Darkness covered the funeral as those black clouds rained onto black umbrellas. Most of the policemen were gathered to put Sergeant Ventura into the ground. Detective Winters turned from the man's family, Police, and with a scowling cigarette, he headed back towards his car.
"Did it go well?" I asked him from where I had waited in the back seat.
"You know I told them exactly what happened?" He asked me, after a moment of silent conversation. The rain was making a soothing noise on the roof and windshield, repetitive, insistent and natural. I listened to that, instead of the rest of his monologue: about filling out a report, and then talking about the report to his superiors, and now telling me the whole story. I looked out the window as he went on and on, and watched the various policemen and their wives filing away. I noticed only half of them had wives and only one had a male partner. I wasn't sure if he was to be referred to as a 'wife'. Can't be a 'spouse' in this state. "And for all that they just made me write that I had accidentally shot the corpse-shaped booby trap that killed Sergeant Ventura."
"You finished?" I asked while he stopped to catch his breath.
"Yes. Thank you. I feel better." He claimed. He started his car and we drove back to the hotel.
"You just gonna stay here with me?" I asked him as I headed past the beds for the bathroom. I intended to have a shower, thinking: "I admit I don't get them very often, living outdoors."
"I wouldn't dream of leaving you. You are the love of my life. I can't sleep when you aren't in that bed over there, in the same room as me. Meals just don't taste as good without you." Detective Winters had an odd tone of voice as he said all of that. I decided to just leave it alone.
While I was showering, I realized I was afraid of him. I was harmless compared to him, and I could kill someone to protect something I couldn't even explain. What would he do if I tried to escape? I decided it was best to accept this path. I wanted to make recompense for taking a life. It meant something to me, even if I avoided Earthly justice.
I shaved off my beard and tied my hair back with my bandanna. I looked like a human-being. I finally put on the clothes Detective Winters had bought for me at the thrift store. I looked like a decent person. Cory tilted his head at me.
"Looks like you could find a mate." Cory complimented me.
"Think so?" I asked, blushing.
"Amen." Cory squawked supreme affirmation. I presented myself to Detective Winters.
"Thank you." He muttered, with a cigarette towering ash atop a filter on his mouth, as he lay on his back with a towel over his eyes. He was thanking me for cleaning up.
I too got some rest. It seemed like all we did was sit at the policestation and fill out paperwork. I had started pacing and found I was not allowed out of his sight. Being confined was strangely exhausting.
I laid there and started to fall asleep. It was strange, sleeping indoors again. It had taken me so many nights in that bed to get used to it. My dreams were of distant times and places. Sometimes I saw Khurl and primitive humans in my dreams. Those were strange nights. The hotel window was open, and the sounds of people softly shuffling by, or arguing in the distance, or watching an infomercial all night on full volume, drifted in with the cool breeze. The world was outside and I had learned to sleep in a new place. A strange kind of sleep.
The phone rang and I awoke and sat up. Cory was watching me in the darkness. He asked:
"What is that?"
"It's Detective Winters's phone." I told him.
After it stopped ringing he woke up and got it and called back. He was laying there half asleep.
"You called?" He sounded quiet and spoke slowly. "I was asleep. I saw that you just called. I want to talk to you. Are you okay? I miss you. Hello?"
Someone might be talking to him. He was listening, there in the darkness. Then he looked at the phone, acknowledging that the call was ended. He gently set the phone down and rolled back over. I could only presume he was trying to fall back asleep.
Then his phone rang again and he answered it and asked in a voice I only heard him use there, at night:
"Please tell me what it is. I want to hear it." And there was a pause as he waited for a response. But it was his boss instead, and after chuckling: he told Detective Winters that he was needed at the scene of a murder. I could hear it.
"Let's go." He looked over and saw I was awake. We dressed and went to the car. The cool night air greeted us and Cory outstretched his wings, loving the breeze.
We got out of the car, at those last moments of night, at a hiking trail that led up Grandfather Hill, after crossing Sunberry Creek. I've tasted the legendary sunberries. They aren't meant for human consumption. I wouldn't recommend them.
Forensics had a van near the head of the trail. The body was about to get removed. They had waited for Detective Winters.
"There is the trail they made to get to her." Detective Winters had his last cigarette and lit it with his 'little red riding hood and wolf eyes' lighter. He took a death-sucking drag from it and pointed with it while he exhaled unhealthy air. "I want us to go the long way. I want to know the rest of her story."
I stood quietly and shivered. Cory clicked that there was a path if I turned around. It was a click that meant it was only the first step. There were three or four to find the path. He'd not tell me there were a series of steps, because crows don't think of numbers in the same pattern as humans. Numbers are magical, in their symbolism, to crows. Crows can count to a degree, but they will often stop counting if the number matches the same meaning they identify with the bushels they are counting. Thus the number three, to a crow, is also essentially female, as a symbol. Therefore when counting a group of females, there would necessarily be three. Every number had such a meaning.
I found a stone and when I stepped upon it I knew the path across the roots. It appeared when we got to the top of the hill. It led down to where the creek was. I stopped to get Detective Winters and heard him behind me:
"I'm following." His voice sounded like he had his eyes on me and couldn't really see the path. Cory kept urging my steps and then told me:
"This is where it first found her." Cory hopped down and pointed with his beak. "I think it is like a man. See its funny footstep?"
"What happened?" I asked.
"How should I know, my Lord? You always task me so." Cory flitted up to my shoulder and trembled and whispered into my ear: "It killed her, I am guessing. What do you think?"
I listened then. I had heard the forest once before. I knew this place, it could whisper, in that same tone. For just a moment it was almost a glimmer of a feeling, a childish emotion, a very crude and simple feeling, like just one note of a song. I glanced up and smiled.
"Cory." I said softly, smiling. He drilled a long series of clicks that was his most hilarious laugh.
"My Lord?" Cory wanted to hear what I was thinking.
"It is like Beauty and the Beast. This footprint, that is like a man. It is a man that is like a beast. He wanted her, loved her, followed her."
"Killed her." Cory added.
"That wasn't the plan. See how carefully it hid." I pointed where the shafts of sunlight lit each footprint perfectly. Such a thing could not step out of the bounds that were set for it by nature. Each of its movements in the forest was perfectly synchronized. Until something on its trail changed. Its movement pattern changed. It was following her, although still very careful as it went.
"What godless beast saw this woman and looked so intently?" Cory sounded interested. I could not guess, while I studied its saddest footsteps.
"This is where it retreated." I pointed to the path of its egress from the kill site. The sunlight danced through the trees as though the light were floating through the forest. In those strange shadows I could imagine the rest:
Hunched and breathing in the moonlight it had watched her approach. She had seen its eyes and perhaps she had screamed, fled, panicked. On instinct the beast had forgotten its fascination and attacked. Her fragile body stood no chance and it left her there and fled this direction. I was walking its path.
"I am going to get dogs out here. Wait!" Detective Winters called after me. He sensed the terrible danger and wasn't driven to it as I was.
"Must go now." Cory was insisting. My crow was also afraid.
"I want to see for myself." I also insisted. I was afraid too, but the quality of my fear was merely a sail to the fears lurking upon my path. I could not turn back and face those darker gazes. They could see into my soul and ignore me, cosigning me to the void.
The full moon still stood overhead and shone down in the lighting sky. In the eerie green light of the forest I found a clearing. I had followed the trail, losing the policemen and the detective. They would eventually find me.
The clearing was ringed by mustard colored toadstools all around its edge. A man lay in the bloodied pelt of a wolf as it peeled from his body. His claws held the earth and were caked in gore. Now I only felt the terror of my action. I had ignored my fear, for fear of being ignored by my own lucky stars. Now I was terrified of the thing before me, the deadly and unnatural visage of it.
The beast was breathing a painful mist onto my hand. He was a little more man, than creature, as his stillness grew; from moment to moment. He looked up at me.
"Know we see you." Cory spoke in his most sincere and clearest English.
"Why have you come to see this?" The man-wolf asked in a voice, broken by remorse, tired by rage, shamed by murder and driven to isolation. Besides the inhuman growl that its voice was composed of. Its yellow eyes stared, bleeding tears across a face not yet human and no longer an animal.
"Did you love her?" I asked. "Before she saw you, nothing happened to her."
"Melody! Oh god no! She followed me!" He exclaimed. When he said 'me' he began to howl dismally. This broke into an unearthly and almost inhuman cry of agony, straight from his soul. Hearing it, and knowing the fruit of his lamentation, is what turned a streak of my beard and hair white, and the white feather on Cory drained of color at that same time.
We stood in the morning light and waited. The cursed creature in front of us sobbed miserably. He said:
"I should be dead, not her."
"Death will always happen." Cory told him.
"Not for me." He wept bitterly.
"He understood you." I noticed.
"Indeed. I think it shows he is not so bad. You listen well enough to understand an animal." Cory spoke to me and then to him. He just stared at my crow. Then he confessed:
"It is the beast that is evil."
"She loved you too." I was sure. "Twas the beast that killed her, for that love."
"She did love me." He told the truth and the hot tears washed some of the blood off of his face.
Dogs and policemen arrived. The moon was gone and the sunlight was warming the forest. They trampled the toadstools and put the decomposing wolf's skin into evidence bags. They put the cursed one in handcuffs. An irony that the cuffs could only hold him while he was relatively harmless, not when he was the beast, of course. I was sure of that too, as I looked at a tree he had struck in his bestial fury, cutting into it like the wood of oak were soft.
"What will happen?" I asked Detective Winters.
"You know as well as I do." He replied. "Crazy guy like that will get the best care of modern medicine."
"That's probably for the best." I surmised.
"Yeah?" Detective Winters complimented me, as he lit a smoke he had bummed off of someone. "I believe you. You know I do."
"Thanks."

