NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

The True Varieties of Faith: Bretons, Part 2

Introduction

If you've read Varieties of Faith and think you know everything there is to know about the Breton pantheon, you are sorely mistaken. Ask a Breton what gods he knows, and you can keep them talking for days.
Like how there are thousands of cults in the Imperial City, High Rock is home to hundreds of wyrds, covens and religious orders. What distinguishes the official from the false religions? Popularity? A consistent narrative between temples? Fealty to the empire? No, in High Rock, it is having the means to silence everyone who says otherwise. Each of the official Temples has a Templar Knightly Order to protect its own interests and expand its influence.
Each temple is its own separate political power and much like the Breton Kingdoms, the Temples have alliances and go to war with each other.
In this volume of The True Varieties of Faith: Bretons we will be delving into the venerated Spirits of High Rock with no hand in the creation of the Mundus, but who are worshipped for their actions in life.

Arius

Arius is one of many examples of animism in Breton culture. He is the God of Fire and the Soul of the Volcano on the aptly named island Vulcanus, loved for the nutritious ash, feared for the poisonous smoke, earthquakes, and deadly lava. He is considered an ally of Mehrunes Dagon.
Temple: The Temple of Fire is built on the rim of the volcano, heated by the lava below, cleared of poison gas by the sea breeze blowing through the halls. A formidable platform, possible of Nedic origin extends from the temple above the crater from whence offering are thrown to keep Vulcanos asleep for another season. Exhaust vents blocked by massive valves of stones are controlled from within the Temple. When the valves open, burning ash descends down the hills to bless the fields below, while the lava is directed away through canals and left to harden in a large basin where mineworkers stand ready to delve the hardened crust in search of valuable minerals.
Templar Knightly Order: The Knights of Vulcanus were established to put a permanent stop to the annual sacrifice of a young child to appease Arius. When Arius was appeased no longer, the island volcano erupted and killed hundreds. The Knights remained to repair the damages and maintain order. Shortly after the eruption, mineworkers started the excavation of the exhaust vents.
Allies: Daggerfall
Enemies: The Ashblood, a native uprising who seek to free Arius of his bondage and return to the old ways.

Bandi

The Bandit God worshiped by law breakers throughout the Iliac Bay. Bandi was a band of five Khajiit brothers: an Alfiq, an Ohmes, a Suthay, a Cathay-raht and a Senche, pretending to be one powerful shape shifting Wood Elf by the name of Bandi. They extorted village and city alike for money and power. By the time their act was uncovered by a sailor who had travelled to the far shores of Bruk'ra, one of the sixteen kingdoms of the Khajiit at the time, the brothers had secured themselves a castle and subjects, and though the magic they wielded proved non-existent, the political and military power was sufficient enough to lead five long and happy lives. The five brothers are still prayed to today for guidance in the art of trickery and thievery, although their veneration is quickly fading.
Temple: The Bandi Front. At the Order's founding the temple served to rehabilitate outlaws and thieves, but they have since grown into common cutthroats, hiding behind a dead religion to make their own fortune.
Templar Knightly Order: They know themselves as the Five-Clawed Knights, but they are more commonly known as the Bandi't.
Allies: The Thieves Guild
Enemies: The Anvil of Ebonarm, Daggerfall

Daegout

The bastard of Boar and Greenskinned Demon. It only knew violence and rage and devastated the lands when the world was still young. There are two different versions of its story told throughout Bretony.
The first story goes as follows: The monster was sad and confused as it understood how fundamentally wrong its mere existence was, and the only outlet it knew was destruction. After three days of battle against an adventurer named Erudarth it grew to be too tired to fight. That's when the adventurer asked Daegout a question it had never been asked.
"Why are you so sad?"
At that opportunity to lift its heart the monster started weeping about its woes. Erudarth listened to him for a long time. Listened to its loneliness, its hatred for the world for not belonging. Erudarth told him that as long as the monster refused to hurt the men of this land the monster would have a friend in Erudarth. The monster prowled the woods of High Rock for as long as Erudarth's kingdom stood, always looking for the enemies of his king. When the first kingdom fell, so did Daegout. From its flesh the first orcs were born. Even if Daegouts children oftentimes forget their ancestral duty, sometimes they do remember. The friendship that made the Daggerfall-Covenant possible oftentimes gets compared to this story. But only by Bretons, and only when no orc is listening.
The second variant of the story is less orc-friendly: The monster was unambiguously evil. It was slain by either Erudarth, one of the first knightly orders, or a village full of enraged farmers, depending on who you ask. But even in death Daegouts spirit was so hateful that it corrupted the earth, from which the first orcs arose. The monster's wrath haunts the Bretonic and Redguard people to this day.
Temple: The Fortress of Daegout
Templar Knightly Order: The Daegout Devout. Though their stated goal is the unification of the orc and Breton people, their knights are primarily employed to rout out unwanted orc strongholds in the name of keeping the peace between the people. Their primary income comes from selling the plunder of these raids, both items and body parts, and claiming the orc mines for their Order.
Allies: The Resolution of Z’en
Enemies: Malacath

Druagaa

A shy Fae Spirit of nature responsible for blooms and flowers. She is said to be one of the first of Dibella’s Daughters and a venerated ancestor to the nymphs as well.
Temple: The Conservatory of Druagaa. Their primary export is the seeds of flowering plants known to attract faeries (Or nixads, as they are known globally), which are considered lucky when happy.
Templar Knightly Order: The Druagaa Blossom. The Druagaa Blossom protect Nymphs and are the military arm of not just their own temple, but to their allied temples without a knightly order as well.
Allies: The House of Dibella, the Temples of the other Nymph Sisters and a slew of allied Wyrds dedicated to the veneration of fae kind.
Enemies: The Seed-Grounds of Wyrdah

Dugrod

Dugrod was a dragon who opposed the expansion of the Nordic Empire into High Rock, keeping the Nordic raiders at bay for over twenty years before he was slain by four Nord tongues. The bones of Dugrod were transported by the Nedes into a cave in the region of Ykalon hidden from the Nords. The priest of Dugrod, through whom Dugrod speaks by possession, wears a cracked mask said to have belonged to Dugrod's Dragon-priest before the Dragon War. Here the ancient dragon is consulted by king and rich merchant alike for his massive wealth of knowledge, and from here he rules the temple.
Temple: The Dugrod Cult. There are fourteen dragon skeletons around the Iliac Bay, each falling under the jurisdiction of the Dugrod Cult, but Dugrod is the only dragon to partake in conversation. The temples are each build on a dragon burial.
Templar Knightly Order: The Dragon Bone Knights guard the tombs and quest for Dugrod. Rumour has it that the Dragon Bone Knights are preparing for a grand event to the east and the return of Dugrod to his flesh.
Allies: The Akatosh Chantry, The Order of the Black Worm
Enemies: None

Èdelberth

God of the holy geometry. His followers are scholars, engineers, architects, and people interested in genealogy in particular. Many believe that elven traits in humans are part of the "holy geometry". He is thought to be a pacifist version of Trinimac whose sphere is also associated with holy geometry. Mithril is his holy metal.
Temple: Èdelberth is worshiped in (as far as possible) completely symmetric hexagonal buildings called Trinomicals (singular: trinomical). At best the worshipers of Èdelberth are masters of logic and a protector order, at worst they are zealous police of rigid rules that know no pity for human weakness, and heavily racist.
Templar Knightly Order: The Order of the Angle are not dissimilar to Summurset's divine prosecution, as strict protectors of their people's bloodline and culture. Oftentimes at odds with Redguards, Nords and especially Orcs as their features are not fitting the divine geometry. Their main objective seems to be the acquisition of Mithril, which they will at times slaughter or barter for.
Allies: None
Enemies: None

King Edward

The mythical king Edward is likely a historical king who lived during the late years of the Nordic occupation of High Rock. In every story Edward is said to have been a great mage, but who tutored him varies from telling to telling. In some stories it was a snow elf or a wood elf enacting revenge on the Nords, in other stories Edward travels to Summurset to study at the Crystal Tower under ArchMagister I'ric, in another tale the young prince climbs the ranks and studies with the Direnni in their tower and yet other stories link him to the Witch-King Moraelyn or the Great Dragon Akatosh.
With help of the Horn of Summoning, the divines and various cultural heroes (some from entirely different time periods), King Edward drives out the Nords. King Edward founded the Dragon Village to shelter the dragons and the elves who had lost their home to the Nords. Many Bretons and Redguards of the iliac Bay believe the Dragon Village to be a real place hidden in the Dragontail Mountains, others think the Dragon Village is an afterlife reserved for the worthy of any race who display the same qualities in life as King Edward.
Myths also link the Dragonskin, an ability many Bretons can call upon, to a deal between Akatosh and king Edward, but critics claim the name and the subsequent myth are merely a response to Alessian influence as before the Temple of the One the Breton’s unique ability to absorb spells was thought to be a gift of Magnus.
King Edward is the paragon of a Breton king, one who cares for all his subjects no matter the race, who is well studied, chivalrous, a skilled mage and most important of all, one who has quested far and wide before ascending the throne.
Temple: The Order of the True King was born from the remnants of the Fighters Guild after its collapse in High Rock during the Oblivion Crisis. The Order of the True King provides the same services as the Fighters Guild in other provinces, but also provides many of the same services as the temples in High Rock, with the exception of dancers and summoners.
Templar Knightly Order: The Companions, named after Edward’s closest allies who also called themselves The Companions.
Allies: The Firstkings Chauteau, The Fighters Guild, The Vigilants of Stendarr
Enemies: The Trinomical of Èdelberth

Ephen

The wood elf twin brother of Phen worshiped all around the Iliac Bay as a protector spirit of nature. Ephen was the last living wood elf Silvenar in High Rock when he was executed by the Nords. His spirit is said to still roam the woods where he leads wereboars away from the houses of Bretons that pay proper reverence to the forest, but where he also leads wereboars into the settlements of Nords and those who do not respect nature. Ephen's real name has long since been forgotten and replaced by another revered elf ancestor; S'Ephen, as the early Bretons believed saying his name aloud would invite him to haunt you.
Offerings to Ephen are left in Fairy Circles, so called because the Bretons believe these circular mushroom growths spring up where the spirits of wood elves have danced. The Bretons also believe that sitting on a particular big and sturdy species of tree fungus named Ephen's Throne angers Ephen, who slowly cannibalizes those that do not repent by leaving an offering to him in the next eight days. Sometimes the corpses of particularly hated individuals are set upright on Ephen's Throne so that Ephen drags their soul into the Underwoods to be hunted by boar-faced elves for eternity.
Temple: The Wyrd of the Woods is not an actual wyrd, but an order set on the preservation of Breton culture. The Temple spends great expenses on archaeology, despite how very little remains of the wood elf and Nedic cultures of the Merethic Era.
Templar Knightly Order: The Wyrdesses of the Woods have few warriors among its ranks. Most of its numbers consists of hunters and alchemists with a deep understanding of the forest, volunteers who look for signs of wandering spirits while they are in the woodlands.
Allies: The Shelter of Galen
Enemies: The Imperial Cult

Erudarth

Erudarth was the first Breton Monarch and greatest among the mortal vassals to the gods. All the brave warriors and heroes who go out into the world to establish kingdoms measure themselves to him. He is primarily worshiped by knights, adventures, and nobles. The mythical king Edward might have been named after or inspired by him. Erudarth is portrayed as a human knight with prominent elven characteristics, clad in armour, with a crown in his hand, never on his head. Almost all statues show him in a pose as to crown someone else king/queen. Monarchs and nobles oftentimes state that they are descendants of him, put can never really prove it.
Temple: He is worshiped in a small extra house on pretty much every castle-ground. They are called Firstkings Chateau, or often just Chateau. The temple is extremely free-form and has no real hierarchy, if you grab a sword and go out into the world to make a name for yourself you can call yourself a Knight of the Foundation. Of course, noble houses often try to impose structure, but those attempts are barely ever accepted and are as short-lived as their houses. At best the worshipers of Erudarth are just rulers and noble heroes, at worst they are a bunch of good-for-nothing braggarts and tyrants.
Templar Knightly Order: Knights of the Foundation, named so because Erudarth's knightly journey was the Foundation of the first Breton kingdom.
Allies: The Order of the True King
Enemies: None

