Members of the Northern Alliance at the Kabul Museum in 1995.

There was something so touching about the Cod Alliance. Genuinely it was one of if not the most stable alliance in Empires. They didn’t once fall apart, not truly

And people tried to tear them apart! Part of the WRA’s strategy against Jimmy was to attempt to chip away at his alliances. fWhip tried a couple times to get Joel on their side, to no avail. He tried to paint the Cod Empire and Pixandria as the dangerous bad guys and Joel’s response amounted to “oh nooo I will definitely watch out (I’m already allied with them tho)”. fWhip tried to get on Lizzie’s good side and she tricked him, her and Jimmy killed all his salmon later. He tried to create tension between Pix and Jimmy by altering their communication and promising Pix a stack of diamonds on Jimmy’s behalf and when the truth came out Pix literally went “no my spies told me about that”.

Even the one time that they Did end up on opposing sides, with Lizzie helping fWhip and the others to try and save the dragon, or right before that when Jimmy considered leaving the End instead of fighting, no one held a grudge. They put that aside and returned to their usual dynamic pretty much immediately after. When the emperors confronted each other at the end of that fight, the Cod Alliance (sans Katherine) all stood together.

They’d go to each other often, and they didn’t begrudge choices that maybe others would have. When Joel decided he wanted to make peace with fWhip despite the Cod Empire/Grimlands relationship still being… dubious, Jimmy supported him. When Jimmy couldn’t help Joel kill Scott due to the recent alliance with Rivendell, Joel let it go. When Pix found out Jimmy and Sausage were on good terms, he didn’t seem angered by this despite the slights of Sausage against Pixandria during the corruption era. Even Katherine, arguably the most “tenuous” member of the alliance because of her relationship with their enemies and her “betrayal” during the End fight, was still considered an ally by Jimmy and a close ally by Lizzie in the end.

They trusted each other. They respected each other. They followed along with Jimmy’s distaste for salmon even if they didn’t initially understand it.

For the longest time, they held on.

NI mutuals who's ready to go participate in democracy today

thinking about a world were aerys wasn't killed and what political marriages would have been made.

The NYC three-block-long tunnel emerging at the Washington Heights 191st Street subway station:

2015, after a public mural initiative

2022, lack of maintenance by the Department of Transportation

2023, painted over without consulting the community

x.

THE OLD AND THE NEW by Roger Bee Via Flickr: In this totally Burlington Northern scene, the old meets the new. BN 6154 sorts a cryogenic reefer at Alliance, Nebraska on 07-16-1994 as a brooding sky looms in the distance. EMD SD9 number 6154 was built in June 1955 as Chicago Burlington & Quincy 352, and was retired after the 1995 BNSF merger. A very tasteful double red pinstriped cream and Brunswick green paint scheme was applied to four month old EMD SD70MAC number 9424 holding on a red signal framing up the right side of this image. 350 of these SD70MAC’s were purchased and it is a rare treat to see them in service today.

“A wrecked street in Belfast following the fierce rioting of unemployed, who were subdued only after one man had been killed and others badly wounded. Pavement was torn up and fires started at several points.”

- from the Toronto Star, October 25, 1932. Page 21.

Watching the DUP losing out in the election is glorious, we've finally a chance to get them out

I love the song illicit affairs because it reminds me so much of these violent delights, the night circus, and the glass alliance trilogy

There are so many things to take away from the Assembly election, but one of my favourites has to be Jim Allister apparently not understanding how the single transferable voting system works

My Interview with David Honeyford—Alliance Party MLA-Northern Ireland

My Interview with David Honeyford—Alliance Party MLA-Northern Ireland

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Regional Collaboration for Fair Housing | Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance

This post was written by Hanna Metuda, Director of Policy and Programs. Northern Virginia has undergone a remarkable transformation, becoming a hub of economic activity that attracts businesses and job seekers from across the globe. While this growth has been advantageous, it has also presented significant challenges, particularly in terms of ensuring that everyone has access to jobs,…

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Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

RIFTS RPG Lore - Evolution of Evil: From NEMA to The Coalition

🎲 In the Rifts RPG (by Palladium Books), the Coalition are often considered to be evil. Are they really the bad guys though? If so, how did NEMA become The Coalition? #PalladiumBooks #Rifts #RiftsRPG #NEMA #TheCoalition #TTRPG #RPG

Rifts Chaos Earth – PDF Rifts Chaos Earth – Physical In the Rifts RPG (by Palladium Books), the Coalition are often considered to be evil. Are they really the bad guys though? If so, how did NEMA become The Coalition? Palladium Books 2022 X-Mas Surprise Package: https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/XMAS-X-Mas-Surprise-Package.html 📢 Let us know what you think about the video below, or if you…

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Moshang AU where Airplane transmigrates into a demon NPC from one of the fanservice clans he created, rather than into Shang Qinghua.

So basically, there was a point in time where a lot of PIDW chapters were just Luo Binghe running around propelled by political plots and rebellions from the demon kingdoms, and most of that actually just ended up being Luo Binghe collecting wives with cute animal ears and tails and various abilities that Airplane used all of once and then completely forgot about. They covered the usual bases of the sexy cat girls, sexy fox girls, sexy bunny girls, sexy bird girls with wings, etc, before moving into more, erm, niche animal hybrid demon territory.

Which is all a roundabout way of explaining Cute Hamster Boy Shang Qinghua in his faithful-to-canon clan of Hamster Demons, whose primary skills include cute squeaking noises and digging abilities.

