"Great Days And Glorious Victory! My Name is Spifflemonk aaand welcome to my Letsplay! Today we will be celebrating the recent release of many games to the open market by Humans with a game that was recommended to me many times by my work colleague. Hats off to you Jerry! Today we will start with a game called: Factorio. Okay... Apparently it is a resource management and automation game with a simple graphics component. Let's check some of the reviews."
*Spifflemonk looks at some of the reviews for the game and grows disturbed and confused.*
"Erm.. hmm... Is this a human thing? These reviews are all positive but... all of them say the same thing. The last maybe two hundred reviews all say a different iteration of the same thing. Is this a joke or... am I getting into something bad here?"
*Spiffles screen displays a short scroll of the latest reviews. All of them say something along the lines of: THE FACTORY MUST GROW*
"Well, okay then. I know this game does have mods, I looked earlier to test my game settings and recording software. I will be ignoring all of that for now and focusing only on the 'vanilla' experience, is what the humans call it? I think... Okay well lets get started erm... New Game... Sandbox... oh... this looks complicated. Just go default settings and start."
*The game screen loads fast and the introduction sequence plays, starting with the sound of explosions and a bleep noise, explaining how to win the game. Victory is achieved by launching a rocket with either a satellite or the player in it.*
"So... from what I can tell here, the player, that's this little guy here, needs to build a factory to make rockets to get back into space after crash landing. Okay, how hard can that be?"
*The following hour of gameplay takes place with Spifflemonk learning the controls of the game, getting used to the graphics and doing some exploring. Eventually he actually gets to work, placing his first miner down, and putting his first stone smelter next to it. He spends a few minutes clearing boulders and trees in his crash site and slowly accumulates resources enough to add more miners, eventually setting up his first belt line and assembler after the first hour.*
"Right then! That's good uh... According to this I need to do research by making Science Packs? Okay so... I need to automate red science because hand crafting is.... very slow. Very very slow. Okay then uhh... Iron Gears and Copper plates? That's easy! I will just..."
*Another twenty minutes pass by, seemingly a bit too fast as he finishes hand crafting the first fifty Red Science. Depositing a few of them into a science lab and looking at what research is available.*
"Hmmm... Automation. That's going first, I can build assemblers now. After that maybe... Logistics? What's this? Belt Splitters, Underground Belts and Inserters? Oh look, power generation, that will be needed! I will start with...."
*Two hours pass without Spifflemonks notice as he upgrades and improves, adding production lines to automate the construction of Red Science packs. Finally unlocking Green Science packs.*
"Oohhh this gets a LOT more complicated... I need a mix of multiple resources to make these. Iron Gears, Copper Plates, Iron Plates... Green Circuits?! Where do I get those?! Oh... So... this goes here and that can go..."
*A further forty minutes pass when SpiffleMonk begins to panic as a red triangle with an exclamation point appears on his screen, indicating his factory is taking damage.*
"What? WHAT!? What's that red thing, is that some kind of alarm!? Okay uhh... let me just go see what it is then."
*Spifflemonk hastily runs towards the noise to find the games enemies: the Bug Hives of Nauvis attacking his Copper mines.*
"What are those things? AAHH STOP EATING MY MINERS!!! Oh gods oh gods where.. do i have a weapon or... I do have a gun! Okay uhhh... Shoot!"
*Spiffle fumbles but eventually finds the shoot button, and three of the six aliens chewing on his base get killed. He does however run out of ammunition for his simple pistol, and the aliens redirect their attention to his character.*
"What? Why isn't it firi-I'm out of bullets? This needs bullets?! Wait, wait NO-"
*A group of six aliens attack him and kill his character, resulting in a game over screen. The game automatically deletes his save file, as the difficulty is set to hardcore.*
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"
*His channel outro plays.*
TOP COMMENT: "THE FACTORY MUST GROW."
__________________________________________
"Great Days And Glorious Victory! My Name is Spifflemonk aaand welcome to my Letsplay! Today we are going to try Factorio out again. Last time did not go well. BUT I have a better knowledge about the game and one of the first things I know to do is make ammunition! I know Im not alone here this time so I can prepare for it. Lets play!"
*Game starts with the same settings as the previous time, Spifflemonk wastes no time and clears the local area of trees and rocks and immediately starts automation as quickly as he can. Within two hours, he is roughly close to where he was when he got killed last time.*
"Right! I looked more at the research options and found better gun, better bullets and automated ammo production. As you can see, its green science, red science and as you can see, the first few bits of Military science are just coming off the assembly line. I was told from the last comments... aside from the crazy chanting... I needed to get walls, gun turrets and other things, and try not to pick a fight."
*Spifflemonk continues gameplay for a further hour or so before that all too familiar signal blares, the red triangle with an exclamation mark appears.*
"AHA!!! Now we will see who's the boss in this factory! Have at thee!"
*Spifflemonk heads towards the target and encounters a group of eight enemies, who he easily deals with. After replacing tw destroyed miners, he resumes working and begins to automate oil processing.*
"What is oil in this game? Is it like balm oil or something? Do humans use handwashing agents as industrial machinery? What is oil in this... hold on let me see something..."
*Spifflemonk pauses his gameplay and reads out an article on crude oil and fossil fuel industry, then a follow up article on plastic.*
"Plastic... and petroleum. Well thats... okay. Well we have something similar but we generally used hydrogen and stuff. I don't even know if my homeworld has the same... we never needed it. We mostly use ceramics and stuff as well as silicon based industry so... we don't have plastic in our industry. Wood and a sort of bitumen substance is the closest we have to your human coal and we have no crude oil processing at all so... no plastic. Is that why human circuitry processing is so cheap? Plastics?"
*Spifflemonk makes a note to do some research later on and carries on with automation. Eventually about an hour or so after starting to produce plastic bars, the alert sound rings ut again and Spifflemonk charges out to meet the new enemy.*
"Okay let's go! I'm still making bullets and guns so I should be HOLY CRAP!"
*Spifflemonk arrives and is swarmed by an army of around three dozen or so enemies, and is killed while attempting to run away. Once again, his save is still in hardcore mode, so he dies, a game over screen occurs, and his save is deleted.*
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"
*The gameplay ends and Spiffles outro plays out as normal. However it seems as though the audio wasn't properly edited and a number of seriously bad curse words and slurs can be faintly heard in the background.*
TOP COMMENT: "Hardcore mode? I think you should turn it off in your gameplay settings dude. Hardcore mode is something players of only like maybe 150 hours or more would attempt. In any case, good effort! Build walls, turrets, get secured asap next time. Subbed and liked!"
_______________________________________________________
"Great Days And Glorious Victory! My Name is Spifflemonk aaand welcome to my Letsplay! Today it's going to be Factorio again!"
*The channel intro plays and the screen cuts to a factory that seems already built.*
"On the recommendation of some of my subscribers, thank you all by the way, I have turned hardcore mode off and started building walls and defenses. This game looked so stupidly simple I had no idea just how... intricate it really is. So this time instead of taking you all through the long and boring i have pre buit my base and as you can see I have started producing the first batches of Blue Science, and have here something humans have in real life apparently: Trains!"
*A quick overview of the base is shown, followed by a short montage of the bases construction. A blueprint is outlined for later construction that produces Purple Science and logistics robots, along with a side factory that makes various other things such as belts and assemblers. The factory however, is a mess made of spaghetti, with obvious bottlenecks and mishmashes of belts.*
"I think i'm getting the hang of this game! Okay so, let's go see what we can do. And before you ask, yes I have already died twice while building this place."
*An hour or so of gameplay follows, with Spiffle checking and rechecking his factory, adding bits here and there, putting more belts in, and having a short pseudo aneurysm while figuring out the intricacies of the blueprint upgrader before finally arriving at his newly built train.*
"According to humans and the Factorio guide, trains are a long term, long range logistics solution that replaces belts across long distances. Humans apparently had these things for hundreds of years, in real life. They still operate today apparently, you can find a few of these 'railway networks' on Earth and other colonies. This will be the first time we use one. I had no idea how to automate this so I had to watch a guide so, don't judge me. So... let's go!"
*Spifflemonk enters the train and opens the UI to start the automation sequence. The train spools up then charges round corners at breakneck speeds and arrives at a train stop for a Stone Mine several miles away from his main base. As instructed in the guide, the train loads up on stone and once full, charges back at blistering speed back to his main base. He is a little bit too giddy at the result."
"WHY DON'T WE HAVE THESE!? That was amazing! No seriously, Council of Elders, ask the humans if we can borrow some of their trains. This would have solved SO many problems back in the day! SO many problems! Look how much this thing can carry!"
*Gameplay stops, Spifflemonks Outro plays. The next video he releases is a two and a half hour long video essay entitled: "Why we need to beg humans for trains' and receives nearly half a billion views.*
TOP COMMENT: "Seriously? You guys dont have trains? I'd love to know how that actually worked for you guys to get to space or do mass transit. I can recommend a few games if you want."
__________________________________________________________
"Great Days And Glorious Victory! My Name is Spifflemonk aaand welcome to my Letsplay! Today we are back with: You guessed it, Factorio! Last time was a solid... month I think between that episode and my last upload. That was because I was trying out a train for myself! I went to the human colony of Epsilon Eridani nearby and tried a train. Best thing ever. Why don't we have those? Anyway, today on Factorio it's time for expansion!"
*Spifflemonks intro plays and a further overview of the factory is played, showing a separated train network with multiple railway sections with up to 30 trains running at once. Further advancements have been made, with a series of blueprints laid out and half completed for the production of yellow science.*
"As you can see I did some off camera work here. I do read your comments, I will try to make my videos, especially on these games, slightly shorter. And also, I checked the reviews again. I'm starting to understand where you are coming from. Factory must grow. From players with upwards of two thousand hours. With how short lived humans are you'd expect the to not spend two thousand hours playing a game, now would you."
*Sheepishly displays his own time of one hundred and thirty four hours, before returning to the game*
"So anyway. Today, as far as I can tell from the research queue, is the last day we will play as I am not that far off from-"
*Spifflemonk is interrupted by several attack alerts, noticing on his map that there are several attacks going at once across his frontline. Spiffle assumes all is well and ignores it. A minute later, he starts noticing that Copper production has stopped, and looks up again at his mining outpost to notice there is a truly MASSIVE biter army overwhelming and obliterating everything there. He panics and subsequently dies six times trying to take the biters out.*
*In the ensuing chaos Spifflemonks base is seriously damaged with Green circuits and Blue circuit factories being destroyed, part of his ammo production line is cut and four of his trains destroyed too. The entire north and north east face of his base is completely destroyed. The equivalent of twelve hours of work lost, to the tune of maybe another thirty minutes to an hour of replacing everything the biters destroyed.*
"Thats... thats just plain evil! How am... how am I supposed to beat that!? There were thousands of them! Okay, screw this, I am reloading a save!"
*Spifflemonk reloads the save and tries again. He redirects his attention to strengthening his defenses, doubling the number of turrets and strengthening his defensive line. The biters attack again, and this time Spiffle barely, very barely, makes it out with no major losses.*
"This is insane... absolutely insane! Okay... I get it. I need more guns. The rocket will have to wait I guess. So what do i- Flamethrower turret? What's a flamethrower?"
*Spifflemonk looks up the concept, unfortunately clicking on the wrong link and showing what flamethrowers were used for in the Vietnam war and World War Two. He has a slight panic attack and ends the video there.*
TOP COMMENT: Save Scumming is a legitimate tactic when you are a new guy. No issues dude, fight on. And flamethrowers? Yeah... did you know there's a thing called Incendiary Bombs? That's fun!
________________________________________
"Great Days And Glorious Victory! My Name is Spifflemonk aaand welcome to my Letsplay! Today we are back in Factorio. I have sent a special message to the Council about… Flamethrowers… and yes they scare me too. So today its more Factorio. I have done some off camera work so we can skip straight to the point. Seventeen hours later… I am starting to understand why some people have upwards of a thousand hours in this game. Why does it seem to… Anyway.”
*The channel intro plays and an overview of the factory is shown, with the last shot ending with Spifflemonk standing next to the Launch Silo for the endgame rocket. It isn't ready for launch yet, but it appears all the components are where they need to be.*
“Okay then, uhh… here we go!”
*Spifflemonk connects the last belt line to where it needs to be and resources begin to flow. He follows the connection to a series of a dozen assemblers, oil refineries, chemical processors and explains as he goes to tell the viewer what each machine set does. After a few minutes, the first Rocket Control Components have been made and the progress on the silo goes up.*
“It is a little slow but thats okay, room to expand and grow! In any case, this should be done shortly. OOhhh look at that!”
*Spifflemonk watches with the depression of a kid in a candy store with an unlimited budget as the animation plays of the rocket emerging from its silo.*
“Well… uhh… I assume I enter it just like the train I guess…”
*Spiffle enters and launches the rocket. The endgame scene plays, and Spiffle earns some steam achievements for the game.*
“YES!!! YES BY THE GODS YES!!! Finally! I am finished! OH… how long did it take to finish my first - A HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FOUR HOURS!? How… How is it possible this game took so much of my attention?!Uhh… Wow. So.. I guess mods are next. Any suggestions in the comments? Thanks for watching!”
*The channel outro plays as Spiffle stares blankly at the screen showing his playtime with the game.*
TOP COMMENT: Only a hundred and eighty hours? Dude, rookie numbers. You should try mods next time. Just quality of life stuff like stack sizes or Supersonic Trains. Then, after you've launched a couple more rockets - go for broke and install the Space Exploration modpack. THAT… that modpack is pure agony.

