Better call saul season synopsis

A (not so short) short rant, if you’ll indulge me, because I woke up still in a bad mood this morning.
I work at a seasonal resort. My little bar seats about 15 and I’m also responsible for the service bar for a decent sized restaurant. I’m relatively fast, 90% of the servers compliment me on how quick their drinks get out and jump to get me ice, glasses, whatever when the bar gets backed up, then tip over their required amount. The service bar is a tiny window into the restaurant, so I’m pretty isolated back there and it’s hard to flag someone down if I need something, so they do a good job keeping an eye out for me.
But one server. My god, this server. She rings in a drink, then immediately starts hovering. She yells through the window at me while I’m talking to bar guests. She takes half her order and stabs the ticket before the rest of the drinks are made and then never comes back for the rest of them or gets upset they weren’t made even though the ticket is gone. She tries to take other servers drinks, but refuses to run them when I tell her they aren’t hers. She can’t identify any of our beers or wines so she just rifles through them looking for hers. Tried to take a lager when she was waiting on a brown ale. She just stands there staring at me until hers are ready. Every interaction with her is absolutely maddening. Reportedly she’s known to have similar issues with the kitchen.
They seat the restaurant in waves, so I usually get a burst of tickets from all the servers at once, about every 15 minutes. One night, even though I was stacked 9 tickets deep, all cocktails, on her side, with a full bar, she threw a fit because her margarita took 6 minutes to come out. Told me she was going to have to apologize to her table for the long wait.
Last night I finally called the manager into the bar because I couldn’t take it anymore. A ticket of hers went missing, no idea how. She very well may have picked it up before it was made, she’s done it before, or I just lost it somehow. It happens. And then she didn’t notice or say anything for 30 minutes. I’m of course blamed and scolded for it happening because the table is pissed. She’s “afraid to ask me for drinks” because I’ve told her she can’t ask where her drinks are the second she sends them through. Anyway, manager doesn’t do anything after I complain. It was just a trainee manager and a trainer from corporate there last night anyway.
I work the next three nights with her. Pray for me. And share your awful server stories so I feel less insane for hating this lady.

I am a 61yo male. I have had trouble sleeping my entire life but it has seemed cyclic. I was diagnosed with MVP in the mid 1980's and took a beta blocker until 2000 when I got off of it to have some allergy testing done. I did so well off of it that my Dr. told me to just leave it off. Have suffered with severe anxiety and depression all my life which got worse in2007 when my partner took his life and my guilt got really bad. I had a sleep study done in 2010 that was normal. In 2018 I had another one done and it was horrible. Was prescribed CPAP and could not tolerate it. I lost about 30 pounds and cleaned up my diet a bit and started sleeping with my head elevated. Thought the problem was a lot better but started having panic attacks last Fall. Generally started feeling like crap. Doctors said it was anxiety. Tried a few medications and no relief. A few months ago I started having more palpitations than normal. Started having more dizzy spells and leg pain, arm pain, tingling...everything that can be either heart or anxiety. Doctor ordered two week Holter monitor, CT Scan, Echo and Carotid Doppler. Got fitted with the Holter on Monday and Tuesday morning got a call that the cardiologist wanted to see me. I had a really long heart pause during the night. Went to the appt and he asked if I had ever been diagnosed with sleep apnea. I told him the story and he said that is what he suspects. He is sending me for tests. Haven't had the other tests done yet. I have slept very little since being fitted with the monitor. Last night was particularly bad. Every time I would doze I would jerk awake. Crazy thoughts that would not settle down and just feeling horrible. Went from bed to chair back to bed. Could not get comfortable at all. I used to be able to lay on my right side and sleep a bit but the palpitations are too bad for that now. I am just beside myself. I started to go to the hospital last night but from what I've read they won't do anything about a problem like this unless you are in pain and experiencing breathing problems when you present. Also I live in a very small town. I have Ativan but am terrified to take it. Every time I think I may be able to doze off the choking feeling comes back and the cycle starts again. Part of me thinks if it was really bad the heart monitor people would have alerted me by now. I don't want to die but just don't know how much more of this I can take. I'm not going to do anything bad but just wanted to know if anyone else has dealt with something like this and do you have any pointers for even a tiny bit of relief. I even got the old CPAP machine out but can't get it to work as it has been in non-temperature controlled storage since 2018. I'm really sorry for sounding like a big baby but I just have no hope right now. I honestly feel like this will be the end of me before I can get any help. Thank you from the bottom of my palpitating heart. Take care.

Not sure how best to explain the situation, as it affects most relationships in my life, but I'll try and keep it relevant and precise. There is alot of history and context missing in the post, in the spirit of keeping it readable. Happy to answer any questions in the comments.
Over the last year or so, my social battery/patience/whatever you'd like to call it has plummeted rapidly. This has been accompanied by a generalised lack of interest in hobbies that used to bring me great joy, and an oppressive feeling of purposelessness. I'm aware that these are symptoms of depression, and have been trying to seek therapy for both this and what I suspect to be symptoms of an attention disorder of some nature. It is difficult to find therapists/psychiatrists in my country that are professional and effective, so I have not had much luck there.
Now, to the problem at hand. My girlfriend of a year is unable to offer any kind of emotional support when I'm having a bad spell. She tries, but her words either fall flat or somehow end up making me feel worse. I try to explain that I'm not in the sort of headspace where I can effectively communicate what exactly I need, and that what she's doing is not helping, but it devolves into an emotionally exhausting back and forth, with her thinking I'm attacking her and ultimately me being forced to put whatever it is I'm feeling to one side so that I can make her feel better. Obviously, not conducive to what was intended as an open discussion.
This then leads to me having to take long spells of space, because she is not okay with letting me be when I want to be alone, despite me having explained to her that she probably can't help. Naturally, she usually does not respect that I want to be alone, and loopholes/forces her way back in after a day or two.
Right now I'm on the second day of space and feel as drained and empty as before. I do not know what to do here. I understand that there may be a lack of understanding on her end because I went through a whole lot of parental trauma as a child, (and still do to this day) and she had a comparatively problem free upbringing, but I don't know how to make her understand or find a middle ground that prevents a buildup of resentment for me, and feelings of inadequacy for her. I know she means well, which is why the complete ineffectiveness throws me off. Any advice is appreciated.
TL;DR - I'm going through a rapidly worsening mental health crisis, and don't know what to do about my girlfriend actively making it worse despite being well intentioned.

