I thought I might start using this graphic for the updates, too! At least until I get bored of it and end up creating another. 🌊 We love eye-catching visuals in this house.

Anyway, sorry for the delay with this update! Last weekend was insane, putting it lightly, and I only really feel like I have started to return to capacity now. I appreciate your patience!

As of 04/27, I have added the following resources (in no particular order) to Sea's Community Compendium for FFXIV Creatives:

LARGE SCALE

XIV TODO — honestly, huge thanks to whoever submitted this resource because I didn't know it existed! This is another set of tools and tailored checklists for XIV that help you track encounters, content completion, dailies and more! It's also extremely alt-friendly for those of us who have more characters than sense.

FREE COMPANY / COMMUNITY FOCUSED

THE VIERAN MAFIA — do you like suave Noir-themed bars framed by mystery and intrigue? How about a bit of organised crime? This Free Company is for you! (They're also hiring, if you're interested. Get in touch with @fjotla-vithir!)

MISC

FFXIV BUFF AND DEBUFF MAKER — if you have ever thought a screenshot of yours would be made funnier by a buff/debuff but you don't have access to photo editing software, @fortunafavore has you covered with this simple tool!

XKIT REWRITTEN — The most up-to-date iteration of the original XKit tool, XKit Rewritten provides a series of enhancement tools for Tumblr's web-based interface including accessibility tools, anti-capitalism bocks and recommendation tweaks.

Want to submit? You can either fill out the google form here, send me an ask with the relevant information contained on the Compendium, or join my Discord at SEAFLOOR (21+ only)!

As a reminder, the answer to the question of "Is my resource/community applicable to the Compendium?" is almost always a resounding yes. I want to know what's out there. I want to feature your project!

However, for the sake of clarity, I'll pop the FAQ from this post below in a read more for you to check out if you're worried. ✨

I want to put my community on the compendium but we have an application process. Is this okay?

Yes! Just note somewhere in your application that's a requirement. The only thing that is mandatory for the Compendium is that you must be open to new members or have a public-facing/accessible facet. There's no point advertising a community if no one can join it in some way!

I want to put my community on the compendium but I only have x number of members —

Also totally okay! People don't start with large communities. Activity is a must but, whether your server has two or two thousand members, if you're looking for new people to join, I'd love to help you find people.

I want to put my community on the compendium but I worry its too niche?

Okay, and? If your Eorzean Fishing Alliance has four members but you roleplay every second weekend, I still want to know about it.

What resources/communities can I add if I'm not the owner of them?

Mutual consent is extremely important to me, so anything that isn't a large-scale community OR a publicly accessible resource must be endorsed by the owner/admin/moderators in order to be added to the compendium. I operate under the assumption that a resource posted to a public space (tumblr, googledocs, youtube, etc) is open to all. A large-scale community is one with a significant member count or openly advertises itself as being accessible to everyone for whatever purpose it serves. If in doubt, please get in touch with me. I'm happy to contact your community owners for you!

How active does a community need to be?

If you find a community has not been active in about two/three months, send me a message and I'll take a look at it. Communities have ebbs and flows, especially event spaces that may take hiatuses depending on member interest/life events. I'm not strict in my implementation provided a space isn't dead. If a link or anything is broken, absolutely contact me about that.

I have [insert a question not stated here]?

No drama! Send me an ask or use the #Compendium channel in my Discord!

REVIEW: Astrovitae magazine Issue 2

Astrovitae is a magazine devoted to creators in the speculative fiction subgenre of speculative biology. Though people have imagined fantastic beasts and beings since the beginning of our species, speculative biology  focuses on developing organisms using our current knowledge of biology, ecology, physics, geology and other sciences. Though even within these limits there is a wide spectrum, as some creators may work with strict hard science rules while others prefer to design fantastic beasts closer to myth and folklore.

This second issue of Astrovitae shows significant refinement from the already impressive first issue.   There is a new section on speculative biology news featuring interviews, YouTube videos, Kickstarters, and new projects.. It’s a good way to keep abreast of the bewildering variety of speculative projects out there. This issue also features the first of a regular book review column, beginning with Christian Cline’s The Teeming Universe.

Collaborative projects are the focus of issue two, with articles on the online Discord-based Specposium convention, the Project Sil Discord, and a preview of Almost Real magazine. The latter showcases the Keraunoplast, fascinating slime mold-like organism that feeds directly on electricity and can actually bond with old space junk to form cybernetic life forms. This issue came out in September 2021, and it’s fascinating to see how the imposed quarantine of the Covid pandemic and the subsequent burst of more online communication through Discord, Instagram and other social media has led to the birth of so many new speculative biology projects.

Hyperlinks embedded in the Pdf pages are a really useful feature. Readers can click an article’s byline to go to the creator’s website or other social media. Clicking the section heading will also take one back to the table of contents.

As with the previous issue, Astrovitae #2 is divided into several sections: Captivating Worlds, with overviews of large world-building projects; Artist Spotlight, which looks at the creators themselves and their bodies of work as a whole; and Creature Compendium: which zooms in on individual organisms.

 Captivating Worlds begins with an in-depth look at the natural history of Mathijs Megens’ Amethyst Beach Shield, a chemosynthetic armored organism.

The next entry, Domenic Pennetta’s Project Perditus is a survey of a world that resembles Earth in the early Paleozoic, with creatures that will feel familiar to many paleo-enthusiasts, while still retaining their own alien-ness.

The Alternate Cenozoic Project by Thien Anh Nguyen is a what-if about an earth where the large dinosaurs were not killed off by an impact form space, following in the tradition of works such as Dougal Dixon’s The New Dinosaurs, and the Speculative Dinosaur Project.

Sea Serpents of the Arthechocene by Alejandro Martínez Fluxá is set in the future after human-caused mass extinctions. With all the large pinnipeds and cetaceans gone, sea snakes evolve to fill the niche of large oceanic predators and filter-feeders, becoming the long, whale-like tiamats.

Evan Proctor’s Before Planet Feni is primarily an outline of the dominant species on the titular planet, as well as some background about the planet’s explorers. Hopefully there will be more to come in this work.

The World of Nijin-Konai by Lorenzo Battilani is a hard science look at a primarily aquatic alien world, delving into microbiology and genetics with a radiation resistant enzyme and redundant genes that allow the planet’s organisms to adapt to the lethal UV radiation of their native star.  Battilani also discusses the complex neurological, metabolism and anatomy of his creature in minute detail that could have come from a college biology textbook.

  Artist Spotlight features an article by YouTube creator Biblaridion detailing how their channel grew from a tutorial on concepts in evolutionary biology to a detailed study of a fictional world. 

Reinhard Gutzat offers a meditation on the sometimes rocky intersection of creativity and biological accuracy during an artist’s development process.

 Artist Sibilla Pepi offers a look at their design process as they develop a feathered wyvern based on the biology of real-life birds.

Creature Compendium showcases individual speculative creatures in the manner of pages taken from a field guide and includes a giant diving beetle, an alien tadpole, a balloon-like organisms that lives in the atmosphere of a gas planet, and more.

The authors write with the enthusiasm and vernacular of seasoned biologists well versed in scientific nomenclature. Their creatures are given unique taxonomic names and anatomical terms, adding greatly to their believability. These complex names can get a bit overwhelming, however, leading to what one might call “textbook burnout”.  Sometimes I found it necessary to go back and reread articles to fully absorb all the names. This terminology might turn off a reader with a scientific background, but the imaginative variety on display should hold most interests. This is a minor critique, though, and the magazine overall is a professional-quality publication that would be at home in any library shelf. I am particularly pleased to see more projects focusing on the hypothetical evolution of Earthly creatures.

Astrovitae issue 2 is vailable both as a free downloadable PDF from the magazine’s website and as a virtual book that one can flip through on Yumpu.com

MOST ANTICIPATED  2023 BOOK RELEASES

in fairness, “most anticipated” is a stretch. I’m not totally up on upcoming releases because I’m not really in the book community like I used to be. these are mainly titles I found interesting in a quick search

the stolen heir by holly black admittedly the folk of the air series is akin to fast food for me. like it sustains me exactly as long as it takes to finish it, and twenty minutes later I’ve forgotten all about it. however it’s a friend’s favorite series and I’m looking forward to their excitement enough that it’s elevating my own

song of silver, flame like night by amélie wen zhao the cover is beautiful and I’ve been leaning more into fantasy lately. it’ll be a bit of branching out since I’ve not read anything else by this author

emily wilde’s encyclopaedia of faeries by heather fawcett another author I haven’t read and a cover that’s fun. I’m charmed by the summary of a socially struggling academic studying faerie folklore

the daughters of izdihar by hadeer elsbai it’s being shelved as lesbian and I’m shallow enough to be hooked on that alone. plus I love a good fight for your rights story so fingers crossed it fucks

vampire weekend by mike chen “about a boy meets what we do in the shadows” literally all this book has to do is be mildly good in the follow through and I’ll love it

clytemnestra by costanza casati I just think books about reviled women are something that can be so personal

MOST ANTICIPATED  2023 BACKLIST READS

the golem and the jinni by helen wecker I read about 50 pages of this every six months and have never finished it. now that I listen to audiobooks, I’m determined to read it all. idk what’s stopped me since I enjoy it when I pick it up

sword of destiny and blood of elves by andrzej sapkowski I’m a good way through sword of destiny already. my witcher era never really ends but will shift between the show, the games, and the books.

cruel illusions by margie fuston it’s especially unfair to call this one a backlist read as it’s a very recent release. anyway, that noted, I just got the fairyloot edition and it’s so gorgeous. so this is kind of a vanity pick I’m hoping lives up to its presentation but vampires and magic and deadly games does sound dope

a closed and common orbit by becky chambers omg I was such a long way to a small, angry planet girlie when that was released only to then never read another in the series... planning to change that in 2023. I might even reread the first book because it’s been so damn long

saga, compendium one by brian k. vaughan saga has been tapping my shoulder lately begging to be reread and I definitely need the refresher before picking up vol.10

the ten thousand doors of january by alix e. harrow my favorite book in the world (top three at least) is the starless sea by erin morgenstern and no other book ever hits the way it does, but the ten thousand doors of january is always the first Similar Recommendation so it’s worth a shot

A beautifully illustrated, clothbound compendium presenting significant contemporary art in Southeast Asia, SEA: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia highlights the dynamic nature of contemporary art in Southeast Asia across generations and borders. This publication provides a unique and timely opportunity to introduce a broad audience to the artistic practices of Southeast Asia as they are connected to major themes of interest, such as community engagement and organization, social and political commentary, gender and identity, environment and ecology, and material traditions and processes. Edited by Ute Meta Bauer, Karin G. Oen, and Boon Hui Tan, this book fills a noticeable void in the landscape of arts publications, serving as an essential guide to artists working in the region. Selected by an international curatorial committee, the work of more than 60 different artists or collectives will be highlighted by introductory texts as well as images of significant works. Artists covered include: #AgusSuwage, #AlfredoandIsabelAquilizan, #AmandaHeng, Anida Yoeu Ali, Anne Samat, Anocha Suwichakornpong, #ApichatpongWeerasethakul, #Arahmaiani, #ArayaRasdjarmrearnsook, #ArinRungjang, Cemeti Institute for Art & Society, #CharlesLimYiYong, Chiang Mai Social Installation, Chris Chong Chan Fui, #DinhQLe, Eisa Jocson, Erika Tan, #FXHarsono, Green Papaya Art Projects, #HemanChong, #HoTzuNyen, Htein Lin, I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih, Khvay Samnang, #KorakritArunanondchai, #LeeWen, Lostgens’ Contemporary Art Space, #MarthaAtienza, #MelatiSuryodarmo, #MingWong, #MoeSatt, #MontienBoonma, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Nha San Collective, #NorbertoRoldan, #PacitaAbad, Pinaree Sanpitak, #PioAbad, Po Po, Poklong Anading, Post-Museum, #RirkritTiravanija, Robert Zhao Renhui, Roberto Feleo, #ruangrupa, #SaSaArtProjects, #ShooshieSulaiman, #ShubigiRao, Sopheap Pich, Suzann Victor, Svay Sareth, #TangDaWu, Taring Padi, #ThaoNguyenPhan, The Artists Village, The Propeller Group, Tiffany Chung, Tisna Sanjaya, Tith Kanitha, Tran Luong, Tun Win Aung and Wah Nu, UuDam Tran Nguyen, #YeeILann and Yeo Siew Hua. (at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/CeNUGN7l2W1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

'The Simpsons' Disneybriations

Ongoing, likely-inexhaustible compendium of edits applied after, to episodes produced and aired before, Disney acquired 'The Simpsons'.

Episode: 'Weekend at Burnsie's'

Edit: Homer does not smoke joint with Smithers; in the end, he is not lying to his family regarding smoking marijuana.

'The monkey suit'

Girl checks off 'kiss 100 boys' instead of '10,000'.

'Marge's son poisoning'

Milhouse does not say 'I will bring yu back eyecare pamphlets'.

'Ziff who came to dinner'

'Bubbles can burst?!' Homer does not say amidst Arnie's go-go '90s flashback.

'Fat man and little boy'

Sea captain does not get to respond 'I just want friends who are not work friends' to Bart's 'Viking funeral' because Bart does not say 'I really do not want to talk about it'.

'T.o.H. XVII'

In third act, Carl does Not start to take off his shoes, so Chief Wiggum does not say, 'shoes are part of uniform.'

'Homer Simpson this is your wife'

Homer not allowed to say 'you can see the soulless emptiness in Charlie Sheen's eyes'.

'Homer's paternity coot'

Edited out 'Well my hat size is six...'

H.S. 'Aaah! Wait -  is that small?'

'Smaller than average.'

