for fear of public backlash. Without her, the union finally folds, and everything she sacrificed for nothing.
Broke, a mountain of problems she can’t fix, and the memory of her family to the wider public in shambles, she finally breaks.
Trigger

This post discusses the new game, The Quarry. Although it does speak about characters and events in-game, it doesn't spoil anything past the first 20 minutes of the game (all I give away are character names and archetypes, and a mechanical feature).
The Quarry
The Quarry is an interactive horror game, driven by drama, character choices and ambiguity. The game takes place over the course of an evening, the last day of summer camp at Camp Hackett, where our counselors have just wrapped up a summer of arts and crafts, ghost stories and being generally deeply horny. The player rotates between a cast of the camp counselors, including important horror archetypes such as The Jock, The Loner, The Hot Girl, The Misunderstood Girl and The Final Girl. Our rowdy teens are stuck for one final night at the camp, following an eerie, tense and foreboding sudden departure by their boss, Mr. Hackett. Told to stay inside, they’re left to their own devices, and of course, they decide to throw a party. The rest of the evening is filled with truth or dare, drinking, skinny dipping and ominous growling-- culminating in the reveal that they certainly aren’t alone in these woods. Your character will make choices about what to say, who to trust, how best to survive and will search for clues and evidence in the form of old letters, survival tools and cryptically hidden tarot cards.
What follows is a gripping story, filled with difficult choices, unknown meanings and alliances and cringey, horny banter.
First impressions:
To begin with, this game is so up my alley, that the metaphorical alley is actually the driveway to my darn house. I’m a lifelong fan of horror, who grew up obsessed with Goosebumps choose your own adventure stories. I love a video game that is story-driven and doesn’t require mechanical skill to combat bosses and crawl through dungeons-- don’t get me wrong, those games are awesome-- I just can’t play them because I’m a fake Gamer. I’m drawn to compelling characters, spooky settings, strong (and hot) women and the paranormal and cryptid. This game has it all. Ravens. Tarot cards. Paranormal podcasts. Hot, competent and compelling women (who just so happen to be the very same stars of my early bisexual awakening-- I’m looking at you Brenda Song and Ariel Winter). It’s fast-paced enough to keep you drawn in, but also allows you to slow down enough to get wrapped in the details and make thoughtful choices.
Part of that is due to the accessibility features, which allow you to slow decision timers on things like Quick Time Events, dialogue options and actions. This allows you to feel some pressure to make “good” choices, but also have time to weigh your options with your couch co-op pals-- this is how I played. My sister and her boyfriend are Real Gamers, and her boyfriend is spectacularly powerful in that scary games just.. Don’t scare him. So he has the controller while we call the shots. He’s in charge of all the Quick Time Events and life-threatening choices between “hide” and “run”. Because of delayed timers, we could weigh our options and make strategic choices whether or not to be rude, or excessively horny (as this game is prone to). It also allowed me to participate fully due to the crystal clear, well-timed and fully accurate captions. I have an auditory processing disorder which makes it difficult to hear character dialogue that occurs over background noise, particularly with deep, male voices or constant sounds such as running water. Although this game is characterized by ambiguity and the unknown, that was never the case for what a character said.
One quick, nit-picky thing I’l say is that this game doesn’t always feel quite as polished. Beside sometimes sticky controls and nauseating quick switches in perspective, there were some physics-based issues that grinded my gears visually. The water mechanics are clunky and result in some laughable moments-- while two characters are supposed to be having a steamy skinny dip, I was too distracted by chunks of water flying by in shards, or the characters just… BLOOP.. Disappearing under a flat sheet of water. There’s also some issues with light reflection and refraction. The characters are pretty wet looking-- which makes sense, as they’re sweatily running for their lives in presumably damp woods. But their eyes were the wettest part. It constantly looks as though characters are on the verge of tears, and that wetness leads to some weird reflections. The whites and inner corners of players’ eyes glow, and even in pitch dark shadows, send off sparkling white light leaving the characters looking more like robots or demons.
Of course, overall the game is beautiful and often the intense realism and motion-capture leads to a sense of near uncanny valley-- but these off moments still stick out and distract from the visuals.
