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sorchasolas · 5 months

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Thinking abbout what would happen if Kaladin and Darrow met. Kaladin, a slave who rose up to a high position. And Darrow, a slave who rose up to a high position. Execpt Kaladin, in pursue of his own personal oaths, did not yearn for leadership— and, yes, he’s the leader of the Windrunners, but I’m talking more about ambition. Kaladin didnt exactly try to lead them— he just eneded up doing it. He rose up to that position naturally. (And honestly kaladin doesnt actively avoid bigger leadership roles, its just kinda how things turned out— if it turned out people needed him to be a king for whatever reason, i feel he would absolutely try to rise to that)

Darrow, on the other hand, fights tooth and nail constantly to climb the ladder and to keep the trust of his allys.

While Darrow has to basically fight for trust, people just inheritly trust Kaladin— but thats because their struggles are different. Darrow’s mission is to overthrow the society he, at the same time, is working to lead— while Kaladin, while generally opposed to the way his society functions, makes no giant moves to resist it or change things. The cloest he gets to this is helping people in the sanitarium, and beside that just exisitng as a person— a darkeyed man who became one of the most powerful men on earth. While it’s Darrow’s entire mission, it’s just a general value Kaladin has.

And now I get to what would happen if they met. Like, Darrow would probably mistake Kal for a Blue or Brown— depending on the time they meet and just. Kinda bc I still don't really grasp how these people look- and Kaladin would mistake Darrow for a Riran. I think Darrow would be?? Vaguely irritated by Kaladin. Like, Kaladin has the resources, connections, and status to significantly change his society for the better and he just. Kinda doesn’t. Kaladin would be lowkey repulsed by Darrow? Like this guy kills needlessly and betrays his friends and abandons oaths for his pursuit for power? Ewwww.

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succulentsunrise · 2 years

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That's great! May I request a fic where Marx was treated badly by his family because they found out he was gay, and julius saved him and made him join his squad, and Marx develops feeling for him? Thank you so much!

It's in my rules that I don't write romantic relationships that have large age gaps, and Julius and Marx have ~17 years age difference. Though I could've fulfilled the request by just making it one-sided from Marx's point of view, I still wasn't super comfortable with it, so I'm sorry if this isn't to your liking.

Therefore this fic is entirely platonic and concentrates on Julius saving Marx from uncomfortable family situation.

The Saviour Knight

Warning: Homophobia, deprivation as punishment

Words: 1281

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A hand impacted harshly with the wall just behind a youth. He tensed up, curling inside himself a little. He knew the hand wouldn’t actually hurt him, but it didn’t make the experience any less scary. There had never been any violence, just threats of it - but it was still a threat. Even if there wasn’t physical violence, there would be a punishment.

“I’ve told you to stop talking with other boys like that!” his father screamed.

The anger in those cold eyes was scary. Marx, who was by no means a brave or strong person, could only cower. The accusation was unfair. It would be pointless to say that those were simply his friends who he studied with. He had always been hard-working. He had always only gotten the best grades from all the tests, always behaved properly in the court, always been immaculate.

Except for one thing.

He didn’t feel attraction to women.

Marx had been naive and thought it had been something he could’ve brought up with his father. That was not the case. His father had ever since been on the edge and monitored how he acted zealously. This was only a problem because he was the only child of his family. If there was someone else to give his parents an heir, he had the inkling that they wouldn’t have cared so much. Now his father would blow up if he looked even a little bit warmly at another boy of his age, afraid that rumours would spread and no one would want to marry him when the time would come. No one would want to bear him a child. Whenever his father would get insecure about this kind of thing, he would limit the time Marx would get to spend with other people of his age and lock him in the study. Sometimes it would be “fasting”, sometimes it was just seclusion. He endured it all, because he knew his father wouldn’t let it go too far. Still, it was impossible to know what would set his father off. It was tiring to have to constantly tiptoe around him.

Then, at the age of 15, Marx found himself a saviour - a knight, actually. They met during one of the noble gatherings that his father brought him to. His father was eager to impress the rising star of the Magic Knights, Julius Novachrono. His voice was kind and gentle, and demeanour was calming in itself. Marx immediately took a strong liking to him. Whenever they’d speak, his heart would begin pounding in his chest, and he’d try to make excuses to stay in the conversation. It was especially easy when he found out that Julius was extremely interested in magic. His new grimoire became especially useful in getting him to talk for a long time. He was even more interested when he heard a rumour that the man might also be gay, like him. It was just a rumour, one that Marx didn’t dare to ascertain whether it was true or not. Yet Marx enjoyed how he felt with Julius: he felt like he was himself in the eyes of this person, not just an heir or a noble. He was Marx. He wasn’t judged for who he was. The more they talked about the knights, magic and the Grey Deer, the more he expressed interest in joining the squad. He had to be polite, however. He didn’t know if he was good enough to join them.