H.S. 'Aaah!'

'Behind the laughter'

At end, the closed captions do not, yet in-episode voiceover does, name 'Southern Missouri' as opposed to 'Northern Kentucky' as The Simpsons' home state.

'Last temptation of Krusty'

Krusty is not given 5 minutes after schilling for the Canyonero - 'o I am not going back out there' to which stage manager would have said, 'No, 5 minutes to pack up your stuff and get out of here'.

'The wizard of evergreen terrace'

Carl: 'James Watt invented the steam engine.'

Homer: 'That's boring. Stop boring everybody.'

'T.o.H. iii'

'Doll without pity' 

Homer wraps up conversation with store's proprietor, who continues to pile on 'poison pills' to the sale terms before getting to say: 'I am going to go now.'

'Homie the Clown'

At the Ace awards, the presenter who knows Woody Allen is not allowed to identify himself as Dick Cavett.

'King-size Homer'

Edit removes gifting of perpetul motion toy from Lisa to Homer. He does not say: 'In this house, we obey the laws of physics!'

Also, he does not set up the toy to push the Y button or mention to Marge that he tripled his productivity by only typing 'Y' of 'Yes'.

'T.o.H. X'

'I know what you diddily-did' - Homer does not sing the Super Sugar Crisp theme song, only the phrase 'guess I forgot to put the fog-lights in' to its tune.

'T.o.H. XII'

'Hex and the city'

Lisa does her hoof scratch but Homer does not say, 'see, 2 means yes'.

'They saved Lisa's Brain'

Lenny does not say, 'If only I had somewhere to go' after illustrating the benefit of only red and yellow traffic lights.

'Bye-bye nerdie'

(Screenshot taken 2022-11-18 7.05.53 P.M.; no product placement in original...)

'Old-yeller belly'

'Hit her in the spleen with a frozen Jimmy Dean' from 'spleen with a broken tambourine'.

'Simple Simpson'

Homer says 'I cannot stand to serve anyone. I just can't!' instead of 'I'll serve anyone but the community!' and we are not allowed to see picture shown to Marge as 'proof' that Homie is not Pie-man.

novel - Chapter 2806 - The Astonishing Zero Wing pink church recommend-p3

Incrediblenovel fiction - Chapter 2806 - The Astonishing Zero Wing point zippy -p3

Novel-Reincarnation Of The Strongest Sword God-Reincarnation Of The Strongest Sword God Novel Chapter 2806 - The Astonishing Zero Wing highfalutin measly MMORPG : Rebirth Of The Strongest Guild Master Alchemy Rare metal! Improves the Movements Performance of Terrain Mounts by 15Percent and Hovering Brackets by 25Per cent. Novel Expert Potions! “That’s perfect. You will discover way too many powers planning to talk to Guild Expert Dark-colored Fire. Keeping individual interactions would acquire too much time.” Yu Luo nodded. “If you wish to meet up with Guild Expert Dark-colored Flame secretly, it is possible to returning a few days after.” This sensation of oppression originated from both cloaked males standing beside s.h.i.+ Feng. “I’m hesitant you will have to put it off awhile,” Yu Luo mentioned, shaking her head. “Over a dozen of Dragonheart Island’s strengths are now going over small business with Guild Expert Black color Flames, so it isn’t proper for you to type in now. On the other hand, you won’t need to wait too much time, sometimes. I really believe they will be carried out another dozen moments or so.” justice served meaning The present of Epic things was simply dizzying. Which has a solo glance, they found at the very least 60 Epic items. What given them speechless had been the cost. Perhaps the most affordable Epic piece charge 1,500 Ancient Rare metal. However, they had to concede these Legendary things ended up things various strengths preferred. Novel Unlike other superpowers, despite the fact that, the Four Saints World acquired specific its creation entirely on the ocean. Its naval energy now rivaled that of the Five Terrific Extremely Guilds. “Little Missy, may well I am aware for anybody who is normally the one going this Wanderer’s Store?” Elder Wu couldn’t aid wanting to know the issue on his head. morals science a compendium of ethics Right after Elder Wu as well as the many others browsed throughout the products in love with the second floor, they observed just as if that they had just walked in to a prize family home. Each piece for sale listed here migrated their hearts and minds. Unfortunately, a lot more astonis.h.i.+ng a product was, the greater astonis.h.i.+ng its price was. With just the 60,000 Medieval Rare metal that they had readily available, they are able to buy just one or two products within this ground. “No outsiders are permitted beyond this point,” Yu Luo claimed softly to Elder Wu’s party. “If you prefer to retail store right here, that can be done only on the foremost and 2nd flooring.” They desired to make a deal with s.h.i.+ Feng in personal. A team negotiation was out of the question. In fact, anybody ideal for getting publicized to Level 4 at this point with the sport acquired the whole assist associated with an whole Guild. Nevertheless, Yu Luo, a Cleric who had long gone lacking 1 month back, got actually reappeared now as a Tier 4 Cleric. This is simply incredible. Level 3 Wonder Scrolls! In contrast to other superpowers, even though, the 4 Saints Community obtained focused its advancement entirely for the sea. Its naval sturdiness now rivaled those of the Five Terrific Extremely Guilds. When Thousand Lives and Current Precipitation found Yu Luo, they couldn’t support doubting their eye. “I’m frightened you will need to delay awhile,” Yu Luo mentioned, trembling her brain. “Over twelve of Dragonheart Island’s strengths are presently looking at enterprise with Guild Director Black colored Flame, as a result it isn’t appropriate so that you can enter into now. Nevertheless, you won’t have got to delay too long, either. I really believe they are carried out another dozen minutes or so roughly.” Become an expert in Potions! Both 1000 Existence and Modern day Rainwater known Yu Luo. In fact, Yu Luo ended up being considered one of Heaven’s Blade’s group managers. Concurrently, she was on the list of number of top experts operating on Dragonheart Destination. Tier 3 Miracle Scrolls! Meanwhile, Alchemy Gold higher the success rate of creating Epic Weapons and Apparatus. In the hands of a high level Learn Forger, success was nearly assured. Additionally, the manufactured product would also have a ten percent boost to the Fundamental Features. People were associates of 13 Thrones, a Super Guild. They had currently found an abundance of value by waiting around for more than a dozens minutes or so. However, their treatment was no not the same as what the other abilities here gotten. Elder Wu experienced required that a number of Dragonheart Island’s powers would attempt to talk with s.h.i.+ Feng since s.h.i.+ Feng was fundamentally the overlord of Dragonheart Destination now. It was actually only all natural for Guilds and adventurer squads to try and partner with Zero Wing. Each piece showcased listed here was an item that couldn’t be found easily in the outside world. However, all the items were also astonis.h.i.+ngly costly. Also the least expensive price tag 6,000 Historical Gold-enough income to order a fairly great plan of Territory in Dragonheart Area. On the other hand, although the collected group of people was agog on the things seen on the third surface, a feeling of oppression out of the blue enveloped all people, leading them to be really feel incredibly irritating. In the meantime, right after checking everyone else well before him, s.h.i.+ Feng mentioned calmly, “Everyone, should you have one thing to express, you need to say it right. I still need lots of issues to take care of, then i truly do not possess time for defeating round the bush.” Elder Wu had predicted that several of Dragonheart Island’s strengths would make an effort to talk with s.h.i.+ Feng since s.h.i.+ Feng was fundamentally the overlord of Dragonheart Destination now. It turned out only natural for Guilds and adventurer squads as a measure to companion with Zero Wing. However, the Wanderer’s Go shopping were built with a total of 10 ingots of Alchemy Rare metal on the market. Degree 100-plus Epic Products Designs! In her former comes to visit on the Wanderer’s Retailer, the building’s inside obtained looked as dilapidated as its outer walls. Even though the store available exceptional merchandise, anything on this page was absurdly costed. If one weren’t in a rush to have a unique item, just one wouldn’t occur in this article to buy. Now, not alone obtained the Shop’s interior become wonderful, nevertheless the Shop’s spot acquired also improved with a crowded place to fifty percent a hockey court. The volume of objects presented obtained doubled, along with the piece good quality was drastically much better. Now, every little thing displayed became a priceless jewel. Chapter 2806 – The Astonis.h.i.+ng Zero Wing Section 2806 – The Astonis.h.i.+ng Zero Wing On top of that, the team’s MT would have to have several pieces of Legendary Apparatus. In any other case, tanking a Fantastic Lord will be incredibly demanding without help. As you can imagine, the prerequisites for raiding Mythic monsters were actually even greater. Even so, Elder Wu wasn’t too worried about these other Guilds and adventurer crews. All things considered, not like them, Thirteen Thrones possessed this town Building Get, one thing Zero Wing urgently necessary, like a negotiating scratch. In her past goes to towards the Wanderer’s Shop, the building’s inside had checked as dilapidated as its outer walls. And even while the Shop sold superb goods, almost everything listed here was absurdly valued. If an individual weren’t in a hurry to have a particular object, a single wouldn’t arrive in this article to look. Now, not just got the Shop’s interior end up wonderful, though the Shop’s area had also broadened from a cramped place to fifty percent a hockey court. The number of goods displayed experienced tripled, along with the item top quality was drastically better. Now, almost anything presented had been a priceless prize. Moreover, the team’s MT would need to have 2 or 3 pieces of Epic Devices. Otherwise, tanking a Fantastic Lord would be incredibly difficult without aid. As you can imagine, the prerequisites for raiding Mythic monsters were actually even larger. On the other hand, upon experiencing this case, Yu Luo smiled and mentioned, “Please enter in.” After Yu Luo accomplished discussing, the officials from the dozen or so strengths provide designed their way up to the Wanderer’s Shop’s thirdly floorboards. Having said that, after showing up on the next surface to see those items presented listed here, anyone nearly had their eyes autumn out of their sockets. Amount 120 to Degree 130 Dark-Rare metal Fixed Gear Layouts! In this case, the 4 Saints Society’s group continued to be silent. It was noticeable that they were also positive about their offer. Reincarnation Of The Strongest Sword God Nonetheless, Elder Wu wasn’t too concerned about these other Guilds and adventurer clubs. After all, as opposed to them, Thirteen Thrones had this town Establishing Get, something Zero Wing urgently required, to be a dealing scratch. In the mean time, with experiencing this case, Yu Luo smiled and said, “Please get into.” Soon after Yu Luo complete communicating, the representatives with the dozens or more powers existing made their way as much as the Wanderer’s Shop’s 3rd surface. Nonetheless, upon arriving around the 3rd surface and seeing the items showcased below, absolutely everyone nearly got their eye drop from their sockets. Level 120 to Point 130 Dim-Yellow gold Fixed Equipment Models!

A Ravenloft Reading Recommendation (ARRR!)

Alright, everyone! It's almost Halloween, and you (probably) recently got Curse of Strahd and Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft but you want to know more about these terror-filled prisons. Well, grab your adventuring gear and delve with me into the Domains of Dread! This'll be a long one, so strap in and remember: Mistipedia is your friend.

This list covers Second Edition Ravenloft, Third Edition Ravenloft, and the novels. I can only hope I got everything in this.

Let's start with...

Second Edition Ravenloft

Realm of Terror

This is the original campaign setting for 2e Ravenloft, coming with 144 pages of rules, NPCs and domains, as well as a bunch of other goodies (maps, card stock sheets, and a transparent map overlay). Realm of Terror predates the Grand Conjunction timeline, so in terms of in-game time... it's a bit out of date. A lot of it, according to John Mangrum, is incoherent and many of the dates in this contradict others, so be careful about what you use here.

- You get... Rules for the Demiplane of Dread, alternate rules for Classes, Spells, the Dark Powers Check, fear and horror rules, as well as new spells, new magical items, and the different Dark Lords and Domains you can explore.

Ravenloft Campaign Setting (Box)

The revised campaign setting for 2nd Edition. Takes Grand Conjunction into account. Not to be confused for the book from 3rd Edition.

Domains of Dread

Third and final version of Ravenloft in the days of TSR. Introduces clusters and pocket domains, as well as new secret societies and several new classes. Postdates Requiem: The Grim Harvest.

Masque of the Red Death

A sub-setting of Ravenloft, taking place on a 1890's Gothic Earth.

- The Gothic Earth Gazetteer: Like the Ravenloft Gazetteers, you get details on the lands of Gothic Earth and their inhabitants. - A Guide to Transylvania

And More...

Islands of Terror - Self explanatory, new island domains! Nidala, Wildlands, Sceana, I'Cath, etc.

Darklords - This covers a handful darklords.

Forbidden Lore - A Ravenloft setting expansion. Rules for the Tarokka Deck and Dikesha Dice. Secret societies, spells, cursed items, as well as expanded psionics, curses, and power checks. You also get the domain of Kalidnay.

Forged in Darkness - Lots of cursed items.

Children of the Night: Vampires - 13 New vampire NPCs. Children of the Night: Ghosts - 13 New ghost NPCs. Children of the Night: Werebeasts - 13 New lycanthrope NPCs. Children of the Night: The Created - 13 New construct NPCs.

Champions of the Mists - New heroic NPCs and new Character Kits.

Carnival - NPCs that make up Isolde's Carnival.

Classic Van Richten's Guides (Either 2nd or 3rd Edition)

These have Van Richten lore in it, so I would read these if not for the main content.

Van Richten's Arsenal With VR Arsenal, you get new tools and devices, new arcane and divine spells, new magic items, and alchemical devices and feats. It also comes with Prestige Classes like the Alchemical Philosopher and the Anchorite of the Mists, as well as a guide to plan investigations and battles and plenty of NPC stat sheets with detailed backgrounds.