Galen

Galen is a poorly understood deity without any shrines or real temples in High Rock, but nevertheless with one of the greatest following of the Spirits of Bretony. The Druids of Galen, or the Galenic Druids, is an ethnically separate group from for example the Reachfolk, Trollkiin and Witchmen of High Rock and one of the most prevalent ethnicity among the Bretons. The Druids of Galen claim to descend from wyrds and druids of Glenumbra Moor and Glenpoint but have since given up their worship of nature. Elements persist in their modern way of life, but the spirits they once venerated are now forgotten by all but the Wyrd Covens, such as the Glendanmoril Witches or the Supernatural Dreamers, found far away from the prying eyes of civilization.
The Druids of Galen still pray to Galen or the Archdruid for guidance and wisdom in their daily life, especially in interactions with nature-magic, but they don't know whether Galen is a place, a spirit, or an ancestor. Given the deep roots in animism and ancestor worship, all of these might be true at the same time.
The Galenic Druids spread as far north-east as Stormhaven. Galenhafen was that lands original name, named after the Archdruid, believed by this off-shoot to be the mortal son Vaermina. What was originally called "Galenhafen" first became "Galehaven" and later "Stormhaven". Some scholars suggest that Galen and Valen were the Nedic names for Hircine and Y'ffre, the Gods of the Wood Elves, but there is not enough evidence to make this claim anything more than conjecture.
Temple: The Shelter of Galen is more comparable to an exclusive club than to a proper temple. Outsiders can only join the Temple through marriage, and membership is only inherited from mother to child, never father to child. The Shelters provide the same services as other temples, with the notable exception of priests, even if the head of the Temple claims the title of Arch Druid.
Templar Knightly Order: The Knights of Galen guard the temples, but their protection doesn't extend further than this. The title of knight is more an honorary title than one truly earned.
Allies: A large, ever changing number of Wyrd Covens is allied to the Shelter of Galen and have pledged their services to the Arch Druid.
Enemies: None

I'ric

I'ric Harad Egun was a powerful wizard like no other during his lifetime, aiding the mythical King Edward on various occasions, even serving in his court in the later years of Edward's life. I'ric was the Archmagister of Crystal Tower in the early to mid-First Era, but has long since been forgotten on Summerset, where powerful mages are much more commonplace. In the Iliac Bay however there are still sparse altars. This Hero-God of the Bretons is often worshiped by those Breton mages who emphasize their Breton blood.
Temple: The Order of the True Mage is dedicated to many the same cause as the much larger School of Julianos, seeking to educate all scholars. Unlike the School of Julianos, the Order of the True Mage is only dedicated to teaching the arts of magic. The first temples was built in mimicry of the Crystal Tower, but later temples merely placed a small tower decorated with pieces of glass adjacent to existing buildings.
Templar Knightly Order: I’ric’s Apprentices are renounced spellswords.
Allies: The College of Whispers, The Synod, The School of Julianos, The Order of the True King
Enemies: None

Jhim Sei

A Breton musician god, who plays an unknown instrument. Shrines are found all over the Iliac Bay, and each of his hundreds of shrines depicts him with a slightly different instrument. Jhim Sei was once a mortal musician from Yokuda, Aldmeris or Aldmora, depending on who tells the story, who spend his years composing a song so beautiful it would lift any that played it from mortality to divinity. He succeeded and left behind his music sheet, which is inscribed on every shrine. The issue is that no one knows what instrument this song should be played on. Some theorize the instrument itself was made divine itself, making it impossible for mere mortals to replicate Jhim Sei's masterpiece.
Temple: The Temple of Jhim Sei dedicates all its funding into buying different musical instruments from all over Tamriel, its historians delve deep to find any instrument not around anymore, the temple mages experiment with Tonal Magic, its musicians experiment with hymns and rhythms, throat singing and ventriloquism and the researchers are constantly inventing new musical instruments hoping to reinvent that what was lost to time.
Templar Knightly Order: The Shepards of the Tone
Allies: Kieran’s Theatre, The Greybeards
Enemies: None

Jode

Jode is worshiped all around the Iliac Bay as the goddess of Masser, also known as Mara's Tear. Breton legend holds the moons first appeared in the night sky when Lorkhan's trickery was revealed. Mara wept from the betrayal when she realized she would never see her children grow up, and from her tears was born the spirit Jode.
Temple: The Benevolence of Masser. When it is raining and Masser is full, the priests of Jode place a chalice on Her shrine to be filled with Mara's Tears. When a pregnant woman drinks from the chalice, Jode herself is said to come down from Masser to help as the invisible midwife, assuring that the baby and the mother both survive the delivery.
Templar Knightly Order: Knights of the Big Moon
Allies: The Benevolence of Mara
Enemies: None

Jone

Jone is revered all around the Iliac Bay also known as Stendarr's Sorrow. Breton legend holds the moons first appeared in the night sky when Lorkhan's trickery was revealed. Stendarr was so deeply distraught by the bloodshed and violence of the Ehlnofey War that his heart bled. The blood pooled up in his chest and Stendarr plucked it from himself as he could no longer live with the Sorrow.
In the region of Dwynned the most important court hearings are only held when Secunda is full or near full, as the Bretons of this region believe that Jone himself is present among the jury on these days. In the Alik'r desert the opposite is true: Court hearings are never held when Secunda is full, as the locals believe the jury to be too emotional on this day to speak proper justice.
Temple: The Temple of Jone
Templar Knightly Order: Knights of the Small Moon
Allies: The Temple of Stendarr, The Benevolence of Mara
Enemies: None

Kieran

Kieran is worshiped in theatres around the Iliac Bay as the god of Jesters and Poets. Kieran was the Madness-Kissed jester apostle of Dibella whom travelled from court to court to inspire kings and the populace. His wise and otherworldly performances were the beginning of an age of enlightenment for the Bretons.
Temple: Kieran’s Theatre is above all other services, a place for performance and art, blessed by Kieran.
Templar Knightly Order: The Kieran Knights are perhaps the oddest knightly order of High Rock, as they are armed exclusively with enchanted magic instruments and illusion magic, clad in plate armour and colourful robes.
Allies: The Opera House of Jephre, The Benevolence of Mara
Enemies: None

Kel

Kel is worshiped throughout the Iliac Bay as the Avenger. Kel is the family god, keeping bloodlines clean and resolving family feuds. Incest offends Kel greatly, and he curses those born of such a union. Kel often fights Molag Bal, Daegout and Sheor in his myths, almost always to stop rape from happening, but at times also to oppose an interracial marriage between a Breton and the dumb, savage and barbarically portrayed Orcs and Nords in these stories.
Temple: The Temple of Kel offers a place for anyone who has been sexually assaulted, raped or has suffered any other form of sexual assault. Family feuds are often settled on these hallowed temple grounds.
Templar Knightly Order: Knights of Kel
Allies: The Benevolence of Mara, the Anvil of Ebonarm
Enemies: None

Mai

Shrines to Mai are only found along High Rock's side of the Iliac Bay. Maia was a Nord priest of Mara when the First Empire of the Nords occupied this area. Maia filled many longhouses with orphans who had lost their parents to the Nord raiders. She raised them into great warriors, founding one of High Rock's first knightly order.
Temple: Mai’s Orphanage offers a place for all orphans to grow and study and when lukcy, be adopted.
Templar Knightly Order: The knights of Mai still exist today and are composed entirely of orphans and foundlings left at the Temple.
Allies: The Benevolence of Mara, The Temple of Kynereth
Enemies: None

Mannimarco

Mannimarco, the King of Worms, the Dark Lich and known by many other names was already a powerful mage during the Mythic Dawn before he joined the Psijic order. He surpassed all but one mage, Vanus Galeren, but was cast out for dark practices. He started his own order, the Order of the Black Worm, where he granted great necromantic power from all his followers in exchange for a portion of each of their souls. Some say Mannimarco ascending to godhood was what spurred the divines to action, leading to the Warp of the West. Mannimarco is said to have slain Numidium and filled its husk with the thousands of souls lost during The Warp in the West to ascend to godhood. He is worshiped in the Iliac Bay as the Necromancer Moon. Mannimarco is said to take possession of powerful necromancers to fight for the legacy of the dark arts.
Temple: The Order of the Black Worm is a still existing organization in this region. They devote themselves to the protection of legal practitioners of necromancy and allow this study within their temple walls. Reanimated skeletons of dogs, cats and cattle roam freely within the Order’s walls. The Order garners little respect from the populace, but they turn to the Order to reanimate their beloved pet or to seek a final audience with the recently deceased. The Order of the Black Worm have fought many legal battles and lost most of them but have nevertheless guided the mages of High Rock with clearer rules and better education of the ethical versus the unethical forms of necromancy. The undead of cattle is not allowed outside of the temples as of yet, but the Order seeks to change that and replace all beasts of burden in High Rock with the undead which require no food or sleep.
Templar Knightly Order: The Black Knights seek out any and all hedge-necromancers to bring them into the temple and educate them properly. They are renowned vampire slayers, knowing more about the undead than anyone, and are driven to give necromancy a good name and rout out all evil.
Allies: The School of Julianos
Enemies: The Black Knights are constantly at war with The Knights of the Circle and are fighting a legal battle over their name with the Anvil of Ebonarm.

Notorgo

A messenger god whose altars can be found on roads across the Iliac Bay. Notorgo is alternatively said to have been a powerful wizard, a daedra bound into service by the Direnni or a sentient crystal ball left behind by the Magne Ge. Messengers who pray to Notorgo are always able to find who they are looking for, even if they are traveling through the uncharted wilderness or delving through ancient tombs and caves no men has set foot in for decades. Looks like that's it.
Temple: The Postal Office of Notorgo offers most of the services other temples offer, including daedric summoning. Daedric summoning is even available to low ranking members of the temple, as it provides one of the fastest ways to transport a message. The fastest way is available to higher ranking members, or those with heavier coin purses, as teleportation is never cheap or reliable on long distances and thus multiple jumps are required, but this does get the message delivered to anywhere in High Rock in mere hours.
Templar Knightly Order: The Knights of Notorgo accompany paying messengers regardless of their affiliations.
Allies: None
Enemies: Vaermina (A personal feud with the Temple’s High Priest Mycha)

Numidium

God of The Warp of the West. The Miracle of Peace, as it is locally called, has been celebrated as the miraculous interventions of Stendarr, Mara, and Akatosh to transform the forty-four independent kingdoms, counties, baronies, and dukedoms surrounding the Iliac Bay into four peaceful, well-governed Imperial counties. The catastrophic destruction of landscape and life is understood to have been 'tragic, and beyond mortal comprehension.' The event took only two days, afterwards whole cities were levelled, thousands of lives lost, Gods, knightly orders and nobility were erased from existence, lakes were displaced, forests burned, and borders removed. Though no man had any memory of these two days, the Brass Titan haunted dreams and visions of the survivors. These rumours were for decades silenced by The Crusaders and The Order of the Hour but were fed by rumours that the nobility of the Iliac Bay knew ahead of time about a powerful artifact being activated, and massive cogs, springs and other objects having been found all over the Iliac Bay.
The new consensus is that Stendarr, Mara and Akatosh raised Numidium from the Iliac Bay, where it had fallen by the hands of Zurin Arctus, to set the Miracle of Peace in motion. He is revered at the many deep scars in the landscape and monuments to the fallen.
Temple: The Memorial of the Warp can be found at many scars in the landscape left by the Miracle of Peace. Here the thousands of dead are remembered.
Templar Knightly Order: The Knights of Peace
Allies: The Benevolence of Mara, the Temple of Stendarr, the Akatosh Chantry
Enemies: None

Phen

The wood elf twin sister of Ephen worshiped all around the Iliac Bay as a protector spirit of nature. Phen was the last living Spinner in High Rock when she was slain by the Nords. Phen does not have temples of shrines, but "Shelters" made from gathered dead wood. These Shelters are homes for the thousands of wandering wood elf spirits whose own homes were destroyed or burned by the invading Nords. Phen's real name has long since been forgotten and replaced by another revered elf ancestor; S'Ephen, as the early Bretons believed saying her name aloud would invite her to haunt you.
Her spirit is said to still roam the woods where she leads lost children to her Shelter if they pay proper reverence to the forest. She has a deep grudge against the Nords whom she turns into werewolves if they enter the woods carrying arms.
Temple: The Wyrd of the Woods is not an actual wyrd, but an order set on the preservation of Breton culture. The Temple spends great expenses on archaeology, despite how very little remains of the Wood Elf and Nedic cultures found in High Rock in the Merethic Era.
Templar Knightly Order: The Wyrdesses of the Woods have few warriors among its ranks. Most of its numbers consists of hunters and alchemists with a deep understanding of the forest, volunteers who look for signs of wandering spirits while they are in the woodlands and pass by Phen’s Shelters when they have the chance.
Allies: The Shelter of Galen
Enemies: The Imperial Cult

Q'Olwen

Q'Olwen is a powerful Spider Daedra who ruled as a suzerain and later king over the region between Ykalon and Daenia for hundreds of years after the Direnni Hegemony collapsed. When at last this cruel daedra, who demanded a weekly human sacrifice from its subjects, was send back to Oblivion, it immediately started to plot revenge. During the Oblivion Crisis it made its move, building a shrine where she could summon herself back to Nirn at will. After the Oblivion Crisis she lingered until again she was defeated by a large group of mercenaries. These mercenaries founded a knightly order, the Order of Q'Olwen's Demise. Each year on her summoning day, the twelfth of Evening Star, Q'Olwen returns at her self-made shrine.
Temple: Surrounding the shrine is a large adamantium cage enchanted with wards so that no magic nor daedra may leave the shrine, with a heavily fortified entrance. This knightly order lives primarily off donations but have also made a lucrative arrangement with the court mages of the kingdom of Camlorn who use Q’Olwen’s annual corpse for their own experiments.
Templar Knightly Order: The Order of Q'Olwen's Demise. Initiates must do battle with Q'Olwen to be knighted, but the main method of slaying the beast is to simply pelt it with crossbow bolts from safely outside the cage.
Allies: The Kingdom of Camlorn
Enemies: Q’Olwen