The problem arose when Marx asked a few too many times whether Julius Novachrono would be visiting again. Though he had masked it as interest in Julius’ squad, the Grey Deer, constant questioning set off his father. The accusations flooded in suddenly, took his study room by storm, and many improper words bounced off of its walls. It didn’t take long until he was told to fast for his impure thoughts again, and the door to the room was locked. The only way that he could lessen this sentence would be by agreeing that he would immediately marry some young lady from another house. Marx refused to do that. He was wrongly punished again: he just wanted to talk to his peer. He had no impure thoughts about Julius - the man was older than him by far, and clearly harboured no such thoughts for him either. He tried to argue with his father, but his father only called him a liar. The only thing Marx could do was hold on and drink the hunger away. He trusted that his father wouldn’t let it go too far. He knew his father. The first day was difficult, as always. Second day was slow. There was little he could do to distract himself. By the third day he thought they should really call this what it was: starvation, not fasting. He was dizzy, had no energy to move and felt like he was dying. His father had never made it go this long. It was usually a day. He considered for a moment fulfilling his father’s wish. He considered shouting for him, promising he had changed. He hadn’t, but he was tormented. Would this be what life had to offer for him? Constant torment for not promising to ruin some young woman’s life? Constant suspicion that he harboured feelings that he didn’t have for his friends and mentors? Marx banged at the door with little energy, begging his father to let him out. None of his cries were answered. He didn’t even know if his father heard him. Just as he was giving up on hope, the door suddenly opened. Through his tear-stained vision, he could see a person with a radiant helo step in. The rest of his body was shrouded in grey. Relieved, Marx closed his eyes. Exhaustion and stress slowly left him as the calming presence enveloped him, and with it came unconsciousness.

It was later that Marx woke up in the headquarters of the Grey Deer, having been checked on by a doctor. He learnt that Julius Novachrono had taken him here using his connections. Marx had expressed a desire to join the Grey Deers, and Julius Novachrono had discussed the matter with his father. If he was still willing, he could join them. He was fifteen, after all. Julius put it to him in a very blunt fashion: military life wasn’t easy, but it would solve some of his problems. His father would likely not pester him about getting married immediately, and he’d have time to build himself a reputation and consider his future. However, he’d have to deal with life and death situations, which wasn’t necessarily better. Marx took a week to come to a decision. He wanted to join the Grey Deers.

Later on, meeting Julius was one of the fondest memories Marx had of his teenage years. He had worshipped the older man as a hero, as a peer. He had been like a lost puppy by his side, trying to learn and imitate what Julius would do. Julius had been a saving light on what seemed a bleak and confusing situation. It was thanks to him that Marx now had a comfortable position, had had an easier time figuring out his own place in the world, and could easily deal with his parents’ demands. Those tumultuous years had calmed down ever since he had met Julius and joined the Grey Deers. Marx could only hope that one day, he’d find someone around his age who was as calm and kind and Julius. He would wait for that day patiently. He had been given the peace to do so, and he would treasure it.

#Julius Novachrono #Marx Francois #platonic #black clover

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multiverse-swampy · 5 years

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It's the music anon, back with another multiverse question. For each verse, who is your personal hero, and who is your main villain or rival? Bonus points for giving your reasons for your picks!

“Well! This is gonna be another long post it seems, soooo..."

Pokemon Verse Personal Hero: Red Main Villain: Giovanni “Shouldn’t be much of a surprise, being a first generation veteran. Red has always been herald as a legend, so it makes sense to make him a hero. As for Giovanni, it seems he can travel to through the multiverses and do whatever. This makes him more threatening than before.”

Monster Hunter Verse Personal Hero: My Friends Main Rival: Ace Commander “There’s not many heroes in this verse. So, I look up to my friends, as they dish out A LOT more damage than I could ever dream to achieve. Perhaps it’s because I’m buffing them with Attack Up L? Either way, I play a more support role than an aggressive role. As for villain or rivals? Same with heroes, not many. Though in Val Habar, the Ace Commander insulted me when we first met, so I instantly didn’t like him. It was only until I proved my worth to him is when he saw that I was better than he realized. Despite making amends, I still don’t like him much.”

Team Fortress 2 Verse Personal Hero: Saxton Hale Main Villains: Redmond and Blutarch “Honestly, I never really think much about heroes or villains in this verse. If anything, you have been employed by one of two greedy, money hungry villains. Because they’re your boss, you can’t really bad mouth them much without the Administrator catching wind of it. Plus, they pay you to kill people, though I’m a Medic here. As for a hero? Saxton Hale seems like a reasonable choice, but I can’t say he’s really a hero in some regards...”

Splatoon Verse Personal Heroes: Callie and Marie Main Villain: Tartar Sauce “Without Callie and Marie, we wouldn’t have Octolings around Inkopolis. Plus, Octoling boys are extremely cute~. Anyway, I think it’s also fair to say that Tartar is more dangerous than Octavio, mostly because he tried to wipe out the whole Inkling race.”

Smash Bros Verse Personal Heroes: Roy, Pit, Corrin Main Villains: Galeem and Dharkon “When I was younger, I always thought Master Hand was the ultimate bad guy. It wasn’t until Brawl that he was one of the good guys. I do generally have the upmost respect for the heroes in the Smash verse of course. Just my boo Roy has more of a priority.”