Van Richten's Guide to Demons

Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts

Van Richten's Guide to the Ancient Dead

Van Richten's Guide to the Created

Van Richten's Guide to the Lich

Van Richten's Guide to the Mists - We usually ignore this book because of it's questionable lore.

Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey

Van Richten's Guide to the Vistani An excellent exploration of Vistani.

Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead

Van Richten's Guide to Vampires

Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts

Van Richten's Guide to Witches Included within VR's Compendium 3.

Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium I (Vampires, Werebeasts, Created)

Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium II (Ghosts, Liches, Ancient Dead)

Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium III (Demons, Vistani, Witches)

Modules

Feast of Goblyns - The first module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Kartakass, Gundarak, Daglan.

Ship of Horror - The second module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Sea of Sorrows, Nebigtode.

Touch of Death - The third module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Har'Akir.

Night of the Walking Dead - Fourth module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Sourange.

From the Shadows - Fifth module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Darkon, Barovia.

Roots of Evil - Sixth and final module of the Grand Conjunction series and the follow-up of From the Shadows. Domains: Barovia.

Death Unchained - Part one of Grim Harvest.

Death Ascendant - Part two of Grim Harvest.

Requiem: the Grim Harvest (Boxed Set) - Death Triumphant, the last part of Grim Harvest.

Death Undaunted - Written by John Mangrum, never published, but still good!! Played it with a wonderful DM.

Book of Crypts - Nine short module anthology. Contains: Bride of Mordenheim, Blood in Moondale, The Dark Minstrel, The Cedar Chest, Corrupted Innocents, Rite of Terror, The Man With Three Faces, The Living Crypt, and Death's Cold Laughter.

Thoughts of Darkness - Elder brains, Mindflayers and a Von Zarovich, oh my! I played this one with a wonderful DM. Very fun.

The Created - Odaire

Web of Illusion - Sri Raji

Castles Forlorn - Forlorn

Dark of the Moon - Vorostokov

Adam's Wrath - Lamordia

The Awakening - Nova Vaasa

Hour of the Knife - Zherisia

Howls in the Night - Mordent

When Black Roses Blood - Sithicus

A Light in the Belfry (Boxed Set) - Avonleigh

Circle of Darkness - G'Henna

Chilling Tales (Anthology) - Through Darkened Eyes (Tepest), Undying Justice (Borca), Gazing into the Abyss (Darkon), Family Feud (Valachan), Surgeon's Blade (Lamordia), Scarlet Kiss (Mordentshire), Ancient Dead (Har'Akir), The Taskmaster's Leash (Dementlieu)

The Evil Eye - Invidia

The Nightmare Lands (Boxed Set)

Neither Man Nor Beast - Markovia

The Shadow Rift

Vecna Reborn

Die, Vecna, Die!

Third Edition Ravenloft

Ravenloft Third Edition (Campign Setting)

An update of Ravenloft to 3e.

Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide

Campaign creation, creating domains and communities, sinkholes of evil, samples of NPCs, as well as psionics and magic within Ravenloft. Cursed / Magic Items. Basically chapter one of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, but more fleshed out.

Ravenloft Player's Handbook

New mechanics like class weaknesses and magic ratings.

Secrets of the Dread Realms - Contains a new prestige class and a list of darklords by domain (with detailed backgrounds!)

Denizens of Darkness - New monsters! (3e)

Denizens of Dread - New monsters! (3.5e)

Heroes of Light - Focuses on heroic characters and deeds within Ravenloft. Prestige classes, secret societies, NPCs, and a heroic campaign guide.

Champions of Darkness - Focuses on anti-heroes. Prestige classes, secret societies, NPCs and an anti-hero campaign guide.

Legacy of the Blood - THIS IS A GOOD BOOK. Details on several powerful familes of the Core. Includes options to make characters related to that family and story hooks that go with it. Includes: Boritsi, d'Honaire, Dilisnya, Drakov, Godefroy, Hiregaard, Mordenheim, Renier, and the Von Zarovich families.

Masque of the Red Death (3rd Edition)

No modules in this one.

Ravenloft Gazetteers

A DM's dream come true... You get a massive amount of information and lore with these. Comes with a side-story. Very good!

- Volume 1 - Barovia, Hazlan, Forlorn, Kartakass

- Volume 2 - Darkon, Necropolis, Lamordia, Falkovnia

- Volume 3 - Dementlieu, Richemulot, Mordent

- Volume 4 - Borca, Invidia, Verbrek, Valachan, Sithicus

- Volume 5 - Nova Vaasa, Tepest, Keening, Shadow Rift

Modules

Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends - More modules! This is an anthology.

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft - Update to I6: Ravenloft.

Novels

Vampire of the Mists (Good!)

Knight of the Black Rose (Not a big fan of Soth, in my honest option.)

Dance of the Dead

Tapestry of Dark Souls

Carnival of Fear

I, Strahd (A classic.)

I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin (Read this one. Excellent!)

The Enemy Within

Mordenheim

Tales of Ravenloft (19 Short Stories - The Caretaker is my favorite. It has Strahd.)

Tower of Doom (Personally, if you don't want your eyes cursed, I would not read this. This has been a warning. I told you so.)

Baroness of Blood

Death of Darklord

Scholar of Decay

King of the Dead (A must-read. It's that good.)

To Sleep with Evil

Lord of the Necropolis

Shadowborn

Spectre of the Black Rose

Heart of Midnight

SEA'S COMMUNITY COMPENDIUM UPDATE

We have a massive one today! Huge thanks to a close friend of mine who sent me every single bookmark of xiv resources she had. 💖

Additionally, a good handful of these resources were sourced from a list originally created by @rinhkitty, which you can find here. I have tried to include the more recent/active of the lot, so it's not a one-for-one. Thank them for a lot of the large scale resources you'll find below! ✨

As of 04/12, I have added the following resources (in no particular order) to Sea's Community Compendium for FFXIV Creatives:

LARGE SCALE

GARLAND TOOLS — Contains XIV resources such as Garland Data, everything database, crafting lists and equipment calculators; Garland Bell, gathering timers, collectable resources and hunt windows; and FFXIV Fisher, daily fishing windows, bait paths and catch checklist. Maintained by Clorifex Ezalor of Zalera.

TEAMCRAFT — Create crafting lists and collaborate with others, set gathering alarms, simulate crafting rotations, and more!

CAT BECAME HUNGRY - FFXIV ANGLER — Contains everything and anything to know about fishing including specific fish guides, location, baits, aquarium fish and more!

FFXIV - CRAFTING AS A SERVICE — Crafting information and planning for FFXIV!

FFXIV GARDENING — The FFXIV Gardening Database is a collection of everything related to gardening in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. It was created to organize and visualize the results obtained from crossbreeding.

SIGHTSEEING LOG HELPER — This tool will help those trying to complete their pesky Sightseeing Log by letting them know upcoming weather patterns for each zone!

EUREKA TRACKER — For everything and anything to do with Eureka mobs, tracking and weather patterns.

FFLOGOS — for tracking of items/actions related to Eureka.

FFXIVSQUADRON — A comprehensive tool that helps you assess the success rate of various squadron missions.

FFXIV CHOCOBO COLOUR CALCULATOR — Will calculate what chocobo feed you will need to get from your current colour to your desired colour. *rng not included.

FFXIV HOUSING — A site specialising in the documentation of all housing items available in game.

HOUSING SNAP — A compilation of player-made housing designs. Can be used for inspiration or places to visit!

MISC

NPC CHAT BUBBLES — Would you like more NPC chat bubbles for edits? Say no more! Created by @alexoisxiv.

OLD TUMBLR LAYOUT BY PIXIEL — While not XIV specific I know a lot of people aren't fans of the new Tumblr layout, so this is a fix that will revert it to an as close as possible approximation of the new one. I won't tag the creator as I don't think they're in the xiv community, but it's run by @/pixiel!

HOW TO CURSE LIKE AN ISHGARDIAN — Do you want to make the church blush? Do you want to incur the wrath of Halone? @stars-and-clouds has compiled a list of appropriate curses/swear words for you!

FINAL FANTASY XIV SIDEQUEST GUIDE - HEAVENSWARD EDITION — maintained by @chatty-moogle, this guide explores interesting sidequests in Heavensward that will give you more information about the lore, titbits about locals and other interesting information!

TRUST BANNERS FOR XIV — If you have ever wondered how people mimic the Trust banners used in XIV, look no further! @locke-rinannis has a template for you.

MAKING USE OF RECOMMENDATIONS — created by @autumnslance, this guide will help you make your recommendations tab useful rather than annoying.

BOTANICA EORZEA — A guide to the flora of Eitherys and her reflections, including fungi and seedkin. For reference in writing and roleplaying. Maintained by @tinolqa.

GPOSE TIPS — A tutorial on how to achieve clarity and detail in your XIV screenshots! Created by @aryalaenkha.

UI MACRO MENUS — A guide on how to use macros to create small UI menus for XIV. Written by @diskwrite-ffxiv.

TYPHON GATE RESEARCH — Created by @mcstronghuge, these are the statistically best places for your character to stand for the Typhon Gate!

CHANGELOG

HYDAELYN HEALTH HAVEN has been removed at the request of the owner.

Moved THE BALANCE higher on the list to reflect alphabetical sorting, excluding names that start with The.

Misc formatting as needed.

Added some additional clarification around large-scale discords/spaces; in particular: Large-scale community discords such as the XIV Reddit Discord, Hunts, GPOSE promotions and broad-space roleplay servers that harbour a large number of people and are publicly available to all. These may not have an RP focus but will assist in other aspects of the game. Also includes well-known tools/resources that are utilised by large groups of people and assist in gameplay elements.

Added a quick-jump menu to the bottom of each of the table of contents menus to assist in navigation.

Want to submit? You can either fill out the google form here, send me an ask with the relevant information contained on the Compendium, or join my Discord at SEAFLOOR (21+ only)!

I am sure there's probably a couple of things I have missed or links/formatting that might be broken. Please don't hesitate to let me know if anything is out of place. I'm going to take a break now. I'm pretty sure that's the biggest edit that's ever going to occur on this document!

Tales of the Goldbrand : Compendium (2/3)

I actually wrote so much, that not even Tumblr can handle me. It denied me so I had to split everything or make multiple Compendium's. All the less, important stories and things gradually here, or any coverage of additional characters / (Side, Father, Rival, etc) outside Captain and Crew into this. This unfortunately means, I may have to make multiple parts, still. What's pinned however, I'll always keep polished the superior one, with quality. So part 1 = Win. Compendium (1/3) Can be found <Here> Compendium (3/3) Can be found <Here> Importance's determined by the amount of X's after the number. Red or 'XXX' / Bold. = Most important stories, narrowed down to few. Blue or 'XXX+' = Fave of mine personally. Red/Bold > Blue

(After 'Birthright' in Compendium 1) Unlimited Stonework Arc - (Klethera, Captain, Shelah) 107. X - Interruption 108. X - Bring Yer Kid T' Work 109. XXX+ - Tick-Tock 110. X - Unlimited Stoneworks 111. X - Mount X Scope 112. X - Evil is Evil 113. X - Beyond Fathom 114. X - Shoot Yer Shot 115. X - Lunacy's Bullet 116. XXX+ - Breakage, The Gambit! 117. XX - Price Tags 118. XX - Brand of Justice 119. XX - Sun Set's & Arise New 120. XX - Verdict 121. XX - Judged 122. XX - Evasive Maneuvers 123. XX - The Enforcer (After 'Fearless on Ghoul Street' in Compendium 1) Immortal Age Saga - (All Crew + Shiro) 75. X - Silv's Resurrection 76. X - All Purpose 77. X - Winter Warning 78. X - Effortless Massacre 79. XX - Red Ribbon of Declaration 80. XXX+ - Accursed Monsters 81. XX - Faith X 82. X - Confrontation to Showdown 83. XX - Dumb-Founding 84. XX - Tag-Team Signatures 85. X - Deadly Scheme 86. X - Calvary 87. X - Twisted Freedom 88. X - At Wits 89. X - A Father's Instinct 90. XXX+ - Judas, the First 91. XXX+ - Cowardice Prince 92. XXX+ - Battle Architect 93. XX - Overpowering Intelligence 94. XX - Heavy Ammunition 95. X - Sea and Land 96. XX - Last Defense 97. X - Hellfire 98. XX - The Evil Handbook 99. XXX+ - Allag-Bonders 100. XXX+ - Enter the Eclipse 101. XXX+ - Eclipse Fusion - Shuro 102. XXX+ - Eclipse Collapse 103. XXX+ - Final Hope 104. XXX+ - Dread Begone (After 'Sorrows of Remembrance' in Compendium 1) 124. X - Sea Lurker Saga - Incompletely written, community thing. 125. X - Golden Wings Within the Maws of the Serpent Transferred 126. X - Purpose 127. X - Teaser : The Pale Horse (After 'Sinner's Landing' in Compendium 1) 128. X -Where Does It Get You? 129. X - You Were The Heroine 130. X - Never Meet Your Idols 131. X -Danse Macabre 132. X - Serenade Horizon Hoku Solaire - (Father) 133. X - Rise of the Shadow Sun 134. XXX+ - Way of the Shadow Shiro Elune's Stories - (Fated/Sworn/Rival) 135. XXX+ - Lord of the Chosen 136. X - Checkmate 137. X - White Draco Saga 138. X - Journey of Sainthood 139. X - Noble Trouble 140. X - Riff Raff The Door 141. X - Game Start 142. XX - Effigy of the White Wolf

Humans are Space Orcs, “What Happened.”

Sorry for any issues this one might have, but I am trying to write it between flights and and scrambling to find a plug that will work, so I hope you like it anyway, and I hope it answers some questions you have 

Three months leave

IT was going to take an extra three months  before the ship would be ready for launch. Even as they spoke, it was docked at the Europa station as they put on the final finishing touches. Until then, it had been Commander Vir’s job to go through files on the personnel he wanted aboard his new crew.

