A Cortical Stack, most commonly referred to simply as a Stack, is the physical hardware containing a person’s DHF, or consciousness. The stacks were invented by Quellcrest Falconer, using unknown alien metals, possibly from Harlan’s World. Her intention was to create a way to see the many planets in her life, and travel between them freely; a feat that simply wasn’t possible with the long travel times between planets using known space travel methods. With human consciousness stored in Stacks, it could be transfered between sleeves (bodies) across great distances, known as Needlecasting. This eliminated the generations-long space travel to reach other inhabited planets. Stacks can be destroyed by physical damage, though the DHF can be restored from off-site backups to a new stack.
What is DHF? – Altered Carbon (Netflix) Lore
The DHF or Digital Human Freight is the digital data of the human consciousness that is stored in
cortical stacks. DHF can be transfered between stacks, stored, corrupted, deleted, copied, and in at least one case, even compressed. Without a stack, the DHF is simple data, with the human consciousness dormant or asleep. DHF stored in a stack can be spun up either in a virtual reality construct, or by inserting it into a sleeve.
In simple terms: the DHF is the person, the stack is the hardware containing the person, and the sleeve is the body.
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What is a Crysknife? Dune Lore
A Crysknife is a Fremen knife, formed from the tooth of a dead giant sandworm. A Crysknife is approximately 20 centimeters long. It’s double-edged blade is an iridescent milky-white, with a darker handle complete with finger grooves. The nerve hole left in the knife is often used to hold and inject poison into opponents. A Crysknife comes unfixed, meaning it must stay close to a living humans electrical field or it will begin to disintegrate. ‘Fixing’ a Crysknife is a chemical process used to treat the Crysknife, allowing it to be stored away from its warrior without fear of it weakening. Even treated, a Crysknife is said to dissolve at the death of it owner.
The Crysknife also held significant religious and spiritual meaning for the Fremen. A Crysknife could never be sheathed unblooded, and any non-Fremen who saw the Crysknife must be slain or ritually cleansed. The Crysknife was the only weapon or armour a Fremen could have during a trial-by-combat. Much of the Fremen rituals would change during Muad’Dib’s Jihad, inciting a rebellion among the Fremen. It is likely that some of these changes affected the ritualistic aspect of the Crysknife.
Why was “the high ground” so important? Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith
There are few people who have not heard of the infamous “high ground” line from Star Wars Revenge of the Sith: “It’s over Anakin! I have the high ground.” It has been a constant joke since the movie first premiered, and even dedicated Star Wars fans have trouble taking it seriously. But why was it really such a serious advantage to have higher ground?
Most obviously, in sword fighting it is better to have higher ground because you can attack your opponents head, while letting gravity handle much of the weight of your weapon. Your opponents, on the other hand, must take the extra weight of your blows with mainly mid-level and overhead blocks and parries, tiring them much faster. Furthermore, the low ground fighter will have difficulty attacking the upper body of the higher fighter at all, thereby cutting the defensive needs of the high ground fighter in half and allowing more powerful or frequent strikes.
In this particular case, with Obi-wan Kenobi on solid ground, and Anakin presumably using the force to keep a floating mining droid in place, it leaves Anakin with few options, and only one that fit his character: beat Obi-Wan with his own move.
Obi-Wan had beaten Darth Maul by force-jumping over him and cutting him in half. The move had surprised Maul and so defeated him.
Obi-wan, however, knew Anakin had practiced the maneuver, knew he would try it (hence his warning) and knew of course how to defeat it. The jump and cut maneuver relies on speed and surprise, but the two Jedi were repeatedly shown to be equal in power and speed throughout their duel and Obi-wan obviously knew the move was coming. It’s possible Anakin could have jumped further over Obi-wan, but with their relative closeness at the start of the jump, Obi-wan would likely have intercepted Anakin regardless.
Anakin, feeling cornered, was further enraged. He convinced himself he was more powerful than Obi-wan and able to jump over him safely and take the high ground, quickly killing his master as his master had apparently killed Maul. We all know, he was mortally mistaken. Obi-wan saw the attempt coming, and cut at Anakin’s limbs while he was on mid-flip, severing the three remaining natural limbs.
With its natural advantages and Obi-wan’s knowledge and experience, the high ground positioning offered everything Kenobi needed to force Anakin to retreat, or to defeat him in the event of any attack.
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Qotsisajak – The Sith Code
Peace is a lie. There is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
Qotsisajak, or “way of the Sith doctrine” is a mantra that expresses the core beliefs of Sith ideology. A dark-side user may accidentally follow this code, but only one truly dedicated to the Code can be considered a Sith. It is an opposing mantra to the Jedi Code, teaching that peace is a lie because conflict is inevitable. If even one person chooses passion over peace, peace is shattered, and only those who fight can win, thus peace itself can never exist. Passion is the best motivator, however, and makes you more prepared for conflict. Through conflict you gain knowledge and experience. The more you win and stronger you become, the more power and control you have, eventually breaking any shackles anyone could ever place on you. A Sith powerful enough in the Force, in theory, could not be forced to do anything, but can also bend anyone else to their will.
While the Sith Code represents freedom through emotion, it is also a selfish philosophy, represented by the use of I and my. It enforces the idea that whoever is the strongest is at the top of the hierarchy of the Force, and therefore in control. Any who wish to break that control must overpower the oppressor through the way of the Sith, thus breaking their chains and gaining the top rank, and the freedom that comes with it.
