https://youtu.be/wyVSVI8Fu3c

I figured that if I gave descriptive names to all the features and gave a few cursor-wiggles here and there for emphasis that I'd get away without having to 'say' anything.

What say you?

Filled with nuclear waste into space, of 1 metre length (minus cone head length), 10 cm inner radius and a conical head of 20 cm height.

https://imgur.com/bHFkWsZ

https://imgur.com/kZF5VaI

I've tried the knit feature but it isn't working and i think it has something to do with my knowledge of the tool as well as possible errors in the model. I just want the inside of this cone to be completely filled so I can start cutting holes in it.

This looks like a neat antenna - if it was done well and worked.. :)

Ive seen several 360 degree cameras that used principles like this to capture the image and then used software to warp it afterwards..

.. Basically, the discone sits within a large parabolid and its toroidial (doughnut shaped) pattern gets reflected up and then out, the guy propounding this claims the theoretical gain is 20 db OMNI with discone broadband capabilities.

Maybe.. but it looks like it would be hard to build.. still, that could change overnight with some new fabrication technique. You would also need to level it very accurately or all that gain could easily get wasted..

If you could build it once you could make a mold and then makes new ones out of styrofoam and some kind of conformal conductive material.. They make conductive spray paint now, even. Although its expensive. You could make the curved surface and the cone out of some styrofoam with a hot wire..

A discone for higher frequencies, like for example 2400 MHz, is TINY.

http://www.eham.net/articles/13785

Given the base radius is three times that of the "mouth" radius. (Conical flask = cylindrical section + conical section. The mouth radius would be the radius of the cylindrical section) I'm having a lot of trouble with this. Any assistance would be appreciated!

I have the opportunity to assist in the production of a vase if I can find a way to convert a vectorized pattern (ai/svg) into a bump map then apply it onto a conic vase (so slight pattern distortion). The pattern can be repeated if it is orthogonally aligned left/right up/down. Here is a similar type of pattern

If I export the ai file to a maximum quality jpeg so I don't loose any details it's about 2000x3000 pixels which is a bit much for my laptop (I have access to a desktop if the final solution requires it). Right now bump maps crash when I upload my image file...

I'm not sure how to describe the problem much better so I'll update if there are any questions.

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"Nothing is good enough for the Terran military machine. Where other races reach a certain point of combat effectiveness and martial might and say 'this is perfection, nothing will ever be better' a Terran will say 'ok, but can we make it more deadly?'

"This attitude is why any race, when they misconstrue the majority of humanity's willingness to just dance around having fun, are so shocked when they come face to face with the actual human military.

"Most of these species have attacked lightly armed civilian vessels, or poorly guarded colonies, or militias with obsolete equipment and made all of their military planning based on that alone.

"Almost as if the BOLO supertank is invisible, as if that vast self-aware stadium sized engine of destruction is something they can just ignore. Most species can't envision the fact that the Terrans designed entire ships around moving those vast engines of warfare.

"But beyond ships, tanks, even past the power armor and the man portable weapons, every single species, every single time, is absolutely shocked at the effectiveness, deadliness, and absolute force projector that is the Terran infantryman.

"Over their history they have undergone strength training, constant combat training. Later, in their history at least, they were enhanced with chemicals, cybernetics, phasic enhancers, unholy blendings of one or more.

"All with the simple question: How can we increase our soldier's killing power?

"There is no pinnacle of martial might to a Terran. How can there be, when they believe perfection is a road not a goal?

"Just the simple citizen-soldier Terran is one of the most fearsome engines of destruction the universe has ever seen.

"They climb over their own dead like the Mantid assaulting a rival hive. They move as one coordinated whole like the Treana'ad sweeping across the plains. They are as paranoid as a Pubvian in a crowd. They are as strong and fearsome as a Rigellian female defending her ducks. They are as cunning and quick to strike and fade back as a Kobold.

"A Terran is like the universe itself looked at all of the advantages of all the other races possessed and said: You know what, I wonder what would happe

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Many species have wondered exactly what can stop Terran Descent Humanity. They feel sure that somewhere out there is something that can withstand the might of the Terran Descent Humanity's overwhelming strength, adaptability, and resilience.