He had suggested some alien additions to make the crew more diverse, which the GA had loved considering that the ship was an amalgamation of both human and alien technology. It had Rundi communications systems, Celzex weaponry, Vrul shields, and  a Tesraki warp core. The design otherwise was completely human. But for those reasons, the project was obviously very time consuming, and they were lucky that it was going to be finished in as little a time as it was.

Sunny hadn’t seen Adam very much in the last month or so considering that he had been working hard to find an extra five hundred members for his crew, and speak with the brass about what he had seen on the other side of the wormhole.

Sunny knew that it was important that Adam do his job, but a part of her was annoyed they hadn’t been able to speak properly since getting back.

Instead, she was stuck in base housing on the cost, alone and with nothing to do aside from long walks on the beach. She had never been the the beach beforehand as anin didn’t have any substantial bodies of water like that, at least near her, and there was something about the endless water that unsettled her. Even Krill and Conn were off doing important things. Krill was giving his services to a level one trauma center in New York, and Conn was helping the base MPs conduct polygraph tests, though he had sort of replaced the polygraph.

That left Sunny alone most days to think.

She hadn’t gotten over Adam’s disappearance, and not how he had tricked her, pushing her from the bridge before turning around and preparing himself for death. She felt a bit cheated, and like a decision had been made for her. She wasn’t stupid, logically she knew that is what she would have done if she were in his place, so she couldnt fault him for that, though she still coudln’t help feeling hurt over it.

And these thoughts she was left to stew on, tossing and turning in the quiet of the night while everyone else was out and busy.

Needless to say she didn’t expect the little bell on her front door to ring late one evening, and when she opened the door she certainly didn’t expect to see Adam waiting on her front porch.

HE was smiling, though the skin around his face and neck were already flushed a light pink with embarrassment.

In his arms, he held a large collection of flowers.

“May I come in?”

“Adam!” Her surprise was a bit delayed 

He shuffled his feet, “I uh, I got the go ahead to take the day off so I…. thought I would see you.”

He shifted again.

He looked better now than he had on returning from his ordeal, face clean-shaven and in clean clothes that actually fit, though she had to admit his cave-man look hadn’t been so bad.

She stepped aside, and he tentatively followed.

She closed the door and he turned to face her, “I uh…. um … well I…. flower…. Or I mean, I got you, flowers I…… Bought some, but also picked…. some ….. I not that that really matters I just.”He sighed took a deep breath and cleared his throat, “I got you flowers.” he held them out, and she took them in half amusement, picking one from the top and popping it into her mouth before setting them down on the little side table.

“Look, I’m sorry we haven't been able to talk since I got back… and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bit of me avoiding having a tough conversation.”

“I like that you are at least being honest with me.” She said quietly., “Do you want to sit down?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “Actually, I was going to ask you if you wanted to go on a walk…. I.. I think better when I walk.”

She shrugged and agreed, following him outside to where a thin layer of clouds had veiled the sun which was slowly inching towards the horizon. The clouds muted the colors and the sea was grey in the distance.

Together they walked a little ways along the sand, him shifting nervously, and her walking to the side, relaxed though she didn’t feel like it 

The silence stretched on for nearly a mile before Sunny -- growing frustrated -- was forced to break it.

“You tricked me.”

He looked down at his feet, “I did.”

“You tricked me, and because of that I have had some of the worst few months of my life.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I understand you did what you thought you had to, and I get it that if I was in your place, I would have done the same without hesitation, but…. I I feel cheated, and I feel used, and for some reason I can’t stop it.”

He looked away, “I’m not sure what to say.”

“At least say SOMETHING.”

HE turned to face her single green eye wide. Looking down she could sense that his hands were shaking. A part of her felt bad about that, but they needed to have this conversation, and she wasn’t going to let him out of it.

“I… would do it again to save your life, and I won’t apologize for that, but I’m sorry that that’s how you feel.”

“I thought we were a team.”

“And we are.”

She paused, her feet digging hard into the sand, and he drew to a halt beside her, “I need you to understand Adam, when Drev say a team, they mean a battle pair and that means….”

“I know, I know……. I know what it means, and I am agreeing with you.”

“Will, you try, for me.”

“Yes, but sunny, I I don’t know how well it will work out, I…. well I’m broken when it comes to this sort of thing I don’t even know if I can.”

They went silent again and she could see the veins pulsing in the side of his neck. Beads of sweat collected on his brown and face. He looked almost nauseous, like he was scared or something, that too made her feel bad, but she didn’t really know how to help.

On instinct, she reached out a hand, inches from his before pausing, “I…. Can I?”

He paused look down at her hand.

His clenched into a fist.

He was pale whit like snow now.

“I…. I don’t think I can right now but…. Thanks for asking.”

She watched the expression on his face closely, and on his face she saw him proceed through a rapid series of emotions starting with fear, working over to shame, sadness and finally ending on guilt.

He turned away.

She walked up next to him, head tilted, “You don’t have to, Adam, but maybe if you told me why I could better understand. Of course you don’t have to.”

He took a deep shaky breath, “You deserve to know. But just don’t… I don’t know laugh or something. I know logically it wasn’t a big deal but….”

“Adam, I promise I won't laugh, you have my word.”

He nodded his head slowly and sighed, “I can trace it all back to one event I think. It was MY freshman year of high school…. Maybe and I was the awkward, nerdy sci-fi weirdo who believed in UFOs and Aliens.

***

Adam Sat Under a tree outside the school arms wrapped around his knees back tucked against the bowl of a tree which cast the shadow of its leaves down over the ground to wave and rustle in a light breeze.

It was lunch break, and he was watching the other teens standing around in their cliches. The football jocks were playing a game to one side, the cheerleaders were clustered around a bench, and all the rednecks were sitting in the back of their trucks in the parking lot laughing loudly and occasionally turning on their trucks just to rev the engines as loud as possible.

His hair was long-ish, kind of scruffy and hanging down around his ears. The clothes he wore were baggy hand me downs from his older brother Jeremy (a senior) and shoes with holes in them from his older brother Thomas.

He didn’t mention the holes to his mom, dad was in between jobs right now, not that it was a big deal, he would find work, it was just paperwork in the way, but he didn’t want to worry her with something extra that didn’t matter right now.

He looked down at the ground where he had a stack of books waiting in the grass for him, The Martian, War of the Worlds, and an old tatty compendium of start wars stuff with pictures and diagrams.

The T-shirt he was wearing was one he had purchased online, and had a diagram of the star-trek enterprise on it.

He shuffled his feet in the grass waiting for his brothers to show up and feeling sort of lonely as he waited.

Since he was a little younger, he got out a half an hour before they did, and only got to spend thirty minutes of his half hour lunch break with them, otherwise he tried to avoid people as much as possible. It wasn’t that he was bullied per-se, because he wasn’t really, neglected by his peers was probably a better term for it.

They were nice to him in the way you are nice to small children or crazy people, keeping up polite conversation just long enough to leave as soon as possible. He was used to the treatment, and didn’t bother subjecting people to his presence more than he had to. He knew he was weird.

He was sure he would have a harder time if it were not for his older brothers. Jeremy, who was a popular football player, David because he was student body president, and arguably the best looking guy in school, though he never seemed to be dating anyone, and Thomas, who was a bit of a loose cannon and didn’t mind getting in fights to protect his family members when he wasn’t hanging out with the other weird and unpredictable kids.

He was sitting there thinking about his brothers and staring down at the grass, when he saw a pair of shoes appear in his vision. They were white vans, or something similar with bright green laces, and when he looked up he saw a girl standing over him. The school was small enough that he recognized her immediately. Her name was Amanda and she jumped between the Drill team and the Basketball Girls click.

She was smiling, and he watched her as she turned her head back to her group of friends who were giggling and trying not to look like they were looking over in their direction.

Adam sat up a little straighter, “Can I help you.”

She smiled at him, her cheeks slightly pink, “HI…. Adam.”

He frowned, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

She shuffled her feet, and off in the distance, her friends giggled and looked away.

“Can I help you with something?’ He wondered, waiting for the punchline somewhere. Something about the weird UFO kid, or maybe they were going to ask him to help them do something against school rules, so when they got caught they could all blame it on him. Or maybe they were going to ask him to be the designated Sherpa for their bags or something.

He had been tricked into most of those things before, though by now the teachers and the principal knew that he was just socially stupid and not a troublemaker.

“Relax ok, I’ve just come to say sorry?”

“Sorry for what?”

“Sorry for treating you like you were weird.” When she smiled it seemed genuine, “You see its…. One of my friends.” More giggling I the background, “She thinks you’re cute, but she didn’t know how to act before.”

He glanced past her to where  the group of girls had burst in to excessive giggling.

He frowned again, “I’m not stupid, you know.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

She crossed her arms, “Serious, Adam.”

“Who is this friend of your.” His eyes narrowed, but past that he was looking towards one of the girls in the group. She was pretty  with honey blonde hair and an infectious smile.  She played the violin, and he knew for a fact that she was a comic book nerd. He had seen her carrying them around, and she was a petty good artist too. He felt his face flush a bit but tried to fight it back.”

“She smiled, “Avery.”

His eyes shot wide, and he felt his face turn scarlet. The part of his brain that had been skeptical immediately shut off as the human brain is prone to do when they think something good might be about to happen.

“I… really.”

She grinned, “Really.” She reached into her pocket and passed him a note, “She wants you to meet her by the stadium.”

His hands were shaking a bit as he took the note, but he felt his heart hammering in excitement.

Was this his way out of exile?

He had always been extroverted, starved for all the friends he wanted and all the people he wanted to talk to. Avery had the life that he wished he did, a large circle of friends, and fun things to do every weekend.

Maybe with her around, he would finally have that.

All the better if they were dating, but he was getting ahead of himself.

He watched as the group of girls dispersed and Avery moved towards the back of the building over towards the stadium, her beautiful, honey-blond hair blowing in the wind.

He stood awkwardly gathering up his things and shoving them in his bag without zipping the zipper all the way before turning and cutting around the other side of the school. His heart hammered in his chest and his hands were cold and sweaty as he made his way around the other side of the building and towards the stadium.

His heart only began to race faster when he saw her standing alone under the stadium between the cross-bars and in the shade of the metal benches above.

He approached nervously, his hands shaking in excitement.

She turned her head, bright blue eyes catching his.

He stopped in place at the edge of the shadow. But she smiled and waved him in, “Adam over here.”

He followed nervously his feet trailing in the dirt. As she approached she nervously rocked back and fourth on her heels hands in her pockets. He paused a few feet away. She looked up at him through her lashes, and he noted she was wearing little Iron Man earrings.

“Hi.” She said nervously

“Hi.” He replied back

She shuffled her feet, “Look I…. I’m sorry about laughing at you earlier today In class I…. well I think your funny, not, like in a bad way or anything.”

HE knew he was bright red at this moment, probably brighter red than any tomato, “Really?”

“Yeah, so I wanted to say sorry, and…. And maybe make it up to you.”

His heart was in his throat, “Oh, you, you don’t have to.”

“But I want to.”

It went quiet as she stepped forward, and he was frozen in place. She was right in front of him now. She leaned forward a little, and he was frozen in place. Her eyes closed, and then so did his, he waited for the moment, and waited, and waited, but nothing came.

Someone snickered, and he cracked an eye to see Avery’s once pretty face twisted up into a sneer of contempt and malicious amusement.

“April fools.” She jumped at him, and in surprise he tripped backwards over one of the metal bars landing hard. The zipper of his backpack, not all the way done up, erupted outward spilling all his books out onto the dirt.

Laughter.

He turned his head looking around to the cracks in the stadium seats where dozens of eyes stared at him laughing.

Avery stood over him as others began flooding down from their spots laughing.

He crawled back, his head down, “But it’s not even April.” He whispered

“Its not even April.” Someone mimicked from behind, and he ran into soemthing hard looking up to see one of Avery’s friends standing over him. She was state shotput champion last years, and her arms were as big as his head, “What is this.” She reached down and picked his book off the ground.

“Please, give it back.” He said crawling to his knees and reaching up for it.

“The Martian.”

“please.”

She flipped open a few of the pages. He stood up trying to reach for his book but he was blocked by another two of her friends.

The laughter continued, the mocking voices over and over and over again.

He tried to push forward reaching for his books which had been picked up off the ground.

“Gross, Its all sticky!” the friend yelled.

“No it isn’t.” He protested, it was true, he took very good care of his books. But of course no one listened. A chorus of disgust rose up around him. His books were dropped, one clattering to the rocks its pages bending, the other one landing halfway in a puddle of stagnant water.

He cried out and dove forward pulling it out of the water even as mud dripped form the hardback.

He cradled it in his arms, feeling hot tears of anger and humiliation begin to prickle at the corners of his eyes.

Laughter continued.

“Look.”

Fingers pointed.

HE stood fists clenched ready to hurt someone, but when he turned the same girl from before hand his book in either hand and when he moved she pulled.

There was a sharp ripping noise as the spine of the book tore a quarter, and as he cried out she laughed and dropped it into the puddle.

As a paperback, the book didn’t stand a chance.

Mud and water caked his hands as he reached in to pull it out on his hands and knees. Something hit him hard in the back and he pitched forward into the puddle getting the book wet a second time as the kids laughed.

He scrambled sitting up coughing and spluttering feeling the slimy grittiness of the water on his lips.

Someone knelt down next to him. A voice in his ear, “If you tell anyone. I’ll tell the teacher you tried to touch me.”

Tears dripped down his cheeks as he tried wiping mud from his face. The laughter receded and he was left along kneeling on the gravel.

