Firehouse subs crew member job description

As part of a review and restructure of my team, I am being made redundant purely on the basis of another member being mat leave, and they have to give them priority.
Reporting lines haven't changed, and neither has job description or objectives. I've also been told that the decision was made due to this legal technicality.
I've been in post for 15 months, so realise I might not have much hope for a tribunal, but any advice would be welcomed

Hi there, I hope this is okay to post here cause i really need some peoples opinion so here's some background to make more of an understanding of what's happening right now. So I started working at Culvers A lets say for almost 2 years, and I really, really enjoyed that place. It was close to home, I've gotten up to being a manager, everything was good. But when i got promoted to being a manager, the team almost immediately also went downhill too and one of our other managers we're extremally getting on everyone's nerves, especially mine because of many reasons I will not say in detail because of what's happening later on in this story. But after trying to deal with her bull crap for who knows how long, i decided to give my notice and go work at a different Culvers (B) since a few of my friends are working there and they needed a porterer so I starting working over there. Now I've been here for a year and maybe people see this as too short of a sample size to know for sure if it's a good workplace to be at or not; but the management here sucks, everyone who works here are either very passive aggressive at best or just doesn't know how to function here (I swear running is the easiest job but yet some people figure out how to screw it up). I do like how Culvers B is way busier than Culvers A since I like showing up and working the whole time and not just periodically standing around doing nothing for a minute cause everything is ready to go, but here is the issue; since I've shown up at Culvers B to work, they have essentially filled me up with hopes and promises when i started and now a year later, after starting off as a crew member since "they don't hire managers" (even though they did twice since I've been here), I'm just now being promoted to a Shift Leader. Granted, yes, this location already has a set management team, but it's just the fact of before joining, I was told that if I come work there, I would be at least Crew Chief by the new year (I joined around late May) and that never happened lol. But now recently, I just had a conversation with one of my old work buddies from Culvers A and during that conversation, it just made me feel bad that I abruptly up and left that place. It was a really good store, not way too busy like Culvers B, but just right. So now I'm in a pickle because now I'm really debating on going back to be a manager there, cause even though I was only officially one for a few months, I was essentially learning how to be one for at least half a year before that too. I was doing scheduling, being the main worker on cleaning and stuff like that. I have a very good relationship with the GM over there too, and i just wanna learn how to fully run a restaurant, I guess I just got really pissed off from what one person did (who doesn't work there anymore). So what should I do? Stay here at Culvers B and try to slowly grind my way up to maybe management which might never happen or come back to Culvers A and help run the restaurant again?

I had an in person interview and I didn’t get the crew member role, it was part time
I’ve seen another crew member job but it’s full time and if i apply and get it, it’ll be my first job
What are full time crew member hours like in the UK?

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Wiki ​ ​
Chapter 41
Subject: Ship-Head Uleena
Species: Urakari
Description: Reptilian humanoid, no tail. 5'3" (1.6 m) avg height. 135 lbs (61 kg) avg weight. 105 year life expectancy.
Ship: RSV Lowelana {Fights with Honor}
Location: Sol
​
"It's been more than three hours, ship-head. When can we stand down?" asked Kriin.
"We'll be able to stand down when they tell us to stand down, sister," replied Kraan in my stead.
Kriin made a face and hissed softly at him. This playful exchange did a lot to ease the tension that had settled over the bridge as time had dragged on. It even got a smile out of Liwna.
It was still unnerving to be on standby so long after the battle had ended, though. I'd asked for an explanation but received no response, which indicated something was happening or had happened. The OU had consistently increased their numbers with each wave, so I desperately hoped it wasn't going to be another attack. Maybe we'd received orders from the Republic to go home. One could dream.
A soft bing from my terminal nearly made me jump. All heads turned to me as I opened the message, desperate to know if we were in the clear. I nibbled my tongue as I softly pressed the notification to open the message.
--
Ship-Head Uleena
RSV Lowelana and her crew are to stand down but remain in a state of readiness. You are summoned to meet with Admiral Heckett and myself. A guide will meet you in the bay.
Fleet Leader Onaya
--
I looked around at the faces of my bridge crew. They were all hoping I would be giving the order to stand down, to tell them we were in the clear. The anticipation was brutal, and I found myself considering a little prank. If I were to simply say that the message was nothing, the looks of disappointment would be pretty great. Although, the fleet leader wouldn't appreciate waiting...
"Stand down, but stay ready," I said and then sighed audibly, "I'm off to meet with command."
"You have my sympathies, sir," Liwna said.
"I'm sure it won't be that bad, ship-head. Maybe they want to give you a medal," Kraan said cheerily.
"Don't get your hopes up, sir. We didn't really do anything medal-worthy. But maybe we'll get to see one of the planets we've been protecting," Kriin said excitedly.
"That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is 'one of the planets we put at risk'," Kraan replied with air quotes.
"That's rich, coming from the cloaca that put the planets at risk in the first place!"
"Hey! I was following procedure! Why don't you..."
"That's enough," I interrupted, trying to keep a straight face. "I'll go find out what they want. You just stay ready for our next move."
I stood and left as the two siblings began whispering insults at each other. As I exited the ship, I wondered how long I'd have to wait for the guide. To my surprise, the guide was actually waiting for me. A seven foot tall human wearing olive drab armor and carrying a rifle that was the size of my leg. That's a bad sign.
"Ship-head Uleena. This way please," the marine gestured.
"Of course," I said as I began to follow.
We walked past a crew of gont engineers and one of them waved at me. I waved back. Must be Plinas, but it's hard to tell them apart at a distance. We continued into a corridor and I began to have questions. I worked up my nerve to ask the giant death machine that was guiding me to my destination.
"So, why isn't Tim guiding me this time?" I finally asked.
"I don't know, sir," he replied.
"Do you know Corporal Simmons and Lance Corporal Johnson?"
"I know a few Corporals named Simmons and a few lances named Johnson, sir."
"They're the ones who were assigned to our rescue detail."
"Oh. Then they're probably part of a ship crew. Or maybe MARSOC," he said. "So I probably don't know them."
"What's MARSOC?"
"Marine Special Operations Command. It's special forces. They get assigned to whatever needs a specially trained marine, and usually whatever's closest to wherever they happen to be."
"So they probably wouldn't still be on the Thanatos, then?"
"Sir, I'm not qualified to even begin to wager a guess," the marine said with a chuckle. "There's plenty of MARSOC marines aboard, but I'm not one of 'em. Just a home-grown, corn-fed grunt, at your service."
"Corn?" I asked. "What's corn?"
"Huh?" He stopped to look at me. "Oh, right. It's a type of vegetable that's kinda sweet. Small yellow kernels that grow on a cob are the edible part, but some people use the leaves to store their food for some added flavor."
"I see... So you eat a lot of corn?"
"Yes, sir. It's good for muscles if you have it with meat," he said as he began to guide me again. "The phrase corn-fed refers to someone who's normal, though. Like, there's nothing special about them."
"But aren't you one of those... um..." I said as I struggled to remember the term.
"A gen-alt? Nope," the marine replied with laugh. "Believe it or not, some of us humans naturally get this big."
"Really?" I asked, my eyes widening in shock.
"Oh yeah. The genetic augmentation just swaps around certain genomes that we all already have, or something like that," the marine said. "Technically, every human has a chance to be born with all the benefits of being a gen-alt. It's a pretty low chance though."
It was with this shocking information that we boarded a bus. The ride was spent in silence as I digested what I had just learned. Humans were odd, to be sure. Despite their soft skin and disarming features (which I'm pretty sure has a lot to do with how much of their face actually moves), they were a warrior race.
I remembered how nervous I had been to meet my first Isolan. Now THEY look the part of a warrior race. Muscles that ripple and bulge with every movement, a natural scowl, and elongated canines that can definitely tear into most throats with little to no effort. Their military was very disciplined as well, to the point that horror stories about disciplinary action have spread throughout the fleet. Still, the Republic would have been able to handle the Isolan without much problem if they went rogue.
I can't say the same about humanity, though. Maybe if the Republic had found them early on in their development, we could have taken them. On the other hand, I get the dreadful feeling that we would have lost a lot of people in the attempt. I couldn't help but imagine what life would have been like if humanity had joined the Republic without a fight, though. We'd have a lot more in the way of technology, that's for sure.
They like to give a lot of credit to the knuknu and the gont for their current level of tech, but it's obvious that the majority of it comes from humans. The other species likely sped things along, but humanity would have gotten to the point they are now on their own eventually, and still much faster than us. Although I wonder how much of that is due to their bloody history, and how that history would have changed as part of the Republic.
"We've arrived, sir. Just inside those doors is where the debrief is," the marine gestured.
"Understood, thanks," I replied.
I stepped towards the doors and they opened with a slight hiss. Inside the room was a table with plenty of chairs and several US and Republic officers. I immediately recognized Reynolds and Wong, as well as fleet-leader Onaya. I snapped to attention.
"Ship-head Uleena reporting as ordered, sirs!"
"Sit down, Uleena," Onaya said with smiling eyes.
I took my seat as introductions went around the table. Most of the people here were higher officers of the fleets protecting Sol, but there were also a couple of diplomats from both sides. Not my sister, though. Thank the sun. I'm sure she tried to be here, but I'm willing to bet that our father blocked her attempts. Far too dangerous.
"There's one more that we need to introduce, but he's been delayed somewhat," Admiral Heckett said as the doors hissed.
I turned to look and saw a short human in the black directorate armor with two marines flanking it. It took me a second to realize that the human looked short because the marines were so damned tall. I'll never get used to that.
"What impeccable timing," Heckett said with a grin. "Everyone, meet Director 3. I'm sure he already knows who you are."
"Correct," Director 3 said as he took a seat. "Ship-head Uleena, pleasure to see you again."
"Likewise," I replied.
"Oh, hey Uleena!" one of the marines said with a familiar voice. "Good to see you again."
"Simmons, we're on duty. We can say hi later," the other marine said.
I smiled and replied, "Hi Corporal Simmons and Lance Corporal Johnson. Good to see you too."
I was glad to see the two of them alive and well. So glad that I almost didn't notice the rest of the Republic officers giving me a sideways glance. As I deflated slightly under their gaze, I noticed that the human officers were doing the same to the two marines. I guess we're more alike than I thought.
"Okay. Well, with all of the pleasantries out of the way, I'm going to turn things over to Director 3," Admiral Heckett said.
"Thank you, Admiral," Director 3 said with a nod before turning to look at the Republic side of the table. "The invasion of the Omni-Union stronghold was a success."
Clapping and some light cheering erupted from both sides of the table, but Director 3 quickly held up a hand to quiet things down.
"That's the only good news, I'm afraid. What I am about to tell you has already been relayed to the Republic's senior leadership, and they will be communicating with you in regards to whether they consider the information classified or not. Until they do so, I recommend treating it as classified," he said.
After a round of nods, he continued, "First, some of you may already know this, but we have a superweapon called the USSS Nidhogg. It's a dreadnought class ship that has the capacity to destroy a solar system by causing a star to go supernova."
"What?" one of our officers asked in shock. Several senior officer's eyes immediately darted towards the offending individual, who quickly quieted down.
"Your shock is understandable. To clarify, the Nidhogg was built in response to our conflict with the Daluran, as a deterrence to any further xenocidal action taken against the United Systems and its member species. Frankly, many of us hoped to never use it. But we were forced to use it against the Omni-Union during the invasion."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was like the room got smaller somehow. A superweapon that can destroy an entire solar system, something the likes of which the Republic would likely never get close to. And they USED it. Wait hold on, did he say...
"Apologies, Director, but what do you mean you were forced to use it?" Fleet-Leader Onaya asked.
"Exactly that. One of our AI infiltrated their planetary systems, as planned, and retrieved mission critical intelligence. The next step of the plan would have been to cripple the OU's planetary activities by any means possible and move on to the next planet," Director 3 said. "However, it turned out that the planet wasn't actually a planet at all. It was a massive machine containing an Artificial Intelligence of unknown origin. And it was heavily armed."
Silence filled the room as images taken from US ships began to display. A planet filled our view. It looked like any other planet, but something was off about it. The images scrolled until they reached a short video of the planet firing, and two US ships exploding. My blood ran cold. Two US ships, ships with the most advanced shielding and hulls that I've ever seen, with one shot.
As much as I hated to admit it, I was grateful that they had that superweapon. The Republic was pursuing an offensive war against the Omni-Union even now, and if we would have run into this thing... Sun preserve us.
"This AI was called Prime 29 and the machine itself is a Mobile Prime Platform. During the confrontation with our AI, Prime two-niner was able to extract actionable intelligence from the AI. Thankfully, prior to this confrontation our AI managed to disable their communications which prevented Prime two-niner from being able to communicate said information with the Omni-Union. We were able to keep it trapped in the system using our own warp-jamming technology," Director 3 said. "The reason that we used the Nidhogg was to make certain that it didn't have enough time to eliminate the warp-jammers or escape their range."
"If we had tried to eliminate that thing with standard tactics, our casualties would have been in the tens of thousands," Admiral Heckett said. "As it stands, we lost 2,316 ships and more than one million marines."
"The Republic's casualties would have easily exceeded one hundred thousand ships. If we were even able to take it out at all," Fleet-Leader Onaya said, looking somewhat deflated.
"Was this the only Mobile Prime Platform, sir?" I asked, knowing damned well what the answer would be.
"No," Omega said, his avatar appearing where the images were previously. "We found intelligence in the form of a list that shows a total of 114 Mobile Prime Platforms. The intel indicated that at least one was damaged beyond repair prior to Prime 29's destruction, and that one is currently being built. Since we couldn't confirm if the other four planets in the stronghold system were MPPs or not, we will go on the assumption that there are now 111."
"Why don't we know if the other four planets are MPPs?" Onaya asked. "They didn't attack, so isn't it likely that they weren't?
"I suspect that the platforms require immense amounts of power, and so they stay in a sort of hibernation until something forces them out of it. Since the OU didn't awaken the MPP, it's reasonable to assume that they might not be able to. Prime 29 also had its communications cut, so it wouldn't have been able to wake them up, either," Omega said. "We had to go on the assumption that the other four planets were also MPPs, which is why we utilized the Nidhogg."
"So what's the plan to deal with them?" I asked.
"We're working on that," Director 3 interjected. "Obviously, we don't want to be running around causing supernovas everywhere."
"I guess it's time to come up with another 'bigger gun', eh?" Tim asked.
"Or a lot of little ones," John replied, appearing next to Omega.
A lot of our officers began to look nervous. Until very recently, AI was seen as the enemy and it's hard to kill old habits. They all looked to fleet leader Onaya to judge what their reactions should be. He didn't react, so they didn't either.
A bigger gun, or even a lot of little ones, would probably take quite a while to come up with. The US has amazing manufacturing procedures, but not nearly as many shipyards as the Republic. It was arguable whose engineers were better. The US had come up with some amazing things, but they had the benefit of necessity driving their creativity. Our engineers came up with what they created out of pure speculation. If the two worked together...
"Omega, if I may ask, how long would it take the US to create a new fleet?"
"One of ours or one of yours," the AI asked with a hint of smugness.
"One of yours," I replied.
"Factoring in material procurement, at least a year and a half. Assuming everyone working at capacity and nothing went wrong, which isn't a very realistic assumption," Omega said.
"What about us, fleet leader? How long to manufacture five million ships?" I asked.
"Or primary delay would be material procurement, but we managed to do eight million in seven months at the beginning of the OU war," Onaya replied.
All of the US officers eyebrows rose at this. I took a little pleasure at being able to surprise them, for once. Our manufacturing capability was borne from nearly every species already having at least one shipyard prior to joining the Republic, and maintaining those shipyards even now. If we were able to apply US manufacturing standards to those shipyards, the OU wouldn't stand a chance.
"We have a lot more shipyards than the US does," I began. "If the US were to make use of those shipyards, both sides would benefit massively."
"While that may be true, there's always the risk of us turning on each other after the OU is dealt with," Omega said.
"That's a bit pessimistic," John said.
"But historically accurate!" Tim cheerily exclaimed.
"That may be the case, but there are ways to prevent that. Bolstering the US fleet and shipyards to meet the same size as the Republic's, for instance. It would take quite a while for the US to catch up to the Republic's ship count on its own, and we've got barely any chance of catching up to your tech on our own," I said, holding my hands up to quiet the AI.
"This is true," Onaya began, "and your corporations would even fall in line. Greed is their primary motivator, and this deal would require a lot of trade and chance for profits."
Director 3 looked deep in thought before he finally spoke up, "Is this something that the Republic would agree to?"
"Probably," I said. "I'm not an official diplomat so I can't say with 100% certainty, but the US is more likely to say no than we are."
"I'll bring it to the Directorate, and we'll convince the senate of the necessity," Director 3 said with a nod.
"And I'll get have the diplomatic corps draw up an official agreement, and I'll push the proper buttons to get the votes on our end," Onaya said with smiling eyes. "Also, Uleena, you actually are an official diplomat now. The RSV Lowelana is our first armed diplomatic vessel. The decision came down yesterday."
"What?" I asked in shock.
"Your temporary post as liaison has become a permanent one. You'll be starting your training as soon as we can spare you. Same with your crew," Onaya said, the smiling eyes turning ever so slightly malicious.
Ah, I see. The Sun has forsaken me for some grave, unknown sin. Woe be unto me.
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I'm 25, my background is journalism and some sales. I found myself in a peculiar predicament (needed a job fast) and took a job at Raising Cane's... Where do I start. I was told $15 h/r was coming within the month and then two weeks in told it wasn't happening and I should be grateful at $12 h/r and also my Mother in-law had a stroke last week and we had to go out of town to help take care of my younger in-laws. I communicated all this to the franchise partner and when I got back from missing only two shifts instead of a "welcome back!" Because that's what this organization "prides' themselves on I was sent home early and then texted by the franchise partner saying "I don't know why you didn't make an effort to stay at work tonight. I don't care if they offered it to you. I expect more from my crew member. Especially one who just missed two shifts." First... I'm an educated adult, second you want me to "fight" YOUR manager? So you want all of us to beg?
The last straw is that when one of the managers found out I used to be a writer he become increasingly hostile almost as if he was jealous. "I'm sure Mr. Writer would love to do dishes!" And , "did they reach you to clean piss off a toilet? Hope so because you'll be doing it." Got singled out alot. So I quit this morning. Said screw it. I do not recommend this place for an adult.