The Sage

The Sage is a wizard who has discovered the secret to immortality by experimenting on himself. He does not know which of his thousands of experiments lead to his immortality, however. He lives in a magical fortress in the Kurallian Mountains hidden from all but the worthy mages who require his help, and he always provides.
Temple: The Solitude of the Sage is devoted to directing mages to The Sage’s fortress and to aiding him when he wanders the land as he often does. Every temple has a large garden filled with the dozens of herbs used in the cure for ageing. They perform large scale experiments, using a thousand women and a thousand men from all ethnicities, birth signs, age, and backgrounds for each of these experiments. Each experiment attempts a different combination of herbs, different preparations, different times of the year, etc. Thus far without succeeding in reaching full immortality, but they have succeeded in finding a potion that will allow anyone who drinks it to grow two decades older, which has since become one of the main exports of the temple.
Templar Knightly Order: The immortals. Contrary to their name, they are not immortal, but they are incredibly capable mages.
Allies: The School of Julianos
Enemies: The Order of Arkay

Sai

God of Luck, known to his followers as Lucky. Lucky was a mortal who discovered that he brought luck to those around him, but never himself. He became a soldier and died during his first fight, but all the other soldiers miraculously survived, and the war was won. Ebonarm, Mara or Stendarr, depending on the telling, visited him, and offered him the choice: Live forever as a God and spread your luck to others, or die without responsibility. Sai, afraid of death, took the godhood. Sai fell in love with a Nord woman however, and he moved in with her. His luck spread to the Nords and the Nords only, and they prospered. They slew the ice elves all over Skyrim and the wood elves in High Rock and their borders kept growing until the Empire of the Nords span all of northern Tamriel.
Because Sai had been shirking his duties he was stripped of his physical form by Mara, Ebonarm or Stendarr depending on who tells the tale, so that he could not be tempted to linger and start a family, and he was forced to leave the Nords for a couple hundreds of years. It would be another two hundred years before the Nordic Empire fell, but Sai's luck was now shared with all the races.
Temple: The Temple of Luck gives blessings to the unlucky and is a shelter for all who had relied too heavy on Lucky’s Blessing and who he thus had abandoned. For all the gamblers who had win after win but are now out of gold to spend the Temple has a meal.
Templar Knightly Order: The Saian Order is devoted to the eradication of illegal gambling, as well as locating and protecting unicorns.
Allies: The Benevolence of Mara, The Anvil of Ebonarm, the Temple of Stendarr
Enemies: Sanguine

S'Ephen

Also called Ephen, S'Ephen was a Chimer noble during the Nordic Empire's expansion into Morrowind. When he was eventually slain, his half-brother Moraelyn established a temple cult in his memory. Statues of S'Ephen depict him wielding a hammer, atop of an anvil of adamantium. This hammer and anvil are both artifacts associated with him, but their location has long since been lost to time. When combined, the wielder is said to be able to manufacture anything with only a few strikes of the hammer on the anvil. Other artifacts associated with S'Ephen are the legendary Horn of Summoning, which was placed in his tomb by Moraelyn, and the Staff of Chaos which was placed in his tomb by General Symmachus when Tiber Septim took the Horn of Summoning for himself. The Staff was later also taken out of the grave by Jagar Tharn.
Temple: The Temple of S’Ephen
Templar Knightly Order: The Knights of S’Ephen are dedicated to finding the artifacts entrusted into S’Ephen’s protection and restoring them to him.
Allies: The Order of the True King
Enemies: None

Shandar

God of War-Magic imported by the Nedic tribes of Hammerfell when they fled from the Ra Gada to the Iliac Bay in the ninth century of the First Era. Scholars theorize that Shandar is a demonized version of Shalidor introduced to the region by the Dwarves who had fought this powerful Nord Arch Mage in the Rourken-Shalidor War during their exile from Resdayn to Volenfell. They had thought themselves victorious and expanded their territory and established trade routes with the Bretons. But Shandar had cursed them during their war, as the dwarves could no longer bear no children of the elven blood. Instead the children came out green and ugly and were cast out of the cities. When the Ra Gada came to the shores three centuries later, the once grand dwarven cities were buried under the dunes and infested with goblins and dunerippers. Shandar is said to be present wherever man uses magic against unclean creatures like orcs and automatons.
Temple: The Temple of Shandar. Shandar haunts the halls in the cursed dwarven ruins of Hammerfell. For a fee, the Temple’s blessings will protect any delving into the dwarven ruins or lift curses from items excavated from these sites.
Templar Knightly Order: The Shandar Knights are skilled mages armed with staffs and enchanted swords.
Allies: The Anvil of Ebonarm
Enemies: None

Talos

Talos, Tiber Septim, God emperor. Tiber Septim the man was never quite a popular spirit to the Bretons. Born an Alcarian, Tiber Septim was renowned as the general who freed the Nords of the Reachfolk, subsequently pushing them further into High Rock. When general Septim defeated the joined Nord and Breton forces on the cliffs of Sancre Tor, the Nords joined his side, but men of Bretony stood true, even when thrown into the bondage of slavery by the snake-tongued general. It is perhaps because of the Breton hatred for Tiber the Man that Talos the God is so beloved, for the end, a unified and prosperous Tamriel protected from Above, justifies the means.
In contrast to Tiber Septim, the God Talos has been revered by the Bretons bordering Skyrim for centuries. His veneration has crept into the Iliac bay since the last century and a half or so, spearheaded by the celebration of Tibedetha, or Talos Day in modern Tamrielic. A day of celebrating the empire above all, a religious event second, the holiday was taken from the region of Alcaire and spread all over High Rock by the Imperial Cult to appeal to locals, with success.
Temple: The Temple of Talos is a rogue temple, an offshoot of the Imperial Cult that wretched itself free by blood and by steel. The imperial forts converted to temples by the imperial cult have been reverted to fully operational bastions.
Templar Knightly Order: The Resistance as they are called are a renegade order dedicated to the protection of shrines of Talos and of his followers, hunting down Thalmor justiciars and freeing all who have been imprisoned for worshipping the Emperor God.
Allies: Letters and messengers between the Stormcloaks and the Resistance have been intercept, but not enough information has been intercepted to draw conclusions yet. Perhaps the Temple is lying in wait to see who will emerge victorious in the Skyrim Civil War before they choose to throw in their lot.
Enemies: The Imperial Cult is the official enemy of the Temple of Talos, acting in the emperor’s stead to secure Thalmor interest. They have been suspiciously unsuccessful in this.

Vigryl

Also known as Vir Jil to the Bretons wanting to emphasize their elven heritage, Vigryl is the God of the Sea worshiped over the entire Iliac Bay coastline. Depending on the story he was either a Direnni captain who taught the early Bretons to navigate by the stars, or he placed the stars in the sky himself. Some myths say he even wrestled his knowledge of the stars out of the God of the Deep Sea and Deep Knowledge Hermeus Mora himself, but others say this is merely allegorical.
Temple: Vigryl’s Harbour
Templar Knightly Order: Vigryl’s Vigilant Sailors
Allies: The Magnus Orrery
Enemies: Hermeus Mora

How do you find the strength to quit forever?

Pakistan: When Agents Ruled – a glimpse of Spying, Espionage and Security Breaches