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Pokemon Masters: You and Pikachu
Like any good Pokémon spin-off game, your player character starts out with the beloved Pikachu. Pikachu is a Special Attack based Pokémon, and is weak to ground type moves.
Pikachu’s Moves
- Thundershock
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder of Newfound Passion
Pikachu starts off with Thundershock, a 1 Stamina attack that may cause paralysis. Thunderbolt is a stronger version of Thundershock, with the same chance of causing paralysis, but costs 2 Stamina. Pikachu’s Sync Move, Thunder of Newfound Passion is an even stronger bolt of lightening, but does not have a chance to paralyze opponents.
Your Moves
- Potion
- Jump Start
Your starting move is Potion, allowing you to heal any of your Sync Pairs, twice per battle. Jump Start raises your Pikachu’s Speed and sharply raises its Special Attack.
Passive Ability
- Endurance
Endurance allows Pikachu to survive a fatal attack with 1HP remaining, provided it started the current battle at full health.
Quotes:
Like most player characters in Pokemon, your protagonist does not speak.
Conclusion
Overall You and Pikachu are a very well balanced Sync Pair. I used Pikachu to get through all of the PML gym badges, keeping him front and center while rotating the other two Sync Pairs as needed. While certainly not the strongest pair, they definitely help to round out most teams.
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Pokemo Masters: Status Effects
Pokemom Masters keeps a classic component of all Pokemon games: Status effects. Mostly the status effects operate the same as in previous games, but there are a few minor differences because of the Sync Pair style of play. Here I will briefly go over how each Status Effect works in Pokemon Masters.
- Paralyzed: During your paralyzed Sync Pair’s attack, it has a chance to fail its attack due to full paralysis. This will also lower your speed stat.
- Burn: The burned Sync Pair takes damage each time it attacks. Presumably this also lowers the burned Pokémon’s Attack Stat as in other games.
- Poison: The poisoned Sync Pair takes damage with each attack. There is also a chance to be badly poisoned, which means each time you take poison damage, the next damage you receive will be greater.
- Confusion: When attacking the confused Sync Pair has a chance to hit itself in confusion. This condition will disappear over time
- Frozen: While frozen the Sync Pair cannot declare an attack. Using a Sync Move with the frozen Sync Pair will remove this condition.
- Flinched: a Sync Pair that flinched will fail its next attack. This can be removed by using a Sync Move.
- Sleep: While asleep the Sync Pair cannot declare an attack until it wakes up. This can be removed with a Sync Move.
It’s important to note that the Trainer Moves of your Sync Pair are not affected by status conditions, so even frozen, Barry can use his Full Heal ability to remove the Freeze condition from Piplup.
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Who is Paulus Atreides? Dune Lore
Paulus Atreides, also known as The Old Duke, was the 19th Duke of House Atreides, Leto I’s father, and grandfather of Paul Atreides. Paulus was noble and honorable, respected by other Nobles of the Landsraad and beloved to his subjects. He would often dispense with formalities in order to develop closer bonds with his people, and frequently took part in bull fights to please the crowds.
As a young man, Paulus took part in the Ecazi revolt alongside Dominic Vernius, fighting to restore order for Emperor Elrood 9, and forging a lifelong friendship with House Vernius of Ix. Paulus would later send his son, Leto, to Ix to learn from his old friend. The Tleilaxu would cause an uprising shortly after, and Duke Paulus would eventually break through and rescue his son and allies.
Paulus would die some time later at the hands of a drugged Salusan Bull during one of his bullfights. Now Duke, Leto would learn of his mother’s involvement in the drugging of the bull and banish her to the Sisters in Isolation.
Paul Atreides would later rule with similar principals as Paulus, both taught by Leto and learned through Other Memory.
What is Sapho Juice? Dune Lore
Juice of Sapho, or Sapho Juice, is an addictive liquid that improves brain functions. Made from the barrier roots of planet Ecaz, it is most commonly consumed by Mentats to increase their calculation efficiency. Extensive use permanently stains the users lips a deep red, in addition to being addictive.
Welcome!
Welcome Fans, come on in. It is my pleasure to bring you some of your favorite games, books, movies and TV related topics with my own personal edge on them. I hope you find something to enjoy here, and if you don’t, please let me know how to improve the experience for you.
First things first: A bit about me.
I grew up in a small town in British Columbia, Canada, with few friends. In many ways I preferred this, because the fantasized worlds of imagination was addicting to me. I was enthralled with each new story, each new world. This isn’t to say I did not have a social life, it simply was not much of a priority in my mind.
I could read at a college level by grade 5 and was a B-average student in high school. Even before graduation I was accepted into a post secondary education in network security. I thrived at this school, becoming top 3 in my class while tutoring a half dozen other students, including my dad, in class topics; and working on a project for the school to overhaul their entire IT network. After completing that program I moved out to Alberta, where I currently live with my amazing wife, newborn baby boy and our hyperactive dogs. Questions?
This website will primarily be a blog on various topics, starting off slowly with one or two series and spreading out as interests (both yours and mine) shift. Please feel free to request topics you’d like to hear my opinions on at any time.
Thank you all,
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