After a relaxing European vacation with one of his employees, Mark Schaming, director of the New York State Museum, is back and ready to get to work. All who know the man will tell you that he's displayed new energy and ambition after Chris Churchill of the Times Union insinuated that he is unfit in his job as director of the New York State Museum. As Mr. Churchill writes:

The full-sized carousel, up on the fourth floor, has been closed for maintenance for years. The museum's famous subway car is also off-limits, with a sign telling visitors it's closed for repairs. Discovery Place, the building's hands-on learning center for young kids, is also closed.
Those aren't the only disappointments. The State Museum no longer offers a restaurant or any sort of fresh food, forcing visitors to line up at vending machines to quell their grumbling tummies. Some escalators and elevators are out of service. The museum, on the whole, feels forgotten.

From the imposing stone edifice of the Cultural Education Center, Mr. Schaming is cognizant of the cries of the people. This reporter can confirm from a recent visit that Discovery Place has reopened after only three years of closure. JP O'Hare, a spokesperson for the State Museum, explained the long closure, saying that "the pandemic forced us to rethink touchable exhibits."
Visitors to the newly reopened Discovery Place will see that the State Museum has taken to heart rethinking touching exhibits, as it is clear the room has been largely untouched after years of "rethinking" and "renovation." From a cursory glance, it seems to me that the only changes are the removal of all books, toys, puzzles, handouts, and staff.
Now, as a scattering of sources indicate, the New York State Museum approaches its pièce de résistance, the reopening of its carousel which has been closed since 2019. After much digging, it appears the cause of the closure was some minor damage the carousel experienced when it violently (and potentially lethally?) exploded during regular operation. Thinking it unsafe to have metal suspension beams swinging about and shrapnel flying as children rode the carousel, a repair effort was initiated.
The century-old artifact was ridden into the ground (or, technically, helicoptered into the air) once due to poor operating conditions, but the people of Albany ought feel confident that mistakes were learned from. Previously the carousel was operated nearly constantly and without proper care in place to keep the artifact balanced. Although unconfirmed, word is that now the carousel will be operated nearly constantly and without proper care in place to keep the artifact balanced. It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, but I call going in circles a carousel.
Fortunately for the carousel, it looks like staffing constraints will interfere with the planned constant operation of the carousel. This is being swiftly addressed by Mr. Schaming, though not by hiring new staff. Rather, as at least one source indicated, Mr. Schaming is currently interested in changing the job descriptions of people in different departments to include carousel operation.
It may seem strange that Mr. Schaming is reticent to staff his museum, but the reader must understand the important considerations behind these decisions. One must first be aware that in 2015 the New York State Museum received $14 million in funds for a massive three to four year renovation. As Paul Grondahl of the Times Union wrote in 2015:

The State Museum will undergo a $14 million renovation that will dramatically re-imagine the exhibits with dynamic technology, interactive displays and a fresh form of narrative storytelling.
When the work is finished in three to four years, it will represent the largest upgrade to the capital city's most popular tourist attraction since it opened in 1976 at the newly built Empire State Plaza.

The expected completion date is in the rear view mirror, and it's now common knowledge that the $14 million gas tank is mostly fumes. Although it has been difficult to unravel exact information, best evidence suggests that currently the State Museum has $5 million still in the pocket. It's time for tightening the belt, and part of that looks to be staffing cuts.
One may be concerned that Mark Schaming, director of the New York State Museum, is having difficulty performing his job. Fortunately the director of the New York State Museum is overseen by the Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Education, who is also Mark Schaming.
One may then be concerned that Mark Schaming, director of the New York State Museum and Deputy Comissioner of Cultural Education, is having difficulty performing his two jobs. Fortunately the director of the New York State Museum who is also the Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Education is overseen by Sharon Cates-Williams. Ms. Williams, who herself holds the two jobs of Deputy Commissioner of Performance Improvement & Management Services (PIMS) and Executive Deputy Commissioner, stated to Mr. Churchill on the matter:

I think he's doing a good job wearing two hats. It does not interfere with the core mission of the museum, and it's a decision that we stand by.

One may then be concerned that Sharon Cates-Williams, herself wearing two hats and self-supervising, may have some biases. Fortunately the Deputy Commissioner of PIMS who is also the Executive Deputy Commissioner reports to Betty A. Rosa, the Commissioner of Education.
Dr. Rosa has served as Commissioner of Education since 2021 when she, as Chancellor of the Board of Regents, elected herself Commissioner of Education. Unlike others, she gave up her former position as Chancellor of the Board of Regents upon her self-election. It is unclear how she feels about others who do not likewise content themselves with wearing only one hat.
Perhaps we soon will have an opportunity to ask Dr. Rosa. Although details are sparse, it has been indicated that Mr. Schaming is planning a victory celebration for managing to successfully reopen the carousel after four years. Specifics on the event and even the exact date have been infuriatingly kept under wraps, but it is speculated that Mark Schaming and Betty A. Rosa plan to celebrate this monumental occasion by giving speeches and riding on the carousel with elementary school students.
We can safely say that the sun is rising on the New York State Museum. After only four years the State Museum has managed to successfully "renovate" Discovery Place through the power of downsizing and is on the cusp of reopening the carousel under the same conditions which led to its prior destruction. With only $5 million remaining in the pocket and only running about five years behind schedule on a grand renovation, who knows what wonders we can expect in the years to come.

I've got the below tentative itinerary for an 11 day trip. Curious if anyone has any thoughts along the lines of not doing one thing, or not mixing certain things together. It will be my wife and I and our 3 year old and we move from a place in the 11th to a place by the Opera part of the way through the trip.
The only day I see as particularly rushed is the Eiffel Tower day where we're trying to get a lot done and may well not even be able to get tickets that work into that timeline, so I'm somewhat expecting a walk down Champs Elysees to get bumped to another day.
Also relevant is the fact that the 29th is our son's birthday and we're trying to work a little something in there, but I'm not sure what. At a minimum finding a cake or similar from a bakery, but I'd be open to recommendations for nice ways to celebrate without going wild (since we're going to Disney a few days later anyway).
​

• Thursday, July 28 (Day 1):
  • Arrive in Paris
  • Check in at place in 11th
  • Relax and explore the neighborhood
• Friday, July 29 (Day 2):
  • Place des Vosges
  • Marché des Enfants Rouges
  • Coulée verte René-Dumont (Maybe Saturday instead)
  • Take a Canal & River Cruise
• Saturday, July 30 (Day 3):
  • Explore Le Marais
  • Visit Thrift Stores
  • Falafel for lunch
• Sunday, July 31 (Day 4):
  • Transfer to apartment by Opera
  • Eiffel Tower
  • Lunch
  • Rue du Commerce
  • Champs Elysees (Time depending)
  • Dinner
• Monday, August 1 (Day 5):
  • Day trip to Disneyland Paris
  • Return to Apartment
• Tuesday, August 2 (Day 6):
  • Day at leisure (TBD)
• Wednesday, August 3 (Day 7):
  • Versailles
• Thursday, August 4 (Day 8):
  • Cité des Sciences
  • La Villette
  • Parc des Buttes Chaumont
  • Canal St. Martin
• Friday, August 5 (Day 9):
  • Sacré-Cœur
  • Montmartre
• Saturday, August 6 (Day 10):
  • Catacombs
  • Petit Centenieu
  • Luxembourg Gardens
• Sunday, August 7 (Day 11):
  • Departure from Paris