The London Post

19-24 minutes
By Dr. Shahid Qureshi: –
A young journalist in London asked me "Do you know someone who is working against the national interests of Pakistan?". That was an interesting question from a typical young Pakistani who is loyal and patriotic to the country. I was nearly heartbroken to tell him that there is more and almost everyone who matters in Pakistan is in some way is selling Pakistan cheap to the enemies. Normally people think about spies and agents like James Bond 007 who goes on a mission and meet beautiful girls and come back successful. Well, that is one part of spying and espionage. The way Pakistani agents serving their foreign masters is a bit subtle and sinister. I have discussed some in the upcoming book and exposed them in the articles. People trust journalists more than the spies and agency operatives as they don’t have any loyalties to the sources but journalists do. I have seen many journalists threatened with imprisonment by the state but they did not disclose their sources following the journalistic code of ethics. Most civilized countries have a declassifying system for the official government records and obviously, those who have signed the official secrets act of the country don’t write books or come on TV channels to discuss their missions and details? Only in Pakistan you can do and get away with it. For example, Lt. General Asad Durrani was assigned a task by the President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan to counter Benazir Bhutto who was compromised on Pakistan’s nuclear program and Indian affairs. The president ordered to dislodge her without creating too many currents keeping in view Pakistan’s ground realities. It was his oath to keep that secret as ISI chief but he behaved worst than an informant. He broke his oath, violated the official secrets act of Pakistan by giving an affidavit to FIA director Rehman Malik. The only attraction for him probably was to get posting as an ambassador. This is known as the Asghar Khan case currently hanging in the supreme court of Pakistan and no government is sincere enough to put an end to it by submitting the response and call the parties involved.
A few years ago, I was sitting with General Mike Jackson former British Army Chief, I asked him ‘why did you not take control of Sarajevo airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina’? He replied to me very quietly ‘read my book’. Apparently, the American General asked him to take control of the airport and he reportedly refused by saying: ‘I don’t want to start 3rd World War. Now it is the duty of the security establishment to provide training to its officials as to how to live a retired life without compromising national security and if at all they need to write a book, the transcript must be cleared by the premier agency. Let’s imagine a Pakistani agent is tasked to delay the installation of an electricity project to destroy the whole industry and infrastructure of the country. I wrote in 2006, that this load-shedding of electricity in Pakistan is linked with the security of the country. People acknowledge the risk assessment but they could not do anything as the people who were doing all this were sitting in high positions. The dramatic escape of the longest-serving Indus Water Commissioner to Canada is one example. He obtained Canadian citizenship and nobody from the security establishment question his activities. He delayed the Pakistani water projects and facilitated Indian dams on Pakistani rivers. Then we see the politicians from PPP, MQM, and ANP receiving instructions and findings from Indian agency RAW to make Kalabagh Dam project controversial and let the Sindhis drown in floods as well as cause damage in billions to land, crops, properties, livestock, and national infrastructures from rail to road links every year. This project was actually approved by British engineers during the 1930s. so if it was ok then how come it becomes problematic in the 1980s? Well appointing a corrupt and incompetent is also a form of espionage against the country for example during Zardari Rule 2008 -2013 he appointed the most corrupt and incompetent on the highest positions. He introduced another damaging policy of ‘system bypass’. With this policy, he bypassed all the rules, and his men in the presidency were calling direct to the land department junior officials and police station inspectors, or even below to do the illegal tasks. The flourishing of the land mafia was at its peak in the whole of Pakistan, especially in Sindh province. His party members and cronies were directly involved in ‘target killings of security officials’ attacks on government infrastructures. Over 25000 people were killed, billions of rupees’ revenue were lost due to strikes and terrorism in Sindh while PPP and MQM-A were ruling the province, which we know now was happening on the behest of RAW the Indian agency. Both military and civilian establishment is fully responsible, with the support of politicians like British criminal terrorist Altaf Hussain, Asif Zardari, and his team and now Nawaz Sharif and his agents, as well as military dictator like Pervez Musharraf and his team as tons of material and reports were filed to all the above but they chose not to act and remain complicit. A security official said to me a few years ago: ‘sir we can stop these bombings in 24 hours only if we are allowed to respond in kind to the supporters and abettors of these bombings. Musharraf was a megalomaniac and had a delusion of grandeur about himself. I told him that NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) is a black dot in the history of Pakistan. He admitted to me that ‘it was a mistake’ and said cases were not moving and going anywhere’. I told him that just because something is not working does not mean you need to make it worse? He agreed with the analogy. Let me give you another example of how foreign agents work or operate at high places. Former ISI officer Major Amir disclosed in a GEO TV program that: ‘when he was appointed Director-General Immigration, the Indian embassy in Islamabad was not very happy and asking about me’. He stated: I found out that Indians who were traveling to Dubai could stopover in Karachi and also sneaking out. I immediately stopped this practice it was like giving open access to RAW not only to launch its agents but also brief and debrief them’. The person who opposed this ban was no other but Sharyar Khan foreign secretary of Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif appointed about 80 years old Sharyar Khan as head of Pakistani cricket and Najam Sethi another pro India mole to keep him company. Guess what Pakistan is losing all its important matches to India because all the gambling bookies are being run from Mumbai. Earlier Pakistan had a foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan whose wife was active service head of training in the US State Department. A Central Asian diplomat from Kazakhstan told me that: ‘if I had to marry a foreign national I would have to resign from the diplomatic service’. This joke did not stop here earlier Pakistani Defence Secretary Skindar Mirza had a full-blown affair with Nahid Afghamy wife of Col Afghamy Iranian Military Attaché to Pakistan. He later got married to her and Nahid Afghamy becomes Pakistan’s first lady of President Skindar Mirza and Army Chief Ayub Khan regularly saluted her. That was the worst security breach but that did not stop here Nahid Afghamy give full access of the presidency to her relative Nusrat Isphani (Bhutto) and her husband ZA Bhutto. She was also 2nd wife of ZA Bhutto like her. Since then we had no real oil and gas mining in Baluchistan for the past 68 years. Was that mission of Nahid Afghamy or much more? We don’t know.
During John F Kennedy’s presidency reportedly FBI chief went to the US Attorney General his boss and brother of JFK with the photos of the president with the actress Marilyn Monroe who was also linked with the mafia. He told US Attorney General the FBI thinks this affair is not appropriate. Well, it is a matter of national security who the president of Pakistan is sleeping with Ayan Ali or Nahid Afghamy? Pakistan suffered from sabotage, espionage, and terrorism even before it was fully created. In a 1995 article, `Pearls of Memory’ (Al-Nahal„ Spring 1995), M M Ahmad wrote that: ‘close to independence, l was `designated by Pakistan’ as additional deputy commissioner of Amritsar to take over the charge of the district if it was awarded to Pakistan. One day the British deputy commissioner of Amritsar told him `casually that:’Gurdaspur district is likely to go to India’. The award of Gurdaspur gave India a land corridor to Jammu and Kashmir and so enabled it to Occupy the territory after three months.
A preliminary version of the award was ready on 8th August 1947. The definitive version was with the Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten (1.1979) on 12 August. However, Mountbatten informed India and Pakistan on 16 August- after the `process of the Transfer of Power had been completed’. M M Ahmad gives no date when this `top secret’ information was given to him. However, instead of rushing to report the matter to the Government of Pakistan, he traveled to Qadiyan to inform his `khalifa’. This contrasted with I the conduct of Indian officers who immediately reported any sensitive leak or information to Nehru (d.1964) and Nehru took it up with Mountbatten. General Gracey the Army Chief of Pakistan did not send troops to the Kashmir front and refused to obey the order given by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Governor-General of Pakistan. Gracey argued that Jinnah as Governor-General represented the British Crown of which he himself was an appointee. It was the second time Pakistan missed the opportunity to take Kashmir following the ‘partition formula’. Ignoring the legitimate stand of Pakistan and MA Jinnah on Palestine Sir Zafrullah Khan (Qadiyani) was able to say publicly in Cairo ‘in February 1952 that Israel must be ‘regarded as a limb in the body of the Middle East’. He further urged Egypt to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict, in other words, to give up any thought, of liberating Arab and Palestinian lands and recognize the illegitimate occupation of Palestine. After the US-sponsored assassination of Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan was led into one military alliance after another: a Mutual Defence Agreement’ with the US (May 1954), SEATO (September 1954), and Baghdad Pact (February 1955). After the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy, Baghdad Pact was christened as CENTO (Central Treaty Organization). Although Pakistan had no security conflict in that region, ‘Zafrullah had put the country into South-East Asia Treaty Organization, without consulting or even telling the army. The commander-in-chief, ‘General Ayub Khan, said he was informed only after Pakistan had joined the alliance. The other character was M M Ahmad born in (1913-2002) was reputedly one of Pakistan’s most powerful bureaucrats. He belonged to the elite ICS (Indian Civil Service, later, (CSP or the Civil Service of Pakistan) and was a district officer in 1947, but by 1966, he had risen to head Ayub Khan’s powerful Planning Commission. He helped to shape the Country’s economic as well as defense and foreign policies. Ayub Khan also wished Arab states to join the Baghdad Pact and turn it into a `powerful Muslim forum’, but he understood why they were suspicious of the alliance. However, although he did have foreign ministers like Manzur Qadir (1959-62; d. 1972) and Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada (1966-68), both pro-western but also Pakistani, but key policy decision had also to be cleared with a Qadiyani bureaucrat M M Ahmad. Though only the head of Ayub Khan’s Planning Commission, he had come to exercise a veto over political decisions as well. Taken as someone with influence in the World Bank, he could shoot down anything by simply saying it may not go down well with Washington. According to Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, French President de Gaulle had personally told Ayub Khan in 1967 that France was ready to provide `full’ nuclear assistance to Pakistan. In return, he simply asked that France be allowed to mine for uranium in the northwest and share it equally with Pakistan. `Our “friends” may not like it,’ M M Ahmad told Ayub, and in any case, what do we need this expensive technology for.’ Words to that effect. But that is how Pakistan missed the opportunity of becoming a nuclear power at least two decades earlier than it did – and minus all the blackmail and intimidation that knows no end. In an as yet unpublished interview, the eminent constitutional expert and authority on Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah (d.1948) and Pakistan movement, Sharifuddin Pirzada also, told Ahmed Irfan a London based journalist that as far back as October 1967, French President Charles de Gaulle (d.1970) had offered Pakistan ‘full’ nuclear assistance and know-how; the only thing he wanted, in turn, was to he (France) should be allowed to mine for uranium in Northwest Pakistan for a 50% share. In April 1965, Ayub Khan had also gone to Moscow. This was the first-ever visit by a Pakistani leader to the Soviet capital. Ayub Khan came back with the understanding that the visit `might prove a turning point in our relations and that there were tremendous possibilities of cooperation’. The Soviets had actually agreed to give military aid to Pakistan, but writing two years later Ayub Khan had to understate the achievement because the same Qadiyani bureaucrat too had vetoed this. This offer had been made by Brezhnev at a meeting set for recreation and shoot some clay pigeons outside Moscow, but with only Ayub Khan and Pirzada attending. Ayub Khan quit in March 1969 and MM Ahmed (Qadiyani) acquired yet more influence. He emerged as economic supremo of the new Chief Martial Law Administrator, General Yahya Khan (d.1980). After Yahva was forced out in December 1971, MM Ahmad continued as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s (d.1979) economic adviser. But a few months later, he went to Washington DC and joined the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank). There he rose to be the deputy executive secretary of the joint Development Committee in 1974. However, M M Ahmad’s imprint on Pakistan’s fiscal and development policies was to last forever. As Yahya Khan’s ‘finance minister’, he devalued the rupee by 131% percent. As one economist pointed out (Dawn, Karachi, 1st February 2002), ‘that was the start of the deficit finance, inflation and trade imbalance’ from which the country has not been able to free itself. In 1974 Bhutto amended the constitution to clarify the non-Muslim slants of (the Oadiyani creed to which M M Ahmad belonged; yet influence over the country’s bureaucratic and political elite remained unaffected. Many owed their position to his patronage and almost everyone wanted to benefit front his Washington connections’. In 1993, then army chief Abdul Waheed Kakar was looking for a caretaker prime minister to replace Nawaz Sharif. M M Ahmad is believed to have solved the ‘problem. The job went to Moeen Qureshi, who had recently retired as executive vice president of the World Bank; He was given a Pakistani `passport’ on arrival. MM Ahmad kept a low profile, but after October 1999 coup, he seemed to have become the regime’s `holy man’. He was the grandson of the Qadiyani `prophet’, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiyani, (d.1908) and son-in-law of the second Qadiyani `khalifa’, Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad (d.1965). Besides being an international bureaucrat, M M Ahmad was all active `missionary’ of his Qadiyani creed. After retiring from the World Bank in 1984 he formally became the `amir’ and missionary in charge’ of the group in the US with headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. While many power holders in Pakistan seemed proud of being `secular’, for MM Ahmad, it was his `religious’ vocation as a Qadiyani that really defined his relationship with Pakistan. The relationship was in conflict with the existence of Pakistan itself. According to a Qadiyani `prophecy’, revealed a few months before the independence of Pakistan, if at all India and Pakistan did separate, it would be `transient’ and the Qadiyanis were asked to try to bring an end to this phase soon. (Al Fzal, 4 April 1947 and 17 May 194’7) We hear of M M Ahmad in another CSP officer, Qudratullhah Shihab’s memoirs, Slihab Nama, (Sang-e-Meel, Lahore, 1991) that the 1965 war with ‘India was ‘a Qadiyani conspiracy’. It was planned by an able (Qadiyani officer, Major General Akhtar Hussain Malik’ and `backed by several powerful people, among them, at the lot of list was said to be Mr MM Ahmad’. Shihab checked this with the West Pakistan governor Nawab of Kalabagh (d.1967) and he concurred.’ That the Qadiyanis have their own particular agenda on Jammu and Kashmir is an open secret. Like the Oadiyani Nobel Laureate, Abdus Salam, M M Ahmad too was opposed to Pakistan becoming a nuclear power. In an as yet unpublished interview, the eminent constitutional expert and authority on Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah (d.1948) and Pakistan movement, Sharifuddin Pirzada, told Ahmed Irfan a London based journalist that as far back as October 1967, French President Charles de Gaulle (d.1970) had offered Pakistan ‘full’ nuclear assistance and know-how; the only thing he wanted, in turn, was to be allowed to mine for uranium in Northwest Pakistan for a 50% share. President Ayub Khan said he would reply after consulting with his officials back home in Pakistan. In the event, the offer was vetoed by M M Ahmad and the army chief Yahya Khan. They warned Ayub Khan that the US would not take it kindly. Pirzada was Ayub Khan’s foreign minister and is a personal witness to the affair. M M Ahmad is also believed to have been a key architect of the split between East and West Pakistan. ‘Planned’ for the economic disparity between the two wings and laid the grounds for an eventual conflict and break. Former cabinet secretary and author of The Separation of East Pakistan (OUP, Karachi, 1995) Hasan Zaheer (d.1998) quotes Brigadier, later Major General, M I Kareem telling him that Colonel Chaudhary, Staff Officer of Lt-General S G M M Peerzada (had) told him that he had read a top-secret paper of MM Ahmed, suggesting that it was time for the friendly separation of two Wings rather than elections and warning of serious consequences for the entire country otherwise’. Peerzada was Principal Staff Officer to President Yahya and Brig. M I Kareem his deputy. For M M Ahmad, however, helping to end the `transient’ was a duty ordained by his khalifa’. Born on 28 February 1913, in Qadiyan, Gurdaspur, M M Ahmad died on 23, Ju1y 2002, Washington DC and was buried, 30th July 2002, ‘in Baltishti Maqbrah’ in Ghenahnagar (formerly Ribwah), Pakistan. The purpose of narrating the history above is to give a background to the young researchers, writers, and journalists interested in Pakistan. It was not like that from the beginning. People were loyal, motivated, and sincere with Pakistan. They were true survivors and go-getters as nothing come in their way once they decided to do something. The current structural breakdown is linked with the corrupt and compromised elite and leadership without vision and strategy. The Americans will never hire someone like Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari, Altaf Hussain, or Pervez Musharraf as a manager of a small company but they don’t mind a ‘stupid’ running Pakistan. Sometimes we need ‘stupid’ like him said a US senator to a friend of mine and a Pakistani journalist in Washington.
This is a picture of our ugly bureaucracy. A poor politician corruption is nothing that BROADSHEET is claiming; Bureaucartes knows every penny of Pakistani money and where to move under their umbrella. In a recent example, Azerbhajan offered deferred payment oil, did our bureaucracy let allow it on sacrifices of their millions of dollars commission for the sake of Pakistan. But we have seen their inhumane bureaucracy act made an example without God's fear in the country where Pakistan's creation was based on Islam's Ideology. We all understand Karachi's situation during the 2000-2015 period and why this poor person was absent from his job because of fear of death due to Karachi's law and order concerns. In 2012, the Pakistani leadership sat down to sort out solutions for dealing with the menace of terrorism, and in 2013, political parties unanimously resolved on Monday 9, September 2013, at the All Parties Conference (APC), stating that negotiation with the militants should be pursued as their first option to counter-terrorism.
link to the original post along with attachments (photos)

Lost in the Sauce: Fox News launders unverified Russian intel on Trump's behalf

Welcome to Lost in the Sauce, keeping you caught up on political and legal news that often gets buried in distractions and theater… or a global health crisis.
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Trump’s Russian laundromat

The Trump administration has been using conservative outlets like Fox News to launder unverified Russian intelligence intended to denigrate Democratic officials and candidates. In the latest instance last week, DNI John Ratcliffe declassified handwritten notes from 2016 by then-CIA Director John Brennan stating that he had briefed President Obama on Russian activities, including a reference to Hillary Clinton’s campaign attempting to “vilify Donald Trump.” Fox News was the first to publish the notes.
Brennan accused Ratcliffe of selectively declassifying documents in order to "advance the political interests" of Trump ahead of the election:

"These were my notes from the 2016 period when I briefed President Obama and the rest of the national security council team about what the Russians were up to and I was giving examples of the type of access that the US intelligence community had to Russian information and what the Russians were talking about and alleging," he added.

