The Drunk and The Ugly

Freedom has always come with asterisks, footnotes, and apologetic parentheticals. There is no total freedom; we are bound by causality, space, physics, time, ability, location, background, wealth, the limited freedoms of others. Yet, there are small freedoms every day in the choices we make, consciously or unconsciously, and in the infinite choices we choose not to make. Corporations, politicians, video bloggers, door-to-door salesmen will all try to manipulate that choice, but ultimately the power lies with you and the values you hold. You can impact this world, destroy infinite possibilities and create infinite more. So be vigilant. Understand yourself. Learn why you think in the ways you do and whether those thoughts line up with the kind of person you want to be. Because in a lonely world without inherent meaning, we have a responsibility to build our own meaning from the bottom up, through love, works, fighting for justice. Don’t let the wealthy and powerful define that meaning for you and maybe, just maybe, you can claim your freedom. After All, It’s Only Business And Business is Closed. MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

The docks had been closed for months now, its runners knee deep in one of the last and most powerful labor strikes in the city. No scab dared cross the picket line, the union bosses cold as ice and deeply respected by their allies. But as infrastructure in the city became ever more unwieldy, and liquid cash became easier than ever for the ever-larger shipping companies to dredge up, they simply didn’t need scab workers anymore. They had scab industries. Boatloads of shipping containers slowly moved from idle docks to scores of self-driving double-decker big rigs that clogged the arteries of highway travel. They moved to ever larger airshipping fleets, specializing in short-term contract deals that took up airport gates at random. They moved to new contracts demanding the receiving companies come pick it up themselves. And in special interest story after special interest story, the cable news shows mourned the losses of the average American at the hands of this noble yet thuggish strike. They didn’t need the dock workers anymore. But cutting ties wasn’t enough. They had to make it hurt. After all, It’s Only Business. Side Chatter “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

Addiction is a powerful thing. Or maybe more relevantly than addiction, the expectation of instant gratification and constant stimulation. The jury is out on just how addictive those cycles can be, and that jury may always be out, for its own concerning reasons. Children move from toy to phone to tablet and back, while adults move from phone to computer to television. These avenues have always been fine in moderation. But moderation limits profit. And always, the companies find a need, create one if necessary, and provide the solution that extracts as much value as the market can bear. And if you can claw your way to the top and buy out your competitors, it’s not the product they need anymore. It’s you. After all, It’s Only Business. MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

It was the same as it had always been. “Open enough boxes of Cracker Jack” became “use your decoder goggles,” which became “get a full set of hidden stickers,” which became “scan the right QR code.” And always for a prize that could be, but was statistically unlikely to be, a higher cost than the variable number of items purchased to earn it. A model that manipulated dopamine, cultivated a sense of wonder, and perhaps most importantly, held statistically lower volatility and risk for larger-scale operations. Yet another model that slowly, insidiously, by law of averages, moved wealth up the chain to the toy megacorporations and conglomerates that set the market’s path. But it wasn’t a bad deal for the buyer. It let parents use the money they got from working at those corporations to provide moments of happiness for their children, while paying back into the system that put food on their table. And when it comes down to it, what market need could be more important than putting a smile on a child’s face? After all, It’s only business. Side Chatter MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

Look, gunshot wounds take a while to heal, okay? After all, It’s Only Business. Side Chatter MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

Sometimes you get fucking shot. After all, It’s Only Business MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

The casino business had changed. Not as much as anyone thought it was going to, but it had changed. With the advent of the chip that changed the world, sleep no longer existed in a meaningful way for most. The night stretched on and on, with anxiety and fatigue weighing you down. The sun takes away the light, and reminds you that you are cold and alone without it. A perfect opportunity for a company to bring in optimism, hope, kind faces, good food, and a gorgeous environment free from the petty differences of day and night. You could come in and play until you lost interest or your money ran dry, and coincidentally those were the top two reasons the House would prefer you not stick around. But that was how the people changed, not the casino. The casino, on its own motivations, updated to meet the times. No more expensive upkeep of the room, or interior decorating to match what you could only hope the richest of your potential customers found appealing. Instead, an Alternate Reality display, letting all the decoration take place in your special casino glasses, guaranteed to make you look and feel and gamble like a cool person worth a lot of money. And those glasses made small changes here and there, to test you, to see what you liked, to see how your betting habits and spending increased through the connected casino interfaces. And those data could be sold to other casinos, to researchers, to advertisers, to build up the efficiency of the economic system that made society run. Everyone wins, in their own way. But mostly the House. After all. It’s Only Business. MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

There are few who would disagree that the meaning of life is more than the collection of good experiences to a degree that they maximally outweigh bad experiences. But how MUCH more? In their centuries of debating hedonism, utilitarianism, stoicism, and a hundred other worldviews, philosophers have considered the thought experiment of shaving down one’s brain to the minimum required to maintain consciousness and experience sensation, and placing it in a jar that continuously stimulates its pleasure centers until it dies a happy death. Under philosophies that maximize pleasure, they say, doing that to someone would not only be a good thing, but it might actually be a moral obligation. If pleasure is the only measure of a life well-lived, then such an absurd, destructive setup would perfect one’s life by definition. The very idea seems ridiculous. On the other hand. Pleasure sells. After all. It’s Only Business. MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

Sometimes, when you work on your own for long enough, your plans become inseparable from you, attached irreparably to the way you think. This is all well and good until the plan leaves your grasp, and others start to grapple with it, only to find that what has been created wasn’t made for them, despite that being the original point of the project. Once past the rose-colored glasses, the plan becomes riddled with failure points, uninteresting, and frustrating, not because there’s anything wrong with the perspective of the recipient, but because that perspective wasn’t fully considered. When this occurs, there’s little to do but ask your friend to cut out a LARGE amount of frustrated side talk, question your self-worth as a GM, dread the premiere of the episode, and write a pretentious introduction paragraph in the style of your other pretentious introduction paragraphs to warn the listener. After all. It’s Only GMing. My Bad. Side Chatter Puzzle Stuff MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

The cogs continued to turn, squealing under the friction of the grit placed within them, but turning nonetheless. Tired, twitching fingers fretted at the keyboard, eyes bouncing between shorthand sections of past plans. The links were there, even if a good number of the boxes were marked with a small, passive aggressive “x”. At least when part of the plan failed, it didn’t require attention. It was like tossing a ball aside while juggling; the overall effect is diminished, but what remains is more reliable, more likely to work. With Project Lachesis standing at the forefront of his workflow, mental energy was always a resource to carefully ration for a rainy day. Thunder was starting to echo on the horizon, but he continued to type, to work, to plan, to scheme. After all, It’s Only Business, But maybe one day soon, that would finally change. Side Chatter MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

Another day, another demand. The city had long since stopped paying for the upkeep of the few remaining public prisons, after years and years of shrinking budgets. Strategic privatization meant only so much of the city revenue came through the tax system, and it became politically difficult to allocate that money to the housing and well-being of people the public had been encouraged to despise. That meant that the prisons were encouraged to find “Alternate Means of Solvency”. These ranged from using modified jail cells as secure server storage, to leasing out guards as private event security, to any number of projects on which the prisoners can be put to work. As they say, “If the service you’re being offered is free, then you’re the product.” Over time, the prisons became more and more insular, with less and less oversight. Internal programs were no longer municipally investigated, as long as they brought in enough money to keep the building afloat. And it was only a matter of time before the wardens found a way to be paid under the table for NOT keeping certain cells secure. Leasable space is worth a lot in a city of millions, arguably more than the prisoners that occupy it. After all, It’s Only Business MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

Monopolies are often more complicated in the modern era than the board game would have you believe. With the size and complexity of the business incorporation space, a corporation of a certain size often needs to build both horizontal and vertical integration. A certain size above -that- often needs to start spending a great deal of money in Washington to make that expansion process go smoother. However, any self-propagating organism of sufficient size begins to have sections within it that are not aligned in function, that do not operate in pursuit of the same goals. Often these difficulties become known through some minor disaster, and the company resolves them through some small amount of money, perhaps in the hundreds of thousands. However, the more underground these parts are, and the subtler each of its parts remains, the harder it is for their interactions to come to light. And the easier it is for a corporation to stab itself in the back. After all. It’s Only Business. MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