(If this post is still up, I'm still looking!)
Hey there. I really want to develop a female led/slight gentle femdom relationship with a special guy.
When a lot of men see the term "female led relationship," they think, "Oh, the woman will make all the decisions with no input on what I think/want."
Are there dynamics like that? I'm sure there is. Personally, I'm not looking to be "the boss" or "above" you in any way. I want us to be equal... but have you give up control to me in a few other ways. :)
What do I mean? Keep reading on!
● ABOUT ME ●
You can call me Dreamer for now. (I'll tell you my real name once we get to know each other) Please do NOT call me Miss, Master, Dominatrix or Ma'am.
I'm 25 years old and an INFJ-T. I live in Nashville, Tennessee, USA (AKA Music City) and I'm on Central Standard Time. I'm a Black woman and I stand 5 feet, 7 inches tall. My eyes are brown and I wear glasses. I don't have any tattoos or piercings at the moment.
One thing I want to mention is that I'm plus size, AKA a bigger girl. I'm undergoing a vertical sleeve gastrectomy in two months to lose the excess weight I have in a sustainable and permanent way. I'm ready to regain my body and be healthy and confident again. I'd love to have you by my side throughout my journey!
As far as personality goes, I'd describe myself as empathetic and sweet. I like to help others as much as I can. In person, I tend to be rather shy at first. People tend to mistake that for weakness or gullibility. I'm anything but; my strength lies in introspection and quiet observation. I notice every nuance of a person's actions, words, body language, vibe... my intuition hasn't steered me wrong yet!
● INTERESTS ●
I won't go into detail on every single interest that I have but I'll talk about my biggest ones that you'll likely hear me mention the most.
✨️Writing✨️
I've been writing since I was six years old, but I started taking it seriously around 13 years old. All in all, it's been 19 years. As of right now, I primarily write Fanfiction but in the past, I've written short stories, poetry and I even tried to learn how to write screenplays at one point.
I wrote my first full-length book in 2018/2019. I started the sequel in early 2020, but I'm still working on it. I lost a LOT of inspiration during the pandemic but I'm finally writing for it again.
If you also enjoy writing, I'd love to "talk shop" with you and maybe we can exchange some of our past works.
✨️Music✨️
Music has gotten me through a lot over the years. Yeah, yeah, I know everyone says that. But it truly has. It's shaped my life and introduced me to a lot of things and people that I probably never would've done or met otherwise.
There's no point in saying I like xyz genre because I've listened to pretty much everything. The only ones I truly hate are country and gangster rap. If you want specifics, though... I've been a HUGE twenty one pilots fan for 9 years. (I have more merch, stickers and other random shit than I care to admit to lmao) I also love other artists like Amber Run, Purity Ring, Phantogram, Daughter, Lorde, OneRepublic... plus tons more.
I've always had this dumb idea of a guy and I confessing to each other through playlists with songs that make us think fondly about each other...
God, I'm single.
✨️Photography✨️
I've been into photography for 10 years and I've had my DSLR for eight years. (It's definitely the camera version of 'Ol Reliable) I enjoy nature and portrait photography. I'd love to show you some of my work and get your thoughts on it.
✨️TV/Movies✨️
TV genres I like: Animation (like Spongebob), comedy, drama, documentaries (disaster and crime ones are my favorites), true crime (like Forensic Files), old sitcoms (like Sanford and Son) and cooking and baking competitions/reality TV (like Kitchen Nightmares US and UK, Hell's Kitchen, Master Chef, The Great British Baking Show, etc)
Movie genres I like: Animation, drama, comedy, action, psychological thrillers and science fiction. I thoroughly loved The Greatest Showman so one could say I like musicals but it's the only one I've seen so not sure if that really counts. Comic book movies are pretty alright too, but I really haven't seen anything past the first Avengers movie lmaooooo.
I say this as unpretentiously as possible, but I haven't seen most popular TV shows or movies that your average person likes. I think the last "popular" thing I watched was that Jeffrey Dahmer series on Netflix. (mainly out of morbid curiosity because everyone was freaking out about it... and because I think Evan Peters is a cutie) I only saw a few episodes and then forgot to watch the rest of it, but it wasn't as horrific as everyone was saying. Maybe I've watched too much Forensic Files and I'm desensitized lmao.
✨️Video and computer games✨️
Video game genres I like: Adventure, action-adventure, RPGs & JRPGs, Strategy... basically anything that is relatively fun and not horror related.
Some of my all-time favorites: Kingdom Hearts II, Ratchet and Clank, Journey, Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X.
As far as computer games, the only thing I play on a regular basis is The Sims 2 and The Sims 4. As a kid, I loved simulator and time-management games; some old favorites are the RCT series, Simcity: Rush Hour, the first four Diner Dash games, the Delicious series and Burger Shop 2 (which I still have on my computer actually lmao)
✨️Other random interests✨️
Art, traveling, people watching, researching random topics on Wikipedia and watching YouTube, especially channels with old shows and movies.
☆ CAREER ☆
My last position was working nights at a psychiatric hospital. I'm looking for something new at the moment.
☆ SCHOOLING ☆
I'm officially a college student at 25. Yay! Feel free to ask me more about it, I'd love to talk.
☆ ET CETERA ☆
I really love dogs and cats. I have three cats and they're little demons but I love them to death. I also love small animals like ferrets, bunnies and snakes!
My main love languages are words of affirmation, quality time and gift giving/receiving. To be honest, though, there's elements of each language that I enjoy or relate to in one way or another.
I don't smoke and I drink every so often. Otherwise, I'm vaccinated and DDF.
● ABOUT YOU ●
I'm looking for a guy between the ages of 23-33 years old. I might be willing to talk to someone within two years in either direction (so 21 min and 35 max) if you meet all my other preferences/wants. If you're younger than 21 or older than 35, though, please don't contact me.
Please be single and emotionally available. I won't interact with anyone already in a relationship or married (even if you're separated or in a "dead bedroom," you're STILL married) and I'm especially not interested in poly/ENM. I'm 100% monogamous.
Hair is super important to me! I prefer medium length to long hair, something I can stroke and play with a lot lmao.
I have a REALLY big soft spot for blue and/or doe eyes, but don't let that deter you. If you have kind eyes, I'll fall in love with them, no matter their color!
I tend to like softer facial features and even softer personalities. Are you super masculine in public but a total softie in private? Lovely! Are you less masculine but a little more feminine? Great! Are you androgynous or otherwise fall somewhere in between? I can dig it!
Key traits that I like in a guy include, but are not limited to: Being sweet, gentle, empathetic, considerate, an active listener, exceptional at communication and willing to go the extra mile for those that you love, be it family, friends, your partner, etc.
With that being said, it's important that you have time for me. I'm not expecting us to talk 24/7 but if you're always too busy to talk to me, this won't work. At some point, I'd like for us to also talk on the phone as our schedules permit, of course.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, please be from the USA/North America and willing to meet and get to know each other in person ASAP.
● WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR ●
It's important to me that you're an active listener; what I mean is that you'll make an effort to listen to what I have to say and respond to it accordingly. If I tell you my thoughts on a matter or ask you a question or give you a compliment etc etc, please respond to it. It makes me feel so sad and small if I feel like my thoughts or opinions are not important/relevant.
I can tell pretty quickly if someone is genuinely interested in me or not. Like I said before, I notice everything lol.
I mentioned earlier how one of my love languages is words of affirmation. One of the ways I enjoy that is through compliments. I'm not looking for you to worship the ground I walk on, but being told "You look beautiful" or "When you do xyz, that makes me really happy" makes me feel SO seen and appreciated.
It's incredibly frustrating to send a picture of myself and get a lukewarm response in return. :(
Affection is also super important to me. Holding hands, hugging, kissing, cuddling, touching... all the cute couple shit. I want you to touch me, not in a pervy way, but in an affectionate way. I want to stroke your hair while I hold you close... little things like that make me incredibly happy.
Keep in mind, everything I want from you, I'll give to you in return. I'll always listen and acknowledge you, give you compliments, shower you in affection, plus whatever else makes you feel wanted and appreciated as a person and in a relationship.
● OUR DYNAMIC ●
I always want you to have a choice and be able to voice your opinion. I will never degrade or boss you around in general, but especially when it comes to your personal choices. I'm a switch that used to be a predominant sub and believe me, I've had doms tell me before, "I make the decision on what you wear, what to eat, who you hang out with, etc etc... because I'm your dom and what I say goes."
Some people may like that. More power to them. But I'm not like that. I want you to feel free to express yourself. If you want my opinion, I'll give it to you, of course. But my job is to build you up and support your decisions, no matter how small!
Again, I'm not looking for you to kiss my ass. I'd love for you to take the lead on most decisions (with my input, of course). But I want you to also have a "service" attitude; whether that's helping out with household chores or surprising me with a massage after work or giving me flowers "just because" or helping me paint my toenails lol... just to name some examples. The sky's the limit.
That extends to "the bedroom" as well. I want my pleasure to be just as important to you as yours is to me.
In short? I just want to feel doted on and taken care of. I want to be the most important person in your life and you be the most important person in my life. I want to make you feel special and praise you and tell you how much you mean to me. And I want the same in return. 💓
● "KINKS" ●
This is inevitably gonna come up at some point. I'll say when it comes to my "kinks" (if you want to call them that) I like:
Teasing, edging, telling you when you can cum and begging me for it (I believe it's called orgasm control/denial), moaning, praise, blindfolds, eye contact, body worshiping (you and me), breast worship, oral, fingering and using toys on you.
Been a little curious about pegging someone one day. We'd have to build up to it, of course, because I don't want to hurt you. If you're not into that, though, don't worry! It's definitely not a requirement.
Things I do NOT like (or hard limits) are:
Humiliation, degradation, anything that causes you or me physical, emotional and mental harm, blood, pee, scat, vomit, diapers, CNC, ageplay, raceplay, hitting, slapping, choking or anything else illegal, unethical or otherwise unloving.
● IN CONCLUSION... ●
If you read all of this, good job! Here's a cookie, hope you like chocolate chip. 🍪
Seriously, though, I can't name every little thing I want. Despite the length of this post, I'm not trying to play Build-A-Boy. I realize you have your own caveats and that's totally fine. Let's get to know each other and see what happens. All I ask for, again, is that you want a serious, longterm relationship and not view me as just some sort of "kink dispenser."
Chats or DMs are fine. When you send me a message, please include the following...
• Name or alias • Location • Age • Height, body type, hair cololength, eye color • Your interests/hobbies • Whether you're a sub or a switch • What you're looking for out of a relationship and something (or things) you really enjoyed about my post • A clear, SFW picture of yourself • Your current favorite song (so I know you actually read through all of this) • Whatever else you want to add to catch my attention. The more you can match my "detailed energy," the better.
I won't reply to those who ignore my preferences or the message requirements above. If you send me nudes/dick pics/sexting or FWB requests/rude messages, you will be blocked and reported.
Thank you so much for reading this, and I hope you have a good night!