This sub is geared towards venting and talking about problem guests. Let’s start a trend here, what parts of the job do you like/enjoy? I will start: I have met a few people in my time working in hotels have either known a few family members and have told me stories that make me smile. I enjoy recognizing the small towns and ask them if the they remember any one by a certain name. Enjoy solving guests problems when I am able to. I especially enjoy taking care of the elderly guests to appear confident in their traveling skills but honestly still ask questions and seem apprehensive. I enjoy solving problems with computer and being able to process reservations that coworkers unable too.
Keep it going! I may complain about my job but I enjoy it most of the time.

Go look up chronicfatigue sub description. It is for those diagnosed with ME/CFS too. so nothing for me formally.. but you dont care that your a self diagnosed ass. And these subs i should be posting this in in your opinion, have no active members. Bye.

Imagine a bombed out husk of a city with never ending fighting raging down the streets, with entrenchment in the outskirts and deathtraps in the streets. Where victory often lies in how much of a monster one can become. And add in extradimensional influence from eldritch beings from the great beyond. Nope, this is not the grim darkness of the 40th millennia, this is the Chinese internet discourse over the Ukraine war.
(The next two paragraphs are credible sociological analysis, you can jump)
To understand the average Chinese internet discourse, one must first understand the average Chinese poster. In many ways, Chinese internet culture often resembles a digital Afghanistan, with a strong clan tradition that divides each group into many small sections. Much of this is due to the failure of the CCP to enact total control over the internet discourse. Back in 2019, over a lengthy campaign of widespread censorship, the CCP successfully wrestled control of the internet from all form of subculture, and forcibly gained total control of the narrative. However, as the economy began to shrink due to the disastrous lockdown policy, they have much abandoned many fronts. Meanwhile, many of the the initial anti-government types took refuge outside of the GFW, with some hiding in spots like real_China_irl and China_irl. And they seem to have influence over the most radical of the "cyber guerilla" inside GFW. However, liberalism is still pretty much a taboo and a pariah on Chinese internet across the political spectrum.
A typical Chinese internet user is a hardened fighter, capable of evading censorship with misspelling and pop-culture references. However, they tend to be extremely malicious when opposed and is prone to outbursts of retribution and hatred among other toxic behaviors. A form of postmodern nihilism is also present along with extreme jingoistic zeal. Most of the time, the behavior and organizational level of the users depends on the exact platform. For example, Bilibili (Chinese YouTube with 4chan characteristics) is more like Marinka, the bombed out husk of a land where censorship runs wild with the residents embedded in a never-ending fight. Due to the relatively younger age group the user base is in and the excessive amount of censorship in place. Bilibili produce people with extreme malice that are fond of cyber violence and have limited thinking capacity. Meanwhile, for Zhihu (Chinese Quora with 4chan characteristics) the situation is a bit "brighter", CCP has largely abandoned most form of censorship down there, and it's a bitter, entrenched battle from both sides. Zhihu users tend to have better access to information due to users being older. However, there are also the more terrifying forms lurking below, with all kind of extremists that even /pol/ can barely match. To sum up, the regular poster in China is a veteran troll and a formidable guerilla bred by a hard internet culture in a hellish cyber space.
At the beginning of Ukraine war, the Chinese internet was subjected to the largest narrative shaping operation that ever begun. At first, the US claim of a Russian plan to seize Ukraine was called a "hoax", with memes fabricated by RT and their associates jumping around. However, at the beginning of the war, the internet was filled to the brim with claims of Ukrainian Army being defeated in less that 1 hour and 22 minute. As the real situation turned out, the credibility took a nasty hit. However, there was then a theory claiming several Russian BTGs are trying to take Lviv under the cover of intensive electronic warfare. That one eventually earned the nickname "warp-travelling BTG". Despite all these failures, they still had a dominating effect throughout the summer, thanks to RT and their associates. A French MILF of sorts who go by the name Anne Laurie-Bonnel played a big role in it by a "documentary" which claims 130000 Donbabweans have been eradicated in Donbass. There are also other rare claims such as the Ukrainian 128th mountain brigade has been wiped out. However, the Kharkiv counteroffensive has proven to be the turning point of the narrative war. After Kharkiv, CCP stopped most narrative shaping operations. The few ones are often mocked, such as the description of the 2023 parade as "a small but elite force". While RT as a whole is ridiculed over and over. There is a guy who go by the username "PT Poland Today". Some pro-Russians have adopted either a nihilistic stance, where they either claim they want to see the world burn. Others claim that Russia is too important an ally to lose, meanwhile there is a third group that claim both US and Russia will exhaust themselves in the war, leading to a Chinese century. Meanwhile, pro-Ukraine folks started a large scale memefest, they use memes such as "Lyman piggies" which refers to a video where a Russian soldier is devoured by pigs. However, because of the battle of Bakhmut, new forms of decentralized, flexible pro-Russian networks have springed to life.
The discourse over Ukraine war is largely organized around small subgroups, each tend to gather around several content creators. Which occupy specific functions over Ukraine war discourse. Due to the high toxicity of Bilibili, it hosts groups of lesser sophistication. One example would be Armornero (装甲尼禄). He started as a content creator who make gaming videos and memes, but ended up being the sole beacon of pro-Ukraine voice on Bilibili at the start of the war. However, as he was subjected to more and more attempts of cyberviolence and even doxxing. He become more and more fanatic in his approach. As the tide of narrative turned after Kharkiv and Kherson, the harassment stops. but he is damaged permanently. Now he is basically Chinese Chuck Pfarrer, with very low quality analysis such as "Ukrainians have retaken Soledar in one day" that becomes the subject of ridicule by the pro-Russians and sidelined by pro-Ukrainains. While for the pro-Russian side, there was a guy called Jason of Peng City (鹏城杰森). He also started as a analysis video creator, however, he draws sources from the Russian MOD and Rybar. His downfall was the Kharkiv counteroffensive, where he melts and claimed Ukrainian soldiers are drugged up supersoldiers that can continue fighting in the face of severe injuries. He was ridiculed by many with that statement. Leading to the moniker "Cyborgs". There was a joke about it: "That explains why Russians perform so poorly, Ukies have compound 5"
Apart from the "analysts" there is the meme makers. At first, both sides are just mocking each other. But as the narrative shaping becomes intensified, some began adopting actions that make the most dedicated troll on UkraineRussiaReport shiver. Some began using slurs like hohols, often combined with hoholpiggies. They would cheer whenever incendiary rounds are used, and cheer when Kyiv is bombed. These guys creates a field of dehumanization where one must becomes give up all form of humanity. While others develop a even grimmer tactic, some will use titles similar to pro-Ukraine guys use, while actually posting pro-Russia ideas, just to anger the other side. Actually, while researching about this topic, I came across a sub called RussianWarFootage, which contain tactics and ideas similar to these tactics mentioned. A great deal of dedication was spent on creating a myth through suggestions, much like urban legends and folklores are created. Since the beginning of the war, they have been creating a feeling that Azov battalion has been conducting ethnic cleansing, but no sources are given, however, the amount of suggestions makes it more and more like a reality, just like how widespread urban legends are created. "Decodingtrolls" coined a term "disinfolklore" to analysis this subject using the sociological tools used to decode folklores. Other claims involve the destruction of the 128th mountain brigade, first, they were claimed to have been destroyed in Kherson, that claim backfired quickly, which give birth to a pro-Ukraine meme saying that they are "attacks from the dead". However, the pro-Russians eventually gave birth to a claim saying that 128th deserted in Soledar, leading to the fall of the city. Now this is completely recognized as a fact on Bilibili.
On Zhihu, the fighting was more ferocious before Kharkiv, with bloody skirmishes raging on every comment sections. There was a guy called "Yongle Emperor Zhu Di" (永乐大帝明成祖), who claimed that Russians are preparing for a large scale double encirclement on Ukrainian positions. He have studied some of the eastern front operational art, and I have a suspicion that maybe the Russian high command has the same ideas as him. However, his predictions failed, just like the Russian high command. Eventually, he subscribed to a belief called "Syrian model", where Russians are consciously planning for a battle of attrition that will result in a Russian victory like they did in Syria. Others involve a gal called 蒋梦珊, who claimed that Ukrainians are sending waves after waves of cannon fodders to die in Kherson, that claim also went into infamy after October. In fact, these people belong to a special section of Chinese ultranationalists, the Ruguanlogists (入关人), they believe in realpolitik and think that China will dethrone US. Typically saying they actually love McCarthy due to the fact that they are all hardline authoritarians in nature. A more cynical survey would classify their worldview as "clash of civilization" in the façade of realpolitik. In fact, they are political animals, "military analysis" is just a mask they have to feign an authority, the defeat of Russia have damaged them in all the ways, it challenged the "clash of civilization" on the political side, it challenged their proficiency when it comes to military affairs, this left them with only tenacious struggles. An even more cynical view would also classify some members of this sub to be just like this. Meanwhile pro-Ukraine positions have grown stronger after Kharkiv, becoming even dominant in many cases along with anti-government counterculture. However, the battle is still not over. UkraineRussiaReport is basically what the discourse look like now on Zhihu. The form of disinfolklore mentioned above were present during February on Zhihu, where "Russians placed their artillery on the highgrounds outside Bakhmut to attrit Ukrianian forces", saying that Zelensky was sacrificing soldiers for international fame.
Now we have talked about digital hellscape that the Chinese internet is, the next question would be: what "eldritch influence" am I talking about? This will be answered in the next essay

Welcome to our weekly discussion thread about forensic science!
Forensic Scientists and Professionals! What's going on this week?
Use any of the following as a prompt if you need to

• What do you do?
• What kind of work are you doing?
• Are you doing any new kinds of analyses?
• What is your work week like?
• Do you have crazy stories from the field/lab? Tell us!