Characters
We are faced with a wide cast of characters to play as-- 8 characters, all of which are Camp Counselors at the Hackett Quarry Campground.
We begin with Laura and Max (though only Laura is playable)-- two young lovers, about to enter college. Laura is passionate and strong-willed and a hell of a lot braver than I am. Her boyfriend, Max, is caring, sensitive and inward, there’s clearly a lot going on in his head that he’s not sharing.
After their chapter, we are introduced to the rest of the team, two months later as they wrap up the season and pack their bags to head back to real life.
First, we meet Jacob, The Jock, who is beefy, handsome and absolutely smitten with Emma-- although she’s just ended things after their summer fling. Jacob gets picked on, jocularly, by our drama stirrer, Kaitlynn. She prods him about their breakup, which he’s clearly taking harshly, despite his good nature. Emma is clearly the Hot Girl, with full lips, a high ponytail and an obsession with her online following. Our next pair is Abi and Nick. Abi is the misunderstood, alternative artsy girl, fitted with tights, creepers and a half-sleeve floral tattoo. She’s been pining after Nick all summer, but hasn’t made her move. Nick, the handsome, preppy guy with a yet-unidentified Kiwi-esque accent, seems to have some feelings for her too, but the two of them have danced around it all summer. There’s also Ryan, a similarly misfitted character clad with what seems to be a punk band t-shirt and headphones, who spends most of his time listening to paranormal podcasts, telling ghost stories and befriending Mr. H. Finally, we have Dylan, a sarcastic, blasé guy, who’s main personality trait appears to be insincerity and wise cracks.
I admire the tropey-ness of our cast, and the clear homage to 80’s slashers and creature features-- but at times, that commitment to trope left the characters falling flat. Kaitlynn is a drama hound who has an inexplicable knowledge of guns and cars, who honestly didn’t do much for me-- or the plot. Sure, she reigns some havoc during truth or dare and walks your character through the shooting tutorial, but honestly, she really felt like the odd woman out, and I’m not sure we would’ve missed much if she just simply wasn't in the game (well, except, I’d have less to thirst over). Jacob makes stupid decisions which end up affecting the whole team, just because he’s too invested in his fling with Emma, and refuses to let it end with the summer. Dylan is such a sarcastic wise-ass that it’s hard to actually get to know him-- and to get invested in his survival. And at the end of the day, that’s what this game is about. Taking this rowdy team ,getting to the bottom of things, and most importantly, getting to the end of the night. That survival, the “making it through” feels so much less valuable and rewarding when you feel less investment in your characters. There were entire sections where the stakes felt remarkably lower and choices less dire, because I just didn’t care all that much if the character lived or died. I think it’s important for the game to encourage players to like and bond and identify with the characters to keep up the visceral fear of life or death and to make the choices have weight through investment in who is making them.
Metagaming and Choice
One notable feature is that one of the game’s categories of discoverables are tarot cards-- the 22 major arcana. These cards are discoverable throughout the game, and located by walking the player character to a space on the map which triggers a perspective shift in the camera, revealing an unseen surface, pasted to which is a card. As the player, your attention is drawn to the glowing shape and bright white title of the card. But if you look in the background, you’ll see the PC still idling and looking around unknowingly. This is what’s interesting. It’s not the PC finding the tarot card, like it is with all other discoverables. With letters or traps, we see the PC grab the item, turn it over, or set it down. The tarot cards are explicitly being found by the Player.
At the end of each chapter, we are transported to a dank lair of sorts, filled with stacks of animal skulls, a perched raven and the figure of an aged woman, clad in clothing from a bygone era, who acts as a psychic or spiritual guide. She offers us guidance and cryptic statements which reveal her loyalties, and notably, she offers to read the cards for us.
Initially, I wondered where the Tarot Lady fit into the narrative of the evening’s events for the player and PCs. Is she a ghost? A dream? An actual person they’re visiting?
Once I thought more about the PCs reaction -- or lack thereof-- to locating a card, I realized Tarot Lady exists outside of the narrative of the evening’s events. Both outside and inside, more specifically. Our time with her exists outside of the timeline of events for the PCs, and she is speaking only to the player, giving us information that can directly impact the PCs in their timeline.
