Hello!
Here is my feedback to the developers of MTGA which I would like for them to read and probably do something with it. This post is solely devoted to the non-core part of the game, which I consider to be a premium part of it: cosmetics. Let me start with the most recent events.

1. Pre-orders

Now with the LotR preorders out we can compare them with what we had before. For 2 sets, starting from ONE, we had a split preorder which was known before that as Play bundle which was targeting those who don't want to buy packs (mostly those, who builds their collection through the drafts). I will still consider both play + pass bundle as one bundle since that's how I buy and it makes the comparison easier.
Both ONE and MOM play bundles were of the same value:

• Sealed token
• 2 draft tokens
• 5 Play-In Points
• 2 different mythic card art sleeves
• 2 different mythic cards + their styles
• Unique pet
• Mastery Pass

And compare it to the LotR preorder:

• Sealed token
• 2 draft tokens
• 5 Play-In Points
• Mythic card art sleeves
• Mythic card + style
• Mastery Pass

So if we pre-order LotR we lose a mythic card, its parallax style and a pet. If you take the pet's value from the store we are missing out on (1200 + 3000 + price_of_the_mythic_card) ~= 4200 gems or 20$. So we buy essentially the same product which we bought previously but now we are getting 20$ less content from a bundle which costs 40$. So get basically half of what you usually get. Not cool.
Yes, the pre-order can still be considered good in terms of gems-to-$ but it doesn't matter to me, because I felt like we had a contract which terms won't be worse as we proceed. Yes we didn't signed anything but since the things have been the same for some years I used to some particular treatment and wouldn't mind the terms to improve. But when the terms deteriorated it left me confused to say the least. That's why I choose not to buy any of the pre-orders this time (first time since IKO!): you violated the contract so I have to abstain from buying it, even if I want to—I just can't condone such a behavior. And given that my main game formats are Historic + Alchemy + Limited I'm the target audience for this set and pre-order, what an irony.
So whoever is in charge of this change just lost a customer who has been buying the product for 3 years (apart from me not playing during VOW-SNC). And even if the next set is done better than this one, like the old ones, the damage is still done, you lost some of the goodwill. From now on the pre-orders are no longer must buy for me. Nice!ly done.

2. Daily deals

Since the DD has been introduced we had the following unwritten contract:

• 40-50% off the most recent cards (mostly 50% with occasional 40%).
• 50-75% off the older cards.
• Occasional, but not rare, 80-95% off some card. Cards usually playable.
• All rare duals/triome land parallax styles within ~2 weeks of the set release. All at once for 50% off.

Personal story of how I dealt with these deals. I bought all the lands. Bought all the 60%+ outside of the cards I deemed unplayable. Bought most of the 50% if I could imagine playing some of these cards later. Many of the cards I ended up never using but that was ok. Also I was unwilling to spend more than 3000 gems per day, just a personal quirk. I spent a lot on DD styles. Anyway, it was always fun to check the DD every day and read what other people think about the cards offered: what is playable, how good they are etc.
Of course, there was a room for improvement for the DDs: more thematic sales, like tribals, deck that won something, most played cards in this month etc. (like a few days ago was the best deal in months, featuring Creativity card styles; both discount and card selection were great). Instead, some 7-8 months ago you broke this contract and filled the DD with uplayable cards, which sometimes are not playable even in the corresponding draft format, accompanied by the bad discounts.
Now we have 20%-40% for the new and old cards alike. Most of the time the card selection is boring even for bigger discount. There is nothing to read about the deals because it is mostly gloom and despair. In ONE you didn't even sell all the rare dual land styles which never happened before! I don't know what numbers are telling you but as far as I'm concerned you almost killed the thing that needed an improvement and it is sad. Why almost? Because I still have hope.
Now personal story of how my dealing changed. I do not buy anymore styles which I won't play today or tomorrow. They became expensive and I don't want to buy them. Only what is necessary I buy. And it doesn't matter anymore if it is 50% today because I know that everything else will be expensive tomorrow so I'd rather keep my money for what I really need. For example, recently the MOM Kogla card was offered for 50% and while before it was a snap buy (because I see myself playing it in some unknown-yet deck), now I just abstained because right now I don't have or see the deck I want to put it in. With this change I mostly stopped using gems to buy styles because the rare occasions I buy them, I can use gold which keeps growing for having nothing else to spend it on. Since the DD has been introduced I almost never had gold on my account until 6-8 months ago. Now I almost always have it. Oops.

3. Card styles

And finally I want to point out the most egregious part of the negligence toward the premium content and us, buyers. Implementation of the so called depth art card styles, or parallax styles as we, MTGA people, call it. Here are the problems with them that I know of.

3.1 Styles exist/existed but not applied to the cards.

There are many cards which were lacking styles before these styles were added through the spellbooks or conjuring of the corresponding digital-only cards (aka Alchemy). Most of them were also applied to the older cards but not all of them. Cards like Colossus Hammer, Blood Artist and Youthful Valkyrie all have styles implemented but you can't buy/apply these styles to the existing standalone cards. That should be fixed.
NOTE: this and later lists are not comprehensive and are here to illustrate the problem, not to build an exhaustive list of all the problems. I'd appreciate (and hope the devs would too) if you improve these lists by commenting with the cards these lists are lacking.

3.2 Styles for the tokens.

While you seem to have some kind of diligence as far as main cards are concerned you seem to casually ignore tokens which these cards are producing. The most egregious example is the release of MOM where no card generates a parallax token. Not a single one. The main theme with incubators and none of them are implemented properly. Guys, that's really really bad. You seem to not understand that for us, buyers, the token is as important as the main card. And I'm not just talking about cards like Sunfall or Ral's Reinforcement where it should be obvious. I'm talking about consistency: I want my part of the board to look consistent, which means all the permanents on my side should not have borders.
If I have cards that I can't make lose borders then the consistency dies and I stop caring about other cards, essentially making me not wanting to buy anything at all! One more time: tokens are as important as the main card, they all should be parallaxed. And if some card, having parallax style, produces non-parallax token then it should be considered a bug which has to be fixed. We don't know if the card worked before or not and we shouldn't bother to know that: no style, report, get it fixed. As simple as that; for everyone.
Speaking of which the following list presents you with the cards (category of cards, really) which used to produce the styled tokens but not anymore (and for some this "anymore" is how long, year, more than a year?): Wedding Announcement (staple card in virtually any white deck in Standard!), Verdant Command (squirrels), DnD treasures (Prosperous Innkeeper and many other playable cards), Legion's Landing. Is this list exhaustive? I don't think so but these I came up with anyway. What should we do with the styles we bought months ago? Should we ask for refund en mass? Thinking...
And there is another list of playable cards which to my knowledge never produced styled tokens: Saprolings (Slimefoot and Squee is now a playable card, sapros should be styled), Devils from “Ob Nixilis, The Adversary”, Rhino for Titan Of Industry, Cats & Dogs from Jinnie Fay, Angels from Resplendent Angel (staple in the angels).
So 2 lists, the first one is full of bugs the second is full of job-not-done. I know that, because I'm curious and have been playing this game for long. Average user doesn't and shouldn't know that. So for the avg user both lists should be the same: bugs. And bugs should be fixed. Since these bugs are in the premium content they should be fixed ASAP. The only thing that outclasses it is the core gameplay. And for these bugs there should be a separate category on a normal bug tracker where people can get some feedback, not this seemingly abandoned self-hosted User Voice where you post to oblivion.

3.3. Non-existent styles for the staple cards.

Now let's go to the territory of missed opportunities. The following list contains the list of cards which are staple in meta decks but never had the styles for them added:
Munitions Expert, Reckless Charge, Shoreline Scout's conjured Land, Regal Force from Freyalise, Sterling Grove, Parhellion II, Damping Sphere, Elvish Clancaller.
And here is another list with not staples but solid cards which saw and still see play in probably not tier 1 but solid competitor decks: Dwynen's Elite, Spawn Of Mayhem, Legion's Lieutenant, Champion of Dusk, Vicious Conquistador, Herald's Horn, Shaper's Sanctuary, Archon of Emeria.
And finally to some interesting example which we had with SIS (bonus-sheet subset to Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered, or SIR). We have styles for Falkenrath Noble, Kruin Outlaw and Barter in Blood but don't have styles for Snapcaster Mage, Avacyn's Pilgrim (and/or Young Wolf), Griselbrand. 3 whatever cards have styles while 3 playables with 2 of them iconic (?) do not. Who planned the implementation of these styles? Good game.
So this section is about missing opportunities. Why? Because you fail to present me with the options to buy. I want to buy styles in general but I snap buy the styles for the staple cards I can play every day and in multiple decks. We have tons of cards, mostly from the time when there were no paralax styles, still not implemented. But with SIR & SIS we had a newly introduced to Arena set which has most of the cards unstyled. Not cool.
I get it, you have only so much you can do with the resources you have. I really do and if you can't for some reason style every card from the past let's implement the priority queue where we, the users, will vote for what should be implemented next. You create a list of all the not-implemented card styles and we vote. You implement the top-voted style and remove it from the poll. That way we will see progress, have influence on what should be done next and you will see what styles people are not interested in and can be safely ignored. Implemented styles should be put into the patch notes so we know when to come back and vote again.
So that's how I see the final solution:

1. All new-to-Magic sets should be fully styled. It is your face, it is what new and casual users will meet with first. You can't tolerate half-baked premium content there.
2. New-to-Arena (but not to Magic, like SIR) should be fully styled if possible. If not then the priority should be deduced from the MTGO data (or other data you think is better) of the most playable cards in the formats Arena has some access to (Explorer ~ Pioneer, Modern ~ Historic, Historic Brawl ~ Commander) and implemented accordingly. The rest should be added to the vox populi list of delayed implementation.

3.4 A few words about other styles.

Sagas is another thing that is a bit controversial and inconsistent. Most of them are not parallaxed and, in my opinion, the saga permanent itself should not be parallaxed. It doesn't need this treatment they are good as is. But some of them still should have parallax styles. Why? Because some of them produce tokens or transform. You had Tymaret Calls the Dead parallax style implemented which reflects on the saga but not tokens. Instead it should produce parallax tokens and the saga itself can be unstyled (anyone have other opinion on that?). The same goes to other token generating sagas like History of Benalia and others. But the more important ones are the NEO sagas which transform into creatures. While, again, the saga permanent doesn't need to be parallaxed the resulting creature should.
So when you implemented everything mentioned in this post I will finally being able to have my side of the board fully styled in one consistent style. For which I paid real money because there is no way for a f2p player to style their decks fully and consistently. As far as I'm concerned it is a win-win for both parties. Because the other way to have your side of the board consistent is to not have styles at all. And that is lose-lose for me and you.
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The last topic I'd like to touch is parallax lands. IIRC the last parallaxed non-full art basic lands were implemented in Eldraine and then you stopped (snow lands in KHM were also gorgeous). The only full-art lands which got parallax styles were Nyx lands from THB. It is the other thing that you are missing out: probably not every set has beautiful basics but LotR has some, why not implement the parallax lands there? Same goes to some full art lands. I get it that you need a square to have the land looks cool but some of them can be cut to squares and still look good, so maybe experiment some? Lands are sellers, aren't they?
Personally, I stopped buying lands after THB because they have borders. I really like my THB lands but don't mind to buy some others to have some diversity across the decks. Oh, and give the people who wasn't lucky playing during THB an opportunity to buy these parallaxed lands. Take their money they are throwing at you!
Anyway my long feedback post is finally over, not that I don't have anything more to say, I just think it is enough for now. I hope u/WotC_Jay and other people responsible for making decisions for this game will read it in words and spirit. If I was harsh in some words, I don't really meant it that way. I wish this game all the best and hence this post. But only you can make it happen, so...
Your Go

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Okay so tonight I did not make the wisest decision and I really feel bad about myself. My soon-to-be ex and I had a discussion on the phone today in text and he threw it in my face of my past of being a stripper and he quoted his ex-wife on something that she said, "you can't turn a stripper into a housewife. " And I don't know why that bothered me so bad knowing who it came from, but it really did in this evening he drove off and I didn't really want to leave our discussion ending in the way that it did we do have a child together and I want to try to keep the peace as much as possible., so i call him, no answer. So anyway I drove into town after he left thinking maybe I would see him, I'm not really sure what I was expecting to see but I just had this odd feeling that something was up because it was just so weird how he threw up all this stuff randomly as he did. Well off of a dumb whim of mine I decided that I was going to drive into Memphis which is about an hour drive from my home and since he said something about my past as a stripper I had the feeling he was going to go check it out since he says he's never been to one of those clubs before. So I wasn't sure which one he went to I went by the first one and I didn't see anything that he drove but then I went to the second one and there it was his big black truck I drove behind it and I saw that it had our County tags and I decided to park and I thought about it for a moment and after thinking about it I had decided I'm going to go in. Now going through a divorce is probably isn't the smartest but I knew I was not going to act ignorant it's just like I needed to see. You see he's been telling me this whole time during our Separation on how he loves only me he only cares only to see me he doesn't want anybody else and he's also made the statement numerous amount of times that he will never take off his wedding ring until we're divorced. Well the Curiosity got the best of me so I walked into this strip club and it wasn't very busy but as I go in there I look over and there he is and I pretty much get almost 8 ft to him before he really realizes it's me and all I could do was ask him really. Like I said I was not screaming or yelling or acting crazy but merely just looking him in his face and just wanting to know why he continues to lie to me about things even though we are separated and he can do as he wants it's just the fact that he's lying and trying to love bomb me all the time. Well I sat down next to him and I pointed out that I noticed that he wasn't wearing a ring and I just told him that I couldn't believe that he continued to lie to me. I got up and he asked me where I was going and I told him I was leaving, he really didn't act all too concerned that I had caught him there. But even though this might not been a smart move on my behalf going through a divorce might look bad on me. It actually helped me mentally, cuz I actually saw him for who he really is. I know now 100% without a doubt that he would never change no matter what. As we each left the club in our two separate vehicles he went one way and I went another and at some point he texted me and I ended up calling him it's much easier for me to talk than it is to text while driving, and as time was going on in this conversation he was starting to become clear that he pulled out of the parking lot to only Circle back to go back to make me think that he left. He kept saying things to me like where are you at now? Well are you sure I left? So I'm not really sure 100% if he ended up circling around and intending on going back, I had actually turned around at one point to see if he went back but after thinking about it for a while I decided it probably better just for me to go home and so I did. During the drive home he ended up calling me and we talked on the phone for a little bit he wanted to tell me to watch out for deer. During our conversation at some points he also had mentioned several times about me having a GPS on them, he thinks that I knew where he was like on got ways of telling where he's at. No matter how many times I tell him that I don't have anything like that on him he just doesn't believe me. It upsets me that he doesn't believe me, and I'm always trying to validate myself, I have got to quit doing that. How do you overcome the need to validate yourself? How do you overcome the need of worrying about what they're doing when you're not around knowing you don't want to be with themno more? I know I don't want to be with him anymore, but the idea of him and someone else I don't know if it hurts my feelings, or if I might be jealous, or what exactly it is.

