#raven strategem

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Raven Stratagem + Revenant Gun

books 2 & 3 in a military-political sci-fi trilogy

space empire setting where reality & technology relies on an enforced cultural belief and calendar system

the ghost general taken over Cheris’ body and gone rogue, the rest of the hexarcate is trying to assassinate them while they try to change the oppressive systems of the hexarchate

I don’t know how else to explain things in here without spoilers (if I even could explain..)

#raven strategem #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #it’s been 3 years since I read the first one so I had definitely forgot some finer details #ngl. i dont really follow all of the military strategy stuff but like. yeah i believe you somethings going on here #book 3 I definitely vibed with more; I felt like I actually understood everything that was going on lol #(idk how much of that is the book itself and how much just the break between 1& 2?) #definitely missed Cheris; and missed the Cheris/Jedao dynamic... #I feel like there could have been a bit more of her even in book 3 #loved learning more about the moth drives and servitors and stuff. tbh I could have had more of that #obsessed with Hemiola. you give me a bot that makes AMVs of its shows of course it’s going to be my favourite #I don't have much coherent to say but this series is def interesting im glad i finally got to these! #great characters; fun at times (even if very heavy at other times) #also I appreciate how very queer and trans it all is

[chefoshawott]

Vacation reading~

#books #machineries of empire #raven strategem #literature #scifi

[ruinconstellation]

Zehun and Mikodez: talking politics, the fate of the hexarchate empire, potential death of millions

Also Mikodez, at the same time: building a cookie fort

#currently reading #raven strategem #machineries of empire #vauhan mikodez #shuos zehun #for lack of a better tag

[gideonisms]

Very excited to see someone getting into Pratchett! One of the great joys of being a long-term Discworld fan is seeing people react to reading them for the first time. Tiffany Aching is a really good entry to the series, but based on your blog, I suspect you would enjoy both Monstrous Regiment (which someone else already messaged you about) and Small Gods. (Also fully agree that Good Omens the book was better than Good Omens the show--speaking as someone who loved the show, too.)

A big advantage of the Wee Free Men is that Tiffany is Tiffany right from the start, where some other protagonists take a few books to find their feet.

You are one of many, judging by the lovely asks I've received tonight. I will put these on the list to look out for! Who knows, maybe they'll also conveniently appear at my next destination.

Glad to get Validation, I'm sure it's not an unpopular opinion to think the book is better than the show here on sff book website but I really did feel like it was funnier & the characterization was better. Looking forward to starting the Tiffany aching books for sure!

#replies #raven strategem *might* get finished first i miss jedao. but it's on my short shortlist of books i am reading

[ryuuka-balaen]

!! BATTLE REPORT !!

between Tuesday and today, I've played my first game of 10th edition with @amanitabones !

army lists in use;

Imperial Knights (985 points)

Incursion (1000 points)

Noble Lance

CHARACTER

Knight Paladin (415 points)

• Warlord

• 1x Questoris heavy stubber

1x Questoris heavy stubber

1x Rapid-fire battle cannon

1x Reaper chainsword

1x Stormspear rocket pod

• Enhancement: Mythic Hero

BATTLELINE

Armiger Helverin (145 points)

• 2x Armiger autocannon

1x Armoured feet

1x Questoris heavy stubber

Armiger Helverin (145 points)

• 2x Armiger autocannon

1x Armoured feet

1x Questoris heavy stubber

Armiger Warglaive (140 points)

• 1x Questoris heavy stubber

1x Reaper chain-cleaver

1x Thermal spear

Armiger Warglaive (140 points)

• 1x Questoris heavy stubber

1x Reaper chain-cleaver

1x Thermal spear

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Tyranids (995 points)

Incursion (1000 points)

Invasion Fleet

CHARACTER

Hive Tyrant (230 points)

• Warlord

• 1x Monstrous Scything Talons

• 1x Monstrous bonesword and lash whip

• Enhancement: Synaptic Lynchpin

BATTLELINE

Termagants (60 points)