This only works if you allow for metagaming.
Metagaming refers to playing a role-playing game using not only the knowledge of the PC and the events occurring during their gameplay, but also the knowledge, experience and personality of the PLAYER. This infuses unknown and unknowable information into the actions and beliefs of the PC. Tarot Lady allows for two types of metagaming-- both in the moment and post-playthrough. You can use the information she presents to alter your current course of action by carefully viewing her prophecies-- or you can use the information she presents to boon future playthroughs.
The game also explicitly allows you to avoid metagaming as much as possible. Firstly, you can choose to find the Tarot cards or not. Once you enter the cutscene where Tarot Lady sits in her lair, she offers you the choice to “see more” or to “move on”-- giving the player the choice to engage with information that will consciously or unconsciously alter their gameplay.
If a player chooses to “see more”, Tarot Lady will show you her crystal ball, within which swirling colours begin to form into the faces of players, flashing brief images of locations, weapons or courses of action. The first time you witness a prophecy, it’s almost entirely useless because it’s so brief and vague. However, once you learn to read them, they can help the Player make choices. You have to look carefully at the background, which reveals snippets of furniture or scenery, like the curve of a window frame or the filigree of a wrought-iron fence. Only once you enter the area where the prophecy takes place might you connect the metaphorical dots.
It’s also unclear during these visions if they’re showing you the best case scenario, or what to avoid doing, or even just a net-neutral, merely an event that could occur.
That’s another main feature of the game-- ambiguity-- particularly, ambiguity in who to trust.
AMBIGUITY and TRUST:
The Hunters:
The Hunters are initially painted as threatening and lurking. They trigger “don’t breathe” events, wield guns and splash your PC with a thick red liquid that seems to be blood. They watch your movements throughout the game, tracking you and updating each other via walkie-talkie. Yet at the same time, they “blood” themselves -- why would they pour blood on themselves if it were dangerous. They can be seen setting traps for the werewolves. Are they on your side? They’re posited as the other. Although the setting of the camp is unclear-- it’s certainly within North Kill-- and is somewhere where coniferous and deciduous trees grow in a dense forest, hiding bears and racoons… but the state isn’t specified. However, the Hackett Clan all have thick accents, suggestive of the South East of the United States. None of the PCs have this rich drawl, only Nick has a definable accent as compared to the rest of the gang, some kind of Australian or Kiwi lilt. This creates a sense of disconnection, mistrust and “us vs. them” dichotomy between the Camp Counselors and the Hacketts. However, if the Hunters truly wished us harm, they surely would’ve killed the Counselors, they had plenty of chances and were amply armed. It leaves an overall sense of ambiguity in where to place the Hunters-- friend? Foe? Neither?
Listen to the Voices? Or not?
Throughout the game, as your playable characters roam through the forest or abandoned buildings, you may hear a voice-- it begins by calling your name, or that of “Silas” (who’s discoverable can easily be missed-- if you, too, missed it, there’s a poster from the Harum Scarum carnival attraction, where they reveal Silas to be the “Wolf Boy”). Sometimes the disembodied female voice sounds off, and is accompanied by the ghostly visage of a woman, other times the voice appears alone. Sometimes the voice offers instructions-- however it’s unclear whether we’re better or to follow them or not. Initially, I treated these as the ramblings of a long-dead woman, unrelated to my character’s timeline or safety. However, after repeated encounters, I started to wonder whether she might be intentionally directed at guiding us. But that left me with the more challenging question: do I trust her to guide me?
Once, she said to me “Run. There’s something out here.”. I decided to instruct our Gamer Extraordinaire to “Run” when given the choice between “run” or “hide”. After a couple successful Quick Time Events, our character stepped foot directly into a bear trap. Huh. Maybe we shouldn’t have listened. But then again, maybe a mangled ankle is better than whatever fate we avoided?
Later in the game, this exact query is posed by two characters-- as they walk through the abandoned Quarry tunnels, one suggests that the voice may be “guiding” them, the other character retorts that she may be “luring” them. The game nudged us to wonder the same thing, is she a helpful voice, a harmful one… or merely a haunted figure left to roam these woods following her tragic death.