Fire Emblem Heroes Verse Personal Hero: Roy, Corrin, Marth, Ike, Eliwood, Eirika, Frederick, Robin, Chrom, Tiki, Nowi Main Villains: Veronica, Surtr, Black Knight, Valter, Narcian, Julius, Arvis “Fair enough to say that I mostly trust the guys from the Smash verse the most here. Again, still learning about who’s who, but I am staying away from the ones I do know about. I will say though, some of the heroes I do know do seem pretty wholesome...”

Animal Crossing Verse Personal Hero: Isabelle Main Villain: ??? “Are there any villains here? Well, Isabelle works tirelessly for you and your town. To say she’s everyone’s favorite is an understatement.”

Terraria Verse Personal Hero: Goblin Tinkerer Main Villain: Moonlord “The Goblin Tinkerer does a lot for you for a pretty penny, but grinding a LOT in an Expert World gives you plenty of money. Moonlord however, I haven’t beat him on Expert yet. I have no real reason to anyway, considering it’s a boss rush.”

Monster Hunter Stories Verse Personal Hero: Ratha Main Villain: The Darkness “It’s been awhile, but Ratha being able to combat the darkness inside him had to been the most touching moment I’ve witnessed in the verse. Though it has been quite a while...”

How to Train Your Dragon Verse Personal Hero: Hiccup Main Villain: Drago Bludvist “Do I need to into detail why?”

#💖In Character #💖Multiverse Jumper; Swampy #💖Ask; Answered #long post #can't hide under a cut

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godspeedwarrior · 2 years

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Name: Julius Beldalor Race: Variant Human

Class: Eldritch Knight Background: Folk Hero

Story: Julius is the son of one Roderick Beldalor, human Wizard, and Norvahn Gūlgulch, Half-Orc Fighter. His parents, naturally, lived well as adventurers before ultimately deciding to settle down in a small village, having earned enough to live out their lives comfortably.

Having grown up with listening to their harrowing tales, Julius dreams of becoming a great noble warrior, spending much of his youth working towards that goal. Commiting his naivete to a lofty notion of noble behavior. Being naturally adept in magic like his father, and personally trained to handle a sword by his mother, Julius was fairly capable at handling a variety of jobs at a young age. Eventually becoming renown around his village for his valiant honor, and his unwavering gullibility.

Reaching adulthood, Julius desired to hone himself further and sought after an order of knights that would play to his strengths. The Order of the Burning Blade, a Noble faction of Eldritch Knights, was such an order. They were very selective of their trainees. Therefore they wouldn't elect a commoner without recommendation, a connection a old family friend just so happen to be willing to offer. Julius set out to join the Order without an inkling of failure.

The first notable thing Julius recognized upon arriving on the grounds of the Order's fort was the decorative garb adorned by all trainees. He was in awe of their stark- vibrant colors, setting them apart from even his own garb. Many glances were upon him as he approached the main building.

The interview was strict. Many commoners had applied with the Order before, however none were as highly recommended. After a lengthy discussion, Julius was presented with an offer. He would sign his life over to the Order in exchange for his training. Already bearing the two of the most important traits of an Eldritch knight, Julius moved rather quickly in his training, having the basics down within half the time of other trainees. Something that did not gain the respect of his peers.

Seeing as a commoner was capable of producing results that generations of Noble lineage could not, Julius soon came to be neglected in comparison to his fellow trainees. Who in contrast were being pushed harder than ever. To compensate for his aptitude, Julius was given more advanced practices to master. Yet sadly, Julius was not a genius. He had simply been practicing longer than the others and without any aid or guidance, his progress simply came to a halt.

The signature spell of the Order of the Burning Blade was none other than the Green-Flame Blade. It defined the very practice of an Eldritch Knight to the core. One could not be considered a Knight of the Order without mastery of it.

For 6 months Julius struggled to even preform the Evocation. He couldn't tell if his stance was improper, his pronunciation was off, or if he had simply failed to understand the spell at all. What was once his dream had become an unending nightmare.

It was with a heavy heart that Julius asked the Master to absolve his contract with the Order. Having fallen into despair, he felt he could no longer fulfill his duties to the Order. And this was exactly what they wanted.

In the fine print a break of contract brought "compensation" to the Order for resources spent in the process of training, leaving Julius with a King's ransom in debt.

Rumor had it that Julius' family struct it big while adventuring. In order to hide a dragon's hoard worth of wealth, they had settled down quietly to avert any attention to themselves. The Nobles of this Order decided to take a gamble. Form up a contract with promise of training then breech the contract to soak up whatever wealth his family could provide.

Ignorant of this and heavily honor bound, Julius took the debt upon himself. Knowing full well that his parents had no more than what they honestly needed. His morals had been betrayed by the very people he had based them on. They had ate away his optimism and crushed his long sought after dream. He was less of a man than he had ever been before he came. Now with a need to fulfill a financial obligation he feared he could not obtain.

But this was only the beginning as to why Julius Beldalor became an Adventurer.