There was a planet that could have. Everything about the planet, from the weather, to the microbes, to the flora and fauna, was designed to kill Terran Descent Humanity. Some of the creatures upon that planet even looked at the toxic stew of the human body and saw it as food.

I am sometimes asked what happened to that planet. What happened to those creatures?

The answer is simple: The Mantids Glassed it eight thousand years ago.

And Terran Descent Humanity, being humanity, recreated it in all of its lethal glory.

Behold: TerraSol. - Most High Great Super Secret Agent Ba'ahn Ya'ard, Lanaktallan espionage agent, TerraSol, 86th Century

People think of Terrans and only think of Terran Descent Humanity, the Clone Consortium, Digital Sentiences, and, of course, the cyborgs. People know that the humans were lonely, so they cloned themselves, created advanced digital sentiences in their image, and even journeyed out into the stars to find friends.

What they often forget is the Biological Artificial Sentience Systems. Most think it's simply genetically altered humans or humans reskinned into a new body.

They forget about one simple thing the humans did before even achieving superluminal flight.

The Uplift.

Behold: Humanity's Children. - General A'armo'o, the Atomic Hooves, Reflections upon War.

They lost us for over eight thousand years.

They did not forget us.

Just as we would never forget them. - CW3 Jack "Chief" Nuntru, The Scent of Memories Upon the WInd

Ralvex flexed his knees slightly as the striker set down. His armor felt light, almost like cloth, even though it weighed over five hundred kilos. It was heavy scout armor, with power assist, movement assist, light battlescreens, grav spike generation, and inertia dampeners.

It was just lighter than his thousand kilo heavy assault suit he had worn for the last three years of fighting on Genverall-3 against the Dwellerspawn and

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"It's all fun and games till someone loses an eye." - Anonymous

"When it happens to you, it's goddamn hilarious!" - Anonymous Sergeant, Resource Conflict Era, Pre-Diaspora Terra, speaking to a medic during medivac.

Natraya was a Puntimat. She had grown up in the Core Worlds of the Unified Civilized Systems, a servant to a wealthy Lanaktallan mare that had cared for her servants and allowed no abuse by anyone of any rank. The Lanaktallan mare, on A'ama'arya had been an abolitionist, speaking frequently and passionately against the debt peonage system.

Twice people had tried to assassinate her.

Natraya was proud to serve her Ladyship. She was a personal servant, a lady in waiting, and even though she knew she lived a life of ease and comfort, she knew that Lady A'ama'arya chafed at the fact that Natraya would always be little better than a slave.

Then the Precursor Autonomous War Machines attacked, and Lady A'ama'arya agitated and did fundraisers to help refugees and tried to convince the Unified Military Council to protect the Far Reaches.

Then the Terrans had arrived. Natraya had no believed it when Lady A'ama'arya had told her that she was sure that the Unified Council would betray the Terrans.

To Natraya's surprise, Lanaktallan betrayal had led to the Confederacy/Council Conflict, AKA the C3 War. Lady A'ama'arya had led the charge to create the EPOW services, to make sure the casualty and prisoner lists were kept updated, and arrange for relief for refugees.

Then it was all over.

When the C3 War was over, the lady had offered to allow Natraya to leave her service.

Natraya had refused. After all, being a lady in waiting to A'ama'arya was the only thing she knew.

Still, the Lanaktallan High Lady wanted to Natraya to accompany her on trips to various places, doing charity work and trying to make the universe a better place.

Lady A'ama'arya had wanted to visit the N'Kar homeworld, to see how they were doing now that over twenty million of their people had been released from a POW camp and sent back home. The Lady worried about the N'Kar people, so she boarded a liner and headed to the planet in person, taking Natraya with her.

During the trip, Lady

Can Game Maker Studio Standard 1.4 blur a surface in a conical gradient? I've been searching for ways to blur a surface, but nothing like a shaded-cone blur came up. Also, a conical blur looks like the top down view of a cone with one shaded side.

 

Here are some images I whipped up to convey what I mean visually: https://imgur.com/a/uoG25

The first image shows a player facing up, with 4 red circles and 4 blue circles placed at random positions. According to the alpha value of the invisible conical gradient visualized in image 2, the circles are "blurred" (more like the sharp layer fades to the blurred layer).