• 10x Fleshborer

• 10x Xenos claws and teeth

OTHER DATASHEETS

Barbed Hierodule (305 points)

• 2x Bio-cannon

• 1x Hierodule scything talons

• Enhancement: Perfectly Adapted

Carnifexes (125 points)

• 1x Deathspitters with slimer maggots

• 1x Heavy venom cannon

• 1x Xenos claws and teeth

• Enhancement: Adaptive Biology

Genestealers (90 points)

• 5x Genestealers claws and talons

Raveners (75 points)

• 3x Ravener claws and talons

Tyranid Warriors with Ranged Bio-weapons (70 points)

• 1x Tyranid Prime

• 1x Bio-weapons

• 1x Venom Cannon

• 2x Tyranid Warrior

• 2x Bio-weapons

• 2x Devourer

Being that we're both generally new to the game, we decided to play the simplest style of game we could; pure slaughter. Berefit of mission decks due to GW not having released a PDF of them and my having not printed out what I'd found yet, we didn't use any special mission rules. Additionally, as we had both only played 5th edition previously, we agreed to omit use of Strategems. Finally, due to how narrow my table is, the only really valid deployment style was Sweeping Engagement.

All this decided, we rolled off for first move and I (Imperial Knights) won with a 2. Armies were deployed and I engaged by moving my Paladin and Warglaives forward and firing shots into the opposing warriors, termagants, and hive tyrant. with the loss of 2 Gants, 2 Warriors, and half the Tyrant's wounds, the Tyranids responded with a frenzy of focused attacks, immediately destroying my Paladin and reducing one Warglaive to the wounded state.

The loss of my Paladin in turn1 was a shock of ice water that alerted me to just how dangerous the (only legs right now 😭😭) Barbed Hierodule was, and I immediately began backpedalling and playing defensively. There was no doubt that the surrounded Warglaive was a lost cause, and that the other would need to stand firm as a bastion between the Hierodule's wrath and the Helverins' gunline.

I backed my Helverins behind the deployment line, and placed the unwounded (and sadly not fully painted) warglaive between terrain pieces to block enemy passing. The barrage from the Helverins, with the help of the Warglaives' (terrifying) Thermal Spears, the Hive Tyrant's reign of tyranny was ended, and multiple Genestealers and Raveners with it. Finally, the doomed warglaive made a sweeping assault with it's heatblade which finished off the last of the Genestealers.

Tyranids took a lot of ground in movement of turn 2, and though they accomplished little in shooting, the fight phase was a savagery of claws and teeth that shredded the first Warglaive, and the second was lucky to survive that turn before the Hierodule's onslaught.

sadly I forgot to continue taking pictures after each turn for use in posting 😭😭😭

most of the rest of the game, after that last Warglaive's unfortunate slaughter by the last Ravener before the Hierodule got a chance at it, consisted of the two Helverins being backed into a corner firing a desperate spray from their autocannons to hold off the horde.

the Hierodule was defeated with focused fire, and that last Ravener stomped under heel like the bug it is, and it came down to just one Helverin facing off the remaining Termagants and the untouched Carnifex

The Termagants stood no chance, having dealt only one wound per turn, and the bushes they hid in were painted red.

it was a showdown now. a battle of Giants. One Helverin facing One Unharmed Carnifex. With 8 wounds each to take, the Helverin put up a fight but was crushed like the tin can it is before the Carnifex's powerful Crushing Claws, which laid it to rest with -10 wounds.

Today's battle was very close, but a Tyranid victory. Well played and thank you for the game @amanitabones !