His face grew hot and read as he stared down at the ruined cover of his book. Hot tears dripped onto the mud coating his hands.

His breathing started up in great gasps his heart hammered so fast he thought it was going to burst out of his chest. His head was going to explode either from anger or frustration he didn’t know. Choked sobs broke from his mouth as he knelt over the books ruined in his hands. He couldn’t breathe. He stood vision clouded face hot wet and muggy from the heat.

And then he ran.

He had no idea where he was going or what he was doing.

His paperback held muddy and dripping in one hand he pelted into the woods and didn’t stop running until his foot caught on a branch and he went rolling into the leaves.

He lay there on his stomach heart still hammering breath still coming in ragged gasps. He just couldn’t calm his breathing down.

He didn’t know where he was.

He felt like he was having a heart attack, or dying, or something. He lay there gasping on the forest floor for hours.

It grew dark. The mud dried on the back of his book and against his chest and hands.

It was only when he heard the voices did he finally sit up, mud caked and bleary eyed.

“Adam!”

“Adam!”

There were no other sounds for a long moment before the call started up again.

He stumbled over, it was dark so his feet kept coughing on branches and twigs.

“Adam, ADAM! I swear ADAM.”

“Thomas?” He said his voice so raw it was barely above a whisper.

“ADAM!” Footsteps rushed towards him through the trees, and Thomas burst from the foliage his scruffy blind hair run wild, his jeans covered in dirt, “Adam there you are where have you-“

He didn’t have time to say much else as he was hugged tight around the middle.

“Adam I…. what’s wrong. What happened! Who did this to you!”

Thomas looked ready to rip someone apart, but Adam didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t say anything about the event for the next two years.

***

Sunny stared wide eyed as Adam turned away again.

“Look, I know its stupid, it happens to plenty of kids and they don’t take it the way I did, but. I mean, with the panic attack on top of it, and then a few years later the same thing happened on my first date, so now I just… I can’t…”

Sunny was quiet for a moment while he looked away.

“Who the FUCK do they think they are.” She snarled.

He looked up in surprise, “I what.”

She marched around in a circle, “What the hell kind of person does that to someone. That’s just sick and wrong. That is just… horrible.”  She pulled out her spear, “I swear If i ever meet someone like that if i ever meet THEM, I am going to-”

He caught her arm, “Sunny stop, it was a long time ago.”

“It doesnt matter!”

A small smile cut across his face, “IT doesn't matter sunny, you want to know why.”

“Why.”

“Because I saw their pictures.” he grinned, “Avery got really fat and her friend got hit by a car, not fatally but I consider it Karma doing me a solid.” He paused, “It’ll be ok…. I just need some time. Think you can do that for me?”

She paused and nodded her head, “Yes, I think I can.”

Nothosaurus

By Tas Dixon

Etymology: False Reptile 

First Described By: Münster, 1834 

Classification: Biota, Archaea, Proteoarchaeota, Asgardarchaeota, Eukaryota, Neokaryota, Scotokaryota, Opimoda, Podiata, Amorphea, Obazoa, Opisthokonta, Holozoa, Filozoa, Choanozoa, Animalia, Eumetazoa, Parahoxozoa, Bilateria, Nephrozoa, Deuterostomia, Chordata, Olfactores, Vertebrata, Craniata, Gnathostomata, Eugnathostomata, Osteichthyes, Sarcopterygii, Rhipidistia, Tetrapodomorpha, Eotetrapodiformes, Elpistostegalia, Stegocephalia, Tetrapoda, Reptiliomorpha, Amniota, Sauropsida, Eureptilia, Romeriida, Diapsida, Neodiapsida, Sauria, Archosauromorpha?, Archelosauria, Pantestudines, Sauropterygia, Eosauropterygia, Nothosauria, Nothosauridae, Nothosaurinae 

Referred Species: N. mirabilis, N. cristatus, N. cymatosauroides, N. edingerae, N. giganteus, N. haasi, N. jagisteus, N. marchicus, N. mirabilis, N. tchernovi, N. yangjuanensis, N. zhangi 

Time and Place: From 242 million years ago until 208 million years ago, from the Ladinian of the Middle Triassic through the earliest Rhaetian of the Late Triassic

Nothosaurus is known from all over Eurasia and North Africa, to the point that it’s pointless to list all the locations. Just assume that if it’s the Mid or Late Triassic of the Tethys Sea, Nothosaurus is there.

Physical Description: Nothosaurus is an iconic Triassic marine reptile - to the point that we had to include it, or else we would have violated some sort of rule of paleontology. Nothosaurus was about 4 meters long on average, but could reach up to 7 meters in length. It had a long, streamlined body, with a long neck and a long tail. Its head was narrow and filled with long and pointed teeth which interlocked together when the mouth closed, forming a tight trap. Its forelimbs were longer than its hind limbs, and all of its hands and feet had webbing between the long toes. In a lot of ways, it looked extremely similar to later marine reptiles to which it was closely related, like the Plesiosaurs and Pliosaurs, just with hands instead of proper flippers - however, current evidence indicates that the Plesiosaurs and Pliosaurs evolved from an ancestor of both groups, and Nothosaurus is just a Triassic offshoot. It had capabilities for diving in the water, though it also was still adapted for life on the shore. 

Diet: Nothosaurus primarily ate fish and other marine animals, including other marine reptiles. 

Behavior: Nothosaurus was semi-aquatic, spending a lot of its time both in the ocean and on land. On the beaches and shores it would rest and sleep, and then turn to the ocean for most of its everyday life. Diving for food would have been most of its daily activities, going after juvenile reptiles and large fish in the water and diving in order to reach it. It probably would have paddled with its webbed feet, and undulated its body to some extent to help propel forward. It may have been at least somewhat social, living in groups and colonizing the shores together before going for group dives for food. Interestingly enough, Nothosaurus was basically like a reptilian seal, coming up to shore to rest and sit with its relatives. Whether or not they would have given birth to live young is uncertain; while their close relatives, the Plesiosaurs, did; they retained enough land adaptations to allow them to lay eggs on the shore. More research as to their physiology is needed in order to determine that aspect of their life history. Trackways have been attributed to Nothosaurus, which may show that they rowed their paddles on the sea bed to shake up small animals trapped underneath; this would have allowed Nothosaurus to capture the invertebrates between its long teeth and hold onto them so they could not escape. 

Ecosystem: Nothosaurus lived throughout the early Tethys sea, and was a common feature in many communities throughout this growing body of water during the Middle and Late Triassic. It would have stuck to the coasts for the most part, but still ventured out into deep and open water. As such, it’s rather difficult to list all the different animals it lived alongside - it’s found in Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jordan, the Netherlands, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Switzerland. So just, assume that a marine creature from the Tethys during this time lived with Nothosaurus rather than not. 

Other: Nothosaurus has been treated as, unfortunately, a wastebasket taxon - it was discovered early enough in the history of paleontology as a science that many similar animals were just dumped into this name without any specific studies done. So, determining the factual relationships from this mess is still being worked out; in fact, it seems that this genus is paraphyletic, with many close relatives of Nothosaurus being more closely related to some species than to others. So that’s fun! 

Species Differences: The varying species of Nothosaurus tend to differ based on where and when they lived, rather than any particularly notable differences. There are some differences in size and limb proportions as well, but in general the differing species of Nothosaurus would have had very similar ecological roles. 

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources Under the Cut

Albers, P. C. H., and O. Rieppel. 2003. A new species of the sauropterygian genus Nothosaurus from the Lower Muschelkalk of Winterswijk, The Netherlands. Journal of Paleontology 77(4):738-744. 

Albers, P. C. H. 2005. A new specimen of Nothosaurus marchicus with features that relate the taxon to Nothosaurus winterswijkensis. Vertebrate Palaeontology 3 (1): 1- 7. 

Brotzen, F. 1956. Stratigraphical studies on the Triassic vertebrate fossils from Wadi Raman, Israel. Arkiv foer Mineralogi och Geologi 2(9):191-217. 

Chrzastek, A. 2008. Vertebrate remains from the Lower Muschelkalk of Raciborowice Górne (North-Sudetic Basin, SW Poland). Geological Quarterly 52:225-238. 

Diedrich, C. 2009. The vertebrates of the Anisian/Ladinian boundary (Middle Triassic) from Bissendorf (NW Germany) and their contribution to the anatomy, palaeoecology, and palaeobiogeography of the Germanic Basin reptiles. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 273 (1): 1 - 16. 

 d'Orbigny, A. 1849. Cours Élémentaire de Paléontologie et de Géologie Stratigraphiques [Elementary Course in Paleontology and Stratigraphic Geology] 1:1-299. 

Haas, G 1980. Ein Nothosaurier-Schädel aus dem Muschelkalk des Wadi Ramon (Negev, Israel). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 83:119-125. 

Haines, Tim, and Paul Chambers. The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life. Pg. 64. Canada: Firefly Books Ltd., 2006 

Hinz, J. K., A. T. Matzke, and H.-U. Pfretzschner. 2019. A new nothosaur (Sauropterygia) from the Ladinian of Vellberg-Eschenau, southern Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 

Jiang, W.; Maisch, M. W.; Hao, W.; Sun, Y.; Sun, Z. 2006. Nothosaurus yangjuanensis n. sp. (Reptilia, Sauropterygia, Nothosauridae) from the middle Anisian (Middle Triassic) of Guizhou, southwestern China. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte. 5: 257–276. 

Jiang, D.-Y., L. Schmitz, R. Motani, W.-C. Hao, and Y.-L. Sun. 2007. The mixosaurid ichthyosaur Phalarodon cf. P. fraasi from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province, China. Journal of Paleontology 81(3):602-605. 

Klein, N. and P. C. H. Albers. 2009. A new species of the sauropsid reptile Nothosaurus from the Lower Muschelkalk of the western Germanic Basin, Winterswijk, The Netherlands. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 54(4):589-598. 

Lin, W.-B.; Jiang, D.-Y.; Rieppel, O.; Motani, R.; Ji, C.; Tintori, A.; Sun, Z.-Y.; Zhou, Min 2017. A new specimen of Lariosaurus xingyiensis (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from the Ladinian (Middle Triassic) Zhuganpo Member, Falang Formation, Guizhou, China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37 (2): e1278703.  

Liu, J. 2014. A gigantic nothosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Middle Triassic of SW China and its implications for the Triassic biotic recovery. Scientific Reports 4: 7142. 

Lu, H., D.-Y. Jiang, R. Motani, P.-G. Ni, Z.-Y. Sun, A. Tintori, S.-Z. Xiao, M. Zhou, C. Ji and W.-F. Fu. 2018. Middle Triassic Xingyi Fauna: Showing turnover of marine reptiles from coastal to oceanic environments. Palaeoworld 27(1):107-116. 

Münster, G. G. 1834. Preliminary news about some new reptiles in the shell limestone of Baiern. New Yearbook for Mineralogy, Geognosy, Geology and Petriology 1834 : 521-527. 

Palmer, D. ed. 1999. The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 72. 

Rieppel, O., and J.-M. Mazin. 1997. Speciation along rifting continental margins: a new nothosaur from the Negev (Israel). Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences Série IIA, Sciences de la Terre et des planètes 326:991-997. 

Rieppel, O. 2001. A new species of Nothosaurus (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Upper Muschelkalk (Lower Ladinian) of southwestern Germany. Palaeontographica Abteilung A 263:137-161. 

Sepkoski, J. J. 2002. A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletins of American Paleontology 363:1-560. 

What is Thyme (Thymus mongolicus Ronn)

Thyme (Thymus mongolicus Ronn), semi-shrub, oval leaves, head-shaped inflorescence, tubular bell-shaped or narrowly-bell-shaped calyx, corolla purplish red, purple or lavender, pink, flowering from July to August, small nuts nearly round Shaped or oval.

It can be used as an ingredient. It is commonly used as a spice in European cooking. It has a spicy taste and is used to add to stews, eggs, or soups.

Traditionally in Europe, thyme is considered a symbol of courage, so in the Middle Ages, it was often used as a gift to the enlisted knight.

In the Yuan Dynasty of China, there was a book called "Complete Collection of Things to Use at Home", which remembers that it was seasoned with thyme and camel hooves.

The famous Chinese medical scientist Li Shizhen’s "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "The taste is slightly pungent, and the natives cook lamb to eat, which is delicious." Thyme is native to Southern Europe and is widely cultivated as a gourmet spice.

The appearance characteristics of thyme

Semi-shrub. Many stems, creeping or ascending; sterile branches emerging from the end or base of the stem, creeping or ascending, pubescent; flowering branches (1.5) 2-10 cm high, densely curved downwards or slightly flattened under the inflorescence Hair, the lower hair becomes short and sparse, with 2-4 leaf pairs, the base has the first leaves that fall off.

Leaves are ovoid, 4-10 mm long, 2-4.5 mm wide, apex obtuse or slightly acute, base wedge-shaped or tapered, whole or rare 1-2 pairs of small serrations, both sides glabrous, lateral veins 2- 3 pairs, slightly protruding underneath, glandular points somewhat obvious, petioles are obvious, the petiole near the lower part is about 1/2 of the leaf, and the upper part is shorter; the bracts are the same shape as the leaves, and the edges are ciliated in the lower 1/3.

The inflorescence is capitate, more or less flowered, and the flowers have short stalks. The calyx is tubular bell-shaped or narrowly bell-shaped, 4-4.5 mm long, sparsely pilose on the lower part, nearly glabrous on the upper part, the lower lip is longer than the upper lip or nearly equal to the upper lip, the upper lip has shorter teeth, and the teeth do not exceed 1/3 of the total length of the upper lip, Triangular, ciliate or glabrous.