The Old Ways can rub some people wrong — especially those coming into the supernatural world fresh from this modern era of excess, privilege, and internet anonymity. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen societal changes and cultural shifts in every direction you could plot an axis for; live for nearly 3500 years as I have, and you too will come to understand that Change is the one and only constant in this world. But what our more, shall I say, exuberant (indignant, entitled, take your pick) newcomers tend to misunderstand is that Old Ways — and those of us who uphold them — don’t stand in opposition to change; we’ve just already seen all their ‘new’ ideas brought forward before, been accepted, gone stale, and get discarded for the next.
The Old Ways aren’t rules, they’re just how you come to behave once you’ve lived through a few revolutions of the cycle. They’re also not written or codified in any way, but if I had to articulate the particular tenet that seems most abhorrent to our most recent newcomers, it would be this: Respect is owed to your elders, because they’ve already damn-well earned it in the past.
The recent upheaval in the supernatural underworld wasn’t particularly upsetting, or even that surprising: some newly-minted vamp shaking things up, gathering a following, killing off a few of the established vampire lords. I don’t overlap much with the neck-biter scene, so it wasn’t very concerning to me. But as ill-luck would have it, he kept growing more famous, and thus harder to avoid hearing about.
He was turned fairly late for a vampire, in his 40s, having already led a deeply troubling life steeped in conspiracy theory, hoax, and rabbit holes into the occult. So rather than take the traditional path toward amassing strength for a vamp — which is basically just to feed regularly and get older — he instead continued his dive into the occult. To his credit, this did score him the power he needed to oppose (and depose) many of the vampire lords of London; to his detriment, it also placed him rather firmly on a collision course with me.
I’d put a handful of wards and contingencies in place out of habit, but I wasn’t particularly concerned. Vampires are about as dangerous to me as… eh… now that I think of it, I don’t have a great analogy on hand for this. There isn’t much that’s truly all that dangerous to me at all, anymore — about as dangerous as a mosquito, I guess? In that I’d be annoyed if one bit me?
Still, he did manage to surprise me, if only because I never thought he’d be stupid enough to come for me there, in the Tavern. But like I said: in this storied community, the impetuous youth flaunt or ignore the Old Ways at their own peril. And it had started as such a nice, quiet night, with me seated at my usual booth in its dimly lit, secluded corner of the restaurant.
“Here you are, darling, you just let me know if you need anything else, okay?”
The head server of the Tavern is a lovely woman, seemingly 30 to 40 years of age, who despite the many years she’s spent in England, still speaks with an accent from the American south. Her ethnic heritage is clearly from a region further south-west in Africa than my own.
“Of course, thank you Catherine,” I replied as she placed an impeccably plated salad on the table before me. It was one of my favorites at the Tavern, a delightful little number with tender bamboo shoots, and some kind of sweet and spicy mustard vinaigrette. Catherine smiled and whisked off toward another table. I folded a piece of baby spinach over an arugula leaf and pinned them to a bamboo shoot with my fork, and had just lifted them to my lips when the doors to the Tavern slammed open into the walls of the entryway. The small, decorative windows in the doors shattered on impact, showering the hostess’ podium with shards of glass.
Most groups of vampires want to be called ‘covens.’ Some of the weirder, extra culty groups prefer the term ‘hive.’ Judging by the collection of washed out, middle-aged vampire bros who sauntered in through the broken doors, I can only assume this group called themselves something extra stupid, like ‘the posse.’
He was immediately evident. His four goons looked like your average jocks who’d had neither the skill to go pro, nor the sense to plan for anything else in life, and had spent their subsequent years in disappointment of themselves and others.
“Barkeep! A round of your finest libations for the entourage of…” the fucker actually paused, as though for dramatic effect, “the Dread Prince Lestat!”
An audible groan of disgust rose from a table of Lesser Devils in the next alcove down from mine. Abyssal-speech is difficult to decipher even when there isn’t a group of demons all talking over one another, but I did manage to make out from one of them, a trickster muse by the name of Mamenoche, just before he dissolved into a cloud of flies and dispersed. The remaining devils grumbled in disappointment, but still turned with eager smiles to watch the drama unfold.
The keeper of the tavern, for his part, simply raised an eyebrow while he wiped down a freshly washed stein with a drying rag. He nodded to an empty table. “Take a seat, we’ll be right with you,” he said, and then turned away to shelve the clean glass.
The keeper is a slight man, of average height, perhaps in his early to mid 50s. He wears the same costume every day: dark brown slacks and a burgundy tweed vest over a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled back to his elbows. His voice is rich and resonant, and though soft-spoken, he is never difficult to hear. Beyond that, I can only say that the tavern keeper looks exactly as you think he would, and do understand that I mean that literally. His features, his hair, the color of his skin: they all exist only in the eyes of the beholder. It’s part of the Glamour.
The four underlings slid chairs out from the table and plopped down with what some of my younger students have recently informed me is known as the ‘Riker maneuver.’ Lestat remained standing and circled the table while he addressed the patrons.
“Well, well, well. So this is the storied Tavern. Drinking hole for the Greats of the underworld, the movers and shakers, the true titans of the occult.” He smirked and paused for effect again. “At least now it is. Bit of a slow day before I got here, eh barkeep?”
The keeper responded with silence as he filled five elaborately crafted snifters from a small, gold-banded barrel behind the bar.
“No matter, we’ll liven things up here real soon. I’m looking for a woman — no, not you love, some other time maybe.” He gestured across the bar to a woman of simply indescribable beauty, whom he utterly failed to recognize as Titania. Lounging beside her, Oberon narrowed his eyes, but remained otherwise still.
It had been at least 150 years since the last time a patron had stepped out of line in the Tavern, and the mood of the crowd was positively electric with anticipation. The vampire, bless his shriveled little heart, clearly interpreted this as deference to his prowess.
“The woman I’m looking for is… Egyptian. An Empress. Her very name and image carved off the face of history by her own son. Probably on the masculine side, considering how she managed to pass herself off as a Pharaoh and usurp his reign for 20 years. Just a guess, but probably a 2 or 3 out of 10.”
“I’ve had kings put to death for far less impetuous horse shit than that, young man,” I said. How rude — I looked positively fabulous with a false goatee.
He turned to me with a broad smile and threw his arms wide open. “And here she is, The Empress Undying. The ‘last word’ in all things occult and arcane, so they tell me.” He approached, squinting into the gloom surrounding my dining table. “And wow, I take it all back, for a 3,000 year old mummy, you are surprisingly bang-able. You know I love a girl who plays hard to get, and let’s face it — erased from history, all that jazz — you were difficult to track down, Hatshepsut!”
“Really? I have a page on Wikipedia.”
“That’s not— I mean I prefer— that is, well, primary sources are—”
“Which, if you’d bothered reading, would have told you that Thutmose the Second was not my son, but my step son, and that at 2 years old he was not in the best position to rule when my husband passed. Not to mention it was actually his bratty son Amenhotep who ordered the whole defacing of my icons thing.” Which is also untrue. I ate my own name as part of my Ascension. But he doesn’t need to know the details of my life.
“Here’s your drinks boys,” Catherine said behind him with her typically cheerful demeanor as she set the tray of snifters down between Lestat’s posse. “Seeing as how it’s your first round at the Tavern, darlings, this one’s on the house.”
The vampires grabbed their drinks without so much as a thank you. Lestat wisely took the interruption as a reprieve from this sudden hiccup in whatever grand plan it was he had in mind for me, and retreated to the support of his minions. One of them sniffed at the drink suspiciously, while the others simply threw them back like shots and immediately grimaced. One got it down before sputtering and coughing uproariously, the other two spit it out back into their snifters.
“What is this shit?”
“That’s Ambrosia, darling,” Catherine said as she gently patted the coughing vamp on his back. “Nectar of the gods. It’s a bit of an acquired taste for sure, and most people do prefer to sip it. They say it’s ‘too much sensation’ for us lesser beings.”
“They don’t want Ambrosia, you wench,” Lestat howled, “they want blood!”
“Well I’m sorry darling, but we don’t serve blood here. You asked for a round of our ‘finest libations,’ and there’s no drink finer than Ambrosia in the Tavern, nor outside of it as I’ve ever heard. That barrel over there was handed off by Hermes himself.”
One of the vampires dashed his drink on the floor and pointed at Catherine.
“You’ve got blood, don’t you lass?”
“That will be enough.” The tavern keeper’s soft, mellifluous voice draped over the exchange like a weighted blanket. “I’ve served you drinks, and in return you have been exceedingly impolite to my establishment, my staff, and my patrons. Learn the meaning of deference before you visit next, for you will not be well-received without it. Now, leave.”
Lestat’s four hulking minions might have succumbed to the spell of the keeper’s voice had not their ring-leader, to his detriment, managed to shake out of it.
“Leave? No, we just got here,” he turned back to me, “and I’m not finished with her.”
“But I am finished with you,” I said.
“Ten,” the keeper said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the bar.
“The only reason I haven’t ended your miserable existence thus far,” I continued, “is out of deference to my elders. It is not my right to take your life inside the walls of this Tavern. I suppose I’ll soon be forced to do it outside, but do understand, I’ll approach that no differently than I would stepping on a scarab.”
“Nine.”
“The truth of it is, 'Dread Prince,' that you are not worth the breath spent uttering your ridiculous name.”
“Not worth your time, am I? I’ll show you what your time is worth, you decrepit bitch!”
“Eight,” the tavern keeper said, and Lestat flung an outstretched claw in his direction while hissing out a spell in medieval Latin.
Generously translated, it came out to roughly As though caught on a hook, the keeper tumbled over his bar and forward through the air. Lestat caught him by the neck and wrenched sideways, spinning the keeper’s head fully around with a loud crunching sound. Then, with the inhuman speed inherent to vampires, he hoisted the keeper’s body over his head, darted across the Tavern, and slammed him down through a table surrounded by a flock of naiads.
He turned and caught Catherine in the hypnotic gaze his kind uses to trap their prey, and strolled leisurely back over to his group. I crossed my arms.
“Sorry ‘darling,’ but I like my meals a little toasty.”
He hissed in his awful Latin again, along the lines of Catherine convulsed and shrieked, unable to move while locked in his gaze. He yanked her head to the side and made a show of sinking his fangs into her neck with a ripping motion, splattering droplets of blood across the tavern that sizzled and steamed where they landed. Her lifeless body rolled under the table as he turned his bloody face back to me.
“How do you like me now?”
I pushed my untouched salad, now flecked with Catherine’s blood, away from me on the table and let out a deep sigh.
“First, your grasp of Latin is elementary at best, you really should have practiced more before coming to see me. No, now, this is the part where you listen.”
I pinched my forefinger to the thumb to seal the air inside his lungs. He stumbled back and clutched at his neck in surprise — he wasn’t going to suffocate of course, but it’s an unpleasant feeling for sure if you haven’t yet come to the realization that you don’t actually need to breathe in undeath.
“Of course it is the intent that matters somewhat more-so than the language used — but, and I cannot stress this enough, good syntax simply never hurts. The age of your language also should not be overlooked. The older the language, the truer it is to the One Tongue of Magic, before it was fractured and the tower fell. You came with a form of Ecclesiastical Latin from around the 12th century, taught to Catholic priests. Underwhelming at best. You should have at least brought Classical Latin from the time of the Caesars, that would have shown me you were trying.
“Second, you demonstrate a lack of finesse that is simply appalling. I will commend your creativity in bringing your own spells to demonstrate. It is a key craft that many young students of the occult struggle with terribly for many years. You are also clearly capable of drawing significant power to bear, which is always a good start. However, the path to enduring success in the arcane arts isn’t power, it’s efficiency. What you did worked, but it took far more power than it needed to. I can think of a dozen ways to boil someone’s blood off the top of my head, and none of them require much more focus or power than this.”
I released my fingers, letting the air out of his lungs in an involuntary wheeze.
“Since you were turned, I suspect you’ve never met a door you couldn’t break down with brute force. But that’s only because until today, you never really went looking for one.
“Third, and most damning of the indictments against you is this: you absolutely and utterly failed to read the room, nor did you accept the un-earned grace that was offered to you. Thus ends our impromptu lesson, prince. Good luck.”
I leaned back and draped my arms across the cushions of my booth, while Lestat yanked one of his minions to their feet and stood behind him, tensing for a fight.
“Mother… fucker…” came a mutter from under Lestat’s table, as Catherine stirred and rolled over onto her side. The newly-minted vampire lord paused and looked down at her with a furrowed brow.
“Wait, was she not a human? That normally kills humans.” He looked to his cronies, who gave him an array of shrugs and uncertain mumblings.
I said in Classical Latin,
The vampire cocked his head, clearly trying and failing to work through the declensions and figure out exactly what I had said. I pointed across the room to the tavern keeper, standing up out of the wreckage of his table. Loud crunches of grinding bone sounded from his neck as he rolled his head from side to side, reforming the shattered vertebrae inside it. He spat out a mouthful of blood, then plucked a wrinkled pocket square from his vest and dabbed the corners of his lips.
“Zero,” the keeper said once his larynx had reformed enough for speech. “It’s the medical benefits of her employment package: immunity to death, disease, etc. Cuts the insurance middle-men right out of the picture, I find it’s very efficient.”
“Ah.” Lestat eyed the keeper, far too late showing the slightest hint of caution or concern. “So she’s human, but you’re not. Well then, what are you?”
“Immortal,” the Keeper replied simply, as he plucked a shard of glass out of his skull and tossed it aside. It landed with a loud tinkle in the otherwise silent room.
“That means nothing,” Prince Lestat waved his hand dismissively. “I’m immortal. Half your bloody patrons are—”
“No,” the keeper cut him off as he straightened out his vest and stepped out of the wreckage of the table. “You are ageless, thanks to the curse of undeath upon you. That is a very different thing than being immortal. Numerous vampire lords you’ve killed in the last few months would attest to this, were they not dead, no? They may not like to acknowledge it, but this is a simple fact that every entity in this establishment is keenly aware of, save for you.”
Lestat said nothing, but his body language spoke volumes for him, as he shrunk half a step backward toward the support of his underlings.
“My patrons from the Fey realms, or the Abyss? They experience death on this plane of existence as a banishment back to their own. But once there, they age and die the same as all other creatures in existence, if perhaps at a different rate than a human does. My dear employee Catherine, whom you’ve treated with such brazen disrespect, will live as long as she wishes to. But some day, be it centuries or millennia from now, she will grow tired of life, and request I terminate her contract.”
He gestured to me, seated in my quiet, dark corner, and a chill ran down my spine.
“Even the Empress Undying, whom you unwisely came looking for tonight, will only survive so long as she maintains the numerous spells and failsafes she has crafted to preserve and extend her unnatural life.”
My thoughts flickered in succession through my 5 phylacteries, painstakingly secreted away in sealed and warded caches both near and far-flung — and I watched in horror as the keeper’s eyes lifted briefly to the keystone of the stone arch over his doorway, then settled on me, and he winked.
By the gods, my cold heart would have skipped a beat were it able. How did he find it out? Or, more likely: has he simply always known?
“One day, when she has grown tired of this endless upkeep, she too will come to me for release. You see, Edwin, everything dies eventually.”
He held his hand calmly out to his side, and wisps of shadow materialized and snaked through the air into his grasp. The Dread Prince Lestat — Edwin — first shivered, then spasmed, and finally, as his entourage withdrew from him in horror, collapsed in a fit of convulsions. The shadows continued to flow into the keeper’s outstretched hand, gaining solidity and texture, until he was left holding his implement: a bowed farmer’s scythe, worn and battered, but with a keen edge that felt dizzying and somehow wrong to look upon. The keeper stepped forward.
“Everything dies, except for me.”
Been wanting to get back into writing for a while and came across this response I half-wrote last year.
Original prompt either here or here , honestly not sure which one I originally happened across anymore.

See the previous posts: https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/1419mpy/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_dominion/ https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/142b35e/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_jwd_rewrite/