Remember! Don't reveal identifying info on decedents or victims. Change names or use nicknames if you must.
Students! How's school?
Use any one of the following as a prompt if you need to

• What degree are you pursuing?
• What are you learning about?
• Have you learned something new and/or exciting?
• Are you involved in research?
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Don't know where to start when it comes to schools, programs, or degrees? Take a look at our subreddit wiki for a good rundown of what you should look out for.
Confused by all the job titles, requirements, and worried about things like starting salary? Please take a look at this collection of posts from Cdub919, one of our verified forensics members.
Have questions for someone working in the field? Take a look at our list of verified forensics professionals. They are frequently tagged in comments and posts when mods or other community members see that their expertise is needed. You might reach out to them in a private message or chat if you need their help. Please be respectful of their time and advice and don't harass anybody for a response.
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Title	Description	Day	Frequency
Education Questions Roundup	Education questions and advice for students, graduates, enthusiasts, anyone interested in forensics	Monday	Weekly
Off-Topic Tuesday	General discussion, free-for-all thread; forensics topics also allowed	Tuesday	Weekly
Ask a Forensic Scientist	School surveys, "what's it like being a forensic scientist" questions, "is this the right career for me" questions, etc.	Thursday	Weekly
Forensic Friday	Forensic science discussion (work, school), forensics questions, education, employment advice also allowed	Friday	Weekly

If you want the full PDF job description, please DM me.
ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER: 23-55
TOUR LENGTH: INITIAL TOUR FOUR YEARS / CONTINUATION TOUR SIX YEARS
NOT A CROSS TRAINING OPPORTUNITY
POSITION GRADE: E-8/SMSGT
WHO CAN APPLY:
AREA 1: ON-BOARD PERMANENT ACTIVE GUARD RESERVE (AGR) OF THE MICHIGAN AIR NATIONAL GUARD
MINIMUM GRADE: E-7/MSgt
*MAXIMUM GRADE: E-7/MSgt
AREA 2: OPEN TO ALL CURRENT TRADITIONAL GUARD MEMBERS OF THE MICHIGAN AIR NATIONAL GUARD
MINIMUM GRADE: E-7/MSgt
*MAXIMUM GRADE: E-7/MSgt
AREA 3: OPEN TO THOSE ELIGIBLE FOR ENLISTMENT IN THE MICHIGAN AIR NATIONAL GUARD
MINIMUM GRADE: E-7/MSgt
*MAXIMUM GRADE: E-7/MSgt
* PROMOTION POTENTIAL TO FULL GRADE OF POSITION UPON CONTROL GRADE AVAILABILITY

​
https://preview.redd.it/1i6hldzjil3b1.png?width=3840&format=png&auto=webp&s=9366c3678f01b7ef46e4a57d552f4e1bfb45c530
I've been running ToA for a group of friends for about 3 years now and we're finally coming up on the final fight and I just wanted to gush a little about what they've been through during that time. We started before Covid on an every-other-week basis, took some time off at the beginning of the pandemic, and only in the last couple months did we switch to weekly, which is why it's taken us so long. It's also taken so long because I was committed to running by the book: survival checks each day to navigate, track rations, track bug repellant, random encounters, tropical storms. I also implemented Gritty Realism from the DMG, where resting overnight in the jungle was only a Short Rest and they'd have to dedicate an entire day of building out a semifortified camp to rest for the entire next day before breaking it down and continuing. It slowed down progress but I think overall the players like that they were forced to be survivalists.
Early on, the adventurers Nyx (tabaxi monk/warlock), Orynn (gnome wizard) and Ivory (tiefling bard) were hired by Syndra Sylvane to stop the Death Curse. This wouldn't turn out too well, as Nyx was slain in session three or so by a critical Yellow Musk Creeper hit. The party, now featuring human archer-warlock Folsom, hired out the guides River and Flask to explore Camp Righteous, and hired some Flaming Fist soldiers (Gwen and Jean) to delve into the jungle again, finding the goblin city of Yellyark along the way, wherein Gwen barely held the line against the Goblin Boss chieftain and established herself as a badass, before the party yeeted (yote?) the city far into the jungle, but not before acquiring an amulet which they subsequently matched with its Shield Guardian.
The party's next expedition was inspired by a seer in Port Nyanzaru, who told Folsom to seek the sage of Orolunga. They were joined by Inete, who wanted the party to take her to the Aldani Basin to pursue visions of sinister wizards there. They hired Azaka Stormfang to guide them, on the condition that they first stop by the Firefinger to recover her lost artifact, a nearly fatal encounter that included Ivory breaking a leg as he fell from partway up the tower. From there, they met Artus Cimber also on his way to Orolunga, but parted ways afterwards as they headed to the Aldani Basin, briefly meeting Valindra Shadowmantle in the floating Heart of Ubtao where they say from a distance a wrecked skyship. After rescuing the crew of the Star Goddess, they came across and saved another adventuring party, led by a wealthy but not-suited-for-a-jungle mage named Lucas. Taking on all of these extra adventurers strained their supplies to the limit, and it was only through Folsom's foraging that they managed to avoid starvation on their way back to the Port. They also encountered Camp Vengeance, but when forced into service by the master of the camp, the party used Lucas's magical might to decimate the camp before fleeing.
In the city, Lucas told them of his quest to map out routes to Orolunga and Nangalore. Having already mapped out Orolunga, they agreed to find a route to Nangalore for him while he stayed in the port and finalized the deal and bought supplies. Heading into the jungle again, with Inete joining them as her relationship with Orynn slowly grew, the party met a Shadar-Kai Barbarian named Cormag as he was fleeing a T-Rex, and he joined them on thier way to Nangalore. However, Zalkore proved a terrible threat, and petrified both Cormag and Folsom. In the aftermath of the battle against the Medusa, Cormag's sister Amasha, led by the lizardfolk ranger Qyzen Fess, arrived, just barely too late for the siblings to reconnect. The party found their way to Kir Sabal, where they defended the inhabitants from Gargoyles and used the Dance of the Seven Winds to return to Port Nyanzaru.
In the port, they met with the dwarven guide Musharib who offered to take them to his ancestral home of Hrakhammar, offering some of the forge's riches if they help him rid it of the fire newt threat within. They made a deal with their friend Lucas to meet them in Shilku Bay after a few weeks and set off, eventually freeing Hrakhammar for the Albino Dwarves, allowing them to once more establish a proper community on the peninsula.
They met Lucas and his new ship in Shilku Bay to return to Nyanzaru, where they decided to finally use the knowledge gained at Orolunga to find Omu and stop the Death Curse. It was during this time that Orynn decided to retire from adventuring life; the stresses and trauma he suffered in the jungle too much for the poor gnome, he sought therapy and a quieter life with his now-official girlfriend Inete. Similarly, Amasha decided to stay in the city to research ways to un-petrify her brother. To replace them, Lucas hired two new crew members: Lucky In the Dark, a tabaxi swashbuckler, and Tiger's Eye, an elderly Dwarven Sorcerer. Their names never got confusing, I promise. They were also approached by a young half-elf calling herself Xandala, hoping the party might take her to reunite with her father Artus Cimber, if they ever came across him. Sailing down to Shilku Bay once more, their ship was attacked and boarded by pirates, whose storm-mage thwarted Tiger's Eye's long-range fireballs. In the brawl that ensued, Lucky was able to best Captain Laskilar in a (mostly) one-on-one duel, claiming his magical cape for himself. It was not very long after arriving in Shilku Bay that the party, with the information from Saja N'Baza of Orolunga that they discovered the grand ruined capital city: Omu. Now knowing were to go, they returned to Port Nyanzaru for the last time to resupply before venturing into the heart of evil.
This is when Ivory finally departed the group as well, though their friend from the mainland, a Travel-Domain Cleric called Ezra, was in town and recommended to join the expedition to avenge her dog who was slain by the Death Curse. Lucas also hired an additional healer, a priest of Torm named Undril Silvertusk. They were once again accosted as they sailed south, by Captain Al-Saryak, defeating him and his crew as well. During this time, Lucas and Xandala also began to grow close. Traveling across the Valley of Lost Honor, they were scouted and chased by Tsindelor, the Red Dragon of Wyrmheart Mine, and Lucas was forced to offer it all of his gold and treasure to appease it so they could escape.
Omu was difficult. They me a wily old scribe, abandoned by his former employers, named Orvex, and using his knowledge began to slowly conquer various puzzles and traps across the city, collecting Puzzle Cubes for an unknown purpose. This conflict soon put them at odds with a Red Wizard, and while he was slain, he promised the group there more of his people who would crush them. They also had several close encounters with a vast beast, called the King of Feathers, and before long knew they had to hunt him down or be hunted themselves. They confronted him at his amphitheater lair, where they found the rest of the Red Wizards were also trying to slay the magical dinosaur. Rather than putting their differences aside, a great three-sided melee broke out between the party, the Wizards, and the King, eventually leaving the party as the last ones standing. However, Tiger's Eye's heart began to give out, and he returned to the ship in Shilku Bay. It was during these explorations of Omu that an Assassin Vine struck an isolated party member, capturing and killing the beloved Flaming Fist Gwen, who had been with the part for so long. They also found a den of Kobolds under the marketplace, slaying all but one, and telling the survivor that his people were "based" before forcibly recruiting him into the party. Snirbo the Kobold would be given lessons from Lucky on the basics of swordplay, though he was never very good at it. After taking control of the Grung tribe at Nangnang's Shrine, the party found a human knight, ensorcelled by a Nyanzaru guide; a Yuan-Ti in disguise. After being freed, Gilderoy Gleamleaf opted to join the party in their quest, as it was the same as his own: destroy the Soul Monger and end the Death Curse.
In time, they found their way into the back entrance of the Fane of the Night Serpent, the home of the Yuan-Ti of Chult and the lair of the warlord Ras Nsi. The party launched several expeditions into the temple, slaying snakes and freeing prisoners. Ezra and Qyzen soon realized there were too many prisoners to accompany them, but they would be unable to fend for themselves, and escorted them back to the ship. Among the prisoners, two were capable combatants, a Goliath infused with the ancient powers of his giantkin people named Manuyemo, and an elf Chronurgist Wizard named Osmanthus. The expeditions in and out of the Fane were at times disastrous, with both Osmanthus and Undril being captured, and Snirbo being turned to stone, but after Manu was able to beat the Yaun-Ti champion Sekelok, not very many of the remaining Yuan-Ti were serious threats, beyond their ability to consistently Suggest Gilderoy. Within the Fane, the party found a gravely wounded and misbegotten Artus Cimber and his friend Dragonbait, both robbed of their gear including the legendary Ring of Winter. The final confrontation with Ras Nsi, the new wielder of the Ring, was incredibly difficult, as he was able to use the Ring's Wall of Ice to isolate party members to strike with his magical sword. After some very close calls, he was forced to retreat through a teleportation pad. Learning how the pads functioned, several party members were teleported to random parts of the dungeon, before Lucas accidentally found himself face-to-face with the warlord. The sounds of the fight that followed drew the party to Ras Nsi's hidden chambers, where in the moment of all involved being severely weakened, Xandala finally sprung her trap, *Fireball*ing the room to claim the Ring for herself. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough power, and some party members survived to stop her and save their friends from bleeding out.
Opting for mercy for this person they thought was their friend, they let Xandala live, though this far south, she had no choice but to continue to assist the party, or else brave the jungle alone and surely die. As various other teammates handled the Ring, they were all tempted to violence until it found itself back within Artus's grasp. As thanks for freeing him and Dragonbait and returning the Ring, he decided to help the party through the upcoming Tomb of the Nine Gods.
With all Puzzle Cubes from the Red Wizards and Ras Nsi in hand, the party finally entered the Tomb of Annihilation.
It was not easy. Artus became cursed very early on, removing his ability to regain hit points and slowly sapping his life, forcing him to stay out of most fights as the party battled Tomb Guardians and Dwarf-Wights. They found the administration office of the Tomb run by Withers, who was unable to escape and slain, Gilderoy claiming his amulet.
While no part of the Tomb was pleasant, the first tragedy of the Tomb was during the fight against the invisible beholder Belchorz, who turned Lucas to stone. This was not easy for the group, and especially not for Xandala. It was also around this time that the party started suffering nightmares in the Tomb, even protected by Tiny Hut spells, with some of them losing maximum HP and unable to recover during Long Rests. The second tragedy was on a lower level, when Gilderoy entered a secret room and snuffed out a candle. He was teleported out of the room and never seen again, though we know he was ground to nothingness along with all he was wearing and carrying.
Pressing on, the party found a throne Room and a hidden sarcophogus with a fine necklace atop it. Giving the necklace to Jean to appease the spirit of Nangnang possessing him, he put it on, activating its curse and becoming the center of an 8th-level *Fireball,* disintegrating immediately and awakening the Zombie T-Rex hidden below the room. After slaying the beast, it disgorged a curious sight: A spore-infested Firbolg calling itself Cousin Klemba, who had been disintigrated in the tomb years earlier, but by a 1-in-a-billion magical chance, its spores managed to survive and reconstitute inside the flowery gut fauna of the T-Rex. Activating the second trap in Napaka's sarcophogus room really put a damper on the party's mood, and they decided to avoid all distractions and recover the last of the Skeleton Keys without exploring any more rooms than strictly necessary.
At the bottom of the Tomb, they finally came head-to-head with the Hags who had been tormenting them: the Sewn Sisters Baggy Nanna, Peggy Deadbells, and Widow Groat, each accompanied by two Wraiths. The fight was brutal, perhaps the most difficult so far, as the Hags used very effective Hold Person spells to lock down the gorup as the Wraiths began to critically hit them, reducing max HP and inflicting massive damage. All the while, the Hags were able to counter most of the party's spells while phasing in and out of the Ethereal. Widow Groat even managed to acquire one of the Skeleton Keys, but was slain by Keshma al-Wazir, a dao genie that was indebted to the party after being freed by them, before Groat could escape to the Ethereal plane.
Now, with all of the Hags dead, the party might be able to have their first complete and uninterrupted Long Rest in the Tomb, before opening the Skeleton Gate and confronting, at long last, the Soul Monger.
This Sunday, we're meeting in person again for the finale. I've been constructing a 3D version of the final fight, and a custom scuplt of the Atropal inspired by ideas on this sub. I'm gonna kill them all.