Ratcliffe has approved the release of even more information meant to assist Trump, including “a large binder full of documents” he gave to the Justice Department. "At my direction, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has provided almost 1,000 pages of materials to the Department of Justice in response to Mr. Durham's document request,” Ratcliffe confirmed.
There is nothing illegal about the actions allegedly taken by the Clinton campaign, as detailed in the released documents. As Lawfare explains, the declassified memo originated from the CIA’s Counterintelligence Mission Center:

Importantly, it is not a crimes report. Rather, as the name suggests, the purpose of a CIOL is to pass operational leads to the FBI for counterintelligence purposes. In this case, the CIA had information indicating that a hostile foreign intelligence service may have spied on a U.S. presidential campaign. Even if the intelligence was questionable, it still presented a significant counterintelligence risk—which is why, as Ratcliffe’s letter says, it was reported to the FBI...

Meanwhile, Trump tweeted that he has authorized the release of every document related to the “Russian Hoax” and the “Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. Tweet. He then added:

All Russia Hoax Scandal information was Declassified by me long ago. Unfortunately for our Country, people have acted very slowly, especially since it is perhaps the biggest political crime in the history of our Country. Act!!!

In an interview on Fox News a couple of days later, Trump expressed displeasure that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had not yet released the emails deleted from Clinton's private server: "She said she had 33,000 e-mails...They're in the State Department, but Mike Pompeo has been unable to get them out, which is very sad actually. I'm -- I'm not happy about him for that, that reason. He was unable to get -- I don't know why. You're running the State Department and you get them out.” (clip)
The very next day, Pompeo appeared on Fox News to assert: "We've got the emails, we're getting them out." Asked if they would be released before the election, he said, "I certainly think there'll be more to see before the election." (clip)

Buzzfeed News took Trump’s tweets to a judge to gain the release of the entire unredacted Mueller report before Election Day. US District Judge Reggie Walton directed the Justice Department to “confer with the White House” and report back to the court the “official position regarding the declassification and release to the public of information related to the Russia investigation.”

Durham probe

For the second straight week, the media is reporting the Durham investigation will not produce a report prior to the election. Last week, AG Bill Barr reportedly told top Republicans that they should not expect any further indictments or a comprehensive report before Nov. 3.
Trump publicly attacked Barr for what he sees as the slow progress of the Durham probe. “I think it’s a terrible thing. And I’ll say it to [Barr’s] face...See, this is what I mean with the Republicans. They don’t play the tough game,” Trump told Rush Limbaugh on Friday.

Earlier in the week, Trump sent an all-caps tweet calling for the arrests of his political rivals: “DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS, THE BIGGEST OF ALL POLITICAL SCANDALS (IN HISTORY)!!! BIDEN, OBAMA AND CROOKED HILLARY LED THIS TREASONOUS PLOT!!! BIDEN SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO RUN - GOT CAUGHT!!!” Trump tweeted.

Court cases

A three-judge Appellate Court panel ruled that Manhattan D.A. Vance can enforce a subpoena seeking President Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns. The panel was made up of two Clinton-appointees and an Obama-appointee. Trump’s attorneys are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court.

They concluded that the president did not show that Mr. Vance had been driven by politics. “None of the president’s allegations, taken together or separately, are sufficient to raise a plausible inference that the subpoena was issued out of malice or an intent to harass,” they wrote.

Prominent Trump and GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy was charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Prosecutors say Broidy accepted $6 million from a foreign client to lobby administration officials to end a federal investigation related to the looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, known as 1MDB. The court filing also accuses Mr. Broidy of seeking the extradition of a Chinese citizen from the United States.

Note that Barr received a waiver to participate in the investigation of 1MDB despite his former law firm’s involvement in the case. Steve Bannon was arrested earlier this year on a yacht belonging to one of the individuals tied up in the case, as well.

Trump appeals order to continue Census count to the Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld a lower court order allowing the 2020 count to continue through October. The administration has asked SCOTUS to put an immediate hold on the injunction while it appeals.
The Supreme Court punted a decision on access to abortion, keeping open the option of revisiting the case at a later date. The Trump administration asked the high court to require women seeking the drugs for medication abortions to visit a doctor’s office or clinic. The order was unsigned but Justices Alito and Thomas declared their approval of the administration’s request in a separate filing.

“While COVID-19 has provided the ground for restrictions on First Amendment rights, the District Court saw the pandemic as a ground for expanding the abortion right recognized in Roe v. Wade,” wrote Alito and Thomas.

Other court cases to note:

Lawyers for E. Jean Carroll asked a judge to block the DOJ from intervening to represent Trump in her defamation lawsuit against the president. Her lawyers say the law in question, the Federal Tort Claims Act, does not apply to Trump — or to any other president. They also said that Trump, in any case, was not acting in his official role when he denied Carroll’s claims. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Oct. 21.
The DOJ admitted to “inadvertently” producing altered versions of notes from former FBI officials McCabe and Strzok that were turned over to Michael Flynn’s defense team and filed to the court as potentially exculpatory evidence. As Marcy Wheeler explains, this explanation doesn’t match all the evidence.
Court-appointed adviser John Gleeson, a retired judge, urged District Judge Emmet Sullivan to take the president’s comments about the case into account when making a decision about whether or not to grant the Flynn-DOJ joint effort to permanently end the prosecution. Gleeson notes that Trump’s tweets provide evidence of political pressure to drop the case against Flynn: Trump successfully pressured the DOJ to “create a new set of rules that only apply to Michael Flynn and will never apply to anyone else.”
A federal judge in California has ordered that Twitter reveal the identity of an anonymous user who allegedly fabricated an FBI document to spread a conspiracy theory about the killing of Seth Rich, the Democratic National Committee staffer who died in 2016.

Administration

Voice of America: Five suspended officials at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) are suing the agency, its new CEO and several of his most senior aides, alleging they are breaking the law — routinely — in pursuing a pro-Trump agenda for the Voice of America news service.

David Kligerman, who has been suspended from his position as general counsel of the agency by Pack, told NPR that the case was necessary to get the courts to enforce the firewall. (He is not a party to the case, though he is cited in it as a whistleblower harmed by Pack's actions.) Kligerman and the five plaintiffs jointly filed a whistleblower complaint late last month, alleging Pack sought to oust them under a pretext of "security concerns" because they challenged his intrusion into journalistic decision-making.

Reminder: CEO Michael Pack, an ally of Steve Bannon, started his tenure by firing the heads of four organizations under USAGM. He then refused to renew the U.S. visas of more than 70 foreign journalists who work for VOA, vaguely accusing some of them of being spies. Pack tried to fire the board of the Open Technology Fund, an organization that supports Internet freedom initiatives, but a court blocked the terminations. Nevertheless, Pack succeeded in cutting off a large portion of its funding, forcing the non-profit to suspend over 80% of its projects. Finally, Pack ordered two political operatives he installed as his aides to investigate Steve Herman, the VOA White House bureau chief who reported on Pence’s disregard for masks, for anti-Trump bias.

Bureau of Land Management: William Perry Pendley, head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), is refusing to leave his position after a judge ruled he is illegally serving as chief. “I have the support of the president,” he told the Wyoming Powell Tribune. “I have the support of the secretary of the interior and my job is to get out and get things done to accomplish what the president wants to do.”
CIA appointment: Bert Mizusawa, a retired major general who served as an advisor to Trump’s 2016 campaign, was quietly installed in a senior advisory role at the CIA earlier this year. The move is spurring discussion among some former agency officials, who say the arrangement is highly unusual.

“An outsider with no internal sponsorship?” said one of the former officials. “That never happens.”
...Trump allies outside the administration have signaled frustration with Haspel in recent weeks, accusing the CIA chief of blocking the declassification of documents relevant to the investigation into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia that they view as exculpatory.

Trump has appointed Justin Peterson to the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, sparking conflict of interest allegations. Peterson previously represented hedge fund bondholders pushing the board to pay them billions of dollars. Rep. Nydia Valazquez (D-NY): “As a member of the Board, Peterson would have a critical say in how to restructure the Island’s debt, but his coziness with bondholders is a serious red flag and a clear conflict of interest.”
A hate group employee is now leading diversity & inclusion efforts in the Department of Education. Weeks ago, Sarah Parshall Perry was defending J.K. Rowling on the Family Research Council podcasts. Now, Betsy Devos has bought Perry aboard to oversee inclusivity within the DOE.

Trump money

NYT revealed that Trump “engineered a sudden windfall” in 2016, moving over $21 million from a Vegas hotel Trump owns with billionaire Phil Ruffin, through other Trump companies, to his campaign.

“If Trump took out a bank loan in the LLC’s name for the purpose of financing his election, then the Trump campaign violated its legal reporting requirements by failing to disclose the loan, and failing to disclose that Trump’s Vegas property was used as collateral.”
The Times also reported that the LLC in question–Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing–claimed a deduction on the payment made to Trump in 2016. If the $30 million loan was, in fact, used to finance the president’s then-money-starved campaign, the potential criminality would be amplified.

In an apparent quid pro quo, Ruffin asked Trump for a favor after his inauguration: revive the high speed train project to bring gamblers from California to the Vegas strip. The Obama administration considered but turned down a $5.5 billion loan for the train. This past March, the Trump administration approved the project.

Among the train’s chief beneficiaries will be Mr. Ruffin and the other grandees of gambling who became a vital font of political money for Mr. Trump when he needed it most. And, of course, Donald Trump himself.

Another NYT report showed that Trump “reinvented” the swamp after he took office, setting up an extensive quid pro quo network with private businesses and special interests. Over 200 companies, special-interest groups, and foreign governments patronized Trump’s properties while reaping benefits from him and his administration.

Just 60 customers with interests at stake before the administration brought the Trump Organization nearly $12 million during the first two years of Mr. Trump’s presidency, The Times found. Almost all saw their interests advanced, in some fashion, by the president or his government.
...During Mr. Trump’s campaign and the months leading up to his inauguration, the in-house magazine at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida announced nearly 100 new members, a number of whom had significant business interests in Washington. The tax records show that in 2016 alone, the club’s initiation fees delivered close to $6 million in revenue.
...More than 70 advocacy groups, businesses and foreign governments threw events at the properties that had previously been held elsewhere, or created new events that drove dollars into Mr. Trump’s business.
Donors also paid for the privilege of giving money to his campaign and super PAC. Mr. Trump attended 34 fund-raisers held at his hotels and resorts, events that brought them another $3 million in revenue. Sometimes, he lined up his donors to ask what they needed from the government.

Trump claimed a $21 million tax break for leaving the woodland surrounding his New York mansion undeveloped, a figure inflated by what appears to be a fraudulent appraisal. The value of the 212-acre estate was based on the premise that Trump could build and sell 24 manions on the land. However, building anything on that property was impossible, due largely to objections by neighbors. Trump was paid by the government not to build mansions that he never could have built, in other words.

In addition to the conservation easement tax break, Trump in 2014 also classified Seven Springs as an investment property, rather than a personal residence, and wrote off $2.2 million in property taxes as a business expense, the New York Times recently reported.
Trump’s family members have described the home as a family retreat in the past, and the Trump Organization’s website still characterizes Seven Springs that way. “Today, Seven Springs is used as a retreat for the Trump family,” the website says.

Trump’s adult children have brough at least $238,000 of taxpayer money into the Trump Organization by traveling to their family properties with Secret Service. “The president’s company billed the U.S. government hundreds, or thousands, of dollars for rooms agents used on each trip, as the agency sometimes booked multiple rooms or a multiroom rental cottage on the property,” WaPo reports.

The records also show about $29,000 in federal payments to Trump properties that related to travel by Donald Trump Jr. Trump Jr. stayed repeatedly at the Trump hotel in Washington — just blocks from his father’s residence at the White House...
In the records obtained by The Post, travel by Ivanka Trump and her family accounted for more than $42,000 in federal payments to Trump properties. Much of that total came this spring, after Ivanka Trump had urged other Americans not to travel.

US taxpayers picked up the tab for billionaire US ambassador's stay at Donald Trump’s Scottish resort. The billionaire US ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson, ran up a bill to US taxpayers totalling more than £1,000 in a single day while staying at Donald Trump’s flagship Scottish hotel and golf resort.

American Oversight, a non-partisan, non-profit ethics watchdog: “That Donald Trump uses his office and American tax dollars to prop up his failing businesses is widely known and shameful. That the US ambassador to the UK would use taxpayer money to play golf is simply embarrassing.”

Immigration

Border wall: The Ninth Circuit on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump’s allocation of military funds for construction of his border wall was illegal. In a 2-1 ruling, the three-judge panel lifted a stay on a lower court order, thus putting an immediate stop to all border wall construction. The one dissenting judge was Daniel Collins, a Trump appointee.
Family separation 1.0: Former AG Jeff Sessions and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein led the push to prosecute all undocumented immigrants even if it meant separating children from their parents.

[Rosenstein told] the five prosecutors that it did not matter how young the children were. He said that government lawyers should not have refused to prosecute two cases simply because the children were barely more than infants.

