#araneaexplainsitall

This, as with many things, depends on what you would define as a victory. Let us first look at a classic console or computer-based roleplaying game, commonly known as an RPG. In these such games, you have won once you have completed a storyline, though the actual points and side-quests you've taken part in it in each replay may vary. In this situation, the only true victory is reaching the ending titles after defeating the final 8oss. There is no continuation, it is the end.

There are, however, many other different types of games, and I will give a small disclaimer that while I enjoy various titles, I am no expert. (I should 8e asking Latula for assistance on this one, really.) There are various types of survival games as well as those focused on point ratios that will unlock secret abilities or higher level weapons. Sometimes those are only unlocked after one has completed a successful play through of the game. Which, in turn, leaves a player to restart the game with these new upgrades and give it a second go. Though one has completed the game to a satisfactory level, there is still more that can 8e done, if those involved choose to do so.

Can you call such an accomplishment a victory? I'm not sure. I 8elieve it is up to those who are playing to set those goals for themselves.

In a simplistic sense, one might suggest that winning SGUR8, or S8UR8 as my human compatriots call it, that creating a new universe is in and of itself worthy of the status of winning. You have completed a task that you were set out to do and su8sequently given the chance to do the same for another existence entirely. And yet, we still remain.

I 8elieve our situation is special. In this, multiple sessions have 8ecome entangled to the extent that one simply cannot go forward without the other. Null sessions, failed sessions, scratched sessions--all of these stack on top of one another and teeter carefully on a mutual center of gravity that fluctuates and constantly causes us to rise to new challenges.

If existing is all that one asks, then I could easily say I have "won" 8ecause I continue, even after death. 8ut I do not see that as the end of the game, even if my session itself is no more. To me, winning would mean that my species is a8le to continue on in a living realm without the looming threat of annihilation. Every moment I am discovering new things from the sessions of others, for I do not think my understanding of SGRU8 would 8e as complete without this valuable data.

This question has 8een sitting in my in8ox for a while, simply 8ecause it is a topic that I am highly unfamiliar with. 8ut it seems to 8e some sort of deep philosophical quandary amongst humans, so I wanted to make sure that I was a8le to give it the attention it deserved. 

First, I had to acquaint myself with what exactly a "woodchuck" was. Apparently, it is a small mammalian creature native to Earth, also known as a groundhog, whistle-pig, and land-8eaver. What I found most striking, however, was that the woodchuck really has never 8een recorded chucking wood. Surely this could not 8e true! That is where the name came from, isn't it? 8ut I assure you, it is more of a play on words than a factual reality. Chucking wood doesn't appear to 8e high on the list of activities for the woodchuck, although as seen in his picture, the woodchuck is adept at using adapted military grade weaponry.

This, of course, made me consider the fact that the woodchuck may, indeed, have the a8ility to chuck wood if it so wished, 8ut consider it's o8vious adaptions to an apparently hostile environment on the open grasslands of Earth, one does not need to chop wood if one has a large gun. 8ut I digress. The question was, of course, if the woodchuck could chuck wood.

I have to yield to human expertise on this particular matter. A nota8le woodchuck fantatic 8y the name of Richard Thomas noted that a woodchuck could chuck around 35 cu8ic feet in the course of digging a 8urrow. Consequently, he reasoned that if wood were entered into the equation, a woodchuck could chuck around 700 Earth pounds of wood.

While it is not a simple question that I am sure one could easily write novels a8out, the 8asics are this: magnets, in the sense of an o8ject, consist of two different poles--the North and the South, respectively--which consist of two different magnetic fields. These fields are formed through electric charge, in which the negatively charged electrons collect at different points of the magnet. Like poles, such as a South and South pole, repel each other, while unlike poles attract each other.

That is not a simple question, and not 8ecause there is controversy over the nature of magic. What defines magic in one realm may 8e completely different than its supposed state in another realm, so first we must assume that same laws of physics as we understand them are accepted across all our universes. One can assume this is true due to the nature of our sessions 8eing a8le to intermingle and co-exist without any one reality shift 8reaking due to a different set of rules in order for the universe to function. And yet, at the 8asis of this question is not just whether or not what we understand as magic to 8e real, 8ut how we decide what is reality and what is not.

Magic can 8e anything that seems wondrous or impossi8le. What some might see as commonplace and perhaps nothing noteworthy, if it is novel enough and unfamiliar to an visiting onlooker, the second person may see this mentioned "thing" as something magical. What would a word truly think of a glowing 8ox in which millions upon 8illions of different species could communicate 8y pictographs seeming instantaneously? To someone from many hundreds if not thousands of years ago even in your own human history, assuming you are human, it could eaisly 8e mistaken as magic. 8ut what we know it as science.

Magic in and of itself is a construct that we apply. Yet what makes the nature of this game so interesting is that it is the players that define the 8arriers of the reality we experience. Skaia has rules that apply across all sessions, of course, 8ut each is largely influenced 8y the experiences of each individual as well as the collective whole. The dream 8u88les are testament to this, with each memory 8leeding into another and creating a cohesive whole that is still sta8le even at the ends of existence. And yet we do exist 8ecause we accept this as a reality, just as I am typing to you.

I will 8e honest when I say that I originally had no idea how to answer this question. I have, however, done a plethora of research in my free time and I 8elieve I now have a suita8le answer to your inquiry.

The New Kingdom in Egypt was period in human history in which the humans of that area wore very little clothing and employed a variety of fashion faux pas.

Headdresses were the norm, accented by 8lue fish which it was customary to smell with your friends. The significance of this act is not known to me, 8ut my guess would 8e that its fragrance was pleasant and therefore an act of gratitude or fondness.

There was a ceremonial dance in which would dress up like their lusii and destroy the local flora systematically with wooden scythes. It seems to me that it was an arduous task, 8ut the simple fact that their guardians were shown such appreciation is a 8lood-pusher warming sentiment in any form. It is my guess that this is where humans 8egan to practice a custom of cele8rating guardians of any 8ackground, including the elders of their own species.

Lastly, hoof8eats were hunted rampantly, whether for their meat or their hide, I have yet to discern. They traveled in pairs and were captured with a harnessed two-wheeled device, while the human warrior would put the animal out of its misery at his or her leisure 8y providing an arrow to the 8ack of the head. The most sought-after 8easts had eight legs, 8ut whether or not they are relatives of Earth arachnids is not clear.

"The Deal" may refer to a series of made-for-television movies that were completed in the last hundred sweeps of 8eforus, prior to its imminent destruction. One of the most popular adaptations starred Troll Christian Slater with a plot thick in intrigue and espionage! I have to admit that it was always a favorite of mine. Though I don't consider myself to 8e any sort of movie expert or critic, it was one of his 8etter roles, in my opinion, and he had quite a lofty career 8efore he met an unfortunate accident with an untrained lusus when his stund dou8le didn't arrive on the set for "The 387 Commandments."

This phrase may also 8e referring to a popular magazine 8y a similar name, The Deal. It "deals" primarily with financial matters with a particular focus on how to avoid unnecessary payments and the penalties of em8ezzlement of illegal currency. I admit that I have only read one pu8lication in my time on 8eforus and was not terri8ly smitten with the way the su8ject matter was portrayed. Even with simple facts, there can easily 8e a little flare in presenting them!

It is also a phrase that I have heard Meenah utter on numerous occasions, and my instincts tell me that she is not attempting to make references to popular cinema, and her only interest in currency is how she can get more of it with the least amount of effort as possi8le. To 8e honest, I'm not entirely sure what "the deal" is with her, 8ut for a turn of phrase, I think the deal would 8e that she is a large factor in my compounded de8t.