I’ve contemplated very long about putting this out there and asking for advice, so please bear with my long story ahead. Also, genuinely looking for advice and I might delete this later on for fear of anyone finding out.
Met my girlfriend in University because we were staying at the same dorm. Hit it off pretty well at the start until she revealed something big to me at the start of our romantic relationship. Won’t say things were official then but it was becoming serious between the both of us, just cuddling up until this point.
She then told me about the most recent relationship she was in right before she entered University, with one of her youth church leaders who is married (35M now), let’s call him Harry. Her whole family’s Christian and I’m not, for context. I dug deeper and went through all of their conversations for hours, trying to wrap my head around this extremely shocking piece of news. Before she told me anything, she also said this was something she would have taken to her grave, but I guess she changed her mind and decided to confess to me before we progressed further.
Initially from a relationship of a youth leader and a “friend”, Harry already knew what he was doing from the start. He desired her from the start which was around December of 2019 and started to talk to my gf, under the pretence of resolving some sort of misunderstanding between his wife and my gf, which he later on confessed was just a ruse that he used to get closer to her. He was 31 and my gf was 18 at the time. His wife was also my gf’s direct mentor in church.
Under the pretence of being nice and friendly, they started to get closer, started with the guy constantly texting her and initiating conversations, particularly when she went overseas for a vacation during the same month. He constantly asked her about her day to build rapport, opens up very easily to her and shows her his vulnerabilities very early on.
When she came back, he starting doing her lots of favours prominently by ferrying her around and giving her rides since they stayed relatively near each other.
He also kept sending pics of his kids from the start, in between mixing in flirtatious jokes which increased in intensity to using terms like “my lady” and then becoming more and more explicit by escalating to hugs and physical affection like holding hands. So fucking explicit bc he keeps asking her flirtatious questions and wanting her to reciprocate time and time again.
She suspected from the start as well and knew it was morally wrong but secretly craved attention and love so she entertained and went along with it, not really responding to his flirty texts at first but from a certain point on started to reciprocate. She started to develop feelings for him as well.
He puts the wife out of the picture by confiding in my gf that his wife can’t provide the same emotional support that she does, makes her feel special and wanted so her knowing it was morally wrong, still went along with things. Their relationship gradually turned sexual and they had sex several times (<10 times) according to my gf, in his car, at his friend’s house which he was supposed to housekeep for, might have even happened inside his house when the wife was away, but I can’t remember this exactly. Some part of me regrets going through all their conversations and probing so much about everything, but I don’t think I could have not probed so much either. It honestly hurts me so much everyday, especially back when I first found out 2 years ago, till this day, my mind often constructs images of their sexual relations and it hurts me so bad.
He apparently also has depression and has used his mental condition and suicide as leverage in their relationship many times, such as getting my gf to sympathise with him and to threaten her from leaving.
After that revelation about an unethical relationship she had before me, which up until a few months before the guy was still trying to contact her after she broke it off, I encouraged/forced her to confess what she did to a senior church leader, and long story short, that guy was fired and banned from church, his wrongdoings were revealed to his wife and his family, his wife met up with my gf where my gf apologised for her wrongdoings and his wife said that she forgives her and even apologised that her husband is that way.
We both agreed that we would keep it from her family, partly because I knew how nice her family was and I couldn’t bear seeing what would happen if her parents found out. Her parents are the kindest and most generous people ever, and I imagine their hearts would shatter.
Took countless, COUNTLESS of toxic fights, crying, healing to get to where we are today, nowhere near perfect, but we’ve broken up and got back together many times because we realise how much we love each other. I do love her so much and I can’t imagine a world without her now. Yet, I also worry about my future with her. We’ve been spending almost every day together for close to 2 years, most of the time sleeping together in dorm (which we’ve left one month ago), and I can’t seem to let her go. This hurts me so much knowing I lover her and that I have to look past her past wrongdoings. It hasn’t been easy up till this day but it has definitely gotten better. But most days, I will get intrusive thoughts when I get triggers or even mildly reminded of her past. This happens very often.
I’ve cried a plenty lot and so has she, and she says that this is her biggest regret, having made me suffer her consequences, and wishes that things could have been different.
In 2 months, I will be flying off for an exchange programme for one year somewhere far away, and I’ve been thinking about what to do obviously. I don’t know if I want to spend the rest of my life enduring these painful memories while being very happy with her, I really don’t. This pain is heart-wrenching but I know we both truly love each other.
So, I’m here asking for advice as a last resort. How should I approach this whole matter? Is it possible to forget all my pain and just live my life with this girl who has realised her wrongdoings and is trying to be a better person? Or should I use the next one year to forget her?

I don't know the purpose of this post. Perhaps to vent? Get my feelings out? Reassurance? Or maybe just some strong words to push me through. Basically, for the past 6/7 months I developed a great friendship with one of my co-workers. We don't work in the same departments and he works full time in the office while I WFH full time, The friendship consisted of the occasional chat through social media, having a laugh on works nights out and sometimes the sharing of a funny meme - nothing untoward. Then earlier this year (5 months ago), my relationship with my ex broke down and shortly after (unrelated - or so I thought) so did his. From then on, communication between us increased as we both started to bond over our recent breakups and tried to find positives in day to day life. This turned into regular phone calls, facetimes, constant texting and even nights out together (not work related). Eventually it turned into night time drives, and then evenings in front of the TV, At this point - nothing romantic between us happened. Then, on a night out he confessed to having feelings for me for some time and that was partly why he split up with his ex. This took me very much by surprise. Anyways, after that we began hanging out even more - and I started to develop feelings. This was around 3 months ago. It became very passionate between us very quick and on a few occasions I asked if it was just a "lust" thing and nothing more - I was told it was not lust. We actually got on really well and had lots of similar interest and life views, always laughing about something or constantly updating one another about something that just happened in our day, However, given both our fairly recent breakups we agreed to keep things platonic and make sure nothing serious happened, because neither of us wanted that just yet. He also had a habit of suddenly ghosting me for a few days because as he put it "he kept overthinking things". Maybe a month ago, I found out he was on a dating app and I got jealous - a feeling I really don't like. And given the great relationship that was developing between us I hated the fact he was perhaps looking elsewhere and so I voiced this to him and communicated that I felt things were going well between us and I wanted to slowly pursue what was happening. He agreed, and the dating apps stopped. A few weeks after this, and having known each other for some time and getting along great - he asked me to be his girlfriend and we agreed for now to keep it between us in the office, so as to remain professional, but out with it was fine. We booked lots of gigs together, our friends and family were aware and I was genuinely really happy that we could slot into each others lives. This was a week and a half ago, during which time something happened which made me quite uncomfortable. He was round one evening and said he had something he wanted to tell me, which was that his neighbour (F) had asked for his number. What struck me was the way he said it to me, like almost half smirking. I asked if he gave it to her and he replied "yes" but in a very like "I shouldn't have but I did" way - hard to describe. I asked him why, and he said it was peace of mind, which I totally get but I also told him I didn't feel comfortable with that because they lived next to each other for years and she didn't ask for his number when he was with his ex - only now she knew they weren't together. He then tried to reassure me, telling me he had text her that night to say he was staying at my house and she could use his parking space- I challenged this, and when he tried to prove it he realised he hadn't in fact said that to her at all. HMMMM Anyways, communication patterns rapidly changed a couple of days after this. He started to take hours to reply and when he did - it was clear he wasn't interested in talking because it was either one word answers or just no answer full stop (despite him coming on and offline ALOT). I also picked up that conversations were very much about him and how he was and about his day - he never asked me anything about mine or how I was. This upset me because just this week we had the most incredible date, and now this? This began to bother me so I phoned him 3 days ago and brought it up and asked if we were OK. He reassured me that we were fine and that he was just very busy and that a big project would be coming in which meant possibly for the next 3 weeks he would be even more busy... too busy to even talk to me? Fast forward 2 days later - today, and it was 24 hours since I last text him and no response. I was angry because I had told him the lack of communication was frustrating me and that I was worried about us. I was meant to see him last night and he said he would let me know, I never heard from him. So I decided to text him this morning about perhaps seeing each other tonight, but I had a gut feeling he wouldn't be available. Sure enough, a few hours later he responded to say he had something on tonight that he had forgotten about. No offers of another time to see me, just "Sorry!" and I just knew instantly he wasn't interested anymore. So I text him pretty much offering him an out of the relationship because I wasn't accepting nothing from him anymore. I would accept tired, I would accept busy - but I wouldn't accept nothing or inconsistencies. He phoned me shortly afterwards to briefly say that he had checked out, his head wasn't in it and that he could no longer commit to me. I told him I didn't understand, had his feelings just gone away? Was he lying to me on Wednesday when he said we were fine? To which I was told he didn't have the time to get into it. WOW. So I told him to enjoy his day and hung up. That was this morning and I have heard nothing since. No text to say sorry or to check if I am ok. I am confused, angry, doubting everything, hurt and have so many questions. I really opened myself up to him and told him fears, dreams and other things I had only ever kept to myself. He knew, given past relationships, I was always scared of being unwanted (I have been cheated on previously) and swore he would never do anything to make me feel that way... but now he has. So here I am, sat alone on a Saturday night with hurt and confused feelings and a bottle of wine.. I feel a sense of calm, if you can call it that, because the feelings of confusion I have felt all week about what he was doing, why wasn't he talking to me etc. have gone, but now I am filled with anger as to WTAF?!
**TL;DR;** : My co-worker broke up with me today

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https://imgur.com/a/zeDdqxi
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Dishwasher had trouble draining lately so opened it up to try and figure out the problem. This came out of the drain tube at the end with the check valve it's a small plastic disc a little smaller than a dime. It's a 90 degree check valve so I can't see it to figure out if this is part of it.
The check vavle seems to only flow one way still and the them machine now drains like it's supposed to.Is this a part of the check valve that needs replacing or is it something from upstream that's not part of it (a whole other worry)
Of note it wasn't draining well lately often had to trigger a drain cycle to flush out standing water in the bottom but it usually worked. Today it didn't leading to all this.