Act III - The Gathering of the Clouds

Mia Everett
Visually confirming Rainn's revelation, Victoria is shown in a cage inside Amelia Everett's lab, within Biosyn's Citadel. Mia does her best to comfort the scared and depressed Achillobator and her motivations are explored shortly after. It's revealed that due to her experience within the team who made the Indominus and the Indoraptor, Biosyn tasked her with reviving InGen's IBRIS program by breeding raptors with high obedience potential. However, none of the achillobators cloned by Biosyn proved to be trainable enough for the program's ambitions (even though they attempted to mimic Owen's experience by having keepers being there at the animals' birth), which displeased Dodgson and the other higher-ups, who are now favouring another research team, who focuses on a more intrusive way of controlling dinosaurs. Basically treated as a second-class researcher amidst a rather toxic work environment, Mia became desperate enough to hire poachers to capture Blue, which she intended to breed with their achillobators in order to finally have trainable individuals. As Victoria is not sexually mature, Mia is in front of a considerable setback and fears that Dodgson will pull the plug due to her lack of results, especially in this troubled period for Biosyn.
The tying noose
The next day, the intel collected by the UN agents (people involved in the Black Market, Biosyn's connections with it) are sent to the nearby countries, including Italy, where an arrest warrant is launched against Kayla.
On his side, Isaac Gibbon is contacted by Bigelow who tells him about the debacle of their mission in Malta, saying that Claire and Owen saved the grey guards from disaster. He orders her to stay in Italy for the moment and wait for new orders. Shortly receives, he receives a candidate for a desk job in the DSD: It's Franklin. Gibbon tells Franklin he heard about his bravery during the 2019 incidents and his past connection with InGen (Before the DPG, Franklin worked for it as an IT Technician), before asking questions about Claire as he is aware that she collaborated with him not only on some occasions in the past few years but also in the 2019 Costa Rican incident, where Franklin was the couple's companion while they were running from InGen's agents and the authorities.
Dubrovnik
The inhabitants and tourists of the Croatian seaside city of Dubrovnik are surprised when a Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus descends upon the old town and starts attacking people. As a joke similar to one in TLW with the Japanese businessman and his reference to Godzilla, some extra could yell in Valyrian "I left Westeros because of this!" or "By the Seven, not again!" (Dubrovnik was one of Game of Thrones' filming location).
Ramsay's email
In a manner similar to the Hawaii attack scene in Gareth Edwards' Godzilla, the Dubrovnik scene cuts just as the Quetzal swoops on the bystanders and we are now in the bar of Biosyn's employee village. Wu is watching the news of the Dubrovnik attack on the TV (there is even a declaration from Zoe Murdoch, in which she denies the pterosaur came from Auronzo's Sanctuary and was probably created by a rival company who somehow put their hands upon Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus DNA. In the bar, someone whisper that one of their Quetzals did escaped from the valley thanks to the temporary deactivation of the invisible fence system and that Dodgson has launched an investigation to know who's responsible) when he receives a mysterious email from Ramsay, which includes the name of some woman. Wu search it on the internet and ends up on IMDB where he discovers that the adult "Charlotte" on the videos is actually an actress who lives in London.
Arrest
In Rome, early in the morning, Kayla is arrested in her flat by the police as she is accused of illegal smuggling.
Viscontini
Following all the incidents in the Alps, the clash in the Sabine Hills and the recent Dubrovnik attack, people gets pissed at Biosyn and protests occur in several locations, including Rome. In the Italian Ministry of the Interior, Viscontini has an argument with Pazzi, declaring that they need to take severe actions against Biosyn but the minister retorts that taking large-scale actions against the corporation might trigger a whole deal of undesirable consequences, including deteriorating US-Italian relations due to the close ties between Biosyn and the US government. He won't risk that just because of some rumours, weak proof and small incidents. Viscontini retorts that soon, Biosyn might have an angry mob showing at its gates with the goal of driving it out of Italy.
Following Vuillier's instructions, Claire, Owen, Nyamu and Dougal leave Malta the same day and fly to the Eternal City, where they have to meet Viscontini in the AISI headquarters. There, they have a video call with Vuillier. He and Viscontini wants to send the trio of WDMC agents to Auronzo Valley so they can infiltrate Biosyn's facility, find compromising information and transmit them to the Italian authorities, hoping to finally convince Pazzi and the rest of the government to take action against Biosyn. However, one of the agents points out that they will need an entrance ticket as one doesn't simply walk into Auronzo, since the borders of Biosyn's lands are guarded and monitored while some people disappeared after going too close from the Sanctuary (anti-Biosyn activists, reckless adventurers, Grendel Corporation's spies, others from the AISI's and Austrian government). Viscontini declare they might have that ticket.
We cut to Kayla in her prison cell. The guard announces she has visit and she is brought to a room where Viscontini and Dougal waits for her. The head of the AISI and the WDMC agent then negotiate with her: In exchange for her freedom, she will bring Dougal, Claire and Owen to Biosyn's Sanctuary. However, Viscontini precise he'll have her hunted down if she ever betrays them.
Kayla raises the fact that she can't show up at Auronzo like this and needs a motive. Viscontini and Dougal then talk about the animals seized in Malta's black market.
Theo's Mission
That day, Wu summons Theo, explain the whole issue with the fake Charlotte and ask him to go to London, find the actress and question her about the videos so they can have proofs to show Maisie, who started to really become insufferable because of Dodgson's bad influence (in that part of the story, one of the few scenes where she's likeable is one where she and Drummond bonds over the common passion for dinosaurs). The ex-mercenary soon leaves Auronzo, taking a bus for Venice in the nearest village while Wu explains to Pellegrino and Dodgson that Theo had urgent family matters to deal with in the UK.
Leaving San Francisco
Desiring to supervise the Dolomites Crisis more closely, Vuillier fly to Italy.
Nine containers
As evidence of Biosyn's possible connections to the Maltese black market has been discussed on the news, Dodgson knows it's a matter of time before Vuillier, the Italians or the Austrians send people in Auronzo and expose Biosyn's misdeeds.
We then follow Pellegrino's POV as she oversees the exit of nine large mysterious containers from the Citadel and their departure from the airstrip just outside the valley. One of her subordinates asks what's inside and she answers that she has no idea, with Dodgson only giving her a series of instructions. They watch the containers being flown abroad.
The following day, Pellegrino speak about it to Wu and other employees with anti-Dodgson sentiments like Drummond. She notices that Wu is uncomfortable as they talk about it and realize he must be hiding something. Ramsay, who just arrived from the US in preparation for a big corporate event in the Citadel, almost surprise their discussion. As they're not sure if they can trust him or not, they pretend it's nothing. Wu then phones Theo and asks him about his secret mission's progress.
London
In London, Theo finds the actress from the videos and initially posing as a reporter, filming her in an interview, he then ask her questions about the videos and after some hesitations, she concedes to give him answers and reveals among other things that the shooting occurred a few months ago in some local warehouse, that the director of those videos is none other than Colin Trevorrow (who, desperate for a job after the debacle of the Jurassic World film, accepted to participate to that project, oblivious that Biosyn was behind it since a dummy company took care of the production).
AISI
Vuillier arrives in Rome and meets with his agents, Nyamu and Viscontini in one of the AISI headquarters' conference rooms, where a map of Auronzo Valley and its surroundings has been laid. Kayla is also there and offscreen, our characters talk about the plan.
At the end of the meeting, everyone but Vuillier and Viscontini leave the room. Both have a secret conversation during which the Italian say that the Grey Guard's Mediterranean Company, supported by the Austrians and secretly by him (as he fears that Biosyn has informers within the Italian government), are deployed in one of the villages near Auronzo, and is supposed to act as a Plan B should the Claire-Owen-Dougal trio fail, by taking a secret path through an old mine and a mountain pass before breaking into Biosyn's citadel. The WDMC agents don't know that and when Vuillier ask why, Viscontini answers that it's better that way (should the agents be captured ant tortured, they won't tell Biosyn that there is a second team) and that the secret path isn't safer as one of his spy was killed by some creature after taking it and arriving in sight of the valley. He thinks that a small dozen of grey guards have better chances surviving the pass' guardian(s) than three civilian agents.
To the Dolomites
The next day, in the middle of the morning, Kayla is preparing her plane in some airstrip near Rome and the seized creature from the black market is loaded in the hold (I have no idea which species to choose). Equipped by the Italians, Claire, Owen and Dougal say farewell to Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini. The Frenchman tells Claire that it's time to unleash the She-wolf upon Dodgson but Claire correct him by saying "Not the She-wolf. The Dragon." (in this AU, she has a particular connection with the dragon-like Indominus), implying she'll get the mission done whatever it takes. He and the other two men wish them good luck and the trio of WDMC agents climb aboard the plane. They soon take off.
Biosyn's aerial defense
Kayla's plane arrives in sight of the mountains which delimit Biosyn's Sanctuary. Informed of their mission by Vuillier and Viscontini, one of the grey guards is watching the plane through his binoculars as it passes over the village where they are staying.
Kayla is soon contacted by the Citadel's control room as they detected the aircraft on their radars and they ask her why she's coming. The pilot answer that she collected an animal which might interest them (she told the WDMC agents and the Italians that Biosyn doesn't have this particular species in their Sanctuary) and ask to land on their airstrip. While the Biosyn employees discuss, the plane is about to enter Auronzo Valley by the east, as that part of the sanctuary is the furthest from most of the buildings (while the airstrip is in the northernmost parts of Biosyn's lands, beyond the mountains with the frozen dam lake) and thus where Claire, Owen and Dougal has the best chances of landing unnoticed. The trio of agents take their parachutes and prepare to jump, but at the same time, Dodgson, who heard that Kayla was arrested by the authorities just a few days ago, fears that her plane is a Trojan horse and decides to activate the valley's "aerial defense". On the screen of one of the room's monitors, we see a group of dots heading straight towards the plane. It's actually a group of pteranodons, from the same toothed variant as those who appeared in Jurassic Park 3 (there is even at least one black male identical to the scrapped one from Johnston's film), and they just collide with the plane, crashing against the cockpit and getting turned to shred by the rotors' blades, damaging the plane (the scene is partly inspired by a cutscene from the Ninth Mission of Paraworld's campaign). Owen wonder why those pteranodons behave in a suicidal manner. Suddenly, the pteranodons retreat and as their window is shrinking, the agents know they have to jump now (they've reached the middle of the valley and their trajectory deviated northwards, towards the mountain dam). Claire jumps first but as Owen is about to jump in his turn, the plane is attacked by a Quetzalcoatlus and the Raptor Whisperer sees another and a few pteranodons chasing her fiancée, whose parachute opened. Claire shakes the pterosaurs off by disappearing into the valley's dense forest. As they will be grabbed by the attacking pterosaurs as soon as they leave the aircraft, Owen, Dougal and Kayla stay inside it and brace for the crash. The plane crashes down at the surface of the frozen lake by the mountain dam in the northern part of the valley.
Back in Rome, Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini are worried as they heard the agents and the pterosaurs' screams (they had an open channel all that time with Kayla's plane). They hope the agents will survive this ordeal and activate the beacons they were given before their departure.
Note: The fate of the animal they took with them is still unclear for me. It really depends on the chosen species. If it's something large and potentially dangerous, Kayla would probably want to drop it in the valley in order to have a lighter plane and not deal with it after crashing. But if it's a creature about the size of a small dog for example, they could free it as they leave the wreckage.
Gigantoraptor
We then cut to Claire hanging in the trees but instead of a Therizinosaurus (which already appeared in TRQ. Moreover, Claire had a small arc with this species in that story), she is threatened by a Gigantoraptor. The scene plays out much like the Theri scene from Trevorrow's version, with Claire hiding in a pond etc.. Once the Gigantoraptor walks away, Claire gets out of the pond and sees the fumes from the plane's crash in the distance, behind the mountain dam.
The dam lake
Before it sinks in the lake, Owen, Dougal and Kayla leave her plane and step on the ice. Under it, they notice a large shadow and know they better move away from the lake. They notice a ladder by the dam but as they head towards it, a Quetzalcoatlus or a Pteranodon lands on their way. They step back, moving towards an opening on the lake's surface. Suddenly, a giant 9-meters long temnospondyl (based upon an unnamed and fragmentary genus from Lesotho) burst out the water, almost killing one of the characters. Ensue a scene where our three protagonists have to evade both the pterosaur and the amphibian. The pterosaur ends up being dragged underwater by the temnospondyl but other pterosaurs arrive and to escape them, our trio climbs on the dam and rushes to its elevator, going down in the valley. Down at the dam's base, they notice it's dilapidated and Kayla tell her two companions that Biosyn sell some of its power to the nearest villages.
Note: The main doubt I have about this scene is having a temnospondyl living in the icy water of a mountain lake. It might be too much of a stretch so if you think it's not realistic at all, it will be scrapped from the scene (and perhaps be replaced by a juvenile Baryonyx or something like this, an animal which could be also the one our characters brought with them in the plane.
Plan B
Since the agents lost their beacons during the pterosaurs' attack and the crash, they couldn't tell Rome that they were still alive. Vuillier and Viscontini fear the worst and send a message to Laurenzo Cesare.
Droppings
Meanwhile, Claire started walking towards the dam, hoping to find her companions on the way if they made it out alive from the crash. When she hears a racket in the woods, she hides and a Biosyn tyrannosaur arrives. But it's not on a hunting mode and instead, it just leaves some droppings on a log near Claire's hiding place. After the predator leaves, she approaches the log and smears her face with the droppings, remembering her "Walk in the Park" with Owen when they searched her nephews during the Fall of Jurassic World (the droppings hide her smell, dissuading the other animals to investigate her).
Argument
An argument bursts out between Owen, Dougal and Kayla while they're walking south. The first wants to find his fiancée, the second says that their mission is more important, and Kayla is mad at both men since she lost her plane (and livelihood) because of the WDMC's mission. And unsure about her intentions, the two men distrust her but she tries to reassure them by saying that Biosyn can fuck off since they are also responsible for destroying her plane.
However, the Sanctuary's denizens remind them that they better be united or else it will be the failure of their quest.
At some distance, in the middle of the fog, they see the recognizable silhouette of a sauropod, that of an Argentinosaurus (the species was seen in the distance and mentioned earlier in the story. Instead of Argentinosaurus, it could also be another large titanosaur). However, this herbivore has the particularity of having a symbiotic relation with some small carnivore species within Biosyn Sanctuary (I'm more thinking about a pterosaur or a flying/semi-arboreal theropod than a strictly ground-dwelling predator. For now, the baboon-sized Variraptor is my candidate), with the Argentinosaurus letting those carnivores eat its parasites and the insects flying around it while the carnivores will let out an alarm call shall a large predator approach. It could be illustrated in a scene where an Acrocanthosaurus (the one from the Drive-in scene) is spotted by the carnivores as it passes by. The Argentinosaurus turns to face the larger predator, adopt a defensive posture, and as the acro hasn't yet moved, the smaller carnivores take off from the sauropod and flies straight to the acro's head. Harassed by those creatures, the Acrocanthosaurus retreats. Thus, if those small carnivores (which we'll call the Argentinosaurus' suite) are brave enough to attack a megatheropod, our three protagonists know they're not safe and that they better move away.
The Sanctuary's true nature
While still heading north, Claire's path crosses that of a bull Shantungosaurus. She move out of his way and stay still. She and the audience recognize the animal as he was already in the JW rewrite and TRQ (in the first story, he gained some scars after a fight with a few Metriacanthosaurus), where he was a secondary "character" (and a threat in a few scenes). Both have a peaceful scene where they make eye contact but that quiet moment is shattered when a gunshot resounds in the forest and the hadrosaur flees, badly wounded. Claire hides and in the distance, she sees a hunter, accompanied by a couple of Biosyn security guards and another employee which she presume is some sort of supervisohunting guide. Watching how the hunter is dressed and how he behave in the wild, she knows he's not a professional hunter but just a rich hobbyist and then realizes the Sanctuary's true nature: It's a hunting reserve. As the Shantungosaurus escaped them, the hunter express his discontentment at the guide, which promise to find him another quarry. They leave and following the blood trail left by the hadrosaur, Claire finds him by a stream. His wounds are too grievous and he's too weak to lash out at Claire, who kneels by his head, trying to comfort him in his last moments, up until his last breath. Watching another of her former park's animals dying fills Claire with not only grief, but also anger. She change her plans and heads back south instead of continuing northward, following the hunting party's track.
Note: It doesn't necessarily have to be a Shantungosaurus in the role of the animal shot by the hunters, but it have to be a recognizable animal from the previous installments for emotional impact and Claire's development (another candidate could be the Therizinosaurus from TRQ)
She later finds another hunting party. One of its members, a Biosyn guard, pulls out an item she recognize: a raptor resonating chamber. The guard use it like a bird call and soon, an Achillobator, arrive, believing it heard one of its kind. The poor animal is shot by the hunters, who scream in satisfaction before taking a picture with their quarry. They then brings it to the Biosyn vehicle waiting nearby but before they leave (after having a short conversation during they mention that another team captured the rex and is bringing it the paddocks), Claire deliberately attract the attention of one of the guards, the same one which used the resonating chamber, and he say to his companions he won't be long. He move away from the road and deeper in the woods, he fall into Claire's ambush. She kill him, loot some of his equipment (including the resonating chamber), hide his body and leave. Worried for his colleague, the other guard with the hunters orders the guide to drive them back to the lodge, and search his friend. But he too is murdered by Claire, who takes a small metallic box on him. Activating the box, she realize it's a sonic weapon she has seen before, in the hands of InGen Security's elite troops during the fall of Isla Nublar (it's like a weaponized version of the box Dodgson and his companions have in Crichton's TLW). She turns it off, take it with her and follows the hunters vehicle's tracks on the road, towards the lodge.
However, Claire ignores she's being watched, and not by human eyes...
Over hill
Cesare and his men leave their accommodation and head for the frontiers of Biosyn's lands. Leaving their vehicles near a ruined fort, the grey guards start their trek while the sun is setting behind the mountains ahead of them.
A bed in the trees
As walking through the valley at night would be too dangerous, Owen, Dougal and Kayla decide to find a resting place and climb in a tree. From it, they have a panorama on a nearby lake and notice they are approximately halfway between the dam and the Citadel. At this moment, we also have peaceful scenes with the valley's denizens at dusk (Pelecanimimus fishing in the lake, herbivores drinking nearby, the same Spinosaurus from the report at the beginning peacefully sitting on the bank like an oversized duck...).
Theo's peace
In the evening, just a few hours before his flight to Venice, Theo also passes by his former home, which he left years ago before joining Ken Wheatley's mercenary company. His ex-wife still lives here and noticing that she started a new life with another man and seems happy, he walks away in peace, leaving behind him the last picture he had of himself and her (earlier in the story, Theo is seen looking at said picture).
The secret path
Back in Italy, the grey guards find the entrance of an old mine and enter it, taking the path that will allow them to pass under the limits of Biosyn's lands.
Mercenaries
Mercenary troops land in Biosyn's airstrip and their leader is brought to the Citadel. He has a discussion with Dodgson behind closed doors.
Foes... or allies?
A few hours after nightfall, Claire finally finds a large old chalet with typical Tyrolean architecture: The Hunting Lodge (it's implied that it was built way before Biosyn bought those lands, when the area was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before WWI). Claire remarks it's surrounded by an invisible fence (identical to the one from Jurassic World Evolution 2's Biosyn DLC) which prevents the animals from getting too close. Aware that the lodge wouldn't be a shelter for her and that its occupants probably outnumber her, she turns away from it, continuing to wander in the woods. But just a few minutes later, she hears sound in the nearby bushes. Aware she might be hunted, she is ready to use the ultrasound box and fight for her life. A pack of Achillobators shows up, menacingly walking towards her. At the same time, it starts to rain.
Claire first thinks of using the box and running away while the predators would be bothered by the sound but she knows it will be useless in the long run as they could track her all across the Sanctuary. She then remembers the reports she read earlier in the story, and especially that of the 2001 incident on Sorna, where Alan Grant and his companions walked out alive and unharmed from a close encounter with raptors.
In dire straits, she makes up a desperate plan and carefully, she pulls out the resonating chamber she stole from the Biosyn guards. She uses it and due to their bad experience in the sanctuary with the resonating chambers' usual users, the raptors get agitated but their pack leader tells them to calm down as Claire doesn't seem to be a Biosyn guard or a hunter. The pack leader walks alone towards Claire and sniffs the dried blood on her hands and clothes, realizing it belongs to other humans. Nothing happens for a moment and then the pack leader lets out a bark. Behind Claire, two raptors move aside. Slowly walking backwards, watching carefully the raptors' moves, Claire exits the circle made by the surrounding predators and continues doing so until she's at a respectable distance. At the beginning, the raptors just watch her but as she's heading towards the Hunting Lodge, she hears them following her. However, she is aware that they would have already pounced on her if they wanted to eat her and knows that they're more intrigued. Meanwhile, the rain intensifies (there could also be a storm).
Claire reaches the invisible fence, crosses it, and searches for its power source. But as she's sabotaging it, the Lodge caretaker (a gnarly-looking old local man) spots her and frightened by her look, runs away towards the building. She is forced to catch him and, after a short struggle, kill him with her knife before he can raise the alarm. After showing some trouble due to killing a probable innocent, she resumes her sabotage and the fence is deactivated. The raptors cross it and see Claire entering the lodge. Near its entrance, she finds a sword hanging on the wall as a decorative element and noticing it's still sharp, she takes it along with its sheath and heads for the rooms. Behind her, the raptors open the door and silently enter in the lodge. In the hallway which leads to the rooms, Claire stays still when the raptors walk past her as they head to the rooms and grin as her audacious plan is working. Claire enters one of the rooms, raises her sword blade over a sleeping hunter and when the time comes, thrust it into his body. Meanwhile, the raptors open other doors and entering the rooms, they rush on the sleepers. Slaughter ensues and only those who locked up their doors have the time to wake up, grab a weapon and fight for their very survival. Some of the lodge's occupants offer some resistance in the lounge but there, Claire activates the sonic weapon she stole and an ear-piercing sharp sound comes from it. While the raptors back off behind her, their common enemies kneel and scream in pain and Claire (who put on some earplug) slashes their throats, deactivate the weapon, and let the raptors tear the hunters alive while she raids some items (stuff like snacks, water, a first-aid kit, a map...) and leave, disappearing in the woods.
A bit later, she finds a small cave whose entrance is high from the ground and rest in it, sleeping until mid-morning.
The mountain's pass
At the end of their night-long ascent, the grey guards arrive in a pass/cave where they found human bones, which they presume to be those of the AISI's spy Viscontini told them about, and the remains of a Biosyn drone. Soon after, they are attacked by the guardian animal(s) the corporation left there to kill any trespasser coming from that direction. (I haven't chosen any species yet). They manage to defeat it (or them) and dawn break out as they arrive at a vista point which overlooks the valley. The grey guards observe it, the eyes of Cesare stop on the Citadel for a moment, and they retreat back inside the mountain to rest a few hours before descending into the valley. They send a message to Vuillier and Viscontini, telling them that they're inside the Sanctuary.
Traces of a slaughter
During their early morning patrol, a security team discovers that a massacre occurred during the night in the Hunting Lodge. They find clues indicating that someone helped the raptors and participated in the killings. The control room check the Lodge CCTV footage and fear spreads like wildfire among the staff when they discover the culprit is a sinister-looking black-clad hooded woman. Seeing that one of the figure's hand is a prosthesis and that the other wear a silver ring with a red gem, they realize it's Claire and Dodgson pretty much start to crap his pants (partly because one of the hunters was a very wealthy and powerful foreign client whose disappearance won't go unnoticed). Since she made it out alive from the plane's crash, Dodgson fears that the other WDMC agents might have too. When asked about the slaughter itself, Dodgson orders his staff to cover it up for the moment, as he don't want to worry the board of directors who are set to arrive later that day for a big event he planned in the evening.
Theo's return
Theo returns to Auronzo and Wu, who just learned about Claire's presence in the valley, tells him that they must get Maisie out of the facility as soon as possible since disaster tends to follow Claire like a shadow.
Taking the gloves off
However, Maisie has meanwhile discovered that the videos were another lie, by recognizing one of the scientists from the video, who also work at the Citadel (and who didn't aged, even though the adult Charlotte's video was supposed to be taken fourteen years ago). Aware that the gentle method is no longer considerable, Dodgson decides to use the hard one and Doctor Lesser locks Maisie in a cell within her lab, to which Wu can't access. Lesser reveal that it wasn't Wu who told Dodgson that she was a clone but the spy he has among Lockwood Manor's employees, and that the only true part in the video was the one about the genetic disease: Charlotte did had it, just like her mother Elizabeth before that (she died in 1993 and it was because of her Lockwood and Hammond fell out), and had the car accident which took her life didn't happened, the disease would have killed her a few years later. As he wanted Maisie to have a long life, Benjamin Lockwood asked the scientists he hired (there is a whole subplot about what they became in TRQ) to cure it and they did find a way. As the scientists' notes were accidently destroyed, the solution is now within Maisie's body, and Dodgson wants it so he can put new drugs on the market.
Before it's too late, Wu and Theo, with Ramsay's help, start organizing Maisie's evasion. The geneticist mentions a secret trail from WWI in the northeastern mountains: It's their escape route. He then heads for his lab, planning something else.
Tracking Claire
Curious about Biosyn's movements around the Hunting Lodge, Owen, Dougal and Kayla investigate it after the departure of the security troops. They discover evidence of Claire's passage and Owen tries to follow her fiancée's tracks. Kayla and/or Dougal make comments about the slaughter of the hunters.
Bigelow's last chance
Isaac Gibbon gives Jessica Bigelow a new mission: Go to Auronzo and ensure the evacuation of Lewis Dodgson and Biosyn's most important research. The agent ask her boss why and he said that he just received news that Biosyn is compromised. He also precise that it's her last chance after the Malta fiasco. Bigelow leave her safe house in central Italy and goes north.
Shady preparations
Continuing south, Owen, Dougal and Kayla see mercenaries positioning some sort of moveable antenna on a ridge which overlooks the road which connects the Citadel to the valley's northern continue, as finding Claire and entering the Citadel is more urgent.
The gathering of the clouds
One of the control room's employees ask Dodgson to come. He shows him footage from the Biosyn lands's southern gate, near the employee village.
Before the gate, a group of Carabinieri stand, showing to the guards and the security cameras a search warrant: The government finally decided to act against Biosyn. But Dodgson refuses to open the gates for the Carabinieri and orders the mercenaries who arrived during the night to intimidate them. The Carabinieri move away from the gate, with their leader warning against the consequences of such an action. At a respectable distance from the gate, Vuillier, Viscontini and Nyamu watched the scene. Soon, other groups of Carabinieri are deployed along the other entrances to Biosyn's lands. The siege of Auronzo has started.
Hearing about the siege's situation, some employees leave their post and head for the metro (which connects the Citadel to the village. Another loop also connects the Citadel to the various facilities across the Sanctuary, including the seven towers and the dam), in order to go to the village and then hoping to be able to leave Biosyn's lands before things starts to get too ugly but Dodgson's has the metro's station locked and commands them to go back to their posts. Seeing their CEO starting to act like Hitler in his bunker, they are afraid.
​
End of Act III.
See you tomorrow for Act IV