Some days it was better than others. Today was not one of those days. Some days it was a minor annoyance at the back of his mind. Today, it felt like lightning was pouring through his nerves. Another day in the dark, fingers clutching at the remote as he scanned for something to distract him, when he knew full well that what he sought to avoid would be doing the distracting. His fingers balled into fists, even that motion betraying his frustrated gravitas by evoking a soft groan. He’d given so much of himself. He’d served his country in so many capacities, gained so many skills, saved so many lives, and ended so many more. He did things that he would never, ever confess to, even if he weren’t sworn to secrecy. And the moment those skills became obsolete, the very week that his injury removed his capacity to serve, he was discarded. Set back at home with a brief tribunal, a half-hearted salute, and a quarter of the money he needed to survive. And he was only likely to survive for so long, if nothing changed. Luckily, that’s exactly what happened. It all seemed like a blur. A man in a suit, a briefcase with a tech corporations logo on it, and promises of an experimental nervous system surgery that would make him never care about his pain again. He smiled that day. And there would never be another day that he -didn’t- face his work with a smile. Because loyalty can be a fickle thing, but sometimes, the price is high enough to earn it forever. After all. It’s Only Business. MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

[BEGIN COMMERCIAL][BEGIN MUSIC, SOURCED FROM “CALMING” AND “CALL TO ACTION” PSYCH TAGS][FADE FROM BLACK TO REVEAL CEO, VIDEO EDIT TO SOFTEN FACIAL FEATURES, CREATE WARMTH]CEO: Welcome to GeneHome. Where your legacy is assured through your contribution to science.[SWING SHOT, HALF-SMIRK TO ENSURE KNOWLEDGE AND CONFIDENCE, ADJUST LIGHTING TO PROMOTE DISSATISFACTION WITH CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES IN WATCHER]CEO: Sometimes, all it takes is five minutes to change the world. One little appointment, and your genome will be at the forefront of cutting edge genetic research. A drop of blood, a few strands of hair, and you could be solely responsible for a breakthrough that ends a disease for the world forever.[VIA LEGAL TEAM: DO NOT IMPLY THAT GENETIC ACTION IS LIMITED TO SCIENTIFIC USE][MUSIC CHANGE, SOURCED FROM “EXCITEMENT” AND “NOSTALGIA” PSYCH TAGS]CEO: And not only that, but we’ll dig through the history of your ancestors free of charge, so you can see where your genetic fingerprint began…[WINK TO INCREASE RELATABILITY]CEO: Even as it helps to push mankind into the future.[SHOW LOGO, PLAY COPYRIGHTED GENEHOME EXIT JINGLE, ADJUST LIGHTING TO RESOLVE WATCHER DISSATISFACTION]CEO: Welcome Home. Where you will -never- be forgotten.[FADE TO BLACK, END COMMERCIAL] MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

Our blood-shot eyes disguise their lies Our cries all rise up to the skies God help them when they realize Our knives arrive to end their lives They never let our city sleep They count on us to be their sheep The pens are full, the labor cheap But they’re the crops our blades will reap So now I lay me down to rest I’ll put the wires to the test When sunrays next caress the west We’ll storm the gates, resist arrest! -Excerpt from “The City that Never Sleeps”, Thinking of Summer MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

Since time immemorial, the powers that be have valued entertainment. It doesn’t only pacify the masses, leaving them blind to the injustice and the exploitation of the system that contains them. They pay for it too. This leaves the powerful to search for the most potent, resonant messages, and when those messages are revolutionary in nature, a peculiar sort of dance begins. The powers that maintain the status quo monetize the writings of those that attempt to upend it, granting a platform to forces that wish to destroy them. In their efforts to appeal to a growing societal powder keg, they sell tickets for fire-breathers. But any company with enough wealth is certainly practiced in the art of risk management. After All, It’s Only Business. MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

The conditions were perfect. Or at the very least, in the very particular setting of this tube, they were perfectly designed to accomplish what the bosses wanted. Restful, continuous, and above all, predictable sleep. It was dark. Sixty-four degrees Fahrenheit on the dot, he’d heard them say, with continuous modifications to account for his changing body heat. Not a single sound, but for his heart, his breath, and a gentle, rising and falling tone that apparently got a sleep scientist named Kostya some award. Not a Nobel, but something in that direction. Everything was perfectly calming. Except for the millimeter-thick electrode spike that skewered his bolted-down skull to regulate his hypothalamus. Still, he went over a few old airman tricks, ones crafted to get someone asleep in minutes in case that would make the difference between a failed and a successful operation. And who knew, maybe this was one of those times. He breathed in, tightening everything from the waist down before letting it go on the exhale. Then, everything between his waist and his neck. Then everything above the nec- Ouch. Then, he imagined sitting on a black velvet hammock beneath a dark sky, telling himself calmly and nonjudgmentally not to think. And as he drifted away, the first oneironaut to pierce the human psyche, he wondered how much it cost to train him to do something that had never been done. He hoped it was a lot. Because all that stood between him and whatever dangers laid beyond was PolyCorp. After all. It’s Only Business. Side Chatter Music Credits “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Players Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

The system had never specialized in long-term investment for the future. Or at least not the future of humanity. How would you justify it to the board of investors when all of the other companies are part of humanity too? What the system DID specialize in was finding a need and offering an affordable, market-valued solution. So when the sun began to beat down in the city squares, light-mitigating plastic-glass shells for public spaces became the new standard. When sea levels rose against coastal cities, damming projects arose in turn, earning self-congratulation from the corporate media for employing thousands as they put them to work to save their own cities. Of course, not every city had the pure wealth to establish these projects, so there was a period where quite a lot of people moved to the already overpopulated large cities. But that brought more opportunities and challenges for which the corporations were happy to provide market solutions. The funny thing about death spirals is that they sometimes look like a cycle of rebirth from a distance. Especially to PR representatives and marketing teams. After all. It’s only business. Side Chatter MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

The legalization and proliferation of an commercially-offered implanted brain chip, especially one that interfaced with the notoriously vital hypothalamus, was met with public outcry and legislative difficulty, to the surprise of no one. However, the surprise over the speed with which that public outcry and legislative difficulty drained away was more than enough to fill the void. First came the reports of the surgery’s success rate. Near perfect under robotic surgery, with complications occuring fast enough that the procedure could easily be abandoned. Relatively cheap to produce, even given the billions that went into its design. A high-end and a low-end version, offering options to the destitute as long as they could tolerate the fatigue that the more expensive option eliminated. A bit of political lower-case-L leverage, and workforces were offering free surgeries to new hires. The medical industry briefly soared, and sleep was all but eliminated in the American workforce, with other industrialized countries soon to come. It seems extreme for the worker, but you can’t honestly expect an employer to hire someone willing to sacrifice an entire shift of extra productivity over a bit of personal discomfort, can you? After all. It’s Only Business. Side Chatter Music Credits “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Players Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

When trying for a role in a criminal enterprise, and with the right connections, it doesn’t take much for an outsider to see results. The question is whether the results are the ones you want. Ask the right questions, and exert the right (lower-case-L) leverage, and your life is liable to change very quickly. Sometimes that puts you on a task force to change the world for the better. More often, it puts you in an unmarked hole in the ground. Sometimes, it puts you and your buddies in charge of a small warehouse, watching your bank account rising faster than normal, while waiting for your life to end faster than normal. That is, unless the bosses above you never stop perceiving you as more valuable than the people below and beside you. We all move in different routes and at different speeds, but save for the lucky few, even in hidden pieces of society, those above see us as tools for the generation of value. After all. It’s Only Business. MUSIC CREDITS “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