Hey gang
As some of you may be aware, Reddit have recently announced that they will be making changes to their API access for third parties, which will severely impact third party apps, bots, and browser extensions. Below, you'll see a pre-prepared statement that outlines the changes and how they affect Reddit that's been shared around various subreddits.
It should come as no surprise that a game about hackers fighting against evil corporations are taking this stance. I guarantee that the majority of people reading this post use a third party app like Reddit Is Fun or Apollo, the Reddit Enhancement Suite browser extension, or use a screen reader to access the website. Taking this away is, frankly, shitty and goes against what we as a mod team (and I would hope, as a community) stand for. Heck, our humble card lookup bot will sadly cease to be if these changes come to effect.
We may be a sub of less than 20,000 users, but as any Anarch knows, even the smallest of voices add to the chorus.

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third-party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader to Boost.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface. This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord- but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th. Instead, take to your favourite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting as this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

I sat in the parking lot of McDonald's feeding french fries to my talking crow. We were in the back of Detective Winters's car. He was having the large coffee that cost only a dollar. He had told me he liked it better than Starbuck's, as he took it black.
"Sergeant Ventura was a good cop." Detective Winters was talking about the policeman that had gotten killed at the crimescene.
"Did he have family?" I asked.
"He was divorced." Detective Winters sounded like he could cry for the dead man. "We were his family."
I ate my cheeseburger in silence. Cory hopped onto the fries and scattered them to the floor. He looked up at me without an apology for his behavior before he went to go eat some of them.
We were taken to a hotel where we became roommates with Detective Winters. The maid knocked on the door as I was taking off my boots. He answered it with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth that he had lit with hotel matches.
"What is it?" He asked her. I listened, genuinely curious.
"No animals." She pushed past him slightly and spotted Cory. Presumably, she would go get the hotel manager.
"It's okay, he is with me. I am a detective. I am solving murders." He told her, and showed her his badge with a well-rehearsed gesture. She gave him a very admonishing look and left without saying more. I wondered if our sleep would be interrupted. I was very tired and went right to bed.
In the morning the same maid was back, prompting me to wonder if she had worked all night. She glared at us as we left and she went in to clean.
Detective Winters took me to the station and made me sit around with him all day while he did paperwork. He had interviews with people and more paperwork. His job suddenly seemed very boring to me. I already longed to go outside and discover the world out there. I was his hostage because he knew I knew that I was his suspect in a murder.
"I want you investigating this. Looks like it might be the hitchhiker killer. If you can get some cooperation from you-know-who, maybe we can call the FBI on this one." The boss of Detective Winters walked over to his desk and gave him a thin file on a crime scene secured earlier.
"Let's go." Detective Winters got up and I followed.
"Who was he talking about?" I asked.
"A possible serial killer. I know a guy who knows a lot more than he is telling us. First we need to go see the crime scene. Forensics is already there so you will have to wait outside." Detective Winters was talking fast. He was excited about this for some reason.
"You know this serial killer?"
"Yes. If it is the same one then we've had several killings already. I will need to go see our friend. Then we call the FBI." Detective Winters explained.
"Is that how it's done?" I asked.
"It is how we are gonna do this. You wouldn't understand." He started his car and we left.
"You like it when people say 'you wouldn't understand' to you?" I asked after awhile.
"Not really. Sorry. I just don't like feeling like I am explaining myself to someone." Detective Winters gave me some kind of crude apology for the way he had spoken to me.
"Well, I don't really like listening to you anyway." I offered. After that we just drove in silence. After we arrived at the crime scene, Cory went to the floor of the back seat to feed on the drying fries left there. Detective Winters asked someone he was passing for their cigarette, took it, and smoked it, as he walked away. We were left there alone in his car.
I was tempted to just get out and walk away. I felt that it would be dishonorable. Therefore I stayed, out of a sense that I was doing the right thing.
"What a mess." Detective Winters came back after awhile. He fished a half smoked butt out of his ashtray and lit it with the car's lighter. Then he rolled down the window to exhale smoke as we drove away.
We arrived at a small trailer where a column of smoke arose from out back. Detective Winters said: "Come with me."
The man was just throwing the last papers and files out of an empty banker's box and tossed it aside where several others sat empty.
"Daniel Barrow." Detective Winters spoke so he would turn around. The man gestured at the destructive act he had committed and shrugged and smiled.
"What can I say?" Daniel Barrow asked. "I don't work for you. I am a private eye. You know, an investigator-for-hire."
"I could arrest you for destruction of evidence." Detective Winters told the private eye.
"Then do so. I am merely destroying my own pictures and notes. Personal property." Daniel insisted.
Then we left him there, smoke trailing away with bits of white ash in his hair.
"What a dick..." Detective Winters used a bad pun.
I chuckled and replied: "He seemed crazy."
Something dawned and Detective Winters held his hand up at me for a second while he thought. Then he lowered it and brightly added:
"Dellfriar Asylum." Detective Winters decided.
"Where crazy people are?" I tried to follow his jump to a conclusion. I had no idea what he was talking about.