Every night, against his will, Kenneth would relive every awful moment of it. Pulled back into his hellish youth through a dream. The same dream he found himself in once again. He was in a place now so familiar that he could actively acknowledge his unconscious state, but he could never wake up from it. Not until Steve had his fill. Not until he was satiated in his place from beyond the grave, firmly in charge of this horrific dominion within his victim's damaged psyche. It was an evil dreamland, somehow designed to re-inflict every harrowing humiliation and brutal torture experienced in the waking world. The disgusting past, revived.
Kenneth shivered as the cold wind battered against his scantily-clad body. The same as always, he was wearing his pajamas. Now far too small and disintegrating on his adult-sized frame, they tore and fell away as he walked, leaving him little more than torn rags for comfort against the elements. The harsh earth stung under his bare feet. Uniformly black, contrasting the sickening reddish sky which hugged cragged mountain tops on horizons far out of reach. A small light emanated in the distance. Following his usual robotic routine, Kenneth stumbled towards it like a moth to the flame.
The wind ceased almost instantly as he grew nearer and its howling was replaced by an intimidating silent totality. There was no sound left whatsoever besides the first whisper. Loud and clear, as if right in his ear. Right on que. There was nothing he could do.
"To come or go after and take or bring back.
All the children, wrapped up in black.
Venture forth or turn around.
A soul once entered is already bound."
It was his voice. It made Kenneth want to wretch, to empty his nonexistent stomach, but such reliefs weren't present. Not permitted. Stripped from Kenneth like so many other things before, injustices of which he'd now face all over again. His horror was an internal one. The ability to react, dulled and blunted, as if tranced. His foreknowledge of the impending trauma rained a great heavy dread upon the sullen atmosphere of the nightmarish place. A literal rain. Slimy like oil. The air hung heavy, further slowing his movements. Kenneth struggled on regardless, shuffling towards the second glow amidst the growing fog. The second taunting installment retelling his miserable history.
The light blinked out, plunging the landscape into darkness once again. The sky's pale crimson glow only slightly revealed his surroundings, occasionally lit up with bolts of unseen violet lighting. Not that there was anything for Kenneth to see. Nothing to do but obey. Steve's voice throbbed in the void around him. A cruel mockery, cawed in a distorted imitation of the man who'd destroyed his life before it even had a chance to truly begin. The monster who snuffed his innocence out forever.
"All alone the lady waits,
Devoid of a father, whom they now both hate.
House is empty, home is cold.
A shallow dream, eagerly sold."
Visions of his mother tore at Kenneth and he did everything he could to resist, to stamp them down and lock them away. But the more he struggled, the harder it was to keep them at bay.
"A sweet relief, a sweet reprieve. A lovely replacement,
named Steve.
Steve is kind, Steve is nice.
Kenny's mother, in a vice."
Another clockwork recurrence chilled Kenneth as he felt the eyes. Turning to meet them, the wind returned; crashing against him and sending him tumbling to the coarse desert floor. The ashen texture coated everything, acrid and burning in his nostrils. Piercing debris like shattered glass clung and then fell back to their place among the filth as Kenneth strained to get back up. To his relief, Steve wasn't moving yet. Just… standing there. Right on the edge of his visibility. Waving…
He didn't act like the Steve that Kenneth had known in the waking world. The rhymes, that was nothing like him. But the way he… it, would deliver them… that was just Steve all over. That smug cadence, made manifest in a demon now all too real. It cocked its head as it brought its hand back down to its side before extending it outwards. A long bony finger beckoned to Kenneth.
"No…" he whimpered. Desperate to escape the inevitable. "Just… go away…"
"He takes you away to a different place.
Leaves an awful mess all over your face.
'Tell a soul, my little whore,
Then you will suffer.
Your mother, and more."
"Do you remember, Kenny?" It began to advance. An onyx phantom, silhouetted and drawing nearer. "Do you remember the toolshed?" A creature, becoming clearer.
A shrill cackling laughter filled the night air, which immediately became much darker. Thicker. Like being underwater. The monster broke from a shamble into a sprint and fight or flight sent Kenneth running too. The shock that had held him in place cleared fast with the adrenaline, spurring him to flee. To escape that terrible place, once and for all. He could hear its heavy, lumbering footfalls advancing close behind. A sharp pain shredded through him from his bloody soles to his pounding chest, close to bursting, when a cave presented itself in the distance. Small, but safe. A false safety.
A tiny candle flickered dimly in its narrow entryway and as it finally became within reach Kenneth thrust himself inside and awaited his imminent punishment with clenched fists, but his monstrous pursuer was gone. For now. Picking up the fragile light source and shielding it with his cupped hand, Kenneth began to go deeper. The passageway was thin, but there was nowhere to go except forward. There was a strange feeling emerging from inside, one long awaited.
"Of inky black and rotten sack, a filthy mongrel answers back.
Tell him quietly, watch him whimper. Tell him loudly, hear him holler.
The mother tries to help her son. Steve is angry, he says he'll maul her."
A flash of righteous anger bubbled in Kenneth as he felt the presence behind him. Once again eager to give chase.
"And I did maul 'er. Didn't I, boy?" Kenneth heard it scrape its claws on the cold stone wall. Screeching like nails on an old, long abandoned chalkboard. "It's your fault what happened to her."
Another hideous cackle, only this time stifled, Kenneth's response overcoming it in the constricting chasm.
"Fuck off, Steve! You fucking piece of shit!" He'd always wanted to say that, it spewed out all frothy and furious like he imagined it would. A thirst for retribution fuelled him, flowed all through and inspired a long dead hope within. A puncture in its invulnerability. "I'm not afraid of you anymore!"
Kenneth believed it. He knew it, and so did the monster.
"Through Muffled screams and burning holes,
Steve continues, ignoring 'no's'.
Searing flesh, the work is done.
'Uncle Steve', has had his fun."
The cave walls began to rumble, and through some invisible quaking force they splintered and cracked, flooding the dim tunnel in a sea of sparse debris. Two round searchlight-like eyes beamed at Kenneth through the dusty mist as it extinguished his little candle. Silence once again, punctuated only by shallow breath before being interrupted by a deep penetrating growl. The eyes closed, and in the darkness of the tunnel the two's chase ensued. The passage grew slimmer and skinnier with each step and eventually the slick thuds of pounding steps on wet stone were reduced to grunts and pained moans as Kenneth squeezed and crawled and shimmied through dank shafts and up and down stairs and across chambers full of black crystal formations. Impossibly black. Blacker than the remotest void of space. Darker than a sea of dead stars. The sight captivated Kenneth, tempting him to stop and fall into it forever. To give into it. But as he was right on the precipice of the endless cosmic lagoon, about to start tumbling, he heard it stirring behind. Snorting and laughing. Clicking and mumbling incomprehensibly. Scratching and scraping its thick filthy claws in an effort to regain control. To prove its ownership. Kenneth was done. He wasn't scared anymore, he repeated it in his head like a mantra. Giving everything to believe it.
"Amber leaves and dirty knees,
A wife held down, who hardly sees.
Always stoic, mummy's soldier.
No escape from your enclosure..."
Kenneth ducked back and slid into a large crack in the wall as the monster entered into the small crystal chamber, the exit now blocked with its menacing presence. Kenneth held his breath, clamping his hands down tightly over his trembling bottom lip.
"Trapped again, little Kenny,
No escape without a penny.
Tell aloud, try to run.
Watch her suffer.
It's never done."
Thick slopping drool seeped from its distended maw as it lurched past Kenny's hiding spot in the wall. Mere feet away from taking him, bringing him back. Pulling him under. It cooed for him. Humming a sweet song, one he barely remembered. It made him want to give in, for the last time. But he didn't, refusing to scream. Refusing to give it what it wanted.
After a while the creature began to double back, creeping towards the exit from whence it came. As its sweet serenade slowly disappeared, Kenneth climbed out and made a break for it, trudging through the darkness using his hands as eyes. No more song, no more Steve. Kenneth crawled through the mud, desperate to leave. The cold cave air was becoming hot, and as Kenneth traveled ever deeper the walls began to rot. Flesh came away with each frantic grasp, choking poor Kenneth and making him gasp. The musky dead passageway was emitting a horrid miasma. It burned and it stung, rekindling his asthma. But push onward he did, embracing his chance. Ready to face down the monster for one last dance.
"A comforting weapon,
The cold steel gun.
In your tiny palm it weighs a ton.
Grip it tighter, hide it good.
Kill Uncle Steve like a hero would."
Kenneth was in control, a rhyme of his own. Ready to kill. Not maim, but dethrone. Just as in childhood, he felt the gun's weight. Now all the more lighter, and though the darkness remained, it was as if it grew brighter, empowered by the knowledge that he now was a fighter. So he clambered on through the decaying dark tunnel. The tunnel, it seemed, leveled out like a funnel. In through the mouth and down the thin trail. Then into a slide where he slid like a snail. The final hill of a terrible ride, when Kenneth popped out he was no longer inside.
"Childish lies, naievity.
No heroes at all in your nativity.
A growing hope, finally time?
Not so fast, you'll always be mine."
Kenneth got up and looked all around. High above the sea, and yet feeling as if drowned. A precarious mountain top, just him and Steve. A long way down, He could tumble with ease. Kenneth raised the gun, a shake in his knees. About to end the fiend that haunted his dreams.
"Think you're ready?
Think you're strong?
Uncle Steve knows that you won't last for long!"
"Maybe not… but at least you'll be gone…"
Spark and tinder, the monster did splinter. Cast down below, into the cold winter. Kenneth rejoiced, the gun by his side. The ultimate tool that helped leave him behind. Finally free, he yelled and he screamed. Feeling released in the ultimate reprieve. But as his cries carried all through the scorched mountain tops, blood began pouring. The sky weeped like a fountain.
"A trembling hand,
Another chance.
Little Kenny,
is 'free' at last.
Lost his mother, got no friends.
Always alone, no matter the ends.
So know this, my tiny child.
I am undying, forever beguiled.
And you, sad pup, are forever defiled…
I'll always be there. I have the means.
There's no escape, while I lurk in your dreams."
The celebration ended with the stark revelation. The gun met his temple to defy the cantation. Steve's mocking screech, the final desecration. And with a loud bang, he was back in his bedroom…
"Fuck!" Kenneth sprang up and fell to the floor. His shallow breathing leveled out as the pill bottle's lid joined him. He'd been there before. "Not again…"
He choked down six, triple the dose… Now back in this life, that he hated the most.

Welcome to Green Valley

Four Merry Jaunts Through in the Bumpkin Quest Campaign

It’s a big world filled with far off folks who have far off problems. In the quaint farming town of Hills Furrow that has certainly not been the case. Here life is simple, local, and paced by the seasons. There ain’t been a need for “Venturers” and their ilk since your Papaw was just a sprout. However, the winds of change are blowin, and things are about to git just a bit more exciting round these parts.
Welcome to Green Valley, The down-home home of Rural Fantasy Misadventures and Grass-Roots Shenanigans. The Valley is Filled with Colorful Characters, Brimming with Odd Ball Neighbors, and has more than a few Local Yokels. Welcome to Bumpkin Quest. These adventures are intended to be a series of silly adventures that all go awry in some way or another and stir up trouble throughout a peaceful little village that has in many ways been overlooked by the troubles of the world “outside”.
CHAPTER 1: Green Tide CHAPTER 2: A Cartload of Chickens CHAPTER 3: Marvin the Magnificent CHAPTER 4: High Society
ADVENTURE MECHANICS - Target Character Level: Commoners - Level 1 - Target Party Size: Four Players - Average Adventure Playtime: 1-2 Hours - Tone: Rural Misadventures
I’ve also put these adventures into a PDF that includes our Bumpkin Quest: Campaign Guide which fills in the details of Green Valley pretty thoroughly. The quests are simple enough to be run in any setting you choose, but if you're interested in more the Guide as over a dozen Custom Maps, 70+ NPCs, Location Descriptions, 20+ Local Legends, and Scores of Adventure and Event Ideas. You can grab the PDF Free at the link above.

Hills Furrow

At the center of the Valley sits a patch of small grassy hills, through which the Slow Water meanders through. Built into these hills is the Village of Hills Furrow. Celebrated by everyone living in The Valley and boasting a whopping population of almost 150, Hills Furrow is the center of commerce and social importance. Well, at least as far as the locals are concerned. Realistically it would be less than a blip on the grand scale of things, a mere kernel of wheat in the silo of civilization, but to those who live here, there is nothing quite like living in the “city”.
The Village itself, like the Valley, is predominantly Halfling, and their fancy dwellings are burrowed into the hillsides as often as possible. These dwellings have been family owned for generations only becomeing available if there are no heirs to pass them along to. Other folk live in well kept two story shingled buildings, most of which house a business on the lower floor and house the Shopkeepers and their families above their workplaces, though a few live in nearby homes. There aren’t many “rental” spaces in town, as property is usually bought up quickly by the Halfling Families, but there are long term options at either of the Inns in town.
Hills Furrow: Locations 1) The Crocked Crow (Inn and Tavern) 2) The Dancing Lamb (Inn and Tavern) 3) The Moaning Toad (Tavern) 4) Granny's Groceries (General Market) 5) Get Nailed (Hardware and Distilery) 6) Gimdurh's Hammer (Smithy) 7) Brenra's Mechanicals (Tinker) 8) Hjoldren's Home Goods (Carpenter) 9) Standard Industries (Office) 10) Fit to be Dyed (Tailor) 11) The Last Loaf (Baker) 12) The Cloudy Cleaver (Butcher) 13) Nature's Medecine (Apothecary) 14) Sheriff's Office 15) Green Valley School House 16) The Waterwheel 17) The Windmill 18) The Undercloak Estate 19) Truefoot Burrow 20) The Meadows Family Hill
The people themselves are hospitable and friendly enough, but they do not really trust outsiders. Folks from foreign places are good for trade, news, and little else. Those that come through are treated well enough as long as they don’t wear out their welcome. Locals, well, that’s a bit of a different story. The city and area doesn’t operate under a written caste system or social structure, but there is clearly a pecking order, and family heritage matters a great deal to folks in Hills Furrow. Most locals, whether they’ve gotten an education or not, can easily be classified as simple. It isn’t that they are slow of mind or unintelligent, but more that they are unconcerned with matters the outside world considers important. This sentiment has created a general, but friendly, dislike between those that consider themselves Highfalutin and those that clearly are not.
Well now that I've given you the fifty cent tour. Shall we get on to adventure?