San Francisco is a very different place than it used to be, but not by as much as one might hope. In the near future, corporations have almost complete reign over local, state and national governance, with Silicon Valley used as a testing ground for not only new technologies, but policy born in think tanks and board meetings. In this age defined by tracking numbers, personal identification, and the less-appealing kind of cookies, the mind is the last vestige safe from the prying eyes of corporate interests. At least until all of the kinks are worked out on Project Lachesis. That said, in an age of neural networks and action-by-committee, there is still room in these corporations for individual contractors to provide a little bit of unsupervised support. However, even in the shadiest, most hidden parts of San Francisco, even for the most illegal, inhuman acts, a resume and job interview are still vital to determining whether a contractor is a good investment. After all. It’s Only Business. Music Credits “Lightless Dawn” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be. Players Greg – Andrew Burke. An aging corporate spokesman, Andrew has worked for many companies to defuse tense situations and make questionable sales pitches. After surviving cancer, a car crash and a mugging, he takes precautions to ensure that he packs a lot more than just words for when things get rough. Kevin – Isaac Soklarus. A company man, Isaac has been working for Polycorp for the last year, becoming closely entangled with their inner workings. Something of a know-it-all, he has an extensive array of knowledge and a few specialized cybernetic implants to help him through his day to day life. Matt – Kayla Fox. A late thirties ex-Silicon-Valley network engineer who started working on the black market after realizing that sexism was less rampant in the criminal sector. Molly – Pepper Abe. A short and scarred yet deathly fashionable Japanese-American woman, Pepper is almost as adept at solving problems as she is at creating them. With an entry plan to anywhere and a deep seated anger toward society her reputation is louder than she ever could be.

After a splitting of their tribe, a bunch of goblins are left to strike out for someone else to live. They reach a campground near a large, heavily forested canyon that should suit their purposes, but troubles lurk in all directions. Strange cults and dark prophecies threaten their new home and they’ll have to work hard to keep it.

Every goblin knows that when you’ve got nothing better to do, you listen to Free Guff on the only working radio station. When the day comes where he realizes he’s been broadcasting all along, he puts out a call for anyone who can provide him with music; CDs, records, instruments, anything that can play a tune. As the only goblin band to ever understand the concept of music before now, this could be their one and only chance to make it big!

The Rowdy Riders are a band of goblins known for two things: riding on something and doing anything for pay. To go through with a trade, the Riders are hired to escort a truck full of explosives to its destination, hoping that thieves, mutants and the local Redcap problem don’t blow them up (or stop them from getting paid).

Another year, another Gen Con.  Our largest party so far traveled to Indianapolis and all have stories to tell of steps walked, games played, and unusual botanical liquors consumed.

<Welcome to Fame, unid_user_022_error! For a low subscription fee, re-skin your AR overlays with a constantly rotating selection based on the hottest new stars and their work!> //Forum: Neo-Idoru Interests, Sub-Forum: FW-48 Topic: Sightings and Location (Pinned) Ratboy_AF: Can confirm at least two on Locus. Flash concert near the Amoeba, spinward from the body bank. Check my feed for XP, just remember to toss me some rep. <link> Genzo: No way… who? Ratboy_AF: Etoile from Guerre Rogue and Aurora Gorealis. AG’s got some weird morph… Illaria.Bee: What are those two doing? My muse tells me they haven’t performed together before. New crossover stuff? Genzo: I hope not. I hate it when singers get all political. I hear enough of that crap from my terraform-wallah dad. Ratboy_AF: After the show, they hung around for a bit and then went to Xu’s greenhouse. AG posted something about a Swedish onion or something? Not really sure, but you know how she is. Illaria.Bee: Oh, for the love of… Ratboy_AF: But that’s where I lost track. I heard they were going to Casa Arturo, but no luck there when I pinged a friend. Said they took their ship and burned out Beltward Side Chatter MUSIC CREDITS Music from https://filmmusic.io“Half Mystery” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Josh – Aurora Gorealis – A horror-punk idol with a mysterious past. Rumors on the Eye speculate she’s a member of the Lost Generation, and her preferences for Faust morphs do nothing to quell them Max – Guerre Rouge. Former Earth survivor, currently sleeved in a bouncer. Aurora Gorealis – A horror-punk idol with a mysterious past. Rumors on the Eye speculate she’s a member of the Lost Generation, and her preferences for Faust morphs do nothing to quell them

<Excerpt from I-Chat, Private Channel: Interproxy Discussions, Miscellaneous> Kanawa: They calling it FW-48? FW? j0benz: I mean, strictly speaking, there are an almost limitless combination of things that acronym could mean. Even if you restrict yourself to those languages that use the Greek alphabet, ignoring other languages’ uses of the “fuh” and “wuh” phonemes- Kanawa: I get it, but don’t you think that’s cutting it a little close? Especially since they’re all field operatives? Percussive: It’s worked out so far. Fame covers a multitude of sins. Deep_Moss_Green: Someone’s eventually going to cotton to the fact that these folks tend to show up in just the right places at just the right times. Especially if we have any “repeat customers” with any sort of opposition research. Percussive: That’s a fair consideration, I’ll allow. MMing: I have a meeting with two of them in an hour – re: Operation PANTHEON RAINFOREST. Just some nosing around after a missing Crow, and they’re already in the theater. I’ll let you all know how it goes. MUSIC CREDITS Music from https://filmmusic.io“Half Mystery” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) PLAYERS Josh – Etoile Cipher. A pirate radio idol/broadcaster working with the Barsoomian Movement to ensure a Free Mars with her x-cast Max – Guerre Rouge. Former Earth survivor, currently sleeved in a bouncer. Aurora Gorealis – A horror-punk idol with a mysterious past. Rumors on the Eye speculate she’s a member of the Lost Generation, and her preferences for Faust morphs do nothing to quell them

The following is a pamphlet recovered from the locker of a Tau soldier killed in action during naval engagement. The Tau ship was presumed en-route to Bellom to engage Astra Militarum forces. “While Bellom may seem of little use to us, scorched though it is, both the agents of the Tau race and of our other brethren who follow the Tau’Va can rest assured that the world’s sordid history and the great focus placed on it by the Imperium underline its importance to our greater cause. Our greatest minds are prepared to engage with the knowledge that will be secured by you, our greatest hands. Steel yourself for the relentless waves of expendable men that will be callously launched against the firepower of our forces, and know that any losses, tragic though every one may be, serve the Greater Good. Through the Tau’va, we will protect the galaxy from the selfishness of those who dominate it, and through the Tau’va, all sacrifices are made worthy and live on forever. For the Greater Good.” Side Chatter Binary Stars follows the tales of the Deathwatch. Seconded from the most elite martial units of the Imperium, the Deathwatch are the chamber militant of the Ordo Xenos, the Inquisitorial branch granted nearly unlimited power to fight overt and covert alien threats to mankind. Dropped into the middle of a decades-long multiple-front stalemate, the soldiers of the Deathwatch face threats that could break the dwindling strength of the Achilus Crusade and seek opportunities to finally break out in kind. MUSIC CREDITS Industrial Revolution MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults.Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary.  A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman.  Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath.Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life.Danielle – Tyche.  A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target.Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.

What follows is a partially decoded transcript of a message intercepted between previously unknown Eldar agents operating on Bellom. The veracity of the claims or even existence of the Eldar is as yet unconfirmed but assumed to be true. From Farseer Aeglen for the ears of Pathfinder Sobir- Static lasting 22 seconds -tell me your mission is going well. Bellom remains central in my thoughts, clouded though they are. What lies behind the veils surrounding the (Ozainas?) Prophecy gives all indications to Bellom. Both the Mon’Keigh and the Tau are already in competition, and knowing their plans is- static lasting 13 seconds -orders are to remain on-world and observe. Be extremely wary for any sign- static lasting 6 seconds– fate of the craftworld and perhaps the entire galaxy. Side Chatter Binary Stars follows the tales of the Deathwatch. Seconded from the most elite martial units of the Imperium, the Deathwatch are the chamber militant of the Ordo Xenos, the Inquisitorial branch granted nearly unlimited power to fight overt and covert alien threats to mankind. Dropped into the middle of a decades-long multiple-front stalemate, the soldiers of the Deathwatch face threats that could break the dwindling strength of the Achilus Crusade and seek opportunities to finally break out in kind. MUSIC CREDITS Industrial Revolution MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults.Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary.  A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman.  Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath.Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life.Danielle – Tyche.  A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target.Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.

