Dragon's Lair

Thistle

Earthquakes in Venezuela: What We Know by Caracas Chronicles

Key Information About Venezuela’s State of Emergency by Caracas Chronicles

VENEZUELA’S EARTHQUAKE STATE OF EMERGENCY: HOW TO HELP

We Love Foundation: Provinding food, water, medical support, hygiene kits, shelter supplies, logistics, and direct support for vulnerable families on the ground. They have worked with global partners and Venezuelan nonprofits for the past 13 years.

The Gio Foundation: Humanitarian and animal aid nonprofit organization accepting donations through their portal.

Aldeas Infantiles SOS: Accepts donations in bolívares (Venezuelan currency) through their Venezuelan branch. Donations in foreign currencies can be sent through Aldeas Infantiles SOS Spain.

Save the Children’s Emergency Fund: Donations will go towards providing urgent, life-saving support to Venezuelan children.

UNICEF Spain: Has launched an Emergency Fund for Venezuelan children.

Miami-based Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce Foundation: Launched a fundraising campaign to provide food, water, medicine, shelter and emergency relief.

Source: Caracas Chronicles

Centro de Acopio UNAM

Personal de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) instaló un centro de acopio para las personas damnificadas por el terremoto ocurrido en Venezuela.

El centro de acopio se encuentra ubicado en el estacionamiento 8 del Estadio Olímpico Universitario y operará del lunes 29 de junio al jueves 2 de julio, en un horario de atención de 10:00 a 18:00 horas.

*****

OpenAI scraped the entire web. All of which had been a labor of love from humans. Wikipedia is the backbone of a lot of LLMs, and that was volunteer human labor. They stole it and now they're selling it back to us.

I don't mind other characters having terrible opinions on Entrati depending on their experience. Before KIM we only had his notebooks, Acritis, Loid, and the Cavia [all very biased characters]. And Loid was "a bit taken by the Indifference" by then.

I love a character whose oddity and understandable stakes [from his PoV] makes him being misunderstood by other characters. What bothers me more is players supporting this 1dimensional Entrati that is "emotionless and whimsical" when we know it's a lot more complex.

It's a man whose experience with the Void traumatised him to the point to obsess over the ways to stop it, no matter the cost. And seeing how terrible things The Man in the Wall can do, we can agree that, yes, it should be contained or stopped in some manner. Entrati's main goal is not bad or evil or emotionless. His actions are what he, and only he, thinks it's the most "correct" way to face this world-ending challenge he is responsible of. He sets paradoxes such as "leaving the loved ones behind because he loves them so much he doesnt want Wally to harm them", or lack of responsability with actions such as "sacrificing creatures but then he is unable to have the heart to euthanaise them and free them from this unwanted, unexpected consequence". Entrati is a character with deep contradictions and dychotomies, and mainly, MISTAKES. Which also makes me link this theme to Arthur [they both show a parallel narrative about "the correct thing to do" + "mistakes"+"consequences and responsability"]: characters that think they are doing the "right thing", but they cannot stop doing mistake after mistake with terrible consequences for themselves and others. And to what extent they accept the consequences of those mistakes, and what they do to fix them.

In fact, Entrati is the typical narrative that makes us question about goodness: It's better to sacrifice a few in order to save the many, or we doom them all. Are there truly "in-between" options? Exploring these stories are always beautiful and a good way to keep our moral righterousness humble. I love Entrati in the complexity he embodies, as I always loved Flemeth in DA fandom for what it looked like a character with similar dichotomical motivations that, of course, Veilguard forgot entirely, so she was reduced to the lame character she became. But that's another different topic and an ever-open wound.

I like to deny the Triad because it's so... oof. It's so true that the narrative seems to focus more and more in blaming Albretch for whatever. I had my problems with that in Lettie's convos. But most of her writing is so weird and wrong for several reasons that I always overlooked it or ignored it and claimed it was because she was written in a rushed way.