Family separation 2.0: Customs and Border Protection touted agents’ “rescue” of a Honduran woman who just gave birth. What border officials didn’t mention was that, hours after their purported rescue, they separated the Honduran immigrant from her newborn and detained her pending possible removal.

“They told her she was going to be sent back to Mexico without her baby,” said Amy Maldonado, who is legally representing the mother.

Detention: Inside the US Marshals’ Secretive, Deadly Detention Empire: Due in large part to Trump’s aggressive immigration policies, the Marshals population is approaching historic highs. About two-thirds of all prosecutions between October 2018 and April 2019 were related to immigration crimes.
Deportation: ICE officials have started to implement a policy that allows officers to arrest and rapidly deport undocumented immigrants who have been in the US for less than two years - all without a hearing in front of a judge.

Eric Trump has canceled a Michigan based campaign event scheduled to take place Tuesday at Huron Valley Guns in New Hudson after one of its former employees was linked to the domestic terror plot against the state's governor.
The Justice Department has suspended all diversity and inclusion training in every division, including for immigration judges that regularly hear cases of persecution based on religion, LGBT status, and gender.
Wisconsin Judge Upholds Statewide Mask Mandate
Michigan High Court Strikes Down Governor’s Covid Emergency Orders
A U.S. government watchdog agency is faulting the Trump administration’s handling of a COVID-19 relief effort that awarded energy companies breaks on payments for oil and gas extracted from public lands in Western states in more than 500 cases2
The California Secretary of State and Department of Justice have sent a cease and desist order to the California Republican Party to remove unofficial ballot drop boxes placed in at least three counties.
In a ruling issued late Monday night, a federal appeals court upheld Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that limited counties to one mail-in ballot drop-off location. All three judges on the 5th Circuit panel were appointed by Trump.

All drugs, including Meth, should be legalized for recreation, then prescribed and sold at pharmacies

Some Musings On AA5 and 6's Tone and Narrative Content

Re-joining the AA community this year has been a...fascinating experience, if just because it made me realize a lot of my preconceptions on why I fell out of favour with AA. I thought I was dismissing them on part of them being disposable, and me losing favour of them was me maturing. Then I played Investigations 2, and utterly loved it from start to finish. And that was because it wasn't disposable in any way, it actually added up to a very meaningful and impactful story, with lines which stuck in my head long after reading.
Playing it and DGS were fascinating experiments, because they challenged my preconceptions. So, because of that, I ended up looking back at AA5 and 6...
...and realized exactly what caused me to really fall out of favour with the franchise all those years back.
I think there's a lot that be said about both games and their failings, but if there's something really stick out to me, it's how they present their stories and the tone therein.
The first four mainline games, as well as Investigations and DGS duologies, have a very specific tone which is important to consider. While far from being "realistic", they are games which feel nonetheless grounded in their own reality through the people and scenarios that inhabit them, no matter how wacky and outlandish the base concepts tend to be. This is important because, at their core, AA games are built around people committing crimes. They commit crimes, and the heroes are forced to unravel the truth in order to expose those crimes.
Take, for instance, Recipe for Turnabout. The case is overtly one of the most comedic of the entire series. The setting of the case is a restaurant with crappy food run by an okama, the main witness is a perverted geezer who goes there because he likes the waitress outfit, leading to Maya and then Mia dressing up in it for him, the main villain looks almost exactly like Phoenix but as a yakuza, and the case in general is meant to act as spotlight of sorts for resident comic relief Gumshoe. Seems like a gag case...
...Then you remember that literally all the important characters aside from Maggy are criminals. The restaurant is a scam run by an ex-con willing to commit theft to stay afloat, the villain is a two-bit loan shark who committed the murder to pay off his own debts to the yakuza after he injured the family daughter in a hit and run, the daughter herself is a willing accomplice out of a twisted love for said villain despite being aware it's a lie, and the victim was a gambling addict who even designed a dangerous computer virus to pay off his debts.
I think this is the basis from which a lot of AA is built. The characters you encounter aren't necessarily good or bad people, many have their own individual reasons to lie or do what they do, but all that matters is protecting the innocent, and finding the truth. Even if some situations can get pretty...comical, they never really betray that idea that these are real people. Which, when you look at it from the perspective of a mystery, is quite essential.
Which is what I think the fundamental creative problem of the 3DS games, which is how they betray that very tone.
The most direct thing that I think demonstrates this is the "personality shifts". In the 3DS games, shortly after the player begins the confrontation with the culprit, the culprit, with few exceptions, undergoes a drastic personality shift that sees them suddenly devolve into a crazed villain hammily declaring themselves the smartest person in the room. This kinda works in the few cases where the villain is truly dropping a façade (Retinz is the best example, and goes with how popular a villain he is), but most of the time the change does nothing for the villain. What, exactly, is gained by Means suddenly turning into a spartan disciplinarian loudly throwing chalk at everyone, or Nichody acting like a crazed mad scientist simply because he used to be a surgeon? Nothing, over than devaluing the characters as people....Which is another thing.
A lot can be said about how the 3DS games handling of their characters, but one thing which stands out to me is that, unless they're the culprit, none of the characters seem allowed to have done anything wrong, or at least get those actions brazenly dismissed by a "They're not so bad". Betty, for example, is presented as a vindictive, jealous bitch who bullied her own sister into participating in a malicious prank on Trucy, and even tries to get Trucy tried for murder, but is then suddenly dismissed as a tsundere after because it wouldn't be "happy" I guess if Bonney ditched her. Compare that to Rise from the Ash's for example, where Lana and Jake, both sympathetic characters mind you, commit undeniably illegal actions and openly admit they'll have to face the consequences of them, or the beautifully bittersweet ending to The Inherited Turnabout.
The flattening of morality extends to the story, and this is when it gets really bad.
While AA always managed to pull through with generally "happy" endings, let's not kid ourselves with how bleak many of the stories could get, especially when they're backstory related. Farewell My Turnabout and Bridge to Turnabout especially take active pleasure in genuinely pretty harrowing events without giving you much "hope", and in the latter case ends on a rather bittersweet note for basically all parties involved. Good people did genuinely bad things, horrible things occurred to people for little to no reason (often being what lead to the murders) and the consequences of that usually had to be lived with. Stories themselves included references to or depicted various crimes beyond just murder, suicide and abuse among other subjects, and made a huge thematic deal about corruption.
Dual Destinies tries to include the "tragedy" angle in it's two-case finale, but it misses the point because those events are given a solution that doesn't need to have a lasting impact on the involved parties (Apollo doesn't even mention Clay in the following game). Other than that, it demonstrates this "simplification" principle in full force. No one besides the culprit ever does anything wrong (except for Aura, but she is barely even mentioned after a point in the final trial in spite of her importance), the culprits besides Marlon are one-note cartoon villains with insane motives (especially L'Belle) and the cases lack genuinely serious events or real consequences for the people involved (Juniper's dark secret is that she kinda snitched on one of her friends, and thinks he might have done something wrong. He didn't BTW, he did nothing). None of the darker points really show up in either game (the first victim of SoJ was stealing artifacts for his family, but this is barely even touched on), and the idea of corruption is laughable. The only thing the "Dark Age of Law" shows for all the talk of it is a single villain who repeats the same motto over and over, but his only displayed crime is something which the school was doing before the "Dark Age" even happened.
Then in the next game we get Khura'in.
HOLY CRAP DO I HATE KHURA'IN
AA had dabbled before in fictional foreign countries, making in a central plot element in the first Investigations, but the difference there is that they written as an actual believable small countries who got involved in the events of the story for very specific reasons, and were treated as just normal places with no overtly "exotic" elements to them. Lang, for example, is technically a foreigner, but his only "exotic" element is his Lang Zi readings (which isn't even that unusual a quirk), he's otherwise a fully believable person with a backstory that informs how he thinks and acts.
Khura'in, on the other hand, is a completely farcical setting with incredibly clumsy retcons meant to make it seem like a more connected part of the series world, and is defined by either purposely ridiculous religious beliefs, or the courts. The countries culture, backstory and important characters are all defined by the courts. Which, yes, were always the main focus of a series whose main characters are lawyers, prosecutors and other law professions, but were never treated as literally the most important thing in the setting. Khura'in gives a complete middle-finger to that and basically subjects to AA's world to the Yu-Gi-Oh treatment, where suddenly it's what the entire world is about.
Then, the conflict in Khura'in quickly becomes almost comically simplistic. AA had always a vastly biased court system because that was the reality in Japan, a country with a 99% conviction rate where lawyers are seen as criminals, but the idea of the DC Act turns the complex realities of Japan's legal system into a complete farce with black and white morality up the wazoo, even when it seems comically inappropriate. Dhurke's rebellion? Somehow going to be completely bloodless, raising the question of what he was even going to do. The Inmee's? Phoenix treats them as completely innocent victims even though they were willing to send Maya to her death. Inga's genuine love for Rayfa? Never even elaborated upon. Nahyuta's...everything? He's revealed to be faking it for Rayfa's sake, an explanation that doesn't make sense, doesn't fit what we see, and somehow ignores the blood of hundreds of innocents that would be on his hands.
And then there's Ga'ran. Holy shit Ga'ran. Initially actually kind of interesting as an intimidating symbol of absolute power in Khura'in, once she takes the stand she goes full wackjob and gets the design and personality of a One Piece villain, instantly everything about her deflates. The game ends up doing this utterly laughable attempt to try and make it look like anyone but her could be the villain, but nope, it really is the most evil person in the room. No surprises here, folks! Her motives, what little there are, are ripped completely from Morgan, only Morgan was written like an actual human being in a setting which was modelled on tropes found in mystery novels since the 40s. Ga'ran meanwhile ends up so comically over-the-top evil I'm surprised she didn't just talk about the power of darkness. It really is damning that Gant and Blaise, a police chief and top legal official respectively, are actually more intimidating than a goddamn monarch who despite being so powerful doesn't use her power to have the heroes just executed if she wanted to without harm. Ga'ran's entire character is to be nothing to be an evil villain who Apollo has to use his super lawyer powers on because he's the hero (despite doing nothing to build himself as one), and I hate it, so, so much.
Seriously, how did a series which started on three people nearly suffocating to death in an elevator eventually lead to storytelling on par with a bad Shonen manga!?!
Well...that got quite...impassioned. It begs a question, though.
How did this shift in the mainline series happen? I have a few theories of varying plausibility:

It was something Capcom did to make the series more marketable: Of all the theories, this is the easily most plausible and likely. Ace Attorney is one of Capcom's major franchises, so to make it marketable would very much be in their interests. Perhaps, once the decision was made to continue the main series was made, they also enforced a lighter tone to not scare away people? We know they did pressure the team to bring back Phoenix, so it's possible that other things could've been done for marketability. And it fit with DGS being the same as Takumi's games, since as a spin-off without the recognizable characters management would probably place fewer mandates on it.
It was an intentional choice from the staff to stray from the dark tone: Investigations 2, the previous game developed, is easily the darkest game in the series overall, having far less comic relief and more focus on character drama and philosophy, along with a very complicated story and backstory tied across the entire game. What if the strain of such put too much on Yamazaki's team, and they wanted to do "easier" works from then on? While possible, honestly, this one just depresses me a bit.
Capcom interfered with AA5's story late in development due to disliking the direction: Those who follow me will probably remembered this idea in my very extensive theory post, and it remains a likely possibility. There's plenty of evidence that suggests the story of Dual Destinies was radically changed as the game itself was being developed, ranging from the final breakdown being very rushed technically to several cutscenes being outright absent from the final game. Though explaining SoJ would be more complicated.
It was done to compete with Danganronpa: This is easily the most out-there suggestion, but think of it this way. While the first DR game was not an immediate success after it came out in November 2010, it quickly gained popularity after recommendations from the likes of Nasu and Urobuchi, and shot into being one of the best known VNs after the second game dropped in 2012. Even though they were for rival platforms, perhaps the developers saw the potential for a defeat from a new favourite, and tried going in a "zanier" direction to compete? Would explain Turnabout Academy at any rate. Though, if that's the case, evidently they didn't quite understand what made the game popular.

Soooo...yeah, that's my comments about the very specific direction of fifth and sixth mainline games, and why I see them as, as Raymond Chandler would put it, "Fiction made for psychopaths". Meaningless fiction which fails to communicate something greater or more emotional, and ends up as just forgettable dross. Exactly what the 新本格ミステリー (New Traditional Mystery) literary movement which shaped Japanese mystery fiction was meant to avoid, speaking quite bluntly.
It's a massive shame, and something I almost resent in how it caused me to lose my respect for the franchise for a number of years. Obviously, that's on me, but I have a sense of profound disappointment to how wasted so much of it is on terrible, half-hearted story writing.
And there is good to these games! Many of the characters created for them are genuinely compelling and would be fantastic in a better, more fully realized story (besides Khura'in, everyone and everything from that place is a bad idea). Yamazaki did away with Takumi's tendency to waste time on irrelevant gag witnesses (the Oldbag problem, I call it) and instead try making every character have a role in the story. And The Magical Turnabout I think is the best midgame case in the series, in part because it actually is the closest to Takumi's work in tone while not having his more aggravating tendencies.
Call it frustration, call it disappointment, call it whatever, I hope I got my thoughts out. Feel free to contribute with your own thoughts! I'd love to see takes on this subject, because I find it quite fascinating, and might bring way to a greater understanding for...all of us, I guess.
Thank You For Reading
Live Happily

I'm gonna pop off for a second. ZERO of these cucks care ANYTHING for you or your grandma, how do I know? Because they never complained about the gambling industry.