Log of Captain Hepatia, Sword-Class Frigate Alexandria 125.817.M41 2032 Hours Operational Theater: Rheelas We have been engaged with Stigmartus ship elements for 4 hours, the majority of the time with only visual communication. Contact with the ground has been extremely limited, and battle order has been difficult to maintain. Despite numerical superiority, we have been unable to press our advantage, and while there is no apparent communication between enemy ships, they are operating according to a seeming existing plan. This should be considered a priority one development, as it is extremely atypical for Stigmartus forces. Contact has finally been reestablished with Astartes fleet elements via direct light (I will be submitting a commendation recommendation for this development). If the emperor wills it, we will be able to force the fleet back within 6 standard hours. I am troubled, however, as I’m receiving report of changing star maps consistent with a Type 4 Chaos anomaly… Side Chatter Binary Stars follows the tales of the Deathwatch. Seconded from the most elite martial units of the Imperium, the Deathwatch are the chamber militant of the Ordo Xenos, the Inquisitorial branch granted nearly unlimited power to fight overt and covert alien threats to mankind. Dropped into the middle of a decades-long multiple-front stalemate, the soldiers of the Deathwatch face threats that could break the dwindling strength of the Achilus Crusade and seek opportunities to finally break out in kind. MUSIC CREDITS Industrial Revolution MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults.Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary.  A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman.  Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath.Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life.Danielle – Tyche.  A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target.Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.

Conflict Report In Progress of Captain Roman, Ultramarines 125.817.M41 1946 Hours Operational Theater: Rheelas 1-Unsuccessful attempt to coordinate actions with Storm Wardens and Salamanders (see report D-RHE1982, Unsuccessful diplomacy attempt preceding Rheelas conflict Gamma) 2- Enacted joint operation with Deathwatch Squad, successfully assaulting previous seat of power on Rheelas utilizing modified Aquila assault Phi-9 (see report OOB-RHE31029, Order of Battle Rheelas conflict Gamma) 3- Established standard Bulwark Alpha 10 defensive protocols, with addition of armor elements. (See report OOB-RHE31029) 4- Communications with Imperial Forces, when available, considered reliable to only 81%, with 9% chance of outright deception. 5- Massive counterattack expected within 3 standard hours. All brothers ordered to status yellow until contact beyond probing attacks detected. Adversary still unidentified, intentions unknown Side Chatter Binary Stars follows the tales of the Deathwatch. Seconded from the most elite martial units of the Imperium, the Deathwatch are the chamber militant of the Ordo Xenos, the Inquisitorial branch granted nearly unlimited power to fight overt and covert alien threats to mankind. Dropped into the middle of a decades-long multiple-front stalemate, the soldiers of the Deathwatch face threats that could break the dwindling strength of the Achilus Crusade and seek opportunities to finally break out in kind. MUSIC CREDITS Industrial Revolution MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults.Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary.  A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman.  Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath.Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life.Danielle – Tyche.  A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target.Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.

Final Transcribed Transmission of Land Raider Izod, designated transport of Captain Tobias 125.817.M41 1827 Hours Operational Theater: Rheelas Tobias: “Squad Alpha, get me a visual on the other side of that grain depot. If we lose the rations, we’re looking at a thousand rebels turned to a million. Igneous, give me a report on the–” A loud crash is heard, along with the sound of ceramite on ceramite collision within the hold Tobias: “Commander Brazen, status report!” The sound of movements, metal on metal, and other activity can be heard Brazen: “Sir, the engine is running and we’re not moving. Reporting… Magnetic field of… 200 Teslas! An industrial magnet? The decking itself is shearing apart around us. Structural integrity sound, locomotion ineffective. Diverting power to locomotion. The sound of an extremely large motor can be heard growing rapid from undetermined location outside Land Raider Tobias: What is… BRACE! Transmission peaks with impact noises for 1.7 seconds, followed 3 seconds later by the sound of submersion. No further audio evidence of life in Izod. Izod: “Automated transmission system of Land Raider Izod activated. Hull punctured in… 32 places. Depth at 100- 110- 120 and counting meters below sea level. Locomotion ineffective, assumed destroyed. Life support inactive. Weapons functional. Depth at 200 meters and counting. Awaiting bottom impact. Assumed time until emergence from ocean based on topography: 9999 hours. Praise the Emperor. Message will repeat.” Contact ceased before message could repeat. Land Raider assumed lost with all souls aboard. A grave loss for our chapter. Side Chatter Binary Stars follows the tales of the Deathwatch. Seconded from the most elite martial units of the Imperium, the Deathwatch are the chamber militant of the Ordo Xenos, the Inquisitorial branch granted nearly unlimited power to fight overt and covert alien threats to mankind. Dropped into the middle of a decades-long multiple-front stalemate, the soldiers of the Deathwatch face threats that could break the dwindling strength of the Achilus Crusade and seek opportunities to finally break out in kind. MUSIC CREDITS Industrial Revolution MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults.Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary.  A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman.  Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath.Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life.Danielle – Tyche.  A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target.Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.

Pre-Battle Report of Captain Alister Mac Lir125.787.M41 1813 Hours Operational Theater: Rheelas The meeting with the Salamanders and Ultramarines has amounted to little but wasted operational time and a foul taste in my mouth. However, the presence of the Deathwatch, and the fact that a fellow brother ranks among them, is encouraging. No Xenos shall stand against us, and the habitual over-cautiousness of the other chapters will not hinder us any further. My honor guard and myself are en route to the city-ship Esmerelda, where we will pluck this infestation root and stem, by whatever means necessary. By the tribes of Sacris, our will be done. Side Chatter Binary Stars follows the tales of the Deathwatch. Seconded from the most elite martial units of the Imperium, the Deathwatch are the chamber militant of the Ordo Xenos, the Inquisitorial branch granted nearly unlimited power to fight overt and covert alien threats to mankind. Dropped into the middle of a decades-long multiple-front stalemate, the soldiers of the Deathwatch face threats that could break the dwindling strength of the Achilus Crusade and seek opportunities to finally break out in kind. MUSIC CREDITS Industrial Revolution MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults.Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary.  A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman.  Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath.Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life.Danielle – Tyche.  A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target.Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.

From the desk of Inquisitor Ulysses Wright 125.787.M41 1357 Hours In Transit to Hestus, Jericho Reach [Achilus Crusade] Lord-Captain Incanus Gilden, Rogue Trader: I write this to you mere moments before we enter transit, this very temporary delay only justified by the potential inexcusable loss of Rheelas. I have deployed a Deathwatch Kill-Team to aid against incursion by unknown Xenos on the planet’s surface, and cannot wait to resolve the situation. Please make haste to collect them immediately afterward, and have them brought to the Death World of Bellom at greatest possible speed. As per usual, an agent entrusted by myself can be safely assumed to traffick in nothing of danger to the Imperium, and your mission and related dealings will be expedited at the highest possible speeds, including customs checks. Please also provide all pertinent expertise in Xenos artifacts. With Commendation, Ulysses Wright Binary Stars follows the tales of the Deathwatch. Seconded from the most elite martial units of the Imperium, the Deathwatch are the chamber militant of the Ordo Xenos, the Inquisitorial branch granted nearly unlimited power to fight overt and covert alien threats to mankind. Dropped into the middle of a decades-long multiple-front stalemate, the soldiers of the Deathwatch face threats that could break the dwindling strength of the Achilus Crusade and seek opportunities to finally break out in kind. MUSIC CREDITS Industrial Revolution MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults.Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary.  A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman.  Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath.Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life.Danielle – Tyche.  A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target.Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.

