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thecreaturecodex · 1 year

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Lamia, Quettamum

“Unknowable” © David Palumbo, accessed at ComicArtFans here

[The World Tour comes to Asia, and like with the previous stops in Europe and North America, it’s not as if the Creature Codex hasn’t already done a lot of Asian monsters. So I am going to be mixing it up between familiar mythoi (yokai, Filipino mythology, The Guideways Through Mountains and Seas) with some less familiar ones. Like the lore of Balochistan, one of the provinces of Pakistan. The Mum of Quetta is a local bogeyman with roots in the late 19th century, when Quetta became a site of British imperial attention. A statue of a sphinx erected in a graveyard became the focal point for stories of a man eating monster. Thanks to @abominationimperatrix for sharing this awesome story with me!]

Lamia, Quettamum CR 9 CE Magical Beast This great leonine creature has the head of a human woman, although her teeth are still quite sharp.

A quettamum is a particularly bestial offshoot of lamias. They are sometimes mistaken for sphinxes, which they closely resemble. Indeed, some sages believe that quettamums are hybrids of sphinxes and lamiae, although the quettamums deny this violently. Quettamums are cruel hunters, lurking around the margins of settlements in order to catch and eat children, their favorite food. A quettamum can use its senses through any statue with a face over surprising distances, and they use this to spy on their neighbors and look for victims. They are notorious bogeys in any area where they are known, and a town where all the statues have covered faces or are defaced may be in a quettamum’s territory.

A quettamum prefers to attack from ambush. If stalking prey, this may be a conventional surprise attack, but at their lairs, quettamums spend much of their time surveying their surroundings in statue form. They usually decorate their territory with other sphinx-like statues, making it confusing to determine which is the monster and which is just a statue. They typically cloak themselves in magical silence before pouncing, the better to conceal the screams of their victims. Quettamums dislike fair fights, and will typically try to run if they are not in a position of strength within a few rounds.

Other lamiae tend to have a mixed relationship with quettamums. The quettamum cannot change its shape or disguise itself magically as a humanoid, so they are rarely suitable for missions of corruption. But they are intelligent and magically gifted all the same, and make excellent spies. Some, especially lamia matriarchs, view quettamums with a sense of condescension, treating them as poor relations. Quettamums tend to get along well with cultists of Areshkagal, and fiendish and half-fiend quettamums can be found in the Abyssal layer of the Blood Clefts.

Quettamum CR 9 XP 6,400 CE Large magical beast Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +13 Defense AC 23, touch 15, flat-footed 17 (-1 size, +5 Dex, +1 dodge, +8 natural) hp 114 (12d10+48) Fort +14, Ref +13, Will +10 Immune confusion and insanity effects; SR 20 Offense Speed 60 ft. Melee bite +17 (1d4+6 plus Wisdom drain), 2 claws +17 (1d6+6/19-20 plus grab) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks pounce, rake (2 claws +17, 1d6+6/19-20) Spell-like Abilities CL 12th, concentration +14 At will—stone shape 3/day—mirror image, quickened silence (DC 14), stone call 1/day—statue, stone tell, transmute rock to mud Statistics Str 22, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 15, Wis 19, Cha 15 Base Atk +12; CMB +19 (+23 grapple); CMD 35 (39 vs. trip) Feats Dodge, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (claw), Iron Will, Mobility, Quicken SLA (silence) Skills Acrobatics +14 (+26 when jumping), Bluff +12, Climb +15, Craft (sculpture) +8, Intimidate +8, Perception +13, Stealth +14, Survival +13; Racial Modifiers +4 Bluff, +4 Stealth Languages Abyssal, Common, Sphinx SQ statue sight Ecology Environment temperate hills Organization solitary or pride (2-6) Treasure standard Special Abilities Statue Sight (Su) By concentrating, a quettamum can use its senses through any statue within 600 feet. This functions as an enter image spell (CL 12th), except that the quettamum can make Perception checks through any statue with a face, not just images of itself. A quettamum cannot animate an image or speak through it. Wisdom Drain (Su) A creature bitten by a quettamum takes 1d4 points of Wisdom drain (no save).