What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.

Mostly strategy games, so all of the Creative Assembly and Paradox games but also more RPG like games such as Bannerlord and AC Odyssey I’d like to run relatively well on high settings.

What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?

£1500

When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

Now

What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)

ToweOS/Keyboard/Mouse

Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?

UK

If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.

N/A

Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?

Not really interested at the moment.

Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

Don’t need that much storage initially but SSD is essential.

What type of network connectivity do you need? (Wired and/or WiFi) If WiFi is needed and you would like to find the fastest match for your wireless router, please list any specifics.

Needs to have WiFi

Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

Nope, not bothered what it looks like at all.

Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?

Yes

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This is an ongoing drama, one that won't stop until probably next year or even longer. But before I get into the details of the drama, let's talk about the background, and the important information to know...
TW: Sexual assault discussion mentioned about halfway.

Hockey? NHL? What the fuck are those?

Ice hockey is a sport where 6 very large, burly men put swords on their feet and glide around on ice against 6 other very large, burly men who also have sword-shoes. They carry a stick to whack around a hard little circle of rubber and each other (most often each other) with the goal of hitting that little rubber past another large burly man into a 6'x4' net. A game takes place over 3 periods of 20 minutes each, and whoever hits the rubber circle most often in the opponent's Warhammer gaming table sized net is the winner of the game. There are 82 games during the 'regular season', and then they compete in the 'playoffs' for the Stanley Cup, which is worth at least $5.
The National Hockey League, or the Ligue Nationale de Hockey if you hate everyone else in North America, is effectively the world's highest level of ice hockey. People all over the world spend their entire youth lives training to have a shot at being drafted by an NHL team, from Belarus to England, from Canada to Australia. There are other leagues in the world, but they are more or less for people who are shunned in the NHL for whatever reason, people who have retired from the NHL but still play hockey for whatever reason (Jaromir Jagr, I'm looking at you), or people who aren't good enough to play in the NHL but still good enough to be paid to play.
There are 32 teams in the NHL at the moment, but the most important teams for this story are:
1) Chicago Blackhawks: I'm going to go over the Blackhawks later in this post. It's...a lot.
2) Anaheim Ducks: A team that was originally owned by Disney based on the movie The Mighty Ducks. No, I'm not joking. They were founded in 1993 and have had some close calls with the Stanley Cup, but has never won it. They finished the 22-23 season with the worst record possible, and one of the worst records in NHL history.
3) Columbus Blue Jackets: They're young, having only existed since 2000. They've never been in the Stanley Cup finals, and have never really had a good season during their existence. They finished second to last.
4) Seattle Kraken: They're the newest team, being founded in 2021. They're actually not relevant at all to this post; they're my team and therefore am obligated to mention them.

Okay, so sword-feet and stick hitting rubber circle. What is this about 'draft'?

In order to make it to the NHL, you have to be drafted by an NHL team. Being drafted is similar to how people used to pick each other for teams during recess. You know, where you kept getting picked last. Except if you get drafted, you get a contract worth potentially millions of dollars.
The draft takes place over a series of rounds, where each team picks one person each (unless they traded their draft pick, but this isn't relevant). In the first round, the teams with the worst record draft first, all the way up to the team that won the Stanley Cup. Then in the second round, it counts down from Stanley Cup winner down to the worst, third round is from worst to best again, and so on until the draft is completed (Usually 7 rounds).
HOWEVER, there is a twist...

The Lottery

So in order to prevent teams from 'tanking', aka losing on purpose in order to get the best draft pick, the league came up with the Draft Lottery. After the season has ended, every team that didn't make the playoffs participates in the lottery. Whoever wins the lottery will jump up 10 spots in the draft. Teams who were worse during the season get higher odds. This year, the team with the best odds are the Anaheim Ducks, at 18.5% chance of winning, since they sucked hard and it wasn't even on purpose.

Okay, enough. Why is the 2023 draft important?

This year is one of the most important drafts in recent NHL history. The current highest-rated prospect is Connor Bedard. Bedard is...good. Like, really good. Like, really, REALLY good. Top NHL players are saying that Bedard already has the best shot release in hockey right now at least...and he's only like 17 years old. I won't go into it much further, but Connor Bedard is the type of player that can lead teams to the Stanley Cup by just being on the team. People are comparing him to Wayne Gretzky; if you need context for who that is, he's considered one of the best sports-people of all time out of all sports.

Side Show -- The Chicago Blackhawks, and Why Everyone Hates Them

The Blackhawks, which I'm going to call the Hawks, are an old team. They've been around since the 40s as one of the 'original six', teams that have been around since the modern NHL was a thing (well, not really, but it's not relevant). Yes, the NHL only had 6 teams until the 1960s, which is when they finally expanded into more markets, which then snowballed into what we have now (32 teams).
The Hawks have had...a rough recent history. They effectively had a dynasty for most of the 2010s, winning the Stanley Cup 3 times, and a lot of it had to do with their talent. Before the 2010s, the Hawks sucked. That is, until they drafted amazing players like Jonathan Toews (pronounced "taves", not "toes") and Patrick Kane, who helped boost them to the Stanley Cup in the 10's (They have since retired. This is important context.) These picks were already controversial; people like to claim that the NHL favors original six teams because they're massive markets, which means more butts-in-seats, which means more money. So the Blackhawks getting so many first round, top-3 picks was...suspicious to most.
But all of this is overshadowed by the sexual assault and subsequent cover up.
During the 2010 season, one of their cup-winning seasons, a player named Kyle Beach, was sexually assaulted by a member of the coaching staff. He brought it forward to the organization who did their best to make sure that the coaching staff was safe and sound. Kyle Beach never broke into the NHL aside from the 2010 season -- take that information for what it is. In 2021, Kyle Beach sued the Blackhawks for their mishandling. An independent investigation found that the Blackhawks knew about the sexual assault, and did nothing to the perpetrator. The perpetrator went on to commit more acts of sexual assault against young players.
The punishment that the Blackhawks faced? Nothing major. They were fined $2 million. Which...is basically nothing, considering they made $222 million that year. So, like...1%.
This punishment was a slap in the face to teams like the Arizona Coyotes, who lost draft picks (which means losing players that could turn their organization around) because of a much, MUCH less severe violation (In their case, the Coyotes were performing physicals on potential draftees before they were drafted, which is a violation of the NHL constitution). Other teams have lost players because of similar circumstances -- the first one that comes to mind is the Boston Bruins, who dropped a (potential) top player because it came to light he had hazed, abused, and hurled racial slurs at a black autistic player in the junior leagues.
Needless to say, this further fueled conspiracies that the Blackhawks were getting special treatment because of their status as an original six team, and how big the Chicago market is.
From the /hockey subreddit:

Didn't the NHL originally fine the Devils $3 million for the Kovalchuk stuff a decade ago? What a joke. [Context: Kovalchuk was a high-level player, and the Devils tried to do some sneaky-shady stuff in order to keep him.]
Coyotes lost high picks for getting extra physical data, Devils got fined $3m and two picks for cap circumvention, and we got fined $250k for calling out George Parros for being the joke he is. And all the Blackhawks get for covering up rape is a $2m fine?? What a fucking joke [Context: This is a Rangers fan, and the Rangers called out George Parros, leader of the Department of Player Safety, for doing nothing about player safety. They were fined $250k for making mean comments.]

It doesn't really help that Chicago fans have a poor reputation. In the NHL, Chicago fans have a reputation for being drunk fair-weather fans. Before 2010 Chicago had a rough time filling up their arena to half-way. During the 2010s? Sellout arena, every game. Going into the 2020s, when their team started sucking again, they're back to struggling filling seats.
So the hockey fandom in general doesn't really like Chicago, but how does this all tie into the 2023 Draft?

The Lottery (for real this time)

As mentioned before, the 2023 season was potentially a huge season for struggling teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets or the Anaheim Ducks. Getting Connor Bedard would turn around entire franchises, overnight.
Going into the draft, the heavy favorites to win the lottery were the Ducks at 18.5%, the Blue Jackets at 13.5%, and the Chicago Blackhawks at 11.5%. The other 13 teams had basically less than 10% odds.
The draft lottery was televised, and millions of people watched ESPN and TSN to see the results from all over the league. Top teams in the west were praying that the lottery winner would go to the Blue Jackets so they wouldn't have to face Bedard, and top teams in the east were praying the lottery pick would go to the west for the same reason. Everyone universally had the same sentiment though:

Anyone but Chicago.

The hosts go down the line to show the new draft lineup, starting from 16 and going down. Nothing seemed to change in the lineup; teams hoping for ajump up were sadly disappointed but knew they never really had a chance anyways.
The hosts get to the top 5. The reveal the 5th pick is...Montreal. Montreal fans speak French-Canadian sadly, or whatever it is Quebecois folk do.
The fourth pick is revealed. The San Jose Sharks. Sharks fans chomp sadly. Or drink their Starbucks sadly. Idk, I'm not rich enough to live in San Jose.
Then something curious happens. They cut to a commercial break, but the ESPN broadcasters say something very curious. "An upset for Columbus! It's down to Anaheim or Chicago!" Suspicion arises. The card for 3rd place wasn't revealed, how could they have known that Columbus was the 3rd pick? Conspiracy talk bumps up in the live Reddit thread. People were already saying that Chicago won the lottery. They just knew.

Nice of ESPN to state Columbus will pick 3rd before Daley ever even showed it and they went to commercials “It will be either Chicago or Anaheim”….
Elliotte Friedman tweeted out who got pick 1 and 2 during the commercial break. Said tweets have now been deleted.

The NHL lottery comes back on after commercials and reveal that CBJ wins the 3rd pick to no one's surprise. All that's left is two envelopes, one with a '2' the other with a '1'. They begin to open the '2' envelope. The hockey world goes silent, as whoever gets the 2 spot means that the other won the lottery...

The Worst Timeline

The worst-case-scenario happens. Chicago, universally hated in the hockey world, wins the draft lottery. Duck fans are outraged. Blue Jacket fans are outraged. Literally every fanbase is outraged.

hockey 9/11
why has god abandoned us
If you didn't think Chicago was getting Bedard here is your lesson of how fucked up the world is
Fuck this
Can't lose that media market now that Kane and Toews are gone!
Never forget that the Coyotes had to forfeit a first round pick for talking to a prospect before it was permitted, while Chicago protected a fucking rapist and got no reprecussions.
Coyotes: asks prospects what they ate and to wear shorts? Forfeit draft picks Blackhawks: cover up sexual assault and lie your asses off? Have a Bedard
Draft HoF talent 1st overall -> Go on a dynasty and win 3 cups -> Trade HoF 1st overall -> Draft another HoF talent 1st overall.
He went to the least deserving team.

Individual team subreddits were no better. Every fan from every team, aside from Chicago, were seething and chomping at the bit. There is an ongoing conspiracy about the NHL favoring Chicago now, and people are actively calling for the NHL commissioner's resignation.