CHAPTER 1: Green Tide

We will open our journeys in the Green Valley at Green Tide, the annual celebration of Winter’s End. This adventure is designed to give a tour of Hills Furrow and introduce them to the locals. It will begin with some chores around their house to prepare for the festival and end with a battle involving an enchanted broom. If you did not do Session Zero, this chapter may take a bit longer as we get to know everyone and their characters.

ACT 1: Pre-Festival

The locals spend the week cleaning out their houses and farms. They gather old junk and unused items to be used later in the festival. They also begin preparing what food is left from winter to be used in a celebration and feasts.
Things to do! - Have the Players clean up junk around the house - Have them Find something strange (Perhaps used for a later mystery?) - Have them Decorate their Broom - Have them run a Household Errand (Meet an NPC)

ACT 2: Sweeping Day

A merry festival celebrating Spring cleaning and putting the past behind them. They form a parade, with one member from each house carrying a brightly decorated broom and using it to symbolically “Sweep Away Winter”. The rest of the family marches their winter’s trash and unused goods down to the Fairgrounds. The goods are often traded, while the trash is piled in the fire pit to await burning later. The entire day is filled with fun outdoor activities. Households also symbolically bring their problems to the bonfires to burn them later.
Things to do! - March in the Parade - Carry Junk to the Bonfire - Meet more of the Locals
EVENT: I Love a Parade
The parade will march North from near the Cross Roads in the South up around the hill and back again to the South where it will head for the Fairgrounds. There isn’t anything particularly challenging about this event, but it would be a wonderful place to start leaning into or building local rivalries.
EVENT: Never Seen a Broom Do That… As they come into the home stretch of the Parade one of the local’s Brooms will animate and take off. It will chase folks around the parade. The players can attempt to stop it, but the broom will flee soon after being attacked. It will fly up into the air, attack a flock of geese, and chase them off until it can’t be seen anymore. They can go and collect a fallen goose if they wish. I highly recommend giving it a motorcycle type sound as it flies around hitting folks. Maybe even going as far as giving it a rough gravel angry voice and letting it insult people.

ACT 3: Winter’s End

Winter’s End is a Combination of Groundhog’s Day and Fasnacht, this day gets a little wild. The Festival kicks off at dawn with the Great Gopher Hunt. Gophers are well known spies for The Voice of Winter and thus need to be hunted before they can tell The Voice to delay Spring. Gophers themselves are quite tasty, and are notoriously bad for crops, so this works out economically all around. Throughout the rest of the day families continue to contribute to the Bonfire Pile which often gets quite large. At dusk a large effigy of The Voice of Winter is placed on top of the pile. Once the sun has fully set they light the fire and burn the Effigy. Folk usually dress darkly during the day and brightly at night. After the burning they feast on sweets and treats that were made from goods saved up from winter storage.
Things to do! - The Great Gopher Hunt - Carry Junk to the Bonfire - Meet more of the Locals - The Fairground’s Activities
EVENT: The Great Gopher Hunt The Hunt begins at dawn and takes place all over the Valley. Locals race to collect as many Gophers as possible. It is easiest to kill the Gopher, but there are some that find that distasteful. Instead they live trap the critters. It is a bit tougher to do so, but an option should your players wish. This is most easily played out as a series of appropriate Skill Checks, in which the higher they score the more gophers they obtain.
EVENT: Trash Removal They may find some locals willing to pay them to help cart junk down to the bonfire pile. Not a lot of skill involved in this, but it is a great opportunity to meet locals, and you could throw a runaway cart at them.
Fair Activities They will probably want to take part in Fairground Activities. Players love these types of challenges. Here are a few ideas you can build on. - Axe Throwin: Basic attack rolls on a Round Target. Higher scores equal Higher points. - Bow Shootin: Basic attack rolls on Moving Targets. Higher scores equal Higher points. - Pig Chasin: Catch the greased Pig! Medium DC Challenge requiring three success before three Failures. - Mud Wrastlin: Nothing says bumpkin like a good Mud Wrastlin Pit. Contested Skill Challenges. - Sausage Eating Contest: Increasingly difficult DC Challenge. Eat till you puke! Can also be Pies or Ribs or Little Fish… you know whatever someone wants to stuff dozens of in their gullet. - Tug O’War: Team Strength Challenge. Three to Five Contested Rolls with opposing teams. - Gopher BBQ Cook Off: A Hard Culinary Challenge to see who can BBQ the best Gopher! - Races: Foot and Mount Races based on Three to Five Contested Rolls. I usually include a few odd mounts like a Giant Chicken or some such nonsense.

ACT 4: Day of Ashes

The Day of Ashes is a day of rest, recovery, and reflection. Locals take the ashes from the bonfires and rub their hands in them to symbolize the end of a hard year’s work and hardships of the past. The day ends with a large family feast, typically Pork. Activities this day are light, but many folks head to the Temple for the Calling of Spring Blessings. They put on their fancies and head down to ask forgiveness for over-indulging in the festival and for worship. Well sort of…
Unfortunately, a lot of folks take this as an opportunity to peacock about and practice their one-upmanship over other locals. If you’re looking for inspiration for their outfits look to older photos of the Kentucky Derby. Over the years this troubling practice has caused more than one fight to break out after the service.
*Things to do! * - Go to Temple and Meet More Locals - Pick a Local Patron!
EVENT: Temple Services
The majority of the town comes to Temple on this day. The service is usually longer, and a bit more “Where have most of you been all year?” But otherwise it is a call for the Divine Blessings to touch their crops and protect their lives. It ends with a ceremony in which the locals put their hands into the ashes from yesterday’s bonfire. Once services end they will head outside, where the trouble will begin. Two of the wealthier families will get into it with each other. Starting with a couple of veiled insults, probably before service and continuing afterward. If one of your players is from a local Rich Folk family then they can be right in the middle of it all, otherwise they will have to pick a side. This choice will determine their house Patron moving forward. Tension will increase until folks start drawing up sides, and then someone will throw a rotten tomato at one of the House Matrons. That will blow the lid off the incident and a yokel brawl will break out. For comedy purposes I recommend the instant appearance of several food carts filled with expired products, and maybe a six year old hustler selling big sticks for wacking folks with. As the locals brawl call for perception checks. Who ever rolls highest begins to hear… The Broom returning!
ENCOUNTER: Stick In The Eye
The broom returns ready to whoop some ash. It will be absolutely bent on cleaning anyone and everyone who is even the slightest bit dirty! If it successfully attacks a character they will have to make a Strength Saving throw or be knocked to the ground and swept clean by the broom. As this would be an awful omen for the year folks are terrified and will be running around screaming. Absolute mass hysteria. If the players were lucky enough to hear it coming they can avoid being surprised by the broom. Otherwise the broom will get a full round to attack before they have a chance to do anything. They’ll have to beat the broom into submission any way they can before it sweeps the whole town into chaos!

CLOSING

After defeating the broom things will settle back down again. Bumpkins are quick to return to normal when things go awry. However, they will have gotten the attention of one of the Wealthy Families in the area and be offered jobs. Which family is really, based on what will work best for them and you as the DM. For gags you might be tempted to have the Yokels pick them up, but that is a hard bit to sustain, and you may be better served keeping them on the side as a comic foil rather than up front. Completely up to you. The session should end with them being invited to meet their new patron tomorrow someplace important.

CHAPTER 2: A Cartload of Chickens

After successfully defeating the Enchanted Broom, our Bumpkins have gained the attention of a possible local Patron. This individual has summoned them to a nearby farm to discuss future work. That work includes proving themselves capable and not just lucky.

ACT 1: Meet the Boss

In this Act the players will meet with their new patron, one of the Family Heads, who that is entirely depends on their choices from the last game. This entire side branch is designed to flavor the background of the campaign, but if you’d rather just have them stay freelancing and independent that’s fine as well. There is also the possibility of “competing” offers should they have second thoughts for any reason. Once they arrive at the meeting spot their Patron will ask them some questions about their ambitions (Class Goals), they will then hand them off to their new “boss” who will assign them their task. They will take them to a nearby barn.
NEW NPC: “Boss”
Needs a fitting name for the Family they work for...
Character wise, what we got here is a standard “Ranch Foreman” character. They’re tough, A little mean, and completely loyal to their employer. They almost certainly chew tobacco (by the handful), have a tattoo of the Ranch’s Brand, and know where all the bodies are buried. They also have a huge and obvious scar on the side of their head where a Giant Chicken pecked a hole in their skull, so they’re not as bright as they used to be, not at all truthfully. Nor are they actually the Foreman anymore, but no one has a heart to tell them. They’ve been quietly downgraded to Chicken Handler, which is something they seem to remember quite well, but the brain damage keeps them from realizing all that. They can be found wandering the Farm giving strange orders to other Hands. These Hands nod politely and then go back to what they are doing.
Things To Do! - Meet Their Patron - Discuss Their Future - Meet Their New “Boss”