The second image shows the conical gradient, transparent to green, with a radial transparent gradient applied over the player, allowing for a "spotlight."

The third shows an opaque conical gradient, making it easier to define the cone of vision, where magenta is the visible area and green is the blind spot.

 

My question, put simply: How would I add this to my game, with dynamic player/friendly/enemy positions? Additionally, how would I rotate that surface to fade/blur objects opposite of the direction facing the mouse?

If you can't blur conically, can you at least fade conically?

 

The idea is to mimic visibility in a top-down shooter. The reason for doing this is to make the player feel vulnerable, so they look around, and to bring the player's skill down to the level of the A.I. No, those images do not reflect the graphics of my game. Yes, I use Paint .NET for 2D art.

Note: I'm using physics (without gravity), so the rotation variable in the player object is phy_rotation.

Any and all suggestions or help appreciated!

The kitten was covered in dried blood when I found her. Barely the size of my hand, the trembling thing tottered its way toward me in fits and stops. She moved like a broken wind-up toy.

It had been years since I had a farm cat, so the appearance of the mewing trespasser was a mystery. The farm was far enough from town that I never saw a stray animal; there were just too many predators between me and civilization. Someone must have dumped a pregnant female near the farm, I thought.

I searched for others in the litter while holding the shaking kitten under my arm. The cat had been living under a half-empty grain bag, and the mother was nowhere to be seen. Neither were any littermates. Only a bloody circle of dirt with tufts of fur and bits of bone let me know that a cat had been there.

"Looks like we're on our own," I told the shaking kitten as I placed it under my coat to keep it warm. We were in the first few weeks of fall, and the cold of the north was making its self-known. I crunched my way through the frost to the house and kicked off my boots on the porch.

The kitten cried with every breath. I was sure it needed to eat. I remembered an old conversation about how sheep milk wasn't suitable for cats, so I placed the kitten in my warming box and searched for emergency formula recipes. I found a recipe that I had the ingredients to make and set to work, mixing a can of evaporated milk, egg yolk, and a couple of tablespoons of Karo syrup.

I didn't have a bottle that would work for the kitten, but there were a few syringes around from vaccinating the sheep. I unwrapped a syringe, filled it with the emergency formula, and pulled my little patient from her box.

She took to milk quickly, and I began to wonder where she was putting it all as I filled the syringe over and over with the custard-like formula. After the third syringe, I gently squeezed the kitten's tummy, but it didn't feel full. I continued feeding her, and I studied her as she ate.

The kitten's paws were massive for its size, almost clownish and every paw had a sixth toe. Most of the kitten's coat was matted with blood, but rich chocolate fur was partially visible on her tummy. I smiled as I watched the kitten’s sapphire eyes droop contentedly. Then I noticed her teeth.

An extra set of canines protruded from the top and bottom of the kitten's mouth on both sides. "That's creepy," I said as I laid her in the cardboard box. "You're a creepy little kitty," I singsong to her as I rubbed h

I have discovered non-human signal sources for the first time near Sagittarius A* (at the galactic core) as part of the many hundreds of systems visited for this effort described in https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/rrtzxs/the_return_to_the_landscape_signal_survey_some/

This might be significant. The system (Stuemeae KM-W c1-325 - signals at body 2) is also potentially significant in that it is in a straight line drawn from this system in the galaxy map through Sgr A* and on to the narrowed down general area of the Landscape Signal (as part of my so-called Conic Geometry Hypothesis for searching for interesting locations).

https://preview.redd.it/ofppos3pbz981.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a4c328af44372e2c02084563c6c07acb71ead38

On landing at the locations, I discovered...

>!Thargoid Sensors and Sensor Fragments on the surface !<

>!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYpywyNQPZs!<

>!There does not seem to be any mention of these found so far away from known Thargoid locations near the Bubble/Maia, at least not according to https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Thargoid_Sensor !<

I have flicked over to Horizons to check too (as this is a non-atmosphere landable world), but did not see the signal sources in that, but confirmed they are still here when I logged back in to Odyssey.