Living in a Post-Apocalypse Wasteland

It's been barely a month since the bomb dropped. Food is hard to come by. Hope is lost. People fight each other for the barest scraps of undamaged cloth to keep warm at night since the sun was blacked out.
We don't know what will happen. Life is moving on, but is it really life if there's no will to live?
In seriousness, no one wanted this outcome. Even some Hawks fans hated this. It's hard to say what will happen to the NHL now. Some people are saying that Connor Bedard will get drafted and refuse to play for the Blackhawks, demanding to be traded. Some say he'll disappear to Europe and play in the Swedish league or the KHL to avoid the Blackhawks contract. Others say he'll be a fool to avoid the NHL and just take what he's got, and demand a trade later.
No one knows what Connor Bedard is thinking. He's not really said anything. But we do know that the world of hockey has been shaken to its core. If Bedard plays, Chicago will be a force to be reckoned with for years. If he avoids Chicago, it'll be a legendary act of defiance that will 100% cause the NHL to invent a rule to prevent that from happen again.
But for now, I must return to my fallout shelter. It's not healthy to stand in the radiation for too long.

Maybe that title is a bit too cheesy, but I really do like exploring the night sky. Helps especially since my hometown was a great place to do so. That all aside, hello! I am Pydras, fat cat collector, lessor avatar of chaos, and most boring of all, corporate accountant. I am to find people to potentially connect with and see what develops. Whether that leads to friendship or something more will remain to be seen, but life is short so have to get out there and try!
A little more about me! As stated earlier, I am a corporate accountant, working in BC, currently saving up to buy a house. I am quite fond of cooking, and decent enough at it as well! I would say at least 67% of it would be tolerable to most people. Since my job is basically just sitting around all day, I try and workout at least three or four times a week to stay active and in shape. That being said I do have a sweet tooth that I am quite good at managing, except for my weakness of homemade baked goods. Art wise, I really have no skills in most of those areas except for writing (use to do some RP back in the day). Well, I do make quite the horrible MS Paint masterpiece if the inspiration hits, so that might count. Politically I am quite on the left side, and religion wise I tend to fall more into agnosticism and atheism.
For subject interests, my top three would probably have to be history, geography, and geology. One of my favourite things to do when bored is open Google maps and go to a random area and see what I can learn of those three for it. However, my absolute biggest interest and the one I hold closest to me is music. While I can't really play an instrument (have been trying to relearn piano), I usually have some sort of playlist on if I am not too busy or in a loud environment. I can literally go into paragraphs upon paragraphs about some of my favourite songs. Just about what I like about them, how they make me feel, etc. I am always up for sharing or creating playlists with someone, I truly feel like music is one of the better ways to get to know someone. My usual genres end up to alternative, indie, and math rock, but I will really just listen to anything that I like the sound of.
Hobby wise, it sort of depends on what time of the year it is. If the weather is nice in the spring or summer, I love to go for long walks and hiking. Just being out in nature beings a sense of relaxation and peace you can't get anywhere else. Plus, the views, just all the amazing views and secrets you can come upon. When the weather is not as pleasant or it is winter (so quite a few months here), I am usually found being a homebody. Probably no surprise, but gaming is a major filler of my time when I have nothing else to do. My main game right now is FFXIV, realized today that I have been playing it for over half a decade at this point, how time flies. I do enjoy the Paradox Interactive games as well, especially with all the amazing mods some of them have. Like music, I could spend hours talking about some of my favourite games. Would also love more people to play with, generally not picky about what, as long as you don't mind me potentially sucking. Gaming with people is always such a joy and fun time. I can be quite the reader if a particular book or series catches my attention. Once burned through a trilogy in a week since it captivated me so much. One of the dangers I found with me reading is I'll always go for one more chapter, then suddenly it is 3 am. Don't really have any specific genres in particular, though I am quite the sucker for some good worldbuilding.
I could probably keep rambling about myself, but why take away all the fun? As said before, I am looking for someone to see what kind of connection we can build. Location wise, for something more than friendship, you would likely have to be in Canada or have plans to move here. While I do enjoy all my friends in the US, I have no desire to move there unfortunately. Either way, if I intrigued your interests feel free to send me a DM and we can connect from there!

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/ZhIQKIG
What I have for sale today ...
Bose QuietComfort QC Earbuds (Version 1) - $95 $80 Shipped (USCON)

• Comes with case and charging cable with the box.
• Only eartips I have are the size "L" that are installed.
• Will be fully sanitized and I will include more sterilization wipes for your convenience
• Case and earbuds holds charge great
• Upgraded to most current firmware using Bose Connect iOS App
• The earbuds are in EXCELLENT condition

Bose QuietControl 30 Wireless Headphones - $95 $80 Shipped (USCON)

• Comes with case and charging cable
• Comes with S/M/L eartips .. the S&L are unused, the M are used.
• Will be fully sanitized and I will include more sterilization wipes for your convenience
• Headphones holds charge great
• Upgraded to most current firmware using Bose Connect iOS App
• The headphones are in EXCELLENT condition

Only selling because I have too many pairs of headphones and these don't get any love.
Please make sure to respond to my post here first and then send me a PM using Private Messages (not chat).
Payments with PayPal G&S only - will ship to the address associated with your PayPal account.
I am open to fair offers, but please PM to negotiate.
For more verification - I am active on photomarket & appleswap
Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/ZhIQKIG

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/ZhIQKIG
What I have for sale today ...
Bose QuietComfort QC Earbuds (Version 1) - $95 $80 Shipped (USCON)

• Comes with case and charging cable with the box.
• Only eartips I have are the size "L" that are installed.
• Will be fully sanitized and I will include more sterilization wipes for your convenience
• Case and earbuds holds charge great
• Upgraded to most current firmware using Bose Connect iOS App
• The earbuds are in EXCELLENT condition

Bose QuietControl 30 Wireless Headphones - $95 $80 Shipped (USCON)

• Comes with case and charging cable
• Comes with S/M/L eartips .. the S&L are unused, the M are used.
• Will be fully sanitized and I will include more sterilization wipes for your convenience
• Headphones holds charge great
• Upgraded to most current firmware using Bose Connect iOS App
• The headphones are in EXCELLENT condition

Only selling because I have too many pairs of headphones and these don't get any love.
Please make sure to respond to my post here first and then send me a PM using Private Messages (not chat).
Payments with PayPal G&S only - will ship to the address associated with your PayPal account.
I am open to fair offers, but please PM to negotiate.
For more verification - I am active on photomarket & appleswap
Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/ZhIQKIG

What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.

BIG focus on gaming. Mainly world of Warcraft and Diablo 4. I do play CSGO and Valorant as well but the first 2 are my main focus. I have a dual monitor setup so I usually browse the web, watch youtube, use discord etc… while playing games.

What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?

$2000 USD

When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

First week of July

What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)

Just tower

Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?

Long Island, New York, there is a micro center nearby.

If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.

Not reusing anything.

Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?

I don’t think I’ll be over clocking.

Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

I would like an SSD for windows and faster load time in game. I also use wireless peripherals so I’ll need Bluetooth capabilities.

Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

No preference in case, but if it fits in the budget I’d like it to look good! Performance is the top priority though.

Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?

I do not need a copy of windows.

So I'm looking to make the leap from Laptop gaming to Desktop. Looking build it in the next month or so.

What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.

• Simulator games, CoD, F1 Games, RDR2.

What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?

• £1000.

When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

• Possibly next couple of months.

What, exactly, do you need included in the budget?

• Everything for a tower build inc. Windows, I have a 1TB SSD I can use from my laptop. I also have a monitor, KBM etc..

Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?

• UK.

If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.

• Logitech Hero 502, Asus TUF 1080p.

Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?

• No.

Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

• No.

What type of network connectivity do you need? (Wired and/or WiFi) If WiFi is needed and you would like to find the fastest match for your wireless router, please list any specifics.

• Wifi 6 would be prefreble.

Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

• Happy with a plain black build with the odd bit of colour.

Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?

• Windows 11.

Extra info or particulars:

What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.

I have two main use cases:

• Gaming (various games, but currently Overwatch 2, Diablo 4, Valorant, etc.)
  
• AI/ML/data-related software development including ML model training, data visualization dashboard development, & database development with varying data set sizes (specific software currently is MS SQL, Python, Tableau Desktop, Power BI).
  

What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?

$2000 or less is ideal, for a core build only (CPU + motherboard + at least 32GB of RAM).

When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

Within 1-2 weeks.

What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)

CPU + motherboard + RAM. Existing build parts will be used for everything else.

Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?

USA Midwest; no local access to a Microcenter without spending more $ on gas than any potential cost savings.

If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.

GPU = RTX 3090; main storage drive = Samsung 970 NVMe so I'll need at least 20 PCIe lanes (16 for GPU + 4 for main SSD); PSU = Antec HCP 1300W Platinum; CPU cooler = 280mm AIO liquid cooler but I can't recall the specific brand/model # (I will buy a new one separate from this $2K budget if required); case = Corsair 760T; monitors = Acer XB1 (2560x1440 165Hz G-Sync) + Acer X34 (3440x1440 100hz G-Sync) at all times, + also sometimes my LG 65" OLED TV running console-esque games @ 1440p (rarely done).

Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?

Yes. I will overclock the CPU as far as the silicon lottery allows while maintaining reliability (I have plenty of past experience overclocking Intel CPUs, but not so much with AMD).

Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

As much overall processing throughput as I can get within my budget, so as to speed up machine learning model training during overnight/off-hours when the system is not actively in use by me for generic use and/or gaming.

What type of network connectivity do you need? (Wired and/or WiFi) If WiFi is needed and you would like to find the fastest match for your wireless router, please list any specifics.

Wired for sure, but integrated mobo wireless would be a nice backup (not a dealbreaker by any means though).

Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

N/A -- reusing my existing case (Corsair 760T as noted above).

Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?

Not needed.

Extra info or particulars:

I am replacing the guts of my existing build (i7 5930K OC @ 4.6ghz, MSI X99S SLI Krait Edition MB, & 16GB Corsair DDR4 2666mhz RAM). I tend to prioritize spending a bit more for a very high-quality motherboard that supports stable overclocking regardless of my CPU choice. I've got limited experience with AMD CPUs or their overclocking in recent history, but plenty of experience with Intel. I am definitely a bit biased towards Intel at the moment but I'm willing to look at AMD if the cost:benefit fits my two needs. From cursory searching, the Intel 13900KF and/or AMD 7800X3D caught my eye, but I've been out of the loop on core component builds for several years at this point.
Thanks so much in advance!