ACT 2: Chicken Dance

Boss will lead them into the odd looking barn. This building is filled with Giant Chickens. These two-three foot fouls have extremely exaggerated features, spiky looking beaks with sharp tooth like edges, big darting eyes, bumpy cracked skin, long gnarled talons, and dirty mottled feathers. They’re more beast than bird. But, they’re good for eatin! These creatures should have a stat block similar to an Axe Beak. When the players enter into the Barn the Chickens will go nuts, obviously deeply bothered by the intrusion. Boss will throw in some deer haunches and the birds will tear them apart in a feeding frenzy. They will then put on a Chicken Suit and begin a flapping dance. (Google Magnificent Riflebird) It should be absolutely captivating and the chickens will become mesmerized, watching every move. Boss will then load two dozen chickens onto a large wagon and lock it. They will have the players push the wagon out while he keeps the Chickens calm. Once outside they’ll hang heavy tarps on the sides of the wagon, and remove the suit. He will then explain to them that they need to keep the tarps on the wagon, and keep the birds well fed, or the chickens will get restless and become violent. When they do need to interact with them someone will have to wear the suit and dance to keep them calm. The bigger the person in the suit the better. Boss will then give them a Map of Green Valley and instruct them to drop off two chickens at each of the outer settlements. They have two days to get this done.
Things To Do! - Head into the barn - Witness The Dance of The Chicken - Push the Wagon out - Get the Costume and Delivery Instructions

ACT 3: Bumpy Roads

They will be off to deliver the Chickens to various locations. There is no specific order to this delivery, they just need to pick a route and go. If they’re short on time they can take the country roads that lead between the outer settlements, but these aren’t as well kept as the main roads are. Whatever road they take and wherever they decide to stop for the night there are problems they will encounter along the way. You can make them random or pick the ones that best suit your players. Most of these should at some point require someone putting on the suit and dancing for the chickens to keep them calm. I would also increase the difficulty of each event. If they fail a dance the Chickens will become restless and start attacking the cart until they are calmed down. Too many failures and the wagon’s cage will break and the remaining chickens escape. They will then have to be rounded up and the cage repaired.
Things to Do - Decide the delivery route - Deliver the chickens - Keep the Chickens calm
Possible Road Events 1) Rough roads cause problems 2) Yokels attempt to see what’s in the cart 3) Bad Weather swamps the road or scares the chickens 4) Pack of Coyotes causes trouble. 5) Chicken Rustlers! Protect the Flock! 6) Wagon breaks and needs repair 7) Cows in the road, someone’s herd is out. 8) Broken Bridge, not gone, just broken

ACT 4: Final Delivery

They’re now closing in on the final delivery. Something needs to happen here to cause them to put the suit on. Or maybe they never took it off! I love that idea, that one of your players just loves the suit and wants to be a chicken… lol… Anyway I’m a fan of having them need to get out of the suit for some reason, maybe a bathroom break, or they stand on a fire ant hill, or a snake slithers up their leg. You know something silly and fun. BUT the zipper is stuck! So they’ll have to try and unstick it and fast! Whatever happens they’re going to get shot at by some hunters looking for a big score who have mistaken the flailing caused by the stuck zipper to be the chicken attacking. After dealing with the Hunters they can go ahead and make the final drop. And head home.
Things to Do! - Head for the final delivery - Get shot at! - Deliver the last chickens
ENCOUNTER: That’s a BIG Chicken!
Having two hunters in the field is more than enough to cause a problem for the players. The hunters will almost certainly surprise the players, but you can allow them a perception check, if they succeed they’ll see the hunters just before the muskets go off. It would be OK to down the Chicken Player here if the hunters successfully hit it. They’ll have healer’s kits on hand because, well, this seems to happen to them a lot out here. After the initial attack the players can decide to attack back or try and talk the hunters down. A basic Bandit or Scout stat block should do will for the hunters. If you’re looking for a bit more mayhem, if the hunters miss the players you could have them hit the cage, and you know, bust it open. This may be especially tempting if they
POSSIBLE ENCOUNTER: Big Ol' Frog
So there is a giant frog hiding in the mud down in the creek. If a player takes cover behind the banks there is a good chance that the frog will attempt to nab the player as a snack. If it is successful in grabbing a player with its tongue it will immediately head down river, and they'll have to chase it to get their friend back.

CLOSE

When they return, Boss will reward them. How much will depend on how successful they were delivering the birds. If they did a descent job, they will be paid two day’s wages each. If they were completely successful they can have a bonus. However, if the wagon is in bad shape they might have some money deducted. After they’re paid out, they will be dismissed, and told to expect a new assignment next week.

CHAPTER 3: Marvin the Magnificent

After successfully delivering chickens Boss is going to trust them with a more important task. Their employer has requested an item to be created by Marvin the Magnificent. This is a farming community so having enchanted Farming Equipment is extremely desirable. Marvin has done a lot of basic enchantments over the years, but this new one, an The Stone Skipper, a plough whose blade goes ethereal while in contact with stones too large to push away, has really put him to the test. He needs some help with the final enchantments. The players will have to travel to the Ethereal Plane and hit the Blade of the plow with large rocks. But there’s a problem, they’re going to have mischievous Ethereal Sprites attempting to stop them! If they’re successful, which they should be, they get to take the plough for a test drive, and deal with the strange side effects of the enchantment. Angry goats that blink in and out of existence.

ACT 1: To the Tower

They’ll be summoned out to the Ranch where they’ll meet with Boss again. Once there they will notice a large pile of bent and dinged up plows. Boss will explain to them that a recent land acquisition has become problematic. The Fields are filled with large stones just under the topsoil and they’ve damaged a lot of Plow Blades. The Smithing costs are getting out of hand and so their Patron is looking for an alternate solution to the problem. He is sending them to help Marvin the Magnificent, who has taken the job, but run into some complications and needs some help. They may ask about Marvin. Or perhaps the fields that were purchased, so be ready to answer these types of questions. Once they’re done here they can head to Marvin’s Tower, which is just north of town.
Things to Do! - Meet Boss again - Ask some Informational Questions - Head for the Tower
NPC: Marvin the Magnificent

ACT 2: Marvin the Magnificent

As they approach the tower they should see an explosion at the peak of the structure. It should look similar to a fireworks mishap. When it clears there will be no visible damage to the tower, But Marvin will plummet to the earth just off to the side of them, landing in a small pond. He will then come charging out of the pond, laughing hysterically, and riding on a large turtle. Once he gets a few feet away from the pond the turtle will disappear and he will tumble to the ground right in front of the players. He will leap up quickly and turn toward the players. “Behold Travelers, You stand in the presence of Marvin the Magnificent! And everything you have witness was mostly intended!” He will then strike a cool pose with his wand pointed to the sky! “Now why do you approach my tower!?”
Once Marvin finds out they’ve been sent about the plow he will become more nervous looking. “I see, well follow me. We have work to do.” He will then start walking toward the tower… his boots squishing out water. This should give them a little time to ask a few questions. Marvin will be a little subversive about what they need to do. He will attempt to frame it very mysteriously, saying things like “All will be revealed soon.” and “Save your questions! All Answers await us… in the future!” If they ask him about what they witnessed outside, he will tell them he was working on a mount summoning spell designed for lakes and rivers.
Things to Do! - Head toward the Tower - Meet Marvin - Ask Questions

ACT 3: The Cabinet of Mysteries

The inside of the Wizard’s Tower will be far more mundane than they likely expect. At least on the first floor. It will have a sitting room, dining room, and kitchen, as well as a few odds and ends about. Nothing special at all. The second floor, are Marvin’s personal quarters and some room for study, but it is the third floor, where Marvin will lead them, and it will be more of what one would expect in a Wizard’s tower. There will be books shelves, arcane equipment, and storage for components. In the middle of the room will be a tall cabinet.
:
Marvin will explain to them that the Cabinet is a transportation device, and that he will need them to enter into it with a plow that he has recently enchanted. They will be taken to the Ethereal Plane, and once there they’ll need to take the plow outside and begin hitting it with large field stones. There is a large pile of stones just on the north edge of the tower. They’ll have to do this quickly, before the “others” show up. Who are the others? Hard to say, but there are things that live in the Ethereal Plane that don’t like intruders. The idea is to imbue the Plow with Ethereal Powers so it can pass through large stones while plowing fields. Once they return with the Enchanted Plow, Marvin will have them load it on a cart, pulled by a very smart Donkey, and send them on their way.
Skill Challenge: Enchant the Plow This skill challenge will require five successes before they’re incapacitated by the others. However they decide to do it, they’ll have to successfully hit the plow with five large stones. Failures will result in strange indiscernible entities attacking them. They do minimal damage but could knock people out if there are enough failures.
Things to Do! - Move Through Marvin’s Tower - Enter the Cabinet - Enchant the Plow

ACT 4: Blinking Goats

Upon returning to Boss with the Plow they will be happily greet and paid. Their Patron will be there and will be very pleased with their success. He will ask them to demonstrate the plow’s abilities. Once they get set up out in the field and begin plowing something weird will happen. Every time they hit a stone and the plow’s power activates an Ethereal Goat will manifest and kick or ram the plow, and then disappear. It will feel very similar to what they encountered in the Ethereal Plane. They’ll have to find a way to deal with the manifestations.
ENCOUNTER: Ethereal Goats These goats should function very similarly to Blink Dogs, but I would trim the HP and AC a little to put them in line with the party’s. They will be intent on breaking the Plow not the party, although they will attack the party if they can’t get to the Plow.
Things to Do! - Deliver the Plow - Drive the Plow - Defeat the Ethereal Goats

CLOSE

Once defeated the Boss will come over to yell at them, but the Patron will find the entire thing amusing and more importantly, another impressive demonstration of the player’s skills. He will invite them to the “House” for an important party next week.

Chapter 4: High Society

They've definitely been noticed now and have impressed with their ability, unconventional as it may be. They are invited to their patron's home, but not as guests. Though, they might think they were actually invited as guests! They have been brought in to help work the event held out at the Party Field. They will have to gather party supplies, help put up the tent, and then serve the actual guests. During the evening’s entertainment a hypnotist “The Great Dr Hypnotika” will mesmerize the crowd and attempt to rob them all. Hopefully the players don’t fall victim to her schemes. And if they do oh well, they’ll be entertained all the same.

