Read All Of These. Not A Request.

Read all of these. Not a request.

I find the presence of Florida on this map hilarious, considering it will be gone in the next 50-100 years, let alone the thousands between now and Lancer's Present Day.

Looking at the time frame of Lancer, it is unlikely that the people of Union speak living languages that look anything like our languages today. Take a look at the oldest writings we have of humanity on Earth, and it's probably closer to us than Union, even at its founding date, let alone five thousand years later. For playing the game, this is irrelevant, unless you want to conlang with your friends. It makes sense to import today's language, mapping today's slang on those people who would use slang in Union. However, place names, which are (mostly, nowadays) independent from languages itself (everyone calls New York some version of New York), are more difficult to justify for some people. To me, it would break my immersion of the names of locations in Union solely reflected contemporary inspirations. At the same time, coming up with nonsensical names is harder and also less inspiring. Therefore, it makes sense that the names of planets and cities on those planets are still informed by English meanings, or old Earth myths and inspirations.

With Cradle, the problem is a bit more difficult, because it is after all the old Earth. There are plenty of towns that have had the same name for thousands of years, but what if a climate apocalypse happens? Aren't most of our oldest cities located on coasts, vulnerable flood plains, or at least reliant on steady agriculture? This is what happens in the Lancer timeline. When Union finally picks up the pieces, they spend more than a thousand years on Earth before they take to the stars. What are they doing?

I like to imagine from the way that Cradle is described, that Union went for a fresh start. Cradle has 2 billion people, but most of the planet is left to nature (and presumably communities living in harmony with nature). 2 billion does not sound like a lot, coming from today's 8 billion, but that was the Earth's population around 1910. Nature had taken a pretty severe beating by then. To avoid a world like our 20th century, I imagine most Terrans live in big metropolises, densely-packed and well-connected. Efficient use of space for living allows for maximum space for both Earth's nature and long human history. Carefully planned cities follow, clustered around the equator where space ports are located, built on top of pre-existing population densities, or close to Massif Vaults, which have likely remained as centres of cultural significance if not population centres outright. Mentioned in the old Field Guide to Harrison Armory is Dharamsala, the cultural capital of Cradle - a city that mostly survived the fall. Struggling with the concept of names, I'll permit the authors at least one name that survived ten thousand years, but I'll leave the rest of the planet unnamed for now.

(original image credit CC BY-SA 4.0 Maulucioni)

Facebook deleted this almost immediately. It's almost like the ultrawealthy don't want us knowing or talking about what's at stake.

The biggest lie in fanfiction is that everyone has a first aid kit in their house. I have never owned one in my life

Triggered the prerequisites for a wandering boss fight...

Just had a conversation that turned into me giving my neighbour a 3 hour lecture on why, if your only problem with Trans people is the fact that you hate having to describe yourself as a CIS woman, your actual problem has nothing to do with Trans people.

(Your problem is actually with the people who keep insisting that Trans women aren't women BTW. If they would just shut the fuck up and actually live and let live, you wouldn't feel the need to make the distinction all the time. If cis women and Trans women are equally women, you can just talk about women's rights without ever needing to specify unless you're actually talking about the differences between the trans and cis experience in which case it's a clarification, like how you don't have to say "white women's rights" unless you're talking specifically about the differences between the rights of white women and women of colour. You're reading this so you're fluent enough at reading to understand how descriptive language is used to explain nuance right? You don't describe yourself as a tall woman or a blonde woman or a middle-aged woman unless you're pointing out the differences between yourself and a short or brunette or younger/older woman, so why are you so convinced you need to constantly point out that you're cis? Who is actually telling you that you need to do this?)

There were a few things she said that I was fully prepared to hear - the litterboxes in classrooms thing was one that jumped out immediately - but one thing she said really had me stuck and the only thing I could say was "what the fuck was the writer of THAT headline smoking I need to know so I can stay WELL the fuck away from it". I was so unprepared.

I swear, this is what she said, word for word, as a response to me explaining the boom in lefthandedness once kids weren't being brutally abused for writing with the wrong hand:

Are you ready? Last warning.

She said

"What do you think of the theory that China is making all the Trans kids by putting a toxin in school supplies as part of a campaign to weaken the West?"

I seriously still have no idea how to respond to this. If you truly believe this our thought patterns are so vastly different I am frankly AMAZED we are capable of communicating AT ALL.