First Previous
Ja’vail woke up with a yawn, her eyes squinting in the evening light. Her room was positioned in the castle on the west side, to ensure that Tor’s sun would wake her up for her duties. It was a purpose that it served with perfection, despite the fact that she really would have liked to sleep for a few more minutes.
However, her duty could not be delayed. It was her power that served as the linchpin to Tor’s spell, and she would fulfill her duty to ensure her Diarchy’s, and her world’s, future. With a grunt of exertion, Queen Ja’vail rose from her bed, stretched out her wings, and moved to the balcony before picking up her robe. As soon as she was somewhat decent, the Queen of the Night then opened her wings, looked to the skies, and began channeling her power into the spellform that had been weaved between the planet and its moon, renewing the bonds that connected them, and ensuring the delicate balance between her magic and her husband’s would not come undone.
She performed this ritual twice a day, every day, to ensure the spell’s continued existence. In the past few months she had performed it well before Tor had performed his own renewal, and had had to go remind the foolish drake to not only perform his duties, but to hurry up and get his tail to bed. Without her efforts, and her constant reminder to the king, the entire thing would come undone, ensuring their planet’s rapid descent into division once again.
Without the two dakri turning the planet, the two sides would either become too hot or too cold to sustain life, with the twilight between them ruled by monsters birthed from the nightmares of the oppressed.
It was with some surprise, then, that as she poured her soul into this undertaking, she could feel the thrum of her husband’s power clear in her mind, letting her know that Tor had already renewed his half of the spell for the night.
He really did need that sleep, she thought, giving a self-satisfied nod towards the setting sun before turning back towards her private chamber. She still had much to prepare for her night; even with the most pressing matter out of the way, she still expected a full schedule. Her court wasn’t especially busy, as the dakri found the night to be the best time to sleep and prepare for the next day.
That was besides the point, though, as her duties rarely involved overseeing the day-to-day rule. Rather, her task was to patrol the ǣther, hunt the nightmares that plagued her people, and to do her best to heal the source of those nightmares.
This was especially important now that she had cleared the Forest of Yith and had located the source of that particularly violent nest. It was best to keep those nightmares from returning, and for this cause she was going to attempt to enter the survivor’s dreams again. She doubted she would have as much success this time as she had last time, simply because almost drowning had weakened the creature’s defenses significantly. However, she had faith that she would at least be able to soothe the visitor’s dreams, and possibly gain a little more information on how he thought.
At the very least, she’d settle for a name. She couldn’t just keep calling it ‘the creature’ or ‘the survivor,’ as those ‘names’ grew heavy on the tongue, and wore down her patience. A name would also help the visit she had planned go a lot smoother, and would hopefully help them as they tried to convince him to come to the castle with them.
Once Ja’vail was dressed, she left the comforts of her room and made her way to her husband’s study. As she expected, he was still there, his desk still quite messy, a combination of his daily paperwork and the reports of the crashed alien spaceship forming the majority of the clutter.
Much to Ja’vail’s surprise, however, Tor wasn’t at his desk. Instead, the drake was standing at his window, looking out over the countryside and the eerie sunset before him, a reminder of the twilight that his people had escaped. In his hand he held a memory crystal, its red glow plainly visible in the slowly darkening room.
“Tor, are you alright?” the queen asked as she approached her husband.
Tor turned to look at her, surprise on his face. “Oh, I am well enough, I suppose…” he said, clearly still lost in thought. The king then looked down at the memory crystal in his hand, his brows furrowing in displeasure. “I have just received some… unsettling news. I was actually waiting for your arrival before deciding on anything.”
Ja’vail took a few more steps, her eyes locked on her husband's diminutive form. “What happened?”
Tor looked at her, then back at the stone. “It isn't easy to say this, but… we may have to kill the visitor.”
Ja’vail felt like her stomach had turned to ice. “Kill? Tor, what madness are you spouting? What crime could he have possibly committed while I was asleep to earn him a death sentence?”
Tor looked at his wife, pain in his eyes. “Nothing, dear. He’s completely innocent. That is beside the point, however.”
“Then tell me, what madness has overtaken you that you would murder an innocent?” Ja’vail demanded, her tone brooking no argument. “Or what monster are you, to have taken the place of my Tor? I must say, you have the likeness down, but your impression of his mannerisms leave much to be desired.”
Tor let out a mirthless laugh at that. “No monster or madness, my dark princess. Just a visit from an old friend…” he sighed again, before turning and holding out the crystal for Ja’vail to take. “Lady Siv paid both me and the survivor a visit today. She left me this, as well as a decision to make.”
Ja’vail looked at the crystal, before staring back at her husband, a dubious expression on her face. "And she told you to kill him? I do not remember her being so heartless.”
“And you would remember correctly. She was nearly in tears when I met her, though she did well in hiding them,” Tor said, before approaching his wife. He gently took her hand, and placed the crystal in her palm. “When she saw the visitor, she also looked into his future. This is what she saw. Please, do not force me to bear this knowledge alone.”
Ja’vail’s expression softened ever so slightly before she glanced down at the stone in her hand. “I will look, but I do not promise anything.”
Tor’s crest rose, but he did not say anything else. Instead he turned back to the window, waiting patiently for his wife to see what he had seen.
The memory took Ja’vail less than a second to go through, but she felt like she had been gone for a lifetime when the world came back into focus. She stared at the rock in horror, before throwing it to the ground. It did not shatter, it being made of quartz, but it still felt satisfying after the horrors she had witnessed.
“I was not pleased, either,” Tor said, not even bothering to turn and look. “Even if the visitor was guilty of some crime, I would spare him for what he could teach our people. As it stands, he is lost and alone, hoping for a friend. And I have to kill this lonely soul.”
“But… but we can’t do this! You’re better than this… we’re better than this!” Ja’vail said, nearly in tears. “Would we really sacrifice an innocent for the security of our own realm? Would you… would you…”
“Would I what?” Tor asked, turning to his wife, fire in his eyes. “Would I judge the worth of souls? Would I weigh a single life against the good of my people? Of his people? Would I become my father?”
Ja’vail looked away, her eyes closed as she folded her arms. “I’m… I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be,” Tor said, turning back to the window. “You have no need to apologize. I cannot measure the worth of anyone’s soul, nor would I try. However, this visitor’s life is not worth the lives of every person on this planet. When you include the lives of his own world, as well as the unnamed snake people… well… the choice is quite obvious.”
Ja’vail looked down at the floor, her eyes filling with tears as she thought everything over. “Would it have been better, then, had I not saved his life? Should I have let him drown?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that the spirits have told us that the lives of others are better off if his is forfeit,” Tor said, his voice filled with bitterness. “I have not even seen this visitor in the flesh, and I do not know anything about him at all. What is he like? Does he have a family? What does he enjoy?” Tor asked, looking to his wife hopefully.
Ja’vail shook her head, not daring to bring her eyes up to meet her husband’s, as she didn’t think she could contain herself if she did. “I cannot say. I was only in his mind for a brief time, and I do not understand much of what I saw,” she said, her form gently shaking, as if a chill wind had entered the room.
Tor looked back at the window, his eyes closed as he thought on this. “Essentially, we are deciding the fate of not only an innocent, but a complete stranger.” Tor took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “And try as I might, I cannot measure his worth as greater, or even equal, to the lives of my people’s. If it comes to it, he will be slain, and his body destroyed, just as the spirits have told us to do.”
Ja’vail began crying in earnest, her shoulders slumping with the weight of guilt. This caused Tor to turn to her, lifting her beak gently with one hand until she looked him in the eye. “So… let’s ensure that it never comes to that.”
Ja’vail looked up at Tor, hope in her eyes. “But, Tor, we can’t-”
“Shhhh…” Tor said, encircling his wife in his arms. He was shorter than her, but she still felt comforted, simply because it was him. “I’m not going to murder someone simply because of the damage his life might cause. Siv’s vision wasn’t that his continued existence spelled our doom, but that we must do everything in our power to ensure he doesn’t leave.” He pulled away from her a little, looking up into her hopeful eyes. “His death will be treated as a last resort, nothing more. For now, let us see how much worth his life is. What can he teach us? What is his people like? I, for one, do not want to squander this opportunity that the spirits have gifted us, simply for fear of an unknown future.”
Ja’vail’s crest rose as she dried her tears with the feathers on the back of her arm. “Yes… I completely agree…”
The two of them spent quite a bit of time like that, lost in each other’s arms as the sun slowly set on the horizon. Even after the world was shrouded in night, they were still there, lost in the comfort that each other provided.
* * *
Kel’vara’s beak glowed as she wove her magic, pulling the water from the bucket in front of her. It coalesced into a ball hovering inches above her hand, the swishing, splashing sounds of the liquid a soothing counterpoint to the frustration she was feeling.
She liked working with liquids when she was feeling upset. It had always come easy to her, the seemingly chaotic way it flowed and ebbed was a balm on her nerves, instead of a frustrating mess that most other practitioners found the state of matter to be.
She slowly flexed her fingers and extended her wings, the movements giving a tactile presence to the shapes she was forming in her imagination. Slowly, as if watching ice melt in reverse, the ball of water stretched and flowed, extending here, twirling there, molding and shaping to her will to become whatever she wanted.
In this instance, the water took the shape of a dragon, its long, strong legs striding through the air as it looked around, its inquisitive, intelligent eyes searching for prey, or barring that, a dakri to play with. Its long tail wagged behind it as it seemed to spot something, before it shot off like an arrow, dashing towards whatever had garnered its attention.
The small, watery, facsimile of a dragon didn’t get very far across the room before the door opened, breaking Kel’vara’s concentration and causing her happy little pet to lose its cohesion. In an instant, the once watery, spiky, two legged reptile was nothing more than a mess on the once clean floor.
Kel’vara looked up in annoyance, her gaze falling upon an irritatingly unapologetic Valros as he entered the room. “Haven't you ever heard of knocking?” Kel’vara demanded as she used her magic to scoop up the water and return it to the bucket.
Valros was unimpressed. “Kel’vara, you can’t just stay here sulking, we still have work to do.”
“I’m not sulking! I’m just practicing my more precise spell work,” Kel’vara said, turning up her beak as her crest lay flat against the back of her head.
Valros, however, did not look convinced in the slightest. “Kel’vara, The Lady is her own person. You can hardly expect her to stay around and answer every single question you have.”
“I never said that she wasn’t.”
Valros let out a frustrated sigh. “Well, if you’re sure, then I really think we need to go over the plan for tomorrow,” Valros said, trying to get Kel’vara back on track. “I don’t think we’ll need many knights, the thing’s pretty docile, all things considered. Have you given much thought in how we’re going to actually communicate with it?”
Kel’vara thought about this for a while, her beak glowing softly as she played a little with the water in her bucket, causing the surface of the liquid to ripple in odd ways. “Ja’vail said that she was able to communicate pretty well with it while it was dreaming. The only problem with that is that it was dreaming. I don’t know how dreams work with its species, but for dakri at least, anything that happens to our subconscious from outside forces is quickly forgotten. Bad dreams, flights of fancy, nothing to be taken seriously, or remembered.”
“I’ve been talking with the Captain of the Dreamguards about that too. He told me that we can’t rely upon that for communication, since we’re just as likely to get a straight answer as one about how the creature loves to eat its own pillow and ride a dragon made of Twirly Whirlys,” Valros said, stretching his wings a little and grunting with discomfort. The knight quickly brought his arm close to his chest, searching the broad wing until he found the feather that had been giving him trouble, and quickly put it back into its proper place.
Kel’vara found herself staring a little as the knight preened himself, before she turned away, her feathers fluffing a little in embarrassment. “Yes, and… ah, and in addition, the creature won’t be as weak as when we fished it from the river. It has an ǣon level spirit, after all, regardless of any actual ability it may or may not possess. We’ll be lucky to be able to intrude on its dreams at all.”
If Valros noticed her discomfort, he didn’t show it. Instead, he stood up and made his way to the window. “I remember the Sunrise Tribe had something to communicate, but it was mainly used to control their apprentices during ǣon training. It was supposed to be able to cross language barriers, but I don’t think we want to be dredging up the old ways…”
Kel’vara shuddered a little. “Those ways were barbaric.”
Valros nodded at her, but did not say anything as he stared out the window. “I suppose the only choice we have is to slowly teach the thing how to speak.”
“That’s not as easy as it sounds, though,” Kel’vara said, shaking her head. Valros looked at her, one of his brows raised, prompting her to continue. “When I treated his wounds, I ran a number of tests on him. He’s showing the symptoms of someone who has been transmuted into another shape entirely, except that he has no binding spellform keeping him in that shape.”
Valros looked confused at this. “You’ll have to forgive me, M'lady, but my knowledge of magic is somewhat limited to a handful of combat spells. You’ll have to use less formal terms with me.”
Kel’vara rolled her eyes a little, then used her magic to pull the water from the bucket again. With a thought, she caused the water to take on the shape of a dragon again. “With magic, it is possible to force something to assume another shape or state. Such as turning a dragon into a pig.” With a little exertion, the water took on the desired shape. “I’ll not bore you with the details, but things… well, they remember what they were. Always. If the spell is not properly maintained, the spellform will eventually fall apart, and the thing will revert. This is because things want to return to their old state. They’ll continue chipping away at the spellform, increasing the difficulty of keeping things in their altered state, until it grows beyond the mage’s ability to control. It’s why you cannot turn copper into gold and have it stay that way, or why you cannot turn dirt into food without accidentally poisoning someone.”
“Or purposefully poisoning someone,” Valros pointed out. “I remember history class at least. That happened quite a number of times during the Clan Wars.”
“It was a popular method of assassination, yes, but the old ruling class quickly caught on, and began screening their food before eating.” Kel’vara furrowed her eyes as she twisted the water to appear like the creature. “Whatever the bug-like aliens did to the creature, it didn’t involve magic. ‘The creature’s shape isn’t his own,’ if you remember what the queen told us. It’s entirely possible that it’s lost the ability to speak, even in its own language.”
Valros thought about this for a time. “Well, can’t we turn it back? Reverse the changes, and return it to its original shape?”
Kel’vara thought about this for a little bit, but shook her head. “It’s… possible, but there are so many unknowns. I was even afraid of using regeneration magic on him when I healed him. I had to resort to sealing spells to repair the damage.”
Valros looked confused. “I’m not sure I follow. I thought you healed it up pretty good.”
“I didn’t heal it at all. All I did was fuse its skin together, and do some very basic repair based on that strategy, to keep it from bleeding internally or externally. It’s why I still applied bandages, in case those wounds reopened; I couldn’t risk regenerating it,” Kel’vara explained, her voice both pained and exasperated.
Valros still didn’t understand what the fuss was about, though. “Why not? What’s the big deal if you use a little regeneration? And what does this have to do with changing it back?”
“Everything!” Kel’vara said, standing up in anger as she rubbed both hands through her crest. In response, the water in her grip twisted and flowed into strange shapes, a clear reflection of the tormented state of the battlemage’s mind. “This is an entirely unknown scenario, with an entirely unknown species! The spell to do this doesn’t even exist! All we have are spells to change something into something else, not to return something to its original shape. The way we would do this if this were a magical affliction would be to simply collapse the spellform, but this isn’t magic! If I were to try to change it back, any number of things could go wrong, the least being the creature dies a quick, painful death as it turns completely inside out! The closest I can come up with is the regeneration spell, which would force accelerated cell mitosis using the target’s remembered form, not its changed form. If I did use regeneration, it is entirely possible that the creature might revert…”
“...But?” Valros asked, knowing that there was a but in there somewhere.
“But the creature’s body might start attacking itself, killing itself from the inside out! The two different sets of genetic material might merge, making it into something even more monstrous than it is now! Any number of things could go wrong!” Kel’vara shouted, the water next to her turning into some kind of lumbering beast, whose basic shape only vaguely resembled the creature in the forest.
Valros held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Okay, okay, I get it. It’s probably a bad idea… but what do we do, then?”
Kel’vara collapsed into her chair, the water that she had been shaping falling into the bucket at the same time. “I don’t know… I really don’t know…”
Valros rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, there’s always pictures and trying to teach it to read…”
“That would take even longer than just teaching it to talk,” Kel’vara said dismissively. “Especially since it probably can’t-”
Before Kel’vara finished, a voice chimed in, interrupting her thought process. It seemed to be coming from the lieutenant’s belt pouch, and based on the tone of the speaker’s voice, whatever it was was urgent. “Sir Valros! Are you there?”
Valros quickly pulled out his whispering stone and gave it a squeeze, worry building in his heart. “What’s wrong, Calis?”
He almost wished he hadn’t asked, because what Calis said next turned his insides to ice. “Sir, I’m relaying a message. Viar and his drakes need backup, and they need it now. It’s those bug aliens the queen told us about. They’re here.”
First Previous
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Dun dun dun!!
Remember: if you can't wait, and want to find out what happens now, you can always just buy the books...
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What I've Become
Nightmare of the Past
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What I've Become
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Posts in the series