#quettamum #mum of quetta #sphinx #lamia #balochistan #world tour #pathfinder 1e

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24hrsallnews · 9 months

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2023 Asia Cup Schedule, Day, Time, Teams, Location and Venue

The 2023 Asia Cup is an international cricket tournament held between Asian countries. The 2023 Asia Cup takes place from 30 August to 17 September 2023 in One Day International format. The Asia Cup 2023 will be hosted by Pakistan, Sri Lanka. It is organized by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and is usually played in the One Day International (ODI) format. However, the tournament was also played in the Twenty20 (T20) format.

2023 Asia Cup India did not go to play in Pakistan till the cancellation of the 2023 Asia Cup. Then Pakistan and Sri Lanka got the chance to host the match with the hybrid model. The teams compete against each other in a round-robin format or groups, followed by knockout stages, leading up to the final. Fans are very eager to watch the match between India and Pakistan. There will be 13 matches in Asia Cup 2023 with 6 teams. 2023 Asia Cup Teams India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal 2023 Asia Cup Schedule S. NO. Match Details Date Venue 1 Nep vs Pak 30 August 2023 Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan 2 Ind vs Pak 2 September 2023 Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy 3 Ind vs Nep 4 September 2023 Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy Group B 4 Ban vs SL 31 August 2023 Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy 5 Afg vs Ban 3 September 2023 Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 6 Afg vs SL 5 September 2023 Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Super Four 7 A1 vs B2 6 September 2023 Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore 8 B1 vs B2 9 September 2023 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo 9 A1 vs A2 10 September 2023 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo 10 A2 vs B1 12 September 2023 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo 11 A1 vs B1 14 September 2023 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo 12 A2 vs B2 15 September 2023 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Final 13 Super 4s-1 vs Super 4s-2 17 September 2023 R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Moreover, the news also says that PCB is unhappy with BCCI secretary Jay Shah. PCB clarified that they will announce the 2023 Asia Cup 5 minutes after the ceremony, but Jay Shah put all the schedules on social media half an hour earlier. PCB will start the ceremony at 19:15. According to The Hindu, the ACC clarified that India's time runs half an hour ahead of Pakistan's time, due to which this blender has happened. Read More - ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off 2023 - ODI World Cup 2023 Schedule: Tentative dates and venues of India's matches against Pakistan - Pakistan tour of Australia, 2023-24 Schedule, Date, Time and Update - Sean Williams gets his highest score and the third-highest in ODIs for Zimbabwe - Major League Cricket 2023 schedule, Time, date and Details Read the full article

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aussiesportscorner · 1 year

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The slow, painful death of Test Cricket

The World Test Championship was meant to be the pinnacle of Test cricket, the final being the premier event of the format in line with the ODI and T20 World Cups, instead, it has shown the cricket world something it already knew. The long form was dying.

Of the nine countries eligible to compete for the 2021-2023 Championship six play between 12 and 15 tests, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with 12, West Indies (an amalgamation of Caribbean countries) and current World Test Champions New Zealand with 13, Pakistan with 14, and South Africa with 15. The other 3, Australia, India, and England will play 19, 18, and 22 Tests respectively. Now while the league table is decided on the percentage of points won, this discrepancy between the number of tests played shows, as recently as just completed test series between Australia and South Africa.

On paper, this series was meant to be an amazing one. South Africa had won their last 3 Test Tours of Australia, and was second on the Test Championship table, with Australia in first. Two of the best bowling units going toe to toe this was an exciting series, especially after the dismal performance of the West Indies in their tour the month prior In reality rain in Sydney was the only thing that saved South Africa from being completely whitewashed after they lost in Brisbane and Melbourne.

Traditionally Australian pitches have been batter friendly, but of the 6 times they went bat, South Africa was bowled out 5 times, Australia batted 4 times, and was bowled out once. an utterly disproportionate amount with what should be the two best teams with some of the better bowling attacks in the world.

But it gets worse. Before South Africa toured, the West Indies did, losing both tests, the last of which by 419 runs, the West Indies then travelled to Zimbabwe, a team not competing in the World Test Championship, for a two series, drawing the first test, and then beating Zimbabwe without having to bat a second time inside 3 days. Both tests Australia have played so far in India this tour have been similar too, but this time, in favour of India.

Teams not playing a lot of tests begins to make sense when all that seems to be happening is they tour just to get comprehensively beaten and go home, and with the advent of domestic T20 leagues around the globe paying players up to 1 million AUD for 6 weeks work, why bother focusing on the longest form if glory is only going to come at home.