Jotarora's IGS Rep Page2
Jotarora's IGS Rep Page
Barter

Only interested in my want list below, or wishlist, and most likely won't read the list you left in my commecnt.

Have:
Trade or PayPal (willing to trade multiple games for wishlist):

• Ghostwire Tokyo
• Remnant: From the Ashes - Complete Edition
• Curse of the Dead Gods
• Honey I Joined a Cult
• Eternal Threads
• Grime
• Turbo Gold racing
• Meeple Station
• Lost Planet® 3 Complete Pack
• Bionic Commando: Rearmed
• Twilight Struggle
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated
• Minecraft for Windows Starter Collection (Microsoft Store)
• Army Men RTS
• Black Book
• Cook-Out
• Dungeon of the Endless
• Finding Paradise
• Fling to the Finish (Region unknown, not US or EU, can included for free)
• Full Throttle Remastered
• GRIP: Combat Racing
• Hack 'n' Slash
• Headlander
• Hidden & Dangerous: Action Pack
• Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West
• Lemnis Gate
• Mars Horizon
• Morkredd
• Octahedron: Transfixed Edition
• Peppy's Adventure
• Railroad Tycoon II Platinum
• Reventure
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Khmer & Indonesia Double Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Nubia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Vikings Scenario Pack
• Spacebase DF-9
• Styx: Master of Shadows
• The Wild Eight
• Tower Tag
• Wands

Want: * Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition * Patch Quest * Trombone Champ * Broforce * Katana Zero * Stacklands * RimWorld * The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth * Firework * Factorio * Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition * Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove * Resident Evil Village * ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights * Mini Motorways * The Jackbox Party Pack 7 * Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course * The Jackbox Party Pack 8 * Little Nightmares II * DARK SOULS™ II * DARK SOULS™ III * Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition * ELDEN RING * Red Dead Redemption 2

Jotarora's IGS Rep Page2
Jotarora's IGS Rep Page
Barter

Only interested in my want list below, or wishlist, and most likely won't read the list you left in my commecnt.

Have:
Trade or PayPal (willing to trade multiple games for wishlist):

• Ghostwire Tokyo
• Remnant: From the Ashes - Complete Edition
• Curse of the Dead Gods
• Honey I Joined a Cult
• Eternal Threads
• Grime
• Turbo Gold racing
• Meeple Station
• Lost Planet® 3 Complete Pack
• Bionic Commando: Rearmed
• Twilight Struggle
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated
• Minecraft for Windows Starter Collection (Microsoft Store)
• Army Men RTS
• Black Book
• Cook-Out
• Dungeon of the Endless
• Finding Paradise
• Fling to the Finish (Region unknown, not US or EU, can included for free)
• Full Throttle Remastered
• GRIP: Combat Racing
• Hack 'n' Slash
• Headlander
• Hidden & Dangerous: Action Pack
• Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West
• Lemnis Gate
• Mars Horizon
• Morkredd
• Octahedron: Transfixed Edition
• Peppy's Adventure
• Railroad Tycoon II Platinum
• Reventure
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Khmer & Indonesia Double Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Nubia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Vikings Scenario Pack
• Spacebase DF-9
• Styx: Master of Shadows
• The Wild Eight
• Tower Tag
• Wands

Want: * Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition * Patch Quest * Trombone Champ * Broforce * Katana Zero * Stacklands * RimWorld * The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth * Firework * Factorio * Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition * Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove * Resident Evil Village * ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights * Mini Motorways * The Jackbox Party Pack 7 * Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course * The Jackbox Party Pack 8 * Little Nightmares II * DARK SOULS™ II * DARK SOULS™ III * Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition * ELDEN RING * Red Dead Redemption 2

Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory

Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.

All Buyouts are listed in cash value.

KNIVES

★ Butterfly Knife Freehand FN #1, B/O: $2500

★ Butterfly Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $822

★ Butterfly Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $616

⎯

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW #1, B/O: $1300

★ Bayonet Autotronic FN, B/O: $1050

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW, B/O: $629

★ Bayonet Bright Water FT, B/O: $326

★ Bayonet Safari Mesh BS, B/O: $233

⎯

★ Karambit Lore FT, B/O: $1110

★ Karambit Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $840

★ Karambit Freehand MW, B/O: $784

★ Karambit Bright Water MW, B/O: $759

⎯

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $751

⎯

★ Nomad Knife Fade FN, B/O: $1156

★ Nomad Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $544

★ Nomad Knife Blue Steel WW, B/O: $318

⎯

★ Flip Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $646

★ Flip Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $574

★ Flip Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) MW, B/O: $552

★ Flip Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $257

★ Flip Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $255

★ StatTrak™ Flip Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $287

⎯

★ Huntsman Knife Lore FN, B/O: $461

★ Huntsman Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $436

★ Huntsman Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $353

★ Huntsman Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $212

★ Huntsman Knife Bright Water FT, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT MW, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT BS, B/O: $123

★ StatTrak™ Huntsman Knife Rust Coat BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $375

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $363

★ Bowie Knife Tiger Tooth FN, B/O: $269

★ Bowie Knife Crimson Web WW, B/O: $192

★ Bowie Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $159

★ Bowie Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $126

⎯

★ Stiletto Knife Slaughter FN, B/O: $616

★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web FT, B/O: $412

★ StatTrak™ Stiletto Knife Night Stripe FT, B/O: $227

⎯

★ Falchion Knife Lore FT, B/O: $214

★ Falchion Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $192

★ Falchion Knife Scorched WW, B/O: $105

⎯

★ Survival Knife Crimson Web BS, B/O: $216

★ Survival Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $198

★ Survival Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Shadow Daggers Fade FN, B/O: $368

★ Shadow Daggers Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $228

★ Shadow Daggers, B/O: $201

★ Shadow Daggers Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $108

★ Shadow Daggers Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $105

★ Shadow Daggers Black Laminate FT, B/O: $99

★ Shadow Daggers Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $85

⎯

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Sapphire) MW #1, B/O: $1700

★ Gut Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $223

★ Gut Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $203

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $191

★ Gut Knife Case Hardened BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife, B/O: $138

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Classic Knife Urban Masked FT, B/O: $146

★ StatTrak™ Classic Knife Stained BS, B/O: $168

⎯

★ Ursus Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $476

★ Ursus Knife, B/O: $375

⎯

★ Skeleton Knife, B/O: $1137

★ Talon Knife, B/O: $608

★ Paracord Knife, B/O: $305

★ Survival Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97

GLOVES

★ Moto Gloves Transport MW, B/O: $204

★ Moto Gloves Polygon BS, B/O: $142

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

⎯

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Kimono WW, B/O: $1215

★ Specialist Gloves Tiger Strike FT, B/O: $672

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander FT, B/O: $305

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander BS, B/O: $140

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Web BS, B/O: $137

★ Specialist Gloves Buckshot FT, B/O: $75

⎯

★ Driver Gloves Crimson Weave FT, B/O: $359

★ Driver Gloves Imperial Plaid BS, B/O: $229

★ Driver Gloves Overtake BS, B/O: $77

★ Driver Gloves Racing Green FT, B/O: $48

⎯

★ Sport Gloves Omega FT, B/O: $739

★ Sport Gloves Amphibious BS #2, B/O: $733

★ Sport Gloves Arid BS, B/O: $292

⎯

★ Hand Wraps Giraffe MW, B/O: $212

★ Hand Wraps Leather FT, B/O: $160

★ Hand Wraps Desert Shamagh MW, B/O: $101

⎯

★ Broken Fang Gloves Yellow-banded MW, B/O: $185

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point FT, B/O: $67

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point WW, B/O: $59

⎯

★ Hydra Gloves Case Hardened BS, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald FT, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald BS, B/O: $62

WEAPONS

AK-47 Case Hardened BS, B/O: $130

AK-47 Bloodsport MW, B/O: $79

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Bloodsport FT, B/O: $70

AK-47 Neon Rider MW, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AK-47 Aquamarine Revenge FT, B/O: $72

⎯

AWP Fade FN, B/O: $1039

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Wildfire MW, B/O: $95

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP Duality FN, B/O: $81

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Chromatic Aberration FN, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Electric Hive FT, B/O: $55

⎯

Desert Eagle Blaze FN, B/O: $623

Desert Eagle Emerald Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $241

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Cobalt Disruption FN, B/O: $81