"Where Doctor Evans was killed. That is how I met our friend for the first time. He was caught snooping around that crime scene too." Detective Winters recalled.
I said nothing as we drove to Dellfriar and gained access to the ancient and fearsome looking seaside castle. It was still medieval compared to other mental hospitals. I had only seen it in pictures, but now the place creeped me out.
"What are we doing here?" I asked. "If Doctor Evans was killed by the same person Daniel Barrow would have told you about: then you already know who it is."
"You are right." He stared up at the terrifying structure. "Jesse Darling. She was a patient here. We have a copy of her file. You are right. There is something more I wanted to see again."
"I'd rather wait here." I told him. He nodded and left us in the parking lot.
When he came back he looked disappointed. We drove back to the hotel in silence. The next day he met with the FBI and told them what he knew, about a serial killer named Jesse Darling.
Then he found me and told me: "Her name is Scarlet. She was friends with Daniel Barrow. He visited her often."
"Now that you have completed that path, why not try another?" I asked him.
"Scarlet is who we should be looking for." Detective Winters agreed. "We will never find Jesse Darling."
"Then let's start at the beginning." I advised him. And so we drove back to the crime scene we were at before.
His decision was to drive along the highway from there, heading away from Dellfriar. Detective Winters said:
"I think she has killed six men and she tried to kill Daniel Barrow. He survived."
As it grew dark a light rain began to fall. The sound of the windshield wipers kept going. My hand began to ache. Up ahead stood someone in a red hoody, hitchhiking with their left thumb. We pulled over.
"Must go now." Cory cawed.
"Sounds anxious." Detective Winters noted.
"He is saying we must leave." I translated. "He gets jittery."
"He got a name?"
"Cory." I took my crow to my lap and gently held him while the back passenger door opened. I looked over at the dark shape in the red hoody. Lightning flashed behind her before she got in to sit with me in the back.
I could feel the damp cold air coming off of her hoody as she seated herself. She was young, although her face was kinda mean looking. As she spoke, she gestured with her left hand, her right never appearing. She said:
"I was walking and this rain started. I just need a lift into town." And she tried a fake little laugh and smile.
"We can give you a lift." Detective Winters offered. We started back onto the highway and she reached up with her left hand and got her seatbelt on.
"The hand is silver and it can cut like a knife. Maker of dead men, from living ones. She actually likes doing it, you could learn from her." Cory told me about our guest.
"Your bird talks." She smiled. This smile looked real, but still predatory.
"If you call that talking." Detective Winters chuckled with a masculine disregard.
"I don't know." I stammered. I was frozen in fear. This was surely our hook-hand hitchhiker. She was definitely Scarlet. I could imagine her weapon striking away half my neck in one instant swipe, out of nowhere. She'd kill the detective next. Only she was wearing a seatbelt: so our corpses would get ejected into the darkness. She'd stay belted to her seat.
"I can understand him." She smiled coyly.
"You can?" I was choking. Sweat beaded my forehead and terror gripped my heart.
"He says I am pretty and sweet and that you already like me." She sighed.
"He said that." I breathed mechanically.
We pulled into a gas station. Scarlet stayed seated, smiling endlessly at me, her eyes shiny like glass. I had to pee yet couldn't move. I was afraid that if I tried to get out: she would slaughter me.
Detective Winters took his time filling gas, making a long phone call, buying cigarettes and smoking about half the pack. I was in agony: it was either pee myself and probably trigger her killing me, or get out and die trying.
"I really have to pee. Is it okay if I go and go pee?" I squeaked.
"Sure. Come right back." She was still smiling like a golden devil at me. I crept away from her and shut the door. Cory was on my shoulder as we obtained the key, attached to a real goat's leg, hoof and all. I went into the bathroom and peed.
As we came out with the goat leg in one hand, zipping up with the other, the parking lot lit up. Police cars swarmed from all around, surrounding Detective Winters's car. I watched while armored SWAT had to drag Scarlet from the vehicle.
Scarlet managed to slash them anyway, drawing blood from three of them. Her hidden prosthetic arm was indeed like a sharp pair of hooks. She whipped out a knife and got one of them in the groin. Blood spurted from his wound and he staggered and fell over.
Finally, they had her restrained and arrested. I went into the gas station to return the goat's leg bathroom key. Detective Winters came into the gas station behind me and selected a lighter to buy. It was with a bunch of lighters with tattoo art on them. His had a little red riding hood, looking scared, and standing in front of a wolf's eyes.
"You're still alive." He told me and flicked his lighter's flame in front of me before he went back out to the car.
"Death will always happen." Cory agreed with him.
I just sighed and tossed the goat's leg onto the counter.

What's going on?
A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.
What's the plan?
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

Epilogue

A brief, beautiful series of vignettes. We close the loop on some emotional beats, as well as receive promises/foreshadowings of further adventures.

Epigraph

The opening verses of Rumor Born, and possibly my favorite piece of poetry in the whole novel. It took me until this epigraph to realize that the title itself is referring to the city of Darujhistan and it's history. That said, given the fact that the work describes the events of the novel itself, and is written by the same guy who wrote Anomandris, then either Fisher was a Seer of incredible power or else has an immensely long lifespan. Possibly both, although the fact that Fisher's birth date is unknown implies the latter. Even at the end, answers only invite further questions.
The only other point of note is the reference to the "Gates of Nowhere" but I'm unsure what that might mean. The SCDAT?