There comes a time in one’s life where you need to look at the decisions that you’ve made, and decide that enough is enough. That just because you’ve spent a great deal of time and effort pursuing something, that alone does not mean that you should continue without purpose, or with misguided purpose. There is a great bravery, I believe, to certain forms of failure, to certain forms of concession, those that cause you to grow in the process, and lead to further success. If one spends their entire life, shortens it even, in the name of a single, unenviable and wrong-headed ethic, then they have written their own epitaph long before their time has come. The drive to persist, to continue, is written deep into the fabric of the human ethos, but doomed is the starving man that walks unstoppably and inexorably toward the center of the desert. That is why, Dear Diary, I believe our time is at an end. You have chronicled my failings dutifully, and it is time for me to find the truth in them, rather than persist foolishly. May that gun one day melt in the fires of Hell. -Recovered from a dust-stained page in the diary of an unnamed debt collector, written late August, 1877 MUSIC CREDITS In the West Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS Greg – Guillaume Olivier. Canadian hunter and fur trapper. He’s a large and jolly man, but behind that carefully groomed beard is a man who’s slain bears with a bowie knife. Guillaume feels that he has conquered the North, so he has moved to the U.S. to see if he can find a challenge worthy of his strength. When he’s not seeking thrills against dangerous opponents, he’s drinking and telling tall tales about himself to anyone who will listen.Kevin – Gabriel Young. Sixty-three and loving it, Gabriel Young has seen the world change in almost every way. Formerly enslaved in Georgia, he and his family fled north to Boston, where he found work as a machinist and eventually joined the Union Army as war broke out. After the supernatural horrors of Gettysburg, he started to develop a talent for the new science, finding work as a freelancer amid the constant troubles of the fractured former United States. Now a widower with an adult son deeply involved in the clandestine activities of the Agency, he has left behind the East to seek adventure and insight in the West.Axe – Wilhelmina “Mina” Saltonstall – An intense, somewhat slight woman nearing thirty and almost always clad in the mysterious black duster of the Union Agency. Tarnished by the sorcerous legacy of her now-forgotten family, she puts her skills in the Huckster’s arts to use keeping the Union safe and prosperous.Josh – Clem. An enigmatic, sharpshooting, wisecracking teenager from the Confederacy. Ran off with a very expensive rifle, and now the Confederacy wants it back.Susan – Artemisia “Missy” Weston. She is a well to do lady of 27 from upstate New York who has come west after receiving her portion of an inheritance seeking adventure. Having expensive taste is okay when you have the money to back it up. She has a plethora of skills; sewing, surgery, a silver tongue, and soliciting spirits. You know, just girly things. A secret family past with the dead haunts her every decision for how to approach the problems she faces

As the cruel winter subsides, one last cold front moves in to rock Upper Minnesota.  Will our intrepid entrepreneurs be able to cross the perilous roads and find their target, or will the cruel wheels of fate smash them into the pavement? This is part of an ongoing interpodcast series.  This episode can be consumed on its own but the greater archives of RM10k Lakes as well as the setting summary can be found here.  Apologies also for the audio quality this episode. Side Chatter PLAYERS Ian – Tora. A samurai wannabe who may be more than she appears. (She/Her) Sean – Stitches. A Black Math paramedic. (He/Him)David – Longshot. A dispossessed Canadian that hasn’t let the apocalypse ruin his good nature…even if he has to kill you. (He/Him)

There comes a time in every notable life when one must choose to use their strengths to pursue either wealth or their convictions. With luck, one might find the former while chasing the latter, but the latter almost always dissipates in the search for the former. And so it is with my work; Do I build to change war, change peace, change work, change leisure, and in doing so, become a titan of industry? Or do I do what I can to seek answers to the most fundamental questions at the heart of mankind, those that one asks shivering in the darkness when the light of day has absconded with life’s distractions? Is there a God? If there is, He is much crueler than we could have ever imagined. Is there life after death? Assuredly so, as the survivors of the risen Gettysburg Cemetery can attest. Can one return unscathed to the ones they left far, far too soon? I’m damn well going to find out. The secrets of our fragile, unraveling reality are buried deeper than we have ever thought to dig. But just as our species used its intellect to cease the fumbling of our fingernails against the unyielding earth, so too shall we use the fruits of this New Science to uncover the bounty below. And anyone who tries to stop me shall become track for my wheels, and fuel for my fire. My love, you departed believing that my work pulled me from you. It will be the final thing to reunite us. This I swear. -Document recovered at great difficulty from the home of Darius Hellstromme, mid-August, 1877 MUSIC CREDITS In the West Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS Greg – Guillaume Olivier. Canadian hunter and fur trapper. He’s a large and jolly man, but behind that carefully groomed beard is a man who’s slain bears with a bowie knife. Guillaume feels that he has conquered the North, so he has moved to the U.S. to see if he can find a challenge worthy of his strength. When he’s not seeking thrills against dangerous opponents, he’s drinking and telling tall tales about himself to anyone who will listen.Kevin – Gabriel Young. Sixty-three and loving it, Gabriel Young has seen the world change in almost every way. Formerly enslaved in Georgia, he and his family fled north to Boston, where he found work as a machinist and eventually joined the Union Army as war broke out. After the supernatural horrors of Gettysburg, he started to develop a talent for the new science, finding work as a freelancer amid the constant troubles of the fractured former United States. Now a widower with an adult son deeply involved in the clandestine activities of the Agency, he has left behind the East to seek adventure and insight in the West.Axe – Wilhelmina “Mina” Saltonstall – An intense, somewhat slight woman nearing thirty and almost always clad in the mysterious black duster of the Union Agency. Tarnished by the sorcerous legacy of her now-forgotten family, she puts her skills in the Huckster’s arts to use keeping the Union safe and prosperous.Josh – Clem. An enigmatic, sharpshooting, wisecracking teenager from the Confederacy. Ran off with a very expensive rifle, and now the Confederacy wants it back.Susan – Artemisia “Missy” Weston. She is a well to do lady of 27 from upstate New York who has come west after receiving her portion of an inheritance seeking adventure. Having expensive taste is okay when you have the money to back it up. She has a plethora of skills; sewing, surgery, a silver tongue, and soliciting spirits. You know, just girly things. A secret family past with the dead haunts her every decision for how to approach the problems she faces

The residents of New Hamar have a need for steel and other materials and while their convoys are quite capable of carrying things out, their convoy and their own drivers are less expendable than the bounty they currently hold. A storm brews in upper Minnesota. Will our takers be able to make it rain, or will they get washed away in deluge? This is part of an ongoing interpodcast series.  This episode can be consumed on its own but the greater archives of RM10k Lakes as well as the setting summary can be found here.   Side Chatter PLAYERS Ethan C. – Taxey. A street tough hustler/rapper with a new baby and a new purpose. (He/Him) Greg – NRG. A hustling mechanic with a husband, an adopted son, a cute dog, and crippling debt. (He/Him) Ian – Tora. A samurai wannabe who may be more than she appears. (She/Her)

From the desk of Inquisitor Ulysses Wright 093.787.M41 0400 Hours Watch Station Erioch, Jericho Reach [Achilus Crusade] Inquisitor Lord Concordia: Arrangements have been made for the assignment of one [1] 5 member Deathwatch Kill-Team to my command. I am confident that their unique skill-sets and operational freedom make them ideal for the purposes we last discussed. Now please remit the necessary funds and materiel outlined in my last requisition order. I erroneously received a response indicating that you had denied my request for assets contributing to the likelihood of success of an operation vital to the course of the entire Achilus Crusade. While the recollections of the sordid events of our last mutual operation off the Hadex Anomaly trouble my sleep and I debate reporting them, I am confident that with the arrival of my requisition, the recollections will be pushed from my mind entirely. With Vigilance, Ulysses Wright   Side Chatter Binary Stars follows the tales of the Deathwatch. Seconded from the most elite martial units of the Imperium, the Deathwatch are the chamber militant of the Ordo Xenos, the Inquisitorial branch granted nearly unlimited power to fight overt and covert alien threats to mankind. Dropped into the middle of a decades-long multiple-front stalemate, the soldiers of the Deathwatch face threats that could break the dwindling strength of the Achilus Crusade and seek opportunities to finally break out in kind. Music Credits Industrial Revolution MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults.Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary.  A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman.  Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath.Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life.Danielle – Tyche.  A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target.Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.