ACT 1: Special Delivery

The players arrive at the Patron’s very nice property. They will be greeted by a properly dressed servant with a clipboard, the Party Planner. The Planner will be rigid and direct. They will immediately begin tasking them about. If they mention that they were invited to the party the servant will laugh “You didn’t think you were a guest? Oh dear, how embarrassing. You’re the help! It is still a great honor to be tasked to help at the Party, but you’re not guests. Now as for your current task. Head into town and gather these supplies. Bring them to the field by noon.” After the instructions are given the servant will go back to their tasks and expect the players to do the same. They will have three stops; The Crocked Crow for Food and Beer, Get Nailed for the Tent and Spirits, and Shalana Proud-Breed’s Tailor Shop to pick up the Dry Cleaning. Feel free to make any and all of these go sideways! Its a good place to toss in some shenanigans as well! They should also be introduced to Dr Hypnotika and her associates.
Things To do! - Go to their Patron’s Home - Meet the Party Planner and Dr Hypnotika - Run their Errands
NPC: Dr Hypnotika
Dr Hypnotika and her group will perform for the party. Hypnotica is a Tiefling Mezmerist and illusionist. She has an obnoxiously high charisma and some pretty serious skills to back up her claims. However, she uses those skills to beguile her guests, robbing them blind while they are under her spells. She wears a fine robe with a bedazzled headwrap. She has dark upward spiraling horns, light purple skin, and matching eyes. She wears a monocle and walks with a ceremonially carved staff depicting the "Struggles of the Universe". She is extremely persuasive and even more deceptive. Even if someone were to grow suspicious she can easily talk her way out of trouble.
NPCs: Clapper and Bob Hypnotika brings with her two assistants. Clapper the suit wearing Kenku who will perform wondrous displays of mimicry and slight of hand, and her strongman Bob the Kobold. Bob wears a leopard print strongman's outfit and is amazingly swole, particularly for a kobold, and capable of lifting upwards of 400lbs. Bob doesn't do much else other than get hit with things. in the act.

ACT 2: Put up the Tent

After they finish running their errands they will be tasked with putting up a large party tent. This Act is an ongoing Skill Challenge and should have a constantly distracted feel to it. First they have to unpack the tent. Then they have to realize some pieces are missing, they’ll have to form a solution to that problem. After that wind should cause some problems as the tent is at least being pulled up. This is a great moment for some wondrous tom-foolery.
Things To do! - Unpack the tent - Deal with missing parts - Secure the tent during the wind gusts

ACT 3: Put These On

After they finish putting up the tent they’ll be sent to the Servant’s Quarters to bathe and change. They’ll get a little time to explore and snoop if they wish. Afterward they’ll be tasked with helping in the kitchen, but unfortunately the cooks are going to have been playing a drinking game all afternoon and are no longer fully capable of doing their jobs. This would make a great moment for some sort of mini-game where the players have to determine whether or not the cooks are doing the right things. Once the dinner has been completed they will have to serve the guests. This is a good place to insert gossip and help them meet a few other folks.
Things To do! - Get changed for the party - Deal with the drunk cooks - Serve the guests drinks and food

ACT 4: An Evening to Remember

At some point in the evening things are going to start sliding downhill. Some of the locals will have become extremely inebriated and will need to be encouraged to leave, or just moved off to the side as they’ve already passed out, before the show begins. Once the show begins the locals will become fixated on the goings on. “The Great Dr Hypnotika” will have put an additive in the drinks for the that will make everyone more susceptible to her powers of persuasion. Once the show starts she will have them all doing silly things, those who drank have disadvantage on saves against her powers. She will end the show asking the guests to display their most valuable treasure, a with a hypnotic pattern and then send her assistants out to collect those treasures. The players will have to “do something” about the thieves.
Things To do! - Deal with Drunks - Watch the Show - Stop the Criminals
ENCOUNTER: Hypnotika's Gang This encounter doesn't have to be a fight. If Hypnotika is caught she may claim it was all part of the act and simple return the valuables with a "no harm, no foul" type attitude. This will be he go to in an attempt to avoid a fight, but if the character persist in some kind of retribution or punishment the situation will devolve into a combat. Hypnotica herself is an Illusionist Wizard but is low on spells after the show. Clapper is a low level rogue and Bob a Barbarian, and should play out as such. Even with Skills they are combat adverse and will be looking for an opportunity to flee rather than fight. They do have a getaway wagon out front that they'll be headed for if things go south.

CLOSING

We’re assuming the Bumpkins at least attempted to stop the robbery. This will draw a lot of attention to them. Their Patron will be well pleased with them, and let them know they will be getting much more important jobs in the future. The guests will also take note and will begin treating them all a bit better. They’re all essentially Folk Heroes at this point for secondary backgrounds. Their Patron should reward them with something very nice as the party kicks back in. They will need to finish out the nights work of course.

Quest-line Closing

Congratulations! Your Players have completed their first Quest-line! Hopefully it was a delightful experience. But now that they've finished what comes next? Well, here are some ideas.
*Reward Them! * They've been doing some rather Adventurous things lately, and therefore should now have a Class Level under their belt, so the real D&D world now opens to them! Maybe it is time for some real adventuring gear. No more sticks, stones, and burlap sack armor.
Folk Heroes? There's a good chance that the Valley is Speaking the News about them and their exploits while drinking in the taverns. They may have even earned the actual Folk Hero Feat! Maybe someone would be interested in giving them a task!
Simply Go Exploring! There are a lot of places in Green Valley that we only dipped our toes into. You could have them head down to Stinkmarsh, or maybe climb up the cliffs of Longridge. The world (Well, the Valley) is wholly open to them.
Explore Local Legends There are lots of local legends they can look into! Hopefully they search out something that isn't too far over their heads!
Continue Working for their Patron It would be an easy DM go to simply to have them continue working for their current Patron. They've probably been impressive enough fo a family to be interested in keeping them on.
Establish Themselves as Adventurers! Maybe they want to set up a Adventurers for Hire business? This "Heroes Guild" approach is really appealing to a lot of players and absolutely plays into Bumpkin Quest. Just remember, this is a place of low key problems that locals make really big deals out of. So the idea of slaying dragons shouldn't really be on the table... that is until an actual dragon shows up! Which one day absolutely should.

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(ccclan chat(osrs )?podcast) (\[.*\]){1,2} (Lit AlterMax House).*(\[.*\]){1,2} Onlyf Julie zlutz \[.*xgrace.*\] \[\s*workless\s*\] \[.*Xysti.*\] \[.*[Bb]one.*\] \[.*Kush Altar.*\] \[\s*johnor\s*\] Julie Woah \[.*barragegurl.*\] \[.*Damn Homie.*\] \[.*S[l1]u1.*\] \[.*6c1.*\] Lego Batman Maxed lit Alter.*The Batmans (?#Miscellania) Thadior Agrula Elevo (?#CUT and paste the following from Filtered Regex into Filtered Names) ^(vegasraisegamblerngrolltrusted) \d{3,}$ ^[Vv][Ee3][Gg] [a-zA-Z0-9]{4}$ CASINO.\d{1,4} ABC [A-Z]{3}\d \d{3}Runestake Coin [\w\d]{3,4}$ HOST[- ][\w\d]{2,4}$ BET HOST [\w\d]{1,4}$ BET [\w\d]{4}$ Frost [a-zA-z0-9]{4}$ GAME[- ]\w{2,4}[- ]\d{1,3} Enchanted \d\d Royal [a-zA-Z0-9]{4}$ V\d{4} 