This is a call out to any other commanders to let us know if they have ever found non-human signal sources out here, and to help scour the area for more.

This system had been visited but the planets had not been DSS scanned until now, it was quite the rush seeing the above.

Prologue Previous

“Ahh, this is so good. It is a rare treat for me to have fresh fish mid-journey.”

Jokke shuddered in disgust, as Sofia and Janette looked distinctly green around the gills. Tsskaas slowly ground the fish in zir mouth into a viscous pulp, obviously reveling in the flavour.

“Any chance of a frying pan?” Jokke asked, drawing relieved glances from the ladies. “Or some kind of cookware? I could make a soup…”

“What is a frying pan?” Tsskaas asked, displaying the dozens of tiny conical teeth zie was macerating the fish with. And the macerated fish.

“That’s a metal dish with an insulated handle we use over a heat source to cook food”, Jokke said.

Aliina piped up “we use various ways of predigesting parts of our food. Cooking with heat is only one of them, but it is the most common. Using heat or chemical reactions to break down complex proteins is the basis of our ability to gain maximum benefit from minimal resources. It is the reason humans evolved to be the dominant species on Earth. We utilised tools like stone knives and fire to extract the maximum caloric return from our labour. It has shaped our dietary preferences for tens of thousands of years as a species.”

“Here we go again”, Janette said, rolling her eyes in an exaggerated manner. “We don’t need a fucking lecture on everything under the sun.”

Aliina started to say something, and stopped herself. She looked down quietly and you could almost see her shrinking into herself.

“I, for one, found that very interesting”, Jokke said. “I didn’t know that, but it does make sense”

“So you wish to heat your food prior to consumption?” Tsskaas inquired. “Blessing, can you arrange something?”

What level of heat would you require? I have a few ideas that produce differing levels of heat.

“Well, an oven maxes out at 280, and stoves have to be at least double that for cooking as fast as they do, so anywhere between 500-800 degrees would be great.”

…

…

The silence stretched out for a while.

*Are you referring to Kelvin or Celsius?”

“Celsius, of course. No one really uses Kelvin in everyday conversation.”

…

…

*The best I can do is an exchange manifold in main engineering, that goes to about 400 degrees Celsius. It is thermally shielded and the reaction heat is bled off and used to heat a lot of the interior of t

Sitting in the middle of this ornate hall, I allowed myself the time to appreciate the architecture of these people. What looked like enormous pieces of perfectly cut mantle stone had been used to craft the walls of this place. Such artistry and engineering all but ensured these people would prosper greatly upon joining with the federation. This hall was far too large to have been intended for the purpose it was now performing, the efforts of our host to accommodate my delegation were admirable but there was no way a few hundred staff would look anything but absurd taking up their seats around my table.

This table itself was exquisite, carved from some sort of enormous indigenous flora it depicted what I assumed were the culturally significant events of this species past. A part of me hoped to see my name and likeness added to it, after all, what was more significant than the surrender of an entire species.

Although as far as species surrenders went this was all rather understated. The Talvia had offered minimal resistance despite their formidable intrasellar defenses. A pragmatism found in the new races was finally bringing an end to the horrors that echoed spinward and antispinward through the galaxy for millennia. Warfare in the modern age had been honed into an accounting problem, how many resources could be gained for the least amount of mass wastefully jumped between the stars. Economic surveys had started the moment the fleet was in range and the Talvia military didn’t even attempt to jam communications between merchant entities even during the battle. “Battle”, what had actually happened was some obsolete drones danced with some surplus missiles, and both sides handed out a few medals. One was even pinned to my uniform now.

Still, theatrics were important and I would play my part as the highest-ranking officer in the system, it was my part to sit here and accept the pageantry of the Talvia. This was going to be the start of a great economic integration and there was no cause to be rude with our hosts. Still, if their crown prince saw fit to keep me waiting in this grand hall I could certainly be excused for attending to my actual duties while I waited.