#dnd character #character concept #dnd story

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welcometoels · 3 years

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Session Three - Breakfast of Champions

At the end of the last session, ersatz druid Graindude - actually a Dragonborn warlock - had raised four of his porridge minions from the grains of the southern farm, and set them upon the party.

Now what? Let’s find out

The party makes short work of Graindude himself, though in so doing, Tom ejects a burst of lightning from his mouth - an action not typical of most Half-Elves. Oddsock finishes off the warlock with an Eldritch Blast and a stream of dog piss, before the adventurers turn on the blobs of warm cereal threat.

This matter turns out to be more of a challenge for the party. Although ponderous and lightly armoured, the porridge creatures have an unnerving habit of splitting into two when struck by certain types of damage, and they also have a powerful urge to feed themselves to any individual too slow to avoid that fate.

Tom and Gyder choke on porridge for a moment, but the party gains the upper hand. Julius, in dire wolf form, chews through a couple of the slimy antagonists, and Kadis applies judicious beatdown with quarterstaff and fist. Before long, the porridge monsters are little more than the cloying taste of a bad memory.

Graindude, returning from the brink of death, finds himself at the point of Tom’s longsword. He tells the group that he took on this persona to fool the farmers into thinking that he was a harmless druid - a ruse that worked right up until he allowed his porridge minions to choke them to death.

When Tom asks him why he kept up the pretence even after the farmers were gone, Graindude counters with his own question - Why is Tom masquerading as an elf? Tom responds in a guttural language unknown to the rest of the party, and Graindude dies with a toothy smirk on his face and a longsword through his throat.

While Tom and Oddsock investigate the farmhouse and Graindude’s pockets, Julius is faced with a moment of despair. As X consoles him, he asks why Graindude lied to them, and why people reacted with such apprehension when meeting an otter person. Though outside of her usual comfort zone with such questions, X consoles the distraught Genasi as best she san.

The hunt for items bears some fruit - dried meat and fish from the farmhouse stores, a couple of basic traveller’s knick-knacks from Graindude’s pack, a simple wooden cup and a large, softly glowing, vine-wrapped blue gem. Oddsock and Tom try to investigate the gem, but can not discern anything beyond an aura of mysterious magical power.

The group treks back north, and Tom takes a moment to speak with Julius. Aware of the otter’s discomfort with lying, Tom comes clean that his name is actually Talion Drake. He has adopted a nom de plume in order to throw off any pursuers that may want him dead - an unknown but very possible legacy from his old life. After a moment of pondering, Julius agrees to keep Talion’s confidence.

Oddsock overhears this conversation, but remains quiet for now.

As the sun sets, the team makes camp, and X mixes some vegetables with the dried goods they had found - a little more meat for Oddsock, and a little more fish for Julius.

Gyder uncharacteristically opens a conversation with Kadis. Impressed with the way he handled himself with the porridge creatures, she asks if he would like to engage in some hand-to-hand sparring - after travelling with a group of magic users for some months, she is aching for the chance to hone her martial artistry.

Kadis agrees, and finds the experience very rewarding. Focussing on the speed and frequency of his attacks, while dodging the Half-Orc’s superior reach and strength, he feels a tangible improvement in his physical strikes. The Way of the Open Palm lies before him, and he has taken his very first steps.

A little away from the camp fire, Oddsock hears a squeak from his pack. Pulling out his chewtoy Tim, he settles down to gnaw and commune with his patron.

The mysterious black-clad, flame-eyed figure emerges from a gap in reality and is filled with praise for his Golden Retriever ward. Not only did he urinate on another church (as instructed), he somehow perfected the mouth organ, defeated a rival warlock, and urinated on him as well. Top marks all round.

To recognise this, the patron hands an ancient roll of paper to the warlock hound - a page from one of three lost tomes of knowledge, written by a great and powerful creature. He tasks Oddsock with finding the books that it is from, though even on its own the page grants some understanding of other schools of magic.

In addition to this, the patron hands Oddsock a four pack of a beer he’s been working on - a juicy, grapefruit-infused golden ale that he feel will really crack that tricky Elvish market - and asks Oddsock to perform some market research.

Returning to the regular world, Oddsock pours some ale into his dog bowl and confirms that it is pretty good. He shares a little with Talion, who takes it in the little wooden cup. He confirms that it is a fantastic brew, and also gets an inkling that the cup may be slightly magical. This will require further investigation.

While they share beverages, Oddsock asks Talion about the things he overheard - the conversation with Julius, and Graindude’s dying question. Talion confirms his real name, and that, though he is indeed half Elf, his other half is something more exotic.

Oddsock is satisfied with this, and lets Talion work on his music. Inspired a little by Graindude’s ability to create semi-sentient creatures from breakfast food - an impressive skill, though ill-used - he taps directly into the Song of Creation. As he does, and tiny, thunderous mote of inspiration hovers about his head, captivating X as she munches on a very unusual mushroom.

Sleep comes easily to the group, and Kadis again experiences his usual nightmares. However, the bright glow that was once in the far south is now somewhat further north. Had it come with them?