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lindsaystravelblogs1 · 1 year

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Days 19 and 20 - at sea.

Day 19, Tuesday, 3 January 2023

It was another sea day and the weather is still pretty wild. The wind is ferocious and navigating around the ship is very difficult. I reckon the swell is at least 6 metres again and just getting from one side of the cabin to the other is a challenge – and a notable achievement if/when you make it without falling on the bed. The corridors are also fraught, but there is a rail to steady oneself. The lift is not working – it never is when it is even a little rough and we can imagine how dangerous it might be if it operated whilst bouncing around in the lift well.

We went down to the Lecture Room for a two-hour presentation by Ian. It was all about his adventures as a wildlife photographer and was interspersed with lots of short clips from his films. We had seen some of them LAST year (get that? – LAST year) when he gave a very abbreviated version of it on our Greenland expedition, but they are worth watching again and again and his heart-on-sleeve commentary is inspiring to say the least.

During the afternoon, we did another eBird survey with Ian with surprisingly few birds and nothing all that exotic, especially after our dinner spectacle last night. We also did a cloud survey with Russell but conditions really were not good to be outside on the decks with the howling wind and a bit of needle-sharp rain.

Day 20, Wednesday, 4 January 2023

Another sea day with more varied wind and waves. At times, it was relatively calm but at others, it was wild and moving around the ship was really quite hazardous.

We went down to the Lecture Room and did a virtual tour of the ship during the morning with videos to show many aspects of the Bridge, the Engine Room and the Kitchen areas. The Captain and Chief Engineer were there to answer questions and it was a surprisingly interesting hour or so with a couple of presentations and heaps of questions, some quite technical but most of which were answered quite admirably.

After lunch, there was another Cloud Survey – in the rain with a completely uniform skyful of gloomy grey clouds – and another eBird Survey during which we counted quite a few birds, including seven magnificent Wandering Albatrosses – quite beautiful, just cruising around the ship, gliding along close to us and sweeping away effortlessly with no visible twitch of their wings or tails. They must be some of the world’s most spectacular birds.

A little later, we all joined in a game in the Lecture Room. They had strung up a number of ropes around the room and we all formed up in six teams to guess how big various things were. Each team had a clip that we had to position along our designated rope to indicate how big the items were and the closest and runners-up received points. Our team came last by about a mile (at least several metres anyway)! Some of the items were really weird – the height of a Chinstrap Penguin, the length of Shackleton’s boat, the wingspan of an Atlantic Prion, the length of a Blue Whale’s penis (a male!), the circumference of a crew member’s head, the length of the largest krill, the ship’s Santa’s waist measurement, the circumference of the largest eye in the animal kingdom, the length of a Humpback’s pectoral fin, etc., etc., etc. It was a really fun game and Heather and I got pretty close for many items but were overruled by the rest of the team who seemed to have no idea (our team name was No Idea!!!) – often more than double or less than half the correct answer.

At night, we were treated to another storytelling, this time a real-life adventure by Ian. He told us how he and a couple of colleagues smuggled themselves over the border from Pakistan to Afghanistan to film an interview with the Northern Alliance warlord who had been instrumental in kicking the Russians out of Afghanistan. It was a huge drama and pretty terrifying on several levels, but they eventually got their interview and escaped. There were also quite a few coincidences that made the whole story almost unbelievable – except that it really did happen. The guy they interviewed was assassinated by two suicide bombers only two days later. By then, Ian was on his way to the US, but his plane was diverted to Canada because a couple of planes had crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. It turned out that the assassination of the guy in Afghanistan was directly linked to the 9/11 plot – for some reason, he had to be eliminated before 9/11 could happen. And Ian still had to get across the border into the US with his Afghanistan visa only 2 pages away from his US Work Permit. Had anyone questioned him, it could have become very ugly for him. Fortunately, he survived, but the whole saga was as good as John le Carre could possibly imagine. It was a Boys’ Own adventure, but life-and-death at many points along the way.