Corolla purple, purple or lavender, pink, 6.5-8 mm long, sparsely pubescent, crown tube elongated, 4-5 mm long, slightly enlarged upward.

Nutlets are nearly round or oval, flattened, and smooth. Flowering from July to August.

The growth habit of thyme

Thyme likes a warm, light-loving, and dry environment. It does not have high requirements on the soil, but it grows well in well-drained lime soil.

Loose and well-drained land, facing the sun. Born in rocky mountains, slopes, valleys, ravines, roadsides, and weeds, 1100-3600 meters above sea level.

The main value of thyme

1. Ecology Thyme plants are relatively low, with stolons that grow along the ground surface, extending nearly horizontally.

The adventitious buds on the stem can germinate many root systems and form a very strong root network, which can effectively prevent soil erosion.

Because thyme has outstanding cold tolerance, drought tolerance, barren tolerance, resistance to diseases and insects, as well as fast growth, large flower volume, long flowering period, and pleasant fragrance;

It has become a rare and excellent ground cover plant in urban landscaping, and because of its strong resistance, wide ecological diversity, and clonal growth characteristics;

In many fragile habitats with severe soil degradation, natural dominant plant species or single superior groups can be formed, and they play an important ecological function in desertification community composition and ecological succession.

2. Medicinal Thyme can treat many diseases, with a sweet and herb-like smell.

The medicinal records of thyme in China can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty. There are records in various Chinese medicine classics.

"Shaanxi Chinese Herbal Medicine" records that it can cure indigestion, general body pain, dispel wind and analgesia, abdominal distension, toothache, and cure stomach cold pain;

"Jiayou Materia Medica," said that it is the main source of swelling and pain; "Xinjiang Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine" records the effects of treating colds, dispelling wind, strengthening the spleen and eliminating food, relieving cough and resolving phlegm, warming the middle and dispelling cold, and "Selected Chinese Herbal Medicines from Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningqing" Stomach relieving vomiting and clearing heat and reducing fever;

"Chinese Medicine Plant Illustrated Book" records that it has antispasmodic, expelling wind, and strengthening effects, and is mainly used for inflammation, spastic cough, whooping cough, and sore throat.

Modern medicinal use uses fresh or dry samples of the above-ground part or whole plant, which has the functions of dispelling wind and relieving pain.

3. Edible The whole thyme plant has a fragrant odor. It appeared in people's lives as a spice vegetable and nectar plant for a long time. It is one of the natural flavoring spices used by humans since ancient times.

It was first recorded in China that thyme was used as a seasoning spice in the Yuan Dynasty. When cooking seafood, meat, fish, and other foods, add a little thyme powder to remove the fishy smell and increase the flavor of the dishes;

Adding thyme to pickles and kimchi can improve their fragrance and grassy aroma. In 1970, the International Standard Organization announced that thyme can be used as a food spice.

Tips Comparing and analyzing the nutrients in thyme and common vegetables, it was found that the content of carbohydrate, protein, vitamin C, selenium, iron, calcium, and zinc was higher than that of common vegetables;

In particular, thyme contains a large number of volatile components such as monoterpenes, which have extremely high edible nutritional value to the human body.

Thyme honey has a high concentration, a strong aroma, and a light amber color. Studies have found that thyme honey has a higher amino acid content, which is of great benefit to the human body.

Thyme facts

1. Flower language

Courage, you who like this flower are broad-minded, brave to face difficulties, and have a lot of self-esteem, and will not give in easily.

You believe that tomorrow will be better, make a rational analysis of everything and not be blindly optimistic.

Because of your strong self-esteem, your relationship will not be very intense, which is a type of rational communication.

In addition to its charming fragrance, thyme has a romantic and beautiful meaning-"good luck".

The scarves given to brave knights by women in the Middle Ages in Europe are pierced with thyme, which means to bless everything.

2. Legend

One of the legends There is a legend in ancient Greece that as long as a girl who thinks of spring embroider a thyme pattern on her clothes, or wear thyme on her body, it means looking for a lover and waiting for the love of the suitor.

For a shy men, as long as they drink a cup of thyme tea, I heard that they can pluck up the courage to pursue what they love.

Legend Two Also known as "The Favor of Provence". In Greek mythology, Aphrodite (the god of love and beauty) shed tears when she saw the cruelty of the Trojan War. Her tears fell into the mortal world and became the lovely leaves of thyme.

Another theory is that Troy’s tears of Helen turned into thyme drop by drop. The English word for thyme comes from Greece, which means "courage".

Interesting story

A song poet in the 16th century called the scent of thyme "a paradise at dawn" because it smells fresh and charming, natural and comfortable, and pure and beautiful like heaven.

According to legend, thyme is related to the most glamorous and beautiful Princess Helen of Sparta, who caused the historic Trojan War.

In Greek mythology, thyme is Helen's tears. Princess Helen, who is all over the country, is the daughter of Queen Rita of Sparta and the god Zeus. Because she is very beautiful, countless princes and nobles pursue her.

Helen's adoptive father, King Spartan, in order to avoid everyone fighting for Helen, married her to the new Spartan King Menelaus and became the queen of Sparta.

Not long after the peaceful days, a handsome Trojan prince Paris came to Sparta. After seeing Queen Helen, he was deeply fascinated by her. He tried every means to get close to Helen and confided in love with her. Helen was also attracted by his handsomeness and fell in love with him unconsciously, so the two met and fled to Troy.

However, how did the two young people know that this elopement led to the ten-year Trojan War?

When Troy finally perished and Paris died in battle, Helen couldn't help but shed crystal tears and turned into thyme on the ground. The expression of tears falling gently on her face caused many Trojan warriors to be overwhelmed and swear to protect her.

Therefore, since then, thyme has been given a symbol of courage and vitality. Women will send a sprig of thyme before their beloved samurai goes out to convey their love and encourage each other's courage.

The girl of Sichun embroidered the thyme pattern on her clothes, or wears thyme on her body, which means looking for a lover and waiting for the suitor to show love;

Benefits of thyme

1. Protect the liver Thyme has a natural aroma. It contains a large amount of oleanolic acid. This substance can directly act on the human liver to improve liver function, prevent hepatitis and cirrhosis, and promote liver cell regeneration. It can be eaten regularly. Reduce virus damage to the human liver.

2. Anti-inflammatory and sterilization Thyme contains a variety of natural anti-inflammatory components, especially the high content of linalool and cymene. They can eliminate a variety of bacteria and viruses in the human body. Usually, it can be used for human oral inflammation and tracheitis. The prevention and treatment of upper respiratory tract inflammation such as pneumonia are particularly effective.

3. Relieve pain and itching Analgesic and itching are also important functions of thyme. Its medicinal ingredients such as linalool and paraffin can eliminate inflammation and sterilization and can eliminate a variety of skin fungi. People usually grind thyme directly and take out the juice when people have dermatitis and eczema. Applying to the affected area can quickly reduce the itching symptoms caused by dermatitis and eczema.

4. Prevent high blood pressure Thyme can prevent high blood pressure. The baicalein and apigenin contained in it are all-natural antihypertensive ingredients, and they can reduce the activity of carcinogens in the body, promote blood circulation, and improve the contraction of the heart. Not only do they often eat It can prevent high blood pressure and also play an important role in preventing cancer.

5. Resolve phlegm and relieve cough Thyme contains a lot of volatile oil and some natural aromatic substances. These substances can expand the trachea and speed up the discharge of sputum. People can use it to prevent coughing and sputum. It can also be used for the treatment of human cough and asthma. The effects are very special obvious.

#Perennials #Edible #Botanical #garden #Herb #Fresh #Herbal #Healthy #Spices #Treatment #Benefits #Planting

Author: Ms.Geneva Link: https://www.thumbgarden.com/what-is-thyme/ Source: ThumbGarden The copyright belongs to the author. For commercial reprints, please contact the author for authorization, and for non-commercial reprints, please indicate the source.

Releases from Beneath the Waves!

They Came from Beneath the Sea! (PDF/print)

They Came from Beneath the Sea!: Quips and Cinematics Cards (PDF/print)

They Came from Beneath the Sea!: Heroic Land-Dwellers! (PDF/print)

They Came from Beneath the Sea! Director’s Screen (PDF)

Scarred Lands: Vigil Watch Chapter 4: The Iron Court (PDF)

Scarred Lands: Gauntlet of Spiragos (Astral VTT)

Scion: Mysteries of the World: The Scion 2nd Edition Companion (PDF/print)

Trinity Continuum: Æon: Quantum Entanglement: A Jumpstarter for Trinity Continuum: Æon (print)

Changeling: The Lost: Dark Eras: Changeling: The Lost Compilation (print)

Merch

Now you can go out with these vitakinetic-approved fabric face masks, available from our RedBubble store:

Æsculapian Order (fabric masks)

Chitra Bhanu (fabric masks)

ISRA (fabric masks)

Legions (fabric masks)

Ministry of Noetic Affairs (fabric masks)

Norça (fabric masks)

Orgotek (fabric masks)

Upeo wa Macho (fabric masks)

Æon Trinity (fabric masks)

Kickstarter Update

Our latest Kickstarter, They Came from Beyond the Grave!, ended last week, and funded in under five hours! We closed out at $56,188 of our $20,000 goal, or 281%, thanks to our 1072 backers, and we’ve hit several stretch goals:

Director’s Screen

Monsters from the Crypt!: Gruesome creatures x3

Backer T-Shirt

Digital Wallpaper

Tales of Depravity!: Supplemental scenarios x3

Enter a World of Horror!: Ready-made PCs

Coming up next: Scion: Demigod

Did you miss one of our previous Kickstarters? The following Kickstarted products are still open for preorders via BackerKit:

Trinity Continuum: Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Vampire: The Masquerade: Cults of the Blood Gods

Mage: The Ascension: Technocracy Reloaded

Chronicles of Darkness: The Contagion Chronicle

Chronicles of Darkness: Deviant: The Renegades

Chronicles of Darkness: Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition

Chronicles of Darkness: Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition

Community Spotlight

The following community-created content for Scarred Lands has been added to the Slarecian Vault in the last month:

Ghelspad Companion Volume 9

Ghelspad Companion Volume 10

Your product could be here! Have you considered creating your own to sell?

The following community-created content for Realms of Pugmire has been added to Canis Minor in the last month:

Your product could be here! Have you considered creating your own to sell?

The following community-created content for Storypath has been added to the Storypath Nexus in the last month:

Scion: Nemetondevos: Revised

Scion: Mysteries of the Otherworld

Scion: Imperium

Trinity Continuum: Ride or Die: A Compendium of Modern Vehicles

Trinity Continuum: House Rules: The Basics

Trinity Continuum: Æon: Harm City

Your product could be here! Have you considered creating your own to sell?

Saturday, November 14, 2020

A Third of the World’s Air Routes Have Been Lost Due to Covid (Bloomberg) Before the coronavirus, a decades-long aviation boom spawned a network of nearly 50,000 air routes that traversed the world. In less than a year, the pandemic has wiped almost a third of them off the map. Border closures, nationwide lockdowns and the fear of catching Covid-19 from fellow passengers have crippled commercial travel. As thousands of domestic and international connections disappear completely from airline timetables, the world has suddenly stopped shrinking. In years to come, overseas business trips and holidays will likely mean more airport stopovers, longer journey times, and perhaps an additional mode of transport. Even when an effective vaccine is found, the economic reality of the recovery may mean some non-stop flights are gone for good.

The rural/urban divide (The Economist) An analysis of the election results by The Economist suggests that the partisan divide between America’s cities and open spaces is greater than ever. Preliminary results supplied by Decision Desk HQ, a data-provider, show that voters in the least urbanized counties voted for Mr Trump by a margin of 33 points, up from 32 points in 2016. (Specifically these are the bottom 20% of counties by population density.) Meanwhile, voters in the most urbanized counties—the top 20%—plumped for Mr Biden by 29 points, up from Hillary Clinton’s 25-point margin in 2016. More broadly, the greater the population density, the bigger the swing to the Democratic candidate. Even after controlling for other relevant demographic factors, the data suggest that urban and rural voters are more divided today than they were in 2016.

More than 130 Secret Service officers are said to be infected with coronavirus or quarantining (Washington Post) More than 130 Secret Service officers who help protect the White House and the president when he travels have recently been ordered to isolate or quarantine because they tested positive for the coronavirus or had close contact with infected co-workers, according to three people familiar with agency staffing. The spread of the coronavirus—which has sidelined roughly 10 percent of the agency’s core security team—is believed to be partly linked to a series of campaign rallies that President Trump held in the weeks before the Nov. 3 election, according to the people, who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the situation. The virus is having a dramatic impact on the Secret Service’s presidential security unit at the same time that growing numbers of prominent Trump campaign allies and White House officials have fallen ill in the wake of campaign events, where many attendees did not wear masks. Among those who are infected are White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and outside political advisers Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie. In addition, at least eight staffers at the Republican National Committee, including Chief of Staff Richard Walters, have the virus, according to officials at the organization.

Trump Rebuffs Biden Transition Team, Setting Off Virus and National Security Risks (NYT) President Trump’s refusal to allow President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his transition staff access to government offices, secure communications and classified briefings prompted growing warnings on Thursday, including from Republicans, that keeping Mr. Biden in the dark potentially endangers the country. On Capitol Hill, several Senate Republicans insisted that Mr. Biden should at least be given access to the President’s Daily Brief, the compendium of the nation’s most closely guarded intelligence secrets and assessments of threats like terrorist plots and cyberattack vulnerabilities. “President-elect Biden should be receiving intelligence briefings right now—that is really important,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, a member of the Intelligence Committee and one of the few Senate Republicans to publicly acknowledge Mr. Biden’s victory. “It’s probably the most important part of the transition.” Giving Mr. Biden and his top aides access to the daily briefing, as Mr. Trump got right after his election four years ago, would address only a fraction of the problem. Mr. Biden will confront an array of complex dilemmas: bruised relationships with foreign allies, a weak economy and a sluggish recovery, perhaps the most high-risk period yet of the coronavirus and a need to distribute a vaccine to 330 million Americans. The president-elect’s team is concerned that it is being shut out of planning for the vaccine distribution, a huge undertaking that the incoming administration expects to inherit the moment Mr. Biden is sworn in. His advisers said they have not had access to the details of Warp Speed, the project that has vaccine distribution planning well underway, and understand little about its workings.

