We have been to Corsica several times, and there are several ways to travel to Corsica by ferry: We went to Nice, took the afternoon ferry and were in Bastia in the evening. The next time we took the night ferry from Savona and arrived in Bastia the next morning. And we also went to Livorno once, took the early morning ferry and were in Bastia by noon.
From Bastia, we first headed north on a 110 km coastal road with small villages and breathtaking views. First we came to ERBALUNGA with its massive tower on a rock by the sea has a picturesque location. Then we passed Maccinaggio, Cap Corse, Centuri-Port - a small romantic fishing port and center of lobster fishing - and continued via Pino to Nonza.
In NONZA the houses cluster around a rock that rises 160 m from the sea. We walked up to the Tour Pouline - a fortified tower from the 16th century. From there you can see the black beach, which makes a great contrast to the turquoise sea.
After we had explored the north, we drove from Bastia down the whole east coast - we made a stop at Moriani Plage with a beautiful sandy beach - to Porto Vecchio.
PORTO VECCHIO has a fantastic location and has a lively old town: the Genoese fortress from 1539 is situated on a hill. Porto Vecchio is the third largest city of Corsica, besides the flourishing tourism there is still the traditional salt mining and other trades especially in the suburbs. The malaria mosquitoes were wiped out in the 1950s, so that even in this area could be built without further ado. The old town consists of only four longitudinal and ten transverse streets, it is closed to traffic in the summer. At the Place de la République people like to drink their Pastis or Kir in the evening. In the old town there are many restaurants in various price ranges and boutiques partly with typical products of the country.
Many people come to Porto Vecchio for its beautiful beaches. BENEDUTTU PLAGE - a long fine sandy beach with a view of Punta di Chiappa and also of Porto Vecchio. A part of PLAGE CALA ROSSA is occupied by a luxury hotel, therefore the fine beach is accessible only from the western side. PALOMBAGGIA PLAGE with white sand and turquoise calm water - one of the most beautiful beaches of Corsica - is surrounded by red rocks. At ST. GUILIA PLAGE some hotels are settled in the meantime. Thus, the once paradisiacal bay has now become more of a commercial place. But the beach is still wonderfully bright and the water crystal clear. RODINARA PLAGE - a dreamlike round bay - one of the most beautiful of Corsica. Once only a dirt road led to the lagoon. Since a real road was built, this bay is very busy in the season.
From Porto Vecchio we made a tour to COL DE BAVELLA (1218 m high) - an impressive landscape. There are good hiking trails, e.g. to the Cumpudella (Trou de la Bombe), a huge hole in the rock face, where you are rewarded with an incredible view after a scramble. In season, of course, it is very busy there, and the "real" hikers come as early as possible in the morning.
Near the small village of L'Ospedale is the drinking water reservoir BARRAGE DE L'OSPEDALE. From there you can hike up to the 70 m high waterfall Piscia di Gallo - but it is more worthwhile in spring, when there is still enough water.
From Porto Vecchio we went on to BONIVACIO, one of the great attractions in Corsica - despite the many visitors. The upper town, where we stayed, is built on a 60 m high chalk rock plateau and still has a historical structure. We could see all the way to Sardinia from our hotel - it was beautiful weather.
The harbor is at the end of the long, narrow inlet. From there it is best to make a tour on foot. From the fortress walls you have a fantastic view of the city, the coast and the sea and all the way to Sardinia. On the harbor promenade there is a sea aquarium in a natural grotto. The shore road leads to the fishing port and the ferry port,
The upper town is reached through the 16th century Porte de Gênes. From the Jardin des Vestiges one has the most beautiful view over the harbor. It is hard to walk from the lower town to the upper town, because it is quite steep and with many stairs.
The journey continued to the extreme southwest, the land of blood vengeance - still until 1840. SARTÈNE - the "most Corsican of all Corsican towns" - is an interesting old town, which is virtually stuck on a rock. Almost no ray of sunlight reaches the winding narrow streets, and the narrow multi-story houses sometimes have window holes like sinister defense towers. The center of the old town is the Place de la Libération with some restaurants where you can sit outside and enjoy your drink.
From Sartène we drove to PROPRIANO. This place was discovered late by the tourists, there is a nice promenade between the marina and the pier, where it is lively especially in the evening. Propriano is located on the Gulf of Valinco, here the rivers Taravo, Baracci and Rizzanese flow. Right next to the lighthouse is the beautiful beach Plage du Lido.
On a scenic coastal road you drive from Propriano to PUNTO DE CAMPOMARO. Here is still an unspoiled stretch of coast with calm turquoise water and bizarre granite rocks. Above the small village of Campomoro you can see a 16th century watchtower.
AJACCIO is the administrative center and capital of Corse du Sud. The city with its southern flair has a beautiful old town with the citadel and many restaurants and stores. Ajaccio is probably best known as the birthplace of Napoléon, whose statue can be seen at Place Maréchal Foch. In the evening it becomes lively in the alleys of the Genoese old town with many bars and restaurants.
Unfortunately, the citadel can only be visited as part of an organized guided tour. Worth seeing is the church "Notre-Dame-de-la-Miséricorde" with a large dome, where Napoleon I was baptized. There is of course also a Casa Bonaparte. In the new town, you can still find some magnificent houses on the Avenue de Paris or the Cours Grandval, where there are often stores and boutiques.
Northwest of Ajaccio one comes to the POINTE DE LA PATARA. You can easily walk to the Genoese tower from 1608 from the parking lot. From there you have a beautiful view of the Iles Sanguinaires with the lighthouse. From the parking lot you can also make a coastal hike to the north. There are beautiful views of the sea everywhere and you can walk down to the beach at Capo de la Fena to cool off. However, the surf is quite strong.
The view was magnificent on the CHEMIN DES CRÈTES, but it was also very difficult to even find an "entry" to this trail. And besides, the Macchi was partly so dense that you had to be careful not to hurt yourself on the thorny bushes.
Especially in the south of Ajaccio there are beautiful beaches. First of all there is PORTICCIO with its long wide beach. Porticcio is now a large seaside resort with good infrastructure.
Then comes the bay with the long PLAGE D'AGOSTA with a view of the Isolella peninsula. In the next bay there is the fine sandy Plage de Ruppione between rocks with quite high waves.
And then comes my absolute favorite beach with fine light sand and crystal clear water - SOLE E MARE, and I hope that there will not also be larger hotel and apartment buildings there.
A beautiful small lonely sandy bay with calm water can be found at PLAGE DE PORTIGLIOLO. North of Ajaccio are the beaches PlLAGE SCUDO and PLAGE MARINELLO, very popular with the locals because they are not too far from the city.
From Ajaccio you can make an excursion to PORTO POLLO. On the way we went through the mountains, where we "got lost" a few times, because there were no signs, and we could only drive by "feeling". Porto Pollo is located on the Gulf of Valinco and has a fine sandy beach with many picturesque round rocks. In summer, a lot of people come here. At the end of September however many things are already closed or will be closed.
A recommendable tour south of Ajaccio is the ROUTE DES COLS. Over various passes and through the largest eucalyptus forest on the island, you come to the small village of Coti Chiavari, 486 m high, with a pretty little church. From there you also have beautiful views of the mountains to the sea.
On a hiking tour, we headed towards Corte and then to the small village of Cuttoli-Corticchiato, continuing to the idyllically situated hamlet of San Petru at 888 m above sea level. From there we went to the MONTE ARAGNASCU, a somewhat arduous tour in the blazing sun. But we were rewarded with a beautiful view of Ajaccio, the Gulf and the Gravonatal.
In the GRAVONA VALLEY is the village of Bocognano, from where you can also hike well. We came on the poorly signposted "Chemin", whereby we were also surprised by rain.
Interesting was that we were accompanied all the way first by several dogs, then later one remained. When we eventually had enough of the rain and the bad path and walked back, we encountered some wild boars which did not look very "friendly". The dog started barking at them. And indeed, they sought the distance. It looked like the dog was trying to protect us somehow. Down in the village we met the owner of the dog - the older man invited us spontaneously for coffee - and he told us that his dog was often on the way as a "companion" for hikers.
Another hiking tour led us first to the GORGES DE PRUNELLI and to the reservoir Lac de Tolla, which supplies Ajaccio with water. From there we went to the large farming village of Bastelica, the gateway to the high mountains. From here, many hiking trails lead into the mountains and to some waterfalls.
Another excursion we made towards the north over the Col de San Bastiano to the Golf de la Liscia to CARGÈSE. This place with a small harbor is located on the southern slope of a headland. Worth seeing is the Greek church "Eglise greque" from the 19th century with old icons. North of Cargèse are of course again beautiful sandy beaches.
From Ajaccio in the direction of Corte we looked at the CASCADE DU VOILE DE LA MARIÉe, where the water normally plunges 150 m into the depth. It was quite a climb and then, unfortunately, the waterfall didn't even have too much water at the end of September.
Through beautiful pine forests we came towards Corte past the famous PONT DU VECCHIU, built in 1927 by Gustave Eiffel. Until 1999 this was the only connection across the gorge, but now there is a modern bridge.
CORTE has the only university in Corsica with about 4000 students. The old town, rich in tradition, is situated below a rock with an old fortress built in the 11th century. In 1962-83 this fortress was used by the Foreign Legion. From the Belvedère viewpoint near the citadel, there is a beautiful view of the mountains and the surroundings of Corte.
Also worth seeing is Fontaine des Quatre-Canons, a colossal fountain that served as a water supply for the upper town in times of siege. On Cours Paoli you can find restaurants, bakeries and many other stores. On the Cours Patrimonial, there are some arts and crafts stores. The 17th century church Eglise de l'Annonciation is one of the oldest buildings in Corte.
From Corte we drove along a narrow road through a beautiful mountain landscape to the RESTONICA VALLEY, a nature reserve with many Corte pine trees. By car, you can drive to the parking lot at the Bergerie de Grotelle. The ascent to Lake Melo was quite difficult, you had to climb over many large stones, sometimes you didn't know at all how to continue and had to climb back, and so on. After about 2 hours we had made it and were at the Melo mountain lake. After a 30-minute rest in the sun, we then needed for the descent again 2 hours. Because with one of my trekking shoes the sole loosened, and I had to hold them together in a makeshift way with the shoelace...
From Corte we went first through the NIOLA VALLEY with numerous hiking trails. For a long time this area was only accessible by mule trails. Here wild boars ran across our path. You can see them especially in autumn when the chestnuts fall from the trees.
The large village of EVISA is located in the middle of chestnut forests and is a popular destination. Here begins (or ends) the hiking trail through the wild gorge of Spelunca. Through a beautiful mountain landscape and a 14 km long granite gorge we came to the GORGE DE SPELUNCA, an impressive gorge where you can hike very well - either from Evisa or from Ota.
In the small very popular town of PORTO at the mouth of the Porto River, we had a beautiful view of the Genoese Tower, the Gulf and the mountains from our hotel. The angular Genoese Tower on a headland is the landmark of Porto.
From Porto we drove to the CALANCHES DE PIANA, which start 8 km behind Porto. The granite rocks here are eroded by wind and water into the most bizarre shapes. The colors vary depending on the time of day, in the evening for example bright red. From the old mule trail - Sentier Muletier - you have great views of the rock world. There are also other trails - e.g. La Corniche.
Then we drove to PIANA, perched on a 434 m cliff, which can call itself "un des plus beaux villages de France". The only sandy beach in the area is the Plage d'Arone in a beautiful crescent shaped bay with only a few people.
From Porto, the best way to get to CALVI is to take the coastal road, which is very winding but takes you through some beautiful scenery on the Gulf of Porto. From our accommodation in Calvi we had a great view of the fortress and the Gulf of Calvi.
Calvi, the pearl of the north, is a well known and popular vacation center. Very nice are the lively alleys in the lower town and the harbor quays. In the alleys of the lower town and the harbor quay you can stroll nicely and also find restaurants and stores. The church "Sainte Marie Majeure" with a polygonal ground plan is striking. The first Christian chapel on this place was built already in the 4th century, subsequent churches were destroyed several times. The present church was built in 1774. Outside the town on the Gulf of Calvi there is a long narrow sandy beach, the water here gets deeper only slowly - ideal for small children.
The citadel "Bastion Spinchone" is the landmark of the city, you can walk around it on a ring of walls and have beautiful views of the city and the sea. The citadel was built on Roman foundations and is the oldest fortified building in Calvi.
Worth seeing is the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in the center of the citadel. Originally built in the 13th century, the church was largely destroyed by the explosion of a powder tower in 1567 and subsequently rebuilt in the Baroque style.
A beautiful beach near Calvi is the Plage d'Argentella, about 1 km long, in the bay of Crovani. You can get to the peninsula on a dirt road. You can make a nice but strenuous hike there. From a parking bay you have a beautiful view of the peninsula.
A nicely situated and rather quiet place is l'ILE-ROUSSEL with a small harbor and the Genoese tower and lighthouse on the peninsula "La Pietra". The village owes its name to this offshore island, which has now been turned into a peninsula by a dam and turns red at sunset.
L'Ile Rousse was laid out in 1765 in a rectangular street pattern around the harbor and is said to have the mildest winter climate in Corsica. In the alleys of the old town of L'Ile-Rousse there are several small shops selling souvenirs, jewelry, clothing, wine, etc. In the Marché Couvert there is a market in the morning. In the surroundings of Ile-Rousse there are many light sandy beaches.
Between Calvi and L'Ile-Rousse in the small village of Algajola there is a very beautiful wide and 1.5 km long beach - PLAGE D'AREGNO. In high summer, the beach is apparently very crowded. When we were there in mid-September, we had the beach to ourselves.
SAINT FLORENT is located in the north of Corsica on the wide bay of the same name - in winter an idyllic fishing village. Since the place is very popular, the population increases tenfold in the summer. A point of attraction for tourists is the large marina. In the center you can find bars, restaurants and many souvenir stores. St. Florent is also called "St. Tropez of the island" because of its special flair. On a panoramic road above Saint Florent one has again and again beautiful views of mountains and sea.
On the way to Bastia you can make a detour to the local mountain of Bastia - the 960 m high SERRA DI PIGNO. On a clear day you have a good panoramic view over both sides of Cap Corse .
BASTIA is the most important port for ferries from the French and Italian mainland and also for freight traffic. Bastia is the biggest commercial and economic center of Corsica with an industrial zone. But Bastia is also a busy center of Corsican everyday life. The Place Saint Nicolas with plane trees and palm trees is 300 meters long and 90 meters wide, making it one of the largest squares in France. The beach Plage Arinella, located south of the city, is very wide and long, but unfortunately not very attractive.
The heart of Bastia's Terra Vecchia district is the horseshoe-shaped Vieux Port with the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in the background. Walking north through the narrow streets, you come to the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, where a market is held on weekends.
Around the dock there are many restaurants in all price ranges. When we are in Bastia, we always have our aperitif at a bistro where we have a nice view of the small harbor and the church.
The citadel was built by Genoese in 1380. There are the magnificently renovated Governor's Palace, the Cathedral of Sainte-Marie-de l'Assomption - a Genoese Baroque building erected in 1604-1619 - and the small chapel Oratoire de la ConfrIère de la Sainte-Croix, where you can see a cross made of black ebony in a side chapel.
The palace was the seat of the Genoese governors between the 15th and 18th centuries, today it houses the Ethnographic Museum.