The most mundane and unusual detail was the only wrinkle in an otherwise flawless invasion, the cultural records check had not been accepted by central command. Protocol dictated that prior to integration with the Federation, a sampling of the records of surrendering civilization would be audit

Hey, gang! I have been playing a lot of DRG lately for the update, and needed some game design practice. So, for the last week, I've been putting together a fully-fleshed-out fictional 5th class for Deep Rock Galactic called The Scientist.

Concept art overview of the Scientist, showing his kit at a glance.

You can find a Google Doc with all of the same information, plus voice lines and design commentary, here. If you have questions on why I used the math that I used, or if you feel something is unbalanced, please check my balance notes before you leave a comment on it. Otherwise, very open to constructive criticism! Leaving a comment in the threads below with some more information.

Let's jump in!

The Scientist

>“Hoxxes is kind of beautiful, in a horrifying, highly-dangerous way.”- The Scientist

The Scientist is one of the playable Dwarves in the game. He is equipped with the “Tyrant” Korlok Launcher and Cacti Rifle T-31 as his primaries, and the Electro-wave Coil Gun and OMLT Egg Thrower as his secondaries. He has the Mobula Flight Module, the Korlok Siphon, and the “Dolphin” Armor Rig as his equipment, and the Acid Flask, Deeptora Bee Bomb, and Stabber Mine 2E as his throwables.

>As the Scientist, you are in-tune with the hostile ecosystem of Hoxxes IV. You carry the Korlok Siphon, which allows you to keep your allies healthy. You are also equipped with the Mobula Flight Module, allowing you to slowly fly, even while carrying heavy objects. Your Korlok Launcher and Electro-wave Coil Gun make you a deadly foe for Hoxxes’ native flora and fauna alike.

Armor Undersuit: “Dolphin” Armor Rig

Concept art of the \"Dolphin\" armor rig, including all 5 variants.

The “Dolphin” Armor Rig is the Scientist’s piece of undersuit armor. It can be upgraded to improve its resistance against Radiation damage.

At Tier 3, the Lead Lining mod grants 50% Radiation Resistance. The “Dolphin” Armor Rig otherwise provides the same modification options as all 4 other armor rigs.

___

Support Tool: Korlok Siphon

>*So THAT’S what R&D wan

The scale height of a planetary atmosphere is defined as vertical distance that must be increased to decrease pressure by a factor of e. For Mars, the scale height is 11.1 km. Thus, 11.1 km above its surface, the atmospheric pressure will have dropped by a factor of ~2.7.

However, this relationship goes both ways. 11.1 km below the surface, say in a deep tunnel extending to the surface, the atmospheric pressure will have increased by a factor of e.

How deep would you have to go before the pressure would reach 1 atm? Well, a bit of calculation shows that this depth is at about 57 km. If you dug a 57 km-deep mine shaft on Mars, at the bottom of that shaft, the pressure would be about 1 atm.

However, what if you wanted something bigger? How much area could you pressurize to 1 atm Well, for a rough estimate, we could compare the total mass of each planet's atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere masses about 200 times what Mars's does. Furthermore, gravity on Mars is about 1/3 that on Earth. So, as a very rough approximation, Mars's atmosphere would be enough to provide atmosphere for an area about 1/600th that of the Earth. Earth has an area of about 500 million square kilometers. So, the atmosphere of Mars, if concentrated, would be able to provide a pressure of 1 atm for an area of about 830,000 km^2. This would be an area about the size of Pakistan. Or, if in a circle, it would be a circular area about 1000 km in diameter.

So here is the alternate terraforming strategy. You don't try to slowly build up the atmosphere by shipping in gases, melting the ice caps, etc, until you have 1 atm of pressure at the surface. You don't build domes upon endless domes, doming over the entire planet. You don't build huge pressure-vessel cities. Rather, you just dig a really big hole.

Or more specifically, you perform an enormous excavation project. I'm imagining a truncated cone, 1000 km wide at the bottom, 2000 km wide at the surface, and 57 km deep. This takes the form a vast conical valley, whose walls slowly slope upward to beyond the horizon. The valley floor would have full Earth sea-level pressure, and traveling up the slopes would see a gradually dropping pressure, like climbing a mountain on Earth.