Desert Eagle Printstream FT, B/O: $54

⎯

M4A1-S Blue Phosphor FN, B/O: $434

StatTrak™ M4A1-S Bright Water MW, B/O: $55

⎯

M4A4 Poseidon FN, B/O: $1465

M4A4 Asiimov BS, B/O: $55

M4A4 Hellfire MW, B/O: $50

⎯

USP-S Kill Confirmed MW, B/O: $72

USP-S Printstream FT, B/O: $69

StatTrak™ USP-S Kill Confirmed FT, B/O: $139

⎯

AUG Flame Jörmungandr FN, B/O: $234

P90 Run and Hide FT, B/O: $147

Five-SeveN Candy Apple FN, B/O: $61

Trade Offer Link - Steam Profile Link - My Inventory

Knives - Bowie Knife, Butterfly Knife, Falchion Knife, Flip Knife, Gut Knife, Huntsman Knife, M9 Bayonet, Bayonet, Karambit, Shadow Daggers, Stiletto Knife, Ursus Knife, Navaja Knife, Talon Knife, Classic Knife, Paracord Knife, Survival Knife, Nomad Knife, Skeleton Knife, Patterns - Gamma Doppler, Doppler (Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, Black Pearl, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald), Crimson Web, Lore, Fade, Ultraviolet, Night, Marble Fade (Fire & Ice, Fake FI), Case Hardened (Blue Gem), Autotronic, Slaughter, Black Laminate, Tiger Tooth, Boreal Forest, Scorched, Blue Steel, Vanilla, Damascus Steel, Forest DDPAT, Urban Masked, Freehand, Stained, Bright Water, Safari Mesh, Rust Coat, Gloves - Bloodhound Gloves (Charred, Snakebite, Guerrilla, Bronzed), Driver Gloves (Snow Leopard, King Snake, Crimson Weave, Imperial Plaid, Black Tie, Lunar Weave, Diamondback, Rezan the Red, Overtake, Queen Jaguar, Convoy, Racing Green), Hand Wraps (Cobalt Skulls, CAUTION!, Overprint, Slaughter, Leather, Giraffe, Badlands, Spruce DDPAT, Arboreal, Constrictor, Desert Shamagh, Duct Tape), Moto Gloves (Spearmint, POW!, Cool Mint, Smoke Out, Finish Line, Polygon, Blood Pressure, Turtle, Boom!, Eclipse, 3rd Commando Company, Transport), Specialist Gloves (Crimson Kimono, Tiger Strike, Emerald Web, Field Agent, Marble Fade, Fade, Foundation, Lt. Commander, Crimson Web, Mogul, Forest DDPAT, Buckshot), Sport Gloves (Pandora's Box, Superconductor, Hedge Maze, Vice, Amphibious, Slingshot, Omega, Arid, Big Game, Nocts, Scarlet Shamagh, Bronze Morph), Hydra Gloves (Case Hardened, Emerald, Rattler, Mangrove), Broken Fang Gloves (Jade, Yellow-banded, Unhinged, Needle Point), Pistols - P2000 (Wicked Sick, Ocean Foam, Fire Element, Amber Fade, Corticera, Chainmail, Imperial Dragon, Obsidian, Scorpion, Handgun, Acid Etched), USP-S (Printstream, Kill Confirmed, Whiteout, Road Rash, Owergrowth, The Traitor, Neo-Noir, Dark Water, Orion, Blueprint, Stainless, Caiman, Serum, Monster Mashup, Royal Blue, Ancient Visions, Cortex, Orange Anolis, Ticket To Hell, Black Lotus, Cyrex, Check Engine, Guardian, Purple DDPAT, Torque, Blood Tiger, Flashback, Business Class, Pathfinder, Para Green), Lead Conduit, Glock-18 (Umbral Rabbit, Fade, Candy Apple, Bullet Queen, Synth Leaf, Neo-Noir, Nuclear Garden, Dragon Tatto, Reactor, Pink DDPAT, Twilight Galaxy, Sand Dune, Groundwater, Blue Fissure, Snack Attack, Water Elemental, Brass, Wasteland Rebel, Vogue, Franklin, Royal Legion, Gamma Doppler, Weasel, Steel Disruption, Ironwork, Grinder, High Beam, Moonrise, Oxide Blaze, Bunsen Burner, Clear Polymer, Bunsen Burner, Night), P250 (Re.built, Nuclear Threat, Modern Hunter, Splash, Whiteout, Vino Primo, Mehndi, Asiimov, Visions, Undertow, Cartel, See Ya Later, Gunsmoke, Splash, Digital Architect, Muertos, Red Rock, Bengal Tiger, Crimson Kimono, Wingshot, Metallic DDPAT, Hive, Dark Filigree, Mint Kimono), Five-Seven (Neon Kimono, Berries And Cherries, Fall Hazard, Crimson Blossom, Hyper Beast, Nitro, Fairy Tale, Case Hardened, Copper Galaxy, Angry Mob, Monkey Business, Fowl Play, Anodized Gunmetal, Hot Shot, Retrobution, Boost Protocol), CZ75-Auto (Chalice, Crimson Web, Emerald Quartz, The Fuschia is Now, Nitro, Xiangliu, Yellow Jacket, Victoria, Poison Dart, Syndicate, Eco, Hexane, Pole, Tigris), Tec-9 (Rebel, Terrace, Nuclear Threat, Hades, Rust Leaf, Decimator, Blast From, Orange Murano, Toxic, Fuel Injector, Remote Control, Bamboo Forest, Isaac, Avalanche, Brother, Re-Entry, Blue Titanium, Bamboozle), R8 Revolver (Banana Cannon, Fade, Blaze, Crimson Web, Liama Cannon, Crazy 8, Reboot, Canal Spray, Night, Amber Fade), Desert Eagle (Blaze, Hand Cannon, Fennec Fox, Sunset Storm, Emerald Jörmungandr, Pilot, Hypnotic, Golden Koi, Printstream, Cobalt Disruption, Code Red, Ocean Drive, Midnight Storm, Kumicho Dragon, Crimson Web, Heirloom, Night Heist, Mecha Industries, Night, Conspiracy, Trigger Discipline, Naga, Directive, Light Rail), Dual Berettas (Flora Carnivora, Duelist, Cobra Strike, Black Limba, Emerald, Hemoglobin, Twin Turbo, Marina, Melondrama, Pyre, Retribution, Briar, Dezastre, Royal Consorts, Urban Shock, Dualing Dragons, Panther, Balance), Rifles - Galil (Aqua Terrace, Winter Forest, Chatterbox, Sugar Rush, Pheonix Blacklight, CAUTION!, Orange DDPAT, Cerberus, Dusk Ruins, Eco, Chromatic Aberration, Stone Cold, Tuxedo, Sandstorm, Shattered, Urban Rubble, Rocket Pop, Kami, Crimson Tsunami, Connexion), SCAR-20 (Fragments, Brass, Cyrex, Palm, Splash Jam, Cardiac, Emerald, Crimson Web, Magna Carta, Stone Mosaico, Bloodsport, Enforcer), AWP (Duality, Gungnir, Dragon Lore, Prince, Medusa, Desert Hydra, Fade, Lightning Strike, Oni Taiji, Silk Tiger, Graphite, Chromatic Aberration, Asiimov, Snake Camo, Boom, Containment Breach, Wildfire, Redline, Electric Hive, Hyper Beast, Neo-Noir, Man-o'-war, Pink DDPAT, Corticera, Sun in Leo, Elite Build, Fever Dream, Atheris, Mortis, PAW, Exoskeleton, Worm God, POP AWP, Phobos, Acheron, Pit Viper, Capillary, Safari Mesh), AK-47 (Head Shot, Wild Lotus, Gold Arabesque, X-Ray, Fire Serpent, Hydroponic, Panthera Onca, Case Hardened, Vulcan, Jet Set, Fuel Injector, Bloodsport, Nightwish, First Class, Neon Rider, Asiimov, Red Laminate, Aquamarine Revenge, The Empress, Wasteland Rebel, Jaguar, Black Laminate, Leet Museo, Neon Revolution, Redline, Frontside Misty, Predator, Legion of Anubis, Point Disarray, Orbit Mk01, Blue Laminate, Green Laminate, Emerald Pinstripe, Cartel, Phantom Disruptor, Jungle Spray, Safety Net, Rat Rod, Baroque Purple, Slate, Elite Build, Uncharted, Safari Mesh), FAMAS (Sundown, Prime Conspiracy, Afterimage, Commemoration, Dark Water, Spitfire, Pulse, Eye of Athena, Meltdown, Rapid Eye Move, Roll Cage, Styx, Mecha Industrie, Djinn, ZX Spectron, Valence, Neural Net, Night Borre, Hexne), M4A4 (Temukau, Howl, Poseidon, Asiimov, Daybreak, Hellfire, Zirka, Red DDPAT, Radiation Hazard, Modern Hunter, The Emperor, The Coalition, Bullet Rain, Cyber Security, X-Ray, Dark Blossom, Buzz Kill, In Living Color, Neo-Noir, Desolate Space, 龍王 (Dragon King), Royal Paladin, The Battlestar, Global Offensive, Tooth Fairy, Desert-Strike, Griffin, Evil Daimyo, Spider Lily, Converter), M4A1-S (Emphorosaur-S, Welcome to the Jungle, Imminent Danger, Knight, Hot Rod, Icarus Fell, Blue Phosphor, Printstream, Master Piece, Dark Water, Golden Coil, Bright Water, Player Two, Atomic Alloy, Guardian, Chantico's Fire, Hyper Beast, Mecha Industries, Cyrex, Control Panel, Moss Quartz, Nightmare, Decimator, Leaded Glass, Basilisk, Blood Tiger, Briefing, Night Terror, Nitro, VariCamo, Flashback), SG 553 (Cyberforce, Hazard Pay, Bulldozer, Integrale, Dragon Tech, Ultraviolet, Colony IV, Hypnotic, Cyrex, Candy Apple, Barricade, Pulse), SSG 08 (Death Strike, Sea Calico, Blood in the Water, Orange Filigree, Dragonfire, Big Iron, Bloodshot, Detour, Turbo Peek, Red Stone), AUG (Akihabara Accept, Flame Jörmungandr, Hot Rod, Midnight Lily, Sand Storm, Carved Jade, Wings, Anodized Navy, Death by Puppy, Torque, Bengal Tiger, Chameleon, Fleet Flock, Random Access, Momentum, Syd Mead, Stymphalian, Arctic Wolf, Aristocrat, Navy Murano), G3SG1 (Chronos, Violet Murano, Flux, Demeter, Orange Kimono, The Executioner, Green Apple, Arctic Polar Camo, Contractor), SMGs - P90 (Neoqueen, Astral Jörmungandr, Run and Hide, Emerald Dragon, Cold Blooded, Death by Kitty, Baroque Red, Vent Rush, Blind Spot, Asiimov, Trigon, Sunset Lily, Death Grip, Leather, Nostalgia, Fallout Warning, Tiger Pit, Schermatic, Virus, Shapewood, Glacier Mesh, Shallow Grave, Chopper, Desert Warfare), MAC-10 (Sakkaku, Hot Snakes, Copper Borre, Red Filigree, Gold Brick, Graven, Case Hardened, Stalker, Amber Fade, Neon Rider, Tatter, Curse, Propaganda, Nuclear Garden, Disco Tech, Toybox, Heat, Indigo), UMP-45 (Wild Child, Fade, Blaze, Day Lily, Minotaur's Labyrinth, Crime Scene, Caramel, Bone Pile, Momentum, Primal Saber), MP7 (Teal Blossom, Fade, Nemesis, Whiteout, Asterion, Bloosport, Abyssal Apparition, Full Stop, Special Delivery, Neon Ply, Asterion, Ocean Foam, Powercore, Scorched, Impire), PP-Bizon (Modern Hunter, Rust Coat, Forest Leaves, Antique, High Roller, Blue Streak, Seabird, Judgement of Anubis, Bamboo Print, Embargo, Chemical Green, Coblat Halftone, Fuel Rod, Photic Zone, Irradiated Alert, Carbon Fiber), MP9 (Featherweight, Wild Lily, Pandora's Box, Stained Glass, Bulldozer, Dark Age, Hot Rod, Hypnotic, Hydra, Rose Iron, Music Box, Setting Sun, Food Chain, Airlock, Mount Fuji, Starlight Protector, Ruby Poison Dart, Deadly Poison), MP5-SD (Liquidation, Oxide Oasis, Phosphor, Nitro, Agent, Autumn Twilly), Shotguns, Machineguns - Sawed-Off (Kiss♥Love, First Class, Orange DDPAT, Rust Coat, The Kraken, Devourer, Mosaico, Wasteland Princess, Bamboo Shadow, Copper, Serenity, Limelight, Apocalypto), XM1014 (Frost Borre, Ancient Lore, Red Leather, Elegant Vines, Banana Leaf, Jungle, Urban Perforated, Grassland, Blaze Orange, Heaven Guard, VariCamo Blue, Entombed, XOXO, Seasons, Tranquility, Bone Machine, Incinegator, Teclu Burner, Black Tie, Zombie Offensive, Watchdog), Nova (Baroque Orange, Hyper Beast, Green Apple, Antique, Modern Hunter, Walnut, Forest Leaves, Graphite, Blaze Orange, Rising Skull, Tempest, Bloomstick, Interlock, Quick Sand, Moon in Libra, Clean Polymer, Red Quartz, Toy Soldier), MAG-7 (Insomnia, Cinqueda, Counter Terrace, Prism Terrace, Memento, Chainmail, Hazard, Justice, Bulldozer, Silver, Core Breach, Firestarter, Praetorian, Heat, Hard Water, Monster Call, BI83 Spectrum, SWAG-7), M249 (Humidor, Shipping Forecast, Blizzard Marbleized, Downtown, Jungle DDPAT, Nebula Crusader, Impact Drill, Emerald Poison Dart), Negev (Mjölnir, Anodized Navy, Palm, Power Loader, Bratatat, CaliCamo, Phoenix Stencil, Infrastructure, Boroque Sand), Wear - 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"I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead."
This is a long one, so I'm putting the TLDR up top:

TLDR

A blackout has been proposed for June 12-14 to protest the API changes and extreme cost.
The Python community seems very vocal about joining the blackout and I would like the Python community's input on this. Would you like to participate? How would you like to participate?
If we do join the blackout, there are two different ways to participate which we need: - Setting the subreddit to private (no engagement at all--including no ability to explain why our sub is private) - Turning off submissions (the community and posts are still viewable, but no new comments or posts)
Please offer your feedback here, this isn't my decision alone to make.

Background to the issue:

Reddit has been making changes.
Ahead of their IPO, they're trying to get their ducks in a row, but in trying to maximize their value to potential shareholders, they're cutting off massive avenues of value to moderators and users. * Reddit, without warning, cut off Pushshift's API access (The stated reason is no response--but given their pricing structure for 3rd party mobile apps, and the time frame Reddit gave third party apps, any response by pushshift would have almost certainly resulted in this same action) * Reddit is making a move to remove API access to third party apps and developers. It's no stretch that this move is motivated because after a number of years they're unable to compete in the mobile app space. So instead of 'git-ing gud' they're just shutting down competition. Apollo App Response, Rif Response * They said RES will experience 'minimal' impact and old Reddit will be preserved. In the words of the Toolbox devs, "[they are not impacted.] Yet (Toolbox is a great tool for moderation because moderating with Reddit's site tools alone is a pain), and similarly RES developers are not overly trusting. Similarly, the API once was safe * Reddit has laid off 5% of their staff
The above actions are presented with bias--because frankly I am biased and Reddit is presenting their reasoning with bias so please take both sides' explanations with a grain of salt. Or Crait's worth of salt. But I feel they are presented accurately enough for this post's purpose.

Why we care about these changes:

As a Moderator

There are a number of issues that a moderator has to deal with.
First and foremost, I volunteer to do this. Moderation can be a drain on my energy, and is a time sink. Losing efficiencies reduce my ability to moderate, and Reddit Inc is laughably behind.

• Reporting content as a moderator for admin review is an absolute pain, often a black box, there's at least three separate ways to report something instead of one consolidated form or three ways with parity across all three. The mechanisms have some overlap too. It's bad.
• Often the admin response is subpar. As a mod I get that, my responses are subpar as well, and often times purposefully subpar because you need to make a decision on some content and there's just only so much to go off of. But it's for the extreme cases that the subpar response becomes a problem, like when there's a clear botnet falsifying engagement, and I've highlighted 10 accounts in it, and highlighted the way to flag them, and only two of those get tagged as "actioned for ban evasion" and the other 8 are free to keep on posting. Identifying a botnet should be easy on the Reddit side, it's exhausting on mine. One of the ways to help flag this is groups like Pushshift, and loosing that means I either knowingly allow manipulation or I give up more volunteer time hunting manipulation down. (By the way the specific one I am being vague about was brought to my attention thanks to a user's report. If they didn't flag it I probably would have missed that botnet, small though it was, so I really appreciate those comments and reports).
• I cannot trust the admins. This isn't combative in nature, but it's because we have different goals. Often times they align, but sometimes our goals are at odds of each other. My goal is to try to make sure the communities I moderate are best able to thrive, and Reddit Inc's goals are to drive engagement and ad revenue. Usually, like when we get to do something fun like a great AMA, we get great community events and Reddit gets engagement and clicks. But long term, Reddit will always follow profit.