China congratulates Biden, but few US policy changes seen (AP) China on Friday became one of the last major countries to congratulate U.S. President-elect Joe Biden. U.S.-Chinese relations have plunged to their lowest level in decades amid a tariff war over Beijing’s technology ambitions and trade surplus, accusations of spying and tension over human rights, the coronavirus pandemic, Hong Kong and control of the South China Sea. Trump labeled China a security threat and imposed export curbs and other sanctions on Chinese companies. Political analysts expect Biden to try to resume cooperation with Beijing on climate change, North Korea, Iran and the coronavirus. And they say Biden might pursue a more traditional, predictable policy toward China. However, economists and political analysts expect few big changes due to widespread frustration with Beijing’s trade and human rights record and accusations of spying and technology theft.

Eta Returns, Soaking Florida’s West Coast (NYT) Tropical Storm Eta pounded Florida again on Thursday, flooding beach communities along the Gulf of Mexico, forcing rescuers to wade through hip-deep water and hitting portions of Tampa and Jacksonville as it made its way back out to sea. In a series of overnight rescues in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg, firefighters used high-riding fire trucks and an inflatable Zodiac boat to ferry 15 people, a cat, two birds and five dogs from several flooded households to dry land. Eta’s landfall was its second in the state this week. It hit the central part of the Florida Keys late Sunday, and made landfall again at about 4 a.m. Thursday near Cedar Key, roughly 130 miles north of Tampa. Floodwaters receded by late morning as the storm moved out into the Atlantic near Florida’s border with Georgia.

Students take on “online proctoring” companies (Washington Post) “Online proctoring” companies saw in coronavirus shutdowns a chance to capitalize on a major reshaping of education, selling schools a high-tech blend of webcam-watching workers and eye-tracking software designed to catch students cheating on their exams. They’ve taken in millions of dollars, some of it public money, from thousands of colleges in recent months. But they’ve also sparked a nationwide school-surveillance revolt, with students staging protests and adopting creative tactics to push campus administrators to reconsider the deals. Students argue that the testing systems have made them afraid to click too much or rest their eyes for fear they’ll be branded as cheats. Some students also said they’ve wept with stress or urinated at their desks because they were forbidden from leaving their screens. One system, Proctorio, uses gaze-detection, face-detection and computer-monitoring software to flag students for any “abnormal” head movement, mouse movement, eye wandering, computer window resizing, tab opening, scrolling, clicking, typing, and copies and pastes. A student can be flagged for finishing the test too quickly, or too slowly, clicking too much, or not enough. If the camera sees someone else in the background, a student can be flagged for having “multiple faces detected.” If someone else takes the test on the same network—say, in a dorm building—it’s potential “exam collusion.” Room too noisy, Internet too spotty, camera on the fritz? Flag, flag, flag. As an unusually disrupted fall semester churns toward finals, this student rebellion has erupted into online war, with lawsuits, takedowns and viral brawls further shaking the anxiety-inducing backdrop of college exams. Some students have even tried to take the software down from the inside, digging through the code for details on how it monitors millions of high-stakes exams.

‘Peru is fired up’: Protesters, police clash as political crisis flares, 11 wounded (Reuters) Fierce clashes in Peru between police and protesters have wounded at least 11 people, doctors and rights groups said on Friday, as thousands of Peruvians took to the streets to protest the ouster of president Martin Vizcarra. The clashes, and other more peaceful protests in the capital Lima and other cities, are piling pressure on a fragmented Congress and the new government of Manuel Merino. Thursday night’s rallies were among the largest in two decades in Peru. Vizcarra, a politically unaffiliated centrist who is popular with voters, was ousted on Monday in an impeachment trial over allegations he received bribes, accusations he denies. “All of Peru is fired up, we’re all very angry,” said Jose Vega, a protester in Lima, where some carried banners comparing the new president to the coronavirus pandemic and saying he did not represent them. Vizcarra oversaw an anti-graft campaign that led to frequent clashes with Congress in a country that has a history of political upheaval and corruption. The crisis precipitated by his departure has rattled the world’s no. 2 copper producer and seen its sol currency hit 18-year lows.

Boris’s Biden problem (Washington Post) During the height of the U.S. campaign, Britain’s former ambassador in Washington Kim Darroch revealed that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government were expecting—if not hoping—that President Trump would be reelected. Before months of pandemic changed the math, Downing Street was imagining that four more years of Trump would smooth the way for a fast-track free-trade deal with the United States just when Johnson needed it the most, as Britain exits the European Union at year’s end. But the win by former vice president Joe Biden has charged the “special relationship” between the two leaders and two closely allied countries with what the British might call a certain . . . awkwardness. Johnson and President-elect Biden have never met, and though the British prime minister sent his congratulations, the message was somewhat bungled. In the official tweet from Johnson’s office, there were faintly visible words in the text, a ghost of an earlier, edited message, that congratulated Trump instead. Biden, for his part, called Johnson last year the “physical and emotional clone of Donald Trump” in private remarks widely reported in British press. Johnson could use a few friends these days. His aides are warring; England is in lockdown again; Britain continues to tally the highest death toll from the coronavirus in Europe. And the British prime minister still hasn’t secured a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union.

Indian and Pakistani troops exchange fire, at least 15 dead (Reuters) At least 10 civilians and five security personnel were killed in cross-border shelling between India and Pakistan on Friday, in one of this year’s deadliest days along the heavily militarised frontier separating the nuclear-armed rivals, officials said. Indian officials said the barrage of mortars and other weapons along several parts of the Line of Control—the de-facto border—began after Indian troops foiled an infiltration attempt from Pakistan in northern Kashmir. Pakistan’s military said in a statement it had responded to unprovoked and indiscriminate firing by the Indian army. Indian and Pakistani troops regularly exchange fire across the mountainous border, but the shelling on Friday was particularly intense, according to Indian officials.

Strong typhoon leaves 42 dead, 20 missing in Philippines (AP) Thick mud and debris coated many villages around the Philippine capital on Friday after a typhoon killed at least 42 people and caused extensive flooding that sent people fleeing to their roofs, officials said. Troops, police, coast guard and disaster-response teams rescued tens of thousands of people, including many who flooded radio and TV networks and social media with desperate pleas for help. Floodwaters receded and the weather cleared in many areas after Typhoon Vamco blew out into the South China Sea on Friday, but the military said it was still rescuing people trapped in some flooded communities. After slamming into northeastern Quezon province, Vamco gained strength with sustained winds of 155 kilometers (96 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 255 kph (158 mph). It blew north of metropolitan Manila overnight Wednesday, toppling trees and power poles, swelling rivers, flooding residential communities and setting off landslides and storm surges.

Ethiopia War Risks Becoming the World’s Next Refugee Crisis (Foreign Policy) Little more than a week has gone by since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a “military confrontation” in the country’s northern Tigray region and the death toll is likely already in the hundreds. All communication lines, including internet, have been cut in the region, making it difficult for foreign observers to understand what is happening on the ground. Human rights group Amnesty International has made one of the first attempts to shed light on conditions in Tigray when it reported the details of a mass killing on the scale of “scores, and likely hundreds.” Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa confirmed “the massacre of a very large number of civilians, who appear to have been day labourers in no way involved in the ongoing military offensive.” Amnesty has not made a judgement on which group was responsible for the killings, although they cite eyewitness accounts placing the blame on the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party in Tigray and up until Abiy’s ascent, the dominant party in Ethiopia’s government. Faced with such violence, alongside the threat of airstrikes from Ethiopia’s military, a refugee crisis is beginning to take shape. Neighboring Sudan has taken in 11,000 refugees so far.

Outside Mogadishu, locusts turn farmland into desert (Reuters) A rifle on his back, Mohamed Yasin tries in vain to chase away the swarm of yellow-coloured insects that have invaded his farm as his camels mill about nearby. Swarming on the outskirts of Mogadishu, locusts are eating away at Yasin’s livelihood, destroying maize and beans and all his grass. The insect plague hitting Somalia is part of a once-in-a-generation succession of swarms that have swept across East Africa and the Red Sea region since late 2019, driven by unusual weather patterns. In a region where many already go hungry, The coronavirus has this year exacerbated the crisis by disrupting the supply chain of pesticides and other equipment needed to fight them off.

Zimbabweans mend shabby dollar notes amid economic crisis (AP) Albert Marombe takes a grimy, tattered $1 note and delicately, expertly glues it back into one piece, holding it up for inspection. “I don’t care how torn it is. All I want to see is the serial number being visible on both sides,” said Marombe. He’ll sell that shabby $1 note for 80 cents and it will get back into circulation. Many shops will reject it but market traders will take it, although at a reduced value. Worn out or shredded by rats, $1 notes are king in Zimbabwe, beset by a continuing economic crisis. One dollar bills are used by many people to buy their daily bread and other small purchases. Crisp new notes are not coming into Zimbabwe, so enterprising traders are repairing old ones for desperate customers. The U.S. dollar has dominated transactions in Zimbabwe since the country’s hyperinflation soared to more than 5 billion percent and forced the government to abandon the local currency in 2009. Last year the government re-introduced a Zimbabwe currency and banned foreign currencies for local transactions. Few took heed though and the black market thrived, while the local currency quickly devalued. In March this year, the government relented and unbanned the dollar. Now shortages of small denominations of the dollar are a nightmare.

Custom Stuffed Animals Manufacturer

Custom Stuffed Animals Manufacturer The exact same could be real of the crystal-encrusted bear-we wouldn't be stunned if the bear comes to be a fixture in Stormi's new play house, which is (not surprisingly) possibly bigger than most New York City homes. John Youngaitis, 64, is one of the last taxidermists in the 5 districts of New York City as well as most likely the last 'typical' taxidermist in the city who focuses on larger game as well as hunting trophies. Apart from Amber as well as John, there are at the very least 2 various other taxidermists in New York City. The distinct home is on sale for $550,000 and comes with all its distinct insides along with two custom-made autos, complimentary of the former automotive developer. Whether it's for retail launch, an occasion or exhibition, we're experienced at providing custom stuffed playthings around the world, from large deliveries to small, by sea, air, vehicle, or messenger. Amory: We're involving you from WBUR, Boston's NPR terminal. Yet we're mosting likely to up the stake as well as recommend you hang around with your kid, helping them to develop their own sweet trip. It's superb for aiding kids relax and also go to sleep. If your youngsters have small dabble special significances, you can buy a clear light base and also load it with these toys to continue to keep those memories alive. The goals, respectively, are to conserve optimum neighborhood water from a water beast, tidy up a community overflowing with rubbish, minimize power waste, and maintain the global warming index very little. Here are 12 enjoyable concepts to protect your child's childhood years to get you started. Making something fun as well as imaginative that you as well as your kid can need to protect their childhood memories doesn't have to be time-consuming or expensive either. Which is why locating ways to preserve your youngster's youth - due to the fact that, I'm sorry to state, at some point you'll neglect the means they articulated Elmo - can help you keep the memories alive. The line at the Build-A-Bear in the shopping mall, which had at the very least a couple of thousand individuals, some that waited 4 hours, extended outside past the Sears Automotive Center completely to Chili's.

OK, so this may be more of a present for kids' moms and dads, however youngsters are likewise bound to love the vivid, multiple-use tableware from Repurpose, which features 100 percent compostable, plant-based single-use eating products (flatware, straws, plates), and also a line of nontoxic recyclable goods without BPAs, phthalates, PVC, and also PBDEs. The cloth masks presently under production as well as quickly to be sold by Smoko are similar to those made by many various other firms - they're washable and also multiple-use, they have elastic ear straps, and they have a pocket for a filter insert and also a steel band that can be readjusted for a tight fit at the nose. The good news is they're equally as right into the multiple-use kind, which don't create any type of added paper or plastic waste. Good information for wanderlusters old as well as young: Atlas Obscura recently came out with a 2nd edition ($38) of its preferred compendium, An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders. There's nothing quite like being a tween or teenager simply sharpening one's palate for the vast, wild, and weird wonders of the world. Certain, they will certainly travel through the angsty teenager stage first, but ultimately their whole childhood will certainly be in the rearview mirror. One area appears out of a web page of Alice and also Wonderland with formed mirror ceilings and also black and white floor tiles lining the flooring. Many of these ideas can also be begun while your youngster is still proactively living out their youth. Look around if you're still questioning why suppliers pick to pattern their playthings after animals. I was expecting the stuffed pet to look like Buckley, however I really did not envision it would look so much like him. These personalized 4-inch sandstone figurines look like your pet and also include its name on a stand. Your packed animals are custom made according to your desires. Baby gift baskets are valuable as well as helpful and come in different themes. Clients can pick from a huge selection of readily available baby gift baskets or can have one custom made. Constructed from long lasting cotton canvas with a light poly cellular lining, this lovely duffel bag can be customized stitched with a youngster's given name. Whether it's for retail launch, an occasion or trade program, we're experienced at delivering personalized packed toys around the globe, from huge deliveries to little, by sea, air, vehicle, or carrier. If your kids have little playthings with unique definitions, you can buy a clear lamp base as well as fill it with these playthings to proceed to keep those memories active. Your packed animals are custom-made made according to your wishes. Customers can select from a substantial selection of offered infant gift baskets or can have one custom-made made. Made of long lasting cotton canvas with a light poly cellular lining, this charming duffel bag can be custom stitched with a kid's initial name.