i live in north carolina and got into unc, great school, love it, not entirely wanting to go there tbh but i applied to some california schools (duke waitlist hurts a little)
ucla
uc berkeley
university of southern cali
clicked uc irvine just for fun cause whatever
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i got into all of them, but the oos price is SO HIGH
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touring ucla, ucb, and usc to see if the opportunity cost is worth it compared to unc cause ucla has been a top school of mine for so long, but usc is more likely to give me more aid cause ucla gave me $0.
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I worked at Pizzahut a lil over a year ago in North Carolina. We were a high revenue store so we always got more business then other Pizzahut stores. I was a delivery driver from day-1 to when i walked out. I was always nice to everyone, worked my butt off. I always went to other stations of the restaurant if help was needed. Would jump in with the cooks if pizza orders were backing up and only one person was on it. If no one was working the fryer for wing street i'd jump on it. Cut table when orders were ready to be put in bowls or boxes. Even CSR, Customer Service Rep and take orders or give them to the customers in the dinning room. (yes, we had one. It was nice) But my main job most of the time was washing the dishes so cooks and preppers always had something to use. Taking deliveries to people obviously, and i lost count of the amount of people who don't tip. ( that's another story for another time) We'd also be incharge of prepping pasta and wings and other wing street items. Wings came in big boxes and we portioned them. (6 for bone in, 8 for boneless) as well as pasta into those aluminum bowls.
So around mid august, after 3 years of not catching it and having gotten my shots (Moderna) i finally caught the Rona. I was sick, coughing, trying to not puke from just moving. Felt like a truck was parked on my head, and my throat hurt so damn much. Finishing it off with a fever of just under 103, went to the ER and they gave me a doctors note to be off for the next week and to just let me stay home and rest. Which was fine with my first manager, April. (Not real name) who i loved, was like a clone of my mom. The problem child she called me lol. But oh no no no, not with my Store/General Manager. We'll call him Will (also not real name), he said "You've already had enough time off with your days you weren't scheduled and we gave you 2 more scheduled days off as well. You're expected to come into work." Mind you i not only was still testing positive for the virus, i was actively sick with it.
So me with my snippy/sassy attitude, wrote on a mask "please stay back" in black sharpie. And he had me working like i would any other time, still touching food, working with it, and interacting with customers. Then i go on my first (and only) delivery of the day, and a customer got too close to me for my liking given i had the Rona and asked her "Stay right there ma'am, don't need you getting sick please." Which was a tipless delivery but that's neither here nor there, i'm used to it at this point. I get back to the store, and start bone-in chicken wing portioning. 10 bags per box and we did 2 boxes minimum, sometimes more some days. I dont even get 2 bags open before Will comes stampeding over and was like "What did you tell that customer?" And i told them to please stay back cause i had the virus.
Will: Why?! It's not their business if you're sick, that's what the mask is for.
I am dumbfounded, he was getting angry at me for keeping the customer as safe as i could by social distancing since i was positive.
Me: I was trying to keep the customer safe. I'm sorry that customer safety isn't a concern of yours.
I was prepping wings in the back and our argument got so loud the dining room heard us through the noise of the kitchen and customer chatter. Then he demanded that i put on a new mask, and his words were "You're gonna put on this mask i have, keep your damn mouth shut, and keep your business to yourself"
I told him "You're not gonna keep speaking to me that way." Mind you i've always let people sorta walk over me cause i have depression and self-esteem issues that i'm trying to work through. But in that moment, i was done with letting people think they could push me around, this went back and forth for a bit where i said "I'm going home for the day if you're gonna keep being disrespectful to me for trying to keep people safe." He kept being loud to me, we were talking over each other at that point. And when i say talking, i mean shouting. Then i had enough seeing he only got more aggressive, and i told him "Ok, i'm going home."
Then he just put the mask in his pocket and told me "Fine, clock out, go home, and don't worry about coming back." I give him the change i had since it was store money, and he followed me out of the store like i was gonna try and stay. I was so angry, on the verge of crying cause my emotions were all over the place. I just went home to the comfort of my mother and just hugged her for awhile. April called me next day and said she would talk to the District Manager and ask if i could come back because i was one of the only reliable and hard working people in the store that she had. Never got the job back, and wouldn't go back while he was there. He isn't there anymore, April is now the GM, and i'm the last of my moms 3 children to work at Pizzahut. Different one from them.
So that's the story of me being fired/walking out because my general manager didn't like me keeping social distancing in mind so customers were safe and i didnt let him just yell at me all he wanted. So AITJ or not?
TL:DR: Got sick with the Rona, asked a customer to not get too close, GM argued with me, no longer work there.