Agency Internal Dossier TOP SECRET – US EYES ONLY Verification Code 2-15-19-19-B Subject: Dr. Darius Hellstromme, Multiple Degrees, Multiple Universities Author: “Tom Bondsley”, Field Agent Alright, here’s where the (alleged) spy work gets tricky. There’s any number of fictionalized accounts of Hellstromme’s life and upbringing, ranging from him being some kind of heaven-sent angel of technology and war to him secretly being one of his own automatons, looking to fill the world with beings like him. To be frank, I don’t think he needs to be an automaton to do that, his college is doing perfectly fine at it by their own mundane means. Anyway, as near as I can tell, here’s the procedure of events. He was born to a poor London family in the 1820s, and was recommended to the military engineers by his factory-owning uncle. From there, he went off to India, and… something happened that changed his outlook on the use of technology. I’ve lost three men so far trying to figure out what. I think one of them is oiling a set of gears somewhere now. Either way, he came out to these parts, chasing the smell of ghost rock. And I get the feeling that between The West and him, one is going to end up killing the other before the rock runs dry. MUSIC CREDITS: In The West Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS Greg – Guillaume Olivier. Canadian hunter and fur trapper. He’s a large and jolly man, but behind that carefully groomed beard is a man who’s slain bears with a bowie knife. Guillaume feels that he has conquered the North, so he has moved to the U.S. to see if he can find a challenge worthy of his strength. When he’s not seeking thrills against dangerous opponents, he’s drinking and telling tall tales about himself to anyone who will listen.Kevin – Gabriel Young. Sixty-three and loving it, Gabriel Young has seen the world change in almost every way. Formerly enslaved in Georgia, he and his family fled north to Boston, where he found work as a machinist and eventually joined the Union Army as war broke out. After the supernatural horrors of Gettysburg, he started to develop a talent for the new science, finding work as a freelancer amid the constant troubles of the fractured former United States. Now a widower with an adult son deeply involved in the clandestine activities of the Agency, he has left behind the East to seek adventure and insight in the West.Axe – Wilhelmina “Mina” Saltonstall – An intense, somewhat slight woman nearing thirty and almost always clad in the mysterious black duster of the Union Agency. Tarnished by the sorcerous legacy of her now-forgotten family, she puts her skills in the Huckster’s arts to use keeping the Union safe and prosperous.Josh – Clem. An enigmatic, sharpshooting, wisecracking teenager from the Confederacy. Ran off with a very expensive rifle, and now the Confederacy wants it back.Susan – Artemisia “Missy” Weston. She is a well to do lady of 27 from upstate New York who has come west after receiving her portion of an inheritance seeking adventure. Having expensive taste is okay when you have the money to back it up. She has a plethora of skills; sewing, surgery, a silver tongue, and soliciting spirits. You know, just girly things. A secret family past with the dead haunts her every decision for how to approach the problems she faces

Things were nice and peaceful in the goblins’ village. They lived on the remains of a human summer camp, enjoying their moldy leftovers and abandoned cabins. Their simple lives are disrupted when a tiny robot throws a poster on their wall offering fabulous prizes for those who can brave “Gameshow Planet,” the crumbling old tv studio that used to hold all sorts of ridiculous human contests. Three of their boldest goblins take it upon themselves to prove that they have what it takes to earn their prizes, dodge deadly traps, scale collapsing sets, and learn the identity of the mysterious Mr. Springtime that hosts these sadistic games. Side Chatter PLAYERS Matt – Boomboom Dynamite the Karate Master.  A loudmouth Karate Expert who studied the human art of pro wrestling to mimic their moves and rallying rants about title shots. Kevin – Nerdo the Hero.  The cool and steady Hero who’s a local legend in these parts. Always looking slick with his prop katana, sunglasses and oversized trench coat. Greg – Caution the Shootamancer. A jolly gun-toting Shootomancer who acts as the half-witted heart of the team.

Another day in the upper ten thousand lakes, another potential dollar for the enterprising crew of Freelance, a taker group that has made a name for itself in many ways, most of them bad.  A few new takers enter the fold and a few old ones come about to help the expanding business of Meadow Lands, the residents of which are looking to get into the business of more than simple farming. This is part of an ongoing interpodcast series.  This episode can be consumed on its own but the greater archives of RM10k Lakes can be found here. Side Chatter PLAYERS Ray – Colt. Combat medic who can gun two ways. (They/Them) Chris – Allensworth. A combat medic who has gunned two ways. Ian – Tora. A samurai wannabe who may be more than she appears. (She/Her) Nick – Pulse.  An undercover operative for StopLoss out to help them hunt immunes. Sean F. – Stitches. A Black Math paramedic looking to spread his own gospel.

Agency Internal Dossier TOP SECRET – US EYES ONLY Verification Code 2-15-19-19-A Subject: Dr. Darius Hellstromme, Multiple Degrees, Multiple Universities Author: “Tom Bondsley”, Field Agent Well, here we are. I’m sure we have a million documents on this man, but I was assigned to study all the thousand scientists in his hellhole, and I’m not going to receive a reprimand because I missed the obvious one, [EXPLETIVE REMOVED] it. Hellstromme. The boss man. The head honcho. The king of the hill. The [MULTIPLE CLICHES REMOVED]. Sometimes it seems like in a hundred ways, he’s one step away from ruling the world. He’s the frontrunner in the Rail Wars, except that he needs to link through the territory of two men that despise him. He could build devices that save humanity from illness and pain, but he prefers to make weapons of war. And he could easily give any nation a firm challenge on the battlefield, but he seems uninterested in war itself, except for how it could make him money. He could run a uniquely powerful territory with all that money, but he seems completely uninterested in political power, except in how it provides him freedom. But freedom to do what? the future is unknown to us, so we have to look at the past. More on that next report. REPORT CONTINUED IN CODE 2-15-19-19-B MUSIC CREDITS: In The West Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS Greg – Guillaume Olivier. Canadian hunter and fur trapper. He’s a large and jolly man, but behind that carefully groomed beard is a man who’s slain bears with a bowie knife. Guillaume feels that he has conquered the North, so he has moved to the U.S. to see if he can find a challenge worthy of his strength. When he’s not seeking thrills against dangerous opponents, he’s drinking and telling tall tales about himself to anyone who will listen.Kevin – Gabriel Young. Sixty-three and loving it, Gabriel Young has seen the world change in almost every way. Formerly enslaved in Georgia, he and his family fled north to Boston, where he found work as a machinist and eventually joined the Union Army as war broke out. After the supernatural horrors of Gettysburg, he started to develop a talent for the new science, finding work as a freelancer amid the constant troubles of the fractured former United States. Now a widower with an adult son deeply involved in the clandestine activities of the Agency, he has left behind the East to seek adventure and insight in the West.Axe – Wilhelmina “Mina” Saltonstall – An intense, somewhat slight woman nearing thirty and almost always clad in the mysterious black duster of the Union Agency. Tarnished by the sorcerous legacy of her now-forgotten family, she puts her skills in the Huckster’s arts to use keeping the Union safe and prosperous.Josh – Clem. An enigmatic, sharpshooting, wisecracking teenager from the Confederacy. Ran off with a very expensive rifle, and now the Confederacy wants it back.Susan – Artemisia “Missy” Weston. She is a well to do lady of 27 from upstate New York who has come west after receiving her portion of an inheritance seeking adventure. Having expensive taste is okay when you have the money to back it up. She has a plethora of skills; sewing, surgery, a silver tongue, and soliciting spirits. You know, just girly things. A secret family past with the dead haunts her every decision for how to approach the problems she faces

Just in time for the Holiday Season, enjoy this exploration of goblin holidays with some very tired people on the last day of Gen Con.