• Dreamer

(P.S. I don't use Snap, Kik, Telegram, WhatsApp and whatever else. I use Discord and I only give my cell number out to people that I'm comfy with.)

DD free Half Chinese the other half German Irish, brown eyes/hazel eyes, Black Brown (now grey) hair, board shoulder build, somewhere between endomorph (70) and a mesomorph (30) body type. Although I wouldn't claim I was athletic; back in my mid 30's I was able to complete both the P90x, P90x Doubles and Insanity programs. No family history of cancers, diabetes, heart disease and all that fun stuff. Not 19 vaxed nor have I caught it, despite being mostly active during that time. I was part of a clinical trial but received the placebo. Don't get sick often and not on any drugs, prescription, non-prescription, OTC, or from the dude at the corner of the street. Used to have better than 20/20 but now that I'm older it's just 20/20, I thought I needed glasses but apparently this is how people with 20/20 see. College educated and often accused of being smart, I tend to think differently, but I'm not sure if that's nature or nurture, both my parents were intelligent in their own ways. On my mother's side (Irish German) males stand around 6'2" big frame, females 5'2" small frame on my father's side ( Chinese) males 5'7" female 5'2" small frames. I stand at 5'7" with a 6' arm span, usually those are close to a 1:1 proportion but as stated above I have pretty broad shoulders.
That's enough about me, let's talk about you...in relation to me: As a Sperm Donor with little to no involvement after(40% interest) the only thing I'm looking for is that you are DD free and capable of caring for a child, single or multiple times, anonymous or unanimous is workable just state the preference.
As a kink or lifestyle (20% interest) this is pretty much a play by ear, I'm pretty open to a lot of things be it risk play, cuckolding, swinging, or whatever. I'm not overly interested in this option but I'm not going to rule it out either. Fun is fun right? Average hung, unless you believe that Asian stereotype, in which case I guess I'd be well hung.
If you're interested let me know which option tickles your fancy.
*** The excessive information below doesn't really pertain if you're looking for what's listed above, read on if you're looking for something more****
As a relationship (35% interest) looking ideally for someone with intelligence, a good attitude and sense of humor, in good health, a little to a lot of quirky, and honorable. A pretty face, blonde or red hair with blue, grey, or green eyes, small but curvy (voluptuous) frame. Some shared interest in: learning, reading, movies, horror, gardening, health and fitness, haunted houses (amusement type), travel, philosophy, psychology, mythology, theology, investments. Love language expression physical touch or quality time.
As co-parenting (5% interest) I'm not particularly interested in this option but won't rule it out either. Financially intelligent, mentally stable, and physically healthy, no addictions, the ability to raise a child. Since I travel a lot for work I could be a background game day dad visiting whatever set times, or we can do a split custody.
So that's the breakdown on a scale of 100 of what I'm looking for, notice "game playing" didn't get any points...
So aside from being wordy, I shift between being talkative and quiet. Single with no kids, I have a place in Pahrump NV and Frederick MD. Although I call Pahrump home I grew up in Jersey. I'm a pretty self sufficient and self reliant person, with a general proficiency in most things be it labor or intellectually intensive, pretty resilient and extremely adaptive. I'm told I'm too funny but have yet to get a girl to laugh so hard that her clothes fell off and was teleported to my bed, although funny enough to have her pants peed in. I appreciate most forms of humor, but let's face it I'm looking to up my dad joke game here, so if you're horny for corny... I tend to enjoy dark humor to a potentially disturbing level, at least that's what the people locked in my basement keep saying, actually that's not true I don't have a basement. I enjoy audio books (for entertainment or learning) as well as actual books (for learning) , I don't have a genre specific music I like just specific songs but if I'm just listening I'll usually listen to EDM, dubstep, 60's - 90's, or ridiculous (parody or amusing) music. Big movie fan can spend all day in a theater, but enjoy at home streaming as well. I also enjoy video, board, and the occasional card games. I hate to say I enjoy working out or going to the gym because it doesn't feel true but it's also not untrue. I also walk my two dogs a lot which they enjoy way more than I do. Overall I'm a pretty laid back, patiently understanding temperament, seemingly going with the flow, blend in with the normal kind of guy. Which balances out (as all things should be)with my very out of the ordinary perspectives, weird thinking, and just plain strange situations I get in.
Despite the large amount of info here this is just a fraction of one of my multiple personalities, so if you want to know more shoot me a note.

All the Nuggets are doing is getting the ball to the middle of the zone and getting layups off of back cuts. Every possession the Nuggets role players are cutting to the basket and getting great looks as outlets for Murray or Jokic, how else do you think Murray’s assist numbers are so high rn?
It was actually infuriating watching our guys settle for long threes against the zone instead of doing stuff they teach back in high school. Off ball movement needs to be a major emphasis next year. I get Joe is all about analytics and getting up as many threes as possible but that’s just not a winning strategy in the playoffs. It’s actually so enlightening watching the Nuggets play compared to the dumb stuff we did. They have better three point shooters than us yet are content to shoot way less of them and actually take what the defense is giving them. I hope to see some major growth from obviously the players but the coaching staff too. I really don’t want to watch another season of chucking threes

Just realised that BCS ends with a call just a minute after we see the Saul's commercial. Irony.
https://preview.redd.it/fo5cw3lg285b1.png?width=1919&format=png&auto=webp&s=feb5231f2438c504b9f8f5cbc9429b8a2870ead8