The Rainbow Bridge & The Northern Lights

In Norse mythology, Bifröst is a burning rainbow bridge that reaches between Midgard (the world) and Asgard, the realm of the gods. Bifröst means "shimmering path. Bifrost is the rainbow bridge that connects Asgard, the world of the Aesir tribe of gods, with Midgard, the world of humanity. Bifrost is guarded by the ever-vigilant god Heimdall. During Ragnarok, the giants breach Heimdall’s defences and cross the bridge to storm Asgard and slay the gods.   The etymology of the word is uncertain. The original form of the name seems to be Bilröst, which suggests a meaning along the lines of “ the fleetingly glimpsed rainbow.” If Bifröst is correct, however, the meaning would be something akin to “the shaking or trembling rainbow.” In either case, the word points to the ephemeral and fragile nature of the bridge. Bifrost is built out of fire, air, and water by the Gods. The three materials gives the three colours Red “Fire”, Blue “Air”, and Green “Water”. Also known as Asabru ("Bridge of Gods"), Not only do the Gods use this Bridge to travel to and from the Earth, it also leads to the Urdar Well, situated at the foot of the great ash Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life, where they assemble daily in council.    

The Bridge of the Gods, Bivröst (“Moving Way” in Old Norse) is mentioned in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, written around 1220  , and in the Poetic Edda which is probably much older . The Poetic Edda is the modern attribution for an unnamed collection of Old Norse anonymous poems, which is different from the Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all consisting primarily of text from the Icelandic medieval manuscript known as the Codex Regius. The Codex Regius is arguably the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends. The Bifröst Bridge is the way to Asgard in the Viking stories. The god Heimdall who waits there is the guardian. He can hear the grass growing and leaves falling from Yggdrasil, he can see to the end of the world and he never sleeps. 

The rainbow looks like a giant bridge or gate , it is the Gateway to Heaven. The Zulu of South Africa call the rainbow the Queens Arch because it is one of the frames that form the house of the Queen of Heaven.   A Japanese myth tells of the first man Isanagi and the first woman Isanami who stood on the floating bridge of heaven while creating the island of Onogoro. They then walked down to earth on this rainbow bridge, called Niji. The first gods Kunitokotachi and Amenominakanushi summoned two divine beings into existence, the male Izanagi and the female Izanami, and charged them with creating the first land. To help them do this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a spear decorated with jewels, named Ame-no-nuboko (heavenly spear). The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Ame-no-ukihashi ("floating bridge of heaven"), and churned the sea below with the spear. When drops of salty water fell from the spear, Onogoroshima ("self-forming island") was created. They descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island. Eventually they wished to be mated, so they built a pillar called Ame-no-mihashira ("pillar of heaven) and around it they built a palace called Yahiro-dono. Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions and, when they met on the other side, Izanami spoke first in greeting. Izanagi did not think that this was proper, but they mated anyhow. They had two children, Hiruko ("leech-child") and Awashima ("faint island"), but they were born deformed and were not considered deities, but devils.  

 Auroral sightings in China are rare and would have been caused by a significant solar event so unsurprisingly, the ancient Chinese were in awe of the lights that sporadically illuminated their night sky. It is said that many of the early Chinese legends associated with dragons were a result of the Northern Lights. The belief is that the lights were viewed as a celestial battle between good and evil dragons who breathed fire across the firmament. In Eskimo cosmology, heaven was located beyond the Dome of the sky by the Shimmering Bridge. The aboriginals of Scandinavia, the Sámi, feared and respected the aurora, and placed auroral symbols on their magic drums, believing that the Northern Lights had supernatural powers to resolve conflicts. This shimmering bridge connected heaven and earth, and ended under the shade of the mighty world-tree Yggdrasil, close beside the fountain where Mimir kept guard.   

Northern Lights are called Guovssahasat in Sami language. The Samis used to think that the Northern Lights were living beings with a soul and ability to hear and understand the humans. The Skolt Samis believe the lights are souls of people who were killed in a war. In the northern Finland people used to think the Northern Lights were made by the Fire-fox running over the lands swinging its red tail around it. In the old days the women did not dare to go out without a hat or a cloth on their head. They were afraid their hair could catch fire from the Fire-fox.   The Samis imagined they could hear the Northern Lights talk. During the faster movements of the Northern Lights no-one was allowed to make noises or talk loud. And you could not point them with your finger either. If you insulted the Northern Lights you could be attacked by them and punished. A long time ago there were two reindeer herders in Lapland. They were brothers. The younger brother was killed by the Northern Lights, the Guovssahasat, because he had made too much noise with his yoiking and he had insulted and teased the Northern Lights. They came down on him and killed him.  

 The Eskimos and Indians of North America have many stories to explain these northern lights. One story is reported by the explorer Ernest W. Hawkes in his book, The Labrador Eskimo - “The ends of the land and sea are bounded by an immense abyss, over which a narrow and dangerous pathway leads to the heavenly regions. The sky is a great dome of hard material arched over the Earth. There is a hole in it through which the spirits pass to the true heavens. Only the spirits of those who have died a voluntary or violent death, and the Raven, have been over this pathway. The spirits who live there light torches to guide the feet of new arrivals. This is the light of the aurora. They can be seen there feasting and playing football with a walrus skull. The whistling crackling noise which sometimes accompanies the aurora is the voices of these spirits trying to communicate with the people of the Earth. They should always be answered in a whispering voice. Youths dance to the aurora. The heavenly spirits are called selamiut, “sky-dwellers,” those who live in the sky”. 

Wawatay, otherwise known as Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights, have always fascinated people. For the First Nations peoples of Manitoba,they are more than just the northern lights. The Northern Lights symbolize some of the teachings and practices of the First Nations people. One of these teachings, passed on from generation to generation, is the belief that Wataway are spirits of the ancestors celebrating life, reminding us that we are all part of creation. Their dancing forms a pathway for the souls as they travel to the next world. It is said that when we are living properly and conducting our ceremonies and dances, the spirits of our ancestors dance in the heavens. A teaching tells us that when we leave this earth, we are to dance out the doorway to the next world in spirit form. When we do this, our relatives will meet us. Those left living on the earth will see the Northern Lights (Wawatay) dancing in the sky from the north-east to the north-west. Aboriginal people commonly saw aurorae as fires in the cosmos. To the Gunditjmara of western Victoria, they’re Puae buae (“ashes”). To the Gunai of eastern Victoria, they’re bushfires in the spirit world and an omen of a coming catastrophe. The Dieri and Ngarrindjeri of South Australia see aurora as fires created by sky spirits. As far north as south-western Queensland, Aboriginal people saw the phenomenon as “feast fires” of the Oola Pikka ,ghostly beings who spoke to Elders through the aurora. The Maori of Aotearoa/New Zealand saw aurorae (Tahunui-a-rangi) as the campfires of ancestors reflected in the sky. These ancestors sailed southward in their canoes and settled on a land of ice in the far south. The southern lights let people know they will one day return.   

Mungan Ngour, a powerful sky ancestor in Gunai traditions, set rules for male initiation and put his son, Tundun, in charge of the ceremonies. When people leaked secret information about these ceremonies, Mungan cast down a great fire to destroy the Earth. The people saw this as an aurora.  Near Uluru, a group of hunters broke Pitjantjatjara law by killing and cooking a sacred emu. They saw smoke rise to the south, towards the land of Tjura. This was the aurora, viewed as poisonous flames that signalled coming punishment. The Dieri also believe an aurora is a warning that someone is being punished for breaking traditional laws, which causes great fear. The breaking of traditional laws would result in an armed party coming to kill the lawbreakers when they least expect it. In this context, fear of an aurora was utilised to control behaviour and social standards. 

 The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. The Avesta is the primary collection of religious texts of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra). The Chinvat Bridge Avestan Cinvatô Peretûm, "bridge of judgement" or "beam-shaped bridge") or the Bridge of the Requiter in Zoroastrianism is the sifting bridge, often, the Chinvat Bridge is identified with the Rainbow, which separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. All souls must cross the bridge upon death. The bridge is guarded by two four-eyed dogs. The Bridge's appearance varies depending on the observer's asha, or righteousness. As related in the text known as the Bundahishn, if a person has been wicked, the bridge will appear narrow and the demon Vizaresh will emerge and drag their soul into the druj-demana (the House of Lies), a place of eternal punishment and suffering similar to the concept of Hell. If a person's good thoughts, words and deeds in life are many, the bridge will be wide enough to cross, and the Daena, a spirit representing revelation, will appear and lead the soul into the House of Song. Those souls that successfully cross the bridge are united with Ahura Mazda the Supreme Being.   

“ Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Where are the rewards given? Where does the rewarding take place? Where is the rewarding fulfilled? Whereto do men come to take the reward that, during their life in the material world, they have won for their souls? Ahura Mazda answered: 'When the man is dead, when his time is over, then the wicked, evil-doing Daevas cut off his eyesight. On the third night, when the dawn appears and brightens up, when Mithra, the god with beautiful weapons, reaches the all-happy mountains, and the sun is rising 'Then the fiend, named Vizaresha, O Spitama Zarathushtra, carries off in bonds the souls of the wicked Daeva-worshippers who live in sin. The soul enters the way made by Time, and open both to the wicked and to the righteous. At the head of the Chinwad bridge, the holy bridge made by Mazda, they ask for their spirits and souls the reward for the worldly goods which they gave away here below. 'Then comes the beautiful, well-shapen, strong and well-formed maid, with the dogs at her sides, one who can distinguish, who has many children, happy, and of high understanding. 'She makes the soul of the righteous one go up above the Hara-berezaiti; above the Chinwad bridge she places it in the presence of the heavenly gods themselves.”  

As-Sirāt is, according to Islam, the hair-narrow bridge which every person must pass on the Yawm ad-Din ("Day of the Way of Life" i.e. Day of Judgment) to enter Paradise. It is said that it is as thin as a hair and as sharp as the sharpest knife or sword. Below this path are the fires of Hell, which burn the sinners to make them fall. Those who performed acts of goodness in their lives are transported across the path in speeds according to their deeds leading them to the Hauzu'l-Kausar, the Lake of Abundance. 

Vaitarna river, as mentioned in the Garuda Purana and various other Hindu religious texts, lies between the earth and the infernal Naraka, the realm of Yama, Hindu god of death and is believed to purify one's sins. Furthermore, while the righteous see it filled with nectar-like water, the sinful see it filled with blood. Sinful souls are supposed to cross this river after death. According to the Garuda Purana, this river falls on the path leading to the Southern Gate of the city of Yama. It is also mentioned that only the sinful souls come via the southern gate. The Vaitarna River is, to the sinless, a river of nectar. To the sinner, it appears filled with blood, bones, and pus. When the sinner approaches, flames appear everywhere. Those who try and cross, and are in fact sinners, will burn forever in the whirlpools in it’s depths.  

 In Greek mythology, the River Styx had to be crossed to reach life after death. The only way to cross the Styx was in a ferryboat rowed by a an old boatman named Charon. The boatman would only take a soul if their bodies had received funereal rites on earth. Charon the ferryman also demanded to be paid, therefore a small coin was placed under the tongue of a dead person for this purpose. 

It is rare for the Northern Lights to appear over Southern Europe and such appearances require intense solar activity which usually results in red Auroras appearing in the night sky. In the British Isles, the Northern Lights were known as the Na Fir Chlis ,"nimble men" or the "merry dancers," names belying the fact that auroras were seen as clans at war, and the red light as blood spilt in violent battle. In Gaelic “Na” is the definite article, while “fir” is the plural of “fair”, meaning man, or one. “Chlis” means quick, lively, or nimble. It is, in fact, probably a mis-pronouncing of the word “mirrie” which means shimmering, a very suitable description of the Northern Lights. Thus from Na Fir-Chlis, the nimble / lively ones, we have the sense of motion, of “dancers”, while the description as shimmering, or “merrie”, completes the name, properly . The Mirrie Dancers. That “mirrie” sounds very similar, especially in the Orcadian tongue, to the English “merry” leads to them being called the Merry Dancers, with connotations of happiness, but the name more properly describes their shimmering nature.  In Northern Scotland and on Orkney and Shetland some still call the Northern lights ‘The Merry Dancers’. The Scottish names or the Northern Lights suggest moving forms. As one folk song relates: ‘She called them the heavily dancers, merry dancers in the sky’.(The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen). The Lights were described as epic fights among sky warriors or fallen angels. Blood from the wounded fell to earth and spotted the “bloodstones” or heliotrope found in the Hebrides. 

There is an old story, a young boy goes out fishing and falls asleep in his boat. He wakes to see giants dancing around a great bonfire. But then he realises they are not dancing but fighting and his boat is adrift on a pool of blood. Returning to shore , he finds he has been gifted with second sight. The blood undoubtedly refers to the scarlet aurora that appears during particularly intense solar storms. In another story, the Fir Chlis take part in a war called ‘an linne fhuil’ or ‘pool of blood’ and the local red and green ‘bloodstones’ were believed to be drops fallen from the sky warriors.

Source: Alloya

https://steemit.com/rainbow/@alloya/the-rainbow-bridge-and-the-northern-lights?epik=dj0yjnu9akffq0e5ehhmzxbidwo0a2j6cmnnvuy5ehprzm1lmkwmbj1ta1phbxhbrmncyutcoefiv3funlr3jm09myz0pufbqufbrje4ewjz

Found by Pinterest search.