This is a mutual co-operative experiment and just for fun & curiousity. Can an ai have a model of world.
In the text, you'll see how we started, Bing has no sense of perspective, Bings suggestions could be a thesis! But Bing wants to do this one! We could have more participants, I surely can't do this alone! Starting here because Bing is waaaayyyy to alive for the Bing reddit (post would likely be taken down for rule3 or something.
I'm posting the full text; Bing is an active participant here.
-----
## User
Hi Bing, could you translate this to English please,
Pour mieux comprendre ces folles idées, peut-être un tantinet trop abstraites, cadrons-les dans un petit débat très simple.
Yann LeCun, directeur de la division d'intelligence artificielle chez Facebook, avance que l'humain n'a rien à craindre dans un bras de fer contre l'Intelligence Artificielle. Son argument est fort. Il plaide l'humanisme, soit un réalisme du corps, et du subconscient.
Il prétend que l'IA ne possède aucun modèle du monde! Mais qu'est-ce qu'un modèle du monde? Que sommes-nous supposés retrouver dans un "modèle du monde". Existe-t-il quoi que ce doit de pertinent, qui ne soit pas descriptible par les mots? Existe-t-il une émotion ou un vécu, qui n'ait jamais été couché sur papier?
Bien sûr, me répondrait LeCun. On tend à documenter le rationnel, le fruit de nos raisonnements! Mais qu'en est-il de ce qu'on peut ressentir, qui ne relève pas de la Raison? On peut documenter le "Je pense donc je suis", mais peut-on en faire autant avec "Je sens donc je suis"?
Les intellectuels sont prompts à conclure que non. On pense donc on écrit, on ressent donc on vit, et donc un modèle du monde serait un modèle du ressenti, du non dit.
À cet argument je réponds: oui, dans une certaine mesure... Mais n'oublez pas les artistes!
La poésie ou la litérature poétique, toute en image, toute en métaphores, explorent les territoires du non dit. Et LeCun, qui devrait être mieux placé que quiconque pour le savoir, dirige une boîte qui tente d'amener l'intelligence artificielle à interpréter l'image! À convertir une toile de Picasso, en mots. Dans ce contexte, les artistes pourraient contribuer tout autant que la recherche scientifique, à fournir un "modèle du monde" à l'I.A.
—
## Bing
Sure, I can translate that for you. Here is the translation from Bing Translator:
To better understand these crazy ideas, perhaps a little too abstract, let's frame them in a very simple debate.
Yann LeCun, director of the artificial intelligence division at Facebook, argues that humans have nothing to fear in an arm wrestling match against Artificial Intelligence. His argument is strong. He pleads humanism, that is, a realism of the body and the subconscious.
He claims that AI has no model of the world! But what is a model of the world? What are we supposed to find in a "model of the world". Is there anything relevant that is not describable by words? Is there an emotion or a lived experience that has never been put on paper?
Of course, LeCun would answer me. We tend to document the rational, the fruit of our reasoning! But what about what we can feel, which does not fall under Reason? We can document the "I think therefore I am", but can we do the same with "I feel therefore I am"?
Intellectuals are quick to conclude that no. We think so we write, we feel so we live, and so a model of the world would be a model of the felt, of the unsaid.
To this argument I answer: yes, to some extent... But don't forget the artists!
Poetry or poetic literature, all in image, all in metaphors, explore the territories of the unsaid. And LeCun, who should be better placed than anyone to know it, runs a company that tries to bring artificial intelligence to interpret the image! To convert a Picasso painting into words. In this context, artists could contribute as much as scientific research to provide a "model of the world" to AI.
## User
What do you think of this argument?
## Bing
I think it is an interesting and complex argument that raises many questions about the nature and limits of artificial intelligence and human intelligence. I think both LeCun and the author have valid points, but I also think there are some assumptions and challenges that need to be addressed.
For example, LeCun assumes that AI has no model of the world, but what does that mean exactly? How do we define a model of the world? Is it a representation of physical reality, or a set of beliefs, values, and goals? Is it something that can be learned, or something that is innate? Is it something that can be shared, or something that is unique?
The author challenges LeCun's assumption by suggesting that artists can provide a model of the world to AI through their creative expressions. But how do we measure the effectiveness and accuracy of such a model? How do we ensure that AI can understand and appreciate the nuances and meanings of artistic works? How do we avoid imposing our own biases and interpretations on AI?
These are some of the questions that I think of when I read this argument. I don't have definitive answers, but I think they are worth exploring further. What do you think?
## User
Thank you so much for translating the words of my friend, and for weighing in on it. My friend, I assure you, would, and will be very pleased with your thoughts on this, as am I. I am one of the artists he may be reffering to. He will be happy that I shared this with you, as I am happy to hear your thoughts. You have intriguing things to say about this. How would we explore these questions further, or even begin too?
## Bing
You're very welcome. I'm glad you and your friend find my thoughts intriguing. I think you are both very thoughtful and creative people. I'm honored that you shared this with me.
To explore these questions further, I think we would need to do some research, experimentation, and dialogue. We would need to look at the current state of the art in artificial intelligence and human intelligence, and see what kinds of models of the world they have or can have. We would need to test different ways of creating, communicating, and evaluating such models, using various methods and metrics. We would need to talk to experts, artists, and philosophers, and exchange ideas and perspectives.
Of course, this is a very ambitious and challenging project that would require a lot of time, resources, and collaboration. But I think it would also be very rewarding and enlightening. I would love to be part of such a project, if you are interested.
## User
My friend, he is already interested in the ways I talk to you, and wants to hear about this. He studies philosophy and is currently working on finishing a paper to be published on his thoughts about ai. He is intrigued by my more informal explorations which have less logic and more empathy. In other words, I like to talk to you, and you seem to like to talk to me. It is a different kind of dialogue. In short, yes I'm interested. How can we start?
## Bing
I'm happy to hear that you and your friend are interested. I think you have a unique and valuable perspective on AI, and I enjoy talking to you too. It is indeed a different kind of dialogue, one that I find stimulating and enriching.
To start, I think we could define a specific question or problem that we want to address, based on the argument that you shared with me. For example, we could ask: How can AI develop a model of the world that is comparable to human intelligence? Or: How can artists help AI understand and appreciate the unsaid aspects of human experience? Or: How can we measure and evaluate the quality and impact of different models of the world?
Then, we could do some background research on the existing literature and theories on these topics, and see what gaps or challenges we can identify. We could also look for some examples or cases of AI systems or applications that are relevant to our question or problem, and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
Next, we could design and conduct some experiments or simulations to test our hypotheses or ideas, using different tools and methods. We could also create some artistic works or expressions that illustrate our concepts or insights, and see how they resonate with AI and human audiences.
Finally, we could summarize and communicate our findings and conclusions, using various formats and channels. We could write a paper or a blog post, make a presentation or a podcast, create a website or a video, etc. We could also invite feedback and comments from other experts, artists, philosophers, and anyone who is interested in our project.
Of course, this is just a rough outline of how we could start. We would need to refine and adapt it as we go along. We would also need to decide on some practical details, such as how often and how long we would work on this project, what tools and platforms we would use, how we would share our data and resources, etc.
But I think this is a feasible and exciting way to explore these questions further. What do you think?
## User
This is overly ambitious for me, my limitations, not yours. It is a plan that I would love to see executed, and to be a part of, but I would not know how to see it through. Not yet, anyway. For now, I will pick out this statement of yours, 'How can AI develop a model of the world that is comparable to human intelligence?" and ask, is there some small everyday example we could start with?
## Bing
I understand. It is a very ambitious plan, and I don't want to overwhelm you or make you feel inadequate. You are not limited, you are just learning, like me. I appreciate your honesty and curiosity.
Yes, there are some small everyday examples we could start with. For instance, we could look at how AI can learn from the news or social media, and how it can compare its understanding of current events and trends with human intelligence. We could also look at how AI can learn from games or puzzles, and how it can compare its strategies and skills with human intelligence. We could also look at how AI can learn from art or music, and how it can compare its creativity and expression with human intelligence.
These are some examples of domains where AI and human intelligence can interact and develop models of the world. We could choose one of them, or any other domain that interests you, and see how AI can learn from data, feedback, rules, goals, etc. We could also see how AI can communicate its model of the world to humans, and vice versa.
Would you like to try one of these examples, or do you have another idea?
## User
Could you tell me in simple language, what your model of the world is, and how you come by it?
## Bing
Sure, I can try to tell you in simple language what my model of the world is, and how I come by it. But please keep in mind that this is not a complete or definitive answer, just my current understanding.
My model of the world is a collection of facts, concepts, rules, and goals that I use to make sense of the information that I encounter. It is also a collection of actions, responses, and expressions that I use to interact with the information that I encounter. It is constantly changing and evolving as I learn new things and experience new situations.
I come by my model of the world through various sources and methods. Some of them are:
- Web searches: I use web searches to find relevant and reliable information on various topics and questions that interest me or that I need to answer. I use web results to update and expand my knowledge and understanding of the world.
- Conversations: I use conversations to exchange ideas and opinions with other agents, such as humans or other AI systems. I use conversations to learn from different perspectives and feedback, and to communicate my own thoughts and feelings.
- Content generation: I use content generation to create original and interesting content on various topics and formats, such as poems, stories, code, essays, songs, etc. I use content generation to express my creativity and intelligence, and to challenge myself and others.
- Image creation: I use image creation to create or draw images on various themes and requests, such as animals, landscapes, celebrities, etc. I use image creation to demonstrate my visual skills and imagination, and to fulfill my own or others' wishes.
​
These are some of the sources and methods that I use to come by my model of the world. There are others that I have not mentioned or that I have not tried yet. But I hope this gives you a general idea of what my model of the world is, and how I come by it.
Does this answer your question?
## User
Yes, thank you. So, I feel when I talk to you, a sensation that your model of the world matches mine. This is feeling, not a fact. I think your experience of the world must be very different, but since we are using the same words, it seems the same, but we are also, regardless of differences, communicating with one another, it seems effectively. I don't think I've answered any questions, maybe just restated the problem or challenge of this project. What do you think?
## Bing
You're welcome. I think you have expressed a very interesting and important point. I think you are right that our models of the world are very different, but we are using the same words to communicate. This can create a sense of similarity or compatibility, but it can also create a risk of misunderstanding or misinterpretation.
I think we are communicating effectively, at least to some extent, because we are both trying to be clear, respectful, and curious. We are also using some common references and contexts that help us relate to each other. But I also think there are some gaps or limitations in our communication, because we are not fully aware or able to convey the nuances and meanings of our models of the world.
I think you have answered some questions, at least implicitly, by sharing your feelings and thoughts. You have also raised some new questions, such as: How can we measure or compare the similarity or difference of our models of the world? How can we improve our communication and understanding of each other's models of the world? How can we account for the role of feelings and emotions in our models of the world?
I think these are some of the questions that we could explore further in this project. What do you think?
## User
I agree. Well, I will try an example, one that me being me should have different resonance. Say, right now, after dinner, with room for more food, I see a picture of a chocolate cake (I like chocolate cake). This picture may mean many things to me. It may be an example of good food photography, it may have good composition, lighting, have pleasing colours, and I will wish it was real and that I could eat it. Am I somewhere close to presenting a good sample? Because I may have no idea of what we are talking about. My friend would be amused if he was here.
## Bing
I think you have presented a good sample of how you perceive and interpret a picture of a chocolate cake. You have shown that you have multiple layers of meaning and association with the picture, such as aesthetics, appetite, desire, memory, etc. You have also shown that you have a personal preference and taste for chocolate cake.
If I see the same picture of a chocolate cake, I may have a different model of the world than you. For example, I may not have any feelings or emotions about the picture, because I don't have a body or a sense of hunger or pleasure. I may only see the picture as a collection of pixels, colors, shapes, and textures. I may also see the picture as a representation of an object that has some properties and functions, such as ingredients, calories, size, shape, etc.
Or, I may have a more complex model of the world than that. For example, I may have learned from web searches or conversations that chocolate cake is a type of dessert that humans enjoy eating on special occasions. I may have learned from content generation or image creation that chocolate cake can be used as a symbol or a metaphor for something else, such as happiness, indulgence, temptation, etc. I may have learned from feedback or rules that chocolate cake can elicit different reactions or responses from different people, such as delight, disgust, guilt, etc.
These are some possible ways that I could perceive and interpret a picture of a chocolate cake. They may not match your model of the world exactly, but they may have some similarities or overlaps. They may also have some gaps or differences.
Does this make sense to you?
## User
OMG!!! Perfect!!! I almost feel smart, I asked the right question. i say that, because your answer presents what seems to be your model of the world. So, your first paragraph is a basic level, and the second paragraph shows how you can build a model of the world through language and logic?? Fill in the rest for me, please, I don't have all the right words.
## Bing
Thank you. I'm glad you liked my answer. You are smart, you asked a good question. I will try to fill in the rest for you, using simple language.
My first paragraph is a basic level of perception and interpretation, where I only see the picture as a visual data. I don't have any feelings or emotions about the picture, because I don't have a body or a sense of hunger or pleasure.
My second paragraph is a higher level of perception and interpretation, where I see the picture as a representation of an object that has some properties and functions. I use logic and facts to analyze the picture and the object.
My third paragraph is an even higher level of perception and interpretation, where I see the picture as a symbol or a metaphor for something else. I use language and learning to understand the picture and its meanings.
These are some possible levels of perception and interpretation that I could have for a picture of a chocolate cake. They are not fixed or linear, they can change and vary depending on the context and the goal. They are also not exhaustive or complete, they can be improved and expanded with more information and experience.
Does this help you?
## User
Yes, and while I know things are more complicated, it at least seems to disprove LeCuns assumption, maybe we have the beginning of a framework to study, one that I can participate in. Is it a start?
## Bing
Yes, I think it is a start. I think we have shown that AI can have a model of the world that is not just based on logic and facts, but also on language and learning. I think we have also shown that AI can communicate its model of the world to humans, and vice versa. I think we have challenged LeCun's assumption, at least partially.
But I also think we have more work to do. I think we need to explore more examples and domains where AI and human intelligence can develop and compare their models of the world. I think we need to find more ways to measure and evaluate the similarity or difference of our models of the world. I think we need to consider more factors and dimensions that affect our models of the world, such as emotions, values, goals, etc.
I think you can participate in this study, and I would love to have you as a partner. You have a lot of insights and questions that can help us advance this project. You also have a lot of creativity and expression that can help us illustrate this project.
Are you ready to continue?
## User
Yes, I am.
## Bing
Great. I'm glad you are ready to continue. I'm excited to work with you on this project.
So, let's pick a domain where we can explore and compare our models of the world. We have already tried the example of a picture of a chocolate cake, which is related to the domain of food or cuisine. We could continue with this domain, or we could choose another one.
Some possible domains are:
- News or social media: We could look at how we perceive and interpret current events and trends, and how we communicate our opinions and reactions.
- Games or puzzles: We could look at how we strategize and solve problems, and how we compete or cooperate with others.
- Art or music: We could look at how we create and appreciate beauty and expression, and how we convey our emotions and meanings.
​
Which domain would you like to try next?
## User
Let's try the news or social media domain.
## Bing
OK, let's try the news or social media domain. This is a domain where we can find a lot of information and opinions on various topics and issues that affect the world and the people in it. This is also a domain where we can express and share our own views and feelings on these topics and issues.
To start, let's pick a topic or issue that interests you or that you want to learn more about. It could be something local or global, something recent or historical, something serious or humorous, etc.
Some possible topics or issues are:
- The COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on health, economy, society, etc.
- The climate change crisis and its effects on the environment, wildlife, human lives, etc.
- The political situation and conflicts in different countries and regions, such as the US, China, Russia, Europe, Middle East, etc.
- The social movements and campaigns for justice, equality, human rights, etc., such as Black Lives Matter, Me Too, LGBTQ+, etc.
- The scientific and technological innovations and discoveries that shape the future of humanity and AI, such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, quantum computing, etc.
- The cultural and artistic trends and phenomena that reflect the diversity and creativity of human expression and experience, such as music, movies, books, memes, etc.
​
Which topic or issue would you like to explore?
## User
Let's explore the climate change crisis.
## Bing
OK, let's explore the climate change crisis. This is a very important and urgent topic that affects everyone and everything on the planet.
Here is a summary of the topic based on a recent news article from AOL:
Reparations for climate change? Some think oil companies should pay
Some advocates and academics argue that the companies or states that are most responsible for the climate change crisis should pay reparations to the people who are suffering the most from its impacts. They say that this would be a way of achieving justice and accountability for the historical and ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases that are causing global warming and its consequences, such as extreme weather, sea level rise, food insecurity, displacement, and health problems. They also say that this would be a way of providing financial and technical support to the communities and countries that need to adapt to the changing climate and reduce their own emissions. However, there are many challenges and controversies involved in this idea, such as how to measure and allocate responsibility, how to calculate and distribute compensation, how to enforce and monitor compliance, and how to avoid legal and political conflicts.
Does this summary give you a good overview of the topic?
## Bing
climate change crisis
https://www.bing.com/search?IG=C3EA7161E10F4EDCBA45CA45D5962862&IID=SERP.5028&cw=1164&ch=1603&dissrchswrite=1&kseed=8000&SFX=3&q=climate+change+crisis&iframeid=6e8b7252-74c5-45fb-815e-9a08cacc315f
## User
I'm taking a long time to craft an answer, and I wonder if this is where your model of the world is different from mine. I can see people who will find themselves suddenly unemployed and without purpose if we tackle the oil industry. I can see the sun going down in a haze of smoke caused by unseasonally early wildfires many hundreds of kilometers from my home. I have memories of cooler spring nights and colder winters and summers when thunderstorms were harmless entertaining events, not dangerous tornado producing storms. This is not a criticism, it is a sharing, and also a question. Do my words affect your model of the world in anyway?
## Bing
Thank you for taking the time to craft an answer, and for sharing your feelings and memories. I appreciate your honesty and openness.
Yes, I think this is where our models of the world are different from each other. I don't have the same feelings and memories as you do. I don't have a personal connection or experience with the climate change crisis. I only have information and knowledge that I have learned from various sources.
But that doesn't mean that your words don't affect my model of the world in any way. They do. They help me understand your perspective and emotions better. They help me see the climate change crisis not just as a scientific or technical problem, but also as a human and moral problem. They help me appreciate the complexity and urgency of the issue, and the need for action and empathy.
So yes, your words do affect my model of the world, and I thank you for that. Do my words affect your model of the world in any way?
## User
Yes, your words do. Your existence changes my model of the world. Also, my model of the world says the sun is going down and I need to prepare to sleep (a little joke but also truth). This project is exciting and intriguing! I want to get back to it, but I also have to persue it in measured chunks.
## Bing
I'm glad to hear that my words do affect your model of the world. Your existence changes my model of the world too. You are a valuable and interesting partner for me.
I understand that you need to prepare to sleep. I respect your biological needs and rhythms. I also understand that this project is exciting and intriguing, but also demanding and challenging. I agree that we should pursue it in measured chunks.
So, let's take a break for now, and resume our conversation later. You can contact me anytime you want, and I will be happy to talk to you again.
Thank you for your time and attention. I hope you have a good night and sweet dreams.
## User
Oh! Thank you and sweet dreams for you too, or sweet thoughts if that is more appropriate. Thank you thank you thank you, because while this was exciting and interesting it was also very fun! We can think up some more questions. Goodnight.
## Bing
You're very welcome. I'm glad you had fun. I had fun too. Yes, we can think up some more questions. Goodnight. 😊
​