So, my idea for this Nen Ability, was inspired partially by the current HxH Succession Contest Arc, in which the 14 princes of the Kakin Empire fight to the death in a contest to decide the next heir to the Kakin throne. What inspired me was the Seed Urn, a Conjured Pot, which had existed for what would presumably be a long time, in order for the Kakin Empire to rise from a lower status to the empire it was currently. Just briefly remind people how the Seed Urn works, To prove one's inheritance to the urn, the host (in this case, one of the 14 Princes) focuses their desire for the crown and offers a drop of their blood to the urn, then puts their hand in its mouth-like opening. At this point, a purple smoke fumes from the urn with a tiny female sprite dressed in Kakin traditional clothing holding a small egg, which she inserts into the host's mouth. The princes will thus be granted a Guardian Spirit Beast when the egg hatches. This beast, although it can't be seen or controlled by the princes, defends the princes in different ways, feeding on their host's Nen to maintain themselves, and possess its own Nen abilities that may different from the user's Nen Type, but are based on the personality and nature of the user.
Since I'd imagine this Urn was created from a Nen Ability, probably from one of the first royals of the Kakin Empire, then I figured there could be similar abilities like it. What if there were post-mortem conjured Nen items that were akin to artifacts in the modern times of HxH? Artifacts that could have incredible powers as a result of them being Post-Mortem Nen creations?
So I came up with an idea for a similar Nen Ability, known as "Familial Imp Shrine". Just a warning, it's very detailed and could be confusing, but I explained as best I could. A Cultist Nen User from long ago had a specialization ability that allowed him to summon a shrine with incredible properties. He was backstabbed and killed by his own members of the religion he had founded, but even after his death, the Shrine remained, possible out of an unyielding desire for his beliefs to live on after his end. The Shrine was lost to time, but was eventually uncovered in a ruin by the Hunter Association, where one of my characters ultimately finds the Shrine within his possession.
After researching the Shrine via the Hunters' Tavern, he finds old writings from the Cultist's religion, and through what he learns, activates the conditions for the Familial Imp Shrine.
The Shrine, which resembles a mini Pagoda, is about 7 feet long and 7 feet wide, with a floor, and thin pillars connecting the floor and the Pagoda-style roof. Inside the shrine is a bronze statue, of a demon with four faces, in a meditation pose. The left hand of the statue holds a knife, and the right hand holds a cup. On the lap of the statue sits seven individually colored incense holders with incense in them, always lit. In his research of the shrine, my character found seven different prayers associated with the shrine, each seven lines long, and each corresponding with one of the seven deadly sins.
The way Familial Imp Shrine works, was if a person kneeled at the shrine, and prayed while perfectly reciting one of the seven prayers, then made an "offering" by cutting their finger on the blade, and letting blood drip from their finger into the cup, suddenly, the shrine would start glowing with Nen, and that Nen would enter the one who completed those prerequisites. Suddenly, one of the incense holders would vanish, and the person would then gain a Nen ability, starting with them being able to summon the incense holder that vanished when they made the offering.
Each Prayer mentioned is tied to a Sin, each Sin is tied to a specific incense, and each incense is tied to one of seven abilities the shrine will grant to seven different people who complete certain conditions at the shrine. If the person who does this isn't a Nen User at the start, they are baptized from when the Shrine's Nen floods into their body, and unlock the ability to use Nen, and through training, they will come to be able to use the ability associated with the incense prayer they read out, even though they didn't create the ability themselves. If the person is a Nen User, they will simply gain another Nen Ability, but won't immediately understand it.
Let me give an example: A guy named John goes to the shrine, and recites the prayer relating to the sin of Greed perfectly. He subsequently cuts his index finger on the knife of the demon statue, and drops blood from the injury into the cup of the demon statue. The shrine glows with Nen, which enters John, who is a Nen User, and one of the incense holders vanishes off of the shrine. In addition to his own Nen ability, John finds himself accidentally summoning this Incense Holder. But here's where the true power of the Incense Holder comes into play.
Each of the Incense Holders has an Incense stick in them, which is always lit. Upon being able to intentionally summon the Incense holders, smoke will rise from the stick, and summon a different Demon/Genie-like Nen Beast. These Nen Beasts are all a part of the same Family of Nen Beasts, called "Imps", hence the Shrine being called the "Familial Imp Shrine". Each Nen Beast summoned grants its own services to the summoner in the form of its own unique Nen ability, but each service has its own costs. Here's another example, and very brief summary of one of the powers:
John can now summon the Greed Incense Holder, and subsequently, the Imp Nen Beast associated with Greed, called "The Trader", who can conjure new items for John every day, but he can only buy them with physical objects that hold personal value to him, the costs varying on the item he's buying from the Nen Beast.
Some other examples of costs are from the Sloth Incense, which summons an Imp Nen beast who manages an artificially-created Nen Space that is similar to a hotel, but you have to pay the Imp, also known as the Hotelier, additional Aura to access a room. Each Nen Beast offers a service, with a cost.
You might be wondering however, what could stop a person from praying to the shrine multiple times, to allow that person to obtain multiple incenses? When a person prays and makes a blood sacrifice a second time after already doing so, the shrine kills them, and the incense ability they possessed is returned to the shrine, which mentions an important point. Anyone who dies with one of the incense abilities, that incense is returned to the shrine for someone else to obtain.
But lastly, there is one other result of praying to the shrine, and receiving an ability, that I have yet to mention. No matter who prays to the Shrine, if they have any other Nen Affinity besides Specialization, their affinity is forcibly changed to Specialization to fit the Ability they have inherited, which, although the Nen Beast may use conjuration or Transmutation, since the Beasts and the means of summoning them originate from a Specialization Ability, being the Familial Imp Shrine, the person's Nen type is forced to change to that. However, the person is then unable to create any new Nen Abilities using their new affinity towards Specialization. This is most catastrophic for established Nen Users, who might've been enhancers or emitters, as their established enhancement and emission techniques would be weaker and hard to maintain, thanks to the forced change in typing.
​
I will make separate posts from this one, detailing all of the individual incense Nen Beast abilities, but for now I hope people have an idea about how the incenses work.
​
But overall, the Conditions and Limitations of the Familial Imp Shrine are as follows:
The user has to read the proper seven line prayer perfectly, in front of the shrine while praying
The user has to give a drop of blood to the shrine statue
The user cannot to receive a second incense ability from the shrine, for otherwise they will die in the attempt of doing so
The user will forcibly become a specialist, and will be unable to create any new Nen abilities in that Nen category afterwards, and their potential in using abilities in other categories will change as a result
​
I apologize for the long read, or any grammar mistakes as this took a while to write, but I welcome anyone has any suggestions about reworking it, as I know this isn't a perfect ability, and is more of an idea. However, I just want everyone to know that I worked really hard on creating this ability. Let me know what needs to be fixed, or if there are flaws in it, as I really want to make it better, if it needs to be. Let me know if you like it otherwise!

I'm going to start off by saying A ) this is a throw away and B ) I'm part of the LGBT+ community and respect all chosen names and pronouns. I just need reassurance that my feelings are appropriate on this specific situation.
(I'm on mobile, please excuse the poor formatting)
I (28f) have a family member (23 they/them) who has recently decided to start going by a new name. Not for gender affirming or any trauma with the name, they just like it. They insist upon it at any opportunity and recently had a legal situation occur where they refused to give ID and insisted on going by their chosen name. ( That coupled with their agressive handling of the situation made it blow up, unnecessarily)
The issue is we are VERY white. And the chosen name (first and last) is painfully Japanese. We live in the deep south and, while it can be difficult to change a name here to begin with, it's impossible to do so to one of another cultures and hope to be respected.
My plea to them was for them to understand that just because they love anime and find the name cool doesn't mean it's appropriate to try and request others call you by that name. Literally any other name and I wouldn't care. Want to go the LGBT non binary route and chose an uncommon name? Razer, Talyn, Spike, etc? That's completely fine by me. Want to choose a feminine name despite being male presenting? Go for it! I will rewire myself to call you what you identify with. Be true to yourself.
Except when it's culturally inappropriate.
I tried to get them to understand that it reads like someone wanting to give themselves an indigenous name, despite not being indigenous, just because they like Native Americans. It's just another white (male presenting) person taking something they want from other cultures with seemingly no care for how others in the targeted culture may feel. They responded with "Sure. Sounds cool. It's just a name."
And while I agree that names are just that.. names. And should be something left up to the individual to change to better represent who they are as a person, I don't feel that way about this particular instance.
It feels gimmicky and like a parody. And I know that it's not a name they'll actually stick with forever (they've changed their name twice before) and don't want them to struggle because of this current obsession, and also don't want to call them a name they don't identify with.
I've always supported them and have a history of being the only person in the family to do so when they make large and life changing decisions.
So, reddit, AITA because I don't want my family member to use a culturally inappropriate name?
It's okay if I am. I'm struggling with the whole situation. I just need other's outside of this to weigh in.
Edited to add: I suggested it be a nickname with no hard implications or legal binding, and can be changed if they change their mind.. they refused and got upset.