The Epilogue Itself

The remaining Bridgeburners land back where they'd initially launched from at the beginning of Book 3, preparing to await their Moranth escort. Quick Ben and Whiskeyjack watch Moon's Spawn drift south, possibly to find another contest, this time against the Pannion Seer. Whiskeyjack's headaches have been lessening, possibly in response to his loosening heart, less guarded than the one he bore into Darujhistan. His cool reference to the loss of three members not being "that bad, considering" and Mallet's pained response shows the change has yet to take in full, but the Seargent has begun a slow road back to humanity. We leave the Bridgeburners with an ominous note, that Quick Ben has hatched another scheme, a big feint, one which might run over poorly with Whiskeyjack.
Captain Paran watches his men below on the beach, contemplating everything it cost him to get here. His... unique nature has granted new senses, and a growing awareness of Silverfox. Whether or not the romance between Paran and Tattersail was Oppon compelled or not, the two resolve to reunite in time. Mysteriously, they communicate over vast distances, although it seems to be an unreliable process. He has buried Lorn, now finally a soldier, holding in the position once held by the very man who warned him against this path, walking a path of ruin himself. Ganoes Paran, the gods have noticed you, and their gaze is unlikely to fall from someone who survived their use — what will you make of yourself?
Kalam, Fiddler, Apsalar, and Crokus sail west for Dhavran. The former claw is amused by the two youths and their naive innocence. Crokus asks after Unta, and they speak of leaving others behind, and moving forward. Kalam holds nothing against Apsalar, she's just a girl, after all. Crokus objects to this and discards the Coin, no longer in need of luck. Circle Breaker, even here barely noticed, decides to inform the Eel one last time that the Coin Berrer has freed himself, then looks forward, anticipating a new life. Also, the monkey's a demon, which probably means something that it decided to stick around.
And so, with beautiful prose and bittersweet optimism, so ends the first tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Gardens of the Moon

An excellent start all around! We've yet to see how fitting it may be for the rest of the series, but for now, I'm hooked! So much of this rode on Erikson's ability to pull off this massively ambitious departure from the commonplace, and he managed to pull it off far better than could be expected. While I recognize his inspirations in histories and anthropology, being able to port one form of literature to another, not only across genres but the fiction/non-fiction divide, is seriously impressive. While doing so without sacrificing much of the strengths of either format; even leveraging them to complement one another, is a staggering feat. I'll be breaking things down, although these categories are listed in no particular order, into Plot, Characters, Setting, Cosmology (encompassing the more fantastical elements from magic to races), and Prose/Format.

Plot

Favorite plots include the whole Jaghut Tyrant arc (for obvious reasons), Paran's Excellent adventure, and the whole Coll/Lady Simttal arc.
The deep lore cuts of all the Jaghut and T'lan Imass storylines are incredible, worldbuilding on a scope that allows for geological/evolutionary implications. The powers at play boggle the imagination and feel realized despite their incomprehensibility. Not necessarily "cosmic horror" although that plays a part, but a cosmic spectacle nonetheless. Ending, of course, with an apocalyptic battle feeling like the climax of a series of epics we barely get to glimpse. Looking forward to seeing so much more of this side of the Malazverse. I will say, the T'lan Imass gathering never really occurred, but I expect that's still coming.
Paran's whole plotline, beginning with quickly snuffed youthful aspirations, to political maneuverings, to being a pawn in the interplay between many gods and ascendants, to shaking free of the powers chaining him, if not necessarily free of what has happened to him, was great to watch unfold. It was the most straightforward "quest fantasy" of the book, touching on many cool places and meeting a wide variety of characters. Paran's brute "I'm already dead anyway so I may as well attack things head on" strategy was refreshing to watch, his relationships to Topper, Tattersail, and Toc were all great and helped to show his evolving character. Connecting with the Bridgeburners and helping them sort everything going on out was cathartic. And of course, the elephant in the room, the Dragnripur episode was fascinating and haunting and I need more.
Then there was the whole Oppon-infused plan regarding Lady Simtal and particularly its climax, was fantastic. I'm a sucker for plotlines that were technically successful yet have the characters involved come away regretting it happening in the first place. The solidarity between the Phoenix Inn regulars was great, as well as untangling their connections to one another. No there's no objective reason this one stood above the other Darujhistan plotlines, but I jive with it.
Other plots, such as all the Tiste Andii background intrigue, Crokus's whole ordeal, as well as Tattersail's plotline are great as well.
Most of the Tiste Andii stuff needs to be unpacked more fully down the road, as is we have only a brief glimpse into this massive, alien world on Moon's Spawn. Caladan Brood, Kallor, the unseen Prince K'azz, and Crone all seem to have their own intrigue going on, keeping someone reigned in. As for that someone, Anomander Rake's whole deal is a whole deal, I'm enthralled to see more of this obsolete great desperately try to get his people to care about anything again. The dragons are all tangled in this as well. Yea, I did just spend a lot of words just implying things without divulging much of what it meant, but so did Erikson and I'm hooked.
So Oppon's big plan seems to just keep nudging this one unwitting kid around via hormones and coincidence to drag the genuinely important players around. This is fascinating because it seems all Oppon wanted to do was mess with the Empire. For reasons that aren't quite clear yet, the gods seem terrified of this growing coalition of power on the part of the mortals and are doing what they can to slow this down. Even more interesting, they'd likely be able to curb-stomp the mortals pretty easily if they all weren't in their own cold war with one another. Oppon did seem to be multitasking a bit with messing with Shadow, but I'm less certain why they'd have beef outside of each operating in the "screw with stuff we shouldn't" domain.
Tattersall's (or now Silverfox's) arc is of course left wide open by the end of this, but is great. The Deck of Dragons is a fantastic narrative device, as we get assurance of the god's machinations in the background without having to pull the curtain back all the way. Also, one of the lingering questions I have is who the Ascendant that messed with the reading she did with Tayscheren was. I guess Shadowthrone? The whole soul-shifting arc and rebirth sequence are haunting and more than a but disturbing, but that speaks to the alternatives she could have undergone from her stunt in body-hopping. Her relationship with romance was a bit, odd, but there's a non-trivial element of divine meddling so it's cool ig.
The plotting is currently the strongest element of M:BotF thus far. That we had like 14 different plot threads splitting off and overlapping and drawing together over the course of the narrative is insane. That many of these plot threads managed to enliven and enlighten one another, narratively, thematically, and lore-wise, only makes the whole multiplicatively stronger than the sum of its parts. Everything felt pretty natural, with the threads that did overlap often doing so secondarily, as natural consequences rather than merging together into one mega-climax. I mean, we did get one mega-climax-sequence, but that was far more due to their proximity rather than each even being doomed to become defined by one another. Events that started separately for separate reasons stayed separate, but the shared pool of locations and characters helped to cause each of these to be deeply interconnected in the lives of those characters. Speaking of which...