This tournament sure was...something. In the 14 years that I have followed the NCAA Tournament I have never seen it get this crazy before. This was a complete 180 from last year's Tournament, where we only had Blue Bloods in the Final Four, and a blue blood champion. This year, it is not the case. We have CHAOS.
Now, let us take a look at the failures, and boy do I have a few words for some teams here...
Arizona Wildcats - For the third year in a row, we have a 15 over 2 upset in the opening round. And Arizona was offered up as this year's sacrifice. To be fair, this isn't as big of an upset compared to other 15-over-2 upsets. Believe it or not, I actually saw this coming. The moment Princeton was announced as the opponent, I knew Arizona was gonna go down early. The Tigers just outplayed them and held strong throughout the entire game. Just like in 1996, when they upset defending national champion UCLA in the first round, the Tigers' next upset would unsurprisingly come against a Pac-12 team. Man, 15-over-2 upsets are becoming a staple in March Madness now...future 2 seeds better watch out...
Virginia Cavaliers - This was yet another upset most saw coming, but my god...I'm still stunned by this. Virginia was even leading for most of the game, but then they just imploded near the end. That turnover...what the hell was that?
I swear, Virginia must have sold it's soul for a National Title back in 2019...
Iowa State Cyclones - I swear, the Cyclones are like destined to bow out early in the tournament. It's as if its required by law for them to fall early no matter how high expectations are for them. It wasn't even a contest, the Panthers just straight up slaughtered them. Iowa State is one of the next contestants for my next Legacy of Failure script. But only IF they meet certain conditions...
At least the Cyclones lost to an 11 seed, and 11 seeds at least have moderate success in the tournament.
At least they're not these sorry sacks:
Purdue's Boiler Explosion - What the fuck. What. The fuck. WHAT. THE. FUCK. WAS. THAT. Don't get me wrong, I knew you weren't going to make the Final Four this year. I knew you were going to choke. But as a #1 SEED IN THE FIRST ROUND?! When you were favored by TWENTY FOUR TO WIN?!! Do you realize what you have just done?! This is quite possibly the greatest failure in the history of college sports! This was your ALL-IN year, and you fall to a double digit seed for the third year in a row? Absolutely unacceptable. Matt Painter is on a SEARING hot seat now.
One word, Purdue: NUKE. Blow it up. You aren't winning with Painter. You aren't winning with this coaching staff. You aren't winning this core, and you aren't winning with these mentally fragile players who can't handle a shred of adversity.
Tick, tick, Painter and Lusk. It's time for a house cleaning in West Lafayette. Fucking Purdue... YOU BLEW IT!!!
Memphis Tigers - Penny Hardaway is getting Memphis on the right track. They won the AAC Tournament title over Houston, securing their second straight appearance in the Big Dance. But unfortunately, the Cinderella bug hit them, and it came in the form of Florida Atlantic, who won their first tournament game in school history. Memphis is still an interesting team nonetheless, and I'm eager to see how far Hardaway can take this team in the future.
Iowa Hawkeyes - Congratulations! Your team STILL can't make it past the first weekend of the tournament! This time you get rekt by Auburn. Fran McCaffrey continues to show that he cannot survive come March Madness despite his regular season successes. Iowa, if I were you I would find a new coach already. Fran is not the man.
Texas A&M Aggies - The Aggies had a solid regular season. They came close to winning the SEC Tournament title but got decimated by Alabama. Is this football or basketball I'm covering here? I'm confused. Anyway, it really seemed as if the Aggies had it in them to go on a reasonable run as they were a 7 seed, but then they went to Des Moines and got blown the fuck out by a team that hadn't won a tournament game in 22 years. The failure is always bigger in Texas...
USC Trojans - Despite losing the other Mobley brother to the draft last offseason, the Trojans still snuck their way into the Big Dance yet again. Unfortunately, Tom Izzo's Spartans killed any hopes they had of a deep run. The Trojans failed to conquer Sparta, and it's time for me to break out this scene from 300 again...
Providence Friars - After making the Sweet 16 last year, the Friars had another good team this season and were ranked for most of the latter half of the season. But unfortunately, Kentucky remembered last year's upset at the hands of Saint Peter's and decided to kill any hopes the Friars had of a deep run.
Baylor Bears - Once again, Baylor fails to make it past the second round. Despite maintaining most of the 2021 National Championship roster the Bears still cannot find it in themselves to get past the first weekend again. It wasn't even a contest, Creighton flat out controlled the tempo for the entire game. 2021 had better not have been a fluke for your guys...
Fairleigh Dickinson Knights - Congrats, FDU! You became the 2nd #16 seed to beat a #1! Your consolation prize is blowing a late lead to Florida Atlantic in round two. Eh, who cares. You still pulled off the upset. The fact that this only happened 5 years after UMBC's stunning upset over Virginia is the most shocking fact about this too. Now, no #1 seed is safe. We are entering a period in the tournament where even the lowest seeds are now potential contenders. It'll be interesting to see how 2024's tournament goes...
Saint Mary's Gaels - Ah, it's that other WCC team. Congrats on winning another tournament game! Your prize is to get absolutely slaughtered by UConn. Great...
Penn State Nittany Lions - Congrats, Penn State! You won your first tournament game in 22 years! Even though you took the Longhorns to the limit, a big run just wasn't in the cards for you this year. Can we grant another tournament win to Penn State and put them in the Sweet 16 instead of Texas? They deserve it a lot more than Purdue...
Pittsburgh Panthers - Congrats, Pitt! You returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 7 years! You even won a tournament game too! Though all good things must come to an end, and you get upended by Xavier.
Indiana Hoosiers - What in the literal fuck was that supposed to be? Weren't you supposed to make a big run this year? This was the best team you've had in almost a decade and you just decided to crumble like that?! Sure, Miami was playing the game of their lives but it still shouldn't have been a 16-point blowout. Well, could be worse I guess. You could be Purdue...
Kentucky Wildcats - Let's start with the good news first: You were not upset in the first round this time. Instead you get eliminated by your old friends from K-State yet again. Which is good because we don't have to deal with more arrogance from the Kentucky fanbase this time. Nobody likes Kentucky anyway, so there was much rejoicing.
Duke Blue Devils - Even with Coach K no longer in the College Basketball world, the Blue Devils still manage to appear in the NCAA Tournament as a reasonably high seed. They managed to end Oral Roberts' foolish ambitions in the first round (I really wanted to make more sex jokes from that...), but then got absolutely BTFOd by Tennessee in the next round. The Evil Empire has been stopped yet again. But they'll be back here again. The Blue Devils never stay down for long...
Marquette Golden Eagles - HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON, OLD MAN?! Once again, Shaka Smart cannot make it past the first weekend of the tournament. Tom Izzo's Spartans put him in his place yet again. For fuck's sake, it's been a DECADE since Smart's coaching schemes got exposed by John Beilein in 2013. And he still has not gotten the message. Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is, Mr. Smart?
Auburn Tigers - Thanks for allowing us to laugh at Iowa again, Auburn. Now enjoy getting slaughtered by Houston in the next round.
Kansas Jayhawks - For the second year in a row, the defending national champion falls in the second round. Kansas appeared as if they would have this game in the bag, as they led by as much as 10 throughout the game. But then the team just imploded. The Razorbacks fought their way back and managed to eke out the win in the final seconds. Cherish that championship, Kansas. It may be the only one you win for a while.
TCU Horned Frogs - It seems like TCU sports are on the rise as of late. Their football team made the College Football Playoff, and their basketball team entered the tournament as a #6 seed! They even won another tournament game! But unfortunately they failed to make us laugh at Gonzaga again, as the Bulldogs narrowly escaped with the win.
Northwestern Wildcats - Welcome back to the tournament again, Northwestern! Even though this is only your second NCAA tournament appearance, you managed to win another tournament game! But a deep run just wasn't in the cards for you this time. Even after giving UCLA all they could handle, it just wasn't enough. I hope the Wildcats are able to make it back here again someday. Chris Collins seems to have something good going at Evanston. Let's see how things go the next few years.
Missouri Tigers - Congrats, Missouri! You won your first tournament game in 13 years! Your reward is to get absolutely blown the fuck out by another set of Tigers...who were seeded 15th. Come on now. Sure, Princeton was playing the game of their lives, but it still shouldn't have been a 15-point blowout. You're one of the contestants for a future Legacy of Failure script, Missouri. Give me something to truly laugh at and it'll be icing on the cake.
Maryland Terrapins - I'm gonna save the Big Bill Hell's rant this time. The Terps seemed to put a decent fight in the first half, but the Crimson Tide decided that was far enough, and put them out of their misery.
Princeton Tigers - Congrats, Princeton! You returned to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 56 years, and are only the fourth 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16! Third one in a row to do so, in fact! But all good things must come to an end, and there was another team looking to end their own demons. Creighton returned to the Elite Eight for the first time since the year Pearl Harbor happened.
Alabama Crimson Tide - The third #1 seed to fall this tournament. The Tide controlled the tempo most of the game, but the Aztecs eventually took the lead and never looked back. Once again, Alabama's dream to be a champion in both football and basketball like Michigan did in 1989 has not come to fruition. Maybe next year?
Tennessee Volunteers - Tennessee manages to return to the Sweet 16. And that's as far as they go. It's time for them to be upset by an inferior team again, and this time it's Florida Atlantic. The only time it appeared as if the Vols controlled the game was in the first half. But then FAU decided they wanted to go further. They took the lead in the second half, even leading by as much as 10 points, but they didn't relinquish it, making their first ever Elite Eight.
Michigan State Spartans - Congratulations! Your team finally made it past the second round! But the Sweet 16 is as far as you go. And they screwed up big time. This was yet another game where MSU's opponent was doing their best to hand the game to them, but they once again couldn't capitalize on their mistakes. K-State was literally handing them the game on a silver platter. They blew multiple leads and were even pushed into overtime. They even let you stay in the game until the final seconds! But then you just had to fuck up and let Markquis Nowell dance on your ashes, even letting him make NCAA history in the process.
Houston Cougars - What the hell was that, Houston? That has got to be arguably the worst performance by a 1 seed in the Sweet 16 in recent memory! This was the best team you've had since the days of Phi Slama Jama, and you go and do THAT?! Jesus Christ, you're pathetic. It wasn't even a contest, Miami barely even had to fucking try! Well, at least you're joining a real conference in the Big 12 next season. Hopefully the opponents from that conference can toughen you up and make you more formidable in next year's tournament.
Xavier Musketeers - Congrats, Xavier! You returned to the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years! Enjoy getting absolutely mauled by the Longhorns.
UCLA Bruins - Now this was a shock to see. This was the absolute inverse of 2006. The Bruins build up a big lead, only for Gonzaga to come back and build a big lead...only for the Bruins to storm right back and go up by 1. Maybe this is a repeat of 2006?
"Strawther for the lead...BULLSEYE!!!!"
And the Bulldogs have finally gotten their proper revenge for 2006, where they lost in the West region after blowing a big lead in the Sweet 16. Adam Morrison laughs, and the rest of the country breaths a sigh of relief as they don't have to see Los Angeles win another championship.
Arkansas Razorbacks - Great job, Arkansas! You managed to knock off the defending national champions! Your prize is to get absolutely steamrolled by UConn in the next round...by 23 points. Great...
Creighton Bluejays - Congrats, Creighton! You returned to the Elite Eight for the first time since WORLD WAR II!! And you're on the verge of becoming the first team from Nebraska to make the Final Four, beating out even the Cornhuskers! Imagine that! But it was not to be. The Bluejays built up a decent lead, and were on the verge of becoming the first #6 seed to make the Final Four since the Fab Five Michigan squad in 1992. But they couldn't hold it, as the Aztecs slowly crawled their way back. The Bluejays didn't really make any big mistakes, they didn't foul all that much, but at the end of the day it wasn't enough. They nearly sent the game into OT, but then...a last second foul call gave the Aztecs new life (Refball? You decide.). They would lose by a point. They were THAT close. But I honestly can't be mad at them. Still a successful season though. Hopefully next year you can get over the hump.
Kansas State Wildcats - I swear to god, K-State has to be the most unlucky team in NCAA Tournament history. This was their NINTH trip to the Elite Eight since their last Final Four berth in 1964 and they fell just short yet again. And like in 2010 and 2018, it was to a Cinderella team. First it was Butler. Then it was Sister Jean's henchmen from Loyola-Chicago. Now, it was FAU. Despite having a strong roster, the Wildcats once again could not end their long Final Four drought. Folks like to talk about Purdue being unlucky, but I think the real bridesmaid here is K-State. Just absolutely brutal. Which is why they're a candidate for my next Legacy of Failure script.
Texas Longhorns - This was very much a Days of our Steelers season for Longhorns basketball. Head coach Chris Beard was axed following an incident where he beat his wife (FUCKING IDIOT), and assistant Rodney Terry had to step in and clean up the mess. Thankfully, it was a good hire. Terry helped guide the Longhorns to their best season in ages, as they returned to the Elite Eight for the first time in 15 years. It appeared as if they were on the verge of returning to the Final Four for the first time in two decades! But then, the team straight up SHAT THE BED. Texas could not get anything going at all near the end of the game, as the Hurricanes came back from 13 points down to make their first Final Four. YOU BLEW IT!!!
Though lets be honest here, the refs were absolute dogshit. Calling blatant offensive fouls as fouls on the player guarding, are you fucking kidding me? Still, the Longhorns did screw up and blow that lead. Blame the refs all you want, but you want to know what would have helped? Not blowing a 13 point lead late in the second half. But at least Rodney Terry has shown that he can coach. Hopefully he can lead this Texas team to new heights in the future.
Gonzaga Bulldogs - pukes uncontrollably Fucking hell, are you kidding me? What the hell were you doing all game long? This was your ALL-IN year. You were the top scoring team in the country. You had the best player in the nation in Drew Timme! And you got absolutely beaten to a pulp by the team that beat you in your first Elite Eight appearance 24 years ago. Sure, UConn was playing the game of their lives, but it still shouldn't have been a near-30 point slaughter. You managed to unleash the Pandora's Box of Locusts known as UConn fans on the College Basketball world. Your Legacy of Failure continues. UConn is still getting the best of you after all these years, eh?
Florida Atlantic Owls - Oh my god, it's going to happen! The Owls are about to make history! They're up by 14! Sure the Aztecs cut that lead down to 1 in the final seconds, not to mention the refs are absolute shit, but the Owls are about to make history and become the first 9 seed to make the National Championship! Let's hear it for FAU!
"They don't have their scorers on the floor...it's Butler, with 2 seconds, he's gotta put it up and...-buzzer sounds- HE WINS IT!!! HE WINS IT WITH THE JUMPER!!! A San Diego State Miracle!"
OH MY MERCIFUL GOD!!! Well, this sucks. But it was still a successful season nonetheless. The third 9 seed to ever make the Final Four, and it happened in your second NCAA tournament appearance! Well, you'll be joining a better conference in the AAC next year. Hopefully you can make another big run like this again someday.
Miami Hurricanes - Congrats, Miami! You made your first Final Four in school history! And then the fun stops. UConn comes in to spoil the day. I would rip on Miami here, but nothing went right for them at all this game. Nothing. Missing 14 layups in the second half? Christ, that's brutal. Even though Jim Larrañaga tried his best to get Miami's stars on the right track, they were no match for the Huskies. Whenever Miami tried to strike back, UConn said 'Nope!' and put the Hurricanes on lockdown for the rest of the game. Nonetheless, this was a good run for Miami this year. You'll be back here eventually.
Whew, that was a crazy tournament. Now we're finally down to only two. And only one of these teams will be walking away with a championship.
Let's bring out contestant number one...
Connecticut Huskies
The Huskies have returned to the National Championship for the fifth time in school history, and for the first time in almost a decade. The last time they were here, the Final Four was held in the other major Texas metropolis of Dallas-Ft. Worth, and the Huskies became the first 7 seed in NCAA Tournament history to win a National Championship. Now, they are here for more.
The face of this revived UConn squad has been Jordan Hawkins, a sophomore from Maryland who has been this team's leading scorer in their past two matchups against Arkansas and Gonzaga, and it has been a long road for him. During the season opener he suffered his second concussion in his playing career and had to sit out the first two games, but he has thankfully made a full recovery and is playing better than ever. Joining him has been African sensation Adama Sanogo, a two-time first-team All-Big East award winner. He and Hawkins have been the bread and butter of this UConn squad, as both have been leading the team in scoring in a majority of games this season. Sanogo has also been this team's rebounding machine, as he has led the team in rebounds in all four of their tournament games so far. Rounding out UConn's Big 3 has been Andre Jackson Jr., who has been the Assists leader for this team in 18 games including the NCAA Tournament.
UConn has been the hottest team in this tournament thus far, as they've won each of their first four games by at least 10 points or more. Iona? 14-point win. #5 St. Mary's? 15 point win. #8 Arkansas, who just took down the defending national champs? 23 point win. #3 seed Gonzaga, who had three-time consensus All-American Drew Timme? Doesn't matter to them, they won by 28. #5 Miami? Even though the Hurricanes tried to put up a fight, they were beaten by 13. This Huskies team is absolutely unstoppable. The last two teams who won their first five tournament games by double digits both went on to win the national title - North Carolina in 2009, and Villanova in 2018. And it looks like history is about to repeat itself. UConn is hungry for it's fifth national title.
This #4 seed is playing like a #1 seed, and they are for sure the favorite to win it all. Just like every other time UConn has a solid team in the tournament, it's National Championship or bust.
Prepare for their wrath.
But not if their opponents have anything to say about it...
San Diego State Aztecs
The Aztecs have made it to the National Championship game. Exactly as everyone predicted at the start of the tournament. What this team reminds me of is the drug addict that has had numerous chances to get his shit together but constantly relapsed every time. And it's only through a reflection and a last second intervention that he starts to get clean.
For a while it felt as if San Diego State would never make it here. Former Michigan head coach Steve Fisher and his longtime assistant Brian Dutcher spent YEARS building this team into a contender. And the Aztecs have put up many elite teams over the years, but could only go as far as the Sweet 16 at best.
2011 seemed to be their year. They fell to UConn. In 2014, they were a 4 seed. They fell to Arizona. And after a series of first and second round eliminations, they finally got over the hump and made it to the promised land, though just BARELY.
This run has been far from easy for the Aztecs. They escaped by 7 points against Charleston in the first round. In the second they destroyed Furman, who just upset Virginia. Then came the Sweet 16, their opponent was the overall #1 seed in Alabama. It looked like another early exit for the Aztecs again. But then, a miracle happened. They rallied from 9 points down in the second half against Alabama to take the lead for good and make their first ever Elite Eight. And in their first Elite Eight, Creighton pushed them to the limit. However, they managed to overcome another deficit and escape by the skin of their teeth in the last second (Refball? You decide.). Same case in their first ever Final Four. They trailed by fourteen against Florida Atlantic, and it felt as if that was it. But then, the Aztecs pulled off another miracle to win by 1. That miracle's name? Lamont Butler. This team is the Energizer Bunny of the tournament. They will not die no matter how much stress you put on them.
SDSU's sudden appearance in the National Championship feels less like a "Glad you made it here!" and more of a "FINALLY!!". Considering all of the elite talent and top-tier coaching they've possessed over the years, it's still surprising that it took them this long to get here. But hey, better late than never.
Fuck you, Spanos!
The face of this San Diego State team has been Matt Bradley, a two-time First-team All-Mountain West selection. Alongside him is Ghanaian sensation Nathan Mensah, who is known for his immense wingspan of 7'4 ft, and has led this team in rebounds in two of their four wins this tournament. Other standouts on this Aztecs team include Jaedon LeDee, Micah Parrish, Darion Trammell, and Lamont Butler, who has led the team in Assists this tournament.
Brian Dutcher has built a winner this tournament, but we all know what his ultimate goal is - a National Championship. Though it wouldn't be his first. His first title came with the 1989 Michigan team led by Glen Rice and Rumeal Robinson, where he was an assistant under Coach Fisher. Now he's looking to win one as a head coach.
The Aztecs seek to become the first team from California to win a national title in basketball since 1995. That year, UCLA won their 11th National Title in school history by knocking off the "40 Minutes of Hell" Arkansas squad, a rather formidable opponent on par with this UConn team. And no team from California has done it since.
Will San Diego State be the team to break that drought, and become the fourth team from the Golden State to win a National Title? Will they become the first non-power five conference team to win a National Title since UNLV did it in 1990?
Will the Aztecs become the first team from San Diego to win a championship in either the pros or college, and break the San Diego sports curse?
And so, here it is. The Big East Empire of Doom, versus the Mountain West's only hope!
Time for battle.
EPIC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP JINXING
Unfortunately, there will be no miracles this time. I think UConn has this one in the bag. They've been destroying their opponents with ease, like North Carolina and Villanova before them. No matter what you throw at them, they'll just push it aside like a cardboard box. Their 28-point win over a stacked Gonzaga team is proof of this. They always seem to have an answer for whatever their opponents throw at them, and therefore the choice is easy.
UConn will steamroll the Aztecs by at least 10 points and cruise to a 5th National Championship, tying with both Duke and Indiana for the fourth most championships.
Have a nice day.

The use of the term "banks" to mean barrier islands is now confined to North Carolina. The earliest references are to "sand banks. " For a 1699 occurrence of the term, see the Colonial Records of North Carolina , I, 5 14 . The term "outer banks " is of rather recent coinage and there is no uniformity in definition of its limits. It is generally applied to the barrier islands all the way from the Virginia line to Cape Lookout or even Beaufort Inlet. Such islands as Roanoke and Colington are generally included in the Outer Banks because of their proximity and cultural similarities to the true barrier islands.
The term "banker," meaning an inhabitant of the Banks, was probably never used outside of North Carolina. The first occurrence of this term is in a 1750 account which mentions "the Bankers (a set of People who live on certain sandy Islands lying between the Sound and the Ocean ... )" (Colonial Records, IV, 1306).
-Gary S. Dunbar
Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Virginia (1958)

I came to the US in 2019. I came here to attend college. My dad's oldest brother's daughter lived in San Jose, my dad's oldest sister's daughters lived in North Carolina on east coast, while I came to Los Angeles. San Jose is barely an hour by flight and around 5 hours by car.
I come from a family where I was never even allowed to go out to get groceries or milk or anything at all. I was never allowed to go to my friends' houses. I was allowed to come to US because it was my dad's dream and he couldn't do it. I agreed because I desperately wanted to get away from them and from an abusive ex. I was scared though. After all, I was going to a different continent when I didn't even know how to use a debit card.
I was really expecting my cousin who lives in San Jose to help me out with settling in, but she was touring Los Angeles with her husband when I landed and couldn't be bothered to even visit me once. I cried countless times throughout my masters because I felt incredibly alone. My roommates all had cousins or relatives whom they could visit during holidays. I was always left alone. My cousins asked me to visit, but I felt so uncomfortable going to someone who didn't give a damn.
Before I left, she was telling my dad how he should not worry at all because she was there to help me. She never gave a shit about me. I was suffering with pneumonia, couldn't fucking move or cook, and nobody gave a shit, none of my cousins even texted. I was moving across states after college to start a job, and nobody bothered to ask if I needed any help at all. I know I sound like I'm whining, but I'm not really expecting anything out of her after all this time. She's the one who keeps telling my parents that she's always here for me when she's not.
During my graduation ceremony, my cousin brother (the above mentioned cousin's younger brother) came to visit. For the first time, someone was there for me. I just cried because someone was there, even though I know none of them actually cared.
Now my dad knows all this. How she keeps saying she's like my savior and how she's always here but never actually is. Despite all of this, he keeps saying that I should maintain relationships with her. It breaks me. I don't care that he says it, but every time he calls he asks if I called her and keeps berating me that I don't know how to live in a society and how I should maintain relationships. That berating is what gets to me. I fucking suffered all alone. Why should I care?