Now, this would be a tremendous undertaking, but I could see it having some advantages. First, you don't need to ship in an entire atmosphere. You do have to perform an enormous excavation project, but the energy requi

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

Previous chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/rvjpwk/longhunter_ch7_part_2/

First chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/rqyezp/longhunter_ch1_part_1/

CHAPTER 8: REUNION

It was early morning, and there were only a few villagers milling about in the communal building. The fires had been stoked, and they were once again roaring, their heat driving off the morning chill that hung over the village.

“Is it ready?” Tia asked, hovering over George’s shoulder as he knelt to pick up the ceramic cooking pot. He removed the lid, taking in a quick whiff of the contents, then gave her a nod.

“I hope you actually like this stuff because I’ve been building it up for days,” he chuckled as he passed it to her. “Remember, it’s a condiment, so it’s not supposed to be eaten on its own. You use it as a sauce. Just dip a finger in there and tell me what you think.”

Tia took the pot from his hands, then inserted a finger into the mixture, bringing it to her mouth. Her green eyes lit up, and she glanced back at him, George grinning at her surprised expression.

“It is good!”

“Mushroom ketchup always goes down a treat,” he replied with renewed confidence as she handed the container back to him. “Just wait until you try it with some seared hottah meat. You’ll never want to eat it plain again.”

“You must be hungry after the way you exerted yourself last night,” she whispered, George’s face reddening. “We should eat. I will cook some of the leftover meat from yesterday evening.”

“Leftovers always taste better,” he added, watching as she made her way over to the stone slab where a few cuts of meat were still sitting.

The smell of cooking food attracted a few of the nearby villagers, and as was customary for these people, George was happy to share. Half of a dozen of them helped tend to the meat, then lined up with their plates for a helping of ketchup, George pouring a spoonful of sauce onto each cut of meat. It seemed to go down even better than the soup, George watching with satisfaction as they dug into their meals with enthusiasm.

“This is not what I was expecting,” Tia said as she took another large bite, pausing to chew for a moment. “It is tangy and savory, a wonderful flavor.”

“I’m glad I didn’t oversell it,” he chuckled, starting on his own meal.

A few of the villagers came back for seconds, Ge

(A little bit of background to set up the action scenes I’ll be including next chapter, AND confirmation that I’m still writing! Gremlins are Back folks!)

———————

The hall was filled with the hushed susurrations of private conversation. Laughter, bickering, gasps and the gentle tinkle of cutlery and ceramic. An imported crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, supported by actual marble columns that spanned easily three storeys. And at the base of a certain pillar, the floor had been adjusted, just enough to catch on the tip of the waiter's shoe. Not enough to trip, or even register to the busy staff.

But enough for their body to compensate. The hand to tip just so…

The plate bounced on their tray and a small pod tumbled, launching off the plate, then tray like an Olympic swimmer, diving… and landing with a wet thud on the ground.

From a crack in the base of the pillar, a glint of light shone before something launched out. A pair of clasps grabbing the morsel, reeling in too quickly to be noticed. The Gremlin looked over his prize, prying it free from his grabber and turning it this way and that, nodding. The small red clusters were a staple for this restaurant, mostly as a fancy filler side dish to accompany the bigger, fancier meals, but it did have its uses… “Hmm. Pea soup.”

Tucking his prize under arm, he approached the small pneumatic pipes that had been carefully glued to the interior of the hollowed & reinforced marble, shoving it quickly into the nearest and sending it on its way.

High above, the chef cocked his head at the loud buzzer, taking his eyes off the burners in front of him for a brief moment as he checked what arrived. Kicking a switch, he grabbed the legume as it popped free from the pneumatic tube, dropping it into a nearby pot of water, ready and waiting on the boil, starting to mash it firmly. Latching a grinder onto the rim, he tugged one of the salt crystals “borrowed” from the larder below and shoved it into the opening, letting the engine work the palm sized lump into something more suitable for human hands, grabbing a few spices from under the counter. With a quick taste, he nodded and flicked through his InterPal, updating the menu with three portions, almost immediately snapped up by the waiting diners.

“Alright boys, Pea Soup!”

Already the wait staff had assembled their trays, lining up one by one for the chef to fill their bowls before leaving the full, hot kitchen…

And practically gliding over the p

Namesake: Big Poppa, song by The Notorious B.I.G.