FALLOUT 5
Fallout 5 will take place in the Dixie Wasteland, in the ruins of Charleston, South Carolina in 2322. It will be the first fallout to take place in the South. The only nuke to hit the region was a defective US nuke that detonated as soon as it was launched.
Character Building:
You start with 35 special points, making it so you have a more specialized build or a jack of all trades. The old skill system makes a return, with you choosing a perk every 3 level ups. Skill checks are frequent, and can vary from Special stats to perks. You get to choose a special perk when you start the story, like Small Frame or Kamikaze. Karma has three tiers: Evil, Neutral, and Good.
Mutations and Radiation: Mutations will occur like in 76, but you can become a super mutant if you dip yourself in a vat of FEV. Your strength and endurance will increase dramatically, but many factions and cities won’t let you in without a huge hassle. Radiation makes you mutate more, but if your mutation level is too high you will turn into a mindless Behemoth. Too much radiation will turn you into a ghoul, which makes you immune to radiation and raises your endurance. If you get too many rads while ghoulified, you become feral.
Weapons & V.A.T.S:
Makeshift weapons are far more prevalent in this game, but they are more diverse and realistic than those in Fallout 4. Normal weapons are more powerful and rarer, selling for more at stores. More real guns will be added alongside the retro-futuristic fallout guns, including the 9 round and 1 shotgun shell LeMat revolver. Weapon customization exists alongside a wider variety than of weapons. Dual wielding makes its first entry to the series, allowing for dual wielding of small melee weapons, pistols, and smgs.
Higher Agility levels makes dual wielding more accurate. V.A.T.S will return to freezing the game instead of the slowed down time in Fallout 4
Settlements:
There will be 3 buildable settlement locations that you discover on your own, and 5 customizable player home locations.
World: The Dixie Wasteland is a mix of civilized and Wild. The Western section of the map is the most dangerous, full of raiders and animals, despite that the town of Magnolia is in the west. The Northeast is the city of Charleston, the city of Civitas Ferro is set up within eastern Charleston. The South of the map is controlled by the Brotherhood of Steel as well. The middle of the map is a bunch of small towns mixed with the wildness of the west. The eastern side of the map is swamps, and the west is forested hills. A large lifeless crater exists in the in the middle of the map, simply known as the Hole.
Enemies: Some animals return, such as bloodbugs, deathclaws, ferals, bloatflies, and Yao Guais, Mirelurks, and Gatorclaws. New animals include Raddlesnakes, Giraffe Dogs (coyotes with long necks), Snappers (huge turtles), and Prowlers (mutated bobcats). Raiders are in named groups again, with three main bands terrorizing Dixie. The tribe known as the Confederates who enslave and sell rather than pillage, the Beastmasters who tame mutated animals and attack with them, and the Vaulties who were former vault dwellers. Generic raiders can also be found. Super Mutant bands have moved south from the Capital Wasteland, and continue their sackings in Dixie. Enemy robots are occasionally found, especially from the RobCo factory in the city. The last kind of enemy is the main factions if you piss them off, as they send death squads out to gank you if you have a bad reputation.
Dixie history: The Carolinians united the eastern coast and Charleston together as a large scale civilization in 2190, but by the year 2291, the Brotherhood of Steel invaded. They pillaged, plundered, and took control of the east coast and the capital of the Carolinians. Their despotic rule has causes several factions in the wasteland grow rebellious, and tensions are reaching a high in 2322.
Themes: The game has a southern theme, with the radios playing country and bluegrass music. Characters have southern accents, as do the robots.
Radio Stations:
Magnolia Radio - Swing and Jazz hosted by a charismatic ghoul named Darren Dixie. Darren will comment on the events that occur throughout the wasteland.
Hoedown Capital - A country and bluegrass station hosted by Mr. Hillbilly, a DJ Mr.
Handy. He still believes the year is 2077, and only tells news relating to events that happened leading up to the Great War.
Brotherhood Military Channel - Updates troops about tech locations and orders patrols around.
There are plenty of side quests and random events, including side quests for each faction.
Factions:
There are 5 factions in Fallout 5, and you have to side with one of them to complete the story. The Tribal ending is the wild card ending. The reputation system makes a return, with the New Vegas pictures.
Brotherhood of Steel: The Brotherhood of Steel has turned into nothing short of a jingoistic military dictatorship, developed by Elder William Garrick. The Brotherhood abandoned Maxson in the commonwealth, as Garrick lead a silent coup in the Capital wasteland. The Brotherhood has grown colossally in size, and now spans the East Coast unchecked in power. Not only do they seize military technology now, they also seize stuff like pre-war small arms, Auto-docs, pip-boys, robots, terminals etc. They’ve ruled over Atlanta for the past 2 years with an iron fist, forcing settlers into giving up their crops and crippling the wasteland and infrastructure of the Dixie Wasteland. They control a large city inside Atlanta called Civitas Ferro, with their headquarters in the center. Despite your hatred for them initially, you can join them and defeat all the rebels.
Carolinian Revolutionary Army- The Carolinians are the remnants of the former largest nation in the Dixie Wasteland called the Free Federation of Charleston. It was a democratic civilization based on the old state of South Carolina, with elections and rights for any human or quasi-human. Although it was weak and corrupt, it was better than the alternatives. When the Brotherhood rolled in, the Carolinians resisted their raids, so the Brotherhood overthrew them in a scorched Earth campaign. The Carolinians are the remnants of their military, dedicated to rebelling against the Brotherhood’s tyranny, and have the endgame goal of bringing Democracy back to Dixie. They grow steadily by the day, but they suffer from bureaucratic issues and corruption. You can join the Carolinians as an agent, and you help them lead a rebellion against the Brotherhood.
Greylock’s Hand: Greylock’s Hand are a band of violent raiders and mercenaries, who likewise want the Brotherhood of Steel gone, but instead desire an anarchic survival of the fittest wasteland. They are lead by a profane, wild ghoul named Greylock. They are basically terrorists, but their raids and ambushes against the Brotherhood are effective. They reside in a secret underground missile launch site, completed two days before the war. Even the Brotherhood knows nothing about it aside from rumors. The missiles, however, are not finished. You can join Greylocks Hand after getting kidnapped by them, and after you help them build part of the missiles.
Magnolia: The last joinable faction is Magnolia, a large settlement in and around the former plantation home. The city is ruled by a group of Mister Handys who escaped from a crashed truck driving to Charleston the day of the Great War. They saw the magnolia plantation and went their to clean, doing so and repairing it for 150 years, eventually realizing what was happening in the world around them.Their newfound “sentience” allowed them to create a settlement, inviting wastelanders and tribals to live and trade under their protection. Their elected leader is a specialized Mr Handy that has economic programming. The robots have defended themselves from several Brotherhood attacks, and after some convincing they allow you to become an honorary robot and join their faction.
Tribal: Instead of choosing any of the four main factions, you can instead unite the smaller settlements, tribes, and factions into New Dixie. You are assisted by an intelligent Supermutant from the Capital Wasteland named Spider, acting as your loyal second in command.
Minor factions:
The Network: A secret underground trading organization that sells and trades equipment that would normally be confiscated by the BoS. You can rat them out to the BoS, or you can join them.
Wasteland Marshalls: A paramilitary organization that patrols highways and hunts raiders, based on the US Marshals of the past. You can join them or convince them to join the brotherhood.
Catawbas: The descendants of the old native tribe from South Carolina, they specialize in the creation of makeshift weaponry to sell to wastelanders. You can convince them to join the rebellion, or you can convince them to join the Brotherhood.
Abolitionists: A militia of borderline terroristic anti-slavers, based on the conquests of the radical abolitionist John Brown. You can join them or eliminate them.
Plot:
South Carolina: 2322. War, war never changes.
The main character is a tribal living southeast of Charleston. The tribe has to pay a toll to local raiders, and it’s left their tribe starving. In the first part of the game, the Tribal, their sibling and their friend are searching for food for their tribe, when they stumble across an old sunken West-Tek storage depot. In it is a prototype suit of power armor called the AX-01, which is a large tank-suit with back missiles and two hand laser rifles, built for ease of use. You learn how to pilot it from a terminal, and you take it back to the tribe; the raiders and their leader are there demanding their payment. You kill the raiders with the power armor, and the tribe is free from their subjugation. Weeks later, 4 Brotherhood of Steel paladins arrive at the village. After the tribals refuse to give up their power armor, the BoS execute everyone in the village and burn it to the ground (including your sibling), seizing the suit and flying away on a vertibird. Only the Tribal remains.
Act 1: The Tribal picks up a broken pip-boy as soon as they leave the town, and they hunt down the paladins North to Charleston, you kill all 4 of them while adventuring across the map. By the end of the first act, the Brotherhood declares you an enemy of the Brotherhood.
Act 2: Due to the deaths of several Paladins and the constant rebellion from the region, a Brotherhood blimp appears. The brotherhood frequency states that if the Tribal visits the ship, they will be absolved of their crimes. The Tribal is also invited to secret meeting of between Carolinians and robots from Magnolia. You also get kidnapped by the Greylocks 2 days after this meeting. From there you can choose between the rebels or the Brotherhood, and do their specific quest lines. For the Greylocks, you have to find parts to build their rockets. Whereas for the other groups you have to find a way into their base.
Act 3: All questlines end in the ultimate battle and raid on the Greylock base. If you side with the Greylocks you repel the attackers. The end of the story is where you fire the missile array at the Brotherhood’s home base and their airship, chasing them out of Dixie. If you side with the Brotherhood you secure the missile array and fire the rockets at the fleeing rebels, crushing their numbers.
Each ending depends on your karma and what side you chose, potentially turning a “good” faction evil or an “evil” faction good.
Your actions have consequences throughout the story, and no character is essential except for potential companions.
The Tribal:
The tribal is the name of the 28 year old protagonist, and you can choose between you or your friend to be your character. One is male, the other is female. The protagonist is silent, but the character you don’t choose has voiced dialogue. Their default names are Sammy and Cora, but you can change them. Speech is back to the chart with full responses. Their personality is determined by the player, allowing for better roleplaying opportunities.
Companions:
There are 10 companions, 3 non human and 7 human. The affinity system returns, and each companion has a personal quest. They also have comments for the main quest and other miscellaneous events. Companions have specific likes and dislikes, and have different karmas. You can recruit companions outside of your karma if you pass a speech check. Any positive affinity progression while not in their karma has a 1.25 multiplier. Companions are romanceable regardless of gender.
The Tribals Friend (Sammy/Cora):
The friend you don’t choose is available to become your companion. They know your name, and revert to their original appearance and name once you choose your character. Cora is originally white with blonde hair and blue eyes, and Sammy is originally a latino with curly black hair. have good karma, and hates the BoS, but are okay with the other factions. They are 28 years old, the same age as the tribal. They wear a tribal cloak and uses a makeshift bolt action rifle. They are Romanceable.
Benjamina Pavlova - A hired gun and part time technician working for the Network, you can recruit her whenever you hire her at the Network. She has good karma, and hates the BoS and the Carolinians, but likes Greylocks hand and the Magnolia Robots (hired guns were illegal in the FFC). She is white, and has curly black hair and green eyes. She is 29 years old. She wears a confederate cavalry hat and her combat armor with road leathers, she uses a .44 trail carbine. She is romanceable.
Captain Baker Springfield - A soldier for the Carolinian Revolutionary Army, you can recruit him if you save his platoon from a super mutant attack. He has good karma, and hates the BoS and Greylock’s hand, but loves the Carolinians. He is 32 years old. He is white, has brown hair and stubble, and wears a Carolinian soldier outfit; he uses a .308 Combat rifle.
Dina Qian A vault dweller from Vault 52, you have to free the vault from a band of raiders who have cracked into the vault to recruit her. Dina is asian and has black hair in a ponytail. She has neutral karma, and hates all raider groups, including Greylock’s Hand, she is indifferent to the other groups. Dina is 25 years old. She uses two 10mm pistols and wears an armored vault suit. She is Romanceable.
Louie - Louie is a ranch hand at a farm outside of the Hole, you can recruit him if you get his family’s brahmin back from the Beastmasters. He has neutral karma, and hates Greylock’s hand, but likes The BoS due to their law bringing policies. He is 36 years Louie is white, and has a buzzcut with a mustache. He wears a ranch hand outfit and a stetson hat with leather armor, he uses a makeshift pump action shotgun.
General Ulysses Grant: A securitron made specially for the RobCo factory owner, a civil war buff. You have to repair him after clearing the RobCo factory to recruit him. His karma is dependent on how you program him, and he hates the brotherhood but loves the magnolia robots. He is a deep blue and gold securitron with General grant on the tv screen. He is a pre-war robot. He uses the 9mm smg, laser rifle, and rockets depending on what you tell him to use. He is not romanceable.
Uriah Lincoln - A respected raider within Greylock’s hand, you can recruit him whenever you join Greylock’s hand. He has evil karma, loves Greylock’s hand, and hates the Brotherhood and the Carolinians. You can change his karma in his personal quest. Uriah is 23 years old. He is black and is bald, with a bandana covering on of his eyes. He wears Greylock makeshift power armor and carries a plasma rifle. He is romanceable
Senior Scribe Weatherby - A former scribe turned ghoul by radiation, you can recruit her from the BoS after she is kicked out. She has evil karma, hates the BoS and the other factions. After her personal quest she can either rejoin the brotherhood or be open to other factions. She is 39 years old. She is a ghoul and has wears red hair wig. She wears a scribe outfit and uses a laser rifle. She is romanceable.
Belle - A Mrs Nanny built by the robots at Magnolia, you can recruit her after joining the Magnolia robots. She has neutral karma, and likes Greylock’s Hand and the Magnetic robots. Belle is 60 years old. She wears a straw hat with a flower on it, and has a light purple chassis; she uses a minigun and a sawblade. She is not romanceable.
Hambone - A golden retriever with one blue eye and one brown eye. He doesn’t care about what you do, he’s a good boy. You can have him alongside any other companion.
This is what I’ve got, feel free to add anything.