• First: Here
• Second: Here
• Third: Here
• Fourth: Here (Unplanned)
• Fifth: Here
• Sixth: Here
• Seventh: Here
• Eighth: This

Brief recap

In the previous post, we continued our analysis with a second round of eliminations of more religions that cannot reasonably be from a judging and fair God. At this point, only the Abrahamic religions remain to be analyzed, which we will do below.
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The reason I wanted to analyze the Abrahamic religions together last is because they have many similarities. For one, they reference the same God and agree on many details: similar people, similar places, similar events and for the most part, even originated in the same region. In addition, two of them are the biggest religions in the world today, far ahead of all other religions in terms of adoption, nearly accounting for half of the people on the planet! The fact that they are spread out in time and that they reference each other, can at least in theory, represent a pattern of recurring communication. It's also possible that they're just copying from each others. Let's see!
The timeline of appearance of the Abrahamic religions from old to new is as follows:
Judaism

• Year of inception: 3500 years ago, approximately
• Location of inception: Middle East (Modern day Palestine)
• Messenger: Moses
• Referenced prophets: Adam, Noah, Abraham...

Christianity

• Year of inception: 2000 years ago, approximately
• Location of inception: Middle East (Modern day Palestine)
• Messenger: Jesus
• Referenced prophets: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses & other prophets.

Islam

• Year of inception: 1400 years ago, approximately
• Location of inception: Middle East (Modern day Saudi Arabia)
• Messenger: Muhammad
• Referenced prophets: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus & other prophets.

Druze

• Year of inception: 1000 years ago, approximately
• Location of inception: Middle East (Egypt)
• Messenger: Hamza Ibn Ali Ibn Ahmad
• Referenced prophets: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad & other prophets.

Mormonism

• Year of inception: 200 years ago, approximately
• Location of inception: New York, United States of America
• Messenger: Joseph Smith
• Referenced prophets: Moses & Jesus. Does NOT reference Muhammad (Islam) nor Hamza (Druze)

Baha’i Faith

• Year of inception: 200 years ago, approximately
• Location of inception: Middle East (Modern day Iran)
• Messenger: Baháʼu'lláh
• Referenced prophets: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha...

Can the Abrahamic religions be instances of communication from their common God? It’s possible, however some issues surface:

• Issue 1: The Druze faith stands out with its secretive nature as it is intentionally restricted. This not only opposes the intention of communication, but also contrasts with the other Abrahamic religions that are all open.
• Issue 2: Mormonism and Baha’i Faith both start nearly 200 years ago in different places while not being compatible with each other. They cannot be both instances of communication. One of them isn’t, or both aren’t.
• Issue 3: Mormonism doesn’t accept Islam nor Druze, while Baha’i Faith accepts all major religions, even Buddhism, which is incompatible with Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Let’s keep the issues above in mind and apply the same criteria to the Abrahamic religions in the same way we did to all of the others. We will analyze them in the chronological order of their appearance.

Judaism

Let's analyze the message of Judaism.

• Criterion 1 (Living religion): PASS
• Criterion 2 (Warning of judgement): PASS. Judaism warns of judgment day and explains the conditions for success and failure. This makes it unsafe to dismiss! It's the first religion to pass this criteria.
• Criterion 3 (Universality): FAIL. While anyone can technically convert to Judaism, it seems like it was specifically destined for Hebrew people, who later became the Israelites. Many prophets after Moses were specific to the Israelites it seems. The beliefs themselves are universal, in that they don’t have anything in particular that caters to a specific group. Still, it seems restricted to the ethnic Jewish group.
• Criterion 4 (Past reference): PASS. Judaism references previous prophets of monotheism who were supposedly sent by the same God. Prophets like Noah and Abraham. This means that before Judaism came along, there were previous instances of communication, which is necessary for a judging and fair God.
• Criterion 5 (Alignment with reality): PASS. The idea that a God created everything and is testing humanity here on Earth is plausible and does align with the reality we are living. Almost all humans share a common life track: birth, weakness with need of care, strength and autonomy, weakness with need of care again, then death. Moreover, all humans have a certain level of free will. While no absolute free will of action exists, the free will to think and accept or reject ideas is guaranteed. This makes the judgment of such free will possible.

Now let's analyze Moses, the founder of Judaism.

• Criterion 1 (Impeccable social reputation): PASS. He was a leader to his people, the Hebrews. He saved them from the oppression they were living in under the Egyptians (1). He was known for his sense of justice and courage (2). Many of his stories are told in the Bible as well as in the Qur’an.
• Criterion 2 (Non-involvement rule): PASS. Moses is the first to pass this criterion. Every single founder of religion who was mentioned previously, was publicly involved with either an existing religion that served as a launch pad or had a profession or interest that prepared the terrain for their claim. Moses was raised by the Egyptians, but never adopted their religion, nor was he involved in any other religion that he publicly taught or engaged in. He also wasn’t known to have any profession where he produced thought or knowledge.
• Criterion 3 (Sudden self-produced life direction change): PASS. Moses killed an Egyptian who was mistreating one of his people. According to Britannica, Moses voluntarily killed the Egyptian after making sure that no one was looking (3). However, according to the Qur’an, Moses killed the Egyptian by accident after hitting him, and was instantly regretful asking God for forgiveness (4). Regardless of which version of the story is true, Moses fled because he feared for his life. Now here’s the sudden life direction change, he came back after a while by his own volition claiming to be sent by some God who was unknown to the Egyptians, then confronted the Pharaoh himself!!! No sane man would do such a thing! And not just that, he survived everything and won in the end!!!
• Criterion 4 (Complete devotion): PASS. Moses came back to a place where he feared for his life, put forward the exceptional claim that he was sent by a God he wasn't involved with when he left, confronted the ruler, and succeeded against incredible odds!
• Criterion 5 (Wide reach of message): PASS. The message of Moses had and still has a big influence on this very day! There probably aren’t many people in the world today who don’t know who Moses is, regardless of their beliefs. He is one of the most important prophets in many major religions. His legacy is still a part of the Bible as the Old Testament.

If there is a judging and fair God, Moses is highly likely to be one of his messengers. He passes all the criteria while explicitly making the claim of being sent by a God. If he was a fraud, he would have had an existing history of it, and he wouldn’t have dared to come back to a place where he killed someone and feared for his life, then challenge its ruler and win! If he was a deluded self-appointed leader to his people, that delusion would have been his demise. He would have been killed, as other religious founders have. Instead, he and his people, although an oppressed minority without any military power, were able to escape their oppressors and defeat them! This is impossible without some powerful external assistance.
One can reasonably claim that the story of Moses is just a myth that is made to look impressive. That would be fair, except it had more impact than what a myth can fathom. That being said, even if we accept that it’s all a myth, or at least a heavily augmented truth, it is still told by other Abrahamic prophets who happen to have had similar or more impact than Moses did. This makes his story as valid as theirs can be. So, let’s continue our analysis.
Sources:
(1) From Britannica: Moses... Hebrew prophet, teacher, and leader who, in the 13th century bce... delivered his people from Egyptian slavery...
(2) From Britannica: ...When he found an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew, probably to death, he could control his sense of justice no longer...
(3) From Britannica: ...After checking to make sure that no one was in sight, he killed the tough Egyptian overlord...
(4) From the Qur’an (translation): ˹One day˺ he entered the city unnoticed by its people. There he found two men fighting: one of his own people, and the other of his enemies. The man from his people called to him for help against his foe. So Moses punched him, causing his death. Moses cried, “This is from Satan’s handiwork. He is certainly a sworn, misleading enemy.” He pleaded, “My Lord! I have definitely wronged my soul, so forgive me.” So He forgave him, ˹for˺ He is indeed the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Christianity

Let's analyze the message of Christianity.