This happened back in the late 90's during my senior year in high school.
My English Lit teacher Mrs H. had this absolute fixation on Shakespeare for some reason. During the whole year, we didn't learn anything about any other English authors or poets or... anything really. Some people complained but she had been there for so long, the school couldn't really do anything. I even saw her pic in the faculty section of my mother's yearbook from the same school, with the same Victorian Era hairdo. Also, she disliked kids and was batshit crazy. Me, having long hair and a goatee (I thought goatees were cool, stupid kid) meant she hated me.
On the other hand, I was slightly gifted with either natural intelligence or just super lucky. I never had to study, and just knew how to absorb the right info and ace tests. I abused this and never did homework and just used quizzes and tests to pass classes. Out of all her classes, I was her nemesis it seemed. She reformatted her grading system to make sure I failed if I didn't turn in all homework assignments or get a lot of extra credit. This is where the gears in my brain shifted into high gear.
Unbeknownst to her, I had been on the school's stage crew since my freshman year. Anything that happened in the auditorium, assemblies, talent shows, and even after-school rentals... we did that. We ran the lights, sound and coordinated everything on stage. During that time, and with my Stage Crew teachers help I had developed some moderate skills at designing and setting up lighting plans and he helped me get work outside of school. One of such jobs was a local troupe performing "Much Ado About Nothing" at the local amphitheater.
Opening night arrived and me and my friend were just hanging out in the booth when his eyes bugged out while looking at the people coming in. "Is that Mrs. H?" I looked and sure as shit it was her. Up to this point I still hadn't figured out how to fight back, but now it was as clear as could be.
Next day at school, start of class... I raise my hand and mention that I heard a Shakespeare show is playing at the Amp, and could we get 20pts extra credit if we turned in a program with a production member's signature. She loved the idea of more people getting into her Shakespeare fetish and immediately said Yes, absolutely. I whipped a program out of my folder, circled my name and signed next to it. Walked up and set it on her desk. I still feel fear when I remember the look in her eyes. But, to her credit, I turned a program for all 3 nights, and she gave me 20 pts for each. Which was just enough to make sure I got my diploma.
I don't know if she did it because she stuck to her word, of if she finally found a worthy nemesis. Most likely is that she just never wanted to see me again.
TL;DR... Nah. It's not that long.

I’m Korean born and raised. I had the opportunity to intern in California for a year back in 2019, which remains my only extended stay abroad. I met my wife there who is American, and she is currently here with me in Korea. Studying English and getting better at it have been my main focus ever since the internship. I have been teaching English, primarily focusing on speaking, as a side hustle. Additionally, I am going to become a father to a baby boy this November, so I am determined not to speak broken English in front of my students and my child. These are what make me continue studying. I had a bad experience about a half year ago I wanna get off my chest.
I was looking for something new to do on weekends when I found this English meet-up where Korean people gather in a small roon of this building in Suwon and talk to one another in English on a regular basis.
I attended the meet-up about two months ago. There were eight people in total, including myself and two other newbies. The leader appeared relaxed and confident. He brought up some topics and we took turns sharing our thoughts on them.
Throughout the meet-up, I was mostly quiet except for my turns and when I had questions. So were the two other newcomers. Three hours flew by, and just before we wrapped up, the leader dude told us that we didn't have to make a decision about becoming official members of the group just yet. He said take our time and let him know. So we were like okay then left.
I thought I would sleep on it, but I got a text from the dude soon after, saying that the group typically keeps a high level of "tension” (which means that they are talkative and full of energy, the opposite of being quiet or observing. The meaning of the word “tension” could be totally different when it’s used in Konglish.) He said that this may not be suitable for me, as I was quiet during the meet-up. Of course he wasn’t rude. It sounded like he tried to indirectly convey his point so it wouldn’t be insulting to my personality or something. Hopefully. I wouldn’t have been insulted if I was dumb enough as he expected.
I felt a little offended but tried to gather myself and keep my cool. Without saying a word, I left the group chat on Kakao Talk and deleted his text cuz it felt like a scam.
Regardless of whether I had decided to become an official member, the leader judged me based on just three hours of interaction and put that shit on me. I thought that gave me the right to judge him back by talking about his poor English or him being arrogant disguised in a nice guy but I chose not to. what happened, happened. I’d rather move on. He was in his own small world, and I didn't think he would listen to me anyway. I tried not to take it personally and ignore that it happened, but unfortunately, it’s been bothering me. Can’t believe it’s affecting me this much. What he did is not what mature grown-ups do, especially leaders. They should not judge people so quickly, unless they are ego-maniacs looking to build their own kingdoms instead of communities.
During the meet-up, he seemed proud of leading it and claimed to do a great job of maintaining its quality by filtering attendees. This connects a lot of dots for me. I’ve never seen anyone who uses the word “물갈이” while also maintaining authenticity and decency. But the dude was damn right. He really does a great job and deserves a standing ovation. However, he needs to work on himself before he can maintain the quality of the meet-up.
He should add a few sentences to the description of the meet-up like “This is an exclusive social club where the humblebragging leader holds all the power. If he doesn’t like you or any aspect of your being, you will get kicked out. So, please keep your “tension” high and get some plastic smile and false cheerfulness ready.”

Before I get started I would like to make a disclaimer that this will be a lengthly post so forgive me for any grammatical errors or run-ons. Also, I am retelling each story as well as it was told to me. I will not be changing any descriptions - that are compared to movies - as to be appease any skeptics who don’t believe these accounts solely because the eye witness makes a film comparison. Furthermore, all three of these incidents were told to me over the years from three very different people who have no connection to each other. I never shared the other stories I heard about this family to the person sharing their own account as to not influence their own memory or story. I just let them confide in me their own experience with this family.
First story: I went to high school with a well known, successful pow wow dance competitor and this was his story. He began dating this girl from a large family prominent in the pow wow competition world. The parents of the large family were not employed and the father performed odd jobs around the community. Their main source of income was the monetary prizes and winnings from competing in pow wows - it was their main source of income. Having a large family with no stable income resulted in them being low on the socioeconomic ladder.
Being from a small rural Rez town there isn’t much to do for date night. So it is very common to drive around on old dirt roads and park and stargaze. One night he picks up the youngest daughter to spend time together. However, that night they opt to stay parked in his car on her family’s property. Most Navajo families have their homes in small circular networks such as a cul-de-sac minus the paved round about. There is a derelict traditional mud roof hogan on the property. The roof was caved in but the framing for the doorway was still intact. Oddly enough there was still a raggedly old Navajo blanket draped over the doorway lightly flapping in the wind. He says all of sudden the dogs started howling and barking. They both stopped talking and stared at the dogs. Something had the dogs attention. The dogs target their alarmed barking at the doorway of the old hogan. He feels uneasy but tries to hide it. She is still smiling and unfazed by all the commotion. The blanket stops flapping in the wind and falls flat. Its eerily silent except for the howling of the dogs. Suddenly, something rips through the doorway of the old hogan. As this figure exits the hogan the dogs began to chase it. He told me it was a f*cking werewolf! He said it looked exactly how the lycans looked in underworld the movie except not muscular. Like a sickly, emaciated werewolf. He said it takes about three long strides before jumping incredibly high straight into the trees. The dogs continue to chase it and cry off into the distance. He is in complete shock. He realizes that his girl’s reaction did not match his. She seemed familiar or unafraid. In the moments following he said she seemed to for lack of a better word tried to gaslight him. She began to tease him in an unfunny way and emasculate him by insinuating he was afraid. She said things like “oOoOh yOu’Re aFrAiD oF sKiNwAlKers” Long story short they eventually ended their relationship. It was a very ugly split. He said her family was nasty etc. He said he should’ve listened to all the other pow wow community members when they warned him that, that family was bad and they dealt in bad medicine.
Second Story: The older siblings of that family all shared residence in Phoenix. It is very common for people from the Rez to move to the valley after high school. The older siblings weren’t any different. This story was told to me by another young Navajo man. Just like the first he didn’t believe in traditional values - he believed that SW, spiritual healing, medicine men etc. were all myth. At the time he was dating the second youngest daughter. He expressed that her older brothers didn’t like him and on many occasions tried to physically fight him. The SW family members were known partiers and on many occasions would throw Rez parties (parties in the city with all or most attendees being from the Rez). The older brothers despised him; however, he recalled that they would call a cease fire so to speak during house parties. He said they would even be so kind as to even make him mixed drinks or bring him beers. He didn’t think anything of it. As nice as the brothers appeared he still wasn’t allowed to spend the night with his girlfriend under their roof. So after the house parties would dwindle down and end he found himself behind the wheel of his car driving back to his own apartment. He would never remember getting into his vehicle, driving home, or getting pulled over. He believed he was just blacking out from the alcohol. I know it is very dangerous to get behind the wheel and drink and drive - mind you this is his story and I’m only repeating what he said and I am not condoning any of it. Him and his girlfriend loved each other so he always returned to spend time with her. Fast forward to the next 4 house parties and the same thing kept happening. He would spend the night in jail and rack up another DUI. Pretty soon he had 4-6 DUI’s. He did time and paid the fines. He lost his job and his lifestyle. His mother who was a very traditional Navajo woman and single mother begged him to come home back to the Rez and get his life sorted. Without any other prospects he decided to come back to the Rez. Upon returning home his mother drove him to see a medicine woman. Feeling hopeless and lost he thought what could it hurt, right? If he didn’t believe in it or it didn’t exist what is the harm - nothing lost, nothing gained mentality. At least it would satisfy his mother’s anxiety. He was shocked that by looking into the fire the medicine woman told him in detail everything. He had never met this medicine woman before or up until this point had never been to a ceremony. She told him that she saw him drinking and partying with SW. She told him that the alcoholic drinks they were offering him were laced with corpse powder. She saw their hatred for him. Their bad medicine was meant to be fatal. They were trying to kill him. She said had those cops never pulled him over each time he would’ve continued on his way to his death. At the point of returning home him and that girl had broken up due to his trouble with the law and troubles with drinking.
Third story: This story was told to me by a gay Navajo man who had a long standing strictly platonic friendship with one of the brothers. They had gone to high school together and had remained friends in life. This happened at one of the aforementioned notorious Rez parties the SW family members used to host. The other brothers got upset and visibly angry that there was a gay man at their party. They wanted him to leave or else there would be trouble. The gay man told his friend that he would gladly leave to avoid any drama. However, he pleaded with him to stay and enjoy the festivities. The gay man was told to wait in the friends room while the friend sorted everything out and calmed down his brothers. About 30 to 45 minutes passes. He decides it isn’t worth the trouble and he is just going to leave. He walks down the back stairwell that directly leads to the garage. As he slowly and quietly descends he begins to hear the brothers arguing. He stands silent and begins to listen. He can hear the familiar voice of his friend pleading with his brothers. He repeatedly hears his friend command his brothers “not to FIGHT him or put anything on him”. On the Rez any form of the phrase “put anything on him/someone” roughly translates to when someone witches another person. If someone witches another person they put bad medicine on them. So the term “put anything on him” can only mean putting bad medicine or cursing. It’s just common sense knowledge on the Rez. If you are not from the Rez you may have many ways to interpret that phrase but there is only one meaning on the Rez. He is shocked about what he hears and slowly back tracks up the stairs and finds another way out of the house. He leaves and never goes to another party there.
It is said among the members of the small town that the pow wow family are SW who curse their rivals in order to win pow wow competitions. If you are from the Rez I am sure you might have heard of this family or have even heard stories yourself.

Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on working at McDonald's on Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki? I know this reads like some sort of advertisement for them or something, but believe me, it's not. I just moved to Hawaii recently, and this will be my first job in Hawaii. I was wondering if there was anything I should know/watch out for specifically at this McDonald's?
I appreciate in advance any advice or comments you may have. I start June 5th, as a Crew Member. $28,800/per year ($15.00/per hour!)

Link to Part 1
Link to Part 2
Link to Part 3
Link to Part 4
Link to Part 5
Link to Part 6
Link to Part 7
Link to Part 8
Link to Part 9
Link to Part 10
Link to Part 11
Link to Part 12
Link to Part 13
Link to Part 14
Link to Part 15
Link to Part 16
Link to Part 17
Link to Part 18
Link to Part 19
Link to Part 20
Link to Part 21
Link to Part 22
Link to Part 23
Note: This story is meant to be read after completing DDLC Plus. All credit for the original DDLC and DDLC Plus characters and world goes to their creator. Some concepts like the Universal Constructor are also borrowed from other series (most notably the original Deus Ex), though its use in this story is my own idea. My original characters in this story will deliberately not be named and their descriptions will be kept vague, so anyone reading this who wants to see themselves in one of the original characters can more easily do so. I'd welcome any feedback and will post more parts as I write them. I hope you enjoy the story. This chapter took a bit longer due to the challenges inherent in writing poetry and trying to write something that I thought sounded like the various characters. As with previous installations, here is a custom dialogue to go with it: The Poetry Festival
Credit for Sayuri's character design goes to user Hoeruko who made the design a number of years ago and originally posted Sayuri in this thread: The next doki fusion, Sayuri, is here.
Here is Part 24 of Digital Reality. The Literature Club finally gets to put on the festival. Will their words have an impact on any of the MES engineers? Will they get Monika back?
Part 24: Digital Poetry
The Literature Club members all stood together in the club room and waved a greeting to the group in the MES conference room.
“Hi everyone!” Sayori began, “On behalf of the Literature Club, thank you for joining us today. I’m Sayori, and this is Yuri, MC, Natsuki, and our newest member, Sayuri. Though our club president Monika isn’t here right now, we’ve all written poems to share with you today.”
“Don’t forget the cupcakes,” Natsuki added, “I don’t usually share it, but you should have my recipe for the best cupcakes ever in the packets you have. I made some for us to share here, but since we don’t have a way to send them to the real world, I figured sharing the recipe was the next best thing!”
The MES engineers flipped through the packets on the table in front of them.
“A cupcake recipe?” asked Rea Vorte with surprise, “You can’t just make cupcakes appear in the simulation?”
“No,” Natsuki replied, “Knowing what we now know about our world I know why you would think that, but I’ve always made my cupcakes with a recipe and ingredients.”
“Interesting,” Ro Teether said, “I would not have expected the simulation to go into that level of detail.”
“I think the original script contained an event in which the characters can bake cupcakes, so that may be where it comes from,” replied Ive Laster.
Paula Miner sat silently, looking intently at the recipe page. After a few moments she looked up.
“I’m by no means an expert baker, but reading through this recipe it does look like it would work,” Miner said, glancing from Laster to Natsuki, “Your secret ingredient is rather interesting, too.”
Natsuki smiled, “That’s how I’ve always made them.”
“By the way, since we’re on a two-way connection, can they see us?” Miner asked.
“Sort of,” the FXI President replied, “They’ve told me when I’ve been connected to the system that I appear as a fuzzy silhouette to them.”
“Yeah, we can’t see you exactly, but we know you’re there,” Sayori confirmed.
Miner nodded slowly. “Very well. We’ll need to chat about this cupcake recipe more later. Please continue.”
“Okay!” Sayori said, “We’ve each written a poem that we’re going to share with you today. There’s no particular theme that connects them all, but with everything that we’ve learned in the past week we thought that writing was a good outlet for our thoughts and emotions.”
“MC has agreed to start today’s event by sharing his haiku, entitled ‘Poem About Poetry’,” Sayori continued.
MC stepped to the front of the group. He looked down at his piece of paper and then back up at the group as he began to speak.
“I’m far from as good of a writer as some of the other members you’ll hear from today, but that just means that the quality can go up from here,” MC said in a self-deferential tone, “This is a poem I wrote about the creative process of writing poetry.”
He winked at Sayori as he began to read.
“What is poetry?
Far more meaningful than just
Simply random words”
Natsuki grinned. “Wow, you didn’t take my advice about not just throwing random words on a page, you literally wrote a poem about it!”
“Haiku is an interesting choice,” Teether said, “It shows an understanding of syllables and structure, and I find it very ‘meta’ that you would choose to create a poem about poetry.”
MC nodded, “My past poetry has been accused of being nothing more than twenty random words on a page, so I’m poking fun at myself a bit.”
“Well done, MC,” Sayori said, “That was a fun poem! Next up will be Yuri, with her poem called ‘The City.’”
Yuri stepped to the front of the group. She glanced to the side, looking slightly nervous. After a few moments, she seemed to gather her thoughts and looked toward the group. “My poem is not as straightforward as MC’s haiku, so I would prefer not to share the meaning until after you have had the opportunity to consider it for yourselves.”
She started to read, her voice becoming stronger and more confident with each word.
“A city stood in the distance.
Shining lights, soaring towers.
A beautiful and magnificent place.
A place of honor and achievement
When viewed from afar with detachment.
Though upon arrival
The city unveils its truth.
There is no honor here.
Glowing lights
Are cold and artificial.
I thought I knew this place
But it treats me as a stranger.”
Yuri looked around the club room after she had finished speaking. An enigmatic smile of satisfaction crossed her face.
Sayori spoke up first. “Yuri, it seems like your poem could be about changes in perspective over time. Like going back to visit a neighborhood you’ve moved away from. You know things aren’t as they once were, but you still kind of feel lonely when you find that things have changed.”
Yuri nodded. “That’s part of it. We’ve all experienced a significant change recently as we’ve understood our world, and I struggled to find a way to describe what I was feeling. Places that had been familiar to me suddenly appeared different with the knowledge that this is a simulation.”
“So the AIs can not only write poetry but use metaphors and explain their meaning,” Teether observed, “Fascinating. Ive, you never told me that the entities in VM1 were capable of creativity like this.”
Laster shrugged, “Other than Monika, they were tied to the script until recently. Based on Monika’s behavior, we knew that at least she was capable of taking initiative and making changes to the world, but she was the only entity able to do that. The script included poetry, but we’ve never tasked the entities with creating original content.”
“This isn’t because of anything that the FXI team did, right?” Teether asked, “I know you mentioned that they were responsible for all of the entities gaining elevated access permissions. They didn’t extend the script or anything?”
“Yes and no,” the FXI CTO replied, “We restored files to the VM and added the ‘monitor kernel access’ permission to all of the characters, but we didn’t do any scripting. This is all them.”
Miner glanced between the FXI President and the FXI CTO with suspicion but said nothing.
Sayori took the pause as an opportunity to continue. “Thanks, Yuri. Natsuki will be next with her poem, ‘My Friends.’”
“Okay, time for my poem!” Natsuki said, “Mine is a bit more upbeat than Yuri’s.”
“Some come from near
Some from afar
Each shines bright like a star
They’re my friends
That’s who they are
Old or new
Many or few
Friends are important
To me and you”
Natsuki smiled at the group, “You all inspired this poem. And by you all I mean both you all here in the club and our new FXI friends. You’ve made the literature club a place that I’ve enjoyed and a place of friendship.”
“I liked your poem, Natsuki,” Sayori said, “I’m glad you feel that way about your friends.”
A look somewhere between exhaustion and frustration came across Paula Miner’s face. “This is all well and good, but are we gathering any useful data from listening to an AI read a cute little poem like this?”
Natsuki glared at Miner and opened her mouth to offer what was certain to be a sarcastic retort, but Sayori pre-empted her.
“Are you not enjoying our poetry?” Sayori asked, sounding disappointed.
“The poetry is fine. I’ll even say it’s impressive for AI-generated content,” Miner replied, “But though your poems are interesting, we’re here to do a job, not study literature. And we need to gather useful data to justify our own jobs and this project’s existence. So tell me, Ive, are we getting useful data from this?”
Laster tapped a few keys on his laptop. “We’re recording this session and logging all data. It looks like there may be some interesting patterns of activity, but we won’t be able to say for sure until we analyze what we’ve got.”
“I’d imagine that you’re likely getting a lot of useful data,” the FXI President chimed in, “You’re not only gathering the data logs from VM1, but you can pair them with the recordings to understand what happens in the system when the AIs are allowed to interact and create on their own. I don’t know what your project goals are, of course, but in terms of AI research I’d think that there’s something you can get out of this.”
“There also may be something useful for our efforts to stabilize our connection to VM2,” Teether added, “If we can understand how entities operate when freed from a script in VM1, it may give us some clues as to how we might be able to interact with VM2.”
Miner considered for a moment and then nodded. “Perhaps you’re right. Ive, let’s just make sure we’re logging everything for future analysis.”
As the conversation once again died down, Sayori continued. “I’ll go next. My poem is called ‘A New Day’ and it’s about my journey with some personal challenges.”
She took a deep breath and began to recite her poem.
“Storms tried to block out the sun
The world was dark and gray.
It’s so hard to have any fun
When the clouds won’t go away.
But you never stopped trying
To shine through the darkness
Even when I was crying
You showed me kindness
It’s a new day now
Though the clouds aren’t gone
The sun shines somehow
I find the strength to carry on”
Sayori blinked away misty eyes as she finished reading. The other club members surrounded her in a group hug as she stepped back from the front of the room.
“That was a wonderful poem, Sayori,” MC said, “You share your feelings so well.”
“I liked that poem quite a bit,” Laster chimed in, “It’s got a great message of perseverance and hope even in challenging times.”
Sayori nodded. “I’ve been through a lot, but things are getting better now. My friends have been a huge source of support through all of this.”
“I really like your writing, Sayori,” Sayuri added, “Your poem is easy to read but the more you think about it, the more you feel the emotions you’re trying to convey.”
“Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your kind words,” Sayori replied, “And now for the finale of our festival I’d like to introduce our newest member, Sayuri, and her poem ‘What Remains.’”
Sayuri stepped to the front of the group. “I’ve been reading through classic poetry recently. Poems like Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’ inspired me to write this one about what will stand the test of time in a time when so much is digital.”
Sayuri paused, looking around the room, before closing her eyes and reciting her poem from memory.
“Ancient monuments that still stand
Classic portraits and landscapes grand
Such works are the legacies of the past
Physical objects that will last
But what will tell of this new age?
When are stories are gigabytes, not a printed page
A digital reality, its purpose completed
Leaves little trace if it’s deleted
If all that remains is a dusty drive
Will the future know we were alive?”
Sayuri opened her eyes as she finished. Both the club room and the MES conference room were silent as both groups took in her words.
“Wow, Sayuri,” Yuri said, breaking the silence, “That was incredible. I really loved the images you created with your words.”
The FXI President glanced around the conference room. Paula Miner’s expression had softened, and she appeared to be lost in thought. Ro Teether continued to look excited and intrigued by his observations of the Literature Club. The FXI CTO wore a satisfied smile. Ive Laster looked relaxed and relieved. And Rea Vorte was looking down at the conference table and shaking her head. Her expression was difficult to read.
Miner looked up at the screen showing the Literature Club. “I never thought an AI would generate content that would make me feel anything. But I have to say this has given me some things to think about. Ive, can you please confirm that we’ve logged all the data from this session?”
Laster nodded. “Yes, we’ve got everything. If this is the last big data gathering session we have before decommissioning VM1, I’d say it’s a pretty good one to go out on.”
“If this is truly AI-generated content, this seems like a new level of sophistication,” Teether mused, “It’s one thing to be able to generate text, but to be able to convey this kind of emotion and explain the meaning of metaphors is not a capability I’ve ever seen in AI.”
“It’s a little scary,” Rea Vorte added, “I don’t know that I like the idea of AI this sophisticated. Especially after what we saw Monika-”
“Let’s refrain from speculation,” Miner said, cutting Vorte off, “We can talk more about system capabilities later.”
“You think we’re scary?” Sayori said, looking sad, “We just wanted to share our writing with you. We just wanted to show that we’re not that different from you. We have feelings, emotions, and desires just like you do.”
“You’ve got my vote, for whatever it’s worth,” the FXI CTO said with a smile, “I’m not big into poetry, and I certainly had my concerns about sophisticated AI when I first encountered all of you. But the more I’ve interacted with and observed you the more I see how similar you are to us.”
Miner glanced sideways at the FXI CTO but said nothing.
“Can we please have Monika back now?” Natsuki asked.
Laster turned to Vorte, “Rea, please move Monika’s file back to VM1 by COB today. Let’s discuss how we can best move the entire simulation after we’re done here.”
“Thanks, Ive!” Natsuki said with a smile, “Sayori did a great job leading the club in Monika’s absence, but it will be good to have her back.”
Vorte looked up at Laster. Frustration was evident on her face. “Like I said before, let’s discuss that offline after we’re done here.”
Laster shrugged. “Fine. I’m not blaming you if there’s a problem by the way. If there’s an issue, we’ll work on it together.”
“Great job, everyone,” the FXI President said to the Literature Club, “We’re going to log off from VM1 now, but I’m sure we’ll talk again soon.”
The Literature Club members waved to the group in the MES conference room as the club room faded from the projection screen to be replaced with Laster’s desktop.
“I think we have a lot to discuss, and it’s going to take some time to unpack the implications of everything that we just saw,” Miner said, “I was skeptical of the value of this presentation at the start of this meeting, but I’m hopeful that we have gathered new and useful data from this session. Let’s all take a break for a bit and reconvene at six, which gives us an hour break. I want to discuss this further. Ro, can you please order in some dinner for the group? I think we’re going to have a long night.”