Xbox Games

Title	Console	Price (USD)	Region
MLB The Show 23 Deluxe Edition	Xbox	50	Global

​
Playstation Games

Title	Console	Price (USD)	Region
WWE 2K23 Icon Edition (season pass, dlcs etc transfers if you gameshare to your NA account	PS4 & PS5	60	Europe
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos	PS4 & PS5	20	Europe
Transport Fever 2 Console Edition	PS4 & PS5	30	Europe
Football Manager 2023	PS4 & PS5	30	North America
Townsmen PSVR2	PS5	25	North America
Scars Above	PS4 & PS5	28	Europe
Chef Life Simulator	PS5	25	Europe
Townsmen VR PSV2	PS5	20	North America
Octopath Traveler 2	PS4 & PS5	45	Europe
Cities VR: Enhanced Edition PSV2	PS5	20	Europe
Cave Digger 2: Dig Harder PSVR2	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Colossal Cave	PS5	20	North America
Overland	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Dungeon Munchies	PS5	10	North America
Overland	PS4 & PS5	12	North America
Emoji Kart Racer	PS5	15	North America
Broken Lines	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
GRIME: Colors of Rot	PS5	15	North America
Do Not Open	PS5	20	Europe
Last Day of Lazarus	PS5	13	Europe
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Dakar Desert Rally Deluxe Edition	PS4 & PS5	20	North America
LEGO Brawls	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition Island Explorer	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
Serial Cleaners	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
S.W.A.N.: Chernobyl Unexplored	PS4	10	North America
Path of Titans + Founders Pack	PS5	20	North America
DreadOuts 2	PS4/PS5	15	North America
Two Hundred Ways	PS4	7	North America
Train Valley	PS4	7	Europe
Arcadegeddon	PS4/PS5	15	North America & Europe
Hourglass	PS4	10	North America
My Universe - Green Adventure: Farmers Friends	PS4	18	North America
Escape Game - FORT BOYARD 2022	PS5	18	North America
Lumberjack's Dynasty	PS4	15	North America
Tour de France 2022	PS5	25	Europe
Demon's Tier+	PS5	6	North America
This War of Mine Final Cut	PS5	15	North America
Ogre: Console Edition	PS4 & PS5	14	North America
Best Month Ever!	PS4 & PS5	10	Europe
The Fortress Deluxe	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Rogue Lords	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Metal Tales Overkill	PS5	10	North America
Winkeltje: The Little Shop	PS5	10	North America
Cathedral	PS4 & PS5	8	Europe
Liberated: Enhanced Edition	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
A Juggler's Tale	PS5	10	North America

​
PC Games

Title	Platform	Price (USD)	Region
Leap	Steam	10	Global
Climber: Sky Is The Limit	Steam	5	Global
Sunblaze	Steam	8	Global
MADiSON	Steam	18	Global
Re:Legend	Steam	8	Global
Hard West 2	Steam	15	Global
Civitatem	Steam	8	Global
Terraformers	Steam	7	Global
Arcadegeddon	Epic Store	10	Global
The Tenants	Steam	12	Global
My Time at Sandrock	Steam	15	Global
Tennis Manager 2022	Steam	15	Global
Captain of Industry	Steam	15	Global
Space Engineers	Steam	15	Globalc
Bunhouse	Steam	10	Global
Nero	Steam	10	Global
Pro Cycling Manager 2021	Steam	10	Global
Rogue Lords	Steam	13	Global
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator	Steam	8	Global
Solaris Offworld Combat	Steam	8	Global
Boombox	Steam	8	Global

​
https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/mc209m/xterno50s_igs_rep_page/

Xbox Games

Title	Console	Price (USD)	Region
MLB The Show 23 Deluxe Edition	Xbox	40	Global

​
Playstation Games

Title	Console	Price (USD)	Region
WWE 2K23 Icon Edition (season pass, dlcs etc transfers if you gameshare to your NA account	PS4 & PS5	60	Europe
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos	PS4 & PS5	20	Europe
Transport Fever 2 Console Edition	PS4 & PS5	30	Europe
Townsmen PSVR2	PS5	25	North America
Football Manager 2023	PS4 & PS5	30	North America
Scars Above	PS4 & PS5	28	Europe
Chef Life Simulator	PS5	25	Europe
Townsmen VR PSV2	PS5	20	North America
Cities VR: Enhanced Edition PSV2	PS5	20	Europe
Cave Digger 2: Dig Harder PSVR2	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Colossal Cave	PS5	20	North America
Overland	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Dungeon Munchies	PS5	10	North America
Overland	PS4 & PS5	12	North America
Emoji Kart Racer	PS5	15	North America
Broken Lines	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
GRIME: Colors of Rot	PS5	15	North America
Do Not Open	PS5	20	Europe
Last Day of Lazarus	PS5	13	Europe
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Dakar Desert Rally Deluxe Edition	PS4 & PS5	20	North America
LEGO Brawls	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition Island Explorer	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
Serial Cleaners	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
S.W.A.N.: Chernobyl Unexplored	PS4	10	North America
Path of Titans + Founders Pack	PS5	20	North America
DreadOuts 2	PS4/PS5	15	North America
Two Hundred Ways	PS4	7	North America
Train Valley	PS4	7	Europe
Arcadegeddon	PS4/PS5	15	North America & Europe
Hourglass	PS4	10	North America
My Universe - Green Adventure: Farmers Friends	PS4	18	North America
Escape Game - FORT BOYARD 2022	PS5	18	North America
Lumberjack's Dynasty	PS4	15	North America
Tour de France 2022	PS5	25	Europe
Demon's Tier+	PS5	6	North America
This War of Mine Final Cut	PS5	15	North America
Ogre: Console Edition	PS4 & PS5	14	North America
Best Month Ever!	PS4 & PS5	10	Europe
The Fortress Deluxe	PS4 & PS5	10	North America
Rogue Lords	PS4 & PS5	15	Europe
Metal Tales Overkill	PS5	10	North America
Winkeltje: The Little Shop	PS5	10	North America
Cathedral	PS4 & PS5	8	Europe
Liberated: Enhanced Edition	PS4 & PS5	15	North America
A Juggler's Tale	PS5	10	North America

​
PC Games

Title	Platform	Price (USD)	Region
Leap	Steam	10	Global
Climber: Sky Is The Limit	Steam	5	Global
Sunblaze	Steam	8	Global
MADiSON	Steam	18	Global
Re:Legend	Steam	8	Global
Hard West 2	Steam	15	Global
Civitatem	Steam	8	Global
Terraformers	Steam	7	Global
Arcadegeddon	Epic Store	10	Global
The Tenants	Steam	12	Global
My Time at Sandrock	Steam	15	Global
Tennis Manager 2022	Steam	15	Global
Captain of Industry	Steam	15	Global
Space Engineers	Steam	15	Globalc
Bunhouse	Steam	10	Global
Nero	Steam	10	Global
Pro Cycling Manager 2021	Steam	10	Global
Rogue Lords	Steam	13	Global
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator	Steam	8	Global
Solaris Offworld Combat	Steam	8	Global
Boombox	Steam	8	Global

​

The Welsh love Wales. This proud country of three million people is culturally distinct from the rest of the U.K. and geographically unique. Called Cymru (cum-ree) in the Welsh language, the people of this Celtic nation have a reputation for being passionate about rugby (and football), but most of all about Wales itself.
Surrounded by the Irish Sea to the north and west and bordered by England to the east, Wales is a land of mountains, rolling countryside, and, yes, castles (427 at last count). You could spend years exploring Wales' hidden corners in search of quintessential Welsh experiences and lesser-visited locations. Here's where the Welsh go on their days off.
Taken from: https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/where-to-go-in-wales

• Llanthony Priory, Brecon Beacons National Park
• Stargazing in the Elan Valley
• The Standing Stones of Pembrokeshire, West Wales
• Beddgelert, Snowdonia National Park
• A Rugby Match at Cardiff's Principality Stadium

To tide you over until the next major release, and to push forward some new content and fixes we’ve been holding onto for the last month or so, we are happy to present the latest patch for Kaiserreich!

• The KR4 team

Changes
Notable Additions

• All Chinese splinters now start with a unique “Unequal Treaties” trade law that transfers a given proportion of the civilian factories to the Legation Cities, and increases the amount of goods given to the market. The law cannot be removed unless Shanghai is controlled by a Chinese regime.
• Implemented the new occupation coring system for American Civil War participants, Austria, Brazil, Central America, Central Asia, Denmark, Finland, the Commune of France, Germany and its splinters, Greece, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Lithuania, Persia, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, South Africa, Syria, Transamur, Ukraine and White Ruthenia.
• Added notifications for when a new territory becomes a core.
• Indian splinter states now have significantly altered starting territory, and have had their starting national spirits, army compositions, equipment and industry modified accordingly. This was done largely to solve the frequent stalemating wars that occur currently.
• Extensive conscription can now once again be enacted in peacetime if the country has more than 50% War Support.
• Massively improved the AI’s design of plane templates and their production priorities.

Reworked/Expanded Focus Trees

• Paraguay - foreign policy tree

Tweaked Focus Trees

• Germany - added an artillery tech bonus focus

New Events

• Added events to Argentina and Patagonia’s neighbours, forewarning them on the impending war.
• Added a flavour event for Armenia’s socialists.
• Added an event for Cyrenaica about the fall of the French Republic in Africa.
• Added an event for the Commune of France, informing them if Konstanty Rokossowski leaves his exile to go back to Poland.
• Added a new event chain involving the “Copenhagen Conference” between Germany and the Internationale, which can decrease heightened world tensions before mid-1939.
• Added multiple new flavour events for Latvia.
• Added an event for Federalist Liangguang and Sichuan informing them of Federalist-aligned Yunnan being annexed into them.
• Added events to Haiti’s benefactors informing them of Haiti’s alignment.
• Added several events to Paraguay relating to their new content.
• Added an event to post-unification Shanxi, about pardoning its political rivals.
• Added events for United Party-led South Africa, where after JBM Hertzog passes away, the party can choose one of three new potential leaders as his successor. This choice will determine their ideology and subsequent elections.

New Decisions

• Added fortification decisions to White Ruthenia

New Custom Country Paths

• Added custom difficulty settings for the Netherlands / Dutch East Indies and Insulindia.
• Jabal Shammar (revised existing paths)
• Pacific States of America (elections)
• South Africa (updated for new content)

GFX

• New portraits
  • Albania: Hermann Kirchner, Stefan Maliko Gogës
  • Anqing: Ma Dengying
  • Argentina: Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, Isaac Rojas
  • Bolivia: José Antonio Arze y Arze
  • Union of Britain: Reginald Drax, Percy Hobart, Rajani Palme Dutt
  • Cuba: Clemente Vázquez Bello
  • Dahomey: Hubert Maga
  • Egypt: Shuhdi Atiya ash-Shafi, Hassan al-Banna, Mohamed Mahmoud Pasha, Salama Moussa, Mostafa el-Nahhas, Mahmoud Shokry
  • Commune of France: Maurice Gamelin, André Marty, Pierre Monatte
  • Georgia: Aleksandre Dgebuadze
  • Germany: Wilhelm IV
  • Hungary: Zoltán Tildy
  • Italian Republic: Italo Gariboldi
  • Jabal Shammar: Saūd bin Abd al-Azīz
  • Liangguang: Jiang Guangnai, Chen Qiyou
  • Qing: Zhang Qihuang
  • Siam: Chumbhotbongs Paribatra, Rama VIII
  • South Africa: Isaac Pierre de Villiers
  • Sweden: Carl August Ehrensvärd
  • Tibet: Tsipön Lungshar, Trimön
  • Yemen: Yahya al Hamid
  • Yucatan: Manuel Gómez Morin
• Tweaked portraits
  • Combined Syndicates of America: Smedley Butler (changed to marine uniform)
• New advisor portraits
  • Bhutan: Tashi Namgyal
  • South Africa: Henry Gluckman
• Added some new generic American, Arab, Danubian and German general portraits.
• Added new flags for the Far Eastern Republic and republican Prussia.
• Adjusted the flags for Bembaland and Barotseland.
• Standardised several different versions of the Union Jack and associated flags that are used in the mod.
• Fixed Socialist Poland using the older version of its medium and small flags.
• Updated the icons that are available for all countries during airframe and tank variant creation.
• Updated the tank technology icons of many countries, for players who do not own the “No Step Back” DLC. This includes icons for participants in the American Civil War, Benelux countries, Eastern Europe, the Commune of France, the French Republic, Italian splinters, Russia, and South America. These icons are also reused by tank icon pools for owners of the DLC.
• Updated the armour names used by many countries. Most notably this adds names for flamethrower and amphibious tanks, as well as self-propelled armour variants.
• Implemented custom icons for "By Blood Alone" airframes for Fengtian, Georgia, New England, the Nordic Federation, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine.
• Updated the pause menu link icons.
• Adjusted the airframe icons for American Civil War, Italian splinters and Sweden participants.
• Added a new national spirit icon for the Left Kuomintang.
• Added a new national focus icon for Mittelafrika.
• Implemented tank blueprint images from vanilla and the “Expanded Tank Designer” mod by Issaac411 and Freezer.
• Fixed the generic amphibious tank, super-heavy tank or modern tank chassis having no icon.
• Removed terrain art throughout the mod. This fixes several issues with overlaying state modifiers and weather effects, which now display correctly as in vanilla.
• Added two new loading screens from Kaiser Cat Cinema.
• Tweaked the colouring on an old loading screen.

Music Mod

• Added “Mein Kleiner Grüner Kaktus (My Small Green Cactus)” for Germany.
• Songs associated with the Kuomintang will now play for all Kuomintang-led Chinese splinters, and not just the Fujian-originating Left Kuomintang.
• “Defend the Yellow River” will now play for any Chinese splinter that is being attacked by an outside great power.
• Added “Flag Anthem” for Kuomintang-led Chinese splinters.
• Added “When We Were at War” for Russia.
• Reduced the chances of German songs playing for non-German puppets, allowing their respective song lists to play more often.

Modelling Mod

• Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay now use German armour models.
• Bukhara now uses Farsi voiceover.
• Patagonia and Chile now use French armour models.

Mapping

• Improved the supply situation in Brazil.
• Tweaked the provinces in Bukhara.
• Reconfigured the states in Cameroon and Namibia, adding three new states.
• Removed the impassable terrain in the Caucasus.
• Added a rail connection to Dunkirk.
• Redrew several Ethiopian and Somalian provinces.
• Merged the Galician airzone into Poland.
• Changed the placement of Georgia’s airfields from the frontline.
• Tweaked the borders of several provinces in Greece and in states potentially owned by Greece.
• Redrew several Indian provinces.
• Split the Indian Himalayas and Kashmir into their own strategic region.
• Added several Victory Points to Italy, and rebalanced others.
• Split the “Mali” state north-south into “Bamako” and “Timbuktu”.
• Renamed several Namibian states and their German endonyms.
• Improved the path of the Nanjing-Shanghai railway.
• Updated Persia’s railways.
• Split the Persian airzone into three.
• Tweaked the location of Russia’s “Salsk” victory point.
• Added supply depot to the Western Caucasus.
• Buffed Russia’s starting railways and supply.
• Fixed renname for Russia's Yuzivka
• Fixed the positions of several South American Victory Points.
• Nerfed the infrastructure in southern Sweden.
• Nerfed the starting infrastructure in Western Ukraine.
• Renamed the “California” strategic region to “Sierra Nevada”.
• Renamed the “Texas” strategic region to “Gulf Coast”.
• Renamed “Coastal Zambezia” to “Moçambique”.
• Re-added “Hobyo” as a Victory Point to Somalia.
• Added a crossing to the Isthmus of Perekop in Ukraine.
• Added more provinces and Victory Points to Yemen.