• Criterion 1 (Living religion): PASS
• Criterion 2 (Warning of judgement): PASS. It does warn of an upcoming judgment and details the conditions of success and failure. This makes it unsafe to dismiss.
• Criterion 3 (Universality): PASS. It is definitely universal. Anyone can be a Christian, and it’s easy to find Christians from different countries, different ethnicities speaking different languages. It doesn’t get as universal as this!
• Criterion 4 (Past reference): PASS. It references previous religions and prophets, like Noah, Abraham, Moses, and many others. All of them being sent by the same God.
• Criterion 5 (Alignment with reality): FAIL. Some concepts in Christianity don’t align with reality well. Christians view Jesus as the son of God, but also as a part of God. God being three different entities, but still one: God the father, the holy spirit and the son. A concept called the trinity. Christians believe that God sacrificed his son in order to absolve humans from their sins. This doesn’t quite make sense for many reasons:

1: If God sacrificed his son in order to absolve us of our sins, judgment wouldn’t make sense. Also, why does a God have a son? Mortals have children to continue the species and to provide for them when they grow weak. A God doesn’t need a son...

1. If God sacrificed his son, also a part of himself, it should have been the final act of life here on Earth. Instead, he let Muhammad come after and be so successful in reversing this idea, all while claiming to be sent by him!!! And what about the people who died a long time ago and never knew about this important sacrifice?
   
2. The idea that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving doesn’t stand for a judging God. It simply isn’t possible for him to have these 3 attributes at the same time. If he is all-knowing, then he knows that many humans will fail his judgment and be severely punished. Consequently, if he is also all-powerful, being all-loving would have him not resort to judgment and not punish anyone. Since he insists on judgment with a heaven and hell, then he isn’t all-loving. Muhammad also happens to correct this idea.
   
3. The conditions of success and failure in the upcoming judgment are not particularly fair. It’s not about what actions one does during their life, rather, it’s about accepting Jesus as savior. One can be the most ruthless killer, then just accept Jesus as savior in order to be absolved of all wrongdoing. Also, what about all the people who lived and died before Jesus was even born? They didn’t know Jesus; how can they accept him as savior? Haven’t they spent their lives following other rules? Isn’t that unfair to them?
   

Now let's analyze Jesus, the founder of Christianity.

• Criterion 1 (Impeccable social reputation): PASS. Jesus had a notoriously flawless social reputation and was known for his noble morals.
• Criterion 2 (Non-involvement rule): PASS. He was raised Jewish, however he wasn’t particularly involved in any public religious activity, nor did he engage in any activity that produced thought or knowledge. He was a carpenter by trade (1), until his mission started. After which, and this is critical, he was immediately at odds with the existing Jewish teachings to the point of being in danger!
• Criterion 3 (Sudden self-produced life direction change): PASS. He was known to be a carpenter, then he suddenly turned into an itinerant preacher at odds with the established teachings (2). If he had been publicly learning or teaching Judaism before his claim, he would have failed this criterion, as almost all others have. However, it’s not the case, and the transformation is self-produced and puzzling! How does a carpenter who isn’t involved with religious matters nor any knowledge or thought producing profession, suddenly become an itinerant preacher with enough difference to the established faith to become a threat and a target?
• Criterion 4 (Complete devotion): PASS. He died for his mission (the Christian version is in contrast with the Islamic version here). There is no better test of devotion. He also was at odds with the established Jewish religion, which made him a target. Most of the founders of religion that we have seen, never entered in conflict with the existing religions at the beginning, rather, they built upon them and benefited from their involvement with them.
• Criterion 5 (Wide reach of message): PASS. Christianity is the biggest religion today! Nearly 25% of humans are Christians, and the rest know or have heard of Jesus. Now this, is communication!!!

Similar to Moses, if there is a judging and fair God, Jesus is highly likely to be one of his messengers. His feat is even more impressive than that of Moses. His mission and success in correcting and complementing the existing Jewish faith against incredible odds, adds more credibility to his claim. Jesus changed the world and continues to do so today!
Sources:
(1) From Britannica: ...Joseph is said to have been a carpenter (Matthew 13:55)—that is, a craftsman who worked with his hands—and, according to Mark 6:3, Jesus also became a carpenter...
(2) From Britannica: ...As a young adult, he went to be baptized by the prophet John the Baptist and shortly thereafter became an itinerant preacher and healer (Mark 1:2–28). In his mid-30s Jesus had a short public career, lasting perhaps less than one year, during which he attracted considerable attention...

Islam

Let's analyze the message of Islam.

• Criterion 1 (Living religion): PASS
• Criterion 2 (Warning of judgement): PASS. Islam clearly warns of an upcoming judgment and details the conditions of success and failure. Consequently, it’s not safe to dismiss.
• Criterion 3 (Universality): PASS. Islam is universal. Anyone can be a Muslim, and it’s quite easy to find two Muslims who are from different countries, ethnicities and don’t share the same language. The yearly pilgrimage where millions of Muslims gather is proof to how diverse Muslims can be.
• Criterion 4 (Past reference): PASS. Islam references many past prophets (25 in total), including but not limited to: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, David, Jacob, Jonas, Moses, Jesus... It clearly states that God has been communicating since the beginning out of fairness, so that people wouldn’t find any excuse when judgment comes!
• Criterion 5 (Alignment with reality): PASS. Islam insists on monotheism, and clearly reverses the trinity concept that has gotten into Christianity, as well as the idea that God is all-loving, on top of being all-knowing and all-powerful.

It aligns with reality well by describing reality as a test of free will. Life is neither the suffering Buddhism makes it out to be (which it isn’t), nor is it the joyous life Tenrikyo claims it should be (which again, isn’t). Every single human is continuously tested through good and bad. When it is something bad, it is their patience and acceptance that is tested. When it is something good, it is their capacity of being thankful and generous that is tested. Everyone’s life is a mix of good and bad. Exceptions exist and are accounted for.
Islam states that God has been sending prophets since the beginning in order to remind people that judgment is coming. It states that people who didn’t get the message will be tested again. Those who got the message of the prophet of their time, accepted it and followed its guidelines, shall pass the judgment. Those who rejected the message after receiving it clearly shall fail.
Now let's analyze Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

• Criterion 1 (Impeccable social reputation): PASS. Prior to his claim, Muhammad was highly regarded by his community and known for his trustworthiness (1).
• Criterion 2 (Non-involvement rule): PASS. Again here, Muhammad was not involved in the pagan polytheist religion of his community, even though it was popular, nor was he involved in any other religion. He was a successful merchant (2) and notoriously illiterate (3). He didn’t have any profession or interest that produced thought or knowledge.
• Criterion 3 (Sudden self-produced life direction change): PASS. Muhammad’s life changed drastically after he supposedly received revelation. The first contact shocked him greatly (4). After telling his wife what happened, she took him to her cousin who was knowledgeable about the Jewish faith. He told Muhammad that what happened to him was similar to Moses, and that a day will come when his community chases him away.
• Criterion 4 (Complete devotion): PASS. Muhammad suffered a lot for his claim and was under constant threat of death (5). He used to request to be guarded at night, however upon receiving revelation that God will protect him from people, he sent the guards away from that moment on (6). He was never harmed even while having many enemies who wanted to kill him.
• Criterion 5 (Wide reach of message): PASS. Muhammad, an illiterate person living in a remote desert, without any special means or skills, was able to spread his message everywhere, and he predicted it from the start (7). He created a civilization that would change the world in just 23 years. Like Christianity, Islam is found almost everywhere, and almost everyone has heard of him and his religion. It’s not by chance that the most popular male first name in the world today is “Muhammad” (8).

If a judging and fair God exists, Muhammad is highly likely to be one of his messengers. He was leading a normal and regular life in a polytheistic society for 40 years, then suddenly started preaching monotheism, suffering for it and even going to war for it.
Sources:
(1) From Wikipedia: ...Due to his upright character he acquired the nickname "al-Amin" (Arabic: الامين), meaning "faithful, trustworthy" and "al-Sadiq" meaning "truthful" and was sought out as an impartial arbitrator. His reputation attracted a proposal in 595 from Khadijah, a successful businesswoman. Muhammad consented to the marriage, which by all accounts was a happy one...
(2) From Wikipedia: ... It is known that he became a merchant and "was involved in trade between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
(3) From Wikipedia: ... Because he could not read and write himself...
(4) From Wikipedia: ...Muhammad was deeply distressed upon receiving his first revelations. After returning home, Muhammad was consoled and reassured by Khadijah and her Christian [sic] cousin, Waraqah ibn Nawfal. He also feared that others would dismiss his claims as being possessed...
(5) From Wikipedia: ...Regardless, several attempts were made at Muhammad's life...
(6) From Qur’an. Aisha said: "The Prophet was being guarded until this verse وَاللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ (Allah will protect you from mankind) was revealed." She added; "The Prophet raised his head from the room and said; «يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ انْصَرِفُوا فَقَدْ عَصَمَنِي اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَل» (O people! Go away, for Allah will protect me)"
(7) From Sunnah: Miqdad reported that he heard God’s messenger say, “There will not remain on the face of the earth a mud-brick house or a camel’s hair tent which God will not cause the confession of Islam to enter bringing both mighty honour and abject abasement. God will either honour the occupants and put them among its adherents, or will humiliate them and they will be subject to it.” Miqdad said, “God will then receive complete obedience.”
(8) https://www.thebump.com/b/muhammad-baby-name

Druze

Let’s analyze the Druze faith!

• Criterion 1 (Living religion): FAIL. It’s not an extinct religion, but it is intentionally restricted and doesn’t accept conversions to it. How can this be a communication from a judging and fair God if the people being judged cannot have access to the material they need to succeed? If it stated that only a specific audience was targeted, that might have worked, but it doesn't say that, at least not when it started.
• Criterion 2 (Warning of judgement): PASS. Since Druze references other Abrahamic religions, I’m giving it a pass here, even though it’s not clear what the Druze actually believe.
• Criterion 3 (Universality): FAIL. It’s far from being universal. It doesn’t want to be, and it’s not.
• Criterion 4 (Past reference): PASS. It does reference other religions, even though it’s not clear in what capacity. Are the previous religions considered as previous instances of communication? Or does it complete its worldview with their knowledge? I’ll give it a pass.
• Criterion 5 (Alignment with reality): FAIL. Its closed nature makes it impossible for it to align with reality.

Now let's analyze Hamza Ibn Ali, the founder of Druze.