Characters

My relationship with the characters of this novel is a bit interesting. They serve their plots wonderfully, and nearly every one of them has several standout moments in both word and deed. Yet, on the whole, they're, fine. I guess they're... exactly the sum of their parts? Don't get me wrong, these are extremely good parts they're made of. New character archetypes, old ones played extremely well, old ones given genuinely inventive twists. These are very good characters, but possibly the weakest pillar of the novel. The dialogue is weighty and meaningful, betraying a depth to the world and the people in it. Actions are (usually) thought out, exceptions to this rule are all true to a character or under extenuating circumstances. I want to see more of all of them. It's just, there isn't much of that "x factor" a lot of great character writers bring out.
I've already praised Paran, his attitude, and his motives. He's way over his head at the best of times and just has to bluff and namedrop long enough to survive to a point where he can effect genuine change. That effort changes him pretty drastically, and while he is somewhat better off for it, it is a sad thing to see the naive kid in him die off so soon.
Tattersail is interesting to me, I like her, but as a character she's on the weaker end of the cast. We do see her strong emotions and compassion explored a bit, but she takes a pretty hard left turn plot wise before that goes much of anywhere. We'll have to wait and see how Silverfox pans out.
Whiskeyjack fascinates me, we don't get too much of who he is, just all that's left of him of being ground into the dust. I can't wait to see Whiskeyjack the Old Guard thaw off more, as well as Whiskeyjack the man.
Quick Ben and Kalam probably stand as my current favorite Bridgeburners, their bromance being a highlight of the novel all while standing as fascinating characters on their own. Quick Ben has, all kinds of backstory running around, as well as secrets on top of that, but what we know of him so far is great. Kalam's just world-weary, yet he can't help but keep moving forward until he can bow out legitimately. The two of them are so much fun on top of being fascinating.
Dujek and Tayscheren, while not super present in the novel, are pretty great characters in their own right. Dujek, last of the Old Guard with any real power, just trying to do what he can for his men. And Tayscheren, not necessarily evil, but just a guy swallowed up in his own job.
Hairlock, while not making too much of a splash in the grand scheme of things, was an incredibly fun inclusion and a great initial antagonist. Just a power-mad goofy little guy who doubles as our first major look into this world's magic and cosmology.
Adjunct Lorn was one of the standout characters of the novel, a woman enslaved to her own self-justification. Torn between the scared girl trapped in the mines and the unfeeling super claw, unable to reconcile the two before the end. Her constant contradictions and tensions within her character were fascinating to watch.
And Toc, poor Toc man. A great guy who I'd loved to have seen more of, just being such an interesting character on top of being fun. I feel he's introduced some interesting concepts, from the "inner sight" superstition of Seven Cities to whomever his dad is, but the credits have rolled and my guy is still down for the count, so I'll be interested to see how these elements are brought back.
Crokus Younghand stands out in this novel as the one, lone dumbass. Stop being literally me Crokus, you're embarrassing us. His interactions with everyone are great, quickly vacillating between idealism and stubbornness, romanticism and a parody grimdark woe-is-me view of reality. Every interaction he has with a woman is golden, but not particularly a glowing performance on his end.
Magnanimous Kruppe the First is the indesputable highpoint of this esteemed tale, and I will not hear otherwise. He is of course, bestowed of many virtues, chief among so his delight in the many pleasures of this world, second among so his capacity to indulge in any virtue or pleasure at will. Cleverest of anyone we see here, able to run conversations by himself with faux humility (for what does Kruppe have a need to be humble about?) and keep the magnificent city of Darujhistan in his pocket. There is a power vacuum of sorts our dear Eel needs to fulfill, and there is plenty of the rotund mage to explore each new crevice.
Rallick Nom and Murillio are great as well, in many ways they act as foils of one another. Rallick does what he does because he sees this as his only path through life, holding onto the concept of his actions benefiting others to preserve his mortality. Murillio, on the other hand, has a moral code of sorts but will transgress it if he feels there is a way to benefit a friend sufficiently. In the end, they both wind up morally bankrupt.
Lady Simtal and Turban Orr were fun villains. Not particularly unique but pulled off extremely well.
High Alchemist Baruk seems to have a whole bunch of layers to him. We keep getting allusions to a whole bunch of relevant stories with this man, such as his ascendancy or close friendship to Rallick Nom, but we don't get to see much of it, which I feel is a shame.
Raest is an awsome force of nature villain, believably evil for the sake of it. Namely, his evil is specific which is what makes for great villains of this sort. Raest wanted control over the longterm development of his world, to fundamentally remake things after his own nature.
Anomander freaking Rake. Nuf said.

Setting

While this is our first real look into Wu(?) as a whole, I'll mostly focus on modern-day Genebakis.
A great setting, with a bit of ecological and cultural diversity, although mostly hyperfocused on the city of Darujhistan. Perhaps a bit more could have been done in the set-dressing department. Genebaris received no real description, despite apparently existing in a different biome than the more southern cities. Similarly, he evidently passes through a forest, but of what kind? Touches like these could help further drive in the scope of the narrative physically in a similar manner to the temporal scope. It also is a bit disappointing because when Erikson did go the extra mile to do so, such as Kruppe's dreams or the like, two up-close descriptions of Darujhistan (besides just being big, blue, and copper from far off) were great. Actually, the lack of Darujhistan descriptions was possibly the biggest missed opportunity.
But what we do get in the City of Blue Fire is great and evocative. From the infrastructure to the politics to the culture and religion, it all stands out even among other great fantasy cities.
The Rhivi, Moranth, and Bhargast can all stand to be expanded on, but I get the sense that they'll be more than able to provide on that front once it becomes time. I'm curious to see how southern Genebakis contrasts to the northern reaches, but we'll get to that when we get to that.
Erikson's experience as an anthropologist really shines through, with the breadth, depth, and specificity of the world-building and cultures. I anticipate this element of the BotF rising to the top for me personally once we have more time to watch it unfold.

Cosmology and Magic

So my takes on these have been... rather well received, it seems. I love what tiny bit of the magic and cosmos of the world I've seen so far and look forward to understanding more!
In a lot of ways, it seems magic in this world is itself undergoing an evolutionary process, with all the Elder Warrens to Warrens ascendants and gods, and mortals evidently now being potent enough to overpower the gods themselves. If we expand on this analogy, then a lot of the confusion might be due to poor terminology. E.g. define a fish. Now define a Warren. There seem to be multiple related things all lumped under the same blanket term, despite their functional difference. The magic super highways and demi-planes and isolated pockets within objects (Dragnupir and the Finnest) are all roughly related (fish) while being intrinsically different and likely further classifiable as such (trout, squid, and sharks if you will).
But aside from that residual speculation and just generally saying its cool, I don't got much to say here.

Prose and Format

The prose of GotM was pretty good! Not the best, but serviceable, engaging, and evocative with a handful of really standout passages. I cannot wait to see this take a ten-year leap in Deadhouse Gates!
The formating was interesting. Many chapters were wonderfully interwoven PoV's all complimenting each other. Some could have conceivably been split into multiple quite comfortably, other blended. Makes me wonder why Erikson collected things as he did. Chapter 9 was basically 4 self-contained sequences each a chapter long, lol. ... It's because the Odessy has 24 chapters, isn't it? The book breakdown was terrifically effective, while Books 4, 5, and 6 largely blended together PoV-wise, they each still had their specific goals and arcs.
I'm a major fan of Epigraphs, and these were all great! (Despite my constant timeline and poetry scruples) A lot of my more out-there theorizing tended to be a bit more playful with the epigraphs than I think Erikson ever got, but that's more my own biases talking. I will say, if I ever get around to writing anything, I'd love to go ham on epigraph shenanigans.
All in all, this profoundly unique PoV structure (not so much unique in form as in just how broad and ambitious it is) works to elevate the whole experience. That Erikson so radically adheres to 3rd limited can get somewhat constraining at times, especially when we're not privy to info our PoV has, but overall, it works.