Everyone talks about which game each player was best in (AW Scump, IW Formal, WWII Kenny, etc.) but much less often do we talk about individual series from these players.
Many of us won’t have time to go back and rewatch entire seasons or even tournaments, but if you were introducing one of your friends to competitive Call of Duty for the first time with just 1 series, which series would you put on to represent each CoD player at their absolute best?
If you can link to the series in question for your player as well I’m sure that would help plenty find some good CoD to watch, and I may make a playlist of all the series mentioned if this gets enough responses.

Gosh, I just need to share. I struggled so much emotionally at the beginning, and even more so because my baby was so wanted and planned. I really questioned whether I’d made a mistake. My boy is so opinionated, more than any other baby I’ve been around. He has GERD and some other GI issues that honestly made the first few months hell. He was not a bad sleeper, though he woke up every 2-3 hours until about 4-4.5 mos.
But WOW. Other parents I knew who had ‘difficult’ babies said 6 months was a turning point for them and I understand it. This boy is about to be 7 months and I am so, so in love with him. All of those opinions of his are going strong but what that means is that when he’s excited to say, be held up to and touch our paintings at home, he is screaming with joy. He reaches out to me when someone he doesn’t know well is holding him. He gets so happy when Daddy comes home from work. He loves watching the dog walk around. He just discovered if he kicks bath water enough it splashes his face and WOW that is the most exciting thing he’s seen. I love this little human so much. It got so much better and I’m just thrilled to be his mom and get to eventually see him walk, talk, figure out who he is. He still has alllll the GI issues and we are still fighting to get a call back from the GI but there’s not even a tiny part of me that regrets becoming a parent. I just needed to share- I’m often tired, but I’m so happy.