Arriving back in town the following day, they find Elven publican Tiatha in the street, shouting orders to the busy carpenters. It seems that, since the old mayor had been trussed up (and, let’s be honest, completely forgotten until now) the townspeople had turned to her for guidance. A good choice, it seems, as work was proceeding at pace, and distinct buildings could now be seen.

Tiatha enquires as to how the mission south had gone, and the team fills her in, making it clear that the farm has now been rendered safe, and that there are crops for picking. Wasting no time, Tiatha calls together a team to take a wagon down to the farm to fetch what they can, and maybe restore some manner of proper agriculture to the area.

As they chat, Julius speaks to Oddsock about trying to fathom the nature of the glowing blue gem. Reluctantly giving up his “ball” for a moment, Oddsock lets Julius lay paws upon it Though the otter is no more successful than the others at ascertaining the nature of the magics within, he

Feels the texture of grass and bracken underfoot

Smells the sent of flowers and trees all around

Hears the rush of water in the stream, the wind in the forest, and the sound of an old and trusted mentor saying goodbye

which overwhelms him somewhat. With X’s caring hand upon his shoulder, Julius has a quiet moment to gather his thoughts.

At this point, Barty clumps out of the Jaunty Skinner on his normal leg. He greets the group warmly, and calls them in to the pub to enjoy some soothing ale and nourishing vegetables.

While they settle down to a welcome repast - five at a table, Gyder at the bar - Barty fills them on the latest gossip from people flooding in to town. To the north, tales of the dead rising, and things being not as they seem; to the east, a mine where “bad” things had been occurring; and from the west - nothing, not a soul, but from the highest point in town a distant castle can be seen.

Oddsock is thrilled to hear about a chance to finally meet some walking bones, but this will be a matter for next time.

#dnd #dnd homebrew #5e

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hermanwatts · 4 years

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Sensor Sweep: Conan Companion, Star Trek, Necromancers, Stanley Mullen

New Release (Amazon): By Crom! At long last the definitive history of Conan the Barbarian paperbacks that fans have clamoured for. 107 pages with detailed chapters devoted to each of the mighty Cimmerian’s publishers. Heavily illustrated with many rare images. Plus complete cover galleries of every US and UK Conan title ever issued. In full colour. An indispensable aid to Conan collectors and completists everywhere. Featuring a specially written foreword by Conan comics legend Roy Thomas!

Star Trek (Huffington Post): The LA Times recently ran a story about the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit, which contained a mind-boggling statistic: of the more than 100 offenders the unit has arrested over the last four years, “all but one” has been “a hard-core Trekkie.” Blogger Ernest Miller thought this claim was improbable. “I could go to a science fiction convention,” he explained “and be less likely to find that 99+ percent of the attendees were hard-core Trekkies.” While there may be quibbling about the exact numbers, the Toronto detectives claim that the connection is undeniable.

Review (Brain Leakage): That said, if you are looking for a great post-apocalyptic read, I want to draw your attention to the work of Jon Mollison. I read his A Moon Full of Stars recently, with the intent of dedicating a full-length ‘Pocky-clypse Now review to it soon. I do still plan on doing that. But I’m probably going to wait until after our daily news cycle looks a little less like the opening credits to the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake.

Awards (Kairos): … And enjoy a hearty laugh at the incestuous wasteland the once-prestigious Hugo Awards have become.

Predictions that the Hugo field would degenerate into a circle jerk of olpdub purse puppies beloved by editors in New York–and pretty much no one else–have been realized ahead of schedule.

Here’s a partial list of this year’s finalists.

D&D (DMR Books): The Complete Book of Necromancers by Steve Kurtz was released in the spring of 1995, and came and went fairly quickly. Luckily a friend of mine snagged one shortly after it came out. Ostensibly the book was intended for the eyes of Dungeon Masters only, but of course we were hungry to add the new spells and powers to our player characters’ repertoires. Clark Ashton Smith is mentioned by name in the majority of the chapters of Necromancers. While Smith’s absence from Appendix N is conspicuous, Kurtz more than made up for the oversight.

Fiction (Digital Bibliophilia): Any book that opens Page One with a man being skewered by the broken mast of a sailing ship in the middle of a storm has to be good right? Well, I’m happy to say Oath of Blood by Arthur Frazier lives up to its gory opening scene and delivers a fantastic little novel about the clash of the Saxons, Normans and Vikings during the 11th century (1066 to be precise). Arthur Frazier was one of many pen names used by the prolific Kenneth Bulmer.

Gaming (Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog): Charisma. It’s not just a dump stat, they say. But look, if you don’t have a lot of it, you’re going to be stuck in a career as an assassin. Which is kind of funny, actually. Of course if you were going to actually use that stat in an AD&D game, you’re going to have to flip to the middle of the combat section to find the reaction table. Why is it there right in the middle of sections detailing initiative and missile discharge? Evidently this something pretty important to consider when the players have initiative in a random encounter, right?

Fiction (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Another writer who has left a huge legacy with little recognition is Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (1911-1986). Fox began his career writing for Batman as early as 1939. (It was Fox who gave Bruce Wayne his “utility belt”.) During his decades long career with DC, he would work on such characters as The Flash, Hawkman and The Justice Society of America. He was there when Julius Schwartz revamped DC comics to meet the new “Comics Code”. He was there when DC invented its Multiverse. Outside of DC, he would pen the first Sword & Sorcery comic called “Crom the Barbarian”.