It's so strange for me that you are never allowed to point out in the hex that, despite the omission of some obvious "side effects" of the protoframe process, Entrati gave them something that stopped them from becoming techrot thralls themselves. The comic shows it was done in a very weird way [I still dont understand why Entrati was in a random place, and randomly cuts Arthur (?), the whole comic is super weak in plot imo, it was more a promotion of the hex? I dont even know when it came out]. Curious thing, in all the rest of the protoframes Entrati explained what was going to happen to them: the round table [except Kaya, we are never informed about her process], and with Lyon and Marie. All Lettie's convos about "silent carriers" is so ridiculous and out of place. Looks like they needed to craft some way to make the hex hate him more. This got double down in Triad, when out of the blue, Drifter has this option of "he knew I was in a cycle of torture and left me there". It was such a WTF moment. Why and how the drifter knew this only in Triad and never hinted it in Hex? We know since Whispers in the Wall Entrati was more focused on all what this world reflected of Eularia. And when you explore duviri, the way all the characters speak about the Scholar [we remember most of these characters are also reflections of Drifter themselves] they appreciate him as someone who taught them for hard times to come. If Drifter and the Scholar met, I'm not sure they would have recognised. And we know the Scholar's landing is a place where Albretch tried to hide the finger for some time, maybe. And created Oraxia to help Drifter. I cannot see the links between all these things beyond the supposition that maybe Albretch tried to train Drifter in Duviri, but left at some point before the cycles started. Most likely, drifter was a kid and safe in duviri [I remember those codices slightly related to the scholar about the Academy and the Hollow kids]. I interpret that Albretch may have trained a child-drifter, since they are the "tenno free of the deal" with Wally. There is power in that, and Albretch was gathering all the power he could get to fight the Indiference. He crafted the vessels and the protoframes in the past to help Drifter too, the "chosen operator". Certainly Albretch would manipulate some people's life, but his goal is superior: save the world [at least in his eyes]. To overvillanise him is such a sad thing. I also hope they retake the old concept, more nuanced and complex than this oversimplified "marvel villain" they want to override on him.

I also find the "Albrecht abandoned me [Drifter] in Duviri and I'm Big Mad about it" so weird. There's no indication that Albrecht would have a) known Drifter could survive out side of Duviri, b) wouldn't be immediately thrown into a warframe or experimented on or had SOMETHING horrific done to them if the other Orokin learned about them or c) even wanted to leave Duviri at that point. It doesn't seem the executions had even started at that point, and since Wally/Rusalka says "You were pretty close in his Duviri days" and Thrax talked about "What the scholar taught us" it seems obvious the executions hadn't started yet.

Anyways, about the techrot retcon:

I see, I can never read properly the archimedian comments because I'm always running for my life, lol. But yeah, what's the point of asking about its origin if we know it already? It's ridiculous to put Entrati as the main responsible of the techrot in 1998. Specially when he doesnt say a word about it in his personal notes… and this is something that bothers me A LOT. A researcher never lies in their notes, because they need to keep all the relevant info explilict for them, so they can understand why something failed or not, they need to be able to reproduce the experiment under the same exact conditions. A researcher notebook is a clean, explicit, honest book of information which is key for their research. To claim otherwise is simply not having idea how research works. And makes me wonder if it's not the same person who wrote some of the most questionable convos of Lettie, showing what a lack of knowlege they have of the most basic concepts, such as vaccines and epidemics.

"Kathryn Kingsley, the dark romantasy author" . Her main page say "where villians stay villans" I…. I'm speechless…that… explains so many, unfortunate things….and puts in perspective a dark future for us, followers of complex characters. [I'm a hater of the cosy-genre, but right after it follows dark romantasy, sooo…. gods, this is so bad]. I should mourn, I think.

I had no idea who was the main lead writer. It was quite clear that the leader changed just by the quality of the writing as you play: the old-obscure-not-super-character-focused narrative in the old quests, then it has a curious, interesting change around Whispers in the Wall, Duviri, and Hex, and starts to decline in Round Table, Old Peace, and for sure Triad. And it seems to coincide with the promotion of this writer as leader… This puts my expectations so much lower now…

Yes, I noticed those strange wordings to dismiss the relationship of Entrati and Loid, but I always interpret them as the dislike of these orokin characters for having such a highly appreciated orokin (entrati) being romantically involved with a "servant". Even Loid has some lines implying that they [entrati and him] enjoyed to break certain expectations/rules from the orokin society [I think this is hinted when he explains why they wanted to rely more on physical books than ayatans]. It also true that Drifter has little choice to respect or "joke" about this relationship, calling it workplace romance at times, and at other times "lovers". But I always interpreted Drifter as a child of their era: they were under the orokin' perception of the world, and may have shared a good amount of cultural expectations as well, but it's also true that you should leave that interpretation open. A lot of ppl who are child of their era are also rebel fuckers. But when you do the comparison with the treatment of questionable heterosexual couples… you certainly rise a solid point there. Yes, it's subtle, and it looks like an "IRL" leak from the writer into the world, not truly aware of it.