In the process of making his braindead written-in-a-panic-at-3-am "world building" on this front actually function in a real version of the setting, there has got to be a way for the otherwise-unremarkable fanservice demon tribes to actually survive the incredibly hostile environment which Airplane otherwise described, though. Like yeah sure when you're writing a book you can just say in one breath that the demon realms are incredibly brutal and cutthroat, and then in the next that this tribe of bunny girls with no visible skills at self-defense has existed here for thousands of years, but if you actually tried to set that up in some kind of a simulation the bunny girls wouldn't last one year, let alone one thousand.

In that case of Airplane's hamster tribe, their digging skills are so supernaturally prodigious that they are able to construct massive underground fortifications in otherwise hostile terrain. But that still doesn't solve all of their problems, because they still need to acquire food, and for that they mostly do have to go up to the surface. Some of their weakness is mitigated by sheer numbers -- they have a lot of kids to offset the high mortality rate. However, to further increase the survival rates, the hamster demons also try and make contracts with some of the local liege lords or ruling clans whenever they expand into a new territory. In exchange for protection, they send some of their extraneous family members out as servants, to either cement alliances through marriage (that high fertility is helpful and was indeed the crux of Wife #whatever's acquisition in canon) or to work as diggers or even high-level architects.

As the like, twelfth son of the Hamster Demon chieftain, this is Airplane's fate. On the one hand he's highly positioned enough to get an education, and his plot knowledge helps a lot. On the other hand, he's not high enough in the hierarchy to be kept around, so it's either go work for some other clan or else risk his neck doing missions on the hostile and deadly surface. Neither seems great, but Airplane would rather try his luck as a sycophant than a warrior.

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on his mood when he thinks about it) when Airplane reaches sixteen years of age, it's around the same time that the Hamster clan's tunnels have expanded towards the Northern Desert. Airplane ends up being part of the "hiii~ pleasedon'tkillus let's be friends~" tribute to Mobei Jun's father.

Mobei Jun's father tosses him to Mobei Jun, so Airplane dutifully latches onto him in order to avoid being eaten by any of the other retainers. Airplane has been educated in various subterranean building skills and is under the impression that he's been given to MBJ in order to build him his own palace or something?

Everyone else assumes that the Hamster demon is a concubine.

Mobei Jun also thinks that's what he's been given, but he's too busy bristling in teenage offense at being given a concubine by his father to actually consider taking Airplane to bed. So when Airplane starts doing other things for him, he just sort of bemusedly lets it happen.

Gradually it becomes apparent that Airplane himself isn't interested in being a concubine. No. Clearly, this Hamster is gunning for future empress of the Northern Desert! How else would one explain all the lengths he's going to not only to win Mobei Jun's favor, but to secure his position and ensure his future rule? The system also wants Airplane to ensure the Abyss plot arc happens in the future, too, which means Airplane helps Mobei Jun win and instigate conflicts against the righteous cultivation sects too.

Obviously, Airplane wants power. Mobei Jun knows that if he gets an heir off of Airplane that will be that, the wily minx will use any children to secure his position, and MBJ is not convinced he could control himself well enough to prevent that sort of eventually. Airplane is fiendishly attractive, and he clearly knows it, and Mobei Jun is not sure if he wants to accept what increasingly seems to be the inevitable. He won't be a ladder for someone else's ambitions! But... as long as Airplane remains loyal to him, he will consider it. Even if Airplane never harbors any true affection for him, and simply considers him a means to an end. If, by the time he ascends the Hamster has not betrayed him or tried to elevate himself by flipping over this uncle's side, or seduced any of his other relatives or any of the highly-placed lords all salivating to steal MBJ's would-be empress, then Mobei Jun will grant his wish and make him the second most powerful demon in the North.

Airplane, meanwhile, just wants a snack and a nap. Maybe if he builds a secure enough fortress and amasses enough of an intelligence network and hoards a few advantages for himself, and figures out how to stop pissing off MBJ, he'll survive long enough to retire. Somehow.

Alicent's wedding dress

In the tv show we don't get to see Alicent's wedding. But at one point it was supposed to feature in an episode so we have behind the scenes content for it all the same. And I hate to say it, but it's not my cup of tea. The crown is interesting, but matches nothing any other major character wears. Where did it come from? Why? There are no answers. Why don't we see other Targaryen's have little shoulder wings? Because it looks silly? Yeah. So how could I resist trying my hand at designing her wedding dress? And I'll say it again, these are not easy costumes to design, I went back and forth over my options for a whole bunch of these over and over again. Maybe I'll figure out how to share the rejected designs I labored over at some point.

One of the things I am trying to emphasize is the sleeve differences. Alicent moves between the tear-drop shaped sleeves (like the ones here and in her first childhood friend dress, for her Targaryen-alliance outfits to match Rhaenyra) and what I'm going to call 'mushroom shaped' sleeves where the puff is at the shoulder and is tight from the elbow to wrist (anti/opposite Targaryen style). We should also see that in her necklaces. A lot of the Targaryen ladies wear thick gold choker-adjacent necklaces for the Byzantine collar effect. Alicent doesn't wear that kind of jewelry very often and this is one of the most Targaryen style-aligned necklaces that she wears. Also while her headdress is based on Byzantine fashion the crown is much more Northern-Europe Medieval than Byzantine. A little melding of fashion, hints at the opposing sides again.

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic

Grinstein coal motors by Mike Danneman Via Flickr: Three Burlington Northern SD70MACs line up on the west side of the Alliance Diesel Shop waiting to be moved inside for maintenance work on June 13, 1998.