• Criterion 1 (Impeccable social reputation): FAIL. The Druze faith was named after Al-Darzi, who might have been either a disciple or a teacher of Hamza. A rivalry appeared between the two. Al-Darzi disputed the role of Hamza as the leader of the movement. They were both acquiring followers and engaged in regular brawls (1). So in summary, God supposedly sent Hamza as a messenger preaching that the current ruler was the embodiment of said God (If God is the embodiment of the ruler, why need Hamza at all?!!), then another man entered in competition with this messenger, who was also tolerated by the ruler, and even ended up giving his name to the movement, all the while the followers of each man fought each other. Then after said ruler was killed, the movement disappeared from its place of inception, but survived elsewhere and became a restricted religion. This doesn’t show anyone involved in a good light, especially not Hamza.
• Criterion 2 (Non-involvement rule): FAIL. There isn’t enough information about Hamza Ibn Ali before he entered Egypt in 1017. However, he fails the non-involvement rule, as he was appointed as a preacher in his own mosque before he started claiming that the reigning caliph was the embodiment of God (2). Rather convenient since that granted him support and favors (3).
• Criterion 3 (Sudden self-produced life direction change): FAIL. He supposedly received revelation, however that didn’t seem to cause any change in his life whatsoever. Receiving an unexpected contact from some God is supposed to cause a noticeable drastic change in one’s life, unless such revelation was expected or planned. Suffice it to say that he was already a preacher before supposedly receiving revelation.
• Criterion 4 (Complete devotion): PASS. Hamza definitely feared for his life but continued with his claim. He went into hiding, which seems a little bit cowardly for a prophet. In contrast, Moses came back to a place where he feared for his life, because he believed there was a God protecting him. The same happened with Muhammad who confidently sent guards away after revelation. However, since Hamza continued with his claim, considering this as a pass seems fair.
• Criterion 5 (Wide reach of message): FAIL. Hamza Ibn Ali failed to spread his message even though he initially set out to (4). If one is to say that the message couldn’t spread because of persecution, well, the same persecution occurred for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and yet, these messages spread everywhere despite everything.

It’s extremely unlikely that the Druze faith is a communication from a judging and fair God. Its founder fails a combination of some important criteria.
Sources:
(1) From Wikipedia: ...Indeed, in his epistles, Hamza is critical of his colleague, both for al-Darzi's disputing Hamza's role as the leader of their movement, as well as for his followers' over-zealous, extremist and provocative actions, which revealed the movement's ideas prematurely and placed it under danger of attack... During this time, the followers of the rival leaders engaged in regular brawls in the streets of Cairo, cursing one another as infidels.
(2) From Britannica: ...Almost nothing is known of his life before he entered Egypt in 1017. He became a spokesman for the religious convictions of the Fāṭimid caliph al-Ḥākim (the Fāṭimids were the ruling dynasty in Egypt), who was already accorded the position of imām, a divinely appointed and authoritative spokesman for Islam...
(3) From Wikipedia: ...According to the medieval chroniclers, he too enjoyed signs of favour from al-Hakim: when he complained to the Caliph that his life was in danger, he was given weapons, which he demonstratively hung on every entrance to the Raydan Mosque...
(4) From Britannica: ...Considerable resistance to these doctrines appeared when they were first preached in 1017, and Ḥamzah went into hiding until 1019, when al-Ḥākim was able to move vigorously to support the new religious movement... Ḥamzah claimed to be representing not just another sect but rather an independent religion, one that superseded traditional Islam. Al-Ḥākim disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 1021, and, much persecuted, the Druze cult all but ceased to exist in Egypt...

Mormonism

Let’s analyze Mormonism:

• Criterion 1 (Living religion): PASS.
• Criterion 2 (Warning of judgement): PASS. Mormonism is built on top of Christianity and Judaism, to which it delegates a vast chunk of knowledge. Consequently, I’ll give it a pass here.
• Criterion 3 (Universality): FAIL. It is far from being universal. If it was God’s way to bring Christianity to its rightful state, the least we can say is that it didn’t happen. Most of Mormons are still in Utah (U.S state), where they went after Smith was killed.
• Criterion 4 (Past reference): PASS. Mormonism references both Christianity and Judaism. This makes it pass this criterion, however, the fact that it doesn’t reference Islam is problematic for its worldview.
• Criterion 5 (Alignment with reality): FAIL. Being based on Christianity, Mormonism inherits some of the same issues. It corrects some, but also introduces some of its own. For example, Mormonism states that there are three separate divine entities, God the father, Jesus Christ and the holy spirit. They’re not three in one, as Christianity says. This doesn’t solve the issue of sacrificing one divine entity for the sins of humans while still judging them. It only adds complexity. Are these Gods equal? What if they don’t agree on something? This also goes against Judaism, which Mormonism references, and with Judaism comes the whole legacy of monotheism! Mormonism corrects the idea that salvation only depends on accepting Jesus as savior. It adds the fact that deeds play a role, which is fair.

Now let's analyze Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.

• Criterion 1 (Impeccable social reputation): FAIL. Smith’s reputation was less than stellar (1). His treasure hunting profession isn’t exactly the most honest of professions. Also, eloping to marry his wife, attempting to marry already married women, escaping justice, dying in a shoot-out with the mob...
• Criterion 2 (Non-involvement rule): FAIL. He fails the non-involvement rule on many accounts. He was heavily involved with public religious activity and even magic, in a place and time where religious revivalism thrived (2).
• Criterion 3 (Sudden self-produced life direction change): FAIL. Supposedly receiving revelation in 1823 via the angel he called Moroni, didn’t surprise him, nor seemed to have much effect on his life direction. He continued treasure seeking using questionable methods and leading the same life.
• Criterion 4 (Complete devotion): PASS. Smith was extremely devoted to his cause. He never gave up until the end!
• Criterion 5 (Wide reach of message): FAIL. If Mormonism was God’s way to bring back Christianity to its rightful state, then the mission simply failed. It seems like Christianity enjoys far more universality than Mormonism. In this regard, Smith failed his mission, as most of the followers of the religion are still based where their ancestors ended up after the death of Smith.

Sources:
(1) From Wikipedia: ...Meanwhile, the Smith family faced financial hardship... Family members supplemented their meager farm income by hiring out for odd jobs and working as treasure seekers, a type of magical supernaturalism common during the period. Smith was said to have an ability to locate lost items by looking into a seer stone, which he also used in treasure hunting, including, beginning in 1825, several unsuccessful attempts to find buried treasure sponsored by Josiah Stowell, a wealthy farmer in Chenango County, New York. In 1826, Smith was brought before a Chenango County court for "glass-looking", or pretending to find lost treasure; Stowell's relatives accused Smith of tricking Stowell and faking an ability to perceive hidden treasure... Although Smith had abandoned treasure hunting, his former associates believed he had double crossed them and had taken the golden plates for himself, property they believed should be jointly shared. After they ransacked places where they believed the plates might be hidden, Smith decided to leave Palmyra
(2) From Wikipedia: The region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm during the Second Great Awakening. Between 1817 and 1825, there were several camp meetings and revivals in the Palmyra area… Smith said that he became interested in religion by age 12… With other family members, Smith also engaged in religious folk magic, which was a relatively common practice in that time and place…

Baha'i Faith

• Criterion 1 (Living religion): PASS.
• Criterion 2 (Warning of judgement): UNKNOWN. Baha’i Faith claims to be a unification of all the major religions. The issue is that some of the religions it references speak of judgment, like Judaism, Christianity and Islam, while others don’t, like Buddhism and Hinduism. While Baha’i Faith speaks of a day of judgment, it doesn’t seem to view it in the same way. It speaks of deeds being judged, but not according to each religion’s standards, rather, according to Baha’i Faith’s standards, which I have failed to find after multiple searches. If the conditions of success and failure aren’t clear, the God of Baha’i Faith cannot possibly be fair. I’ll mark this as unknown, but it’s actually closer to a failure.
• Criterion 3 (Universality): FAIL. In theory, Baha’i Faith should be universal, as it calls for the unification of all the major religions. It attempts to please everyone, but even while doing so, its numbers remain low, and is mostly unknown.
• Criterion 4 (Past reference): FAIL. Baha’i Faith references all major religions, but not as past instances of communication. It essentially claims that there is only one religion, and that the major religions were manifestations of God, but don’t necessarily represent said unique religion correctly. It references all major religions only to change their core beliefs in order to achieve unification. Said another way, this One God, has left people to be duped by false religions since the start, and only thanks to Baháʼu'lláh in the 1800s, did he think to show the truth to people. What about those who died long before Baháʼu'lláh was even born, and who followed Buddhism for example without ever believing a God existed?
• Criterion 5 (Alignment with reality): FAIL. This is a big failure. Baha’i Faith doesn’t make much sense, to the point of being revolting, to me at least! It attempts to be everything to everyone. Its founder claims to be Christ returned for Christians, the second coming of Jesus for Sunni Muslims, the Imam Husayn for Shi’a Muslims, the reincarnation of Krishna for Hindus, and the fifth Buddha for Buddhists. Never mind what each one of these symbols means in the context of its own religion, it just takes the concept and runs with it. It disregards most of what is associated with these symbols, it only needs its acknowledged existence. Let’s not forget that most of these religions do not agree with each other! It attempts to reconcile worldviews that are incompatible with each other. It picks and chooses what it wants from each major religion and disregards the rest.

Now let's analyze Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of Baha'i Faith.

• Criterion 1 (Impeccable social reputation): PASS. Coming from a wealthy family, he was known to give considerable amounts of time and money to charity.
• Criterion 2 (Non-involvement rule): FAIL. The founder of Baha’i Faith, Baháʼu'lláh, as well as the founder of Bábism, Siyyid Ali Muhammad, known as the Báb, and who laid the foundation for Baha’i Faith, both fail the non-involvement rule. They were both heavily involved in public religious matters before and at the time of their claims (1) (2). We are not talking about regular religious people going about their day, then making an exceptional claim out of nowhere, no! It’s practically the same scenario every time: a person is deeply involved with religious matters, or actively pursuing a profession or an interest, which leads them either by opportunity or by delusion to their claim. It’s the same here!
• Criterion 3 (Sudden self-produced life direction change): FAIL. Baháʼu'lláh had already set the course of his life and was already deeply involved in religious matters before he supposedly received his first divine revelation, which was in prison. From then on, not much had changed.
• Criterion 4 (Complete devotion): PASS. He stood by his claim and spent most of his life in prison. It’s important to note though that he wasn’t initially imprisoned because of his claim. Rather, it was because of his involvement with Bábism.
• Criterion 5 (Wide reach of message): FAIL. If Baháʼu'lláh was sent by the one and only God in order to unify all major religions, such unification hasn’t happened successfully.

It's highly unlikely that Baha'i Faith is a communication from a judging and fair God.
Sources:
(1) From Wikipedia: Some of his earlier writings suggest that he did not enjoy the business and instead applied himself to the study of religious literature… He was constantly absorbed in his own thoughts, and was preoccupied with repetition of his prayers and verses… In 1841 the Báb went on pilgrimage to Iraq, and for seven months stayed mostly in and around Karbala. There he attended lectures of Kazim Rashti and became his follower… As of his death in December 1843, Kazim Rashti counseled his followers to leave their homes to seek the Mahdi, who, according to his prophecies, would soon appear. One of these followers, Mullá Husayn, after keeping vigil for 40 days in a mosque, traveled to Shiraz, where he met the Báb…
(2) From Wikipedia: Soon after declaring his spiritual mission to Mullá Husayn, the Báb sent him to Tehran to deliver a special tablet to one whom God would guide him to. After learning about Baháʼu'lláh through an acquaintance, Mullá Husayn felt compelled to arrange for Baháʼu'lláh to receive the tablet—this news brought great joy to the Báb when Mullá Husayn wrote to him about it…

Summary

After analyzing all the religions, the ones that are highly likely to be communications from a judging and fair God if one exists, are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They are the only religions that satisfy most of the criteria. In fact, their founders are the ONLY ones who satisfy all the criteria, specifically the criterion of non-involvement prior to their claim of a contact with a God. All the other founders were involved in one way or another, making their claim a possible result of either fraud or delusion.
It is important to note though: we haven't proven that a judging and fair God exists, and we haven't proven that these religions are actually communications from him, not at all. All we did was to reasonably prove that if a judging and fair God exists, then Judaism, Christianity and Islam are highly likely to be communications from him.
In the next post, we will continue our research and see how we can reasonably prove that a judging and fair God exists.
Until next time!