Loid wanted to return to the Family. You have a lot of lines implying how lonely and nostalgic of them he is before that Rank. He certanly didn't needed the blue guy to look at him with a frown. In fact it makes no sense for me. Loid and Entrati were accostumed to defy Orokin by just existing in a society that did not allow [it's implied, not explicit though] relationships between different social status. Reinforced later in the story of Dagath [warframe]. So for me that the blue guy is there in that quest is a mere "let's put more blue guy down the throat of everyone, no matter if it makes sense or not". A Drifter/operator convincing Loid with words, making explicit that his conversation with the other protoframes made him have enough courage to see the family again woudl have been enough, I think. It's like… the person who writes this scene forgot entirely Loid is a guy who went to face the Indifference with only a zylok, angry as fuck. Sure, the weight of the family's expectations are heavier for him than the Indifference itself [showing his servant mindset, which is a good characterization!], but it requiered no fucking blue guy at all for him to meet the family again.

Yeah, in many other opportunities the game and the narrative pushes you to assume Entrati is just "evil", without giving you the optoin to stay in the lane of "he is complex, and we dont have all the pieces" and when you have them, the game ignores completely that fact in the next convo. The only consistent and consant optoin is "Entrati is evil". The only place where I remember Drifter is allowed to bring nuance to Entrati is in one of the last convos with Arthur. I even felt that Drifter may have shifted a bit Arthur's vision on Entrati [the convo about how many protoframes are out there and with what purpose]. But that's it. In Triad we are absolutely forced to Hate Entrati in 90% of the convos, and with Marie, you can work your way into "it's complicated", as you said. Which I don't resent personally, the idealization is another type of dehumanization, so I liked that Drifter can tone down a bit Marie's blind faith in a person. But certainly looks bad when you see the treatment in the other convos, that's for sure.

I don't mind other characters having terrible opinions on Entrati depending on their experience. Before KIM we only had his notebooks, Acritis, Loid, and the Cavia [all very biased characters]. And Loid was "a bit taken by the Indifference" by then.

I love a character whose oddity and understandable stakes [from his PoV] makes him being misunderstood by other characters. What bothers me more is players supporting this 1dimensional Entrati that is "emotionless and whimsical" when we know it's a lot more complex.

It's a man whose experience with the Void traumatised him to the point to obsess over the ways to stop it, no matter the cost. And seeing how terrible things The Man in the Wall can do, we can agree that, yes, it should be contained or stopped in some manner. Entrati's main goal is not bad or evil or emotionless. His actions are what he, and only he, thinks it's the most "correct" way to face this world-ending challenge he is responsible of. He sets paradoxes such as "leaving the loved ones behind because he loves them so much he doesnt want Wally to harm them", or lack of responsability with actions such as "sacrificing creatures but then he is unable to have the heart to euthanaise them and free them from this unwanted, unexpected consequence". Entrati is a character with deep contradictions and dychotomies, and mainly, MISTAKES. Which also makes me link this theme to Arthur [they both show a parallel narrative about "the correct thing to do" + "mistakes"+"consequences and responsability"]: characters that think they are doing the "right thing", but they cannot stop doing mistake after mistake with terrible consequences for themselves and others. And to what extent they accept the consequences of those mistakes, and what they do to fix them.

In fact, Entrati is the typical narrative that makes us question about goodness: It's better to sacrifice a few in order to save the many, or we doom them all. Are there truly "in-between" options? Exploring these stories are always beautiful and a good way to keep our moral righterousness humble. I love Entrati in the complexity he embodies, as I always loved Flemeth in DA fandom for what it looked like a character with similar dichotomical motivations that, of course, Veilguard forgot entirely, so she was reduced to the lame character she became. But that's another different topic and an ever-open wound.