Final Thoughts

So, with all my nit-picking, critiques, and half-praise, did I even like this novel? No, I LOVE it. It is in many ways as advertised, a messy first step into a unique and wildly ambitious new direction, and I'm wholly invested in watching the rest of this unfold!
And now for one last pass through the ancillary goodies:
Dramatis Personae
Is actually quite funny in retrospect. But first:
Sorry is mentioned as a killer in the guise of a young girl. Obvious when you're in the know but it doesn't give the answer right away.
Dancer is mentioned as the advisor (right-hand, if you will) right out of the gate, D'oh.
Toc the Elder disappeared during Laseen's purges, interesting.
Kruppe: a man of false modesty, TRUE
Coll being merely listed as a drunk, technically true.
Chert: "an unlucky bully" lol
Mammot is listed as a High Preist of D'riss, D'oh.
The Eel is listed independently of Kruppe, good cover.
K'Rul is listed as the Maker of Paths, D'oh.
And that's more or less it. (I mean, I only skimmed it before, so its not like a missed anything)

Glossary

Not too much to say here, but a few notes:
Poliel, Missteres of Pestilence, and Soliel, Missteres of Healing have rather similar names, which is interesting.
The Warrens here are all listed as what their actual domains are, which is a nice aid. There don't seem to be any more than the ones named somewhere within the text, which is fine, but a couple odd notes:
Meanas is listed as the Path of Shadow and Illusion, Tattersail mentioned the two domains are connected, whereas Quick Ben (once a High Preist of Shadow) had seemed to regard the two as separate. There's a story there.
Also, Thyr, Tattersaill's Warren, is the Warren of Light, given the apparently... interesting relationship between Light and Dark, particularly Lights evident "corruption" I'd love to see the implications of all this.
The K'chain Che'maille's Elder Warren is not listed, either because it doesn't exist (once again proving them the worst Elder Race, nerds got soloed by some snow, lol) or it was simply never mentioned. Given we have seen at least one magic relic from them, likely the latter.
Also, the Azath is nowhere mentioned, which is interesting in itself.
Well, that's that! See y'all in a week or so, once I've gotten a test out of the way, with the beginning of Deadhouse Gates!

What's going on?
A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader to Boost.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface. This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.
What's the plan?
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?
Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit : submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /ModCoord- but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
Boycott and spread the word... to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.
I know /oakville is not the largest community on Reddit, and our blackout is unlikely to tip the scale one way or another... But it is important to make our voice heard nonetheless. Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the comments if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

TL;DR In Protest of and solidarity to the various loved 3rd party apps we'll be taking the sub private sometime on or after 0000UTC 2023-06-12 through at least 0000UTC 2023-06-14 if not later.

/OpenSignups will be joining in on the June 12th-14th protest of Reddit's API changes that will essentially kill all 3rd party Reddit apps.

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do as a user?

• Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
  
• Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join the coordinated mod effort at /ModCoord.
  
• Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
  
• Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.
  

Thank you for your patience in the matter,
- OpenSignups ModTeam

TL;DR In Protest of and solidarity to the various loved 3rd party apps we'll be taking the sub private sometime on or after 0000UTC 2023-06-12 through at least 0000UTC 2023-06-14 if not later.

I'm rep 75, I wouldn't say I'm bad but I'm not good either. I can parry sometimes but it isn't consistent. I can get kills, some that are simply outplayed, others that are lucky. but I've found myself often dying to people half my rep. sometimes even only rep 10-20 and that really puts my morale down. I typically only play dominion with a K/D of 1.35 and watching as my kd goes from 5000/4800 to 5500/5800 kinda sucks. I've put a lot of time into YouTube videos, character guides, time spent in training mode doing light/heavy parry practice, learning from friends that are rep 300+ but it feels like I'm just stuck because it's been 4 months since I picked the game back up and my kd hasn't changed. Every fight I get into I either do good, or I do terrible with no in-between. I've changed sensitivity settings based on if I can't get to the red flasher fast enough or if my guard stance is changing too rapidly. I feel like I've done watched every tip and trick video out there and I'm just stuck, any advice for me or should I just accept that I'm just not good enough for this type of game?
Also have tried on both KB+M and controller, no difference
I try to be diverse with the characters I'm playing, and if I notice a string of losses I'll switch to a different type, examples: shugoki, medjay, JJ, tiandi, kyoshin, zhanhu, nobushi, jorman, etc.
I also play with a friend whose rep 50 and 0.85 kd on Dominion, and we still often get obliterated

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
   
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
   
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
   
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible. This includes not harassing moderators of subreddits who have chosen not to take part: no one likes a missionary, a used-car salesman, or a flame warrior.
   

What's going on?
A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.
What's the plan?
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do as a user?
Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join the coordinated mod effort at ModCoord.
Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.
What can you do as a moderator?
Join the coordinated effort over at ModCoord
Make a sticky post showing your support, A template has been created here you can use or modify to your liking, and be sure to crosspost it to ModCoord.
What are we asking the northernireland community?
We want community input on whether or not to join the protest and close the sub for two days from 12th-14th June 2023.
Thank you for your patience in the matter,
-Mod Team
View Poll

I've beat a few mini bosses and just beat the big monkey thing with the centipede in his neck. The combat feels really repetitive and I feel like I'm playing wrong or missing something. I feel like I'm basically mashing light attack into an enemy until I see a red ui effect then either parry or dodge, rinse and repeat until they're guard broken. It doesn't feel like there's much skill expression, some of the prosthetics kinda break the monotony, but I feel like they don't really do much. I know some have really specific/situational uses, but I feel like it's usually better to either just mash light attack more or just wait for a counter attack. After I beat Gyobou I was already done fighting the normal human enemies and just started sprinting/grappling past them (maybe that's the point? You're a shinobi so maybe the idea is to run through the chaff of an area, kill your targets, and move on?) I just cant shake the feeling I missed a major mechanic that adds depth to the combat like as if I were playing Mortal Shell, but completely missed the hardening mechanic. I like the aesthetic and the freedom of the level design, but the combat feels too tedious to be enjoyable. Can somebody please tell me I missed something or that the combat gets deeper as I progress like when I got the prosthetic weapon and mikiri counter thing?

For a bit of background, I'm a recently-licensed Architect and my entire career I've worked in "commercial" (for lack of a better term) firms doing civic projects, commercial projects, and larger-scale multi-family projects. I've done some but generally very little private-residential work (ie - single family), but I would like to understand more about the process of the residential side which might allow me to do my own work at some point in the future. I like my current position and very well may stay there long-term, so I don't exactly want to switch to work for a residential architect.
I have enough knowledge of Type V construction that I'd be able to put together a solid set of construction documents for residential work, but there are things I'm not clear on (either how to do it, or what is the correct/best way to do it) such as contracts, structural design, some of the more intricate detailing, consultants and other trades (mechanical, electrical, lighting, etc), construction and finding contractors, etc. I don't feel confident to provide full services as a licensed Architect, but I would like to be.
I'm curious if anyone has been in a similar spot and how they dealt with it. I have reached out to a small residential firm once offered very part-time work at a reasonable hourly wage to gain some of that experience, but the talks didn't go too far, but I feel like that would be an ideal scenario.
Any thoughts?