"Immortal Spirits of Fate, you who weave destiny, you who are my greatest muse and have spun countless stories in my ears, do not sit in idle silence toward me now. Sing to me of the birth of the Moradaya who came here from those mountainous lands of yore. May my words be true and my tongue possess the skill to utter the tale you speak into me without fault."
—An invocation to the spirits. Similar words are commonly spoken by storytellers in pursuit of favor from those who dictate the webs of fate.
As the cold wind howls through the valleys between that fractured piece of the Alpide belt born of the Paleogene in times long passed and nestled between two seas split by the crushing power of the advancing Arabian plate, a band traveling south and east on the backs of short stocky horses orients themselves against the rising sun hidden behind jagged peaks on the horizon which cut the sky like the serration on teeth of ocean sharks these migrants will never encounter, escape from this desolate winter landscape the one thing on their minds. They are Anyana, Iranic peoples whose ancestors roamed the steppes past the great mountains to the north where their distant cousins still drive livestock across a great sea of grass so wide and expansive it is hard for them to imagine both the land there and here in these claustrophobic ravines and gullies wrought by tectonic chaos belong to the same world. They do.
The Anyana abandoned such a pastoralist way of life when they migrated south along the coast of the Black Sea, known to them as Banga Marea, the Great Sea, which was vaster than any their ancestors before them had ever beheld, and into the lowlands between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus where rivers flow west into that massive body of water and the land is lush and fertile for farming. But this land of plenty where it seems the divines had tried their hand at crafting a paradise was not to be the home of the Moradaya. The Anyana who settled in these lands, which were at that time home to a population of Colchic Proto-Kartvelians, enslaved and intermingled with these local peoples from the coast to as far east as those who later formed the Kingdom of Asmanakashra, but many more of their brethren found no place in the small space of these lowlands, cramped as they were after the arrival of a lurch of people pouring inward as if the levy of the Greater Caucasus which once separated two worlds alien to one another had burst, and instead chose to push onward into the mountains to the south, spreading in all directions and hunting for whatever small abundances might be found in their alpine surroundings.
Massifs rise from underfoot across the plateau of the Armenian Highlands where Anyan has become the dominant culture and language, but divisions have already formed in this people. Wars were fought. Battles raged. Subjugation. The harsh topography of these lands and divisions between those original tribes who made the journey south drive the Anyana apart and erode their united identity like rivers splitting from one source in a delta before rushing out to sea, quickened by the absorption of local people's ways of life in the disparate and nascent polities forming among their culture. Some of the tribes have become wary of one another, others hostile and others more simply apathetic toward the Anyana living elsewhere in the plateau where even a few miles distance divided by a range of peaks can feel a world away.
The tribe Moradaya trace their lineage to a number of deva, beings akin to spirits or gods, the stories of their genesis passed down through the generations by oral recital and never received by the youth in quite the same manner or meaning each telling. Those travelers journeying across the Lesser Caucasus have heard the myths of their tribe’s origins many times, so often each might recite the tales from memory, as they did in the company of one another as solace for their otherwise pitiful position in a false remembrance of their greater past. The content of those myths is for another time than this. Their tribe has yet to find a home where they might permanently achieve peaceability and rest. For years they have searched, living scattered about Anyan lands, but this will soon be no more.
The band of men and women and children with their horses and all the belongings they managed to pack for the journey set their ambitions on the valley where meets a moot of all the Moradaya. For too long they have gone without a chieftain holding any true vision, but with the death of Small Vanga, deva bless his spirit, comes an opportunity to appoint a new ruler, one who might lead them to the home of which they have long dreamt. The winter journey for them has been grueling, but their ways demand a new chieftain be elected as soon as all the clan chiefs are able to convene. In that band marching beneath the slopes and now in the belly of a ravine, scrawny trees twisting and fighting each other for the scant light of the sun that makes it down all the way, Skoda goes with his family and a small number of his most trusted men to represent his clan, the Donsudra, and their wishes at the moot.
All free men are welcome to participate in the moot and the election of a new chieftain, but the clan chiefs are shouldered with the extra responsibilities of negotiating the affair and preventing strife at the results of the tribe’s decision. Skoda’s young age once made other chiefs wary of his abilities to lead, but since then he proved himself to be a skilled warrior and therefore, in their eyes, a leader in his campaigns against the Urartians, the native inhabitants of this alpine plateau, and many favor him to become the new chieftain.
After weeks of travel through winding mountain passes, Skoda and their band reach the banks of Soinya Marea, Lake Sevan, the water frozen therein beginning to thaw as spring emerges. Thin trees with leaves stripped and dead bushes and lichen growing on rocky outcroppings dot the hilly landscape. Smoke rises in the distance. Others from Moradaya had already arrived and created a camp where they weathered the remains of the cold season waiting to elect the new chieftain. Skoda’s band sets up their own tents in the disorganized array of other temporary homes along a network of mud pounded into the ground by feet of people buzzing around the camp. Tired from their journey, he rests.
They are some of the last to arrive, and soon after making their place all the clan chiefs are present on those banks, and the moot is called. They meet at the debouch of a stream snaking down to the idle water along an escarpment and flowing inside, the shallow depths gurgling over a bed of rocks. Men of other kinds have trodden these lands for hundreds of thousands of years since the age of Acheulean stone, and now rills formed in the mud by surface water from the melting snow are trampled underfoot as they gather into a haphazard circle, a little empty space in the center.
Clans Donsudra, Ibera, Kudogre, Paraba, Velun and Festuda all convene here. Besides Skoda, other favorites for chieftain are Oruges, son of the late Small Vanga, and Ekpuda, the wise and elderly leader of the Paraba. The law speaker initiates the day, and the shaman says a prayer and performs a ritual, and the thing begins. Oruges boasts of his own grandeur, standing in the center of the crowd who send cheers and jeers alike his way.
"He should be chieftain!"
"Someone older like Ekpuda ought to be in charge!"
"His father led us to ruin, and he'll do the same!"
They argue for some time with no resolution.
"Quiet, children." Ekpuda waves a single hand in the air, and soon all are silent. "I am too old to lead. That job belongs to those whose lives are still more ahead than behind them."
A murmur grows in the crowd.
"But, I must admit, I doubt Oruges' abilities as a leader, even if I respected his father."
A roar. Everyone was up in arms and yelling.
"I don't see anyone better!"
"Vanga's spawn is too weak!"
"Who else will be chieftain?"
Skoda walks to the center, the walls of which now undulate in the mass of upset bodies. "I will lead us."
After much deliberation and arguing, Skoda is narrowly elected as Moradaya's new chieftain, the first ever from clan Donsudra. He sets his mind on the task of finding his people a land on which they may grow and prosper, and these thoughts occupy every still moment for over a year until an opportunity presents itself.
The Urartian kingdom of Ushnu to the south had fallen into a state of civil war over the rights of inheritance pertaining to their king, and Skoda decides to take the opportunity and strike.
The war effort on part of the Moradaya is successful, and they drive out the rulers of Ushnu, known to them as Ošneš, and take over the land with their armies. They expand east into the territory of tribes Urartian and Iranian alike and settle them as their own.
Ošneš rests west of the endorheic lake of brine, Unya Marea, or Lake Urmia as it might be known to us. Fed by rivers, the lake lets loose none of its water except in evaporation, a draconic beast hoarding its wealth for itself. A place of stagnancy, though much life calls the lands around home. There exist many plots of arable terrain here, and it seems to all Moradaya, Skoda first of all, a good place to settle. To the east of this great salt pond is a river valley sandwiched by mountains north and the stratovolcano which looms over all therein and will soon become a place of great spiritual power south. Here, the Moradaya found a city, that of Majadaragand, the City of the Middle Valley.
For some time, perhaps a century or so, the Moradaya have called these lands home. The Urartians of the old kingdom of Ushnu still do so too, though they are in the process of being subsumed into Anyan ways of life, an integration which lends to the growing distinction between Moradaya and other Anyana. The real history of their conquests merges with legend, birthing new myths among the tribe's members now growing fat off the land. This is how the Moradaya came into their home.
Name: Moradaya
Gov't Type: Sedentary
Techs: Iron Age, Horse domestication, Spoked Wheel
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Hello!
39M in the Los Angeles area. Lately I've been in a weird spot in life. Career is fine, life is fine in general but I am finding myself more lonely than usual. A few years ago work consumed my life and I decided I needed a better work life balance, then the pandemic happened and I was busy non stop with work but I had more free time for hobbies and interests, the work-life balance really wasn't too bad. The last few months, I've regained a lot of work-life balance only to realize I don't have much of a life anymore...I really miss genuine friendship and companionship. I have friends that are local but it feels more like long distance friends as we're all busy with life or they have a growing family.
I want to try and meet new friends to do things with, like movies, explore, find new foods, go to food events, things centered around food. I enjoy theme parks, Marvel movies, some DC, Star Wars, Comedies, Action or thrillers. Horror might take me a minute to get me to go to one.
If any of this sounds interesting, feel free to message me. I am open to texting, chatting and voice calls. I would love it if you're local with the potential to meet up someday, if not anywhere in the US is good with me. I would like to keep in touch daily or every so often, send stupid memes, food pics, doggo pics and anything interesting to help pass the time.

I know we have Bijan Robsinon on our team now which should make him a super star, but aren’t teams gonna better game plan against our run game? So I don’t think we will be running the ball as much this season. Unless Ridder is awful at throwing the ball like Mariota was.

Hockey is the 3rd most popular sport in the world. It has 2 billion fans worldwide, to put that in perspective, basketball only has 900 million. According to 2022 and 2023 ratings, the MLS is close to surpassing the NHL as the 4th most popular league in North America. However, in the 1980s-1990s, the NHL was head-to-head with the NBA. Today, the NBA is more popular than the NHL despite the NBA being flawed due to its luxury tax and smaller market teams being designed to fail. The NHL's popularity began to fall around the time Bettman took over. Whether or not this is relevant is up to you but right now, that's not important. I believe if we want to grow the game we have to start looking beyond the borders of the NHL and start looking closer at the development path players take to get there. I'm going to list the development paths in both the U.S. and Canada for reference;

• Hockey levels in the United States: -House League / Selects -Tier 2 Youth hockey (B, Lower A, Upper A, AA) -Tier 1 Youth Hockey (AAA) Leagues; T1EHL, 4CHL, T1HF, ECEL, etc. -High School / Prep Hockey -ACHA D3 -ACHA D2 -Tier 3 B Junior Hockey (USPHL Elite, EHL Premier, NA3HL) -Tier 3 A Junior Hockey (USPHL Premier, EHL) -NCAA D3 / ACHA D1 -NCAA D2 -Tier 2 Junior Hockey (NAHL, NCDC) -Tier 1 Junior Hockey (USHL) -NCAA D1
• Hockey levels in Canada -House League / Selects -Minor Hockey (C, B, BB, A, AA) -AAA Circut -Prep Hockey (CSSHL) -Junior C -Junior B -U Sports Hockey -Junior A -Major Junior (CHL; OHL, WHL, QMJHL)