Fiction (DMR Books): The book being advertised was Kinsmen of the Dragon by Stanley Mullen. I was completely unfamiliar with both the title and the author. A bit of research revealed that this book had never been reprinted since its publication in 1951, which explains why it’s so little-known today. In spite of (or perhaps because of) its obscurity, good condition copies are pricey, usually going for over $50, and signed copies are much more.

Fiction/Gaming Tie-in (Karavansara): Two nights in Arkham: Lovecraft purists often frown at Lovecraft-inspired fiction. The main charge raised by these people is, other writers are either too much like Lovecraft or not at all like him, often at the same time. The second most common accusation is that certain stories are too action-centered and adventure-oriented, filled with guns blazing and chanting cultists. They usually blame Lovecraft’s popularity with the gaming crowd as the main reason for these degenerate pastiches, in which Indiana Jones or Doc Savage seem to exert an influence stronger than Nyarlathotep’s.

Fiction (Mostly Old Books): he Fargo series tell the tales of early 20th Century adventurer and solider of fortune Neal Fargo. They aren’t Westerns as the covers suggest. In this installment Fargo is hired by a rich old blowhard to rescue some Mayan treasures and the excavation team, which includes his son, from the jungles of Central America.

Cinema (The Silver Key): 1917 had been in my “to watch” queue for a long time (aka, floating around in the back of my mind), and last night I watched it with my older daughter, a self-described “film buff” who wanted to see what the hype was all about. Two word review: Excellent film. It’s an intensely personal/soldier’s journey type of story, and also manages to convey the larger tragedy of the Great War.

Fiction (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): The Inklings and the Mythos (Dale Nelson). So, I’ve now recovered the missing issue of MALLORN* containing Dale Nelson’s wide-ranging inquiry into possible connections between the Inklings and Lovecraft’s circle, “The Lovecraft Circle and the Inklings: The ‘Mythopoeic Gift’ of H. P. Lovecraft” (MALLORN 59, Winter 2018, pages 18-32). It’s a substantial piece, and in it Nelson raises such topics as the following: Did the two groups read or were they influenced by each other?

Fiction (Scott Oden): In the past few weeks, my sophomore novel, MEMNON (Medallion Press, 2006; Crossroad Press, 2018), has received a raft of four-and-five star ratings on Goodreads and a pair of excellent reviews — which, for a fourteen-year old novel is no mean feat. Author Matt Larkin, in his review at Amazon, writes: “Evocative prose paints a living picture of the Classical world while the sudden, brutal violence serves to remind us never to look at history through rose-colored glasses.” While Scott Marlowe of Out of this World Reviews praises many things, including the battles: “I can only describe [them] as spectacular and right up there with some of the best battles I’ve had the pleasure to read in historical fiction (think Bernard Cornwell, surely one of the best of them all). Memnon gives Alexander such grief I imagine Alexander remembered their contests right up until his dying days.”

Fiction (Tentaculii): Lovecraft’s famous survey of supernatural literature was published in The Recluse in August 1927. Later in the same year Eino Railo published the history of the literary gothic in The Haunted Castle: A Study of the Elements of English Romanticism. A December 1927 review in the New York Evening Post suggests Railo’s book was published in time for the Christmas market and the January book-token crowd, and thus it appeared several months after Lovecraft’s circle had finished digesting his Supernatural Literature. Lovecraft refers to The Haunted Castle, a translation from the Finnish, in admiring terms in a later letter to Barlow and terms it a study of “the weird”.

History (Men of the West): Suddenly the war became fun. It became exciting, carnivalesque, tremendous. It became victorious and even safe. We awoke on the morning of Sunday, the 30th of July, with the feeling that the war was won — in spirit, if not in fact. Patton and the Third Army were away. At the 8th Corps, which held the western sector of the Normandy front, the G2 colonel said: “We’ve lost contact with the enemy.”

Fiction (Tentaculii): The second half of a forthcoming book, No Ghosts Need Apply: Gothic influences in criminal science, the detective and Doyle’s Holmesian Canon (October 2020), attempts to make the case that there are gothic traces in what are often assumed to be the ‘rationalist’ Sherlock Holmes stories. Sifting the extensive blurb for the book, one can eventually determine that the author suggests the following specific points… * intrigue and secret societies. . .

Fiction (M Porcius Blog): Let’s check out four stories by Mickey Spillane’s all-time favorite author, Fredric Brown, that first appeared in beautiful pulp magazines in 1942 and 1943, magazines that you can read at the universally beloved internet archive for free. “Etaoin Shrdlu” made its debut in Unknown Worlds in 1942. The cover of Unknown may be boring, but the interior illustrations are quite fine, those by Frank Kramer for L. Sprague de Camp’s “The Undesired Princess” in particular.