[Melas] - Chapter 61: Saved and Spent

Synopsis:
A young woman finds herself dead and is given the chance to reincarnate in another world with cheat-like magic powers. She accepts, only to find that the world treats magic users the same way ours did— by hunting them down and killing them for heresy.
My name is MELAS?! As in Salem backwards? Oh my God, and my mother is a Witch. I am SO going to be burned at the stake!
[Previous Chapter] | [Chapter 1] | [Cover Art] | [RoyalRoad Index and Synopsis] | [Patreon] | Tags: Isekai/Reincarnation, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Weak-To-Strong Protagonist, Female Protagonist

Water, earth, fire, fire, air, earth, fire, air.
Earth, air, fire, air, fire, water, earth.
Water, fire, air, water.
I glanced down at the final combination of symbols; it was not a common sight to see water paired with fire, since the two were supposed to be diametrically opposed in their real elemental forms. But this was simply a representation— the symbols were named as such because they roughly resembled the elements, however they were not the direct equivalence of said elements.
The theory behind these symbols was a result of complex observations, with its origins stemming from the Great Hero Xander himself. There were basic fundamental rules to creating working runes to draw the power out of a mana crystal— such as how increasingly complex polygons made out of the fire symbol would generally increase the energy drawn from the mana crystal— yet it was entirely possible to create a brand new, working rune out of a random shape with an arbitrary arrangement of the symbols.
So far, I had been making simple shapes: ones that had been studied thoroughly and was good for training, but had little practical use for real mana tools. It was like learning calculus as a mathematics major hoping to pursue a Doctorate in Mathematics in the future— I had a long way to go before I could create the kinds of tools my Dwarven companion did.
I was diligent, but I was not a genius.
I picked the piece of paper up, and inspected it carefully; there were no mistakes that I could see, which instilled in me a sense of accomplishment. I proudly laid the sheet back down onto the table, admiring my work for just a moment longer.
Then the door to the room swung open, and I craned my neck away from the paper lain on the desk to see Gennady enter the room. The rotund man strutted in, his heavy footfalls thumping on the hard wooden floor as he lifted his hood.
“Welcome back,” I greeted him, standing up and stretching my back after being seated for over an hour.
“Ya are one studious kid, you know that right?” he commented as he peered over my shoulder. “Good job. You got everything right this time.”
I was just about to grin in response when the Dwarf smacked me across the back. Ouch, still not used to that. I rubbed the spot and the light sting quickly went away. Then I finally asked the question that had been in my mind.
“So,” I started, “how did it go?”
“Other than the fact that I had to keep even lower than I usually am? Pretty damned good if I had to say so myself.”
He placed both hands on his bed, and hefted himself up onto it; he pulled out a small metallic flask and drank from it.
“I managed to speak to a few guys, and they said they could arrange a meeting between us and these two smugglers. They’re one of the best in the city.”
I lifted an eyebrow, and tilted my head to the side. “Are they trustworthy though?” I asked. “That’s more important than how good they are at their job. They could be amazing, but if they betray us, it doesn’t matter.”
The Dwarf furrowed his brows, and sighed. “Lass, has anyone ever told you that you are sometimes very paranoid?”
“What’s wrong with erring on the side of caution?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head and stood up. “I hear that they’ve never failed a job. But the thing is, they’re used to smuggling goods out and into the city, not people. There isn’t much illegal slave trafficking coming out of Luke by sea, and people who try to flee the country generally do so through land by the southern border.” He took another swig of his alcohol.
“Good,” I said, nodding curtly. “I prefer it that way. I’d rather not deal with slavers or people who aid slavers. It just doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Because it’s illegal?”
“Because it’s evil,” I corrected the Dwarf, before changing topics. “So, where will we be meeting these smugglers?”
“They have a hideout in a tavern near the docks. That’s on the northern side of the harbor, so we won’t have to worry about running into too much trouble, I hope.”
Right, trouble, I thought, remembering the reason why Gennady had to wear that cloak over his head, and I was staying in the inn by myself: there were very angry sailors on the lookout for us— as confirmed by Gennady— after the incident at the main pier area a few days ago. And it did not help that we tricked the guards to buy us some time so we could escape.
Were we wanted by the guards for tricking them? Probably not. However, picking a fight with dozens of sailors was probably against some law in Laxis, which meant that the city guards were keeping at least one eye out for us; we were not criminals, but there was most definitely a hefty fine we had to pay for partaking in a brawl.
Gennady wanted to avoid paying it if we could, and I did not disagree with that sentiment. So due to both those reasons, we were keeping on the down low while searching for a way out of this city.
I walked over to the closet, and pulled out my ‘Aria’ disguise. “Well then, let’s get going,” I said to the Dwarf.
He frowned, scratching his scruffy beard. “Right now?” he asked. “I arranged a meeting for tonight.”
“We want to scout out the place first, of course,” I replied casually, taking off my pointed hat. “Plus, I’m sick and tired of being locked up in this room. Maybe I can look around for anything I might want to buy in the market. You’ve bought your Superior mana crystals, well I want something of my own too.”
“Aight, if that’s what you want.” Gennady gave a noncommittal shrug.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” I said, gesturing at the door. “Could you please get out?” I held my change of clothes up, indicating I needed some privacy.
“Right.” He hurriedly left the room.