In the year 755 of the 41st Millenium, in the Calixis sector, on a routine visit with Rogue Trader Blain Arcadius, the navy frigate Spear of Tarsus made a discovery that would change the course of a trillion lives. On an emergency exit from a warp trip through the heart of Imperial territory, their astropath immediately collapsed frothing at the mouth, the auto-recorder recording a single phrase: “The unravelling is begun.” On further investigation, the Spear of Tarsus found a station, a ring kilometers in length, of unknown xenos architecture and purpose. After years of careful study, the station was activated, opening a stable portal to a region of space isolated for thousands of years by warp storms: The Jericho Reach. The Jericho gate, connecting to the center of Imperial territory, presents one of the greatest threats or opportunities yet encountered to mankind. In the year 777, 22 years after initial discovery, the High Lords of Terra issued the official decree secretly authorizing the Achilus Crusade, under the command of Imperial Warmaster Tiber Achilus. Striking forth, he found early success, securing the “Iron Collar”, a near-impenetrable series of Imperium-sympathetic worlds that were quickly conquered, fortified, and turned into staging areas for further strikes. However, the early victories were quickly followed by failures. To the galactic southeast, the Tau empire, having assimilated many formerly human worlds into their system-spanning organization for the “Greater Good”, slowed the crusade. To the east, spewing forth from the Hades anomaly, demonic influences and aligned forces, the Stigmartus, threaten to corrupt or overwhelm the crusade. And in 786, a mere 9 years into the crusade, Tiber Achilus is lost forever during a routine warp voyage within the Iron Collar. His successor, Solomon Tetrarchus, has been in charge of the crusade for 31 grueling years. In 812, 26 years into his command, Tetrarchus reorganized the crusade into three distinct entities. The Canis Salient, led by commander Ebongrave, would engage the Tau. The Acheros Salient, currently under the command of Duchess Magratha Von Karlack, would engage the Stigmartus army emerging from the Hades anomaly. And the Orpheus salient to the galactic north, under general Mikal Curas, sought to reunite the easily broken and sympathetic worlds therein. While the other salients settled into a long stalement, the Orpheus salient was successful, advancing quickly, until the shadows of new foe, the unknowable biological hordes of the Tyranids, crashed into the front, pushing it back slowly and steadily. The fate of dozens of worlds remain entirely unknown. The year is 817. The Achilus Crusade has raged for 40 years. In these troubled times, the Ordo Xenos, the arm of the inquisition with ultimate authority and duty to face all alien threats to mankind, operates among the crusade, pursuing goals that may save a million lives or doom an entire fleet in a heartbeat. Their greatest warriors, the Deathwatch, are drawn from the ranks of the Space Marine chapters, genetically engineered warrior-monks, armed with the greatest implements of war the Imperium can muster. And on Watch Station Erioch, the millenia-old fortress of the Deathwatch in the Jericho Reach, a new killteam is ordered… Side Chatter PLAYERS James – Zaphiel. A Dark Angel Consecrator, split in devotion between the Sixteen Laws of the Cult Mechanicus, the retrieval and protection of artifacts to protect humanity in both body and culture, and the teachings of the fallen Chapter Master, Lion El’Jonson. A nigh-invincible man-machine, he serves the Golden Throne with both lore and firepower, forming the bulwark at the foundation of the fire-team’s assaults. Matt – Michael. Ultramarine Apothecary.  A veteran of the First Tyrannic War and a follower of the holy Codex Astartes penned by Ultramarine founder Roboute Guilliman.  Led in devotion to the protection of the Imperium from existential threats that its populace need not know and its other forces unfit to fight, it is his duty to keep his brothers fighting until his last breath. Max – Hixus. A recalcitrant Librarian of the Carcharadons. While their vanishing traces and echoing legacies lead many to believe they were a myth the unearthly void hunters of the Carcharadons are proven to exist by the Hixus’s cryo survival amongst the space hulk of his patrol’s ship. Tall (even for a space marine), quiet, and uncomfortably calculating he continues to show the brutality and cunning of his chapters whims, fighting for the Ordos Xenos in place of the direction his shattered life has lost. Now in this perplexing anachronistic world he still finds himself driven with his mastery of the warp and penchant for silently disposing of those not worthy of life. Danielle – Tyche.  A decorated and devoted Sister of Battle haunted by her latest experience in the warp. Her obsessive hatred of demons made her unfocused in battle, prompting her Abbess to choose her as the first Adepta Sororitas to accompany a Deathwatch Kill-Team, the only place her fury would be guaranteed a target. Axe – Ramsay Mac Cuin. Veteran of twenty years of tank battles in Achilus Crusade and Tactical Marine of the mysterious Storm Wardens chapter. Gregarious and proud, he considers each engagement to be a step on the path to perfect understanding of war. While willing to defer to specialists, his broad knowledge base and knack for leadership make him a perfect fit for Kill-Team Commander, or so he believes.

Dear Diary, what am I doing here? In the name of pride, I find myself eating soot for breakfast, having failed a recovery even when I knew full well the target’s location. But it’s not simply shame in my heart. This place instills a sort of misery in you, a feeling of running in circles, just like every wagon wheel and damnably grinding gear in this creativity-prospector’s languishing silver mine. A cleverly hidden boot flask is enough to keep my walls standing, but the futility is crashing against them more like waves than enemy action, more like a force of nature than a strike to anticipate. The exhilaration of discovery, the prospect of making one’s fortune, I’m certain these distract, but in this town more than any other… It seems only a matter of time before it asks more of you than you can offer. And one way or another, there’s no escaping when your debt comes due. -Recovered from a cognac-stained page in the diary of an unnamed debt collector, written mid-August, 1877 MUSIC CREDITS: In The West Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Side Chatter PLAYERS Greg – Guillaume Olivier. Canadian hunter and fur trapper. He’s a large and jolly man, but behind that carefully groomed beard is a man who’s slain bears with a bowie knife. Guillaume feels that he has conquered the North, so he has moved to the U.S. to see if he can find a challenge worthy of his strength. When he’s not seeking thrills against dangerous opponents, he’s drinking and telling tall tales about himself to anyone who will listen. Kevin – Gabriel Young. Sixty-three and loving it, Gabriel Young has seen the world change in almost every way. Formerly enslaved in Georgia, he and his family fled north to Boston, where he found work as a machinist and eventually joined the Union Army as war broke out. After the supernatural horrors of Gettysburg, he started to develop a talent for the new science, finding work as a freelancer amid the constant troubles of the fractured former United States. Now a widower with an adult son deeply involved in the clandestine activities of the Agency, he has left behind the East to seek adventure and insight in the West. Axe – Wilhelmina “Mina” Saltonstall – An intense, somewhat slight woman nearing thirty and almost always clad in the mysterious black duster of the Union Agency. Tarnished by the sorcerous legacy of her now-forgotten family, she puts her skills in the Huckster’s arts to use keeping the Union safe and prosperous. Josh – Clem. An enigmatic, sharpshooting, wisecracking teenager from the Confederacy. Ran off with a very expensive rifle, and now the Confederacy wants it back. Susan – Artemisia “Missy” Weston. She is a well to do lady of 27 from upstate New York who has come west after receiving her portion of an inheritance seeking adventure. Having expensive taste is okay when you have the money to back it up. She has a plethora of skills; sewing, surgery, a silver tongue, and soliciting spirits. You know, just girly things. A secret family past with the dead haunts her every decision for how to approach the problems she faces

GOBBLIN IS NOW LIVE ON DTRPG!  BUY MY BOOK! This is the story of the goblins from one of the villages of Mudhole. There are many Mudholes out there, and this is one pretty interchangeable with the rest. One evening, there was a knock at their cabin door.  The goblins are charged with taking a “magic ring of great importance” that will save hundreds of goblin lives. This could be the opportunity to do what few goblins have done before: be useful and care about other goblins. Failing that, the local chief will have plenty of bribes and/or threats to throw at them to force them into saving the world.  Will they finish their quest?  Will they remember they have a quest to begin with?  Listen in and find out!