Other Changes

• North America
  • American Civil War factions now only spawn after the player has chosen whether to play as one of them or not.
  • Pardoned army leaders after the American Civil War are now demoted to generals upon being moved.
  • Added unique text the events where a reunited American Civil War participant seeks to join another faction, taking the faction and its leader into account.
  • Countries will now allow an allied reunited America to take all available land in the Americas in peace conferences.
  • The United States no longer start in Undisturbed Isolation.
  • The Combined Syndicates’ general Smedley Butler got his Marines uniform back from the dry cleaners.
  • Added a starting armoured division template to Mexico.
  • Removed the middle names of two Quebecois leaders.
  • Fixed bugged name for "Georgia Volunteer Infantry" and "Louisana Volutneer Infantry" for USA
• Central America & the Caribbean
  • Removed the docking rights that Cuba gives to the United States at game start.
  • Added starting production lines to Honduras.
  • Giving Puerto Rico to America now gives a claim, not a core.
• South America
  • Argentina now loses cores on the Falklands if they cede them to Canada.
  • NatPop Argentina can now integrate Tarija.
  • Slightly tweaked the requirements and effects of a few Argentine national foci.
  • Bolivia will now directly intervene in the War in the Southern Cone, instead of taking the Bolivian Chaco and not joining the war. Paraguay is now forced to either cede the entire Chaco region (which the AI will never do), or Bolivia will declare war.
  • Bolivia no longer stops their war with Paraguay if taken over by syndicalists unless Paraguay is also socialist.
  • Increased the options in the “Fate of Arica” annexation mission, allowing Bolivia to claim it, and also for it to be returned to Chile.
  • Bolivia and Peru now can attack Chile if it is at war with Argentina, or the Second Weltkrieg has started. The AI will do this if Chile is losing the war.
  • Improved Brazil’s AI in preparing for war in South America.
  • Added a failsafe to make sure Brazil’s civil war peace events fire on time.
  • Ponta Pora can now only be annexed and integrated by Paraguay and NatPop Argentina.
  • Brazil now has to wait until the Weltkrieg to join a faction, and the AI will now only join a faction once Argentina or Patagonia has.
  • Tweaked the effects and national focus icons of syndicalist Brazil.
  • Brazil can no longer repeat the National Steel Mill (CSN) decisions.
  • Improved Brazil’s air development and tweaked the effects of two aviation national foci.
  • Tweaked Brazil’s army advisors and their traits.
  • Reduced the stability debuffs of several Brazilian events and national spirits, and increased their starting stability.
  • Changed how Brazil deals with Black Monday.
  • Decreased the frequency of NatPop or socialist Brazil.
  • NatPop Brazil can now claim Uruguay.
  • Nerfed Chile’s starting situation and removed their free Early Mobilisation.
  • Chile now gets a core on Tierra del Fuego when Patagonia transfers it.
  • Paraguay’s content has been revisited , with new foreign policy options to attack Argentina, Patagonia, Bolivia and Brazil, avenge the defeat in the War of the Triple Alliance, and either join a major faction or form your own.
  • Rebalanced the effects of several Paraguayan flavour events.
  • Revised the starting traits given to Paraguayan commanders, their starting templates, war support and national spirits.
  • Paraguay now starts with Extensive Conscription.
  • Update the list of characters retired after the Moderates’ victory in Patagonia.
  • Greatly improved Peru’s starting stability.
  • Rebalanced and revised Southern American AI in the leadup to the War in the Southern Cone.
  • Puppeted Venezuela is now released as PatAut by non-socialist American Civil War participants.
• Western & Southern Europe
  • Belgium now starts with a larger army, and different division templates.
  • Puppet Great Britain now gets cores on Ascension Island and Saint Helena upon being released.
  • Removed Sébastien Faure from the mod due to recent historical evidence coming to light of him being an unspeakably vile man whose crimes would destroy his career in the Kaiserreich timeline.
  • The starting leader of the Commune of France is now Pierre Monatte.
  • Added missing descriptions to a few of the Commune of France’s national spirits.
  • Renamed the Commune of France’s “Travailleurs” to the grammatically correct “Travaillistes”.
  • Nerfed the Commune of France’s starting stability and war support.
  • Konstanty Rokossowski is now available as an advisor to the Commune of France if he is exiled there.
  • Added a starting armoured division template to Ireland.
  • Buffed the Socialist Republic of Italy’s starting war support.
  • The Italian Republic can now get five research slots prior to unification.
  • Added a potential faction that can be formed between NatPop Italian Republic and NatPop Romania, allying against Yugoslavia.
  • Nerfed the Kingdom of Two Sicilies starting stability and war support.
  • Changed Portugal’s map colour.
  • The United Kingdom can now be reformed if Canada owns any coastal state in Great Britain with a population of over 1,000,000, rather than several specific states.
  • The United Kingdom now gets claims on its Caribbean colonies upon dissolving the West Indies Federation.
  • The United Kingdom now gets claims on African states ceded by South Africa’s “Smuts Doctrine”.
• Central & Northern Europe
  • Added Engineers technology to Austro-Hungarian constituents.
  • Added a starting armoured division template to Finland.
  • Reconfigured the effects of events and national foci regarding the transfer of Galicia to Poland and Ukraine.
  • Buffed Germany’s starting stability.
  • Added an artillery tech bonus focus to Germany, and improved military tree bonuses.
  • Germany can now invite Austria and Bulgaria into the Reichspakt, even if they are already involved in the Second Weltkrieg.
  • A puppet German monarchy is now led by Wilhelm IV.
  • Germany will now always declare war on a secessionist Ukraine, unless set not to do so in the game rules.
  • Reduced the war support debuff that Germany receives from Black Monday.
  • Updated Wilhelm III’s descriptions.
  • Buffed Germany’s Erich von Manstein to skill level 5.
  • Nerfed Germany’s Erich Raeder to skill level 4.
  • All of Germany’s allies now start in the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, if the DLC is enabled.
  • Germany’s allies can no longer refuse to return territory which they had annexed that goes against the Treaty of Halifax.
  • Germany’s “Quenched Militarism” national spirit now only affects its conscription factor.
  • Rebalanced the priority AI Germany places on managing between France and Russia.
  • Overhauled the options for partitioning Germany.
  • The “Fate of Dalmatia” annexation event now requires releasing Venice first.
  • Swapped Hungary’s SocCon leader from István Bethlen to Zoltán Tildy.
  • Hungary can now be granted Kotor and Rijeka.
  • Nerfed Norway’s surrender limit bonuses.
  • Field Marshals moved to Poland from other countries are now demoted to Generals.
  • Buffed Poland’s Edward Rydz-Śmigły to skill level 3.
  • Poland’s “Dawn of Progress” wargoals are now decisions.
  • Monarchist Poland can now join the Entente if they share the same enemies as the Entente and are no longer in the Reichspakt.
  • Poland’s “Friends in Vienna” national focus now bypasses if Austria no longer exists.
  • Polish SocCons can now complete the “Crossroads of Europe” national focus.
  • Poland finishing its economic restructuring now gives the “Independent Economy” national spirit.
  • Added Poland as a possible country that can host the Pope after he is exiled.
  • Austrian-aligned Poland will now leave the Donau-Adriabund if Austria turns PatAut, and can rejoin the Reichspakt.
  • Reduced the chances for the AI choosing nationalist-boosting options in Poland, and slightly nerfed some of their effects.
  • Having less than zero stability will no longer be a potential trigger for Poland’s syndicalist revolution.
  • Poland can now get access to Irregulars in its army national foci.
  • Increased Poland’s AI weights for completing the industry decisions.
  • Poland uniting with Galicia now requires Galicia’s owner to fully control the states in question.
  • Tweaked the effect of a few PatAut Poland national spirits, and the leader’s trait.
  • Poland can now invite Montenegro in its Intermarium.
  • AI-controlled Poland will now always need an external trigger to its nationalist and socialist revolts.
  • Poland will now also receive Rokossowski back from exile if they are SocDem, Germany is dead, and Poland had never been at war with the Third Internationale.
  • Moved the Polish admiral Jerzy Swirski to Ukraine, renaming him Yurii Svirskyi.
  • Scandinavia can now claim Greenland in the annexation event.
  • Changed Sweden’s shale oil to be represented by synthetics rather than oil production.
  • Switzerland now starts with Extensive Conscription.
  • Fixed Puppet Switzerland purging non-German officers
  • West Banat no longer joins the Romanian-sponsored Transylvanian uprising.
  • Refactored the Transylvanian revolt to not affect neutral states.
  • Countries can now offer Transylvania to Romania, in exchange for an alliance.
• Eastern & Southeast Europe
  • Added Hermann Kirchner as a general for Albania.
  • Added Stefan Maliko Gogës as an admiral for Albania.
  • Bulgaria can now claim Adrianople in the "Fate of Constantinople" if they own Eastern Thrace.
  • Added Irregulars as a starting technology and division template for Estonia and Latvia, to represent the Forest Brothers.
  • Changed Estonia and the United Baltic Duchy’s shale oil to be represented by synthetics rather than oil production.
  • Updated the name of Greece’s Weltkrieg-era tank.
  • Greece can now core all of its claims.
  • Livonia is now called Vidzeme when it is owned by Latvia.
  • Added leader descriptions to the potential Latvian leaders.
  • The Lithuanian-Belarusian Federation can now claim all states that it can core.
  • All Oststaaten are now automatically called into the Second Weltkrieg when Russia attacks.
  • Updated Romania’s news event picture for King Carol expelling the Iron Guard.
  • Rebalanced Russia’s victory points so that their surrender no longer requires their enemies to reach the Urals.
  • Socialist Russia may now be asked to return another country’s cores that it controls upon inviting someone to its alliance.
  • Russia now loses a core on Latgale if they give it to Latvia, but also remove their “The Flight of the Latvians” debuff national spirit, should they have it.
  • Nerfed Socialist Russia’s “Trade Union Council Chairman” advisor trait.
  • Russia will be now less likely to get itself dragged into war in China if it is losing the war in Europe.
  • Russia can now claim Bialystok.
  • Buffed Russia’s starting divisions and templates.
  • Russia can now claim Transcarpathia even if it Socialist or not Expansionist.
  • Implemented vanilla names for Russian self-propelled tank destroyers, anti-air and artillery.
  • Improved several Russian transliterations.
  • Reduced the stability loss given by Russia’s “Political Instability” national spirit.
  • Russia’s decisions to add countries to its faction are now free.
  • Russia attacking Ukraine before the Weltkrieg will now cause a larger spike in World Tension.
  • Rebalanced aspects of the Serbia/IMRO conflict.
  • Ukraine’s “Yuzivka” is now called “Yuzovo” when controlled by Russia.
  • Improved Ukraine’s national focus priorities.
  • The United Baltic Duchy now uses German portraits for generic officers.
  • The United Baltic Duchy will now form the Ostwall more readily.
  • Increased the infantry equipment production given by the Eastern European Defence Cooperation.
  • White Ruthenia can no longer be called into war while it has demilitarised zones.
  • White Ruthenia can now get access to Irregulars in its army national foci.
• Africa
  • Adjusted the effects of the “Unconventional Army” and “Modern African Army” national spirits available to African splinters after the collapse of Mittelafrika to be better suited for combat in African terrain.
  • Adjusted annexation options for Bechuanaland, Cameroon, South Africa and Zimbabwe, solving a few oddities in their release order.
  • Added Arabic endonyms for Algeria and Morocco.
  • Added starting cavalry template for Ethiopia
  • Adjusted the Congo’s and East Africa’s map colour.
  • Dahomey now starts as AutDem, led by Hubert Maga.
  • Dahomey no longer asks for French assistance while being the puppet of another nation.
  • Updated the icons for several of Dahomey’s national foci.
  • Agoli Agbo is no longer the PatAut leader for Dahomey. He has been replaced with Christophe Soglo.
  • Ethiopia and Somalia are now given a claim on Djibouti when they are granted it.
  • Added some more “Operation” names to the French Republic.
  • Liberia now gets a core on Azawad upon integrating Mali.
  • Liberia annexing most of West Africa now carries stability, war support and political power penalties.
  • Madagascar now has cores on its outlying islands.
  • Tweaked the text and effects around Göring's collapse in Mittelafrika, giving Germany advanced notice of what is about to happen.
  • Göring’s collapse now causes part of Mittelafrika’s divisions to stand down.
  • The Mittelafrikan collapse has been balanced significantly
  • Edited the neutral event option for von Göring fleeing from Africa.
  • Tweaked the layout and icons used in Namibia’s national focus tree, which now also inherits several foci from Gabon.
  • Added English translations to Somalian party names.
  • Replaced a duplicate education-themed focus in South Africa’s socialist tree with a healthcare focus.
  • South African commanders now have traits indicating their allegiances.
  • Added better infantry equipment and reconnaissance technology to South Africa.
  • Added a starting air force to South Africa.
  • South Africa led by the South Africa Party, National Party, or the United Party will now all actively help the British in their “Homecoming”.
  • South Africa’s United Party will no longer break up before the start of the Weltkrieg.
  • Added Nicolaas Havenga, Jan Smuts and JH Hofmeyr as potential late-game leaders of South Africa’s United Party, being AutDem, SocCon and SocLib respectively. This choice affects later electoral and coalition options, and will also change other events.
  • Added Henry Gluckman as an advisor for South Africa.
  • South Africa will now not gain a war goal on Südwestafrika if the Halifax Conference succeeds and Südwestafrika is not protected.
  • South Africa’s Van Rensburg will also become head of the PatAut slot if he takes over, and if he is fired, Malan will also become leader of the NatPop slot.
  • Decreased the political power debuff in two of Südwestafrika’s national spirits, and changed their icons.
  • Fixed mixed cavalry and camerly template for Somalia
• Caucasus & Middle-East
  • Changed the Armenian NatPop party name.
  • Azerbaijan no longer gets a core on Tabriz from joining the War in the Desert.
  • Central Asian countries now start with production lines.
  • Egypt can now be released as a republic.
  • Added puppet republican leaders to Egypt.
  • Buffed Georgia’s starting army, national spirits, and the effects of its military national foci.
  • Slightly nerfed al-Gaylani-led Iraq’s consumer goods penalty from rampant corruption.
  • Added Irregulars to Oman and Yemen.
  • The Ottomans now start with claims on Egypt.
  • Reconfigured the Ottomans’ events and national foci about the fate of Egypt.
  • The Ottomans now start with transport technology.
  • Added tooltips to the Ottoman Education Decree event.
  • Persia now gets a claim on Abkhazia if they claim Georgia.
  • Persia now gets a warning that Azerbaijan is going to attack them.
  • Tweaked the position of two Najd & Hasa national spirits for clarity.
  • Renamed the Saudi AutDem and NatPop parties.
  • Fixed focuses for Saudi Arabia and Jabal for building slots on wasteland states
• East Asia
  • Added Ma Dengying as a general for Anqing.
  • East Turkestan and Mongolia will no longer be invited by Russia into the Moscow Accord if Russia is losing their war.
  • Unified Federalist China’s “China Reconstruction Plan” national focus is now bypassed if the decisions are already available.
  • China regaining any ceded concessions now also transfers any occupied mainland states.
  • China now gets a claim on Tawang if they didn't have one, upon releasing India or Assam.
  • The leader of the Chinese United Front will now refuse to ally with cliques that would bring the Front into offensive wars.
  • Added a number of Japanese, Russian and Chinese endonyms in and around Manchuria.
  • Added an alternate description to Japan’s news event where they “announce their ambitions”, should they have already been beaten on mainland Asia, and renamed the event to “The Rising Sun”.
  • Japan’s “Multicoloured Shell Tracers” now gives a 20% ground attack bonus for Tactical Bombers.
  • Japan’s peace with Russia now also accounts for Japanese lands in China, if the latter was involved in the Russian-Japanese war.
  • Reduced Japan’s war support penalty from refusing the “Fading Sun” peace event.
  • Added Korean division namelists.
  • The League of Eight Provinces will now never refuse to help Zhili-led Qing against Fengtian.
  • Changed the icon for a starting national spirit for the League of Eight Provinces.
  • Added compliance based integration for all possible Legation states.
  • The Left Kuomintang now uses the Peoples’ Republic of China map colour from vanilla HOI4.
  • The Left Kuomintang can no longer ally Hunan, Liangguang, Sichuan or Yunnan without first completing the relevant national focus.
  • Liangguang’s “Rural Development” national focus now increases the state category rather than adding a build slot.
  • Added party popularity effects to Right Kuomintang Liangguang election events and changed the event text.
  • Added Zhang Gongquan as an advisor for Liangguang.
  • Clarified the text for the Ma Clique’s game rules.
  • Nerfed the Ma Clique’s starting situation.
  • Added a peace deal for the Ma Clique’s war against Mongolia and Tibet.
  • Qing will now receive a “Anti-Concessionist Instability” temporary state modifier in East Shanxi, should Shanxi choose to denounce concessionism rather than take an Aufsichtsrat der Ostasiatischen Generalverwaltung (AOG) payout.
  • Increased Qing’s priority of having troops on their border.
  • Russia’s “Seize Tuva” decision is now tied to the “Secure Central Asia” national focus, and no longer targets only Mongolia.
  • Russia can now annex Dalian in the “Fate of Manchuria” and “Fate of Japan” events.
  • Nerfed the consumer goods bonus in Shanxi’s “Beijing Agricultural Relief Package” national spirit.
  • Shanxi will almost never voluntarily negotiate with Manchu Qing.
  • Clarified several of Shanxi’s tooltips relating to stability changes.
  • Reworded several of Shanxi’s events and descriptions concerning the role of Hu Shih.
  • Shanxi’s Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang will be demoted from Field Marshal if the other side wins.
  • Shanxi’s “Japanese Infiltration” event can now only happen once.
  • Shanxi will now rename itself the “Zhongyuan Government” when it becomes a rival government, instead of when it completes the associated national focus.
  • Added a description to the “Strikes in Eastern Shanxi” state modifier.
  • Shanxi can no longer build railroads in states it does not own, and the cost for the decision is now cheaper.
  • Siberia can now be given Sakhalin.
  • Rebalanced several of Sichuan’s factory output, stability and war support effects.
  • Yunnan’s Long Yun now becomes a Field Marshal after winning the civil war.
  • Improved Yunnan’s early game economy and starting factory count.
  • Yunnan will now recover more stability if it goes below zero in its civil war.
  • Kunming now starts with an airfield.
• South Asia & Oceania
  • Australasia’s 1939 elections now add popularity to both the UAP and Country Party if they are in coalition.
  • Fixed German East Asia not returning all of Australasia Papua in the case of a Dutch East Indies collapse
  • The Bharatiya Commune no longer requires cores to join the Internationale.
  • Tweaked the map colour for the Bharatiya Commune and Princely Federation.
  • Tshering Penjor changing Bhutan's capital is now accounted for in the endonyms.
  • Made Bhutan less aggressive in asserting its claims.
  • Germany now starts with claims on the islands it controls in the Indian Ocean.
  • Increased German East Asia’s unit cap, and added a tooltip explaining its surrender conditions.
  • Renamed several German East Asian naval task forces.
  • Adjusted Indian national focus tree priorities and rebalanced several event and focus effects.
  • Each Indian splinter now starts with basic artillery researched.
  • Each Indian splinter now starts with cores on Darjeeling and Uttarakhand.
  • Pondicherry is now owned and claimed by Germany at game start.
  • Revised the starting production for each Indian splinter.
  • Buffed Indochina’s starting templates, number of divisions and stockpiles.
  • Madras no longer exists at game start.
  • Nepal no longer cedes Sikkim to India in the Festival event chain.
  • The Philippines now start with a production line and have an updated starting army and technology.
• Miscellaneous
  • The Weltkrieg can no longer start before June 1939.
  • Improved the AI’s behaviour on justifying wargoals, so that they will only do so on neighbours, and if they are not themselves threatened.
  • AI countries will now attack puppets of player enemies, if they're not called into the wars.
  • Increased the AI weight on increasing their conscription and economy laws.
  • Changed the effects of several Chief of Army and Military High Command traits.
  • Tweaked the priority given by the AI on creating an Intelligence agency.
  • AI countries will now never build more than 300 divisions.
  • Changed the extent of several research bonuses / maluses.
  • Renamed several default army and fleet names.
  • Scripted peace deals will now create temporary military access between countries to avoid permanently exiled divisions.
  • Changed the AI’s preferred garrison division template.
  • Overhauled the starting division templates in multiple countries, adding mountaineers, cavalry and motorised where appropriate.
  • The AI will now not begin forming an Intelligence Agency or upgrading it, until it has more factories.
  • The “Scorched Earth” game rule no longer disallows achievements.
  • Hundreds of spelling standardisations and corrections.
  • The AI will try not to use tanks in areas of high attrition (mountains or deserts).
  • “Local Police Force” is now the default occupation law.
  • Added trains to several countries that start without them.
  • Tweaked the firing of introduction events for several countries, so that they no longer fire over several days.
  • Removed the link in the menu to the defunct forum.
  • Improved the “Political Specialist” advisor trait.
  • Added a quote by Boris Savinkov to the loading screen quotes.

We hope you enjoy playing Kaiserreich as much as we did making it!
- The KR4 Team: 84F8D8, Alpinia, Arvidus, Augenis, Blackfalcon501, Carmain, Chazem, Chiang Kai-shrek, Chiron29, Conchobhar, DuoDex, El Daddy, Fedex, Flamefang, Gaboemi, Gideones, Hamfast, hildagrim, Ido, Igor050301, JazzyHugh, Jeankedezeehond, Jonny BL, Juliet Wehrwolf, katieluka, Kennedy, kergely, KFateweaver, Klyntar King, Krčo, Luwofe, Matoro, McOmghall, ~mw~ // miwaco, NukeGaming, Owenomaly, PPsyrius, Pelmen, RagnoStrangeros, Rnk, Shiroe, Sonny O’Cad, SuperGreenBeans, suzuha, The Alpha Dog, The Irredentista, The Italian Jojo, Vidyaország, and Zimbabwe Salt Co.

It's the First of April. Thats all I will say.
________________________________________
The New Hope
Vance was tired, he had been on the run all day long. What had looked to be another boring routine survey mission into a simple uncharted binary star system had turned out to be quite a bit more.
Stopping for a quick breather, Vance pulled out his hydroflask and took a long pull of the lukewarm water. It might have been a bit stale, but to him it tasted sweet as cherry soda. The hydroflask sealed with a pop as he replaced it on his belt. It would slowly draw moisture from the air and condense it inside, refilling over time.
Good thing too, this planet seemed to be a never-ending desert. Everywhere he turned to look the relentless twin suns beat down on his thick grey fur, causing him to pant heavily as he tried to cool himself down futilely.
Vance was Yeown, a member race of the Sapient Congressional Union. He stood just under two meters tall though his shoulders were hunched and his long arms were held at a low ready by his sides. His slightly werewolf-like features were currently scrunched into a scowl as he surveyed the surrounding landscape, trying to determine what his next move should be.
That's when he saw it, on the horizon, smoke. Smoke meant fire, and as so often was the case, fire often meant people and civilization.
A destination in sight and a goal in mind, he was now feeling much better about his situation. Vance took a few minutes of walking along the endless dunes to once more marvel on his situation. The fact that he was able to breath without his constricting environmental suit was a miracle. Naturally habitable planets were rare, not so rare as to be nonexistent, but rare enough that his chance stumbling blindly across one was likely a once in a lifetime experience. Well, once in a lifetime if he didn't find shelter was a near guarantee.
His people had evolved on a cooler, more temperate world. The Yeown homeworld of Bright Moon was a temperate world with large polar regions and thick evergreen forests that covered much of the planet’s surface. This relentless heat was slowly but surely killing him. If he didn't find a place to cool off in the next few hours he was likely to suffer heat exhaustion and die.
Vance shivered at the thought. His mummified remains would be lost to the endless sands of this cruel desert. He looked forwards again, the smoke did in fact seem closer now that he really scrutinized it. He grinned, pointed carnivore teeth bared in a terrible grimace. Any non-herbivore species able to see him at that moment would likely have had a fit, his bestial features less sapient in appearance than most other known races.
While this did not frequently bother him, it had on occasion caused some small disturbance to other member races. In particular dimwitted humans.
He snarled quietly, the SCU had only made contact with his people forty years in the past. Plenty of time for the other member races of the Union to become acquainted, but they hadn't. It seemed that many of them harbored an instinctive mistrust towards the Yeown. Whether it was born of ancestral fear or prejudice meant little to Vance, it was wrong. There were even whisperings of succession in some of the more extreme circles.
It would never happen though. The Union was truly vast, thousands of inhabited worlds spanning thousands of light years and with a population numbering in the hundreds of quadrillions of sapient beings. There was no realistic way that their tiny population of a few billion could hope to stand up to the might of quadrillions.
He put thoughts of rebellion out of his head, the Union wasn't some tyrannical galactic empire after all, they did seem to have the best interests of their citizens in mind. ‘Most of the time.’ He thought silently, bitterness reentering his thoughts in spite of himself.
The smoke drew steadily closer, thoughts of what kind of strange people might inhabit such a desolate world caused his mind to enter a tizzy. From what he knew of desert creatures they tended towards the more insectoid or reptilian. Mammals were a rare sight on such worlds, would they accept him as a sapient being? What if they tried to kill him?
Dark thoughts of murder and cannibalism entered his mind unbidden. Such creatures existed across the Union, Flesh tearers and the other psychotic bloodthirsty pirates that frequented the less populated regions of the galaxy. Was it possible that the indigenous people of this world would be the same?
His ship had not detected radio signals before he had mysteriously lost power. Only by switching to his secondary generator had he been able to prevent himself from becoming a glassed crater in the planet’s surface, barely. His ship had suffered catastrophic damage in the landing and he had decided to try and scout out the area.
Thats where he had made his first mistake, he had oriented himself towards the morning sun and started off, but soon after the first had risen then another sun had made its presence known in the ever-brightening sky. His compass had been useless and his trail had been obscured by fresh blown sand. Soon he had found himself hopelessly lost.
With no landmarks to follow and two suns causing him to confuse the direction he had come from, he had started to lose all hope of making it off the planet alive. But then he had seen the smoke, like a beacon it inspired hope in his chest.
He took another large panting breath before taking a moment to rest in a shallow hollow. He cocked his head as he spotted the first life he had yet seen on the planet, a small scraggly bush, barely alive by the looks of it. Its wood was covered in gnarls and grey twigs, knobby and blistered by uncountable days of exposure to the harsh elements.
Still, where there was life there was water, that was a good sign as he was drinking from his hydroflask faster than it seemed to be able to replenish
He took another deep shuddering breath, his break had done nothing but drawn attention to his aching muscles and sore joints. Walking for hours through the soft sand had turned his legs to jelly and his feet to raw meat. His large clawed paw-like feet generally had no problems with the terrain, but the hot sand had slowly begun to scour the softer flesh between his toes. While he wasn't bleeding yet, the flesh was raw and tender, he knew that he would have to clean them soon so as to prevent potential infections.
Vance had received a universal inoculation when he had turned the age of twelve, but while it was essentially an immune booster it was not a cureall. One could still get sick, the inoculation simply boosted the natural strength of his immune system. The result was near human levels of disease resistance but at the cost of becoming quite tired while fighting off an infection.
As Vance crested the next rise he froze, the cause of the smoke was now directly in front of him. The low rolling sand dunes gave way to an expanse of flattened earth, less sandy, more dusty.
In the middle of this flattened land was a large sunken pit of some sort and a low hut-like structure. The hut was the cause of the smoke, the structure charred and covered in strange marks.
Vance hunkered down, all thoughts of his sore muscles and raw feet forgotten as he observed the scene. It looked like the aftermath of a war zone, a high-tech warzone at that. The strange marks resolving themselves into some sort of burns like those made by energy weapons.
He swore loudly, then immediately snapped his mouth closed. Whatever or whoever had caused the damage might still be nearby, and from the looks of the place they would likely not have his best interests in mind either.
He waited a full ten minutes but no enemies appeared, he looked around and then swore quietly “Frine’s furred ass…” He needed a place to shelter and he couldn't wait any longer. Dangerous or not, the chance of death was better than certain death, and so he found himself moving towards the low round building. His body held low as he used his arms and legs to creep forwards.
He reached the side of the building and stopped, a new smell reached his strong senses. After nothing but the hot slightly metallic smell of the dunes and his gear, it was a bit of a surprise to smell something different. He smelled burnt flesh, the smell making his mouth water slightly. He had not had fresh meat for months, subsisting off the dried and freeze dried rations he was provided with by the company.
His stomach growled involuntarily and he swiped his tongue over his lips. He had a bad feeling that what he was about to find might not be a delicious home cooked meal though.
Sure enough as soon as he crept around to the front of the building he recoiled. In front of the door were the charred remains of two creatures, strangely familiar but unrecognizable due to the damage.
He looked closer despite his disgust, the creatures looked far too familiar, two legs and arms. A body shape similar to that of a human, but that was not too surprising he surmised. More than one of the Union member races seemed to take after that appearance, humanoid as the humans called it. And of course they would, they named everything after themselves the selfish hairless packbreakers.
Vance snorted, trying to get the smell out of his nostrils as he slunk by into the building itself. The building was larger than he had at first supposed. The doorway turned out to be a set of stairs that led underground in the direction of the large pit he had observed earlier. ‘They must be a burrowing race.’ He thought idly as he descended into the structure.
Indeed as he reached the bottom of the stairs it opened up into a small house built almost entirely underground. Though one of the rooms seemed lit, it must connect to the large open pit. The room was scorched, the look of a fire that must have raged out of control.
Even with the oppressive smell of charr and soot it was cooler than the surface. He located what looked like the remains of a stool and wiped it off before sitting. He gave a long sigh before taking another long swig from his hydroflask. It felt good to be sitting, his aching muscles and feet groaned in protest as he tried to regain his strength.
After a few minutes his breathing had slowed and he was feeling much more comfortable. He flexed his feet, he needed to find something to wash them with, he looked around. He couldn't see any obvious means of water storage. The planet was hot, hot and dry. But surely the local life drank water, or at least knew of its existence.
He stood, wincing slightly as his sore feet protested, the sand between his toes a constant sting. He limped over to the far wall and moved a few charred items off a nearby shelf. Nothing of use it seemed, then he stopped. He looked at the end of the counter before moving quickly towards a large box at the end of the counter, it looked like.
“Yes!” He said triumphantly. It had been some sort of refrigerator.
It seemed that whatever damage had been done to its exterior was entirely superficial as the inside lit up dimly with a soft bluish glow as he opened it. He grabbed for the large container of clear liquid on the uppermost shelf.
He was about to take a deep drink when his common sense stopped him. He had no idea what the liquid was, it could have been almost anything, so he pulled out a small analysis tool from his belt. Generally the small device was used to assay rocks and other samples brought onboard by his probes, but it should do just as well identifying the basic elements of the liquid.
Placing a small drop from the jug inside, he turned the device on and waited as it whirred softly. After about a minute it made a series of low beeps. Checking the display he smiled, hydrogen and oxygen bonded into di-hydrogen monoxide molecules, more commonly known as water.
He took a tentative taste, the cool clean water taking away the dull scratchiness in his mouth. He took another swallow, this one deeper and more satisfying. Sighing contentedly he looked into the small cooling unit again, there were some other items of interest, not the least of which was a small wrapped package of what appeared to be some meat-like substance.
While he wasn't hungry per-se, his instinctual craving for thick juicy chunks of meat was trying to get the better of him. He paused and then growled deep from his chest. There was no way he would pass up the opportunity if it was remotely safe to eat, and so he pulled out the protein analyzer from one of his vest pouches. While similar to the analysis tool, it would instead check the compounds of the product and check for incompatibilities. If none were expressly detected then it was in all likelihood compatible with his system. While he wasn't capable of the incredible culinary feats of humans who seemed to be capable of eating almost anything they could fit in their mouths, he could digest a wide variety of proteins and fats from many worlds he was not native to.
This ability made him confident that he would be able to eat the morsel without incident, though it was always better safe than sorry. He waited an irritating three minutes before the small device gave a chime and flashed green. That was a good sign, checking the screen on the analyzer it told him what he had hoped to see. What he had was a foreign foodstuff that seemed perfectly compatible with his biology, that was a little odd. Generally a food safe to eat from an alternate world would be at least partially incompatible with his digestion, but this seemed like it had been made specifically for him.
Shrugging at this turn of good fortune he grabbed the fist sized package and sat once more at the sooty stool. Unwrapping the meat fully he was hit with a delicious smell, like sweet and briny at the same time. He pulled out his survival knife and used it to carve off a chunk of the meat before taking a bite.
Immediately his mouth exploded with the flavors of the exotic flesh, it was tender and soft, hints of sweetness and a deep salty undertone that satisfied his cravings like nothing he had ever yet tasted before. It was like some cross of sea creature and cultured livestock, it was in all parts delicious. Vance found himself chowing down on the strange feast, before he knew it the meat was gone, his mouth still watering from the abundance of flavors.
He sat back on the stool, back pressed against one of the earthen walls and gave a sigh. He felt content. He felt a comfortable sleep threaten to overtake him and so sat up and then stood. There was still far too much to do before he could allow himself that luxury. He took the water jug and slowly poured a small measure of the precious liquid over his feet, taking care to maximize its usefulness in case he was unable to find more. After a minute of this he felt comfortable enough to take another look around.
He moved around the room, checking the walls and furniture for other potentially useful items, nothing jumped out at him explicitly but he kept at it. As he finished the common area he moved into some of the adjoining rooms but they all looked the same. Charred and with pieces of broken furniture lying in smoldering piles all around. Before he knew it he stepped out into the open air once more, but it was shaded. He looked around curiously, it seemed to be some sort of sunken courtyard.
Along the walls were what looked like some sort of long boxes connected to the metal walls with pipes and wires, he moved closer and saw that many had small green shoots and fronds inside. So this must be some sort of farm then he mused to himself. In the center of the area was a tall machine of some sort, tubes and small vanes covered its entire surface and he stepped close to it. His sensitive pointed ears swiveled slightly to better pick up faint sounds and he smiled again as he heard the distinct sound of liquid moving through the smaller pipes.
This must be some sort of atmospheric condenser, they were relatively common on dry desert planets but to see one on an uncharted and alien world was a shock. These people must be somewhat advanced to have electricity and condensers. Maybe if they had such technology they had a faster way of moving across the dunes. Some sort of buggy or skiff.
Vance looked around, well, it likely wasn't down in the pit, making up his mind he walked back into the underground house and made his way back to the kitchen area. Looking around for a moment he walked to the water jug he had left on the blackened countertop. Taking another drink from his hydroflask he poured out the small amount of water that remained and then refilled it with the much cleaner purified water from the jug. Now at least he would be able to drink it without tasting the inside of the micro condensers from his hydroflask.
He gathered all his gear and gave the darkened room one last look, nothing caught his immediate attention so he left, walking up the long staircase to the surface. He stepped around the two charred corpses at the front of the structure again and looked round. The area around the dwelling was clat and mostly clear, though about fifty meters away he spotted what looked like another tall condenser. Next to it was a small pile of boxes and crates, it was the only thing in sight that might hold something of interest so he started towards it.
As Vance reached the small pile he cocked his head, something went scampering from the cracks between the crates, a small creature that seemed to hop on two legs. It stopped a few meters from him and he looked at it intently. It was no bigger than a Znot, in fact, other than missing the extra limbs, it seemed remarkably similar. It had tan wrinkly skin that blended into the surrounding dirt and a long nose that it brushed a few times as he watched. It must have been some sort of small rodent equivalent native to this world. As he looked at the small critter It gave a small series of squeaks and scurried away, its tail disappearing back into the large pile of boxes.
He gave a small chuckle, it seemed like a harmless enough animal. As he walked around the boxes he stopped, on the far side previously out of sight sat some sort of contraption. The strange machine seemed to hover on some sort of antigravity cushion, as he approached and pushed on it it moved slightly but stayed remarkably stable. He gave it a look over, its purpose started to become clear to him the more he looked. It was long and thin, with a series of tubes and machinery along the bottom. The middle of the device had a saddle-like seat behind a pair of handlebars attached to a pair of long vaned tubes that jutted from the front. It almost looked like some sort of wheelless motorcycle, a popular type of vehicle frequently used in the more rural parts of the Union that he frequented.
He shrugged and climbed on, the seat was a little uncomfortable as it seemed designed for a smaller species, but it would be fine. He found the control stirrups and placed his feet in them. He gripped the handlebars tightly and kicked back on the pedals. The machine made a series of coughing noises and then returned to its seemingly inert status. It was still hovering however so it must still have been working.
Vance looked around and found a small switch on the body under the handles. He shrugged and flicked it, the machine seemed to whirr slightly but nothing else changed. Once more he pushed back on the pedals and gasped as the vehicle leapt forwards with an acceleration that threatened to tear the breath from his lungs. He eased off the pedals and the device slowed to a more manageable speed. He experimented with the handles and turned to the left, the vanes seemed to catch the air and the hovering vehicle made a neat left hand turn.
He smiled wide as the air rushed by his ears, the wind cooling him and weakening the oppressive heat of the planet. “What a way to travel," he chuckled to himself.
Getting the hang of the device took only minutes, after he had determined he understood the mechanics of the device he returned to the crate and dismounted, making sure to flick off the powerswitch lest the thing take off without him. That would put him firmly back to square one again.
He quickly checked the boxes, many of them were empty, a few held bits of machinery that he didn't know the purpose of. The last one he checked seemed to have some sort of mechanical device inside, it looked like a robot of some sort. Short and squat with a pair of wheeled legs on its sides. Its dome-like top was painted red and white and seemed to house a series of sensors and hatches. It appeared inactive and so he closed the top, not wanting to mess with something that he didn't know the purpose of. While he suspected it wasn't a device designed for destruction, there was no way of knowing and so it was better left untouched.
Vance climbed back onto the hovering bike, the hoverbike as he was starting to call it in his head, he flicked it back on and sat still. He had a means of transportation, but he had no destination. Which way would he go? He thought about heading back towards his ship but then thought better of it, there wasn't much of a point in going back to it anyways. It was done for, damaged beyond repair. Besides, from what he had seen of the area on the way over there was no life out in the dunes. He moved towards one of the high dunes on the opposite side of the place, stopping at the top he squinted and looked around. In the far distance he could make out what looked like a series of rocks. It was as good a place as any he figured, making a mental note of which direction he had come from he zoomed off towards the distant landmark.
If he considered the rotation of the planet and the rising of the suns being to the East as was common, then the direction he was heading was roughly north. He liked his odds of finding something north, it must cool down at least a little the further he traveled from the equatorial zones of the planet at the very least.
Vance reached the rocks in less than ten minutes, the same distance would have likely taken him hours to walk but he put it out of his mind. Signs of life were all around, small lizard-like creatures scattered into the rocks as he approached and he could see small shrub-like plants all around.
The planet wasn't as dead as it had initially looked he surmised, just the vast deserts lacked life. Here among the rocks more conventional life seemed to exist.
Vance slowed for a bit, taking his time as he wound his way through a series of canyons and deep clefts in the rock. At one point he thought he heard the sound of someone yelling, but it faded too fast for him to get a bead on its location.
The eeriness of the planet combined with his total lack of knowledge on what dangers may lay around the corner made his progress slower than it needed to be. He wished he had a weapon, a pistol, a stick, anything. Sure his retractable claws would put the hurt on anything that might come at him but he had no idea what he might be up against. The feeling of not being the top of the food chain sat ill with him, his hackles rose, the collar of fur longer and shaggier near the back of his neck. It had evolved that way to protect the neck from being an easily exploitable weak spot.
He heard a strange wailing noise, at first he thought it was some terrible beast and he froze. But as he listened closer it had the unmistakable undertone of a turbojet fan spinning rapidly. As the thought passed through his mind he exited the narrow canyon he had been traversing and he gasped. The land stretched out in front of him, kilometers and kilometers of open flat rock, and in the distance a settlement or some type. He could make out dozens of structures and a few larger circular buildings whose use he wasn't sure of. It looked to be several kilometers away, not a problem with his new mode of transportation.
High overhead he saw the unmistakable silhouette of a ship leaving the planet, if they had the ability to leave the planet then why had they never been contacted by the Union before? He shook his head and then zoomed towards the small town.
He reached it in minutes, slowing to a walking speed as he saw the main entrance point to the small town appeared guarded. He approached the entry slowly, unsure as to what he should do. He was obviously not the same species as the two white armoured soldiers manning the checkpoint, they looked humanoid in shape whereas he was much taller and lankier. His arms longer and his back hunched.
Another thought entered his mind just as he floated up to the two soldiers, how would he communicate? He racked his brains furiously as he tried to think of a solution, he waved at the two soldiers as they walked over and then nodded in a polite manner. He would just have to pretend to understand and hope nothing made them attack.
He nearly jerked himself off the hoverbike in shock as the first soldier walked over and asked in perfect unaccented common “Identification?”
He had to stop himself from stuttering, the words frozen in his mind at this strange new discovery.
The other soldier, this one with an orange shoulder pad, walked over and asked “Is there a problem here?”
Vance shook his furred head and dug out his ident card, there was no reason it should work but hey, stranger things had happened. He handed the ident card to the first soldier with a muttered “My apologies.”
The soldier seemed to scrutinize the card before looking at him, the featureless black eye lenses of the white helmet only deepening the feelings of paranoia he was feeling at the moment. The soldier turned to his superior and spoke “It's not a form I am familiar with, sir.”
The other soldier took the card and looked at it before handing it back to the trooper “It looks like a match to me. You know how these backworlds are. Let them through.”
Handing the card back the first soldier waved him through saying “Move along.”
Vance did so without another word, tucking his ident card away. He was in disbelief, that had worked? What were the odds? He stopped and took a second to compose himself before his jaw dropped again.
All around him were strange wonders and marvels. Aliens of almost every description wandered to and fro in the streets, strange hovering contraptions moved down the thoroughfares and large almost lizard-like creatures lowed at street corners where small vendors seemed to be hawking wares. He saw strange furred beasts with great horns pulling hovering carts, and a multitude of what seemed to be robots all around. He shivered at the thought of them, artificial intelligence was abhorrent.
It was a most incredible sight and for several minutes he marveled. His examination was cut short as a small hooded figure approached and started speaking at him. This time he was unable to understand the words and shook his head.
“I'm sorry I don't understand. What do you want?” he asked the diminutive creature. He couldn't make out its appearance under the heavy hooded robe it wore, but he could just make out a pair of shiny orange eyes. It seemed to become agitated at his remark and shouted again, his time drawing the attention of several passers by.
The creature made one final scathing alien remark before marching off. Several of the onlookers snickered, likely understanding the insults he had blindly weathered. He growled in a predatory manner and most of them hurried away. While he was not large for a male of his kind, he was much larger than most of these puny creatures.
He started along the street once more, he needed to find a place to get information. A message board, an information kiosk, anything. He shook his head once more, this entire experience had been surreal. The journey feeling more like some crazed dream sequence more so than an actual real series of events.
Many of the aliens he saw looked disturbingly human, several even looked slightly like the slaaveth, though with some minor differences. What was this place, where had he stumbled into? He racked his brains for everything he knew about this region of space. All he could come up with though was that it was near Drivil and uncharted, about three hundred light years past the coreworlds border. An area of space generally referred to as the great frontier.
Suddenly he stopped. He looked again to his right, there across the street next to a pile of wreckage sat another of those strange hovering contraptions. This one a dusty red in color, but that was not what had captured his keen eye. No, next to the hovering vehicle was a low building with the unmistakable look of a bar to it.
He smiled, an alien bar, well, if it was like anything else he had come across it might in fact be more familiar than anything else he had encountered so far. Hopefully they spoke common in there as well. He made his way across the street and then flicked off the hoverbike before dismounting. He looked left and right but saw no way of securing it.
“Oh well.” he said quietly to himself as he walked towards the door of the building. It wasn't like the thing had belonged to him anyways. Maybe it would be there when he came out, probably not. He would just have to cross that stream when he got to it.
Vance walked to the door which opened automatically at his presence, he was immediately hit with a wall of smoky smells and funky noises. A catchy tune that made his long narrow tail twitch in tune and made him want to bob his head. He smiled, his wide grin glinting as the light met his long canines. This seemed just like his kind of place.
He sidled up to the bar top, one of the other patrons giving him a long look. He nodded to the strange green alien and then asked the bartender, a disturbingly human looking alien wearing a tan shirt.
They looked him up and down and asked “Yeah? What will it be?”
Vance frowned slightly and then replied “Information.”
The man seemed to tense and said “That isn't something I generally serve here, a dangerous commodity that is.”
Vance sighed and then replied “Ok then, answer me one question then if you would?” The man nodded slowly. “How does one book passage off this planet? Is there a spaceport I could go through or…” but was cut off as the man waved around the room.
“Off world? Anyone can get you offworld, for the right price. I'm sure if you ask around you might find something suitable, now please, order a drink or leave me alone.” and the man scurried to the far side of the bar.
The strange interaction sat ill with him. He looked around the room, the many patrons of the bar laughing and drinking. Several tables appeared to have various types of gambling or betting going on at them. He smirked, the more things changed the more they seemed to stay the same he supposed.
He jerked as movement met the corner of his eye, turning his head he saw a man waving to him from across the building. He cocked his head and the man seemed to pause. They nodded and then waved him over again. Shrugging he wandered over, he had nothing better to do at the moment after all.
The man was leaning against the wall nearest to the door, his white undershirt and black vest doing nothing to cover the dangerous looking pistol strapped to his side.
Vance cautiously stopped in front of the man. “Hello there, I’m sorry but I couldn't help but overhear you are looking for passage offworld?”
Vance nodded and asked “Yes, you have excellent hearing. Er, I must apologize that I am a bit lost here. Where am I?”
The man smiled charmingly and patted his shoulder while gesturing towards the door. “You are in precisely the right place my friend. I happen to have the fastest ship in the galaxy, where are you headed?”
Vance shook his head and said “Somewhere else, I would like to get back to the Union. But I'll settle for somewhere cooler if that's a start.” he said with a chuckle.
The man nodded and said “Well, that's a good start I suppose. You are able to pay of course?” he asked seriously as they exited the building.
Ah yes of course, money. Vance kicked himself mentally, he had his entire last paycheck in Osmir in one of his pouches. He hated using credit chips, he always felt that his money didn't even exist while using them, he liked to be able to hold it in his hand. Cash was always much more graciously accepted in the frontier where he worked too.
He reached into his money purse and pulled out a handful of Osmir. He handed a few to the man and said “All I have is Union Osmir, would that be acceptable?”
The man looked at the small handful of coins and asked “I suppose, it's not Imperial credits after all. But what is it worth?”
Vance pointed to a few of the coins and rattled of their values “Well, that is a ten credit Osmir, that one is fifty credits and the last one with the largest fleck is a one hundred credit Osmir. I have a few Osmiridium ingots on me. Should be worth a few thousand credits. Would that be adequate?” he said with a bit of a head bob.
The man smiled and held one of the coins up to the light “Osmiridium huh? Yeah I think we can help each other. The name is Han by the way.”
“Hello Han, I'm Vance.” he replied.
“My ship is in bay ninety four, want to meet me there?” Han said to him.
Vance shook his head and said “I don't know where bay ninety four is, are you going that way now? I could follow you there perhaps?”
Han smiled again and looked him up and down saying “Yeah. I think you should be fine to tag along Vance. Follow me then.”
Vance nodded and fell in alongside Han, they walked along the side roads for a few minutes, neither of them seeing a reason to speak until Han steered him towards one of the large circular structures he had seen from the city outskirts. There was a series of alien symbols on the door that he couldn't read but Han smiled and made a gesture. “Here we are, bay ninety four.”
Vance walked inside and frowned as he saw what looked to be a pile of scrap in the rough shape of a starship. A design he was wholly unfamiliar with. “What is that?” he asked, unable to keep a bit of the shock from his voice.
“That?” Han asked. “That's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs, friend. And time is money as they say. Please welcome yourself aboard the Millennium Falcon.”
Vance looked at the ship, its rough features giving him pause. His trained eye soon looked deeper though, under the scrap and grime he began to see it, the lines of a ship designed for power.
He stood for a moment longer and then turned to Han. the man asked “Well? What do you think?”
Vance gave Han a wide toothy grin as a new hope began to form in his mind and said “I think it's perfect.”
​
==End of Transmission==