I like to deny the Triad because it's so... oof. It's so true that the narrative seems to focus more and more in blaming Albretch for whatever. I had my problems with that in Lettie's convos. But most of her writing is so weird and wrong for several reasons that I always overlooked it or ignored it and claimed it was because she was written in a rushed way.

It's so strange for me that you are never allowed to point out in the hex that, despite the omission of some obvious "side effects" of the protoframe process, Entrati gave them something that stopped them from becoming techrot thralls themselves. The comic shows it was done in a very weird way [I still dont understand why Entrati was in a random place, and randomly cuts Arthur (?), the whole comic is super weak in plot imo, it was more a promotion of the hex? I dont even know when it came out]. Curious thing, in all the rest of the protoframes Entrati explained what was going to happen to them: the round table [except Kaya, we are never informed about her process], and with Lyon and Marie. All Lettie's convos about "silent carriers" is so ridiculous and out of place. Looks like they needed to craft some way to make the hex hate him more. This got double down in Triad, when out of the blue, Drifter has this option of "he knew I was in a cycle of torture and left me there". It was such a WTF moment. Why and how the drifter knew this only in Triad and never hinted it in Hex? We know since Whispers in the Wall Entrati was more focused on all what this world reflected of Eularia. And when you explore duviri, the way all the characters speak about the Scholar [we remember most of these characters are also reflections of Drifter themselves] they appreciate him as someone who taught them for hard times to come. If Drifter and the Scholar met, I'm not sure they would have recognised. And we know the Scholar's landing is a place where Albretch tried to hide the finger for some time, maybe. And created Oraxia to help Drifter. I cannot see the links between all these things beyond the supposition that maybe Albretch tried to train Drifter in Duviri, but left at some point before the cycles started. Most likely, drifter was a kid and safe in duviri [I remember those codices slightly related to the scholar about the Academy and the Hollow kids]. I interpret that Albretch may have trained a child-drifter, since they are the "tenno free of the deal" with Wally. There is power in that, and Albretch was gathering all the power he could get to fight the Indiference. He crafted the vessels and the protoframes in the past to help Drifter too, the "chosen operator". Certainly Albretch would manipulate some people's life, but his goal is superior: save the world [at least in his eyes]. To overvillanise him is such a sad thing. I also hope they retake the old concept, more nuanced and complex than this oversimplified "marvel villain" they want to override on him.

I don't mind other characters having terrible opinions on Entrati depending on their experience. Before KIM we only had his notebooks, Acritis, Loid, and the Cavia [all very biased characters]. And Loid was "a bit taken by the Indifference" by then.

I love a character whose oddity and understandable stakes [from his PoV] makes him being misunderstood by other characters. What bothers me more is players supporting this 1dimensional Entrati that is "emotionless and whimsical" when we know it's a lot more complex.

It's a man whose experience with the Void traumatised him to the point to obsess over the ways to stop it, no matter the cost. And seeing how terrible things The Man in the Wall can do, we can agree that, yes, it should be contained or stopped in some manner. Entrati's main goal is not bad or evil or emotionless. His actions are what he, and only he, thinks it's the most "correct" way to face this world-ending challenge he is responsible of. He sets paradoxes such as "leaving the loved ones behind because he loves them so much he doesnt want Wally to harm them", or lack of responsability with actions such as "sacrificing creatures but then he is unable to have the heart to euthanaise them and free them from this unwanted, unexpected consequence". Entrati is a character with deep contradictions and dychotomies, and mainly, MISTAKES. Which also makes me link this theme to Arthur [they both show a parallel narrative about "the correct thing to do" + "mistakes"+"consequences and responsability"]: characters that think they are doing the "right thing", but they cannot stop doing mistake after mistake with terrible consequences for themselves and others. And to what extent they accept the consequences of those mistakes, and what they do to fix them.

In fact, Entrati is the typical narrative that makes us question about goodness: It's better to sacrifice a few in order to save the many, or we doom them all. Are there truly "in-between" options? Exploring these stories are always beautiful and a good way to keep our moral righterousness humble. I love Entrati in the complexity he embodies, as I always loved Flemeth in DA fandom for what it looked like a character with similar dichotomical motivations that, of course, Veilguard forgot entirely, so she was reduced to the lame character she became. But that's another different topic and an ever-open wound.

Jim Musil (American Artist, born 1976)

"Trout Water", 2025.

Acrylic on Panel, 16 × 16 inches.