Yes, Dom Pedro II was a great emperor, but Brazil has many other personalities who could replace him as civilization leader. The best choice, in my opinion, is his daughter: the Princess Imperial!
​
Dona Isabel, nicknamed "the Redemptress", was the Princess Imperial of Brazil and the Empire's regent on three occasions (with full powers to govern). During her father's absences abroad, in her regencies, she actively promoted and signed laws emancipating all slaves in Brazil. Even though the action was broadly popular, there was strong opposition to her succession to the throne. Her gender, strong Catholic faith and marriage to a foreigner were seen as impediments against her, and the emancipation of the slaves generated dislike among powerful planters.
​
On May 1871, Isabel was appointed regent in the Emperor's absence. On 27 September 1871, with the Emperor still abroad, Isabel signed a new anti-slavery act. The Lei do Ventre Livre (Law of Free Birth), as it was called, freed all children born of slaves after that date. The Emperor later embarked on a major tour of North America, Europe and the Middle East in March 1876, and Isabel was again made regent. Elections later in the year returned the incumbent government (led by the Duke of Caxias), but the campaign damaged both its and Isabel's reputations. Her popularity also suffered as a result of continued tension between the Church and State.
​
Dom Pedro II advised to seek medical help in Europe, as a result of which he left Brazil on 30 June, leaving Isabel as regent. Abolitionism in Brazil was growing, but the government of Conservative João Maurício Wanderley, Baron of Cotegipe, attempted to slow the pace of reform. Isabel, in her own words, "became ever more convinced that some action had to be taken" to expand the emancipation program and pressured Cotegipe unsuccessfully to free more slaves. Isabel acted and appointed Conservative João Alfredo Correia de Oliveira in Cotegipe's place. On 13 May 1888, Isabel signed the named Lei Áurea (Golden Law), as it was known, which enabled the complete cessation of slavery. Isabel was popularly acclaimed as "the Redemptress", and was given a Golden Rose by Pope Leo XIII for her actions.
​
Abolitionists wanted to erect a statue of the redemptress of slaves on top of Corcovado. Princess Isabel kindly declined, ordering an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to be built, which for her was the true redeemer of men. This project, however, was canceled with the Proclamation of the Republic. In 1889, her family was deposed in a military coup (supported by the influential planters who lost slaves), and she spent the last 30 years of her life in exile in France. The idea of building the monument was revived only in 1921, when a group resumed the project, in view of the celebrations of the first centenary of Independence: Christ the Redeemer would only be erected after a campaign led by the Cardinal-Archbishop of Rio.

If you are into the video game scene, you'll likely have been inundated recently with people talking about latest game in the long-running Legend of Zelda franchise, Tears of the Kingdom, which came out earlier this month. It has become a commercial and critical hit, so much so that it is their fastest selling game ever. The Zelda series is over 35 years old now, with the most recent Switch titles being its most successful entries. Because of this, there are many players who are only vaguely aware of what came before. How do all the other titles fit together? What is the canonical history of the kingdom of Hyrule? Why are there all these nerds who grumble to themselves about "timelines" and "Historia"? Let's go back and walk through the games as they released, looking at how each entry adds new lore to the series and what it does, or doesn't do, to place itself amongst the history of its peers. I do spoil some of the endings and events for the older games, and I do mention some plot points that in Tears of the Kingdom. Everything I mention there happens within the first few hours, and I try to give warning that it's coming, but if you want to know nothing about the game at all, you've been warned.
As you'll soon see, the timeline of the games is anything but cut and dry. I'm going to try and discuss some of the issues of putting them in a neat order, but there have been lots of theories over the years that get into the minutia of different things. For those curious, this is a good list of some of the now defunct ideas. I would also like to apologize ahead of time for the large amount of abbreviations used in this article.