I think that’s what this game does best. It leans into ambiguity, feeding you information, stimuli, hunches and hoaxes all in equal measure of ambiguity. The game won’t tell you who to trust-- who certainly seeks to kill you, who will help you from afar. It’s up to you as the player, or team of players (yay, couch co-op) to make it through the night based on your own survival instincts, really encouraging you to listen to your gut. It makes for a tense atmosphere that dares you to keep playing, and that we did. It’s not a perfect game, and it’s certainly not claiming to be one, but it is an exercise in reading clues, making inferences and hey, maybe even learning to read tarot.

I have an English assessment which I have not got points for yet and it is tomorrow, please give some help!
Question: Compare how the writers convey their different perspectives and feelings about the places they visit.
​
Text One:
Isabella Bird was a famous 19th century traveller who wrote about her experiences. In this extract, she describes the bazaars (or markets) in Baghdad, which was then a city in Persia (now it is the capital of Iraq).
Baghdad’s bazaars, which many people regard as the finest in the East outside of Istanbul, are of enormous extent and very great variety. Many are of brick, with well-built domed roofs, and sides arcaded both above and below, and are wide and airy. Some are of wood, all are covered, and admit light scantily, only from the roof. Those which supply the poorer classes are apt to be ruinous and squalid—”ramshackle,” to say the truth, with an air of decay about them, and their roofs are merely rough timber, roughly thatched with reeds or date tree fronds. Of splendour there is none anywhere, and of cleanliness there are few traces. The old, narrow, and filthy bazaars in which the gold and silversmiths ply their trade are of all the most interesting. The trades have their separate localities, and the buyer who is in search of cotton goods, silk stuffs, carpets, cotton yarn, gold and silver thread, ready-made clothing, weapons, saddlery, rope, fruit, meat, grain, fish, jewellery, muslins, copper pots, etc., has a whole alley of contiguous shops devoted to the sale of the same article to choose from.
At any hour of daylight at this season, progress through the bazaars is slow. They are crowded, and almost entirely with men. It is only the poorer women who market for themselves, and in twos and threes, at certain hours of the day. In a whole afternoon, among thousands of men, I saw only five women, tall, shapeless, badly-made-up bundles, carried mysteriously along, rather by high, loose, canary-yellow leather boots than by feet. The face is covered with a thick black gauze mask, or cloth, and the head and remainder of the form with a dark blue or black sheet, which is clutched by the hand below the nose. The walk is one of tottering decrepitude. All the business transacted in the bazaars is a matter of bargaining, and as Arabs shout at the top of their voices, and buyers and sellers are equally keen, the roar is tremendous.
The Arab women go about the streets unveiled, and with the aba covering their very poor clothing, but it is not clutched closely enough to conceal the extraordinary tattooing which the Bedouin women everywhere regard as ornamental. There are artists in Baghdad who make their living by this mode of decorating the person, and vie with each other in the elaboration of their patterns. I saw several women tattooed with two wreaths of blue flowers on their bosoms linked by a blue chain, palm fronds on the throat, stars on the brow and chin, and bands round the wrists and ankles. These disfigurements, and large gold or silver filigree buttons placed outside one nostril by means of a wire passed through it, worn by married women, are much admired. When these women sell country produce in the markets, they cover their heads with the ordinary chadar.
The streets are narrow, and the walls, which are built of fire-burned bricks, are high. Windows to the streets are common, and the oriel windows, with their warm brown lattices projecting over the roadways at irregular heights, are strikingly picturesque. Not less so are latticework galleries, which are often thrown across the street to connect the two houses of wealthy residents, and the sitting-rooms with oriel windows, which likewise bridge the roadways. Solid doorways with iron-clasped and iron-studded doors give an impression of security, and suggest comfort and to some extent home life, and sprays of orange trees, hanging over walls, and fronds of date palms give an aspect of pleasantness to the courtyards.