Sensor Sweep: Conan Companion, Star Trek, Necromancers, Stanley Mullen published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

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The Marine Transport Average (MTA) Zibima referred to is a 15kobo Nigerians pay on every litre of petroleum product they purchase. The purpose of this surcharge is to make sure people living in the creeks of the Niger Delta and other riverine communities can buy petrol at a maximum price of N145. When multiplied by the 19,785,236,180.71 liters of petrol the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) supplied in the last year, the total funds accrued to the MTA in 2018 is N2.97 billion.

The reporter engaged Zibima to find out how cheap it is to afford legally distributed gasoline in the region where all of Nigeria’s oil and gas are drilled.

“It fluctuates, it depends on supply. For the past couple of months, it has been stable at N145. Outside the state capital you’ll get it at N180-200 and in the riverine areas it is a lot higher,” he replied.

Zibima is a resident of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital. The oil-rich state appeared twice on the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), monthly Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) - same as petrol, price watch. His job of ensuring the creeks of the Delta are free of oil spills and gas flares takes him out to these areas, where transportation of petrol by road is an impossible fit.

Within and outside the Niger Delta, the government’s short term plan of making petrol prices uniform across the country has remained a dream 44 years on.

Disparate Prices in the South-South

Views like Zibima’s is most likely what formed the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) hypothesis and spurred it to collate data on how much people buy petrol for across the country. In its PMS Price watch for 2018, December was the only month in the year the national average price was close to the N145 cost ceiling when it stood at N145.80. In that month, Bayelsa state popped up as one of the top three places where the average price of PMS was above N145-N150.

This was the state’s second appearance on that list. The first time was in July when the average price was N151.67. A neighboring state to Bayelsa-Delta also appeared once on NBS watch list of places where it is most expensive to buy petrol in Nigeria. Delta state’s appearance was in September; PMS was sold for N150.92 on an average.

“In the riverine areas it is different,” says Collins Newuwumi, a resident of Warri-Delta state’s commercial hub. He was speaking to the price differential of petrol between the riverine area and urban towns. Collins informed SaharaReporters that N145 remains the going price in urban settlements like Warri and Benin- the capital of Edo, another Niger-Delta state.

“[In Warri] it is still the same N145. It is the same in Benin. I was there on Saturday and Sunday. In the riverine areas some sell for as high as N250, some N200 and some N180. You know they would add the transport for moving it to different locations.”

Collins’s observation gives witness to Zibima’s assertion that the MTA is not applied in the transportation of petrol via water.

Did he have to buy petrol above N145 at any point in time in 2018 in Warri?

“Around September October but in December it came to the normal price,” Collins replied. “The marketers just did it on their own. There was some money they wanted from the government and the money didn’t come at all.”

“How much were you buying petrol for during that period?” the reporter probed further.

”It is between N148-150, its only Matrix (Filling station) that was selling at N145.” Collins responded.

The Failure Of The Distribution Margin

It all started in 1975 when the Petroleum Equalization Fund Management Board (PEF-MB), was created as a stop-gap measure to fill-in the gulf left by the country’s inability to meet its fuel needs across the country. It led to a smattering of prices in different locations, as transporters sought to cash in on the vacuum left by damaged pipelines and refineries that needed maintaining.

PEF-MB was then given the task of ensuring the price of petrol is uniform across the country. It executes this function through a set of payments added to the final landing cost of a litre of petrol called Distribution Margin (DM).

Sahara Reporters reached out to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), to confirm the accuracy of this template but the official the reporter was directed to in Operations, was unwilling to provide any information on updates. The links on its website pppra.gov.ng, which relate to the reporter’s search result, were inactive. A search of pppra.gov.ng/pricing template opened a webpage with the heading ‘page not found.’ Stories in the media have however quoted the value of DM to be N14.30.

Despite the N18.37 paid on each litre of petrol brought into the country, legible hand writings on the wall and personal experiences say DM has been unable to keep the prices of petrol beneath a price ceiling- in this case, N145 per litre.

The Equalization dream

Since the DM is priced into the cost of a litre of petrol, the marketers serve as agents for PEF-MB. PEF-MB carries out its equalization attempts through three schemes- besides the MTA. Under the National Transport Average, marketers who have filling stations close to depots pay into the fund, while those with filling stations far-off from petrol storage facilities claim from the fund.

Under the Bridging fund, marketers are engaged to help supply depots whose source of purchase- pipelines, and refineries, are either broken or undergoing maintenance. If the distance between the facility where the truck gets its supplies and the receiving depot is more than 450km, it is classed as a bridging fund. If it is less than 450, it is described as inter-district scheme.

As at the time of publishing this piece, there is no provision for the equalization of petroleum products via rail or water. Still, 15K is priced for the equalization of petrol product supplied by marine transport.

Floating stations or Floating Mammoths

As the story goes, former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo had the vision to end illegal oil refining in the Niger Delta region by seeking out ways of flooding the oil-rich territory with the needed by-products of petroleum. After a 2004 tour of the area, he tasked the NNPC to come up with a way of constructing retail outlets in the creeks.