Innistrad is not a place of life. It’s colors are deep and dismal, it’s people sturdy and sullen. But there are times of triumph. Singular times that stand out as proof that this doesn’t need to be the way things are. The world is not black and white. The harvest moon has begun to set. A new chapter is left for the outland valleys, a place even those from Stensia thought inhospitable. And for those brave enough to change the world; They find a need to change along with it. MUSIC CREDITS: Dark Walk Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Conrad Starkherz – Paladin: An inquisitor of the Avacynian church, dedicated to the destruction of evil by all available means. His fighting skills are weathered by his age, but he has come to rely on his holy powers to protect him from both his foes and the memories of his past. Susan – Elyria – Druid: A young lady who made her home in the terrifying forest of the Ulvenwald. She is a thin girl of medium height with wild ginger curls all over her head. The first things noticed are always her red hair and her large green eyes. She was a young girl from Kessig who found she had fantastical abilities fled to live in nature when some disastrous things happened. She has fantastical powers that can change nature, but these powers cannot change her past. Axe – Niccolo Argenti – Rogue: A former Midnight Duelist, sworn to protect the streets of his home city of Nephalia from vampires and corpse-traders. After his brother Jacomo died in service of the Church of Avacyn, he became disillusioned and forsook his duties, becoming an apostate and blade for hire. Thirty-five years old, he’s managed to live to what passes for middle age on the blighted plane of Innistrad with the sharpness of his wits and the speed of his blade. Kevin – Faustus Pent – Wizard: University educated among the Ivory Towers of Nephalia, Faustus Pent made a career of creating clockwork devices for the well-off, from toys to complicated weaponry. Betrothed to Inquisitor Arcelia Bright, his life took a terrible turn when she led an ill-fated raid against Strefan Maurer two years ago. On learning the news, he immediately closed his shop and devoted himself to single-minded study of battle magic.  Now, spellbook and strange magics in tow, he has finally made his way to Stensia to find the lost pieces of a life denied to him… Travis – Grove Hecker – Ranger: Folk hero of Kessig. Grove is known for solving mysterious investigations and surviving deadly monsters attacks around the province . His last investigation ended with him befriending a wolf mongrel, Yew, and being asked politely to leave Kessig. His gruff demeanor and combat prowess make him a fantastic huntsman but his years in the Ulvenwald have made him a terrible people person. With his unusual new partner Yew, Grove left Kessig to challenge the Somberwald of Stensia. Josh – Grimhild – Fighter: A taciturn monster hunter from the grim mountains of Stensia. A pale skinned, fair haired, and athletically muscular woman with a permanent scowl. With an obscured past and a chip on her shoulder she hunts many of the fiends of the dark. Though her relationship with the church and its angels is strained at best, she has become a stalwart, if grim, defender of the people they forgot.

Agency Internal Dossier TOP SECRET – US EYES ONLY Verification Code 22-9-3-20-15-18 Subject: Dr. Manfred Stark, PhD (Biology from Oxford University) Author: “Tom Bondsley”, Field Agent A proper doctor, as I understand it. As proper as a graverobber can be. Allegedly, anyway. By proxy. I know it’s more or less standard practice these days, but it unsettles me either way. Regardless, this one is most famous these days for being an outspoken opponent of the smog and steam that covers Salt Lake City and associated land. He claims that it’s killing both the people and the game used to feed them. I’m not much of a scientist, but if he’s right, that’s obviously bad news. Maybe not worth putting a stop to the production in our own labs, but maybe worth a more in-depth cost-benefit analysis. That’s just my opinion, though. Most folks have been calling him a lunatic, but if he’s been rooting around in people’s bodies, maybe he has a more in-depth look. And maybe it’ll come down to either building a better factory, or building a better human to use them. I’m sure Hellstromme is working both angles anyway. MUSIC CREDITS: In The West Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Side Chatter PLAYERS Greg – Guillaume Olivier. Canadian hunter and fur trapper. He’s a large and jolly man, but behind that carefully groomed beard is a man who’s slain bears with a bowie knife. Guillaume feels that he has conquered the North, so he has moved to the U.S. to see if he can find a challenge worthy of his strength. When he’s not seeking thrills against dangerous opponents, he’s drinking and telling tall tales about himself to anyone who will listen. Kevin – Gabriel Young. Sixty-three and loving it, Gabriel Young has seen the world change in almost every way. Formerly enslaved in Georgia, he and his family fled north to Boston, where he found work as a machinist and eventually joined the Union Army as war broke out. After the supernatural horrors of Gettysburg, he started to develop a talent for the new science, finding work as a freelancer amid the constant troubles of the fractured former United States. Now a widower with an adult son deeply involved in the clandestine activities of the Agency, he has left behind the East to seek adventure and insight in the West. Axe – Wilhelmina “Mina” Saltonstall – An intense, somewhat slight woman nearing thirty and almost always clad in the mysterious black duster of the Union Agency. Tarnished by the sorcerous legacy of her now-forgotten family, she puts her skills in the Huckster’s arts to use keeping the Union safe and prosperous. Josh – Clem. An enigmatic, sharpshooting, wisecracking teenager from the Confederacy. Ran off with a very expensive rifle, and now the Confederacy wants it back. Susan – Artemisia “Missy” Weston. She is a well to do lady of 27 from upstate New York who has come west after receiving her portion of an inheritance seeking adventure. Having expensive taste is okay when you have the money to back it up. She has a plethora of skills; sewing, surgery, a silver tongue, and soliciting spirits. You know, just girly things. A secret family past with the dead haunts her every decision for how to approach the problems she faces

Tatyana was dead. Sergei was dead. Maurer wasn’t sure what he was. The deal was simple and perfect. A conception bathed in a sense of infamy, but answered by the urgency of nobility and want. The Markovs had been generous that day so long ago, lit by candles and surrounded by stone and blue blood. Edgar Markov was a smart man, a calculating man, one who spoke of need and duty. The blood of Stensia would live on he proclaimed loudly, his hands staining black crimson in the basin of prepared elixir. And they followed. One by one, marching to his new tomorrow. Toward an eternity beyond death. Even then Strephan Maurer was mad. Even then he was a fool. And even now, he waits for an eternity, not fearing his coming hunters. Death awaits. Side Chatter MUSIC CREDITS: Dark Walk Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ PLAYERS James – Conrad Starkherz – Paladin: An inquisitor of the Avacynian church, dedicated to the destruction of evil by all available means. His fighting skills are weathered by his age, but he has come to rely on his holy powers to protect him from both his foes and the memories of his past. Susan – Elyria – Druid: A young lady who made her home in the terrifying forest of the Ulvenwald. She is a thin girl of medium height with wild ginger curls all over her head. The first things noticed are always her red hair and her large green eyes. She was a young girl from Kessig who found she had fantastical abilities fled to live in nature when some disastrous things happened. She has fantastical powers that can change nature, but these powers cannot change her past. Axe – Niccolo Argenti – Rogue: A former Midnight Duelist, sworn to protect the streets of his home city of Nephalia from vampires and corpse-traders. After his brother Jacomo died in service of the Church of Avacyn, he became disillusioned and forsook his duties, becoming an apostate and blade for hire. Thirty-five years old, he’s managed to live to what passes for middle age on the blighted plane of Innistrad with the sharpness of his wits and the speed of his blade. Kevin – Faustus Pent – Wizard: University educated among the Ivory Towers of Nephalia, Faustus Pent made a career of creating clockwork devices for the well-off, from toys to complicated weaponry. Betrothed to Inquisitor Arcelia Bright, his life took a terrible turn when she led an ill-fated raid against Strefan Maurer two years ago. On learning the news, he immediately closed his shop and devoted himself to single-minded study of battle magic.  Now, spellbook and strange magics in tow, he has finally made his way to Stensia to find the lost pieces of a life denied to him… Travis – Grove Hecker – Ranger: Folk hero of Kessig. Grove is known for solving mysterious investigations and surviving deadly monsters attacks around the province . His last investigation ended with him befriending a wolf mongrel, Yew, and being asked politely to leave Kessig. His gruff demeanor and combat prowess make him a fantastic huntsman but his years in the Ulvenwald have made him a terrible people person. With his unusual new partner Yew, Grove left Kessig to challenge the Somberwald of Stensia. Josh – Grimhild – Fighter: A taciturn monster hunter from the grim mountains of Stensia. A pale skinned, fair haired, and athletically muscular woman with a permanent scowl. With an obscured past and a chip on her shoulder she hunts many of the fiends of the dark. Though her relationship with the church and its angels is strained at best, she has become a stalwart, if grim, defender of the people they forgot.