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alwaysfirst · 2 years

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On this day, 'The Ashes' series was born

Aug 29, 2022 15:21 IST London , August 29 (AF): On this day in 1882, England suffered their first loss to Australia at their own backyard by eight runs, which served as the birth of the prestigious "The Ashes" series that is contested between both the sides till this day. In August 1882, Australia toured England for a Test match. Batting first, Australia were bundled out for just 63 runs in their first innings and the English side made a dominant start to the Test. Only Jack Blackham (17), Billy Murdoch (13) could hit scores above ten and other batters crumbled to heaps due to the powerful spells of Ted Peate (4/31) and Dick Barlow (5/19). In reply, England could not muster a lot either as medium pacer Frederick Spofforth's 7/46 helped visitors skittle out England for just 101. Only George Ulyett (26) and Maurice Read (19*) could play some half-decent knocks. However, England had a slender 38-run lead over Australia, which gave them some comfort. Miseries continued for the batters in the second innings of Australia. Hugh Massie (55) and captain Murdoch (29) played some solid knocks, but still could not save their side from another sub-par score. Australia did not have a lot of advantage in their hands as the lead was merely 85-runs long. Ted Peate once again impressed for England with 4/40. On the second day of the match, despite WG Grace's 32, England failed to win the Test. When England's Ted Peate, side's last batter came to the crease, England needed 10 runs to win. He could score only two before getting dismissed. England was all out for 77 and had lost a Test on their home soil. Frederick Spofforth continued his monster run in the second innings, taking 7/44. Following the match, the criticism from the press was immense. The Sporting Times, a weekly English newspaper back then, wrote the iconic words that birthed "The Ashes" and intensified the rivalry between England and Australia. "In Affectionate Remembrance OF ENGLISH CRICKET, WHICH DIED AT THE OVAL ON 29th AUGUST, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances. R. I. P. N.B.--The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia," this was the mock obituary of English cricket that triggered a rivalry that would change the sport forever. With this, Cricket got a gem it could cherish and its first major rivalry before India versus Pakistan rivalry became a thing too. An urn, named as "The Ashes urn" became the symbol of this rivalry and an object worth fighting for on the cricket field. It is believed to contain the ashes of a burnt cricket bail. The first-ever Ashes series was played that year in Australia in December. England won the series 2-1 and brought back "The Ashes" to England. Since then, 72 editions of this series have taken place, mostly having five Test matches. Out of this, Australia has won 34 series while England is not too far behind with 32 series wins. Six series have ended in a draw. Australian great Don Bradman has the most number of runs in Ashes history, with 5,028 runs. Late Aussie spin great Shane Warne has the most Ashes wickets, with 195 to his name. (AF) Read the full article

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world-of-wales · 2 years

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CATHERINE'S STYLE FILES - 2019

17 OCTOBER 2019 || The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William visited the Badshahi mosque and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre on Day-4 of their Royal Tour of Pakistan.

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 19, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

Last Friday, Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie of U.S. Central Command admitted that the August 29 drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, that the U.S. had claimed hit ISIS-K fighters had instead killed 10 civilians, including seven children. This “tragic mistake,” as he called it, at the very end of the country’s 20-year engagement in Afghanistan, opens up the larger question of the growing U.S. use of unmanned aerial systems—drones—in warfare.

Drones are a relatively new technology, and we have not yet had a national discussion about what it means to use them.

The U.S. began to develop armed drones in the early 21st century and has used them against terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen. President George W. Bush used them experimentally, launching 9 drone strikes between 2004 and 2007. In 2008, he launched 34 strikes, illustrating an increasing reliance on the unmanned weapons that spared U.S. lives while disrupting terrorist camps.

When he took office, President Barack Obama followed the trend toward drone strikes, dramatically increasing their use in the war on terror. S. E. Cupp of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that compiling numbers of drone strikes is difficult but that in 2018, The Daily Beast attributed 186 drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia to Obama in his first two years and that the Associated Press and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism counted 154 strikes in Yemen during the eight years of Obama’s tenure. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a UK-based think tank, noted 1,878 drone strikes during the eight years of Obama's presidency.

Obama did add bureaucratic restraints to the use of drones, permitting strikes only against terrorist targets that pose a “continuing, imminent threat to U.S. persons.” His administration also provided that “[a]bsent extraordinary circumstances, direct action against an identified high-value terrorist (HVT) will be taken only when there is near certainty that the individual being targeted is in fact the lawful target and located at the place where the action will occur. Also absent extraordinary circumstances, direct action will be taken only if there is near certainty that the action can be taken without injuring or killing non-combatants.” In 2016, under pressure for more transparency on his use of drones, the Obama administration began to publish the number of civilian casualties associated with drone strikes.

Once Trump took office, his administration wrote new rules for drones, permitting strikes without a threat standard against any person deemed to be a terrorist and allowing military commanders themselves to make strike decisions. It significantly increased the use of drones and revoked the Obama administration’s rule about reporting the number of civilians killed by drone strikes, calling that rule “superfluous.” According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Trump launched 2,243 drone strikes in the first two years of his presidency, a significant jump from the 1,878 launched in Obama's eight years.

Famously, Trump launched a drone strike against top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in January 2020, killing him and nine other people. The UN's expert on extrajudicial killings at the time, Agnès Callamard, said the attack violated international law because the U.S. had not provided evidence that Soleimani presented an imminent threat to justify the attack. The administration responded that she was “giving a pass to terrorists.”

On his first day in office, President Biden suspended Trump’s rules and began to review how the policies of both Obama and Trump had worked. On July 21, Foreign Policy reported that in its plan to end “forever wars,” the Biden administration had brought drone use to an all-time low. But his move away from drones got little attention compared to the August 29 drone strike on Biden’s watch that killed 10 civilians.

American presidents turned to the use of drones because they enabled the U.S. to attack terrorists without risking the same numbers of U.S. soldiers ground operations would require. But scholars note a significant downside to the use of drones. First of all, on occasion, they fall into enemy hands, transferring new technologies that could lead to military proliferation. Second, they lower the bar for military engagement, enabling the U.S. to insert itself into other countries at a much lower cost than in the past, opening the way for permanent hostilities around the world.

And, third, they kill civilians.

It is not clear what the ratio of military deaths to civilian deaths actually is: estimates of the civilian casualties from drone strikes range from 30% to 98%. But we do know that the U.S. admitted to killing dozens of civilians at an Afghan wedding in 2008 and more than 100 civilians in a strike on Afghanistan in 2009.

What seems to be different about the August 29 killing of civilians in Afghanistan is that the U.S. government has admitted the killings, taken responsibility for them, called them “a tragic mistake,” and offered “profound condolences to the family and friends of those who were killed.” In the wake of the strike, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered an inquiry into “the degree to which strike authorities, procedures and processes need to be altered in the future.”

—

Notes:

Ahmed S. Hashim and Grégoire Patte, “‘What is that Buzz?’ The rise of Drone Warfare,” Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, 4 (September 2012): 8-13.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/01/us-drone-strikes-all-time-low-biden-forever-wars/

https://www.justice.gov/oip/foia-library/procedures_for_approving_direct_action_against_terrorist_targets/download

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/08/trump-war-terror-drones/567218/

https://www.rollcall.com/2017/05/31/trumps-total-authorization-to-military-gives-some-deep-concerns/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47480207

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/world/asia/05iht-afghan.3.17553439.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/world/asia/15farah.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/us/politics/pentagon-drone-strike-afghanistan.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53345885

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

* * * * *

[from comments:

”Peppered throughout today's thoughtful letter is the term terrorist. It has become like the hypnotist's trigger to suspend analysis or curiosity. A famous American dissident has observed, "There is no right to self defense against the empire." And those of us looking critically at our country's actions globally have long seen with clarity how we are expected to suspend judgment when "terrorist" is applied. Famous Israeli general, Matti Peled, went on a speaking tour in the US in the last century to say that US military aid to Israel was corrupting the country, creating "irresistible temptations" and that the country was losing its soul in its occupation of areas taken by force. I visited then-senator John Edwards' office with a group seeking closure of the infamous "School of the Americas" which taught torture to Latin American military officers. The CIA officer posted to Edwards' office was overjoyed in anticipation of a coming "electronic battlefield." It was chilling to hear the delight at armchair warriors pushing buttons to kill people far away, at no personal risk. We now read even in the New York Times, always ready to deliver official excuses for war, some truth about the irresistible temptations of extreme military power, and the inevitable crimes of those ready to term self defense "terrorism."

jc markatos

#drone strikes #warfare #weapons #Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #history

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