I am introducing this survey as it does involve the Rio Grande Valley. The issue of pollution has always been one of my major concerns here because this is my hometown. I was born and raised in Edinburg, Texas. This has been a growing problem, only that it happens little at a time with each year so people see it as a small and underestimated issue. I have loved this city and admired the beautiful creatures that come and go throughout the seasons which is why I am doing this survey. I have done research on Google, but I’d love to hear about your opinions about this slowly rising issue. I will be asking questions in regards to the rising pollution in air, water, and waste. This survey will mostly consist of yes or no, but if you’d like to include your knowledge, I’d love to read it.

1. Don’t you fear for the future generations’ pollution? Yes or No?
2. Did you know that looking for another landfill place will cause major issues in pregnant women and people with weak immune systems? Yes or No?
3. Have you noticed our climate becoming colder in this region? Yes or No?
4. True or false: Everyone’s water will be affected if a small amount of bacteria leaks into the system.
5. Did you know that built-up microplastics can lead to the death of cells, nervous system malfunction, and even develop cancer? Yes or No?
6. As the future generation, do you think there needs to be a change with the way we throw our trash, like throwing by category? ( ex. recyclable, unrecyclable, food waste)
7. Do you think items should be biodegradable to help living become safer? Yes or No?
8. The more pollution, the more our air becomes harder to breathe. Right? False?
9. For those who have traveled north, does it feel harder or easier to breathe?

(The purpose of this survey is for educational purposes. I am assigned to do this for research, and I decided to do a survey. The reason I’m doing it here though is because I have little to no friends and low social skills to ask around people, specifically ones who have thoughts about the pollution, these few questions. I’d love to know what you all have to say.)

Approaching the doorway, the man could see a glint of sunshine breaking through under the door. The luminescence of the outside forced him to squint in comparison to his dull grey surroundings. The man flipped up the collar on his coat remembering the strong chill of the north wind he escaped from two hours earlier. He paused with his hand on the door knob not knowing if he was bracing himself for the weather or something more. Behind him were dozens of doors filled with people all looking for the same relief the man was looking for. In front of him was the door back to the real world, filled with billions of people pretending they were actually holding it together. The latch clicked and light flooded the hallway. The man couldn’t tell which side of the doorway he hated more.
Reaching into his jacket for his lighter, the man stood under the sign of the rundown clinic. The roar of the city buzzed around him. The wind, not having let up, forced the man to scrunch and huddle to light his cigarette. The city paid no attention to the man’s plight. Cars and buses flew down the bi-way, while dozens of advertisements flooded the metropolis with their neon coloring and nausea inducing jingles. The man’s hands began to tremble as he raised the cigarette to his lips, thinking how disorienting the city scape was compared to his last two hours of treatment.
After being startled by an overly aggressive advertisement for the latest mystery flavored soda, the man watched his lighter slip from his hands and tumble on the sidewalk. The gold etching glared up at him hovering just inches away from the grate leading to the sewer below. The man swore as he shuffled over to the grate hurriedly snatching his possession.
Looking up, about ready to try another attempt at getting his fix ,the man saw two figures crossing through the intersection in front of him. A woman with one hand was clutching her shopping bags while fussing over her daughter walking parallel with her. The mother seemed to be mortified by the way her daughter’s hair flew about from the gales of wind being forced down the city street. As the mother continued to hem and haw at the lack of upkeep, the daughter was solely focused on her prized possession of the day’s shopping trip: a bright red ballon.
The two companions walking together were so fixated on their own tasks, they failed to register the man, now finally having lit his cigarette just a few yards in front of them. The man had no desire for interaction and moved back underneath the doorway of the clinic to allow them to pass at a safe distance.
Finally, the woman noticing the man took a split second to recognize the other creature on the street. Her eyes flickered from the man to the clinic sign hanging overhead. From the man to the sign. Man. Sign. Man. Sign.
The woman stopped fussing with the hair and grabbed her bags tighter as her manicured hands turned an even paler shade. At this point the woman avoided all eye contact and tried to rush her daughter the few paces to escape.
It was in this small perceived slight that something snapped in the man. In a split second, perhaps even before he could recognize what he was doing, the man ripped the lit cigarette out of his mouth and hurried it into the girl’s red ballon. A large bang echoed on the street corner finally silencing the dozens of advertisements for a moment.
After the bang had subsided, a palpable silence still somehow hung in the air as the mother and daughter stared blankly at the man. Nothing was said.
Without a word, the man turned on his heel and grabbed the doorknob. The latch clicked and light flooded the hallway. The man couldn’t tell which side of the doorway he hated more.

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: South Asian
• Residence: North Carolina
• Income Bracket: upper middle ig?
• Type of School: Public
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): Immigrated but it was at a young age so idk if it counts

Intended Major(s): Computer Science / Computer Engineering (I just picked whichever one was better at the school I was applying to)
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 4.0/ 4.66 (grade inflation this is normal at my HS)
  • Side note: I was in the NCSSM online program which is kind of like taking CC classes but instead its at a better funded high school and they give you benefits and stuff. My GPA there was a 4.0/5.0 since I only took 4 classes (doesn't count towards my HS GPA).
• Rank (or percentile): currently at like 10-15ish out of 500ish
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 14 AP, 14 Honors, and the 4 NCSSM courses
• Senior Year Course Load: Calc BC and AP Lit

Standardized Testing
List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT I: 1520 (740RW, 780M) reading fucked me up hard
• Didn't take ACT because I felt like I could do better things with my time
• AP/IB: Mostly 5s and 4s throw in a couple of 3s on the BS ones like AP Chem
• Other (ex. IELTS, TOEFL, etc.): N/A

Extracurriculars/Activities
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. Research thing with some of the professors at NCSSM: Stayed there for like 3 weeks overnight free of charge, completely paid for by the school and engaged in tons of research activity. Gave me a pretty good glimpse of how I want college life to be. My research eventually got published in a paper after a while but it wasn't anything too significant. Happened during the summer of junior year.
2. Machine Learning Club Officer at my HS in my junior year: We did tons of stuff like entering competitions and doing courses on Kaggle. I was responsible for presenting the slides at each meeting and just brainstorming ideas with the other leaders.
3. Science Lead Tutor in the Peer Tutoring club: The club was actually made by the school admins so that they could meet the demand of students/parents asking for tutoring. Pretty popular club and it was how I earned the majority of the volunteer hours. I was responsible for managing the actual tutoring people and sending them off to where they needed to be. Did this every year besides senior year.
4. VP of Developer's Society: Similar to the one above but instead of HS kids, we would go to our local middle school and promote interest in STEM topics. We all came up with some course topics/ideas/activities to do with the kids and went over at least once a month. Pretty fun in general, I've been doing it from 10th grade till now.
5. News Editor in School Newspaper: One year thing in 9th grade where I managed the news section of the school newspaper we published every week. I wrote around 20 articles for the section myself and peer reviewed a lot of other papers to get them ready for publishing. Took up a lot of my time freshman year.
6. Varsity Tennis: Been playing the sport for a long time, I've been in the varsity team in my HS for all 4 years of high school and I got varsity letters all 4 years. Hoping to make it to states this year.
7. Guitar: One of my favorite hobbies, I've been playing the guitar ever since I was a little kid. I have my own YouTube channel where I upload little beats I create time to time but I mainly play as a hobby. Also it is extremely calming playing and doing maintenance on an instrument.
8. Science Olympiad: I did Science Olympiad during my sophomore and junior years, I started on a whim but it was pretty fun. I was on the JV team the first year and the Varsity team the next. We made it to regionals and then states both years.
9. Co-founder of Self Improvement Club: Basically the "weight lifting" club at our school. We make frequent trips to our school's gym, support each other in and out of the weight room and our president is very passionate about his motivational speeches.
10. JV Cross Country: Absolute torture during the years that I did it but it really whipped me into shape and got my stamina up for the tennis season. Ran multiple 5ks and my PR was around 20 minutes at the end of the season.

Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.
Not much here to be honest I didn't do many of the standard coding competitions or hackathons.

1. 4 year Tennis Varsity Letters + some medals from USTA tourneys
2. 4x Science Olympiad regional finalist
3. Music achievement certificates for guitar back when I used to recitals.

Letters of Recommendation (signed off FERPA but I'll estimate)
Counselor (6/10): Our HS is really fucked up when it comes to counselors because mine changed like every year. I did make an effort to really try and talk to my counselor this year though and gave her a brag sheet to go off of.
APES Teacher (8/10): Honestly one of the nicest and best teachers in my entire HS experience. Super passionate about teaching and the group research final project was honestly one of the most fun projects I've had. I talked a lot with her and since it was a pretty small class she knew me very well. I also sent her the same brag sheet I sent my counselor.
AP Lang Teacher (7/10): Much like my APES teacher, she was one of the few teachers I actually talked a decent amount with. We had a documentary as our final project and I think she really liked mine. She had her own questions for the recommendations so I just answered those on a google doc and sent it to her.
Side notes about recommendations:

• I highly suggest that you do not just send your resume as your brag sheet. It's my personal opinion that colleges care more about teachers can attest to how your mind works, your goals for the future, and your personality rather than just the things you did as extracurriculars.
• Add some questions/topics you are passionate about to your brag sheet or some personal experiences. Also remember to provide context that helps the teacher remember who you are.
• Never forget to say thank you and be patient. Do not rush them even if your deadline is approaching, teachers have a ton of work to do and generally get an extra week or two after the application is due to submit their recommendations.

Interviews
Didn't do any interviews, too busy procrastinating on college applications.
Essays
I've been told I'm a very descriptive writer if it counts for anything but my ratings will probably be subjective. My common app was pretty good, I think the topic I chose made it stand out from any others that I've seen because of how personal and kind of abstract/weird it was. My topic was more centered around how I think and how my way of thinking has grown throughout the years (Question #5 on the common app about growth). I would rate it a solid 7/10. My supplementals were decent, some were better than others because some questions were honestly better and easier to answer than others.
Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)
Acceptances:

• EA UNC Chapel Hill
• EA NC State
• EA UMaryland (the big one) + Honors College + 20k scholarship
• EA Defer -> RD University of Virginia

Waitlists:

• Priority (?) waitlist at Carnegie Mellon University
• Georgia Tech :(
• UMich
• Duke

Rejections:

• Stanford
• Princeton
• Cornell
• University of Illinois and Urbana-Champaign (CS)

Additional Information:
Honestly went pretty much how I was expecting it to go. I was a bit fearful that I might not get into chapel or state because of how similar my stats were to everyone else in my school but I'm glad it worked out. I was pretty surprised by the big UMaryland scholarship but it was also like my designated safety. I'm pretty sure priority waitlist at CMU just means I get the heads up about any availabilities May 9th instead of June. Kind of sad about Georgia Tech and Duke, probably my closest thing to a dream school. I was fully expecting the rejections by all the ones I got rejected by. Also a little bit of regret about not finding a workaround to the 2 art credits required to apply to the UC schools.
Currently leaning towards putting in the deposit for UNC because of how much it promotes interdisciplinary studies compared to NC State, which really only has its engineering school going for it in comparison to Chapel. I will most likely wait till May 9th, and if I get into CMU I will probably be finding a way to accept the spot and go unless I change my mind because of the price.