#hobbying #warhammer40k #battle report #yes we know now that enhancements cant be applied to non-characters #that was a mistake #if anyone enjoys reading this please let me know in some way!! #i like the idea of writing them but its a lotta effort and im not sure im going to continue to if nobody cares yknow? #edited: adjusted some wordings a little to read better and corrected 2 spelling mistakes

[jezebelgoldstone]

top queer book series with the most poetic titles not in any kind of order

The Machineries of Empire series, by Yoon Ha Lee

Ninefox Gambit Raven Strategem Revenant Gun

Tales of the High Court series, by Megan Derr

The High King's Golden Tongue The Pirate of Fathom's Deep The Heart of the Lost Star The Mercenaries of the Stolen Moon The Fallen King's Penitent Soldier

Wayfarers series, by Becky Chambers

the long way to a small angry planet a closed and common orbit record of a spaceborn few the galaxy and the ground within

Rowan Blood series, by Kellen Graves

Prince of the Sorrows Lord of Silver Ashes

#queer books #queer books with good titles #book lists #queer book lists #wayfarers #rowan blood #machineries of empire #tales of the high court #megan derr #kellen graves #becky chambers #lee yoon ha #yoon ha lee #jez recs #op

[rolloollor]

Chapter nineteen of my MalleRollo fic is up. Chapter one is here.

A summary of their internships and the reveal of Malleus' strategem.

Overall summary of the fic:

Spoilers for the Glorious Masquerade event

The threat of overblot looms large over every mage, but none could destroy as many lives as a berserk Malleus Draconia. If a mage of his caliber overblotted, he could make the very land he stood upon crumble into ruin. Rollo Flamme will not allow this to happen. To this end, he leaves his beloved City of Flowers behind to attend Night Raven College as an exchange student. Malleus volunteers to keep an eye on the dangerous, intriguing Flamme, playing right into his hands. Or so Rollo assumes.

#mallerollo #rollo flamme #malleus draconia #twisted wonderland #twst #glorious masquerade spoilers

[quatregats]

Got tagged to do this a while ago by @tucurui and @gwendolynlerman, sorry to take so long to actually post it :’)

Amount of books you've read so far: no idea, not too many though??? maybe 10 at most

Best book you’ve read so far in 2022: The Birthday of the World by Ursula K. LeGuin (technically I don’t think I’ve finished it but it’s all short stories and I loved the ones I finished)

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2022: don’t think I’ve read any sequels, shockingly :0 (I’ve mostly been starting lots of series)

New release you haven’t read yet but want to: not really up to date on these things 😔

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: see above

Biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you): hmmmm….not sure, I liked the new authors I’ve read well enough but none of them have been life-shattering revelations

Newest fictional crush: Tain Hu from The Traitor Baru Cormorant 😬 (don’t @ me)

Book that made you cry: don’t know if it actually made me cry, but hoo boy was The Traitor Baru Cormorant a ride

Book that made you happy: The Birthday of the World sure did make my brain go brrrr. Not sure if it was good for me but it did make my brain go brrrr

Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received): I buy and receive so few books and idk if any of them are more exceptional than like....normal graphic design??? I wish I had a cool answer to this though ;-;

What books do you need to read by the end of the year? Oh god I have so many this list is so long:

Wanderers, Kings, Merchants by Peggy Mohan (currently reading it, it’s a linguistic history of India from the perspective of a creolist which is kind of cool)

Dune by Frank Herbert (technically rereading it, I found a used copy for $4.75 so I had to buy it)

Raven Strategem and however many other Machineries of Empire books I can get through by Yoon Ha Lee

The Silmarillon and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil by J.R.R. Tolkein (yes I’m becoming one of Those People I guess, Tolkein fans rec me books)

The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (was gifted to me from a person who I’d trust with my life to give good book recs, also I think some of you would enjoy it, it’s nonfiction essays)

Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship by Hans Henrich Hock and Brian Joseph (I got it for my historical ling class a few years ago but I want to read it properly now definitely not so I can use it for conlang development)

More Baru Cormorant (by Seth Dickinson) and Wheel of Time (by Robert Jordan) probably

If you haven’t yet been tagged this is your sign to do this :)

#starting to think maybe i'm not into fantasy as much.....i am getting picky in my old age #also i've been doing so much worldbuilding that i no longer suffer fools which is good but also bad #because now i can't just read and enjoy things :') #do want to read dune and pick it apart though #and also pick apart lotr/middle earth and left hand of darkness #the shining examples guiding lights etc etc #anyways uhhh i'll stop adding extraneous commentary this is way more than enough already #perce rambles #tag games

[reddy-reads]

state of the bookshelf, 4/21/2023

i have been woefully neglecting this blog but not my books... well, some of them I have been :D

On Teaching Children, Philip Done: This book is fantastic and Iʻm not reading it bc The Tired

that one novella: I canʻt even remember the title but I have not read it. the gender one.

A House with Good Bones, T Kingfisher: read it in a few days, loved it! LOVED IT. I have been recommending it to my bug-nerd friends

Raven Strategem: didnʻt like it as much as Ninefox Gambit

Hamilton by Chernow: finished it

The Real Macaw, Donna Andrews: finished it, enjoyed it

A Wrench in the Works, Kate Carlisle: finished it, enjoyed it

Ancillary Mercy (book 3 in the Ancillary Justice series): finished it, loved it

Rereads: Wintersmith, Rogue Protocol, Ninefox Gambit, The Last Continent, Trouble in Bugland, Monstrous Regiment

Amnesty: Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble: i give up, this book is not for me

Just started: Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah Penniman. <-reading it with and for a friend

In progress: The Island of Dr Moreau (HG Wells) in preparation for The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (who wrote the FABULOUS Mexican Gothic), which itself was a friend-recommendation

The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher by EM Anderson: I literally JUST started this book and am excited for it

I think maybe itʻs time to just post what I have re: gender & ancillary justice but dkfjdlsfjdklsa;jdsf sdlkfjdsl;f

#state of the bookshelf

[tanoraqui]

Shuos Mikodez does stand-up:

There’s an arch-traitor loose with a Kel swarm. I think eventually everything’s going to be okay, but I have no idea what’s going to happen next. And neither do any of you, and neither do your parents, because there’s an arch-traitor loose with a Kel swarm. It’s never happened before, no one knows what the arch-traitor is going to do next, least of all the arch-traitor. He hasn’t been off a leash in four hundred years, he’s as confused as you are. 

There’s no experts. They try to find experts on the news. They’re like, “We’re joined now by a man that once saw a Shuos at a dinner party.” Get out of here with that shit! We’ve all seen a Shuos at a dinner party. This is an arch-traitor loose with a Kel swarm. 

When an arch-traitor is loose with a Kel swarm, you got to stay updated. So all day long you walk around, “What’d the arch-traitor do?” The updates, they’re not always bad. Sometimes they’re just odd. It’ll be like, “The arch-traitor offloaded all his threshold winnowers, and didn’t use them to kill anyone at all?” I didn’t know he knew how to do that. The creepiest days are when you don’t hear from the arch-traitor at all. You’re down in the operating room like, “Hey, has anyone…Has anyone heard–” [imitates shooting a fellow officer in the head] Those are those quiet days when people are like, “It looks like the arch-traitor has finally calmed down.” And then ten seconds later the arch-traitor is like, “I’m gonna spread word from untraceable sources throughout the Hexarchate that I could’ve defeated the Hafn invasion in one battle if the local fortress didn’t hold me back! I’m Shuos Jedao, the arch-traitor!” That’s what I thought you’d say, you dumb fucking arch-traitor.

And then… then… then you go to brunch with people and they’re like, “There shouldn’t be an arch-traitor with a Kel swarm.” And it’s like, “We’re well past that.” Then other people are like, “If there’s gonna be an arch-traitor with a Kel swarm, I’m going to achieve immortality.” And those don’t match up at all. 

And then, for a second, it seemed like maybe we could survive the arch-traitor, and then, 5,000 miles away, the Hafn were like, “We can teleport now and we’re going to blow up a pivotal clocktower!” And before we could say anything, the arch-traitor was like, “If you even fucking look at the clocktower, I will anticipate your exact probable locations and blow you to smithereens. I dare you to do it. I want you to do it. I want you to do it so I can blow you to smithereens, I’m so fucking crazy.” 

“You think you’re fucking crazy, I’m the fucking Hafn. I wire kids into scoutships for power with vines. I’m fucking crazy.” 

And all of us are like, “Okay.” Like poor False Hexarch Nirai Faian at those goddamn meetings. “Okay.” And then, for a second, we were like, “Maybe the crashhawk high-general will catch the arch-traitor.” And then the arch-traitor is like, “I have recruited the crashhawk high-general. Also, I’m actually Ajewe Cheris.” She can do that? That shouldn’t be allowed no matter who the arch-traitor is. 

#raven strategem #machineries of empire #shuos mikodez #shuos jedao #kel cheris #ajewen cheris #john mulaney #ficlet #my fic

[shardofsun]

Me after reading Nirai Kujen’s POV in Raven Strategem

#Raven strategem #machineries of empire #nirai kujen #what the actual fuck is wrong with that man #kujen encapsulates the entire experience reading this series #which is ���this is so incredibly fucked up I can’t wait to see more

[edpizzahands]

i am not doing entire facetober but if im out of ideas and there’s a neat prompt i’ll do it.. day three was: pattern, long bob, plants so here’s a Cheris!

[image description: a colorful pencil portrait of Kel Cheris from The Machineries of Empire books. She has a round face, full lips, monolid eyes colored with dark blue and purple, and her skin is colored randomly with pink, bright purple, red, and lime green. Her hair’s a bob length just below her chin, and its colored randomly with purple, dark green, brown, dark blue, red and yellow spots which make it creamy over the other colors. She is wearing a Kel uniform, supposed to be black but colored with same dark colors as her hair. Her pin is a shuos eye and wings above it, yellow with gold rims. The background is a flower pattern, petals shaped like blank eyes. The flowers are white, background behind them is soft blue. /end description.]

#pencil #kel cheris #cheris #ajewen cheris #ninefox gambit #The Machineries Of Empire #tmoe #revenant gun #raven strategem #shuos jedao #jedao #garach jedao shkan #john.art

[dloveg]

since yoon ha lee is korean, and I am crazy about yeo  jin goo and IU, I suddenly had this idea of fancasting Jin Goo for Jedao and IU for Cheris.

Jedao is all voice anyway (unless they put in a ton of flashbacks, which well, could happen at the end), and Jin Goo has the perfect lower than your basement tone for that. only problem is, well, he does not speak english very well. and it would be so hard to translate ninefox gambit to korean. pretty sad about that. anyway. jin goo can do  any role, so no need to justify his casting. he played deranged before too:

IU would be perfect for the mathematical and emotionally remote Cheris. she had proven herself as an actress in her last three outings, and analytical Kel Cheris (and her possession by Jedao) would be such an acting challenge for IU, enough to draw her away from her sold-out concerts. (and her impersonating Jedao would mean lots of hours studying the role with Jin Goo - I really think these two would love to work together again as IU is learning a lot from Jin Goo, and well, Jin Goo generally just has fun every second of every day)

sadly I dont have good photo stocks of these. but yeah. love to cast them

or, imagine Yoon Ha Lee teaming up with the Hong Sisters to write an epic sci fi kdrama.  I love the tone of both of these writers. that would just be a dream that wont come true

#iu #lee ji eun #yeo jin goo #yoon ha lee #machineries of empire #ninefox gambit #cheris #shuos jedao #jedao #kel cheris #revenant gun #raven strategem #hong sisters

[cassyblue]

Jeneral Jeris wearing jingerless jloves 

#ninefox gambit #raven strategem #thanks brennan

[catboymettaton]

[ID: the “Are you tired of being nice? Don’t you just want to go ape shitt” meme, edited so that Daisy is Jedao and Peach is Cheris. Daisy has a dark, fox-shaped shadow drawn over her as well as nine eyes. Peach has a Kel uniform drawn over her clothes and a black bob drawn over her hair. end ID]

so this is basically how it went right

#eyes #ninefox gambit #machineries of empire #the raven strategem #excuse the shitty cheris edit I didn't feel like pulling up an actual picture #shuos jedao

[whispersmith]

That was /the most/ suspicious, wary, hesitant conversation between two people deciding to be good but who /hardly have the words for it/ I love it

#Raven Strategem #raven stratagem spoilers