Does any one else feel this sub is becoming more and more right wing? It has almost become what IndiaSpeaks was before few years.
When I joined this sub it was smaller and there were more original posts discussing various topics from politics to philosophies. People used to respect opinions and share counter opinions and the discourse fitted the sub name. There was a little hope that there are people in Indian political space who are willing to have a conversation and give different perspectives without ‘hate’ involved in it.
But that has changed. Now it is being flooded with agenda driven articles. For every ten post there is at least one Hindu vs Muslim narrative driven article. We all know what the mainstream media has become. These true crime articles in the past would be a side note in a local column of a newspaper. But now these are a topic of national debate. These are being used to paint narratives and has even become electoral issues. Of course people are free to discuss these because they are made and presented to us as national issues. But does it fit the moderate nature of this sub?
And nowadays every article or post has a pro-ruling party lean and anti-ruling party views gets downvotes. Reddit already encourages further polarisation of people with their upvote and downvote system. Add it with agenda driven articles and significant bias in the sub members can drive the sub in a particular direction. We have seen this happen to many subs.
I am not saying there aren’t real moderate people who respect other views here. They are there and we still get quality discussions. But they are slowly getting drowned. This sub is losing its character as it is becoming increasingly more popular. Indian subs are already shit-shows which encourages segmentalisation of our society. I am afraid that the mainstream hate driven narratives will take over this sub too. I understand it is a very difficult job by the moderators to keep this sub to its original idea. But there can be some more control over articles that can keep this sub’s character intact. This is a suggestion and a rant.

at the start of the year, I decided I wanted to run a campaign for some friends, and to save myself some effort, I thought I would run a pre-written game. I looked up Eberron adventures, and the convergence manifesto looked like it would suit the quick, very-slightly-casual-ish campaign I wished to run. While I haven't finished the campaign yet, I want to write out some thoughts about it.
WHAT FOLLOWS WILL SPOIL THE CONVERGENCE MANIFESTO CAMPAIGN. DON'T READ IF YOU INTEND TO PLAY IT.
ALSO, PARTS OF THIS MIGHT NOT MAKE SENSE IF YOU HAVEN'T READ OR RUN THE ADVENTURES BECAUSE I'M BAD AT EXPLAINING THINGS.
To start with, I'd like to say that some of my criticisms of the campaign are probably problems with me. I have focus issues, and I'm a picky perfectionist, and to be fair to all the writers involved, they have done better jobs than I would in their shoes.
A note on my group: our party consisted of a human wild magic sorcerer (ex-skycoach driver), human wizard (aundairian expatriot), a gargoyle barbarian (used the rules for a Hadozee), an eladrin eloquence bard, and a goblin rogue (retired Conquerer champion looking for something new to do)
The Campaign As a Whole:
The premise of the Convergence manifesto is that Nigel Faurious, Provost of Morgrave university, wants a bunch of relics that are each attuned to one of Eberron's planes. Each adventure is a mission to some location on Khorvaire to retrieve or create such an item.
Each of the adventures is written by a different author, and as a result I think they vary pretty wildly in quality.
Adventure 1: Fired and Forgotten.
Synopsis: PCs go through hazing ritual to join adventuring guild in Sharn, get sent to pick up bespoke Fernia-linked magic item from a forge in the Cogs, discover forge has been shuttered due to warforged workers protesting - they have to convince the owner to be less of an ass. Then Daask show up.
This one was good! A strong start. Everybody enjoyed the hazing ritual, and I decided to use the optional NPC with the aberrant dragonmark manifesting (for reasons I'll explain further down). The warforged union situation was a very good introduction to what is special and different about the Eberron setting. This might be an issue with me as GM, but I found that the PCs dealt with the non-combat parts of the adventure VERY easily through use of skills and illusions, never thought about leaving the immediate vicinity of the forge (and thus missed some content), and I felt kind of bad having the forge owner not immediately cooperate in the face of 20+ results on Persuasion and Intimidate.
The daask Ettin bruiser being toned down for a bunch of level 1s was a very nice touch, but throwing that at the players right after the fight with the mephits made that bit rough.
Adventure 2: Live Another Day
Synopsis: PCs get air-dropped into Droaam so they can find a hidden valley with an Irian manifest zone, so they can charge up a crystal. On the way they may encounter some ogres, have to navigate a hidden set of tunnels, and then on arriving discover a clan of harpies is living in the valley, as they are persona-non-grata in Droaam. When Droaam monsters follow the PCs into the valley, they have to fight them off before the harpies will let them complete their mission
So, slight issue with this one, probably unique to my party - the adventure calls for a lot of Survival rolls for the overland travel and nobody in my party had survival. They were a bunch of city-slickers. Seemed a little odd the adventuring guild picking the party to do this.
While the adventure was somewhat rail-roady, it at least makes sense in that the PCs are following in the footsteps of a prior explorer. My main issue was the last portion - once the PCs get to the valley, there will ALWAYS be Droaamite monsters on their heels. Firstly, this discounts the possibility that the party had been religiously using Pass Without Trace or doing other things to make them untrackable. My party didn't, but a party with a ranger and/or druid might have. Secondly, the fight as written is a bit boring. It's two Gnolls. Two gnolls shouldn't be a threat to a clan of harpies. Once the gnolls are dead, three goblins show up. After that, two half-ogres show up. You can optionally add some more scenes fighting gnolls and chasing anything trying to get away. I revamped the fight a bit by making all of these fight scenes one long drawn-out battle with reinforcements arriving, and I re-contextualized the Harpies wanting the PCs to fight the monsters without their help - the Harpies could probably run rings around the ground-based humanoids, but the Harpies both thought this was the PCs fault they were here, and didn't want to show themselves in case any stragglers got away to report on the Harpies' presence.
Weird thing my party did: when they encountered the ogres at the start of the adventure, the group came up with a plan to pretend to be fellow Droaamite monsters if they failed to sneak past - they then snuck past the ogres without any issue, and were disappointed that they couldn't use their disguises... so they used them when the encountered the harpies, not knowing the harpies were enemies of Droaam. This very nearly turned into a combat situation, but the bard managed to talk everybody down and explain why they had been lying.
Adventure 3: Rime or Reason
Synopsis: Nigel sends PCs to Icewhite island to get a Risia macguffin after another expedition failed to return. They have to contend with a blizzard, find a tower of ice in the middle, and defeat ice monsters, a puzzle/trap, the possibly backstabby survivors of the failed expedition, and then deal with the tower collapsing once they find the item.
Some parts of this one were good - my party really seemed to enjoy trying to find a solution to get through the blizzard despite their lack of survival skill proficiency. Two of the casters were constantly casting prestidigitation to keep the Constitution 8 rogue from succumbing to hypothermia, and even then it was a bit touch and go.
Now, I had some issues with the ice tower as presented. First, the adventure says it's an ancient dwarven ruin, dating back to when the dwarves came down from the Frostfell. Personally, that didn't make great sense to me - why would you willingly make a building in a risian manifest zone? The whole of Icewhite island is freezing cold, and the manifest zone is worse.
Second problem - there is door, with a puzzle. The puzzle is so easy that I worked out the answer the instant I looked at the handout at the back of the adventure, before even reading the description - there are four columns of symbols (a book, scroll, wand, potion - again, not terribly dwarf-y?), and each symbol rotates a certain number of octagonal faces from one row to the next, and you just have to make the last row match the pattern. If you mess it up, it will spring a trap that will potentially either tickle the PCs a little, or cause a TPK if they're messed up from any prior fights because anybody reduced to 0 HP by the trap is frozen solid until freed by greater restoration, which no PC at this level of adventure will have.
Third problem - the tower is only four storeys tall. As described, it more cube-shaped than tower shaped. Also, as described, a PC with misty step standing on the shoulders of another PC of above average height could potentially teleport to the top of the tower and avoid 50% of the adventure content.
Fourth problem - the top of the tower is described as a garden made of icy plants... which doesn't make sense with Risia's canonical loathing of life.
my fixes: I changed the backstory of the tower, rather than being a dwarven relic, it was an Aundairian Magical Congress research facility, set up during the war to try to draw weaponizable power out of the Risian manifest zone - a wizard tower felt more right than a dwarven one. I then changed the solution to the puzzle - the symbols still had to be rotated, but what columns they were in had to be swapped, to represent the Congress sharing magical knowledge. I had the other expedition that was there explain they had tried the obvious solution and it hadn't worked. I also made the tower taller, mostly as an aesthetic thing, and so that the stand-on-shoulders-and-teleport trick only got the party Eladrin up to a balcony, rather than the roof. I kept the set-piece of the tower collapsing, saying that the magic the Aundairians had been trying had kept the manifest zone coterminous and removing the macguffin broke the spell holding the ice tower together.
Adventure 4: Living Legend
Synopsis: the party goes to Darguun, hunting a legendary hobgoblin hero. They get to see the fact that bugbears take slaves, follow a guide to a Thelanis manifest zone, and undertake several trials to prove they are worthy of claiming the hero's weapon to bring back.
So... the premise is cool. The execution is anything but
Even setting aside the fact that some parties might get entirely side-tracked by fighting slavers, the issue I had was that the trials in the adventure didn't seem to really key into the fact that Eberron goblinoids are supposed to have some different and interesting cultural mores.
The trials aren't bad, per se, but they don't feel goblin-y at all.
Worst of all, though, there is a Hobgoblin you encounter during the trials who is one of the Dhakaani fallout-vault people who is set on passing the trials to claim the weapon herself. As written, she is quite easy to befriend, will readily tell the PCs that she is from a hidden vault of survivors of the goblinoid empire, and if they DO befriend her, doesn't leave the room she's in despite the fact she's here for the same cultural relic the PCs are. WHICH FEELS INSANE. Every bit of canon and kanon lore I've encountered about the Dhakaani suggest that they distrust non-Dhankaani at best, and outright loath them at worst, and are trying to keep their presence secret. She should be either fighting to the death or keeping her origin secret then betraying the PCs, or not here at all.
Between the un-goblin-ish trials, and the insanely cooperative yet unhelpful NPC, this one needed the most fixing to satisfy my tastes. As I didn't have the time and brain juice to do that before the session, I decided to skip this adventure, and have the PCs collect a Thelanis macguffin as part of the later adventurer where they go to a Feyspire (adventure 12: Lost in Dreams).
Adventure 5: Perfect Timing
Synopsis: PCs get on a lighting rail intending to jump off it as it goes over a bridge, so they can appear in Daanvi to acquire the macguffin. twist: there's emerald claw terrorists on the train, and one of them has stolen the thing the PCs need to get into Daanvi, intending to go himself. Once in Daanvi, it's a race against the Emerald Claw guy to fill out all the paperwork to get the macguffin first
So, over-all, this one is really good. The premise is good. Situation is hilarious. It's very Eberron
Minor issues: the train has SO MANY COMBAT ENCOUNTERS. the PCs start at one end, and have to fight their way to the other, with one fight in every single train car, one of which is purely due to a misunderstanding. It took two sessions to get through the train half of the adventure, and that is with me having skipped two of the fights. In hindsight, I would have maybe also varied the stats of the enemies a bit more.
Also, while I comprehend the drama of having the thief jump out of train with his accomplices during a fight, this presumes the PCs don't kill every single one of his accomplices. I had to pull some shady DM shenanigans to get the guy out of the train in one piece, and give him new allies to help in the final battle at the end of the paperwork race.
My players enjoyed this one a heap, but one did comment that he thought it should have come later in the campaign, as it was such a departure from the others.
Adventure 6: Night's Gambit
Synopsis: PCs have to infiltrate Fort Bones in Karrnath and steal a mabaran macguffin from under the nose of the military there.
Another really good one, although not without it's issues. The adventure presents interesting characters in the form of the fort's up-tight commander and relatively chill head necromancer, a timeline of what they will be up to at various times of day, and has options of all kinds of approaches: sneaking in, joining up with what is basically the Karrnathi Foreign Legion, or acting as bodyguards for a visiting inspector. I loved that it gave all these options.
my only complaints were that the timeline was a little hard to make sense of as presented, and the map of the fort seemed... a bit too small and simple for the facility as it's described. I feel like you'd expect one of Karrnath's most important border forts to be at least a two-storey building (I fixed that by describing the fort's upper levels as being still under construction after the last time it was sacked).
How my party handled it: so, my group aren't terribly sneaky on the whole. They also do not look like adventurers - to glance at, they are a Gargoyle, the hottest and floweryest elf you've ever seen, a depressed cab driver, the least magical aundairan wizard ever, and a goblin grandmother. So they couldn't really sneak in, wouldn't blend in as recruits, and I felt wouldn't really be the kind of people the inspector would hire as bodyguards....
...so they decided to BE the inspector. Eladrin lady was the inspector herself, gargoyle got dressed up as weird undead bodyguard, aundairian wizard was silent note-keeper, grandmother was a servant, and cabbie became the coach-driver. The group arrived a day early ("surprise inspection"), and were given a tour of the fortress. They executed everything perfectly. In the end, the only fight they had was an ambush on the necromancer in his own bedroom at 3am, wherein they beat him senseless, put him to sleep with a spell, and healed him back to full HP, so when he woke up in the morning he had no physical proof that anything had happened and was questioning his own sanity. They even fashioned a replica of the macguffin (it's a conqueror piece - the goblin rogue had her own set, which the wizard imbued with some necromantic energy), so the alarm wasn't raised for several hours after the PCs had left the fort.
Adventure 7: The Silvered Edge of Twilight
Synopsis: PCs go to Thaliost to pick up a Lammanian macguffin from a silver flame priest - when they get there, it's been stolen. They do some investigating, track the theives to the railway station, and chase them down to the Eldeen reaches where they fight Ashbound druids and lycanthropes.
Kind of middling adventure - nice premise, but very railroady. For starters, there's an NPC (who I edited out) who gets sent with the PCs for all of the investigation portion who basically seems to exist to keep them on track and/or provide lore about Thaliost and also to force them into a fight they might otherwise be able to avoid. Even outside of that, the investigation seemed a bit being-led-by-the-nose, although maybe that came down to how I was running it.
The issue, for my run at least, was once they were on the train. As written, the PCs need to track down the missing item on the train - it's written with there being a few red herrings as to who might be the thief, but it's a magic item. I have never seen a group of PCs who didn't have access to detect magic, so my PCs just bypassed all the red herrings with a single spell.
Next, there is supposed to be a set-piece fight where the were-tiger with the item jumps off the train, and leaves here were-rat minions to fight the PCs. I can't really criticise the adventure writer for not forseeing what my PCs did: the eladrin bard walked scootched up to the were-tiger, went "hey, I gather you're a nature-themed terrorist? I am too! I hate civilization. Can I tag along and then borrow your item when you're done with it? Also are you single?" and then rolled a 27 for persuasion.
The PCs came along and jumped the lycanthropes a day later. To be fair, the adventure never explained how the were-tiger was supposed to get to the final battle before the PCs as she jumped off a moving train and is slower than it is.
Adventure 8: The March of Madness
Synopsis: PCs go to an ancient dungeon in the Shadow Marches, go on a vision quest before being allowed inside by the druid guardian, and then have to contend with/repair the wards inside the dungeon before they can get their Xoriat macguffin. Depending on how it plays out, they may or may not end up accidentally killing an ancient orcish guardian inside the dungeon, and may or may not be betrayed by an insane warlock.
The adventure is very solid, great even. The map that comes with it is... very uninspiring, so I re-mapped the dungeon and added a bit of extra flavour to one room (there's a weird trap that doesn't make much sense, so I made it a weird manigest zone effect rather than a deliberate thing), but that is basically the only changes I made. 4.5 stars!
Adventure 9: Weathering the Storm
Synopsis: PCs get sent to the Lazaar principalities to receive a Kythri macguffin that is being imported. Ship doesn't arrive, investigation leads to sky pirates, which in turn leads to an attack on a skyship.
So, again, really nice premise. Some issues with the execution, though - see, the synopsis in the adventure itself makes reference to the Chaos Fleet, a concept introduced in 4th edition, where there was a pirate fleet in the principalities that were basically Davy Jones' crew from Pirates of the Carribean, if they went all elemental-y rather than all fish-y.
Except, the Chaos Fleet never actually show up in the adventure at any point. All the opposition in the adventure is Wind Whisperer pirates. ALL of it. Literally, it's only the one statblock for everybody except the final boss.
my fixes: when the PCs are inspecting the wreck of the vessel that had their macguffin on it, rather than Wind Whisperers returning to the scene of the crime, I had a Chaos fleet ship turn up chasing the scent of the macguffin that they were lusting after - I used weirds from the Ravnica book, and some mephits. After that, I fed the PCs info of sightings of Chaos Fleet ships chasing after a skyship in the heart of a storm - the Chaos guys I described as not usually a threat because they're terminally incapable of cooperating with each other, but this was concerning because the Wind Whisperers seemed to be trying to use the macguffin to draw all of them into their wake and then force them into Regalport.
In the adventure as written, then PCs are airdropped onto the macguffin-holding skyship with some friendly Regalport sailors to help them (and to keep the fight against the Wind Whisperers manageable). I gave the wind whisperers some more variance in statblocks (scounts, thugs, deck wizards from ghosts of saltmarsh), and had the ship under attack by elementals at the same time, rather than give the PCs allies.
I also had the aberrant dragonmarked NPC from adventure 1 show up in Regalport, saying she had been given a grant by Nigel to continue her studies somewhere other than Sharn.
Adventure 10: At Death's Door
Synopsis: PCs sneak into the upper level of the Lair of the Keeper to get a Dolurrh macguffin while the (alleged) Keeper is out having a meeting with some minions. It's a dungeon crawl.
This is the best one. Almost every encounter can be fought or talked through (with varying difficulty). The Rakshasa is great. The demon and the bodak are great. The Orcs are great. I loved it. No fixes. No notes. 5/5 stars.
Further Adventures:
This is as far as we've gotten at time of writing. I'm currently gearing up to run A Heart in Mourning, and am running into some of the same issues as Rime or Reason - the adventure site feels too small, the approach to it a bit too rail-roady due to being a tower, combined with the fact it doesn't really feel like it's Shavarath-ish enough. Also, ending with a collapsing tower seems repetitive at this point.
I need to read Lost in Dreams in more detail. It looks complex, so I'll report back on that one.
As for the last adventure - a read-through revealed some really neat set-piece fights and the stupidest twist I've ever \***ing heard of*. As written, the adventure reveals that Nigel Faurious has secretly been... a gnome woman from zilargo who the PCs have never heard of and who wants revenge on Sharn for her sons dying in the War.
...What???
I at least have a fix for that: Nigel Faurious is... actually Nigel Faurious. Nothing secret going on there. He came to Morgrave university in his 20s in hopes of studying to help his fiancé - the fiancé had an aberrant dragonmark that meant they would create spontaneous manifest zones temporarily. One day they had a bad flare-up, and got killed by a mob, just like the NPC nearly is in adventure 1. After that Nigel as spent the last 20 years trying to reverse-engineer the manifest-zone creation effect with the intention of destroying the city that killed the love of his life.
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Thanks for reading all this way, I know this has been a really long post. I appreciate the effort.