Name: Kef K. "Rings" Moebius
Race: Hyena Faunus
Age: 19 as of volume 8
Reference: Sonic.exe, the infamous creepypasta.
Kef is named Kef K. Moebius because of Kefka, a character from Final Fantasy VI. Kefka's laugh is used frequently in MY5TCrimson's Sonic.exe game.
He is a Hyena faunus because of JC-The-Hyena, the original writer of the Sonic.exe creepypasta.
Physical details: Kef is light skinned, with a haircut similar to Jaune's Atlas haircut, but cobalt blue and brushed backwards, with a short red stripe brushing up from his fringe. He also, of course, has a pair of blue hyena ears that give him excellent hearing. Kef often wears a pair of silver aviator sunglasses with mirrored red lenses, only removing them for combat.
Kef's most notable article of clothing is a long blue scarf with winding sharp red patterning, outlined in white. Kef also wears a cobalt blue jacket which has Vale's symbol printed in white with red axes on the back. His jacket is unbuttoned, and reveals a grey bullet proof vest underneath. Kef's trousers are a darker shade of blue than his jacket, with a pair of short red stripes coming up diagonally from his ankles. Kef also wears a pair of white sneakers with a red stripe horizontally across them.
Kef's most striking physical feature are his eyes, which he rarely opens. His sclera are pitch black, and his irises are crimson, and his pupils appear to "spread" out in an X pattern. Keeping his eyes open for even a short duration causes them to bleed, mimicking Sonic.exe's...ahem "HYPER REALISTIC EYES BLEEDING HYPER REALISTIC BLOOD!"
Weapons: Clawblades Kef's Clawblades are essentially a pair of red full-arm metal gauntlets with sharp claws, and long blades up the sides of the arms. The fingers of the gauntlets fade into black starting at the hands.
The claw tips are actually replaceable, and similar to Raven's Omen, can be replaced with dust infused claws. Despite being a close range fighter, the claws can be detached mid-swing, giving Kef a ranged option.
Semblance/How Kef became blind: "Hide and Seek" When Kef was young, the small farm town he lived in was full of kids that little else to do all day than play hide and seek. And Kef was no different. Except for the fact that he was really good at it. If he was seeking, it did not matter where anyone hid, he'd find them quickly. If he was hiding, it'd take half an hour of the other kids yelling "WE GIVE UP!" for him to leave his perfect hiding spot. Then, one day, Kef awoke his semblance. A set of 5 red rings followed him constantly, and gave him a sixth sense of his surroundings. Suddenly, he just knew things. Thanks to the the rings, he knew when people were near him. He knew his surroundings. He knew if something was hot, and he knew if something was cold.
Good eyesight, excellent hearing, and a sixth sense of worldly conditions as a whole.
Kef became a village nightmare, and many of his friends at the time became incredibly jealous, as he was pretty much unbeatable in a good 'ol game of Hide and Seek.
Then one day, his small farm town was raided by bandits. Kef ran, and did what he did best: hid. As the bandits ransacked and burned his home, Kef hid in his favourite spot; the rafters of his family's barn. But then, the bandits set the barn aflame. As the flames drew closer, Kef only wished to hide away from the flames.
And his rings fulfilled his wish. Kef's rings all came together and formed into one larger red ring. A portal. With no other options, Kef crawled through, and found himself in a dimension that could not be described with typical words. He was safe, but lost. The incomprehensible dimension spanned out infinitely around him, looping, spinning, folding in upon itself but still somehow resembling the real world.
It didn't take Kef long to realise his biggest problem, however: He couldn't leave. His red rings were there with him, but he couldn't figure out how to form a portal with them so that he could leave.
Kef was found months later, malnourished, blood-stained and crying in a forest path. When his new adoptive parents pulled his hands away from his eyes, they found where the blood was coming from. His eyes. Which were now pitch black, with red irises and X-shaped pupils.
And Kef realised that he could no longer see. Only his rings allowed him to perceive the world through the shape of objects, geometry of areas, energy and heat.
BehaviouHabits: Despite his backstory, inspiration and general appearance, Kef is a rather pleasant person. Kef mostly keeps to himself, often listening to music and gently moving to the beat. Kef is always open to conversation, however, and is very vocal about his many passions, chief among then being music.
Kef is highly jovial, and always enjoys a good laugh. He'll laugh at anything, from faunus jokes, jokes about his eyes, typical huntsman gallows humour, and he will gladly make all these jokes himself.
He has a bit of an ego, though it only shows through during competition/combat. Kef is extremely competitive, and his obsession with winning can even be seen as sadism, especially in sparring with other students. Kef's signature howling laughter makes this image even worse, as, for whatever reason, Kef's rings sometimes echo what he says, and they always echo whenever he laughs, creating a rather intimidating image. Kef is never one to pass up a bet or a challenge, and he is not one to enjoy losing either.
Capabilities: Kef is positively brutal in close combat. His rings mean that as long as a target stands within 5 meters of him, he can read and process their every move with extreme speed and react accordingly. Kef makes full use of his Clawblades during combat making him a total menace to fight in close combat. He is nowhere near strong as Yang or Nora, but he is capable of giving either of them a run for their money. Kef's greatest skill is his Semblance's secondary ability to transport him to his pocket dimension or "Special Zone" which allows him to manoeuvre safely and launch a devastating surprise attack. The only issue is that he cannot perceive any living thing in his pocket dimension, he can only hear them.
Weaknesses: Kef's Red Rings' detection radius is not at all very large. He has no way of finding opponents at range, save for his hearing.
As well, given that Kef can detect everything around him, he can be overwhelmed by too many moving objects/people around him, forcing him to disengage.
Perhaps Kef's greatest flaw is his inability to perceive any reasoning or deeper meaning behind actions and words. He sees almost everything as a game, and as such his inability to take anything seriously is a detriment to himself and those around him.

I was driving down the highway and entering into a turn lane. I noticed the white dashed lines were disappearing (indicating exit is coming up), saw a space in front of a car and put my signal on to merge. I turn into the lane, I’m in it now, and the person behind me honks and speeds up. At this point their bumper is alongside my back passenger door and they’re actively trying to push me out of the lane I just merged into. They continue honking and flipping me off and once they realize I am in front, they swerve around and yell at me through their window, causing traffic to stop in the lane next to us. She follows me for 15 minutes back to my job. At a red light, she gets out of her car and says, “You made me hit my car. Just so you know there is a hit and run report with your license plate attached to it”. I told her I was going across the street and we could discuss it. She kept saying, “I’m not aggressive, I’m not crazy” as I was listening to her allegations through my cracked window. I get to my job, park, and take a pic of the damage (the bumper on her passenger side is popped out a bit, nothing excessive). She accuses me of making her hit her car, and I tell her that she was the one that was pulling forward as I was merging and that the car behind her was stopped. She threatened, “I have a dash cam, babe, they’re going to see that you pushed me off the road to avoid hitting your car”. I said, “You sped up and drove next to me for a few seconds in the breakdown lane just because you didn’t want me to merge, so I don’t understand why you’re blaming me for hitting your car on the opposite side with the guard rail. I don’t have control of your car”. She asked for my ID, I declined. She asked for my name, I gave it to her. She stated again, “I’m not aggressive, I’m not crazy, I have to go pick up my kids. I’m a single mom and I can’t afford to pay for this by myself”. I ended the conversation.
Some more info: My car never touched hers. I did not hit her car.
AITA???