User: Sultan

Types:

Phenomenon, bound/integrated, close-range

Appearance:

Big Poppa is a stand bound to its user's lower jaw, with it manifesting as a constantly swirling portal made up of a vaguely liquid-like substance, with streaks of bright green and dull brown with an overall bluish-black colour as the base.

Stats:

Power: Ø

Speed: A

Range: Ø

Durability: A

Precision: E

Potential: E

Ability:

When something goes through Big Poppa's portal, they will seemingly end up in the same place that they were in before, but not exactly. Say you had a group of people and you (by yourself) went into the portal. When you came out from the other side, the user would still be there but the other people would be absent.

In addition to people missing, certain things around the area will begin to go missing, starting off with more subtle things but gradually becoming more noticeable. For example, say someone entered Big Poppa's portal in a place with a TV, a TV remote and an RC racecar with its controller. Victim goes through the portal once, the TV remote is missing certain buttons. Victim goes through again, the remote is still missing buttons and the RC racecar is missing its spoiler. Victim goes through again, the same things are still missing but now the RC racecar's controller is also missing, and so on and so forth.

Essentially, it can put things in an infinite loop of going through portals and lead to extreme confusion due to the similarities to the starting point but also the glaring dissimilarities with the gradual change and missing-ness (is that a word?) of things around them. But, the general area remains mostly untouched, although there may be some general wear if it's something like an enclosed room.

As another sidenote, any food or drink items ingested by the stand will be of nutritional value to the user, even if they don't directly go into the digestive tract. Rather, any bones or other inedible debris will be left within one of the pocket spaces, often as fossil materials.

User info:

When people hear the term "Cretaceous" they usually think of dinosaurs, things such as the T-rex, Triceratops, Velociraptor etc. But there are many other fascinating creatures from this time, including some of the truly impressive and bizarre crocodile-like animals of the period, such as the impressively-sized and extremely terrifying Deinosuchus and Sarcosuchus

First |Previous |Next

“What the fuck…?”

“Wake up.” Korwin slapped Calvin on the cheek lightly. “We have a problem.”

“It’s cold as hell.” Calvin brushed away the freeze-boiling fluid away from his face. “Why are we using comms? What’s wrong with the atmospherics?”

“I’ve sped your revival up. Your body should be able to take it. Hope I didn’t interrupt a good dream.”

“Just a bad memory.” Calvin rubbed his eyes tiredly.

Korwin brought the screen from his disassembled pod to Calvin’s face.

“I need a second opinion.” Korwin pointed to the image he had caught.

“I’m still-”

“Now.”

Calvin shook his head in frustration, but looked. His machine face formed a tight expression.

“Djinn’s shithole.” Calvin glanced to the side. “The others?”

“Waking up on normal time. We need to think of a plan right now and execute it as we’re heating up, if I’m right.”

“You know this stuff better than me. How much time do you think we have?”

Korwin shrugged. “I don’t know.”

While they discussed, the others came into their consciousness inch by inch. First, there was the waking. It did not come with a flash of light, but the acknowledgement of darkness, like a blind man cured while his eyes were closed. Selera watched as the night outside her pod lifted enough to see the dim interior of her boat. Korwin’s face flashed past, then Calvin’s, then Korwin’s again. They moved like gophers between stalks of grass—blindingly fast and untrackable. As the hibernation pod’s systems warmed her body, her glacial consciousness hastened. Eventually the fast-forward events outside her pod slowed, and the seconds became seconds again. The door opened with a blast. She screamed soundlessly.

She was not exposed long. A suit assembled quickly over her. She breathed the air like a drowning woman brought to the surface.

“Why-? What is-? Why are we…?” She said, sputtering. Beside her, Hendricks went through similar conniptions in silence.

“Calm down,” Korwin said, his voice came through crisply inside the suit, “and focus. We are in danger.”

“I thought-”

“I need you to come with me. We are returning the engine to its normal state.”