The best parts of the city, where the great bazaars, large dwelling-houses, and most of the mosques are, is surrounded by a labyrinth of alleys, fringing off into streets growing meaner till they cease altogether among open spaces, given up to holes, heaps, rubbish, the slaughter of animals, and in some favoured spots to the production of vegetables. Then come the walls, which are of kiln-burned bricks, and have towers intended for guns at intervals. The wastes within the walls have every element of decay and meanness, the wastes without, where the desert sands sweep up to the very foot of the fortifications, have many elements of grandeur.
Istanbul – now the capital of Turkey
Aba – a loose over-garment which covers the whole body except the head, feet and hands
Bedouin – a nomadic tribe
Chadar – a long garment worn by Muslim women which covers the body and obscures part of the face
Bazaar – a market
Oriel window – a type of bay window that juts out from the wall
​
Text Two:
In 2015, Rebecca Lowe embarked on a 12 month long bicycle trip across Europe and the Middle-East. Here she describes her first night in Tripoli.
Tripoli at dusk is a dispiriting place. As I cycle from the boat into the city centre, around me loom a series of sombre, grey tower blocks, rising like skeletal sentinels among a wasteland of debris. Several are sprinkled with bullet holes, I note with mild alarm, and I nudge Maud (my bike) along a little faster. I’m fairly sure the local mercenaries have downed tools for the time being, but I’m already far too far behind schedule to risk being shot on my first day (though it would admittedly do wonders for my social media profile).
I’m hoping to stay with the friend of a friend of a friend, but am yet to hear back from him. It’s worrying, as the motels look poky and miserable, oozing an aura of indecency and regret. I distract myself from my plight by buying a tea in a grimy café and counting the perplexing number of passing Mercedes and BMWs, which seem by far the most popular car in this far-from-affluent city.
Two hours later, I finally hear from my contact, B. I am hugely relieved, and almost immediately the city’s shadowy nooks seem sunnier, its sharp edges softer. Within ten minutes, I’m being warmly welcomed by B and his Filipino housekeeper (apparently all houses have one) in his carpet shop just half a mile away. The sectarian conflict in the city is under control now, I’m told, and I feel a little foolish for conjuring spectres out of the undergrowth. How different everything seems when you’re no longer alone and abandoned in the dark!
B is a 27-year-old Australian who moved to Lebanon seven years ago. He enjoys the ‘freedom’ here, he says, which seems to boil down to driving without a licence and not paying his taxes. I ask him about the cars and he tells me it’s due to people’s idolisation of Germany and their superficiality. Plastic surgery is reportedly huge, and often deliberately conspicuous. Everyone wants to flash their cash and status.
In Tripoli, curiously, this showiness goes hand in hand with a strong social conservatism. Most women wear hijabs, and B tells me he wouldn’t want to be seen drinking in public. Another friend later tells me that the city is surprisingly tolerant, despite its image. ‘You sometimes get burkinis and bikinis on the same beach, and nobody minds,’ she says. ‘But all people remember are the jihadists splashed across the papers.’
The next morning, as I prepare for my cycle to Beirut, B warns me that ‘the biggest storm of the year’ is due to hit today. … As I stand drowning under a lashing sheet of rain that soaks me instantly to the core, following yet another puncture 30km down the road, I can’t help feeling that it may have been the wrong decision. For half an hour I wait, helpless and sodden, as the sky turns leaden and swampy and slowly engulfs the entire Mediterranean Sea. Then, just as I’m losing hope of rescue, a car finally stops beside me and two textbook murderers (dirty trousers, rakish facial hair) get out and offer me a ride – an offer I know I should on no account accept.
Minutes later, we’re zooming down the road to Byblos. The men give me a satsuma, which I devour like somebody who hasn’t eaten for ten years (it’s been about ten minutes), and stop every mile or so to check Maud hasn’t fallen out the back (she hasn’t). They then drop me directly outside the restaurant where I’ve arranged to meet a friend; and, with a wave, they’re gone. Once again, human kindness trumps doom-laden distrust, I think relievedly. Is the world really crawling with as many psychopaths as the media would have us believe?
Maud – the name of Rebecca Lowe’s bicycle
Byblos – a city in Lebanon