So these changes impact my workflow, and avenues to review and moderate content. And these are issues impacting our community. /Python is a great sub and great community. Compared to a lot of other subreddit we have relatively few issues.
Communities which are identity, political, or news in nature have to deal with so much more. There's a ton to manage, there's a ton of filtering for mental health and safety that is needed too. Reddit is getting there when it comes to a lot of features, but their implementation is slow. It's getting measurably faster as they restructure, but they're still catching up to third party apps.

As a reddit usePython developer

APIs are important. They're a wonderful gateway to programming, they help webpages serve information in a more lightweight fashion when webscraping would be costly (if you just need an upvote count, it's smarter to just make a call for than, then making a call for every asset a webpage renders. This gets a user what they need and isn't a burden on the site they're engaging with). APIs as a result both act as a great learning mechanism and as a way to keep from burdening the site as a whole.
No third party apps as alternatives makes it easier for Reddit to harvest data without pushback. And it makes it harder for users to customize their experience. This can be exceptionally important when it comes to communities which cater to important segments of the population, but segments which are so small that a profit focused organization would otherwise ignore.
One of the more notable communities that these changes strongly impact is /blind, and there's an explanation of these changes and their impact here. It's very probable that these issues will be quickly addressed now that they're in the public eye. But the underlying reality is that third party apps had been able to cater to users and communities and the Reddit app, with Reddit's stewardship, has failed to address accessibility at this level.

The Blackout

On June 12th a blackout has been purposed.
Many communities are praticipating, and as this post points out we're curious if we should join. The blackout is either to cover a two day span, or last until demands are appropriately addressed. (this distinction is on a community basis, and will probably depend on how reddit responds)
There are different ways to perform it, either set the sub to private or lock the sub so no submissions can go through. Setting the sub to private prevents all engagement in the sub, but also means that presenting a message to users about what is going on isn't possible.
I think it makes sense to keep the sub up and visible but to freeze it so no new posts or comments go through, but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

The Admins Response to the blackout

Here is their reply
A rough TLDR (I'm omitting the NSFW changes because... They're not clear to me. Maybe that's my shortfall but I think they're very vague about those) 1) Reddit isn't changing their position at all. They're digging in their heels and 'clarifying' what they're doing. No decision is reversed. 2) bots using api for mod tools will be safe--if they break "[Reddit] will work with you to fix them. " 3) launching at future dates: mod features
On 2)--they basically told Apollo app to, "Figure it out themselves" https://www.reddit.com/redditdev/comments/13wsiks/api_update_enterprise_level_tier_for_large_scale/jmolrhn/?context=3 so forgive me if I don't find goodwill in that message.
On 3) So many of those updates exist already in third party apps. So many of them are only getting attention this long into the Reddit app's lifespan because mods are making a stink about not moderating through the Reddit app. So especially for the rollout date of Sept. portions--I don't really believe it'll be executed well. And I don't want the mobile app on my phone. It's big, slow, and harvests a lot of data.
And when that post went live Reddit was breaking again.
https://www.redditstatus.com/
Not really something that exudes confidence in their ability to make good product decisions.
Now being fair here, there absolutely has been a focus on improving modtools over this past year, but they're still wildly behind. It's.. uncomfortable to trust a site when they cut off the alternatives for profit. Once there's no competition there's no longer a reason to loose revenue on further developing these resources.
We were a part of the Reddit Talk platform development, and the admins we got to work with were lovely, and worked hard to greenlight the features moderators requested. A lot of those features were fleshing out the API so we could handle a Reddit Talk session in our workflows.
But after a while they shutdown Reddit Talk and that makes it difficult to trust long term product commitments from Reddit. Even if we get great admins who listen to feedback rolling out a product--they're not ultimately the ones who make the calls for the future.
The admin response to the threat of a blackout reaffirms their changes and makes a lot of future promises for moderation tools. They sound good but at best those features should have been here ages ago, and their presentation betrays a lack of focus or care for moderation tools until recently. That recent change is affirming to see, but looking at Reddit's track record it might just be a passing phase until the public eye is off of the company.

What does this mean to /Python

That is mostly my question to you.
There are some defined things:

• If we blackout, the sub turns off. No one can post or comment for a while, and we hope our added voice helps encourage Reddit to continue to allow third party apps.
• If we don't join the blackout, we can still hope but there's less weight behind it.

We don't normally join in on Reddit's protests. So this would be a new thing for our community--is this cause worth the loss in a few days of posts?
There is a post by another user asking this question and at present it is the second most upvoted submission in the past year. So there has been a lot of great talk already, but I need to ask this question here as well to be sure I'm listening to the community as a whole.
Should /Python join the June 12th Blackout?
If we do, should we completely go private, or should we prevent the commenting or posting in our community during that period so an explanation of what is going on is viewable?
Please give your feedback, I'm reading through both this and the original submission to keep an eye on things. Remember though, be respectful. We're a Python focused community, so in addition to the rules here in the sub, I hope you'll adhere to the PSF Code of Conduct. Be respectful to one another. Disagree with opinions, but be respectful of people.
And now for something completely different

I feel like my best friend is leaving me to be close to her other friend. They did literally everything together for her wedding prep even though she told me privately that I was officially unofficially her maid of honor. I asked so many times to be included and to help with anything and once again I was left out. I'm literally an artist and they didn't invite me to help make decor for the wedding. There was a whole table of cute stuff that I had no idea about until I got to the reception.
We have been best friends for years. We went on a trip together, I used to come over all the time and sleep in her bean bag if I got to drunk. We used to cuddle and watch shows and we even know each other so well we surprised each other with squishmallows on valentines day. Her other friend/bridesmaid doesn't like me and I can tell - she doesn't invite me out with them and I asked if my best friend wanted to hang out on new years and she said no she was staying in, and then later her friend posted them out together. She got to hand my best friend the ring at the wedding during the ceremony. I tried to sit next to my best friend at the reception and she got pissed and kept trying to get me to move by setting her drink down on the table in front of me and standing there. It's literally her wedding, it's not about who's #1 friend but am I wrong for wanting to sit next to her??? It shouldn't be a fight.
Ultimately it's her wedding and I'm not about to make her feel bad about it, but god damn I'm fucking upset and for the millionth time in my life, I'm being pushed away for someone else. I've been crying for the past 3 days. She has a new friend group and I have to accept that I'm not a part of it. I'm a little weird I guess, but why can't we all be friends? What's fucking wrong with me? Why don't they want to be friends with me???? Am i really that awful?

The Use of Identity Politics to Undermine the Left Anna Coco
The US government and ruling elite have infiltrated and attempted to destroy the Left since its inception. In the 1960’s the CIA think tanks came up with numerous strategies to destroy the Left, such as promoting drug use and promiscuous sexuality as a form of not only “Brave New World” escapism, but diverting attention from working class issues. Remember Jerry Garcia repeating Timothy Leary’s famous quote “turn on, tune in, and drop out?” Even the decriminalization of marijuana today is really not to stop the Prison Industrial Complex, which is still arresting millions of young men, especially those of colour, but about pushing escapism as a replacement for protesting in a country where half the population lives near or below the poverty line. “Get high; forget your cares.” “Don’t fight back. Jesus was a pacifist.” (Forget that Jesus flogged the bankers in the temple during Passover.) The Communist Party USA and other Left parties were successful in pushing back this degeneration, discouraging drug and alcohol use as well as criticizing sexual objectification, particularly of women.
Another government strategy involved promoting Identity Politics, which along with political correctness in the late 1980’s actually achieved its goal of successfully undermining the Left as can be seen in its current state. This time period wasn’t coincidental, since this was the time the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was collapsing. It was at this point that the Left started turning inward and becoming fragmented, with no centre to keep it together which is what the Soviet Union represented. Feeling betrayed, demoralized, and bewildered, the CIA easily infiltrated and injected the Left with its poisonous sting, causing many Left parties to reject dialectical materialism, and in some cases even Marxism itself! ID politics was the late 1960’s brain child of the CIA to divide and conquer the Left, pitting groups against each other. Political Correctness helped promote ID politics by using the same methods as McCarthyism. Since socialism is a logical, scientific economic system, proponents couldn’t be allowed to explain or discuss what is was or it would convert others; therefore McCarthyism relied on shutting down debates and free discussion by employing name calling, shouting down speakers, and further isolating and marginalizing Leftists, especially through blacklisting them.
From the 1930’s to the 1970’s the motto of the Communist Party and the Left was “Black and White Unite”. The question for example of the CP getting involved, whether in the Scottsboro Case or in unionizing the segregated South, took place with many open debates, where all questions were allowed to be raised, discussed, and answered, including those by less advanced white workers who didn’t understand or agree. It was the openness of these discussions and debates that allowed this sector to understand the nature of racism and to make the CP’s motto a success. In a nation that was then only 12% black, gaining white support during the Civil Rights era was crucial in changing the nation and its laws. The Black Panther Party understood this and gave talk in some of the poorest white communities such as in the Appalachians; even converting and forming important alliances with white working class organizations, such as the Young Patriots in Chicago.
The CIA unfortunately successfully changed “Black and White Unite” into Identity Politics in the 1970’s, where different special interest groups began vying for crumbs, promoting selfish individualism and rejecting collectivism, one of the basic foundations of Marxist Leninist ideology.
Following bourgeois feminism, white men were now the enemy and women felt pitted to fight men in order to demand more managerial jobs. Blacks began demanding the right to have more black police officers; as if women oppressing other women or black officers cracking the heads of black men was somehow progressive. What followers of ID politics failed to understand was that changing the driver didn’t change the system. My chances as a woman of dying from a preventable heart attack are the same whether the doctor at the hospital today is male or female, as are the chances a black man having his head smashed in by the cops whether the officer is white or black. Instead of collectivism, workers divided among race, sex, ethnicity, religion, etc., promoting selfish individualism. Of course there are supportive women and people of colour. But certain individuals are not the system. A perfect example was the Left dismantling the anti-war movement during the Obama administration because it would be seen as racist to protest a black president. What was forgotten were the millions killed abroad in US wars of Imperialism, especially Africans who didn’t care what race the current president was. As a result, today, Libyan men are being sold into slavery!
Whereas before ID politics, the enemy was clearly understood to be US imperialism, or the 1%, now the enemy had become the white, heterosexual, male workers. Marxists understand that white men are not our enemies, but our necessary allies in getting reforms under capitalism and in overthrowing the true enemy, the 1%. United we stand, divided we fall.
Unfortunately this vilification and exclusion of white males led to bitterness, creating the racism and sexism we see today. Many were driven into the arms of the right-wing in order to feel included. Enter transgender ideology, the new ID politics of today. Exploiting the Lesbian, gay, and bisexual movement, although the ideology itself is anti-gay and homophobic, it has been promoting itself as the Civil Rights movement of the 21st century. Let’s forget that Native people, African-Americans, and women still haven’t won many significant civil rights.
If white men were the enemy of yesteryear, women are now the new enemy, regardless of colour or race, allowing men their turn to experience inclusion in the Left by attacking and excluding women.
It’s not for nothing that penises are still called penises, but vaginas are front-holes, breast-feeding is chest-feeding, and woman can get their monthlies just like men (although I would seriously suggest that any man who does should go see a doctor ASAP and have their hemorrhoids put back in). Because transgender ideology, which is not the same as transgender individuals, just as all feminists are not bourgeois feminists, is a two-pronged attack not just against women, but the Left, too.
Its first prong of attack undermines women’s contribution to reproducing capital, both as the sex that bears tomorrow workers and cannon fodder and as workers. Discussions on birth control, maternity leave, food stamps, public services, as well as low wages and work inequality along with sexual harassment that affect working class women, become subordinate to transgender questions that affect less than 1/10 of 1% of the population, such as unisex bathrooms.
The second prong undermines the unity of the Left and the possibility of revolution. As Lenin said, “There can be no real mass movement without the women.” How can there be when women represent half the population and are the most exploited sex under crapitalism? In fact, how many people are aware that every major revolution in history was started by women? From the English, French, and the Russian Revolution, which by the way took place on March 8, 1917, International Women’s Day, it was women demanding bread that began it all. It is women who generally have to take care of and feed the family, especially the children. Prevent women from organizing or leading their own organizations, and the 1% are guaranteed there will be no reform or revolution.
What is Marxism? What does it represent? It doesn’t represent Hegelian idealism nor does it represent bourgeois mechanistic science. It represents a historical, dialectical materialism that analyzes the evolution of human society from one form to another, as Charles Darwin’s theories in the Origin of the Species analyzed the evolution of living beings.
Much of the transgender movement isn’t even working class; it mainly represents white, upper middle-class males who are racist, homophobic, and misogynist. It argues for gender stereotypes that tell homosexual men, for example, that they are really women or that racism is an imaginary concept. When transwomen says they are women, they are in fact negating not just biology and science, but eliminating the whole history of oppression that women experience. You heard the expression, you are what you eat. Imagine someone saying “I ate some soul food last night and I’m feeling black, although I’ve never seen a black person in my lilywhite town.”
Transgender ideology has set a dangerous precedent by referring to feelings rather than biology, which ultimately allows discrimination not just against women, but people of colour including native people.
Women aren’t oppressed because of a feeling, but because of their sex; for physically being the only sex that can literally reproduce the workers for capital. Being a woman isn’t a feeling. Just like being black isn’t a feeling. Being a Native American isn’t a feeling. I can’t wash off my sex any more than a person of colour can wash off their colour. Is capitalism a feeling, too? Can we unfeel exploitation on Monday morning?
Liberals who reject dialectical materialism reject nature and the evolutionary connection in nature.
Transgender ideology is effectively using language to erase women and subordinate them to the fetishes of men in nearly every English-speaking country. With the passing in England of the Gender Recognition Act, which Congress is trying to pass in the US as the Equality Act, women must defer to men as men now have the right to enter female facilities and colonize female sports at will against the wishes of women and the safety of girls. It took until 1920 for women in the US to have separate bathrooms, which Russian women won in the 1917 revolution. Lenin in fact championed female-only spaces and female leadership in female organizations. Really, how many women would like to turn around in the women’s showers and see a throbbing hard boner on a transgender woman staring at you? What about at a Rape Centre or women’s prison? For those who don’t know, it’s already happening: paedophiles and male rapists insisting they feel like women have been allowed into girls’ bathrooms and even placed in women’s prisons where they have raped women. Female sports and scholarships, better kiss that goodbye as men by birth have a physical advantage over women. Let’s go back to 1950’s America.
When the Left so wholehearted absorbed trans ideology, it threw scientific socialism under the bus as well as thoroughly self-destructing, making it the butt of jokes for the right-wing. From Black Lives Matter to FRSO Left, ISO, WWP, CWL, and PC USA to name just a few, all these organizations are now being redubbed Politically Correct USA.
It is rape to ever demand or try to coerce someone to have sex regardless of their age, sex, or gender. There is no place in any civilized society to allow rape or rape culture, and especially not the Left. In other cases, women were expelled for exposing male sexual predators, such as in ISO, DSA, WWP, and PC USA. I was told I should be ashamed of myself for shaming the PC USA by exposing a predator, when that party should be ashamed. In other cases, women were expelled because they didn’t agree with male comrades over the question of prostitution and violent porn. Imagine the outrage if a black man was stripped of his position and expelled, because he didn’t like to be called an N* and didn’t agree that slavery and lynching films weren’t empowering? In fact, why is the Left offended by Black Face, but not by Drag? Transgenderism is misogyny in drag.
Soros has spent over millions of dollars promoting transgenderism. Yet women on the Left who complained were ridiculed and silenced.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the CP subverted itself to neoliberalism when it decided to pimp itself to the Democratic Party. Even the ISO, FRSO right and many other so-called Left parties began embracing bourgeois liberalism, which has its roots in neo-liberalism or the free market economy, completing wedding themselves to parliamentary instead revolutionary goals.
Think of the level of misogyny; the CIA couldn’t destroy so many grousp like WW, which has existed for 60 years. How did it finally destroy these parties through transgenderism? Before we think this is an organic movement, which is separate from being transgender, it is actually funded by the CIA and its think tanks. That is the reason why it funded by so much money. Any legitimate organization would distance itself from these elements and I’m sure there are LGBTQ+ organizations that did.
When the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund hosted the 2018 Trans Equality Now Awards in Washington D.C. on May 17, 2018, its sponsors looked like something from a parody. The list included: the CIA, George Soros’ Open Society, Facebook (which is partially funded by the Atlantic Council, i.e. NATO), Google, Amazon, Capital One Bank, Shook, Hardy & Bacon (a law firm dedicated to defending Big Pharma), as well as a number of pharmaceutical companies and clinics including: Gilead Sciences, Meltzer Clinic, and Pharma. [See comments at the end of this article.] For women on the Left, this open display by the CIA and Soros was like the government and the bankers sticking their middle finger at them. It proved what they had been saying all along.
To this day, the Left still hasn’t apologized to women and is still promoting destructive ID politics, pushing women to the hypocritical right-wing. It makes perfect sense for liberals to be doing this, because as their name suggests neo-liberalism, they want to push women to the right. But why the Left? In fact, why was the Left so eager to adopt trans ideology and expel women.
Either promote the Left, that is the Left we’ve inherited and, like a corrupt union, we understand as Marxist-Leninists that we don’t destroy, but attempt to revitalize, or create female Left organizations like Women for Racial and Economic Equality to push Left more left.
Comment on sources
The source for the CIA and others having funded the 2018 Trans Equality Now Awards seems to have “disappeared” from the internet, and they seem to have decided that their sponsorship of the 2019 awards would have been too open. However, after some searching, we were able to find the Transgender Equality Annual Report 2017, at: https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/annual%20report%20 2017%20final.pdf (page 8; page 10 of pdf), which includes the same sponsors as in 2018.
Also, Soros’ Open Society Foundations has funded individual transgender activists who are leaders in various Left organizations. One is Imani Henry, a leading member of International Action Center and Workers World Party. The source of this is available at: https://www. opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/cfp_20050101.pdf, on p. 10-11. This criticism is more aimed at his party than at him himself, for allowing him to accept this funding, just as no progressive trade union organization would have its members accept money from the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), a notorious conduit for CIA funding.
As sources mysteriously disappear from the internet, we have put these sources on the web-site used by Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity (www.RedStarPublishers.org).
Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity

The Use of Identity Politics to Undermine the Left Anna Coco
The US government and ruling elite have infiltrated and attempted to destroy the Left since its inception. In the 1960’s the CIA think tanks came up with numerous strategies to destroy the Left, such as promoting drug use and promiscuous sexuality as a form of not only “Brave New World” escapism, but diverting attention from working class issues. Remember Jerry Garcia repeating Timothy Leary’s famous quote “turn on, tune in, and drop out?” Even the decriminalization of marijuana today is really not to stop the Prison Industrial Complex, which is still arresting millions of young men, especially those of colour, but about pushing escapism as a replacement for protesting in a country where half the population lives near or below the poverty line. “Get high; forget your cares.” “Don’t fight back. Jesus was a pacifist.” (Forget that Jesus flogged the bankers in the temple during Passover.) The Communist Party USA and other Left parties were successful in pushing back this degeneration, discouraging drug and alcohol use as well as criticizing sexual objectification, particularly of women.
Another government strategy involved promoting Identity Politics, which along with political correctness in the late 1980’s actually achieved its goal of successfully undermining the Left as can be seen in its current state. This time period wasn’t coincidental, since this was the time the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was collapsing. It was at this point that the Left started turning inward and becoming fragmented, with no centre to keep it together which is what the Soviet Union represented. Feeling betrayed, demoralized, and bewildered, the CIA easily infiltrated and injected the Left with its poisonous sting, causing many Left parties to reject dialectical materialism, and in some cases even Marxism itself! ID politics was the late 1960’s brain child of the CIA to divide and conquer the Left, pitting groups against each other. Political Correctness helped promote ID politics by using the same methods as McCarthyism. Since socialism is a logical, scientific economic system, proponents couldn’t be allowed to explain or discuss what is was or it would convert others; therefore McCarthyism relied on shutting down debates and free discussion by employing name calling, shouting down speakers, and further isolating and marginalizing Leftists, especially through blacklisting them.
From the 1930’s to the 1970’s the motto of the Communist Party and the Left was “Black and White Unite”. The question for example of the CP getting involved, whether in the Scottsboro Case or in unionizing the segregated South, took place with many open debates, where all questions were allowed to be raised, discussed, and answered, including those by less advanced white workers who didn’t understand or agree. It was the openness of these discussions and debates that allowed this sector to understand the nature of racism and to make the CP’s motto a success. In a nation that was then only 12% black, gaining white support during the Civil Rights era was crucial in changing the nation and its laws. The Black Panther Party understood this and gave talk in some of the poorest white communities such as in the Appalachians; even converting and forming important alliances with white working class organizations, such as the Young Patriots in Chicago.
The CIA unfortunately successfully changed “Black and White Unite” into Identity Politics in the 1970’s, where different special interest groups began vying for crumbs, promoting selfish individualism and rejecting collectivism, one of the basic foundations of Marxist Leninist ideology.
Following bourgeois feminism, white men were now the enemy and women felt pitted to fight men in order to demand more managerial jobs. Blacks began demanding the right to have more black police officers; as if women oppressing other women or black officers cracking the heads of black men was somehow progressive. What followers of ID politics failed to understand was that changing the driver didn’t change the system. My chances as a woman of dying from a preventable heart attack are the same whether the doctor at the hospital today is male or female, as are the chances a black man having his head smashed in by the cops whether the officer is white or black. Instead of collectivism, workers divided among race, sex, ethnicity, religion, etc., promoting selfish individualism. Of course there are supportive women and people of colour. But certain individuals are not the system. A perfect example was the Left dismantling the anti-war movement during the Obama administration because it would be seen as racist to protest a black president. What was forgotten were the millions killed abroad in US wars of Imperialism, especially Africans who didn’t care what race the current president was. As a result, today, Libyan men are being sold into slavery!
Whereas before ID politics, the enemy was clearly understood to be US imperialism, or the 1%, now the enemy had become the white, heterosexual, male workers. Marxists understand that white men are not our enemies, but our necessary allies in getting reforms under capitalism and in overthrowing the true enemy, the 1%. United we stand, divided we fall.
Unfortunately this vilification and exclusion of white males led to bitterness, creating the racism and sexism we see today. Many were driven into the arms of the right-wing in order to feel included. Enter transgender ideology, the new ID politics of today. Exploiting the Lesbian, gay, and bisexual movement, although the ideology itself is anti-gay and homophobic, it has been promoting itself as the Civil Rights movement of the 21st century. Let’s forget that Native people, African-Americans, and women still haven’t won many significant civil rights.
If white men were the enemy of yesteryear, women are now the new enemy, regardless of colour or race, allowing men their turn to experience inclusion in the Left by attacking and excluding women.
It’s not for nothing that penises are still called penises, but vaginas are front-holes, breast-feeding is chest-feeding, and woman can get their monthlies just like men (although I would seriously suggest that any man who does should go see a doctor ASAP and have their hemorrhoids put back in). Because transgender ideology, which is not the same as transgender individuals, just as all feminists are not bourgeois feminists, is a two-pronged attack not just against women, but the Left, too.
Its first prong of attack undermines women’s contribution to reproducing capital, both as the sex that bears tomorrow workers and cannon fodder and as workers. Discussions on birth control, maternity leave, food stamps, public services, as well as low wages and work inequality along with sexual harassment that affect working class women, become subordinate to transgender questions that affect less than 1/10 of 1% of the population, such as unisex bathrooms.
The second prong undermines the unity of the Left and the possibility of revolution. As Lenin said, “There can be no real mass movement without the women.” How can there be when women represent half the population and are the most exploited sex under crapitalism? In fact, how many people are aware that every major revolution in history was started by women? From the English, French, and the Russian Revolution, which by the way took place on March 8, 1917, International Women’s Day, it was women demanding bread that began it all. It is women who generally have to take care of and feed the family, especially the children. Prevent women from organizing or leading their own organizations, and the 1% are guaranteed there will be no reform or revolution.
What is Marxism? What does it represent? It doesn’t represent Hegelian idealism nor does it represent bourgeois mechanistic science. It represents a historical, dialectical materialism that analyzes the evolution of human society from one form to another, as Charles Darwin’s theories in the Origin of the Species analyzed the evolution of living beings.
Much of the transgender movement isn’t even working class; it mainly represents white, upper middle-class males who are racist, homophobic, and misogynist. It argues for gender stereotypes that tell homosexual men, for example, that they are really women or that racism is an imaginary concept. When transwomen says they are women, they are in fact negating not just biology and science, but eliminating the whole history of oppression that women experience. You heard the expression, you are what you eat. Imagine someone saying “I ate some soul food last night and I’m feeling black, although I’ve never seen a black person in my lilywhite town.”
Transgender ideology has set a dangerous precedent by referring to feelings rather than biology, which ultimately allows discrimination not just against women, but people of colour including native people.
Women aren’t oppressed because of a feeling, but because of their sex; for physically being the only sex that can literally reproduce the workers for capital. Being a woman isn’t a feeling. Just like being black isn’t a feeling. Being a Native American isn’t a feeling. I can’t wash off my sex any more than a person of colour can wash off their colour. Is capitalism a feeling, too? Can we unfeel exploitation on Monday morning?
Liberals who reject dialectical materialism reject nature and the evolutionary connection in nature.
Transgender ideology is effectively using language to erase women and subordinate them to the fetishes of men in nearly every English-speaking country. With the passing in England of the Gender Recognition Act, which Congress is trying to pass in the US as the Equality Act, women must defer to men as men now have the right to enter female facilities and colonize female sports at will against the wishes of women and the safety of girls. It took until 1920 for women in the US to have separate bathrooms, which Russian women won in the 1917 revolution. Lenin in fact championed female-only spaces and female leadership in female organizations. Really, how many women would like to turn around in the women’s showers and see a throbbing hard boner on a transgender woman staring at you? What about at a Rape Centre or women’s prison? For those who don’t know, it’s already happening: paedophiles and male rapists insisting they feel like women have been allowed into girls’ bathrooms and even placed in women’s prisons where they have raped women. Female sports and scholarships, better kiss that goodbye as men by birth have a physical advantage over women. Let’s go back to 1950’s America.
When the Left so wholehearted absorbed trans ideology, it threw scientific socialism under the bus as well as thoroughly self-destructing, making it the butt of jokes for the right-wing. From Black Lives Matter to FRSO Left, ISO, WWP, CWL, and PC USA to name just a few, all these organizations are now being redubbed Politically Correct USA.
It is rape to ever demand or try to coerce someone to have sex regardless of their age, sex, or gender. There is no place in any civilized society to allow rape or rape culture, and especially not the Left. In other cases, women were expelled for exposing male sexual predators, such as in ISO, DSA, WWP, and PC USA. I was told I should be ashamed of myself for shaming the PC USA by exposing a predator, when that party should be ashamed. In other cases, women were expelled because they didn’t agree with male comrades over the question of prostitution and violent porn. Imagine the outrage if a black man was stripped of his position and expelled, because he didn’t like to be called an N* and didn’t agree that slavery and lynching films weren’t empowering? In fact, why is the Left offended by Black Face, but not by Drag? Transgenderism is misogyny in drag.
Soros has spent over millions of dollars promoting transgenderism. Yet women on the Left who complained were ridiculed and silenced.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the CP subverted itself to neoliberalism when it decided to pimp itself to the Democratic Party. Even the ISO, FRSO right and many other so-called Left parties began embracing bourgeois liberalism, which has its roots in neo-liberalism or the free market economy, completing wedding themselves to parliamentary instead revolutionary goals.
Think of the level of misogyny; the CIA couldn’t destroy so many grousp like WW, which has existed for 60 years. How did it finally destroy these parties through transgenderism? Before we think this is an organic movement, which is separate from being transgender, it is actually funded by the CIA and its think tanks. That is the reason why it funded by so much money. Any legitimate organization would distance itself from these elements and I’m sure there are LGBTQ+ organizations that did.
When the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund hosted the 2018 Trans Equality Now Awards in Washington D.C. on May 17, 2018, its sponsors looked like something from a parody. The list included: the CIA, George Soros’ Open Society, Facebook (which is partially funded by the Atlantic Council, i.e. NATO), Google, Amazon, Capital One Bank, Shook, Hardy & Bacon (a law firm dedicated to defending Big Pharma), as well as a number of pharmaceutical companies and clinics including: Gilead Sciences, Meltzer Clinic, and Pharma. [See comments at the end of this article.] For women on the Left, this open display by the CIA and Soros was like the government and the bankers sticking their middle finger at them. It proved what they had been saying all along.
To this day, the Left still hasn’t apologized to women and is still promoting destructive ID politics, pushing women to the hypocritical right-wing. It makes perfect sense for liberals to be doing this, because as their name suggests neo-liberalism, they want to push women to the right. But why the Left? In fact, why was the Left so eager to adopt trans ideology and expel women.
Either promote the Left, that is the Left we’ve inherited and, like a corrupt union, we understand as Marxist-Leninists that we don’t destroy, but attempt to revitalize, or create female Left organizations like Women for Racial and Economic Equality to push Left more left.
Comment on sources
The source for the CIA and others having funded the 2018 Trans Equality Now Awards seems to have “disappeared” from the internet, and they seem to have decided that their sponsorship of the 2019 awards would have been too open. However, after some searching, we were able to find the Transgender Equality Annual Report 2017, at: https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/annual%20report%20 2017%20final.pdf (page 8; page 10 of pdf), which includes the same sponsors as in 2018.
Also, Soros’ Open Society Foundations has funded individual transgender activists who are leaders in various Left organizations. One is Imani Henry, a leading member of International Action Center and Workers World Party. The source of this is available at: https://www. opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/cfp_20050101.pdf, on p. 10-11. This criticism is more aimed at his party than at him himself, for allowing him to accept this funding, just as no progressive trade union organization would have its members accept money from the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), a notorious conduit for CIA funding.
As sources mysteriously disappear from the internet, we have put these sources on the web-site used by Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity (www.RedStarPublishers.org).
Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity

Part 26: https://www.reddit.com/Viidith22/comments/141nvay/my_roommate_is_slenderman_part_26/
(Terry)
I awoke an hour later, brain pulsing. I was in the back of the van laying on the floor, “The prodigal son returns, welcome back you crazy son of a bitch!” Tucker laughed.
“Took on a god face to face. Pretty sure the only one with bigger balls than that would be Abraham. Though, balls didn’t save you.” Doc said, looking up from his book.
“Took the last core I had, but at least I can say I’ve killed a god now.” Tucker snickered with a smirk.
“Concentrated light, can’t say it’s what I would have thought of, but it was effective.”
“Yeah, wasn’t effective portably until we came across some anti-matter from a crashed–”
“What?” I tried sitting up but failed.
“Right.” He stood, propping up the left row of seats, and pulled out a black case. Flicking it up he aimed it down at me, “Anti-matter annihilation laser. Think you can piece it together.” There were about five lenses that each shrunk, narrowing the barrel to a tip. Everything but the lenses was coated in a vanta black paint, “Each lens reduces the energy state while also–”
“I couldn’t give less fucks if I pulled them out of Doc’s patients. You killed him with that thing?”
“Yup, his head’s probably gettin' breathed in from the wildlife out here.” He clicked the case shut, put it back in place, and sat.
“And the data is intact?”
There was a brief pause, “While it is, I feel it’s important to be more concerned about yourself. You have major skull fractures, a concussion, you’re missing your face flesh, your back had to be clotted to avoid you bleeding out, and you are severely low on blood. You should be sleeping right now.”
“I just, I had to know.”
“Knowing you, you’ll be back on your feet in–”
I passed out again before he finished talking.
---------------------------------------------
When I awoke, I was on my bed, Sepratine was applying herbs to my face, “Ho–”
“16 hours, Doctor Sadist and Rachel are busy. You really ought to be more cautious, this isn’t one of your video games.”
“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind. You heard from Jones?”
“No, apparently he passed out at the wheel after he parked. The Sadist said they’d be out for a while. He’s having Rachel look them over once she finishes a project she’s working on.”
“Shouldn’t you be helping her?”
She put her mortar down and sighed, “Flip onto your side, I need to replace the bandages on your back, then you need to eat.”
She finished tending to me in silence, then went to cook. The whole time, I just wanted to get up and finish everything. But even if I did, the data wasn’t fully recovered until it was sifted through. So I resigned to wait until the detective got back to me.
Sepratine came back a while later with a plate toppling over itself and a glass of water. Not to get too detailed, but both were empty in a matter of… 30 seconds or so? “Now get back to sleep. Your face should be back to normal in another day, and your skull is still fusing back together.”
“Let me know when Jones has the info.” She stood, taking my plate and cup.
“Someone will I’m sure. Get some rest, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t. You were reckless enough… Whatever, goodbye.”
-------------------------------
When I came to again, my face was dry, the medicine Sepratine had put on felt like a cracked desert, leaving a green crust behind. I stood, heading to the bathroom to wash my face. I took my meds, then removed the bandages from my back. Heading back to my room, I grabbed my phone, seeing several missed calls and texts. I immediately opened the message from Jones.
Call me when you wake up, I’ve got it, you’re not gonna believe where it is.
The phone rang four times, “Eh? Terry, that you?” He yawned.
“Yeah, what’s the deal?”
“You remember when you first met me?”
“No.”
“Well, I was headed to a town down in southeastern Oregon, one that wasn’t on any maps. And you’re not gonna believe this shit, but Tenyit Lane, the place I went, that’s where he’s being held.”
“So you know where I need to go?”
“Yeah, the place is a hot zone for organizations. There’re at least seven that I’ve recorded since I first went, and that’s not including–”
“And?”
“Well, point is, there’s security everywhere, people are gonna be everywhere, and the police and government officials are gonna be too busy counting bodies to care about one missing person.”
“Send me the coordinates.” I took a picture of my wall, putting the phone back against my ear.
“I’ll do you one better, I still have an old map to the place, I’ll send it over.”
“I don’t care what you say, I am paying you after this.”
I was already out the door, wearing nothing but a hoodie and sweatpants. I started the car, threw on EDM, and headed down to find Joseph.
------------------------------
A grey smoke rose in the night air above the town. I had a good ten miles left on the empty road before getting to the one stop on the entire strip. As I climbed the mountain, I turned my windshield wipers up more and more. The road was coated in a light crust of white, the speckles dropping ever so carefully in the light wind.
As I rounded a bend, I saw a flicker of headlights through the pine trees. Rounding the next one, I saw the lights again, this time coming around their own turn, before heading in my direction. The snow picked up as I met the gaze of the other driver, it was her.
I screeched to a stop, whipping a U-turn that nearly sent me into the rails. I stopped, having noticed her car was pulled over to the railing too. I jumped out of my car, running over to her, and grasping her in my arms, “I thought I’d killed you Tresca!”
Setting her down, my brain fully processed its surroundings. The person in front of me was Joseph, he was a bit shocked, but the rest of him reminded me of how he looked when we first met, “I-I’m sorry, I just–”
“Look, Terry. Honestly, it’s great to see you, great to have clear evidence I’m not crazy, great to know all those fun ass memories at the apartment were real. But…”
“I’m just so glad you’re okay.”
He smirked, but his eyes were hollow, “Yeah, okay…”
“I mean, you’re alive though!”
“Terry, this isn’t going to work.” He looked up, “I can’t ignore what you said when you saw me.” He looked back at me, nervous, “I read up on you, it was intrusive, and I’m sorry for that, but I can’t keep being a replacement. I need to live my own life, I need to get away from all this, I…” His eyes filled, but refused to streak, “I want to live a life away from all of this. I know a normal life isn’t really an option anymore. But I still wanna do what I can.”
“You… read my files?” I glanced at my phone, thinking about the picture I’d taken before leaving, “Which ones?”
“Your old life, hers too. Once I got ahold of my files, I decided to do some digging. I was me, but not I guess, I had to get an understanding of who the people I used to know were. I know about Tresca, I remember your conversation with Maerod.”
“I…”
He waited for a while, a few cars flew by us before he took the rope, “I will never regret the time we had. We had fun, we had some adventures and even a few emotional tipping points. Without you and everyone else, I’d probably have a slab of a ruck on top of me now. I don’t feel like dying anymore, but I also don’t feel like living. I’m sorry, but… I need to find my life out there.” He threw his arm up, gesturing around, “But if I stay with you, I’ll never get that chance.”
I tried to maintain myself, for seemingly the first time, taking Joseph as a person in. His overgrown brown hair, his blue eyes, broad shoulders, bland outfit. “You look different from before.”
“I feel different.” He shot a breath out his nose.
I staggered, “Let me grab something from my car before you go. You mind coming with?”
He nodded, gazing up at the grey sky. Several more cars flew past us as we made our way to mine. When we got there, I pulled out a small bag,
I reached into my car, pulling out the contract, “This was the guy that placed a hit on your wife. He’s dead now.”
A car flew by, lighting up his face to reveal his frozen face, “Y-you mean it? Who killed him?” He snatched the paper from my hand, looking over the entire sheet.
“The detective put on her case, the original guy is my understanding. Goes by Jones, he’s a P.I. now.”
“Really? Where is he?”
I cleared my throat, “You su–”
“Positive, where is he?”
I rubbed my arm, but looking at his hopeful face, I caved, “Apex Investigation Office, downtown Albany.”
He hugged me, “Thank you… Seriously, this…” He cried into my stomach for a time before pulling back and recomposing himself. Rubbing his nose dry, he turned around.
“Wait!”
He stopped, turning his head to me, “Yeah?”
I held onto my phone, debating to show him the picture or not. We stood still as two more cars flew by, followed by one with sirens. I pushed my phone back into my pocket, “Where are you going?”
He turned back to his car, holding up the contract, “To repay a debt. You’ll get yours too one of these days.”
Sitting in his car, he drove off without another word.
I sat in mine, pulling the phone from my pocket, and opened the gallery. I had one recent picture, it was one of the walls in my room, one with several posters. All of which were had drawn anime style portraits of Tresca. “Maybe Abraham was right, and maybe, Joseph has the right idea too.”
----------------------------------------
(Joseph)
Epilogue:
I dried my face as I left him behind, unsure of what to do first. I sat with music blasting for the first hour, mind flashing through the events like a slideshow. When I eventually came across a convenience store. It was a 24/7 place, the kind that had hot dogs on the roller for days at a time, and the only people that worked there couldn’t get a job anywhere else.
I pulled into a parking space and picked my phone off the passenger seat. I’d already decided I’d go to the detective’s place last. But I’d never been to Rachel’s before, and I didn’t remember her phone number. “What if I?”
I dialed a number, letting it ring a good five times when “Chad’s Cads how can I help you?”
“God, tell me that isn’t the name of your shop.”
“Joseph? Is that you bro?”
“Yeah, it’s been a while, good to hear from you.”
“Where the hell have you been man!? Terry’s out look–”
“It’s all sorted now. I don’t mean to be callous, I promise I’ll catch you up to speed later. But do you have Rachel’s number?”
“Oh, yeah. Everything good dude?”
“Yeah, she apparently told Terry to have me see her when he found me, so…”
“Oh for sure.”
“So can you send me her number?”
“Oh right, yeah. Good luck bro, come by when you have time. I wanna see how strong you are.”
“Sounds good Chad.” I hung up, smiling. A minute or so later, I had her number.
“Joseph?” Her voice was smooth.
“Hey Rachel I…”
“Chad messaged me.”
“Gotcha, Terry said you wanted to see me?”
“Yes, there’s a lot you need to know biologically if you want to pass for human.”
I sighed, rubbing my side, “Where should I meet you?”
“I’ll send you the location, Sepratine will be here too.”
“Oh, yaaaaaay.” She was alright, but she always had a whole bag of chips on her shoulder.
“See you soon. Oh, and did you happen to feel an aching in your right side at any point?”
“More than you know.”
“How frequently?”“Well, I was starved for a few days at one point, aside from that though I’d say a couple times a week if not more?”
“...Was that the entire time you were gone?”
“Not entirely sure, the first month or so is still kind of hazy, but since I was moved into town yeah.”
“...Okay, just… See you when you arrive.” Click
“I thought Doc was supposed to be the cryptic one of the bunch,” I smirked, a tear forming in my eye. “Goddamnit.” I wiped it, clicking the address she’d sent me, and heading on my way. Only after I picked up some gas station food.
-----------------------------------
“Oh my.”
“It’s me.” I did jazz hands, wearing a faux smile.
“Your soul is much… larger than I anticipated. Come inside, I’m sure you’re hungry.”
A whiff of cedar and sweetgrass slapped me in the face, “Wow, that’s… pungent.”
“Apologies, my sense of smell isn’t very strong, and Sepratine is….”She took a sharp intake of breath, closing the door behind me.
Looking around, the house seemed pretty standard, aside from the greenhouse in the living room, “So uh, what’s this you got goin here?”
“Take your shoes off please,” She did the same, “Creating chemicals from what’s in the air is taxing, it’s more convenient to just have the plants you need on hand.” She headed toward a door down the hall, “My equipment is downstairs.” She opened the door and I followed.
The air was a solid 80 or so, with humidity so thick it was like snorkeling, pollen so strong it activated allergies I hadn’t had since I was five. “Quite the quaint home you have here.”
“Oh right, sorry again.”
“No, you’re good, I’m just gonna need a few boxes of tissues is all.”
“Oh Jo–Joseph, my gods, you’re… wow. Different is a word, what happened to your soul?” Sepratine was turned to us, standing in front of a table with apparently every plant unknown to man of it.
“That’s kinda why I’m here.”
“Oh right, don’t mind me, just running a few experiments, Rachel has the perfect climate down here for a few plants.”
“Alright Joseph, hop on the bed.” Rachel stood in front of a wooden table, I couldn’t help but notice vials and jars stacked neatly on a counter that circled half the room, as well as a set of tables that held assorted plants with different lights hovering over them.
I sat on the table, “You need me to turn my head and cough?”
“No, first I need you to eat. It’ll be easier if you’re digesting food.”
She headed to a small closed-off area, then came back, plate in hand. Mostly just leafy greens. Maybe some kind of bean too?
“Go ahead, this should pass through you at just the right speed for me to catch it.” She turned, heading to another room, “Oh right, when you’re done I’ll need you to take off your shirt and lie down.” Then she headed through a door.
A few minutes passed and I finished the salad. Putting my plate on an open section of a counter and throwing my shirt to the side, I laid down, “Sepratine, you know anything about Vampirism?”
“Only rumors, they’re rare, so you’re the only one I’ve met.”
“Rarer than what you are?”
“Dryads are uncommon for sure. But given my personal experience, I’d say you’re one of a kind.”
“Awwwe, thank you.” I said sarcastically, “But is that all? They’re rare?”
“You’re here for Rachel because they’re rare. She’s met something like five, even got to do a lab experiment on one of them, saw how their stem reacted to stimulus. She’s the closest thing to an expert I can think of.”
Rachel made her entrance with the smack of the door on the wall, “Alright, don’t worry Joseph, I’m not going to cut you open today, I just want to see how large your stem has gotten. Based on your soul, you might be around half to ¾ vampire. But the only way to tell for sure is to see the size of your stem.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask, but everyone else I’ve met who knows about it has been a psychopath. What’s a stem?”
“Oh, kind of like a parasite is my current understanding.” She picked up a large metal plate, pressed it against my stomach, and used a metal rod to probe my right side.
“Come again?”
“Well… it’s more like a symbiotic relationship? Consider it another organ, only it’s wrapped around a portion of your large intestine. A full vampire has them fused, and it becomes an addition. But a partial, you can still see where they are two entities.”
“So you can cure me?”
She scoffed, “No.” Putting the plate and rod away, she pulled out a roundish object and squeezed some kind of gel onto the end before rubbing it against my right side. “If it’s removed, both entities die. You’re a symbiote now, you each rely on each other. In return for giving it nutrients, it gives you cells that allow you to regenerate anything short of half or more of it. They’re akin to stem cells, but enhanced. It extracts your DNA and replicates what it needs to to keep you alive for as long as possible. That’s the working theory I currently have anyway.”
“So I have a parasite in me?”
“A symbiote, you two aid each other, there are only benefits for each of you. Not to mention the enhanced soul… which I’m not entirely sure what causes that yet. Though the more vampirized you are, the more spiritual power a vampire seems to have. Considering that’s how it’s been with the last five, it’s only an assumption. But if that is the case, I am curious about the correlation.” She put the device down, handing me a towel, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to see the images I got back. Time to see how far along you are.”
Patting me on the stomach, she walked out of sight, and I wiped my side down. Sitting up, I hopped off the table, picked up my shirt, throwing it back on. Then, it was dark.
---------------------------
My eyes shot open, I was upright on the hardwood table, eyes darting around for the threat.
“Relaaaax, you’re fine.” Rachel and Sepratine stood beside me, and I loosened up, wired as hell.
Standing, I regained my balance, “Which one of you knocked me out?”
“Neither.” Rachel said, offended, “You fainted, you had several nutrient deficiencies, and call me crazy, but I don’t think you were willing to hear what I had to say.”
I mulled it over, a burst of panic surging when I thought about the thing inside me. But I managed to push it back into its little jar. Which I promptly placed back on the shelf with the rest of my emotions. “I’m fine.”
“Yes, now. But I have to be honest with you, the ultrasound came back more worrying than I expected. You’re only about ¼ so far. Your soul is far larger than any of my calculations suggested.”
“Right on.”
“Joseph, you have far more potential than I expected. While I advise safety, occasionally fasting may build up your soul to around as strong as Smudge.”
“Cool beans.”
“The issue is that you have an extremely high-functioning stem. You’ll need extremely nutrient-dense foods with extremely specific nutrients to maintain yourself as you are, let alone grow stronger. I’ll have what you need, but if you don’t want to go on a killing spree every few days, you’ll need an extremely strict diet.”
“How much is that gonna run me?”
She sighed, rubbing her eyes, “Quite frankly, I’ll charge you what it costs me. I don’t want you going on a murder frenzy. You’re my friend, but that’d also guarantee your death. As not only an alchemist, but a scientist, I can’t allow that. I’ll charge you at the end of each month. How does that sound?”
“Cool, do you have an estimate?”
“Joseph I feel you are hearing me but not listening.”
“No, I’ve got it.”
“This will be in the ballpark of 1500 dollars a month, and that’s alongside normal meals. Which should help you not only maintain but build up. The pain will feel like you’re being digested if you get to the point of dangerous starvation. Now, repeat everything I just said back to you.”
When I did from start to finish, she rubbed her face, “Alright, you can pick up your supply weekly from here. For now, though, I have something that should hold you over until next Friday, when I’ll have the actual supplies.”
She helped load a few milk crates into my overstuffed car, and when I went to start my car, she gestured for me to roll the window down. “Yes?”
“There are places you can get help you know?”
“I think I can handle the vampirism thing.”
“Joseph…” She stared at me, tugging at my bucket of guilt, tipping it ever so slightly.
“I’ll be fine. Thank you Rachel.” I flicked the button up and the window went with it as I pulled out of her driveway in the suburbs of West Salem.
-----------------------------
“Joseph?” The familiar guy behind a desk just across from me stared, eye agape.
“D-Detective? What uh… what happened to your erm… you?”
“Long story. What happened to you?”
“Long story.”
He chuckled, “Guess you were in that town for a while. What are you doing here?”
I held up the contract, “I’ve got a debt I needa pay.”
-------------------------------------
Author’s Note:
Hey guys, 4Shot speaking. Holy FUCK guys. This has been my longest-running series, it’s been 3.5 years in the making. Hell, it was the series that got me into this whole writing shebang. It feels weird to be saying goodbye to Joseph, given this series has been with me since the start. I’ve seen my ups alongside this story, and those who read or listened to the poker scene in my detective series will know I’ve had my downs.
Though, it’s not exactly the end. I have one final series I’ll be writing to wrap everything up. Those who have followed my first three may notice a trend. And yes, the final series will be a continuation of Jones’ tale. It’s been a long time coming, and I hope to complete it before february, which is when I’ll be taking an extended hiatus. I’ll be back, but I have some things I want to do first. This entire unraveling story will have been a part of my life for over 4 years by then, something like that is hard to just let go, and I have some life I wanna experience. So I may be gone for around 6 months to a year when I’ve finished the Detective’s story.
I’m glad so many of you have enjoyed my stories. I honestly never expected to go anywhere with any of this, thought I’d give this series up around part 3, and writing would just be another dead hobby of mine. But here we are. Honestly, there are a lot of people to thank, but the main people are my boy TeeStache who got me into writing, NaturesTemper who picked up my terrible rough draft of this series, and Viidith who first found my detective series and asked to narrate it, and proceeded to narrate my Lighthouse series.
It’s been a crazy ride out there, and I only intend to make it crazier in the future. Thanks again guys, cheers.

Melina has to be the GEQ, we see her with a gloamy eye in the frenzy flame ending and she talks about death. Melina's whole purpose throughout the game is to bring back death and burn the Erdtree. Even in the cut content it says the tree is burned by black flames (which is the GEQ fire!!!) This perfectly goes along with the Age of Gold Tree Saint empire era before the Golden Order, in that age there was the church of the GEQ and only her and the crucible greattree presided.
After Marika defeated her she went into hiding to study her arts undercover, under the shadow of Volcano manor she plotted her revenge. She used the most genius plan only a studied empyrean could muster, she separated her spirit into a separate body and assumed the guise of Melina. This broke some of her memories but she remembered her main purpose that she claims was given to her mother (who is just her physical form but is her mother because she adopts the spirit of Melina).
With her purpose in mind she set out to accompany a tarnished who would become the Elden Lord to coax them into unsealing DD and burning the Erdtree, bringing back her power. The only issue is she had to burn her spirit leaving her body soulless. With her power slowly accumulating she will be reborn through the burned Erdtree in the DLC. Also she swears to kill us if we don't burn the Erdtree because she can't rebirth with the full power of the blackflame.

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