Hey everyone,
This happened somewhat recently but was difficult for me to deal with, so wanted to sit with it before posting about it, even if some of the details are now fuzzy. This is also an active campaign and while the problem player infuriated me to no end I think they had a lot of issues they needed to work through and I bear them no ill will, so please don't call them out or harass them or anything if you know them, I just needed to get this off my chest.
This campaign had a large number of players to start, but the most noteworthy ones in this story are myself, Dave, and the DM.
I've DMed more games than I've played, so when an interesting-looking 5e campaign in a homebrew world came up from a newer DM on Discord, I hopped at the chance to join. We had a good amount of time to socialize and work on our characters before our first game. I really wanted to do something unique and interesting, so I played a delusional kobold that thought they were a dragon. (We did some reflavoring but kept things mechanically the same. So for instance, burning hands came from my mouth) Everyone seemed pretty chill, but there was one person that was far more active on the server than everyone else, Dave. Dave had some kind of job (we never figured out what this was) where they weren't allowed to be on a computer but COULD talk and speak out loud, so would frequently ask people to go on voice chat or do calls with them. I know we were going to be speaking to everyone once the game started, but as all of my prior experience was in person it still made me a bit uncomfortable to do a voice call with someone 1 on 1. So while I didn't mind chatting with them solo, I kept making excuses for doing a call.
Session 1 seemed fine. They did things that kept drawing attention to their character and would push the DM to allow them to do certain things in their background/backstory that didn't make sense in the DM's homebrew setting. Nothing too major, but stuff like "It says I can sleep at the guard post in the city as part of my background. I'm a guard in this city and I can sleep there and bring some other people, right?" "Eh, there's not really any organized military/martial presence in this small town." "But it says right here in my background that I can do it" and that sort of repeated until the DM relented. This was the start of a pattern.
So after the first session, they message me saying "Hey, I have this great magic item I will be giving myself before the next session". I was a little confused that they were messaging me instead of the DM, but I figure they were just trying to brainstorm before approaching them.
Holy cow batman, the description of what this magic item could do was TWO WHOLE PAGES. I crunched some numbers and quickly realized that this magic item was not only capable of keeping the whole party consistently healed, **it could one shot a tarrasque**. I was a bit flabbergasted and pointed out that this was capable of killing *as a bonus action* the highest published CR monster in the game and they responded with "Yeah, I know, that was one of the things I wanted to do when I built it." Some brief background on the DM's world and the campaign, this was a very low magic setting and we all started at level 3. In terms of magic items, we've so far come across cantrip spell scrolls, a coin of delving, and a cloak of billowing. Still, I figured maybe they were just... unfamiliar or awkward and they were so eager, so I tried to help them. I thought about what they wanted to do conceptually with their item and created something that had some level-based scaling and was fairly effective, but far more balanced and in line with what someone might have at level 3 in a campaign and figured with DM approval and maybe some sort of quest it could be acquirable. I told them that their idea was pretty overpowered, especially for level three, and suggested the more balanced item to them (the description only took one paragraph). They responded that the item was totally useless, and I didn't hear about them until the next session.
This is where things went totally off the hook.
Since the DM allowed him to be a guard and bunk with a couple of other party members there, he used this as a quest hook. The head of the guards gave him a quest and he went to wake up the other party members who stayed with him. (Half of us had stayed behind at an inn). The group wanted to do some downtime/shopping/socializing this session, so they were off to the market.
The DM asked them "Are you going straight there or going to the inn first to get the rest of your party?" "No, we're going straight there." "Are you sure? The rest of the party is still there." "Yes, we're going to the market." They bought a gust spell scroll but didn't realize that as a fighter they weren't able to use it. He went to a blacksmith and asked them to make a set of tonfa. It didn't really make sense in the setting for the blacksmith to have any idea what they were referring to. But Dave kept pushing and eventually, the DM decided that if he can draw up the specifications really well, maybe the smith or another party member proficient in smithing could make it, but that it would be a difficult roll and would have to succeed on multiple checks. He eventually goes back to the tavern and draws up multiple specs with a string of 17+ rolls. He then engages in persuasion rolls (another string of 17+ rolls) to convince other party members to buy those specs and his cantrip scroll and changes the prices each time, but nobody wants to metagame so he just... scams the party. This takes hours. Some people got chances to interact and play dnd, but the camera was always following them, so to speak. After a skill challenge and an immense amount of 17+ rolls on Dave's end, they get their tonfa. They proceed to tell everyone all about the qualities and stats of it. It winds up being this wishlist of weapon traits, bonus damage dice, and bonus AC. The DM tries to stop him and tells him that he needs to figure out what its stats and properties are. But Dave insists that he already had this conversation with the DM and that they told him this weapon could have all these properties and that he should stand by his previous conversation.
I made up some reason to head directly to the market. Something I forgot to mention, another player complained that I was talking over them in the previous session. I felt bad about this, as this isn't something I want to do to another player. We figured that it was half that I spoke strongly and confidently (conditioned to as part of my job) and them having a quiet microphone. So I tried to be more careful about using my meeting voice and I turned everyone else's volume down and turned theirs to the max and it seemed resolved. The reason I mention this is because I still felt bad so I wanted to give gifts to all of the other party members. I had spent most of the week planning this out so I needed to get to the market before the end of the session. We essentially just had starting gold and equipment, so I had to get creative to make meaningful gifts for the rest of the party and it took up most of my starting equipment and all of my starting gold.
As Dave heard me doing this, Dave decided to say "Hey everyone, let's plan out how our party will handle finances. Let's leave out [OP] because they're selfish and greedy." They proceed to plan and vote on how to handle finances. Then proceeded with "Also, I have this quest. Let's discuss it and plan out how to proceed with it now before [OP] gets back."
I was pretty livid at this point. I had essentially sat out all session due to his decisions and deliberately excluded from roleplay moments/campaign decisions/etc. I realized that my character also had every reason to be pissed with the information they had available. So as I returned and Dave announced the decisions the party had already made, I challenged them on their behavior over the day. They responded with "Well, you're a greedy dragon so I *know* you're bad with money. I don't even need to guess, I just *know* that you spent all of your money at the market. That proves I'm right. In fact, on our next quest, I can just tell the quest giver that you didn't participate and just keep your reward."
Then things got weird.
I tried to just ignore him and went around to the rest of my party bestowing my gifts to them. They were mostly silly things. A kobold's best attempt to make a scented candle. Some tinkerer's tools for the warforged. A chess set for the scholar. Etc. Dave interrupted pretty frequently for rolls to *determine if I was good or evil*. It didn't make much sense to me at the time, but now I'm fairly certain they were trying to justify attacking me by proving I'm the opposite alignment of whatever they were. They kept persuading the DM until they finally let them do a series of rolls for it and lo and behold, more 17+ rolls culminating in a 19. The DM decided he succeeded and asked me to tell him about my backstory and alignment. Here's the thing... I didn't really flesh out their whole backstory yet. I figured I could develop it as the character develops through play. I tried to share what I had come up with so far, but kept being pressed for more, before I put my foot down and said "Look, I don't care how well you rolled, you can't read my backstory and my character's inner thoughts with a skill check." DM finally agreed with me and we ended the session, they took off but some of us stayed on the call to chat.
Then Dave says "You should never have tried to stand up to my character. Kobolds are cowardly, you're not playing your character correctly." I glanced at my character sheet and pointed out that I had the kobold legacy trait "Defiance" which gave me an advantage against being frightened so I don't think I needed to play them cowardly. Then they dropped their next line, "You know I could kill your character any time I wanted. You wouldn't be able to do anything to stop me." This wasn't one on one or anything either, this was in front of other party members. I laugh it off, but I'm a little uncomfortable. He wasn't very knowledgeable about the game and I was pretty confident in my tactics/character build so I wasn't too worried if they just attacked me out of the blue. But they always rolled exceptionally high and could go for my character in their sleep. I was getting worked up, so made an excuse and logged off.
As the week progressed, it looked more and more likely they were going to get an OP magic item and I kind of lost it. I went on a bit of a rant and told both him and the DM I really think it's bad to give him this item because it's very powerful and he *has already threatened to kill my character*. I realized something at the same time that I suspect is a surprise to zero of you out there, he rolled physical dice. It's not something I had even considered, but suddenly I was incredibly suspicious of him not rolling below a 17 that session. I started mentally planning contingencies of what preparations I'll be making to protect myself and messaging the DM in order for Dave not to metagame around them.
At this point, I had a reality check. What was I even doing? This wasn't fun anymore. I had decided I would probably quit, but also went back and just wrote a heartfelt message about what I felt was antagonistic from him, how it made me feel as a player and potential steps we could take towards a resolution. Then I muted the server for 24 hours and tried to mentally prepare myself for telling them that I was no longer interested in continuing.
I return and I'm shocked and surprised. A lot had transpired in those 24 hours. I had gotten a couple of messages of support from the DM and some other party members. Other party members had started sharing their own grievances regarding Dave and how uncomfortable they were feeling. Dave did not respond at all well to any of this and blamed everyone except for himself. My favorite justification he made (that nobody else seemed to buy) is that he already messaged me and that I was alright with everything (lol no). Things were getting heated and several people were really upset, and the DM decided to just pull the trigger and kick him. His character became an NPC and was later discovered dead in a ditch in a following session.
So that's my horror story! Thanks for reading it through to the end. Some of the problems and issues other party members had with Dave were pretty shocking and warrant a separate story all on their own, but this has gone on long enough and I'll leave it to them to tell their own stories if they choose to.