I carefully inspected the array of mana crystals before me, reaching for one that was about the size of my hand and held it up against the lamplight. The blue-green gemstone glimmered, reflecting the shine into my eyes; it was bright.
I had read in A Tinkerer's Guide— one of the books Gennady had loaned me— that mana crystals of higher quality had highly reflective surfaces whereas lower quality mana crystals did not. This was due to the difference in the mana density inside each crystal, with an increase in mana leading to a more opaque body that allows less light to pass through. And yet, it was easy to mistake the light refracting through a translucent mana crystal as light being reflected on its surface, which often caused many without a discerning enough eye to be scammed out of their silver or gold.
I squinted, making a hole with my fingers and looking through it as though it would help me see better; it did, but by a small margin. I was almost certain that this mana crystal was worth its price— it was a Lesser mana crystal of ostensibly high quality costing 6 gold coins: that seemed like a steal to me.
“Hey Gennady,” I called out to my Dwarven companion. “Is this one any good?”
“That?” He frowned, and took the mana crystal out of my hand; he scrutinized it for a moment, then waved his hand dismissively. “Bah, it’s only a Lesser, and it’s barely above average. Maybe for its price it’s good, but otherwise I wouldn’t buy it.”
I nodded. “Thanks,” I said, and turned to the store owner. “I’ll take it.”
The woman smiled eagerly, rubbing her hands together as I completed the transaction; I managed to haggle the price down to 5 gold and 10 silver— it was only a two silver discount, but that was worth over a dozen meals, or a few nights in most regular inns.
I returned to Gennady as he crossed his thick arms over his broad chest; I inclined my head to the side. “What?” I asked.
“I told you not to buy it— it wasn’t even a good,” he said.
“Are you saying it’s not good because it’s not a Superior mana crystal, or are you saying it’s not good because I was scammed out of my money?”
“Well, uh, it’s...” the Dwarf stammered, scratching the side of his beard. “I was more leaning towards the former,” he finally said.
“Exactly.” I smiled, and placed a hand on his right shoulder. “I got it because it was what I was looking for, and you told me it’s good for its price. I was taking your advice, don’t worry.”
“But if you’re planning on getting a mana crystal to practice with, you should at least start with Inferiors, not Lessers,” he objected.
“I’m not planning on using this just yet,” I said, placing the blue-green gemstone into a small pouch, and tying it closed. I attached it to my leather belt, and strolled past Gennady. “It’s not for practice now. It’s for when we’re at sea and I’ve already mastered working on Inferiors. I’m planning ahead.” I gestured for him. “Come on,” I said, “let’s get going. We don’t want to be late.”
We left the shop and headed towards the docks; we passed by ships that were not currently being used— many of them looked as though they had been left in disrepair for months— while others seemed as though they were having improvements added onto them. It was mostly empty of life however, since it was evening, and the little noise we heard came from the nearby bars, taverns, or inns which were beginning to teem with life at the end of twilight.
I followed Gennady as we made our way through the cobble street, finally stopping a block away from our destination. “There it is,” he said. “The Merlion’s Alcove.”
I glanced at the small, wooden building; it was a much more subdued tavern than the ones we had seen on the way here, yet there were clearly suspicious people making their way for this spot. With a name like that and with people as shady as this, you really can’t be more obvious that this is a cover!
“Let’s take a look around,” I said.
We spent the next hour loitering around the area; the brilliant vermillion sunset was covered over by the thick, dark clouds before it had fully disappeared beyond the horizon, and a light pattering of rain began to fall upon us.
The drizzle slowly got heavier and heavier, and when it looked as though it would turn into a full-blown storm; Gennady and I had seen nothing indicating that we would run into any trouble in the tavern, so we decided to finally enter the tavern.
The double doors swung open with a hard push, as the bottom of the wood frame scratched across the floor. The tavern, which didn’t seem lively from the outside, actually had some minor activity on the inside; the thick walls must have prevented noise from leaking out, which led to my earlier assumption.
Regardless, it was almost evidently a facade: the bards playing in the corner evoked too large of a reaction from the early night crowd, and the boisterous laughter of sober men as they chatted only made the scene all-the-more jarring. I made sure to keep my hood up as a few faces inconspicuously eyed Gennady and I from their seats.
The Dwarf waded his way straight to the bar, plopping himself on one of their stools as his hood fell off his head. I wanted to throw it right back on, but it was already too late; the barkeep looked over him once over and nodded.
“What do you want?”
Gennady grinned in response, gesturing past the barkeep. “I want your best whiskey in the house— no, the cellar. And add in a nice strawberry on top. With one of those little pink umbrellas. Make sure to mix it with a good dose of nylos, I want it as bitter as possible.”
The barkeep raised an eyebrow, and slowly said, “That’s… a long way to order our special drink. But I do believe that’s not a problem.” He lifted the small wooden barrier separating us from the bar counter, and ushered us towards a door. “You can find someone able to set you up with your drink inside,” he said.
“Thanks, lad.”
Gennady stepped in first, almost too nonchalantly, as I kept two paces behind him. Isn’t he worried at all? I thought, narrowing my eyes.
We entered a dimly lit hallway, leading to a kitchen with cooks busy preparing more meals than they should have; a roughly dressed man stopped us in the middle of the corridor, and folded his arms. “What are you looking for, Dwarf?”
“Just a Merlion’s special— a nice bitter drink from below.”
The man seemed to accept Gennady’s answer, and he gestured for us to follow him. He led us into a corner of the kitchen, and opened up what appeared to be a cellar door. He lifted the latch, revealing a stairway leading down into a hidden basement.
“There’s only one rule down there, and it’s ‘don’t cause any trouble’, got it?”
“‘Course,” Gennady said, nodding. The man seemed unconvinced until Gennady nudged me.
“Oh— yeah.” I nodded curtly, catching myself from stumbling over my words.
With my affirmation, the man stepped aside and let us enter; we went down the stairs— it wasn’t a long way down, only two flights at most— and reached a doorway. It was far easier to open than the front door of the Merlion’s Alcove, probably because they didn’t worry as much about noise escaping due to the rambunctious cover they had at the top.
I found my nose wrinkling as the door opened; an eclectic of scents ranging from food, to drinks, to drugs, to sex wafted in my direction, with an incredibly pungent smell leading the assault. I reached up to pinch my nose to protect it from the terrible stench, but only heard the clacking of my gloved nails striking my mask.
I cast my gaze around the room and was greeted by a far more naturally raucous crowd than before, with many of the individuals in it partaking in illicit activities. In addition to being set up like a regular tavern with tables and chairs strewn about with men and women consuming various foods and drinks, there were also various other forms of… entertainment available here.
There were men lounging in violet couches creased with golden lines at its edges, indulging in various kinds of substances: I recognized the smell and smoke of tobacco coming from most of these men, yet a few of them inhaled a colorless gas from a pipe which a hunch told me was the source of the pungent smell.
There was also a gambling area set up in the corner of the room, with scantily dressed women serving alcoholic beverages to the men dressed in robes playing with their gold and silver. While this might not seem like an unusual sight, it was, in fact, quite an uncommon one here in Laxis due to the laws banning any acts of gambling.
I conveniently ignored the corner of the room where moans and grunts were coming from, and followed Gennady as he strode through the room without even blinking. I stepped up beside him, and spoke quietly.
“Do you go to places like this often?”
“Yes,” he said, continuing past a table of where an argument just broke out. A man stood up to throw a punch, and bouncers immediately swarmed him and dragged him out of the room. Gennady didn’t bat an eye. “But not for any of the reasons most come here for.
“Ever since I left the Taw Kingdom, I’ve been trying to widen my worldview. They thought I was crazy, but they also praised me as their best, and at the time, I thought that was a compliment. But when they went ahead with replacing me with that Scientist from Xan? I realized perhaps they truly thought me mad.”
“Didn’t you say that your King pleaded for you to stay?” I asked, cocking my head.
“He did.” Gennady nodded as he sat at the now vacated table. “Him and half of the other Dwarves I knew. But the other half? They’re glad I’m gone, and they’re willing to embrace that madman Bertrand to get it.”
I pulled out the chair opposite to him, and took a seat as well. “And what exactly have you been doing to… widen your worldview?”
“For starters,” he said leaning in, “I learned magic.”
I frowned. “What does that have to do with any of this?”
“Magic itself is against the law. Even in the criminal world, it’s not exactly commonplace to find a spellcaster. But that’s the only place you can find spellcasters. The Dark Crusaders have many connections in the underground, and that’s how I first contacted them.”
I drew in a sharp breath, and remembered why I had good reason to not fully trust Gennady just yet; I did not know what his motives were— he told me he just wanted to help me out and return to his Kingdom because of the Abominations, but how much of that was true? What if he was fully aligned with the Dark Crusaders? Could this have all been a trap for me because I killed Victor—
A voice broke me out of my thoughts, stifling my paranoia for just a moment. “Ah, I was told to expect a rather rotund looking man tonight, but I never suspected it to be a Dwarf.”
A rough, older looking man approached the table accompanied by a delicate, young woman. The juxtaposition between the two was immediately visible; the man was dressed in rough leather clothing, giving his already tough exterior emphasized by his scowl an even more weathered look. Meanwhile, the young woman wore more of the fashion I had seen in Laxis, wearing pure, white robes that covered everything but her smiling face. Looking between the two was like looking between the fragile bud of a flower and its sharp thorns.
“Oh, uh, Mr Jack and Ms Lisa?” Gennady greeted them.
“No need for formalities, Dwarf. Hearing it from your kind just doesn’t sound right. I’m assuming you’re Gen?”
“Yes, and this is my companion, Aria.”
I nodded my head slightly at the two smugglers. Jack ignored it, and joined our table without any invitation by taking a seat and throwing his feet up onto the table.
“So,” he started, “what do you two want?”
“We heard you two are the best smugglers in all of Laxis, and we’d like your help to get us out of this city.”
“We don’t smuggle people, Dwarf. It’s too hard, and if you’re wanted by one of the gangs or pirates here, we’d be burning a lot of bridges.”
“Of course. But that’s not a problem with us,” Gennady said, waving a hand dismissively. “We arrived in Luke just the other day. Ain’t got problems with any of the groups in the city.”
“A few days is a lot of time.” Jack stared at us as his brows arched darkly over his forehead. “Or did you think I didn’t hear about what you did at the harbor just the other day?”
I saw Gennady gulp, hesitating.
“That was a minor incident,” he said. Then he glanced down at the table. “Y’know, we haven’t even had anything to drink just yet.” He turned to a passing server and waved them down. “Get me and this lad a drink—”
“I’m not a lad, Dwarf,” Jack spat, cutting him off. “And I don’t have time for this. We’ll be leaving—”
“I think we should at least stay for a bit, Jack,” a soft voice spoke over him. Lisa glanced at her companion with her smile still plastered onto her face. “It would not be wise to turn down a free meal.”
The man hesitated, eyes darting between Lisa and Gennady, then he acquiesced. “Fine,” he said. “But I’m only staying because you asked me to, Lisa. The Dwarf better not get his hopes up that we’ll do this job for him.”
“Hah,” Gennady laughed, “is that a challenge? Ye don’t know how friendly us Dwarves get over drinks.”
“I know all too well, little man.”
Gennady ignored the provocation; he continued his negotiation with Jack as drinks were served to the table. I just sat in my chair, neither contributing to the conversation nor consuming any of the beverages in front of me.
I watched on as both men got drunker and drunker, while the young woman simply sat there, sipping on a glass of wine. I would have thought that getting inebriated would make Jack more amicable to striking up a deal, but it seemed to have only affirmed his resolve.
“—I don’t care about who you are or if you’re a damned Hunter or the King of this country. I told you, I’m not bringing you to that damned Dwarven Kingdom!”
“C’mon, lad—”
“Don’t call me that! The only reason I’m sitting here, listening to you yap your mouth off is because my partner of six years— who usually has a good intuition— thinks you would be worth our time! But now I’m starting to doubt that even is the case anymore.”
Gennady sighed, taking a swig of ale. “Listen,” he said, slamming the mug down. “I can offer you twice whatever the usual cost you charge for smuggling goods our size over the same distance we’re asking you. In fact, you don’t even have to bring us all the way to Taw— you can stop at Puer… no, before Puer, and we can depart from there. I’ll even throw in a good enchanted sword to replace that rusty, old blade there.” He pointed a tired arm at the man’s waist.
Jack’s eyes flashed, looking down at his sword. I looked at his furious gaze, and I also remembered Gennady’s talk of a Dwarf’s craft; I could almost predict what would happen next.
And I did not like it one bit.
The smuggler opened his mouth, spit already coming out—
“You boys are intolerable,” Lisa said, cutting him off once again. This time, Jack looked irritated at his partner’s casual interruption of when he was speaking. But she ignored him, and stared at me. “You haven’t spoken all this time, what do you have to say, little girl?”
I raised an eyebrow at that, but did not comment on how she knew I was a girl. She probably heard about it being mentioned in the same breath as Gennady fighting with sailors in the harbor. A simple extrapolation of events and their associated characters.
“What do you mean by that?” I replied with a question.
“I’m curious,” she said, lowering her wine glass. “You and your companion want to leave this country, and we’re not going to do this for you: what do you have to say?”
“If you reject us, we’ll just have to find others to do this for us.” I shrugged.
“Interesting.” Lisa played with her wine glass, rocking it back and forth on the wooden table, causing a swirl in the lavender liquid inside of it. “And what happens if they all reject you? Suppose we’re the last possible person you could approach to bring us to your destination: what would you do now?”
“Oi, Lisa, what are you doing?” Jack asked, annoyance clearly written across his face.
I peered into the young woman’s eyes, and looked past her smile. “You want us to win you over,” I stated simply.
She did not look away. “...perhaps.”
Gennady, in his drunken stupor, just seemed confused and could not help me. So I drew in a deep breath, and reached for my sides.
“If you were indeed the last people I could approach,” I said softly, “then I would be desperate. If that were the case, I’d offer you this.”
I pulled the coin pouch, slightly loosening its string, and slid it across the table. The yellow glitter of gold coins barely escaped the small opening, but it was enough to get a reaction out of the two.
“A platinum and a half,” I said. “That’s all I have to offer, yet it is more than you’ve made in a job as simple as this, no?”
I saw Jack’s eyes cloud over with greed and Lisa’s smile widen even further. “That is quite the offer,” the young woman commented.
“It is.” I nodded my head.
“We’ll take it—” Jack began, his speech still slightly slurred.
Then I scooped the pouch back up and placed it. “But since this isn’t that kind of a situation, I think my friend and I will be taking our leave.”
“Wait, but…” Jack exchanged a glance with Lisa, and he quickly straightened. His tone of voice changed when he spoke up again. “We’ll do it for… three quarters the price?”
I stood up, but Lisa put up a hand to stop me.
“A half,” she said. “Give us a half of that, and you’ll soon find yourself on a ship heading straight to Jahar’taw.”
I paused to consider this for a second, then I nodded. “Deal.” I brought a hand forward and shook with the young woman.
And with that, it was over. We decided to meet two days from now at the docks, just before dawn. We agreed to pay a tenth of the cost upon our next meeting, and the rest when we arrived in the Taw Kingdom.
Then Lisa grabbed her drunken companion by the arm and left the table. As they did, I could hear Jack whispering angrily at Lisa about how she lowered the price so quickly; he seemed like a man who only cared about money once it was a large enough sum, and I was right.
“Lass, are you sure you should’ve paid them so much?” Gennady quickly asked once they left. “That’s over 70 gold!” he exclaimed.
I rolled my eyes. “I paid you as much just to escort me to Taw, don’t act like it’s a ridiculous sum now that I’m paying someone else the same amount.”
“Well yeah.” The Dwarf scratched the side of his head, frowning. “But you’re paying more than two times what I was offering to pay them. Don’t you think you jumped the gun a bit?”
“No.” I shook my head. “This is the reason why I save my money, Gennady: money is to be spent, and I’m spending it to guarantee my safety. We’re not just buying passage through the sea with that, we’re also buying their loyalty. If they know we can pay them more, they would be all the more incentivized to make sure nothing happens to us.”
“But—”
“And don’t pretend that I’m paying it all,” I said, cutting him off. “We’ll be splitting the bill since it’s for the both of us.”
Gennady’s jaw dropped.
“That’s just for the payment to go to Taw, not for the drinks tonight. That’s on you.”
After all, while we were both going to Taw together, he was the only one to have consumed all those drinks.
[Next Chapter]

Author's Note:
Not a fan of this chapter. But whatever. Next chapter will be on October 6th, Tuesday. I'm taking a week break to let my RR rewrite catch up. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I want to at least make some money from patreon, y'know?
Thank you all for your support!

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In August of 2013, at the request of the Governor and the Georgia Lottery Corporation, the GBI created a Commercial Gambling Unit (CGU). The CGU is tasked with enforcing Georgia’s commercial gambling laws as they relate to the Coin Operated Amusement Machines (COAM) seen in convenience stores and other businesses around the state. The machines can be legally housed in these businesses as ... Georgia is not a gambling-friendly State – in fact on a scale of restrictions and punishments for those organizing the games, this State sits just behind Utah and Hawaii in the ‘Least Gambling-Friendly State’ league. Residents do have a lottery, and can gamble on charity bingo games or even enter poker leagues with no player buy-ins. For casino or betting Georgians will either need to cross State borders or go out to see on one of two Casino cruises that operate in International waters ... A push to curb illegal cash payouts for slot machine-like gaming is bringing state lawmakers and industry players together to mull potential regulatory changes. At issue are gaming machines that resemble those clustered in abundance at casinos, but in Georgia, they are found at VFWs, convenience stores, restaurants and other locations. Unlike the machines in Las Vegas, a player in Georgia is ... Online Gambling Law in Georgia. At present, there is no online gambling law in Georgia, and almost all internet betting activity is illegal within the state’s borders, as it remains one of the most gambling-restrictive territories in the US. Residents can purchase lottery tickets online. The state tolerates Daily Fantasy Sports because there is no explicit legislation against it and figures as a skill game. As is common throughout the US, authorities do not seek to prosecute ... Georgia gambling laws make most betting and gambling illegal. Residents may not possess slots or video poker machines. Home poker games are legal but only if a rake is not taken from the pot or an entry fee demanded. Poker tournaments that offer prizes may not have a buy-in. Bingo is only permitted for charities that register with the state. All revenue must be declared. Bingo may not have prize pools higher than $1,500 in a day or $3,000 in a week. The simple truth is that Georgia has some of the strictest and most absolute laws against gambling in the United States. Obviously, these laws extend to casinos, poker, and sports betting in Georgia. There’s even a prohibition on horse racing and dog racing – which is something of a rarity, even in prohibitive states. HAWKINSVILLE, Ga. — Two Republican lawmakers are filing legislation again to expand legal gambling in Georgia. Unlike previous years, there are separate bills for different types of gambling ... Georgia Casino Gambling. All forms of casino gambling are deemed illegal in the state, and therefore there are no casinos in Georgia. This has long been a point of contention between the Senate and Governors, each of which are staunchly pushing on either side of the debate. Most recently, a bill was tabled in 2012 to allow a state-run casino to form, however it has since stalled as successive Governors continue to delay its acceptance. According to previous Governor Nathan Deal, this delay ... Gambling Laws in Georgia. We are yet to come across a state that is so tightly controlled as Georgia. There have been numerous attempts to overthrow the status quo of Georgia, but they have been mostly futile in their attempts. The best and most obvious reason against legalising betting in the state is due to the civil unrest that is predicted to ensue. With the GOP senate republicans ... Illegal gambling is a criminal offense, and can result in jail time. The punishment for participating in illegal gambling may change with the type of gambling or amount wagered, and can be especially severe if you are holding games or lotteries for personal profit. Certain activities may constitute gambling that are not listed here. If you would like to know more about gambling laws, there are many

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Police make bust in alleged illegal gambling casino

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Y’all know those electronic gambling machines you see in gas stations? They are the tip of a huge underground iceberg that I used to be a part of. Here is a behind-the-scenes look into the massive illegal gameroom industry in Texas.

Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis