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#the corporation that created them all has untold wealth and technology
suriliebrothers · 3 years
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oc stuff in the tags, you know the drill. extreme lorebreaking and wall of text be warned
#i'm gonna talk about farha this time#she's not from tamriel. she is from another dimension/universe entirely#her skyrim arc is an extension of an original storyline that i have for her. it's complicated but i will do my best to explain#okay. farha is an android#she was created in another universe alongside hundreds of others to act as like. soulbound guardians of individual pocket dimensions#called realms for brevity#skyrim is one of these pocket dimensions. so is every other game you've ever played#they are commercialized as immersive vr experiences for unsuspecting consumers who are under the impression that it's all a simulation#so they often cause damage just for fun. that's what guardians are for#the corporation that created them all has untold wealth and technology#operating their main headquarters underground with full protection from the government#anyway#one of farha's very close friends is caught and exiled for falling in love with a human#farha was unsatisfied with the answers she was given and against another friend's wise advice went after classified documents in the archive#now this headquarters is essentially a maze of hallways lined with portals called gates. they lead into different realms#guardians are told that it is impossible to enter a gate that is not their own. that's a lie#farha is caught trespassing/stealing and is chased by security guards. she loses them momentarily in the maze#and makes a split second decision to risk it all and try to run through a random gate#and it works. she wakes up in the cart on the way to helgen. on her way to be prosecuted for crossing the border#though not the border we usually think of.#farha as a person is extremely sweet and kind. she has a clear set of morals and believes firmly in protecting and respecting the land#she is able to make plants grow due to her home realm being very similar and requiring her to be able to do so#she also has fire magic#which before she came to skyrim#she only ever used to light the fireplace. she hates fighting#though she will do it to protect herself#she settles in whiterun and becomes quite skilled as an alchemist#the mechanism for her being dragonborn is a bit different since she wasn't ''born''#rather there was no dragonborn until farha jumped through the gate#at which point i suppose the gods were like ''okay that one''
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labourpress · 7 years
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John McDonnell speech to Labour New Economics Conference in Newcastle
*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***
John McDonnell – speech to Labour New Economics Conference, Newcastle – Saturday 18 March 2017
It’s a great pleasure to be back in Newcastle again.
We’ve been up and down the country with our economic conferences.
The attendance has been incredible – there’s a huge thirst for ideas and alternatives out there.
So it is fitting that we are here in a city which the world has looked to as a guiding light for economic development.
At the heart of a region that helped lead the industrial revolution.
But a region being robbed of its greatness by Conservative economic failure. We’ve just seen the most stunning display of rank, thoughtless incompetence by any Chancellor during my twenty years in Parliament.
Philip Hammond’s authority is now shredded after just one Budget, and he tore up a manifesto commitment to do it.
Labour opposed the increase in National Insurance Contributions for the self-employed from the second he sat down.
Jeremy Corbyn made our opposition to an unfair tax rise loud and clear in his immediate Budget response.
Labour MPs and Shadow Cabinet members hammered the same message home over the next few days.
Opposition came from all sides of the House, and from business organisations like the Federation of Small Businesses, leaving the Tory leadership completely isolated.
Perhaps if the Chancellor had spent less time thinking up stale jokes, and a little more time thinking through the consequences of what he was proposing, he wouldn’t have ended up in this mess.
This is a government that never deserved its reputation for economic competence.
Their economic policies have caused real and lasting damage to this country.
Their political choice to impose austerity spending cuts on a scale not seen for generations have created untold misery.
It has meant public services cut to the bone and in some cases beyond.
It has meant a million people using food banks in the sixth richest economy in the world.
And it has meant that investment has fallen, dragging down productivity.
Our economy has become far too dependent on low-paid, insecure work as a result.
Worse yet, spending cuts have hit the places least able to cope with them.
Councils in the 10% of most deprived local authorities have cut their spending by £228 per person since 2010.
Councils in the 10% of least deprived local authorities have cut their spending only £44.
After the referendum, there was some brave talk from both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor –
Back when they were still speaking to each other –
About pressing the “reset” on fiscal policy.
And about bringing in a real industrial policy.
We’d welcome both – we need a fiscal policy that supports working people’s living standards, instead of tearing up public services.
And we need a real industrial policy to deliver the decent, secure jobs of the future, across the whole country.
Instead we’ve seen nothing but more of the same failures.
It should be very clear that they have no sense of direction, and no real vision for the future.
Brexit
That’s very clear on Brexit.
Closing your eyes and charging at a brick wall is no way to deal with complex negotiations.
Labour respects the result of the referendum, which was a clear vote to Leave – not least here in the North-East.
But I don’t think anyone voted for a Brexit deal that would trash jobs and living standards.
Or lead to the UK becoming a bargain basement corporate tax haven somewhere off the shores of Europe.
Yet that’s what the Tories have now lined up.
They don’t have a clue about where to go next.
They’re pretending no deal at all would be better than a bad deal.
They don’t seem to grasp that no deal at all would be the worst possible deal.
We’ll fight for a deal that protects jobs and livelihoods right here in the UK.
That means keeping our full, tariff-free access to the Single Market. It’s critical for the North-East.
The Tories won’t fight for that.
They’re too busy fantasising about creating “Empire 2.0”.
The reality of all this bluster is very simple.
This government is about the steady management of decline.
Of keeping those in charge today still in charge tomorrow.
And to hell with the rest.
Labour stands for something very different.
Our vision is simple: of an economy and a society that is radically fairer and more democratic, where prosperity and opportunity is shared by all, and where our wealth is sustainably secured.
It is a vision of an economy not run for the benefit of the elite, but for the people.
Government of the rich
Because the situation we're in demands action now.
We can’t wait for those in Westminster to sort themselves out.
As we’ve seen in just the last few weeks, this is a deeply dysfunctional government.
Basic tasks like assessing the economic costs of the government’s own approach to Brexit haven’t been completed.
Tax increases that should never have made it out of the Treasury wish-list end up in the Budget –
And then get reversed less than a week later.
Above all else, this is a government that thinks about the interests of a tiny metropolitan elite before it thinks of anyone else.
The former Chancellor is heading off to edit a London newspaper.
At the same time, he’s going to be advising the world’s biggest asset manager.
Working four days a month for £650,000 a year.
All whilst still being paid for his job as an MP.
How can he properly represent his constituents in Cheshire when he’s editing a newspaper for London?
Or take the current Chancellor, Philip Hammond.
It’s little wonder he and the Cabinet seemingly didn’t realise that hiking up National Insurance Contributions would hammer the self-employed.
He’s a millionaire and part of the out-of-touch Tory elite.
They don’t live in the same world as the rest of us.
Dysfunctional system, wrong ideology
But it’s about more than just this government, rotten as it is.
It’s a whole rotten system.
There’s an establishment revolving door – just look at George Osborne’s career to date.
It’s a system where too many decisions are taken too far away from the people who have to suffer them.
It means that for decades those in Whitehall have made decisions that prioritise the metropolitan elite before they think about anyone or anywhere else.
And a deep commitment to an ideology that believes public action is always wrong – but markets are always right.
We can see where that approach has got us.
The old rules for the economy have failed.
Every claim made by the people who supported those rules has turned out to be exactly wrong.
The belief that freedom for financial markets would deliver stability lead to the crash of 2008.
The belief that wealth would trickle down from the richest to the rest has led to massive inequality.
The belief that free markets alone would deliver efficiency means that workers in deregulated Britain take five days to produce what workers in Germany or France produce in four.
The old rules have given us an economy in which too much wealth is held in too few hands.
The rules have meant the economy was permanently rigged to the benefit of the elite, and against the rest of us.
The old rules have failed working people and that failure is now unavoidable.
It was this failure, I believe, that helped drive the vote to Leave.
The world is changing, and Brexit is part of that.
The old idea that states could no longer play any role in the economy is breaking down.
We’ve seen this with the steel crisis last year, where steel dumping by China has been met by concerted state action, from tariff barriers in the US to nationalisation in Italy.
Eventually the government was dragged into action, and I want to pay tribute to the campaign led by trade unions alongside Labour that forced them to act.
But it was too late for the North-East.
More than a century of investment and expertise and wealth has been almost squandered. Labour will make different choices, and take a different approach.
CCS and metals
Labour will commit to putting in place a real industrial strategy, focused on getting government to deliver for local areas where the potential is being wasted.
That’s not about looking back to past successes – although we’ll build on them. It’s about looking to the future.
It means supporting initiatives like the Teesside Collective, which will build on the natural advantages and expertise in the area to create a clean-technology industrial hub.
It’ll put this region at the cutting edge of Carbon Capture and Storage technology. It’ll be a new, clean industrial renaissance.
A pilot project would cost £110m up-front, but have the potential to deliver £31m every year in savings for government.
And on the back of the pilot, the potential for expansion is huge. The UK would become a world-leader for viable carbon capture and storage.
Alongside local leaders here, Labour will be pushing for this government to unlock that funding.
And in government we’ll back it up with a real commitment to deliver research and development spending on the clean technologies of the future.
That means committing the £50m needed to get the Metals Catapult Centre up and running.
This will build on the expertise that is already here in the region to accelerate new metal technologies towards full, commercial use.
It would mean supporting a sustainable steel industry for the future, securing jobs.
UK Steel, the Federation of Small Businesses and CBI have all written to the Chancellor and the Business Secretary to support the scheme.
The government could fund it immediately – the plans are there, it just needs the funding.
But like so much else, when it comes to the North-East, that potential is squandered by dithering and delay in Whitehall.
Stale Whitehall thinking is holding you back. Labour will crack through it.
We’ll commit to securing funding for the Metals Catapult.
Together we’ll unlock the potential of the North.
Potential everywhere
We can see where our future prosperity will come from.
The North-East is an exports success story.
It is the only English region to run a trade surplus with the rest of the world.
There are world-leading universities and research centres.
The Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review identified specific strengths in advanced manufacturing, the life sciences and the digital economy.
Its ports are expanding. New industries are growing up.
You can stand here and see, in ten years’ time, how we could build on these foundations to create an outward-looking, productive and fairer economy.
But that means doing much more than making the marginal changes of the past, and hoping for the best.
Or thinking first and only about those places that are already successful.
The real untapped potential of our country is not in those places where there is already growth and prosperity –
It’s the places that have been overlooked.
It’s the smaller towns and the smaller cities.
The places that for twenty or thirty years have seen other parts of the country do so much better.
It means that when we talk about rebuilding this country, we need to start with those places.
There is so much potential here currently squandered by under investment, delays and a lack of real commitment from Whitehall.
So with our mayoral candidates in Manchester and Liverpool, and councils across the north, Labour will be pushing for this government to deliver.
Sue Jeffery, our Metro Mayor candidate for Tees Valley has put forward a comprehensive plan to deliver jobs and prosperity.
We’ll be backing them every step of the way as they take on not only this government but a system that has failed the people of the North for too long.
Investment commitment
Because right now the potential of the North East is being wasted by this Conservative government.
Whilst London receives half of all transport investment made by the government, the North East receives just 1.8% of the total.
That’s almost £2,000 a head in London, but just £220 in the North East.
That funding gap has real consequences.
It means that communities can’t prosper when they could.
It means that decent jobs can’t be created that could be.
Decades of under investment by distant governments and their corporate allies turn into real failures right here, in local communities.
But after Brexit, the status quo is no longer an option.
We need a new vision for the North-East.
One that builds on its historic strengths, but looks to the future.
That recognises the potential for the North-East as a great manufacturing and trading hub in a global world.
Based on investment right here, in its people and its places, and facing the world with confidence.
Egalitarian, outward-looking, and open to the world.
The next Labour government will hand the power that Whitehall and the City have taken away back to local communities across the country.
And we’ll back this up with real commitments to invest.
Here in the North-East, where the first commercial steam railway was opened, we’ll build on its immense legacy of engineering and manufacturing success.
We’ll invest in new local rail so that every part of every county here can share in the prosperity.
Improving rolling stock. Overhauling and expanding stations.
Electrifying lines that should have been electrified years ago.
This is a £1.4bn commitment to transform the transport infrastructure of the whole region.
It can be part of unlocking an extra £20bn economic potential for the North, helping create 60,000 extra jobs.
Not my figures, but the careful estimates of Transport for the North. The economic potential here is huge.
Conclusion
But to reach that potential we need a break with the past.
As I’ve said before, Labour will oversee the greatest transfer of power to the north of England since the industrial revolution.
We’ll tear up the old rules, and break up the vested interests in Westminster and the City that stand in your way.
Where their promises have failed you, Labour will not.
We’ll help you build a new economy that works for the people, not the elites.
This new economy in the north can be somewhere that faces the rest of the world with confidence.
Where pride has been restored to every town and community.
The challenges ahead of us are immense, from Brexit to Trump to climate change.
But I believe that with confidence and clarity of purpose we can meet them.
And not just meet them: build, together, a fair and democratic society and economy.
That transformation starts here.
Ends
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thinktosee · 4 years
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TOWARDS AN EQUITABLE AND JUST WORLD
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Emblem courtesy UN.org
The on-going viral pandemic has fleshed out the unremitting and tragic consequences of our global economic system to an extent which no other crisis in recent memory had done. The aged, infirmed, poor, dispossessed and disenfranchised minority groups – the most vulnerable among us, are once again left to cope with the little which sustain them. Many have and will succumb to the disease and the myriad ailments, including war and poverty, which plague their communities. A global economic order which proclaims to be equitable and progressive, or if one prefers, neoliberal, has clearly failed to nourish, elevate and to sustain a stable, healthy, prosperous and peaceful existence for billions of people on earth. This is all the more telling from the standpoint of the charter of the United Nations Organization (UNO), the centre-piece of the self-same global order.
Following upon the close of WW2, and at its formation, the UNO’s preamble promises us the following :
“to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,…” (1)
These noble aspirations were a direct response to the prolonged horrors of WW2. A rage against its inhumanity, devastation and injustice, especially in the context of the 40-50 million deaths, hauntingly displayed by the coldly deliberate and systematic annihilation of whole human settlements and civilizations. (2)
This new global order envisaged a community of nations with common interests and standing, underpinned by a desire for economic and social development, individual rights and emancipation, and adhering to a set of deliberative or consultative conflict management protocols, consistent with and under the ambit of the UNO and its charter. These declarations accelerated the expansion of the Westphalian system of independent states and to the decolonization initiatives across the globe. The UNO’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was additionally proclaimed in 1948 in furtherance of this aim. Article 1 of this crucial document captures the overall intent :
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” (3)
To escalate this movement and to reconstruct a new and more equitable global system following upon WW2, the Bretton Woods Agreement was promulgated in 1944.  It “envisioned an international monetary system that would ensure exchange rate stability, prevent competitive devaluations, and promote economic growth.” (4) The absence of these factors was deemed to have contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s and to WW2. (4)
Bretton Woods also birthed the World Bank and IMF. The former’s mission statement : “To end extreme poverty; To promote shared prosperity” clearly depicts the judicious aims of the creators of the new system (5). This is reinforced by the following statement from the IMF : “zero interest rate on loans to low income countries.” (6)
To speed up the reconstruction of Europe following WW2, and to diminish the influence of totalitarian socialism/communism, the U.S. Marshall Plan was launched in 1948. The scheme  “generated a resurgence of European industrialization and brought extensive investment into the region. It was also a stimulant to the U.S. economy by establishing markets for American goods.” (7) In the Pacific, the reconstruction of Japan ensued, with similar objectives. American grants and loans to Japan from 1946-1952 were not insignificant. (8)
Post war economic and social development across the globe, directed by the newly-formed international system and led by America was very positive in so far as it created opportunities for hundreds of millions of people to acquire a higher and deserving quality of life. The new middle class which arose was instrumental toward the general economic and social advancement of their societies. The old colonial-endowed, monopolistic east india companies were replaced by transnational corporations operating across every economic sector. These global actors were arguably the most transformative influence in the societies in which they did business. (9) Their overwhelmingly competitive access to capital, technology and management systems also favoured their domination in every economic activity in which they had a presence. I had an opportunity to observe this enormous influence many years ago whilst working in a major oil company.
The post war economic boom was possible only because of the devastation and tragic cost to humanity arising from WW2. The victors, led by America were determined to refashion a new economic and political order which worked within the framework of collective interests. A system which they were also quite intent on sharing with and where needed, to compel the global community towards. To this end, they succeeded. In 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved and its fragmented parts joined in the neoliberal experiment. (10)
The end of the Soviet Union was possibly the singular most important event leading to the refinement of the existing world order since U.S. President Nixon’s decision from 1971 to jettison the gold standard and fixed currency exchange rates. (11) Except this time, global power rested more solidly in the muscular arms of the residual superpower – America. This created an exuberance of American exceptionalism, which was quite natural and acceptable under the circumstances. However, provocative and unfortunate declarations emanating from a few leaders, and which included “Does America need a foreign policy?” (12), and “You are either with us or against us….” (13), entered the lexicon of global diplomacy. This new thinking was given practical meaning in the successive wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria (thereby rejecting the collective auspices of the battered UNO). The war on terrorism, like the war on drugs before, led to exactly more wars, drugs and misery. The balancing presence of the Soviet Union was perhaps missed by some then. They seized on China as a potential balancer. But the country was not yet then a developed society like it is today. In the interim, global multilateral institutions including the UNO, World Bank, BIS, NATO, GATT, WTO, etc. fell increasingly under the influence of the existing superpower. Neoliberal ideas and systems, refined by the American political and economic establishment had finally triumphed. There was little in way now of slowing or ameliorating its course throughout the world. Financial markets were the new darlings, attracting capital and other speculative investments, and driven by monolithic investment and sovereign wealth funds, a modern version of the colonial east india company.  These in tandem, engendered unimaginable wealth and social disparities. We are currently at this moment in global history. 
The international system which started out after WW2 as a noble and inspiring experiment to alleviate poverty and disparity (and it did for almost three decades), had fallen on its own sword. It had become an abusive tool for a few self-serving sovereign, corporate and individual actors  - “While more than half of all adults worldwide have a net worth below USD 10,000, nearly 1% of adults are millionaires who collectively own 44% of global wealth.” (14) This is a testament to the failure of the system in relation to its stated aims, be they the UNO’s or World Bank’s. Added to this, the millions who are victims, including children, of modern slavery. (15)
The global pandemic and our draconian responses have exacerbated the already unacceptable consequences brought about by the neoliberal and monopolistic economic experiment. The international community is at a tipping point. Equitable, fair, respectful, comprehensive, workable and cooperative solutions have to be found and implemented to govern our global realm. Every major stakeholder, ranging from nation states to the financial/business sectors and labour unions, academia, public health and civil rights organizations, climate and earth sciences specialists, media, and not forgetting the NGOs who work to alleviate the conditions which give rise to poverty and disenfranchisement, should be actively involved in the design of this new global architecture. The post WW2 order had become dysfunctional for several decades, and as a consequence, had outlived its original purpose. Perhaps it was good while it lasted, for some, as the saying goes. The greatest challenge for us, at this historic moment is one of rapid changes wrought by technological innovation. It is obvious to anyone that a child in a socio-economically disadvantaged home will face some difficulty in adapting to a post-modern technological society than one who has all the privileges to get ahead. Our civilization rests on a dramatically tense setting presently. Not dissimilar to where the colonials were when they cruelly and avariciously reigned supreme nearly 200 years ago – a situation which evinces enormous disparities in social development across the globe. 
Something has to be done urgently to remedy the disorder, whose characteristics not surprisingly, appear to mimic the political, economic and social conditions preceding WW2.
Universal education, dignified work, freedom, peace, security, stability, anti-monopoly and anti-tax shelters, transparent business practices, and the preservation of the natural environment through sustainable economic activity, are a few of the unalterable rights which should be enshrined in the new post-pandemic global system. Where then are our leaders?
In closing, a restatement of Article 1 of the UDHR is perhaps appropriate under these circumstances:
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
In the Spirit of David Cornelius Singh
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 - David’s father
www.thinktosee.tumblr.com
Sources/References
1. https://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/preamble/index.html
2. https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II
3. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf
4. https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/bretton_woods_created
5. https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are
6. https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/IMF-at-a-Glance
7. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/marshall-plan
8. Serafino, Tarnoff, Nanto, “U.S. Occupation Assistance : Iraq, Germany and Japan Compared.” p11. 2006. CRS, Library of Congress.
9. https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/restoring-a-global-economy-19501980
10. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/collapse-soviet-union
11. https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/gold_convertibility_ends
12. https://www.amazon.com/Does-America-Need-Foreign-Policy/dp/0684855682
13. https://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/11/06/gen.attack.on.terror/
14. Shorrocks, Davids, Liuberas, “Global Wealth 2019 : The Year in Review.” Research Institute, Credit Suisse. 2019
15. https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_574717/lang--en/index.htm
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shirlleycoyle · 4 years
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The Proto-Communist Plan to Resurrect Everyone Who Ever Lived
Is there anything that can be done to escape the death cult we seem trapped in?
One of the more radical visions for how to organize human society begins with a simple goal: let’s resurrect everyone who has ever lived. Nikolai Fedorov, a nineteenth-century librarian and Russian Orthodoxy philosopher, went so far as to call this project “the common task” of humanity, calling for the living to be rejuvenated, the dead to be resurrected, and space to be colonized specifically to house them. From the 1860s to the 1930s, Fedorov’s influence was present throughout the culture—he influenced a generation of Marxists ahead of the Russian Revolution, as well as literary writers like Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, whose novel, The Brothers Karamazov, directly engaged with Federov's ideas about resurrection.
After his death, Federov’s acolytes consolidated his ideas into a single text, A Philosophy of the Common Task, and created Cosmism, the movement based on his anti-death eschatology. Federov left the technical details to those who would someday create the prerequisite technology, but this did not stop his disciples: Alexander Bogdanov, who founded the Bolsheviks with Lenin, was an early pioneer of blood transfusions in hopes of rejuvenating humanity; Konstantin Tsiolkvosky, an astrophysicist who was the progenitor of Russia's space program, sought to colonize space to house the resurrected dead; and Alexander Chizhevsky, a biophysicist who sought to map out the effects of solar activity on Earth life and behavior, thought his research might help design the ideal society for the dead to return to.
The vast majority of cosmists were, by the 1930s, either murdered or purged by Stalin, muting the influence of their ambitious project but also leaving us with an incomplete body of work about what type of society resurrection requires or will result in, and whether that would—as some cosmists believe now—bring us closer to the liberation of the species. Now, I think it is obvious that—despite what today’s transhumanists might tell you—we are in no position, now or anytime soon, to resurrect anyone let alone bring back to life the untold billions that have existed across human history and past it into the eons before civilization’s dawn.
To be clear, I think cosmism is absolute madness, but I also find it fascinating. With an introduction to Cosmism and its implications, maybe we can further explore the arbitrary and calculated parts of our social and political order that prioritize capital instead of humanity, often for sinister ends.
**
What? Who gets resurrected? And how?
At its core, the Common Task calls for the subordination of all social relations, productive forces, and civilization itself to the single-minded goal of achieving immortality for the living and resurrection for the dead. Cosmists see this as a necessarily universal project for either everyone or no one at all. That constraint means that their fundamental overhaul of society must go a step further in securing a place where evil or ill-intentioned people can’t hurt anyone, but also where immortality is freely accessible for everyone.
It’s hard to imagine how that world—where resources are pooled together for this project, where humans cannot hurt one another, and where immortality is free—is compatible with the accumulation and exploitation that sit at the heart of capitalism. The crisis heightened by coronavirus should make painfully clear to us all that, as J.W. Mason—an economist at CUNY—recently put it, we have “a system organized around the threat of withholding people's subsistence,” and it "will deeply resist measures to guarantee it, even when the particular circumstances make that necessary for the survival of the system itself." Universal immortality, already an optimistic vision, simply cannot happen in a system that relies on perpetual commodification.
Take one small front of the original cosmist project: blood transfusions. In the 1920s, after being pushed out of the Bolshevik party, Bogdanov focused on experimenting with blood transfusions to create a rejuvenation process for humans (there’s little evidence they do this). He tried and failed to set up blood banks across the Soviet Union for the universal rejuvenation of the public, dying from complications of a transfusion himself. Today, young blood is offered for transfusion by industrious start-ups, largely to wealthy and eccentric clients—most notably (and allegedly) Peter Thiel.
In a book of conversations on cosmism published in 2017 titled Art Without Death, the first dialogue between Anton Vidokle and Hito Steyerl, living artists and writers in Berlin, drives home this same point. Vidokle tells Steyerl that he believes “Death is capital quite literally, because everything we accumulate—food, energy, raw material, etc.—these are all products of death.” For him, it is no surprise we’re in a capitalist death cult given that he sees value as created through perpetual acts of extraction or exhaustion.
Steyerl echoes these concerns in the conversation, comparing the resurrected dead to artificial general intelligences (AGIs), which oligarch billionaires warn pose an existential threat to humanity. Both groups anticipate fundamental reorganizations of human society, but capitalists diverge sharply from cosmists in that their reorganization necessitates more extraction, more exhaustion, and more death. In their conversation, Steyerl tells Vidokle:
Within the AGI Debate, several ‘solutions’ have been suggested: first to program the AGI so it will not harm humans, or, on the alt-right/fascist end of the spectrum, to just accelerate extreme capitalism’s tendency to exterminate humans and resurrect rich people as some sort of high-net-worth robot race.
These eugenicist ideas are already being implemented: cryogenics and blood transfusions for the rich get the headlines, but the breakdown of healthcare in particular—and sustenance in general—for poor people is literally shortening the lives of millions … In the present reactionary backlash, oligarchic and neoreactionary eugenics are in full swing, with few attempts being made to contain or limit the impact on the living. The consequences of this are clear: the focus needs to be on the living first and foremost. Because if we don’t sort out society—create noncapitalist abundance and so forth—the dead cannot be resurrected safely (or, by extension, AGI cannot be implemented without exterminating humankind or only preserving its most privileged parts).
One of the major problems of today’s transhumanist movement is that we are currently unable to equally distribute even basic life-extension technology such as nutrition, medicine, and medical care. At least initially, transhumanists’ vision of a world in which people live forever is one in which the rich live forever, using the wealth they’ve built by extracting value from the poor. Today’s transhumanism exists largely within a capitalist framework, and the country’s foremost transhumanist, Zoltan Istvan, a Libertarian candidate for president, is currently campaigning on a platform that shutdown orders intended to preserve human life during the coronavirus pandemic are overblown and are causing irrevocable damage to the capitalist economy (Istvan has in the past written extensively for Motherboard, and has also in the past advocated for the abolition of money).
Cosmists were clear in explaining what resurrection would look like in their idealized version of society, even though they were thin on what the technological details would be. Some argue we must not only restructure our civilization, but our bodies so that we can acquire regenerative abilities, alter our metabolic activity so food or shelter are optional, and thus “overcome the natural, social, sexual, and other limitations of the species” as Arseny Zhilyaev puts it in a later conversation within the book.
Zhilyaev also invokes Federov’s conception of a universal museum, a “radicalized, expanded, and more inclusive version of the museums we have now” as the site of resurrection. In our world, the closest example of this universal museum is the digital world “which also doubles as an enormous data collector used for anything from commerce to government surveillance.” The prospect of being resurrected because of government/corporate surveillance records or Mormon genealogy databases is “sinister” at best, but Zhilyaev’s argument—and the larger one advanced by other cosmists—is that our world is already full of and defined by absurd and oppressive institutions that are hostile to our collective interests, yet still manage to thrive. The options for our digital world’s development have been defined by advertisers, state authorities, telecom companies, deep-pocketed investors, and the like—what might it look like if we decided to focus instead on literally any other task?
All this brings us to the question of where the immortal and resurrected would go. The answer, for cosmists, is space. In the cosmist vision, space colonization must happen so that we can properly honor our ethical responsibility to take care of the resurrected by housing them on museum planets. If the universal museum looks like a digital world emancipated from the demands of capital returns, then the museum planet is a space saved from the whims of our knock-off Willy Wonkas—the Elon Musks and Jeff Bezos of the world. I am not saying it is a good or fair idea to segregate resurrected dead people to museum planets in space, but this is what cosmists suggested, and it’s a quainter, more peaceful vision for space than what today’s capitalists believe we should do.
For Musk, Mars and other future worlds will become colonies that require space mortgages, are used for resource extraction, or, in some cases, be used as landing spots for the rich once we have completely destroyed the Earth. Bezos, the world’s richest man, says we will have "gigantic chip factories in space” where heavy industry is kept off-planet. Beyond Earth, Bezos anticipates humanity will be contained to O'Neill cylinder space colonies. One might stop and consider the fact that while the cosmist vision calls for improving human civilization on Earth before resurrecting the dead and colonizing space, the capitalist vision sees space as the next frontier to colonize and extract stupendous returns from—trillions of dollars of resource extraction is the goal. Even in space, they cannot imagine humanity without the same growth that demands the sort of material extraction and environmental degradation already despoiling the world. Better to export it to another place (another country, planet, etc.) than fix the underlying system.
Why?
Ostensibly, the “why” behind cosmism is a belief that we have an ethical responsibility to resurrect the dead, much like we have one to care for the sick or infirm. At a deeper level, however, cosmists not only see noncapitalist abundance as a virtue in of itself, but believe the process of realizing it would offer chances to challenge deep-seated assumptions about humanity that might aid political and cultural forms hostile to the better future cosmists seek.
Vidokle tells Steyerl in their conversation that he sees the path towards resurrection involving expanding the rights of the dead in ways that undermine certain political and cultural forms,
“The dead … don’t have any rights in our society: they don’t communicate, consume, or vote and so they are not political subjects. Their remains are removed further and further from the cities, where most of the living reside. Culturally, the dead are now largely pathetical comical figures: zombies in movies,” he said. “Financial capitalism does not care about the dead because they do not produce or consume. Fascism only uses them as a mythical proof of sacrifice. Communism is also indifferent to the dead because only the generation that achieves communism will benefit from it; everyone who died on the way gets nothing.”
In another part of their conversation, Steyerl suggests that failing to pursue the cosmist project might cede ground to the right-wing accelerationism already killing millions:
There is another aspect to this: the maintenance and reproduction of life is of course a very gendered technology—and control of this is on a social battleground. Reactionaries try to grab control over life’s production and reproduction by any means: religious, economic, legal, and scientific. This affects women’s rights on the one hand, and, on the other, it spawns fantasies of reproduction wrested from female control: in labs, via genetic engineering, etc.
In other words, the failure to imagine and pursue some alternative to this oligarchic project has real-world consequences that not only kill human beings, but undermine the collective agency of the majority of humanity. In order for this narrow minority to rejuvenate and resurrect themselves in a way that preserves their own privilege and power, they will have to sharply curtail the rights and agency of almost every other human being in every other sphere of society.
Elena Shaposhnikova, another artist who appears later in the book, wonders whether the end of death—or the arrival of a project promising to abolish it—might help us better imagine and pursue lives beyond capitalism:
“It seems to me that most of us tend to sublimate our current life conditions and all its problems, tragedies, and inequalities, and project this into future scenarios,” she said. “So while it’s easy to imagine and represent life in a society without money and with intergalactic travel, the plot invariably defaults to essentialist conflicts of power, heroism, betrayal, revenge, or something along these lines.”
In a conversation with Shaposhnikova, Zhilyaev offers that cosmism might help fight the general fear of socialism as he understands it:
According to Marx, or even Lenin, socialism as a goal is associated with something else—with opportunities of unlimited plurality and playful creativity, wider than those offered by capitalism. … the universal museum producing eternal life and resurrection for all as the last necessary step for establishing social justice.
In the conversations that this book, cosmism emerges not simply as an ambition to resurrect the dead but to create, for the first time in human history, a civilization committed to egalitarianism and justice. So committed, in fact, that no part of the human experience—including death—would escape the frenzied wake of our restructuring.
It’s a nice thought, and something worth thinking about. Ours is not that world but in fact, one that is committed, above all else, to capital accumulation. There will be no resurrection for the dead—there isn’t even healthcare for most of the living, after all. Even in the Citadel of Capital, the heart of the World Empire, the belly of the beast, the richest country in human history, most are expected to fend for themselves as massive wealth transfers drain the public treasuries that might’ve funded some measure of protection from the pandemic, the economic meltdown, and every disaster lurking just out of sight. And yet, for all our plumage, our death cult still holds true to Adam Smith's observation in The Wealth of Nations: "All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind."
The Proto-Communist Plan to Resurrect Everyone Who Ever Lived syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/
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kayawagner · 6 years
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Summer Indie Game Expo [BUNDLE]
Publisher: Fat Goblin Games
This special bundle product contains the following titles.
4Saken Regular price: $9.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Horror gaming that’s easy and exciting- it’s…  4Saken! “Jamie?  Dave?  Where are you guys?  They must be in that dark cabin up ahead…” Are you a fan of exciting horror cinema?  Does your top ten favorites include Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Evil Dead, The Fog, They Live, An American Werewolf in London, Gremlins, The Fly, Re-Animator, Night of the Living Dead or 30 Days of Night?  Then 4Saken from Purple Duck Games might just be the tabletop role-playing game for you!   Based on the popular 4C System for superhero roleplaying, 4Saken is a toolkit for crafting and playing your own horror-genre games, all nicely contained in less than 100... A Festival of Blades: A Cavaliers of Mars Jumpstart Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Return now to dying Mars in its last age of glory. A planet of flashing swords and choking sands, of winking courtesans and lantern-lit canal cities. Mars, where fortune and death are two sides of the same obsidian chit, where lost cities and dry oceans stretch between the last bastions of civilization. Where the First Martians, the monument-builders, are but a haunted memory. Where the Red Martians become decadent and reckless in their last days. Where the Pale Martians rule the wastes, remembering a history whose weight would crush a lesser people.  In this adventure, you’ll find yourself in Vance at festival time. When revolutionaries strike a visiting prince, you’ll need to explore the city’s dark underbelly, before racing across its towered tombs!  Liv... Blood & Bile Regular price: $1.00 Bundle price: $0.10 Format: PDF The dead have risen from their graves, and the zombie apocalypse is now at hand. Your hometown has been overrun, and who knows how the rest of the world is faring? But here’s the twist: you aren’t some weak and puny mortal; you’re a vampire, a terrifying creature of the night. You were resting when the outbreak started, but now you’re awake, and your food source is being wiped out—so what are you going to do about it? Blood & Bile is a narrative, lightweight RPG of emergent storytelling, where vampires manage their human resources in a world that’s fallen to the zombie horde. The reader is presented with a sandbox-style scenario that can be played with or without a Game Master, requiring no preparation and minimal bookkeeping. You will need a mixtu... CAPERS Preview Edition - FREE Regular price: $0.00 Bundle price: $0.00 Format: Watermarked PDF CAPERS RPG A Super-Powered Game of 1920s Gangsters Preview Edition NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ON BACKERKIT! GO TO THE KICKSTARTER PAGE AND CLICK THE PRE-ORDER BUTTON! CAPERS is a superpowered RPG of 1920s gangsters. Players portray gangsters and bootleggers looking to make thieir fortunes in a wolrd of illegal alchohol, gambling, prostitution, and racketeering. And you have superpowers. But so do the cops and feds. This preview edition of the CAPERS game gives you everything you need to give the game a whirl. Full rules, some setting info, a smattering of powers, an introductory adventure, and some pre-generated characters. This version features simple layout and b/w artwork. The final version of the game will be much fancier and 150+ pages of full color super-powered gangster... Doodle Dice Monsters Regular price: $2.50 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF What's All This Then? Doodle Dice Monsters is a dice game in which players make doodles of monsters and then use dice to give those monsters abilities. The monsters then duke it out in a manner reminiscent of many collectible card games players might be familiar with. Players battle to the last die for bragging rights, honor, and as an excuse to draw bizarre, murderous monsters. System Features Easy to Learn (Only basic math skills required) Quick-Play (Game time ranges from 15-1h+ depending on agreed upon game size) Great Party Game (You'll laugh yourself half to death with this game!) Use Your Dice (Lets face it- you probably have a dice bag. We all do. Wouldn't you like to use ALL of them at once? And who doesn't LOVE to roll dice!) Bring O... For Coin & Blood Regular price: $9.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF FOR COIN & BLOOD is an old school fantasy roleplaying game with a twist... ...a twist of the knife! Embracing the literary genre known as "grimdark", and inspired by stories of mercenaries, sellswords and blackguards, FOR COIN & BLOOD keeps you on your toes, as you tell stories about the terrible things that happen to people, when they head out in search of coin, passion, and revenge... FOR COIN & BLOOD uses a modified version of Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox, but is a complete game. IMPORTANT: ALL ART IN FOR COIN & BLOOD IS BLACK AND WHITE. In order to offer premium paper quality copies, they have to be printed on "color" paper. However, the interiors are fully Black & White. The softcover edition features the excellent art by Jeremy Mohler on the cover (as p... Free Wars + Pioneer Setting (Open Source Wargame System) Regular price: $2.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF “Free Wars” is an open table top wargame system designed to be used with whatever you have at hand. We expect and encourage you to develop your own content for this. Feel free to use models from other games, paper depictions of units, or any sort of proxy for this wargame. In the era where 3D printing model is as simple as downloading a free model- anything is possible. The following rules are for a simple skirmish game between two more more players. In general: Two or more players spends “battle points” to buy squads (comprised of “units”) to fight on a battlefield. The players alternate turns giving their squads one of three commands: “Advance!”, “Destroy!”, or (if injured) “Recover!”. The game ends when a pred... Kaigaku Premium Edition Regular price: $2.00 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF Kaigaku brings dramatic samurai action back to your tabletop! It's based on the innovative Black Hack rules set originally created by David Black. This game is easy to learn and you can get a party of characters created and a game started in just minutes. This samurai RPG allows you to become a mighty bushi, a devious courtier, a stealthy ninja or a powerful ascetic martial artist and defend the realm of Kaigaku from threats of monsters, foreign invasion and internal strife. This book presents you with a fully fleshed-out game setting that's detailed enough to jumpstart your imagination but light enough so you can make the stories that you want to tell. Customize your characters with their own  skills and samurai school abilities to help them stand apart from the rest and to &... Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting Regular price: $8.00 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF THE MIDLANDS The Midlands PDF (softcover & hardcover available via Lulu) is 365 pages of low magic, low prep, customisable sandbox, in a “points of light” medieval fantasy realm. The setting is written for the Low Fantasy Gaming RPG system (free PDF via DTRPG or the LFG site), a d20 variant under the OGL, but is easily adapted to any fantasy RPG. The Midlands is half setting, half DIY toolkit (per the Contents in the preview); filled with tables and tools to assist the GM to run an improvised sandbox, including fifty Adventure Frameworks to sprinkle around the region (mini adventures with enough meat to kickstart an adventure, but enough flexibility to expand/adapt to player choices). The Midlands' main themes include: Grim Cities Humanity shelters ... Monarchies of Mau Early Access Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Before we were six. Now we are one. We differ on many points, but on these we agree: always trust our instincts, always reward loyalty, and always pounce upon minions of the Unseen. Without these tenets, we are no longer worthy of the adoration of Man.  — Monarch Trillani Persian von Mau, deceased Cats have inherited the world, unifying their six fractious monarchies after untold centuries. These cats have been uplifted to use tools and language, and they seek to rediscover the ruins of the Old Ones. Some have learned to use the leftover technology of humanity, but they believe it to be magic given to them by their lost worshippers. Others seek to create a cohesive nation, using Precepts of Mau agreed to after years of political conflict. The world is dangerous and m... Morgalad Fantasy RPG Core Rulebook Regular price: $10.00 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF One book to encompass everything: Player's Guide, Host's Guide, and Creature Compendium, all within one cover. Morgalad is a tabletop roleplaying game set in a pre-medieval fantasy world, taking an alternative approach to such settings with a unique combat and magick system. It offers the old-school, high-fantasy charm with a more narrative flair. Mechanically, Morgalad uses a dice pool system comprised of D6 based upon a character's skill, level, and attributes. Your character is built by choosing a base species and applying a profession template upon it. With over 100 species in the creature compendium and 50+ abilities available to each profession, every player has the ability to customize their character to be unlike any other. ... Murders & Acquisitions RPG Regular price: $14.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF Murders & Acquisitions RPG The Murders & Acquisitions Roleplaying Game puts you smack dab in the middle of a cut-throat corporation in an absurd, alternate version of our world where literally anything goes in terms of corporate advancement. You portray an employee seeking power, prestige, and wealth…at any cost. You’ll sabotage your rivals’ pet projects, destroy them at social events, steal their secrets, or even kill them and cover it all up. In the process, you’ll rise up the ranks, make new enemies, and discover new goals. All-in-One Game This is an all-in-one game book with full rules for players and GMs. Character creation. Full rules. GM guidelines. Setting information and several backdrop companies. NPCs. Story Ideas. Beyond th... OWB001: WWII: Operation WhiteBox Regular price: $3.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF The Great Crusade. That's what General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the effort to defeat the Axis powers in WWII. Tabletop roleplaying games have always been about epic quests, heroic deeds, and great crusades. These games feature mercurial wizards, diabolical dragons, and cunning adventurers. Such fantastical tropes are not so different from what has come to pass in our own history. In fact, it is that commonality which gives such stories their power. But what gives World War II its true power is that it was all real. It happened. Real men and women fought and died—including many of our own living ancestors. They laid down their lives when faced with unfathomable evil. And that is legendary. WWII: Operation WhiteBox is an homage to these heroes, both living and fal... PERK Core Rulebook Regular price: $5.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF P.E.R.K. is a low-cost, rules-lite role playing system with in-depth stretegy and a huge array of character options. The goal of P.E.R.K. was to come up with a game that was easy enough for new players to learn and follow along while at the same time allowing more experienced players to enjoy themselves and be mentally stimulated as well. The ending result, we feel, is a system that beautifully balances game play in an original and intuitive way using a fast and simple set of rules that still allow for an impressive amount of character customization and variance between personal play styles. The Core Rulebook provides the basic rules to the system and generic modern and medival fantasy content but can be used for any setting/world and can be easily adapted to any character type. Check ba... PERK Urban Horror Regular price: $5.99 Bundle price: $0.00 Format: Watermarked PDF P.E.R.K. Urban Horror: A sourcebook for the Pretty Easy Roleplaying Kit that allows players to take control of monsters from gothic fiction such as vampires, werewolves and other unique creatures in a dark and twisted modern day Earth. Make deals with powerful spirits to discover the arcane secrets of Soul Magic and confront what horrific and terrible corruption lies in wait beneath the veil of modern society in P.E.R.K. Urban Horror. This is a sourcebook that contains information for playing specific characters types in a specific world. The P.E.R.K. Core Rulebook is required to play.... PERK: Hollywood Ninja Class Perk Regular price: $1.00 Bundle price: $0.00 Format: Watermarked PDF The Hollywood Ninja Class Perk is more than what the name suggests. Yes, it is a single Class Perk for the PERK roleplaying system, but it's also a 13 page 'microsetting' source book that gives you all of the gear, skills, perks and ninjitsu powers you need to play/run a movie ninja themed game. If you like high flying martial arts action, mystical ninja powers and skulking around in the darkness shooting things with a blowgun then this is for you. Not all ninjas are created the same! This text allows for many configurations of ninja skills and they mix well with any of the PERK Roles to ensure that your ninja is unique. Note: this is just a supplement and requires the Core Rulebook to play.... Polyhedral Dungeon Regular price: $2.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF InfiniBadger Press Presents IBP1600 Polyhedral Dungeon 50 pages (42 content, 3 notes, 3 covers, 1 blank, and 1 character sheet)  POLYHEDRAL DUNGEON is an ultralight modern take on old school roleplaying. Using the new and simple to use and extend POLYHEDRAL SYSTEM, you can have countless hours of fun delving into dungeons and stealing dragon's hoards. Features of the game include: Create new characters for play in about 5-10 minutes. Choose from the classic old school character tropes, but with slight twists. Play classic dungeon crawls with a flexible unified system that’s easy to learn and extend - make up your own content, or use any of the official Expansions, including The Advanced Rules which provides many new options for play, The ... The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying [Swords & Wizardry] Regular price: $3.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF "So you fancy yourself a hero? Well, it's a dangerous thing to set off into the wild places of the world, into the realm of legend. Dragons and monsters and worse await you. But if you've both blade and heart as strong as steel, then perhaps you might become a legend yourself - if you're willing to set off on The Hero's Journey." The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying™ is a complete tabletop roleplaying game based on and compatible with Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox™. It provides fourteen classes, a complete bestiary, rules for adventuring, with optional rules to help you tailor your gaming experience and tell the legendary stories that you've always imagined. All you need is this book, a few dice, and a stout heart. Inside these pages you've find a information ... The Secret of Vinsen's Tomb: A Pugmire Jumpstart Regular price: $1.59 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF "You! You are the ones that must be destroyed in the name of the Monarchies!"  One-Eyed Molly  A cat living in Pugmire disappears, but neither the police dogs nor the cats of the Cat Quarter know why. When zombies attack the heroes, however, all signs point to an invasion by the Monarchies of Mau. But how does this intrigue tie into the lost tomb of the first king of Pugmire?  “The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb” is a Pugmire story for three to six characters. This jumpstart contains all the rules and characters you need to play — just grab some dice and go! You can also use this adventure with the full version of Pugmire.  The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb contains:  An evocative and mysterious setting that’s... vs. Dragons Regular price: $6.95 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Old-School inspired fantasy adventure! Using the vs. M Engine created by Phillip Reed!  vs. Dragons is an old school inspired roleplaying game where you take on the persona of a Hero of the realm. You will delve through dungeons, fight monsters, defeat villains, and rescue damsels (or princes… they need rescuing just as much as the ladies!) all for glory and treasure just like you did when you were a kid. The difference here is that you will do it around a table with a bunch of like-minded friends using paper and cards and the most powerful weapon at your disposal… your imagination.  vs. Dragons is a complete roleplaying game using the vs. M Engine. Even novice gamers will have no problem creating interesting characters, learning the rules, and ... vs. Ghosts Regular price: $11.95 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF Ghost Hunting was never so much fun! Welcome to the exciting world of Vs. Ghosts! Using the VsM Engine created by Phillip Reed! vs. Ghosts is a roleplaying game in which players suit up to battle strange hauntings in their neighborhoods while dealing with the mundane non-believers that try to prevent you from doing your job. Be it hotels, art museums, or even the classic haunted house, ghosts need busting and to be contained. This book contains everything that you and your friends will need to play. All you need are friends and two decks of normal playing cards! - Quick Start Rules to get you in the game in a flash! - Bestiary of strange ghosts and other haunts to hunt! - Plenty of adventure hooks to get you on your way to Ghost Hunting fame! So, whom do you call when things go ... vs. Moon Men Regular price: $12.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF They Didn’t Come in Peace! Send Them Back in Pieces! Using the VsM Engine created by Phillip Reed! vs. Moon Men is a roleplaying game in which players take up arms against alien invaders from another (but very nearby) world! Steal a ray gun and take the fight to them, or fight from the shadows while avoiding spies and collaborators. Fight for freedom, stay out of the way, or help the invaders (but only if you’re a jerk). From the streets of Moscow to the backwoods of Tennessee, the Moon Men are here, and somebody needs to stop them!  To play vs. Moon Men you need at least two players (but more players means more fun) and somebody to be the Moon Master. You also need some paper, some pencils (or pens if you really like to live on th... vs. Stranger Stuff: Season 2 Regular price: $11.95 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Adolescent Supernatural Mischief In The 1980's! Using the vs. M Engine created by Phillip Reed! vs. Stranger Stuff is a rules-light tabletop roleplaying game of 1980’s inspired adventure, horror, and science fiction, where you play as “Kids” in their teens. But it’s not just homework and asking someone to the dance that are the terrors they need to face. Clearly influenced by the hit Netflix series, but also the great films that inspired that show, vs. Stranger Stuff — Season 2takes the original mini-game released by Fat Goblin Games and offers revised rules with some optional changes like playing the game in Easy, Normal, or Hard Mode, and clarifications that help to keep the game compatible with existing&nb... vs. Stranger Stuff: Send in the Clowns Special Edition Regular price: $9.95 Bundle price: $0.90 Format: PDF Send in the Clowns A Special Edition of vs. Stranger Stuff  What you have here is a complete tabletop roleplaying game experience and a new experiment from Fat Goblin Games. You have a complete game system, with three short adventures, and the tools you’ll need to do much more, all in one single book. Send in the Clowns is a complete roleplaying game experience created for the vs. Stranger Stuff  RPG! vs. Stranger Stuff is a mini-rpg of 80’s inspired adventure/horror/sci-fi, typically involving children and teens. Of course, we were influenced by the recent hit Netflix series Stranger Things, but also those great films that inspired that series. What does this mean? It means that a game off vs. Stranger Stuff will involve you playing an adolescent during the 1980&...
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Price: $144.77 Summer Indie Game Expo [BUNDLE] published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com
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kayawagner · 6 years
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Summer Indie Game Expo [BUNDLE]
Publisher: Fat Goblin Games
This special bundle product contains the following titles.
4Saken Regular price: $9.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Horror gaming that’s easy and exciting- it’s…  4Saken! “Jamie?  Dave?  Where are you guys?  They must be in that dark cabin up ahead…” Are you a fan of exciting horror cinema?  Does your top ten favorites include Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Evil Dead, The Fog, They Live, An American Werewolf in London, Gremlins, The Fly, Re-Animator, Night of the Living Dead or 30 Days of Night?  Then 4Saken from Purple Duck Games might just be the tabletop role-playing game for you!   Based on the popular 4C System for superhero roleplaying, 4Saken is a toolkit for crafting and playing your own horror-genre games, all nicely contained in less than 100... A Festival of Blades: A Cavaliers of Mars Jumpstart Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Return now to dying Mars in its last age of glory. A planet of flashing swords and choking sands, of winking courtesans and lantern-lit canal cities. Mars, where fortune and death are two sides of the same obsidian chit, where lost cities and dry oceans stretch between the last bastions of civilization. Where the First Martians, the monument-builders, are but a haunted memory. Where the Red Martians become decadent and reckless in their last days. Where the Pale Martians rule the wastes, remembering a history whose weight would crush a lesser people.  In this adventure, you’ll find yourself in Vance at festival time. When revolutionaries strike a visiting prince, you’ll need to explore the city’s dark underbelly, before racing across its towered tombs!  Liv... Blood & Bile Regular price: $1.00 Bundle price: $0.10 Format: PDF The dead have risen from their graves, and the zombie apocalypse is now at hand. Your hometown has been overrun, and who knows how the rest of the world is faring? But here’s the twist: you aren’t some weak and puny mortal; you’re a vampire, a terrifying creature of the night. You were resting when the outbreak started, but now you’re awake, and your food source is being wiped out—so what are you going to do about it? Blood & Bile is a narrative, lightweight RPG of emergent storytelling, where vampires manage their human resources in a world that’s fallen to the zombie horde. The reader is presented with a sandbox-style scenario that can be played with or without a Game Master, requiring no preparation and minimal bookkeeping. You will need a mixtu... CAPERS Preview Edition - FREE Regular price: $0.00 Bundle price: $0.00 Format: Watermarked PDF CAPERS RPG A Super-Powered Game of 1920s Gangsters Preview Edition NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ON BACKERKIT! GO TO THE KICKSTARTER PAGE AND CLICK THE PRE-ORDER BUTTON! CAPERS is a superpowered RPG of 1920s gangsters. Players portray gangsters and bootleggers looking to make thieir fortunes in a wolrd of illegal alchohol, gambling, prostitution, and racketeering. And you have superpowers. But so do the cops and feds. This preview edition of the CAPERS game gives you everything you need to give the game a whirl. Full rules, some setting info, a smattering of powers, an introductory adventure, and some pre-generated characters. This version features simple layout and b/w artwork. The final version of the game will be much fancier and 150+ pages of full color super-powered gangster... Doodle Dice Monsters Regular price: $2.50 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF What's All This Then? Doodle Dice Monsters is a dice game in which players make doodles of monsters and then use dice to give those monsters abilities. The monsters then duke it out in a manner reminiscent of many collectible card games players might be familiar with. Players battle to the last die for bragging rights, honor, and as an excuse to draw bizarre, murderous monsters. System Features Easy to Learn (Only basic math skills required) Quick-Play (Game time ranges from 15-1h+ depending on agreed upon game size) Great Party Game (You'll laugh yourself half to death with this game!) Use Your Dice (Lets face it- you probably have a dice bag. We all do. Wouldn't you like to use ALL of them at once? And who doesn't LOVE to roll dice!) Bring O... For Coin & Blood Regular price: $9.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF FOR COIN & BLOOD is an old school fantasy roleplaying game with a twist... ...a twist of the knife! Embracing the literary genre known as "grimdark", and inspired by stories of mercenaries, sellswords and blackguards, FOR COIN & BLOOD keeps you on your toes, as you tell stories about the terrible things that happen to people, when they head out in search of coin, passion, and revenge... FOR COIN & BLOOD uses a modified version of Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox, but is a complete game. IMPORTANT: ALL ART IN FOR COIN & BLOOD IS BLACK AND WHITE. In order to offer premium paper quality copies, they have to be printed on "color" paper. However, the interiors are fully Black & White. The softcover edition features the excellent art by Jeremy Mohler on the cover (as p... Free Wars + Pioneer Setting (Open Source Wargame System) Regular price: $2.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF “Free Wars” is an open table top wargame system designed to be used with whatever you have at hand. We expect and encourage you to develop your own content for this. Feel free to use models from other games, paper depictions of units, or any sort of proxy for this wargame. In the era where 3D printing model is as simple as downloading a free model- anything is possible. The following rules are for a simple skirmish game between two more more players. In general: Two or more players spends “battle points” to buy squads (comprised of “units”) to fight on a battlefield. The players alternate turns giving their squads one of three commands: “Advance!”, “Destroy!”, or (if injured) “Recover!”. The game ends when a pred... Kaigaku Premium Edition Regular price: $2.00 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF Kaigaku brings dramatic samurai action back to your tabletop! It's based on the innovative Black Hack rules set originally created by David Black. This game is easy to learn and you can get a party of characters created and a game started in just minutes. This samurai RPG allows you to become a mighty bushi, a devious courtier, a stealthy ninja or a powerful ascetic martial artist and defend the realm of Kaigaku from threats of monsters, foreign invasion and internal strife. This book presents you with a fully fleshed-out game setting that's detailed enough to jumpstart your imagination but light enough so you can make the stories that you want to tell. Customize your characters with their own  skills and samurai school abilities to help them stand apart from the rest and to &... Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting Regular price: $8.00 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF THE MIDLANDS The Midlands PDF (softcover & hardcover available via Lulu) is 365 pages of low magic, low prep, customisable sandbox, in a “points of light” medieval fantasy realm. The setting is written for the Low Fantasy Gaming RPG system (free PDF via DTRPG or the LFG site), a d20 variant under the OGL, but is easily adapted to any fantasy RPG. The Midlands is half setting, half DIY toolkit (per the Contents in the preview); filled with tables and tools to assist the GM to run an improvised sandbox, including fifty Adventure Frameworks to sprinkle around the region (mini adventures with enough meat to kickstart an adventure, but enough flexibility to expand/adapt to player choices). The Midlands' main themes include: Grim Cities Humanity shelters ... Monarchies of Mau Early Access Regular price: $1.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Before we were six. Now we are one. We differ on many points, but on these we agree: always trust our instincts, always reward loyalty, and always pounce upon minions of the Unseen. Without these tenets, we are no longer worthy of the adoration of Man.  — Monarch Trillani Persian von Mau, deceased Cats have inherited the world, unifying their six fractious monarchies after untold centuries. These cats have been uplifted to use tools and language, and they seek to rediscover the ruins of the Old Ones. Some have learned to use the leftover technology of humanity, but they believe it to be magic given to them by their lost worshippers. Others seek to create a cohesive nation, using Precepts of Mau agreed to after years of political conflict. The world is dangerous and m... Morgalad Fantasy RPG Core Rulebook Regular price: $10.00 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF One book to encompass everything: Player's Guide, Host's Guide, and Creature Compendium, all within one cover. Morgalad is a tabletop roleplaying game set in a pre-medieval fantasy world, taking an alternative approach to such settings with a unique combat and magick system. It offers the old-school, high-fantasy charm with a more narrative flair. Mechanically, Morgalad uses a dice pool system comprised of D6 based upon a character's skill, level, and attributes. Your character is built by choosing a base species and applying a profession template upon it. With over 100 species in the creature compendium and 50+ abilities available to each profession, every player has the ability to customize their character to be unlike any other. ... Murders & Acquisitions RPG Regular price: $14.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF Murders & Acquisitions RPG The Murders & Acquisitions Roleplaying Game puts you smack dab in the middle of a cut-throat corporation in an absurd, alternate version of our world where literally anything goes in terms of corporate advancement. You portray an employee seeking power, prestige, and wealth…at any cost. You’ll sabotage your rivals’ pet projects, destroy them at social events, steal their secrets, or even kill them and cover it all up. In the process, you’ll rise up the ranks, make new enemies, and discover new goals. All-in-One Game This is an all-in-one game book with full rules for players and GMs. Character creation. Full rules. GM guidelines. Setting information and several backdrop companies. NPCs. Story Ideas. Beyond th... OWB001: WWII: Operation WhiteBox Regular price: $3.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF The Great Crusade. That's what General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the effort to defeat the Axis powers in WWII. Tabletop roleplaying games have always been about epic quests, heroic deeds, and great crusades. These games feature mercurial wizards, diabolical dragons, and cunning adventurers. Such fantastical tropes are not so different from what has come to pass in our own history. In fact, it is that commonality which gives such stories their power. But what gives World War II its true power is that it was all real. It happened. Real men and women fought and died—including many of our own living ancestors. They laid down their lives when faced with unfathomable evil. And that is legendary. WWII: Operation WhiteBox is an homage to these heroes, both living and fal... PERK Core Rulebook Regular price: $5.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF P.E.R.K. is a low-cost, rules-lite role playing system with in-depth stretegy and a huge array of character options. The goal of P.E.R.K. was to come up with a game that was easy enough for new players to learn and follow along while at the same time allowing more experienced players to enjoy themselves and be mentally stimulated as well. The ending result, we feel, is a system that beautifully balances game play in an original and intuitive way using a fast and simple set of rules that still allow for an impressive amount of character customization and variance between personal play styles. The Core Rulebook provides the basic rules to the system and generic modern and medival fantasy content but can be used for any setting/world and can be easily adapted to any character type. Check ba... PERK Urban Horror Regular price: $5.99 Bundle price: $0.00 Format: Watermarked PDF P.E.R.K. Urban Horror: A sourcebook for the Pretty Easy Roleplaying Kit that allows players to take control of monsters from gothic fiction such as vampires, werewolves and other unique creatures in a dark and twisted modern day Earth. Make deals with powerful spirits to discover the arcane secrets of Soul Magic and confront what horrific and terrible corruption lies in wait beneath the veil of modern society in P.E.R.K. Urban Horror. This is a sourcebook that contains information for playing specific characters types in a specific world. The P.E.R.K. Core Rulebook is required to play.... PERK: Hollywood Ninja Class Perk Regular price: $1.00 Bundle price: $0.00 Format: Watermarked PDF The Hollywood Ninja Class Perk is more than what the name suggests. Yes, it is a single Class Perk for the PERK roleplaying system, but it's also a 13 page 'microsetting' source book that gives you all of the gear, skills, perks and ninjitsu powers you need to play/run a movie ninja themed game. If you like high flying martial arts action, mystical ninja powers and skulking around in the darkness shooting things with a blowgun then this is for you. Not all ninjas are created the same! This text allows for many configurations of ninja skills and they mix well with any of the PERK Roles to ensure that your ninja is unique. Note: this is just a supplement and requires the Core Rulebook to play.... Polyhedral Dungeon Regular price: $2.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF InfiniBadger Press Presents IBP1600 Polyhedral Dungeon 50 pages (42 content, 3 notes, 3 covers, 1 blank, and 1 character sheet)  POLYHEDRAL DUNGEON is an ultralight modern take on old school roleplaying. Using the new and simple to use and extend POLYHEDRAL SYSTEM, you can have countless hours of fun delving into dungeons and stealing dragon's hoards. Features of the game include: Create new characters for play in about 5-10 minutes. Choose from the classic old school character tropes, but with slight twists. Play classic dungeon crawls with a flexible unified system that’s easy to learn and extend - make up your own content, or use any of the official Expansions, including The Advanced Rules which provides many new options for play, The ... The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying [Swords & Wizardry] Regular price: $3.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF "So you fancy yourself a hero? Well, it's a dangerous thing to set off into the wild places of the world, into the realm of legend. Dragons and monsters and worse await you. But if you've both blade and heart as strong as steel, then perhaps you might become a legend yourself - if you're willing to set off on The Hero's Journey." The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying™ is a complete tabletop roleplaying game based on and compatible with Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox™. It provides fourteen classes, a complete bestiary, rules for adventuring, with optional rules to help you tailor your gaming experience and tell the legendary stories that you've always imagined. All you need is this book, a few dice, and a stout heart. Inside these pages you've find a information ... The Secret of Vinsen's Tomb: A Pugmire Jumpstart Regular price: $1.59 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF "You! You are the ones that must be destroyed in the name of the Monarchies!"  One-Eyed Molly  A cat living in Pugmire disappears, but neither the police dogs nor the cats of the Cat Quarter know why. When zombies attack the heroes, however, all signs point to an invasion by the Monarchies of Mau. But how does this intrigue tie into the lost tomb of the first king of Pugmire?  “The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb” is a Pugmire story for three to six characters. This jumpstart contains all the rules and characters you need to play — just grab some dice and go! You can also use this adventure with the full version of Pugmire.  The Secret of Vinsen’s Tomb contains:  An evocative and mysterious setting that’s... vs. Dragons Regular price: $6.95 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Old-School inspired fantasy adventure! Using the vs. M Engine created by Phillip Reed!  vs. Dragons is an old school inspired roleplaying game where you take on the persona of a Hero of the realm. You will delve through dungeons, fight monsters, defeat villains, and rescue damsels (or princes… they need rescuing just as much as the ladies!) all for glory and treasure just like you did when you were a kid. The difference here is that you will do it around a table with a bunch of like-minded friends using paper and cards and the most powerful weapon at your disposal… your imagination.  vs. Dragons is a complete roleplaying game using the vs. M Engine. Even novice gamers will have no problem creating interesting characters, learning the rules, and ... vs. Ghosts Regular price: $11.95 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF Ghost Hunting was never so much fun! Welcome to the exciting world of Vs. Ghosts! Using the VsM Engine created by Phillip Reed! vs. Ghosts is a roleplaying game in which players suit up to battle strange hauntings in their neighborhoods while dealing with the mundane non-believers that try to prevent you from doing your job. Be it hotels, art museums, or even the classic haunted house, ghosts need busting and to be contained. This book contains everything that you and your friends will need to play. All you need are friends and two decks of normal playing cards! - Quick Start Rules to get you in the game in a flash! - Bestiary of strange ghosts and other haunts to hunt! - Plenty of adventure hooks to get you on your way to Ghost Hunting fame! So, whom do you call when things go ... vs. Moon Men Regular price: $12.99 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: Watermarked PDF They Didn’t Come in Peace! Send Them Back in Pieces! Using the VsM Engine created by Phillip Reed! vs. Moon Men is a roleplaying game in which players take up arms against alien invaders from another (but very nearby) world! Steal a ray gun and take the fight to them, or fight from the shadows while avoiding spies and collaborators. Fight for freedom, stay out of the way, or help the invaders (but only if you’re a jerk). From the streets of Moscow to the backwoods of Tennessee, the Moon Men are here, and somebody needs to stop them!  To play vs. Moon Men you need at least two players (but more players means more fun) and somebody to be the Moon Master. You also need some paper, some pencils (or pens if you really like to live on th... vs. Stranger Stuff: Season 2 Regular price: $11.95 Bundle price: $1.00 Format: PDF Adolescent Supernatural Mischief In The 1980's! Using the vs. M Engine created by Phillip Reed! vs. Stranger Stuff is a rules-light tabletop roleplaying game of 1980’s inspired adventure, horror, and science fiction, where you play as “Kids” in their teens. But it’s not just homework and asking someone to the dance that are the terrors they need to face. Clearly influenced by the hit Netflix series, but also the great films that inspired that show, vs. Stranger Stuff — Season 2takes the original mini-game released by Fat Goblin Games and offers revised rules with some optional changes like playing the game in Easy, Normal, or Hard Mode, and clarifications that help to keep the game compatible with existing&nb... vs. Stranger Stuff: Send in the Clowns Special Edition Regular price: $9.95 Bundle price: $0.90 Format: PDF Send in the Clowns A Special Edition of vs. Stranger Stuff  What you have here is a complete tabletop roleplaying game experience and a new experiment from Fat Goblin Games. You have a complete game system, with three short adventures, and the tools you’ll need to do much more, all in one single book. Send in the Clowns is a complete roleplaying game experience created for the vs. Stranger Stuff  RPG! vs. Stranger Stuff is a mini-rpg of 80’s inspired adventure/horror/sci-fi, typically involving children and teens. Of course, we were influenced by the recent hit Netflix series Stranger Things, but also those great films that inspired that series. What does this mean? It means that a game off vs. Stranger Stuff will involve you playing an adolescent during the 1980&...
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