What's happening?
On June 12 and 13, /SlowHorses will be going dark in protest of upcoming Reddit changes (along with thousands of other subreddits). You will not be able to access the sub during this time.
What's going on?
A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
In addition to providing a better user experience, these apps also help visually-disabled users to access the site through accessibility features not found in the official Reddit app. Third party apps are also used by many moderators of the site, including ones in this sub.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.
What's the plan?
On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy, including /SlowHorses. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

For more information on the protest, visit save3rdPartyApps/

Clancyverse will be joining in on the June 12th-14th protest of Reddit's API changes that will essentially kill all 3rd party Reddit apps.

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn't the goal and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do as a user?

• Complain. Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
  
• Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat.
  
• Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
  
• Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.
  

Thank you for your patience in the matter,
-Clancyverse Mod Team

~Escape The Night~ PvE w/PvP ZonesWIPED3PPHelisAI-BossesRaidingBBP100kNoobsKeycardsAirdropBunkersParty-SystemTraderBlackmarketBankingDrugsBedRespawnSpawnSelectVehicles+Guns+Loot+
IP: 51.81.221.168:7915
Join Our Discord https://discord.gg/2EQPEZ8
Server Restart Intervals Are At 5:40AM PST - 11:40AM PST - 5:40PM PST 11:40PM PST
BASE BUILDING: AT THE MOMENT TRADERS DO NOT SELL NAILS/FOOD/ARMOR, for a more survival feel we made base building a little more grindy than other servers for a better experience (MOD: BASE BUILDING PLUS), THERE IS NO BUIDLING NEAR PVP ZONES, HIDEOUTS, OR TRADERS (500m from Hideouts/Traders, 300m from PVP zones). Get your grind on and have fun with more of an immersive pvp building system. We have BasicTerritories/PVEZE Flag Zones. You need a flagpole to make a base & you need a flag fully raised on your pole to enable PvP. Since we use PVEZ the flags help in case you need to defend against a raid. The flag also helps keep all your items secure from poofing away. Sadly bases can be raided even with your flag pole lowered. So it’s recommended that you keep your flag pole raised.
ALL BASES HAVE A LIMITED AMOUNT OF VEHICLES THEY CAN POSSESS! Each base can have a max of 3 Land Vehicles & 2 Helicopters (This Is To Help Prevent Lag)
PVP ZONES/PVE: All PVP Zones contain either a military spot on the map, or Custom Keycard areas, Custom Key Cards spawn randomly around the map or in airdrops/military bases/bunkers.THERE IS ABSOULETLY NO KILLING OUTSIDE PVP ZONES, what ever damage you afflict on another Survior, that damage will come back to you, this a noob/pve setting of a server so show some respect.
KEYCARDS: There many different keycards you can get but they all are different. Some have different loot, some have mixed loot. Rare keycard rooms give 10x better loot than normal military/bm loot. There Is 2 Red/Black/Violet/Green Rooms. 1 Yellow/Blue/Med Lab/White Rooms.
Right Now The Keycards Ranging From Best To Worst Are Red, Black, Yellow, White, Violet, Green, Blue, Med Laboratory. There will probably be more in the future. Red Keycard Loaded but is suuuper rare.
(NOTE: Right now please don't fly into keycard areas. We recently added helis again and some areas are possible to fly into (AI will probably shoot them down but still we want keycards to be used to access keycard areas. ALSO When you open a keycard room it will stay open until server restart because the loot crates wont reset until after restart)
THE BUNKER: Right now there is currently 1 bunker on the server. You need a White Keycard to enter it & when you enter it turns to total darkness. You'll need a light or nvgs too see anything after entering. This place is worth checking out but be careful of possible chances of Zombies/AI. The bunker is really nice for finding blackmarket items and chances decent/guns/armoammo.
TRAVEL TRADER: We recently added a trader that can change locations and also change what they Buy/Sell! The Travel Trader Can Spawn At Any Keycard Locations (Based On When I Move Them) & Trades Rare Items Other Traders Might Not Sell Or Might Buy/Sell At A Discount!
TRADERS: Traders are all around the map and they only sell certain items there. Very high powered weapons cannot be bought a civ traders, they will most likely be purchasable at Blackmarket or not purchasable at all, you will need to scavenge your way around the map if you want to be the best, there are no handouts. Normal Civ Traders will have the essentials there to survive.
AI/BOSSES: AI spawn at all keycards/hideouts except Blue/Green Keycards. They have a chance to spawn anywhere else. There are 3 Bosses on the server. Killa, Zryachiy, the Goons. Killa spawns at Red/Black/Yellow Keycards. Zryachiy spawns at Prison Island. The Goons can spawn at Red/Black/White/Med Lab. The Goons are the rarest Bosses to run into right now while Killa and Zryachiy are about the same. Killa and Zryachiy can have guards.

In short- I am looking at how the storage environment (STORE) affects the quality of winter squash. I measured 10 different varieties of winter squash (CV), over the course of six months (DATE). The question I am asking is, how does the storage environment affect the quality of winter squash over time, and by variety?
The quality parameters I measured were soluble sugar (Brix), Starch (Starch), dry matter (DM), interior color (LavgI) (AavgI) (BavgI), Exterior color (LavgE) (AavgE) (BavgE). L*a*b* are measurements of color. L=Lightness, a= red/green on a spectrum, and b= yellow/blue on a spectrum. LAB info
I have two storage environments- PGC and THG.
In each storage environment, I had the same 10 varieties of Squash randomly distributed in bins, and would remove 4 of each variety each month (REP).
So, My response variables are: DM, Brix, L*, a*, and b* interior, L*, a*, and b* exterior, and Starch.
My explanatory variables are STORE, CV, and Month. I also measured AvgRH and AvgTemp within each storage unit.
One of my committee members suggested getting rid of 10 lines and only having three to simplify things for the viewer. He suggested that I group varieties of squash that have similar attribute together.
I am thinking he means if a certain variety has a dry matter content of 10-14%, 15-19%, and 20%+, create groups for them, which would mean I have 3 lines on my line graphs representing varieties instead of 10. I could do the same for the other quality parameters.
Can any one help me understand how to:

1. create new factors with my existing levels of those factors in r?
2. use those new factors to create ggplots?
3. I am open to other suggestions you may have outside of what I have asked if you think it may work better.

This is the code I have been using:
WSD %>%
group_by(STORE, CV, DATE) %>%
summarize(avg = mean(DM,na.rm = TRUE)) %>%
ggplot(mapping = aes(x = DATE, y = avg, group= CV, color= CV)) +
facet_grid(~ STORE) +
geom_line() +
theme_minimal() +
labs(x='DATE', y='Mean DM', title='Linear Regression Plot') +
theme(plot.title = element_text(hjust=0.5, size=20, face='bold'))
​
I uploaded a screenshot of my data, if there is a preferred way to share just lmk and I will edit.