“Okay. But what happened?” Selera asked as she exited the pod. She nearly sent herself careening. Her arm shot out to grasp the edge of the pod. “Have

[redacted] **/**/**

Confidential - Do not read

Preliminary report

-

As directed by the UNSC, the [redacted] has been given access to military personnel and high-grade military weapons. Due to the incident all employees who wished to leave were given amnesiac treatment and sent home, while those who wished to remain were referred to the psychiatric ward. All persons partaking in this project are to be kept confidential along with any information found regarding ‘AL-2765’. Personnel, military or otherwise, are not to leave the premises unless they are deemed willing to uphold confidentiality protocol. Its existence has yet to be known to the public and any attempt to reveal said information will result in the offender and possible witnesses subject to drug-induced amnesia.

So far data has shown that ‘AL-2765’, though more casually known as the Antlion, is a naturally occurring phenomenon that covers an area of approximately 70685km2. Roughly the size of Tasmania, it is perfectly circular with a diameter of approximately 300km and is estimated to reach below -4000m. The surface of ‘AL-2765’ slants downwards to the centre in a conical fashion similar to the funnel shaped pit made by antlion larvae.

The space within has a higher concentration of oxygen than the surrounding area. Though still breathable, it will be noted that excess oxygen may lead to the increased size of fauna and flora. This higher concentration of oxygen is believed to be caused by the large amount of foliage that ‘AL-2765’ holds especially towards the centre of the mass where the canopies of trees are level with the ones at the edge despite the ground being significantly lower. A further increase of oxygen levels has been negated due to the scarcity of shrubs and bushes deeper into ‘AL-2765’ instead being replaced by increasingly larger trunks of trees.

Despite having the same species of trees throughout the region the scientific community believes there may be vast amounts of separate and large ecosystems within the larger biome. This idea is supported by accounts of lower amounts of light further into ‘AL-2765’ which may lead to different evolutionary patterns and relationships between biotic and abiotic factors.

Due to the size and structure of ‘AL-2765’ it has been split into 9 horizontal layers based upon sea level. The names and depths have been given below:

• Emergent (27m to 40m)
• Canopy (17m to 27)
• Understorey (5m to 17m)
• Under growth ( 2

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

They were cooked in Greece.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

The inner hemisphere is transparent to let in sunlight, the outer hemisphere is not. A ring rotates above the inner surface of each sphere providing a habitable surface on which to live. A conic section mirror inside each ring reflects sunlight outward into the ring. There are shutters on the transparent hemisphere that close at periodic intervals blocking sunlight to produce light.

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Professor Z'grafk, now having to go by professor instead of his original title, was rather irritated. Seated upon a large Llurllukuthu-made stool behind his desk, his manipulator appendages gently rubbed together in a stressed fashion as he stared at the memo in front of him. Apparently the Council of Deans at the Galactic Union Institute of Knowledge had found out about his use of the Llurllukuthu title for professor and disliked it, judging by the orders which nearly smoldered under his burning glare. 'Too pompous', they said, 'provides an inflated perception of importance.' Z'grafk had far too much on his plate, with these damnable, disgusting humans and their strange ways being the subject of conversation in his class, to fight this. He was expecting his students to be unsettled by the human methods of interplanetary travel, not become immersed in them.

This spiraling sense of anger and despair was suddenly interrupted by a loud beep from his data slate, causing the insectoid to recoil in surprise. Z'grafk sighed and stood from his seat, grabbing the lecture notes for the day as well as this lesson's presentation file, before walking out of his office and into the lecture hall once more. His full class sat in attendance as usual, quietly chattering with joyful eyes and enthusiastic expressions. Much to his disdain, even the singular Llurllukuthu student was an active participant - his circulatory fluid ran cold at the sight of his own species-kin teaching his classmates about human technology and culture. Standing behind the podium, he set his papers down with a loud thud and briefly pressed the button to get everyone's attention. As before, almost everyone in the room flinched but quickly focused on Z'grafk. His eyestalks scanned the room as they usually did before he started, but froze in place when he noticed someone new.

The newcomer smiled broadly as he became aware he'd been spotted, raising a hand and waving as he leaned against the wall. Those gleaming white teeth, those piercing predatory eyes, the bipedal musculature... Z'grafk trembled in impotent rage as a human, the subject of his inn