In 2006, the NNPC Engineering team then headed by Mrs. O. A. Somolu, partnered with Julius Berger to create what Wolfgang Goetsch, then head of Oil and Gas Business in the Nigerian arm of the construction conglomerate, called a ‘technical wonder.’ The first of the 12 ‘mega floating stations,’ was deployed in Okerenkoko-Delta State.

Eleven more were distributed across the various parts of the oil-laden region. By 2010, NNPC Retail said four of the 12 floating stations were functional.

However, in 2011, indigenes close to the Okerenkoko filling station described the project as another cliché ‘White elephant.’

Sources close to the matter informed SaharaReporters that at the moment, no floating station is presently functional.

Floating stations and MTA

The reporter had no inkling of floating stations before starting the story. In a conversation with a source close to how the downstream sector and price equalization operates, he was informed that the MTA goes into the leveling of prices in not just riverine areas but mountainous terrains as well.

The official went on to elaborate on how Nigeria is not prepared for deregulation, because the country does not have the attendant legal and infrastructural capacity to open up the retail end of the petroleum industry to free spirit competition. An offshoot of the heavily regulated petrol sale is that NNPC uses contractors to supply hydrocarbon products to the floating stations.

These contractors are expected to sell on or below the N145 ceiling. A contractor in Bayelsa, who asked not to be named, said fees are paid to them by the government-owned juggernaut. These commissions are however not sufficient and the filling (floating) stations are not enough to serve the state.

Consequently, residents of communities in creeks that are far from the fuel pumps, still buy above N145 when the floating stations were functional.

The big question is that since NNPC supplies the floating stations does it claim from the MTA as it does from the NTA, inter-district scheme and bridging fund?

After many futile efforts, a source in the industry finally gave something close to an answer:

“Nobody claims from the MTA, it goes into accrual,” the source claims, but, when told of the floating stations, the source said ‘no floating station is in operation.’

Each of those 12 floating stations, cost between N700-N950 million. The industry source went on to state that there are considerations to scrap the MTA. Just like the failed attempt to equalize prices across the country, efforts at increasing the volume of petroleum products sent to the creeks have failed.

“For reasons that were not explained to the affected communities, the products floating stations have since stopped functioning, thus making the operators of marine transportation services go in search of fuel in distant places in the hinterlands which consequently result in a hike in the cost of marine transportation with its attendant ripple effects of escalation of the prices of goods and services,” the contractor in Bayelsa said.

Have the other three schemes worked?

It is not only the Niger Delta states of Bayelsa, Delta, and Akwa Ibom that appeared on NBS' PMS Price watch, Taraba state in the Northeast of the country, featured on the list in all of the fourth quarter of 2018

The states that dominated the list were in the Northeast and Northwest region of the country. Taraba was on NBS radar as one of the most expensive places to buy PMS on six occasions. Kebbi was captured five times and Borno four times.

On a nationwide average, the closest the country came to N145 was in December, when the NNPC flooded the country with gasoline to avoid the formation of queues. The average price for December was N145.80. The month that witnessed the highest supply of petrol was March. This was the last month of the fuel scarcity and only in Abuja – the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), could petrol be bought for N145.

If the non-utilization of MTA is behind the price of PMS in communities surrounded by water being above the N145 mark, why then that areas accessible by the road do not get petrol at N145?

The downstream subsector source the reporter spoke with, said marketers are to blame for the hike. He further advised Nigerians to post pictures of filling stations that sold petrol above N145.

Data made available to SaharaReporters, suggests that another concrete reason could be indebtedness. According to the figures seen, as at 2017, retailers – NNPC, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), failed to remit N196 billion to the board. PEF-MB on its part was unable to pay N53.3 billion to marketers as at November 2017.

The downstream source explained that the debt owed between PEF-MB and the marketers is rolled over and should not affect the ability of the marketers to sell at the N145 ceiling. The source, however, declined to give an update on the current debt profile.

The Cost of the failed policy

Data obtained from NNPC’s Monthly Financial and Operations report throughout the 2018 calendar, says the corporation supplied 19,785,236,180.71 liters of petrol across the country during the year. The product was sourced from its government-owned refineries, direct sale-direct purchase agreements with traders who buy petroleum and sell the refined products to the country and offshore processing agreements with refineries across the Atlantic.

If the total litres of petrol sold are multiplied by the N18.37 priced into the cost- according to pricing templates which PPPRA were unwilling to confirm, Nigerians would have paid ₦363,454,788,639.64 in 2018 to ensure every resident of the country is able to buy gasoline at the same price.

Ahmed Bobboi, Executive-Secretary of PEF-MB, says the agency will soon develop an effective framework for transporting petroleum products via rail and water. This would most likely mean an adjustment to the template.

In the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), which was rejected by the President, PEF-MB was to receive 5% of the price of every litre of refined petroleum to keep its pipe-dream alive. If the legal and infrastructural framework alluded to by the source close to the operations of price equalization are put in place, investors could have plugged-in refineries, which would have in-turn pressurized the government to build secured pipeline networks to convey refined crude to needy processors.

Goddi Nnadi, Head of Corporate Communications for PEF-MB said he was on a four-month course and he could not recommend any other official to speak on the issues raised when he was contacted.

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