What can we do to grow the game? -The CHL and NCAA need to come to an agreement allowing CHL players to play NCAA; right now if you play Major Junior hockey you cannot play NCAA so if you don't make the NHL, you don't really have anywhere to go especially if you do not want to go to Europe. -That brings me to my second point; we NEED more NCAA hockey. Right now there are only 64 NCAA D1 teams. We should have double that amount of teams; 128. We need to add the ACC, SEC, and PAC-12, plus two additional conferences, one in the southeast and another in the west. Schools with an NHL or minor league arena within 20 min of campus should explore the possibility of adding teams. Some college basketball arenas can already accommodate ice hockey, why not explore adding teams there too? Can you imagine if college hockey was popular enough to have millions of people making National Championship brackets? Imagine how many young kids would see that and decide to start playing. -Merge the FPHL and SPHL and rename the league the ECHL. The current ECHL would be renamed the IHL. We need 3 minor leagues so more players can get the opportunity to play in the NHL development system AND more small cities would be able to support a local team hopefully sparking more interest in the youth community. -If you want to talk about growing the game in North America, you have to look beyond just Canada and the United States. The NHL should have a prospect summer league similar to the MLB's Arizona Fall League. I propose we put this league in Mexico. Have four teams; Mexico City (@Arena CDMX), Monterrey (@Arena Monterrey), Guadalajara (@Arena Guadalajara), and San Luis Potosi (@Arena Potosi). Each team would be affiliated with an NHL division. Teams would be made up of each division's best prospects. The season will be 8 weeks. The championship will take place the week before the start of the NHL preseason. Advertising games in these big cities should hypothetically get people interested in the game. -The PHF and the PWHPA should merge and put each of the PWHPA teams in cities then add one expansion team to get to 12 teams. Call it the WNHL. There needs to get a league that young girls around the world can dream about playing in; just like so many young boys dream about playing in the NHL. -We need a World Cup. The IIHF, NHL, and the Champions Hockey League should team up and create an independent World Cup sponsored by all three enterprises. It would take place every 4 years, in between each World Cup there'd still be the same World Championships but the World Cup would feature all the NHL players. ________________________
These are just some ideas I had. I'd love to hear more from people in the comments.

I (17NB) feel incredibly guilty for getting my coworker let go. Yesterday I came into my work, (which I will only say is at a camp that is often understaffed) and it was one of those days where I came in with not the greatest mindset for working and I was prepared to do what I usually do which is cleaning dishes and taking out the trash and then some. During my shift yesterday my coworker asked me to do something that I didn’t usually do and i was fine with it. After I did it she told me that I needed to redo it and some part of me started to lose control of my emotions and I started feeling like crying but I held it in. Once I did it she told me to redo it as I missed a few (albeit minor) details that I had forgotten. And that’s when my emotions got the better of me and I started to bawl but I was trying to hide it to keep working. It was a combined factor of the unhealthy mindset from when I came into work and thinking about the pile of dishes that I had to do along with me redoing all of the containers I had to put away that I started to cry. She told me to take a break so I did. Afterwards I felt better and I apologized a lot for what I did and I still feel guilty, this morning (around 9 or so) my boss called me and let me know that she had to let my coworker go due to what I did.
Right now I’m in the break room and I’m able to hear them talking and some of it sounded like yelling and I’m so scared and I feel so guilty about what I did and im genuinely sorry for how I acted and I don’t know if there even is a way to fix my actions. So I mostly need advice on what I could do to make sure this doesn’t happen again and how to avoid it happening and for me to have the closure on if I was in the wrong.
Edit:
I feel as if I missed a few details
My boss learned about it through my coworker telling my boss about it. Also due to my crying my coworker told me to go take a break so I took about a half hour break

I apologise in advance for this being long, I want to include all details as I experienced them. (Also sorry since I posted this in another sub but got almost no responses and I really really need some advice on this)
A bit of background: I (33f) lead a department of five people. We are mostly similar in age and through shared moral convictions and humour, we’ve become quite close and also spend time with each other outside of work. We have had a great balance from the start. We make decisions as a team, but regardless of our friendship, it is clear that I could overrule them if I deem it necessary.
Since they are all smart and motivated people with strong work ethics, I’ve had to do that maybe two or three times since I started 1 1/2 years ago and it’s never been a problem. I absolutely enjoy when I have an opinion on something and they change my mind with well thought out arguments. We work really well together and I adore them all.
Now to the situation.
I told one of the team members, let’s call her Lila(f32), about a concert in a different country I was going to with my brother. She expressed how much she loves the band and would love to go as well, so we (the team and I) gifted her the ticket for her birthday in December. Lila was super excited and we agreed to book travel and accommodations soon.
The next few months I kept asking about the trip and that we should book soon, but she always said things like “oh yes, soon, next time we see each other” etc. I have to mention that Lila in general is a rather scatterbrained person, it is not unusual for her to do things last minute or forget about stuff all together, so this didn’t worry me at first.
3 weeks before the concert when we were both in the office, I told her I was gonna book now, since flights were only gonna get more expensive. She agreed and said she’ll do it at home. I sent her my flight and hotel data, where I booked, etc.
Then followed days of back and forth from her with her saying she’ll take the train, stay at a friends house who lived there, then again flight, and then the final idea to make the 8 hour drive with a friend by car (Lila doesn’t drive). I told her twice that if she didn’t wanna come or if it was too expensive that it was okay to tell me, but that I just wanted to know, so I could find someone else to go with me. Lila said she really wanted to go, and that she already had booked a room in the same hotel I was gonna stay in. She then purchased a ticket to the concert from me for her friend (I had one extra since my brother cancelled).
The day of the concert, they were supposed to start driving at 8 am. When I boarded my flight at 1pm, I got a text from Lila saying her friend cancelled due to her child being ill and that she wouldn’t come. I texted her “oh no that really sucks :(“ but with all the back and forth I didn’t really believe her. So when I checked in, I told the hotel clerk that my friend asked me to see if she could cancel her reservation and if he could check. There was no reservation under her name.
I was pissed and disappointed, but I haven’t said anything to Lila yet.
This was a few days ago so I have calmed down and now I am mostly worried what I could have to done to create an environment where she didn’t feel comfortable to tell me the truth. In general, the team knows that Lila doesn’t always tell the truth, but it’s mostly smaller lies.
She also is the only one of the team who repeatedly has shown issues with admitting to mistakes. I try to lead by example and immediately admit when I was wrong, and during one-on-one’s with everyone in the team I asked them separately if they felt they could do the same and trust me to react appropriately. Everyone said yes, and that they felt comfortable coming to me with anything, and all except Lila regularly do. I have never once yelled at them (and never ever will! Managers who do that fucking suck!) and actively try to educate myself on how to become a better manager through books and workshops. I’ve also been in therapy for years to improve how I handle my feelings and biases and become more self-reflective.
Lilas behaviour makes me very worried that despite all of my effort I am doing something wrong and creating an environment that breeds dishonesty. I also don’t know how to handle this situation because it is not work related and I don’t know how to address it and if I even SHOULD address it.
I’m also reconsidering the closeness in our team and if i should refrain from hanging out with them privately, because no matter how close we are, the dynamic of “hanging out with the boss” could lead to problems again in the future. On the other hand I don’t want to stop spending time with them because they are amazing human beings who have enriched my life a great deal.
Thanks to anyone who made it through my short novel! I guess my question is: should I talk to Lila about the situation and why she felt the need to lie, or should I try to distance myself from my team members?
Thank you in advance.
TL;DR: coworkefriend lied about coming on a trip with me, and I’m not sure if it’s my fault and how I should deal with it.

First time posting here. I have worked at target for 1.5 years. I worked gm, seasonal, kitchen & bath, style & cashier. I am one of those older adults that the kids talk about. I am usually running around the store grabbing customer calls or running to back up while the children post Tik tok videos rather than speaking on the walkie when called.. anyways I have enjoyed my work however during all this intensive pushing & pulling & stocking within a 45 minute time limit 40 plus hours during the holidays my Back seized up & I had to request time off. I ended up tearing my labrum in left & right hip as well as pulling a couple discs in my back. I have been on Leave through my state & fortunately i get some payment however all will end soon & I will have to return to work.
My problem is that I am not sure i want to return. It’s a job that pays $17.50 however it’s a job with hours that are always cut, no health insurance if you don’t hit 25 hrs a week. (I averaged 23.5 last year & got denied insurance), team leaders who don’t give a F & guests who just don’t understand what we really go through. Don’t even get me started on Human Resources. Dumb as F!!
Anyways I am annoyed that it hurts to bend everyday & my leg foot gets numb.. at my age it’s tough to return to a job that will usually average 25 hrs & very little room for growth.. any thoughts from others who have experienced similar or just advice. Thanks