I am not the Original Poster. That is u/ThrowRAmissjay. She posted in AITAH, (yes, that sub, not the other one,) and her own page.
Trigger Warnings: sex shaming, religious bigotry,
Mood Spoiler: a bleak look at society
Original Post: May 16, 2023
I (26F) am not from USA so I might have some grammatical errors. So, my dad left my mom and I when I was only 5 years old. I also have a brother (21M). He left the country with his mistress and never tried to contact. We were really poor. My mom had to do some immoral stuff to get food on the table. She was a stripper and also sometimes pleased men to get money for us. She put me and my brother through school. I understood why my mom did what she did because we had no money and she wanted us to have a life better than ours. And I am not ashamed because of it. I also started working part time when I was 14. I was a good student so I got a scholarship to a good university. My mom eventually stopped stripping when my brother got a part time job too. She now only works as a waitress.
I met my fiancé, Javi (27M) in college. This was my first serious relationship. We both loved each other. I never told Javi about my mom's past because my mom made me promise to never say that to anyone. I kept that but it felt so wrong to keep this huge information away from my fiance. Javi knew about us. He only knew that my family was extremely poor. He doesn't care about that. He is a very sweet guy who always takes care of me. He even covered some of the cost of my brother's education as well even though I told him not to. My mom also likes him, that's why she told me not to tell Javi anything about her past or what she did for a living. So, a week ago, my mom and I went to Javi's house to meet his parents. I didn't realize his uncle and aunt would also be there. Upon seeing his uncle my mom's face went white as if she saw a ghost. His uncle also kept staring my mom as if he knows her. My mom felt uncomfortable and said that she wants to go home. Javi was confused by it. But nonetheless we left earlier than we anticipated. The next day my fiance came to our place and shouted at me that I lied to him.
He said that I am a gold digger just like my mother, and my mother is the reason why his uncle's first marriage broke. I asked him to explain what the hell is he talking about. He said that his uncle knew my mom because he was a regular customer of her and often hired her for her services. His wife caught them red handed and immediately filed for divorce. My mom was crying and said that she didn't know he was married, she never asks men about their marital status. I told him that he has no right speak to my mom like that and his uncle was fully to blame because he was a married man who was hiring escorts for himself. My mom has no obligation towards his marriage. Javi still blamed me and mom and said that he felt deceived. He said to my face that he doesn't want to date a "whore's daughter" because I will probably invite men just like my mom. My mom had to beg him to not break the engagement. I am tired. If I do end up marrying him, my mom would always have to suffer because of it. I don't want that, so I gave him back his engagement ring and told him to never show his face. My mom is angry because she thinks this is my only chance to get married because no other guy would marry into a family where the mom works as a sex worker.
But I think I did the right thing because I am not ashamed of my mom, I didn't even wanted to hide it in the first place. I wanted to tell him the truth but my mom refused it. So, AITA?
Edit: I need to clear things out a bit. Javi knows everything about my life. He knows my dad fled the country and we had to live in poverty because of it. He knows my mom got pregnant way too young. I did give him hints that my mom had to do shady things to get by (he probably thought my mom stole things). But I didn't disclose that she was a sex worker. I wanted to tell him but my mom said not to because she doesn't want this to escalate. Also I never asked Javi to pay for my brother's education. He did it from the goodwill of his heart. I did promise to pay him back. I am not after his money. I do love him a lot. Even though we are broken up now, I still miss him. We have been together for 6 years. It is not easy to throw away those 6 years just like that.
Relevant Comments:
More about culture:
"I know that. And I understand why he is upset. Sex work is heavily criticized in my country to the point even doctors refuses to treat them. I understand his family's stigma especially his uncle was caught with my mom. So, they have a reason to hate her. I hoped that he would be a little bit understanding about our situation. If my mom didn't start working as a stripper, she would have never been able to send us school or college. I did love him a lot."
Can you and your mom go to therapy?
"It is hard to find a good therapist around our area. Yes, I have money now but my mom doesn't want to disclose her past because in the past she was denied care because of her profession."
More about the uncle:
"Everyone knows what the uncle did. I do not have to broadcast it. His uncle was a regular client of my mom. She knew him because he would often hire her and also because his wife slapped and beat her when she found her in his uncle's house."
Some people shame her mom for sleeping with married men as an escort:
"First off all, it is none of my mom's business to tell those men to stop hiring escorts. Do you know that more than half of the men who hire these sex workers are actually married? Are you really telling me that my mom is an asshole for not turning down 50% of those men? Do you know what that means? It means losing 50% of her income. Do you know what it's like to lose 50% of your income? If she refused those services then she would have never been able to keep a roof.
Secondly, it's their marriage. My mom is just a service working who provides her services to men who hire her. It is none of her job or business to snoop or tell those men not to cheat. It's that man's ugly character that cheats on his wife with an escort. By your logic a waitress shouldn't serve a married man food because only his wife gets to serve him food and no one else."
"Listen my mom was a sex worker. It was her job to offer services to anyone who is willing to pay. Even if she refused to do that, do you think that man who wanted an escort would stop? No, someone else would take that offer. It is not her responsibility to save a marriage that is already broken. She is a sex worker, not a marriage counselor. What she does is business. The man himself doesn't care about his marriage then why should my mom who is not romantically involved with any of them? You offered your judgements it is fine. But I must say your judgements are rather poor because you are blaming a poor woman who only did what she did to put food on our plate. Would you rather she loose more than 50% of her income than care about some random man's marriage that the man himself doesn't care? It is not my mom's job to provide loyalty. It is 100% on the man who hired an escort in the first place."
This sub doesn't give an overall judgement, but most of the comments were NTA
Update Post: May 26, 2023 (10 days later)
Hi everyone. I wanted to say thank you so much for your support. I never thought I would get so much support from strangers than people from my own community. I was however expecting a lot of hate towards my mom considering her profession but it is less than what I expected. I don't know if this qualifies as a proper update but there have been few changes. After I broke the engagement, I have been getting calls from my friends and Javi's family that I am making a huge mistake. My close friends know that my mom used to be a sex worker but mutual friends of mine and Javi does not know about it. So, they are also questioning me if I ever did that. Javi did apologize. He said he got carried away by his emotions and he loves me. Ngl, I love him too. I wanted to get past all of this. I know people have told me that I should not get married to this guy. But I was weak for a moment. Until he told me that he is willing to let things go and start anew if my mom does not attend any wedding functions. I was shocked.
Weddings are a big deal in our culture. There are many functions and parties surrounding the wedding. How can he ask that I do not involve my mom. He told me that because of my mom's past it would be difficult for his family members to be around her. He convinced his mom with difficulty about this engagement. Also since his uncle is going to be there, it will only remind him of bad things. At that moment I realized that I was never a consideration. It was always him and making his family happy. My family is beneath them because we are not from a respectable background and come from homes of sex workers. I stood firm and told him no, it is not going to happen. I will not give into their demands because the way I see it my mom did not do anything wrong. It is funny how quickly people will judge a woman based on her work, that she had to do to feed her kids but no one will come forward to help her in time of her need. Javi threatened that I am making a huge mistake by letting him go. I just left. I do not have the energy to deal with it. I think this news is spreading like wildfire now. I may have to move out of the city because if this news reaches to my workplace I know damn well people will ostracize me. So, I might look for job in a different area.
Lastly, I messaged him saying I am sorry for not telling him earlier about my mom but I loved him a lot. I am sad that he chose this topic to ruin a 6 year old relationship. I will be going to the bank and pay back the money he paid for my brother's education. I am still crying and jilted to say the least. Also, I saw that my post was shared in different religious groups bashing my mom. Saying that I deserved it. Well, let me tell you religious fanatics that most men who claim to be religious are not at all. My mom had many clients who claim to be religious including pastors and preachers. So please before blaming my mom look inside your house and your family. You might find chameleons hiding within your family too.
Edit: People who are asking why I am paying him back, it is because I don't want him to use it as an excuse to call me a gold digger who used him for his money. I don't want to be in his debt.
Relevant Comments:
Can you move elsewhere where people don't care?
"Thanks. I am encouraging my brother to apply for his masters abroad. Even if I missed the window he would be out of here. He won't have to face the scrutiny. And no sex work is legal in here but very much frowned upon especially in our town."
You made the right choice and someone else will be out there
"Thanks, but I wonder if anyone would ever be accepting of my life. Because if they do they might have to face insults and ridicule from the society. Who wants that? I just know even if it hurts, I cannot be with someone who was so disrespectful towards my family."
I truly wish OOP and her family the best. OOP seems like an amazing woman, and she was raised by an amazing woman.