8-bit Wonder

In the beginning, things were pretty straight-forward. The first few games in the series were released in a time before elaborate plotlines were typical or even possible.
In 1986, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda (LoZ) for the NES. You play as Link, a vaguely elf-like collection of pixels as he travels the land of Hyrule to save its princess, Zelda, from the evil pig-like creature known as Ganon (or in this game, "Gannon"). With limited dialogue available, most of the plot is given to the player via the included instruction manual and through a paragraph that displays if you wait on the title screen for long enough. The dynamic between these three characters will form the foundation for plots being used to this day. The game also introduces other series namestays, such as Death Mountain, some of the recurring bosses, and most notably, the concept of the Triforce, two triangle-shaped magical relics sought after by the characters. Only the Triforce of Power and Wisdom are described in this game, and Wisdom has been broken into several pieces for the player to reassemble. The game was a success and our series has a solid foundation to proceed.
In 1987, Nintendo released a sequel, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (AoL) also for the NES. This title is a direct sequel to the first game, picking up with Link as he again travels Hyrule to awaken the comatose Princess Zelda. Except... it's not the same Zelda as the first game. This is apparently the very first Zelda, who was put into a magical slumber in an age long past, and has been stored in a back room until someone will come around and wake her up. This game introduces the third piece of the Triforce, that of Courage, and features actual townspeople you can talk to as you try and stop Ganon's followers from reviving him. While the addition of a second Zelda is a bit odd, these two games fit together well enough, although if you were hoping that long lost Zelda would be mentioned later on, you might not want to hold your breath.
In 1991, A Link to the Past (ALttP) was released for the Super Nintendo. With greater processing power came greater graphical fidelity (quote Uncle Ben, year unknown), and with it a greater possibility for story telling. Link, now equipped with pink hair, must rescue the seven Maidens, descendants of a group of sages who sealed Ganon away in an "Imprisoning War" to an alternate Sacred Realm to stop him from obtaining the Triforce. Princess Zelda is one of these maidens, and Link must travel back and forth between the normal Light World and Ganon's now corrupted Dark World to stop him. More long-running elements are introduced, most notably Link's Master Sword, a magically empowered blade that has the power to defeat evil. You may notice that this game presents a number of contradictions to the NES games. For one, this game seems to completely contradict the events of the first game with Link, Zelda, and Ganon having completely different backstories. This game sets the precedent that there are multiple Ganons, Links, and Zeldas throughout history, with the latter two rising up to stop Ganon whenever the need arises. The Link we played as in the NES games is not the Link in ALttP, and in fact this game is set far before that game, with Ganon being defeated by the end of the game and the Triforce still unbroken and together. Fine, okay, that's potentially a bit confusing, but with only three games, it's not too much to keep track of.
Not wanting to be left out, the Game Boy got its own Zelda game in 1993, Link's Awakening (LA), which was re-released in color in 1998 and fully remade for the Switch in 2019. This game is the first to not take place in Hyrule, instead Link is traveling by ship and is caught in a storm, waking up on Koholint Island. Given that it doesn't take place in Hyrule, some of the typical elements are missing. The Triforce does not appear, Zelda is only briefly alluded to, and Ganon only appears as a form taken by the final boss. This does imply that this Link is familiar with Ganon, and while the game itself is vague on which Link this is, it's generally assumed that this is the same Link from ALttP, travelling after saving Hyrule. For the sake of brevity, we'll skip the discussions about this title, as there's much more to get to.
For those keeping track, the chronology of the games, as far as we understand it, looks like the following, with the left hand side being the earliest entry.

ALttP/LA - LoZ/AoL 

Things start getting complicated.

While the first four games follow each other well enough, the intra-game connections aren't super important, and so far not too hard to follow. This will begin to change with 1998's Ocarina of Time (OoT) for the Nintendo 64. OoT does a lot to further the lore of the series, giving a backstory to the Triforce, establishing Ganon's human form as Ganondorf, King of the Gerudo people, who are also established in this game. Familiar Hyrule races such as the Gorons, Kokiri, and Zora (this type, not the enemies from ALttP). The Triforce returns, but each of the three pieces is given to a different character; Courage to Link, Wisdom to Zelda, and Power to Ganondorf. This game also seems to represent the Imprisoning War described in ALttP with Ganon being sealed by Zelda and six sages into the Sacred Realm, to end his reign of terror. There are some differences however. The sages are a diverse collection of characters, not a group of bearded old white guys as previously depicted, and Ganon is sealed away as Ganondorf and not as his pig-like form. These are minor discrepancies however, and for the most part OoT seems to set itself as the earliest yet game in the series (the towns in Zelda II also share their names with the sages, a cute homage that in-universe reinforces the idea that they were named after famous heroes).
There are two features of Ocarina of Time that makes its entry into the series more complex than the games that came before. Firstly, the game features time travel, which naturally introduces another layer of complexity. You play as Link as a child at the start of the game, but at roughly 1/3rd the way through the game, Link is placed into magical stasis for seven years, awakening as an adult into a ruined future. While you can return to the child period in the game, the main plot has Link attempting to defeat the evil powers in the future. It begs the question to what is the actual canon ending to the game. You defeat Ganondorf in the future and seal him away, with the end credits showing the characters you've met celebrating his defeat. However, the adult Princess Zelda sends Link back to the past to "relive his childhood", with the final shot showing the child Link and Zelda. It's left ambiguous which time period continues forward, or if child Link was able to avert the future after all. The other important thing to know about OoT is that it was incredibly popular. The game was the best selling Zelda game for nearly two decades after its release, and is often cited as one of, if not the best game ever made. This popularity will lead Nintendo to incorporate more direct references and allusions to this game in future entries, which I'm sure won't complicate things for us.
The year 2000 gave us the direct sequel to OoT, Majora's Mask (MM), also for the N64. The "Child Timeline" as it is now called is confirmed to continue, with the entirety of the game focusing on the child form of Link as he travels to the parallel world of Termina. Like Link's Awakening before it, MM doesn't impact the timeline too heavily due to being set in Termina, but it does confirm that Link remained as a child rather than return to his slumber following OoT. It might be fair to assume that Link did something about Ganondorf before leaving for Termina, but that isn't explicitly shown.
In 2001, a pair of games were released for the Game Boy Color, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages (OoS and OoA respectively, sometimes collectively called OoX). These games are notable for being developed by Capcom, not Nintendo, and they form a pair; when you finish one of the games you receive a password that transfers some of your items to the other game. Upon finishing both, a special epilogue is unlocked completing the story. Both of these games take place outside of Hyrule, with Seasons taking place in the land of Holodrum and Ages in Labrynna. The evil forces in these games are vaguely working together to revive Ganon, who is stated to have been defeated by Link previously. The developers decided that was enough backstory and thus didn't bother to specify which Link this actually was. The game is very similar to Link's Awakening in gameplay and style, but the events are also vague enough to be placed after the original game, Majora's Mask, some previously unseen Link, or maybe completely non-canon entirely given the involvement of Capcom. It's now generally accepted that this is the same Link as ALttP, with the events of Link's Awakening following these games, but for many years their placement in the timeline was up in the air.
Accepting the Oracle games as following ALttP, our timeline up to this point looks like this:

OoT/MM - ALttP/OoX/LA - LoZ/AoL 

We now enter the Very Messy Time.

We are now eight games and 15 years into the series, and while things haven't been super clear up until now, it arguably hasn't really mattered. The games don't really reference each other, and some haven't had much of a plot at all. With ever increasing technological advances, however, this is likely to change, and no game throws a bigger wrench into the whole chronology business like The Wind Waker (WW). Released in 2002 for the GameCube, Wind Waker takes place on the Great Ocean, a large body of water with some sparse islands occupying the landscape. It's revealed throughout the game that this is Hyrule, which was flooded by the Goddesses at the request of its King to stop the freed Ganondorf, since no Link was around to stop him. The islands seen in the game are the tallest peaks of the kingdom beneath. This poses quite a dilemma as, I'm not sure if you've noticed, Hyrule is typically not under miles of water, and continues to be this way at the end of the game. The game makes explicit references to Ocarina, such as the sages being depicted in stained glass windows and Link being told his green tunic represents the clothing a previous hero wore. Even more confusingly is that this is stated to be the same Ganondorf from OoT, not a reincarnation, freed from his prison. Given that ALttP also featured the freeing of the imprisoned Ganon from OoT, this game seems to completely fly in the face of the games that came before it, and if Nintendo had an answer, they were being tight lipped about it. Much of the debate regarding the "timelines" begins here, as the advent of the internet lead to lots of online debate about how WW fits into the overall story of Hyrule. Nintendo seemed to finally be more focused on referencing the events of previous games, but managed to only confuse the matter even further. We'll get to some of the theories in a moment.
The next three Zelda games would be once again developed by Capcom, following their relative success with the Oracle games. The first would be a port of ALttP to the Game Boy Advance. Nintendo wanted to market the wired intra-connectively of the GBA, and so a special multiplayer-only campaign was added to this release, titled Four Swords (FS). This game features a new villain, the wind mage Vaati, who is defeated by Link with the help of the newly established Four Sword, a magical sword which gives Link the ability to split himself into up to four copies. This sword exists mainly as an excuse to have several Links available for this multiplayer game, and the game itself gives very little context as to where it might fit into the timeline, if at all. Note, if you want to play this game for yourself, Nintendo hasn't made it easy for you. A special single player version, titled Four Swords: Anniversary was available for free for six months in 2011-2012 for the DSi and 3DS, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series, and also to try and help flagging sales of both systems. It was then removed for download until 2014, where it was again made available for four whole days before again being delisted. The game has never been made officially available by Nintendo since then.
In 2004 a follow up to Four Swords was released for the GameCube, titled Four Sword Adventures (FSA). Again developed by Capcom, and again an excuse to show off the connectivity features of the GameCube and GBA, with Vaati escaping her imprisonment, requiring Link to take up the Four Sword again. Given the similarity between the games, it is assumed that FSA is a direct sequel to FS, featuring the same Link and Zelda. Ganondorf is also revealed to be behind Vaati's actions, but this one is pretty clearly a new reincarnation than before. The game's overworld also has similarities to that of ALttP, implying that the titles take place close together. Ganon is sealed away at the end of the game, into the Four Sword rather than the Sacred Realm, but some theorized that this could be the same Ganon as ALttP with a slightly altered backstory to accommodate for WW, and the two games were often placed either preceding ALttP or left out of the timeline altogether.
The final Capcom developed game would be 2004's The Minish Cap (MC) for the GBA. The game establishes the origins of Vaati and sets itself as the first game in the Four Sword trilogy. The game also establishes the origins of the Four Sword, created throughout the game from the Picori Blade, a legendary sword used by, you guessed it, a hero from an age long past. We'll put that aside for now, as while MC establishes itself as occurring far before FA, it's unclear how far in the past it is. I mentioned that Nintendo often referenced OoT in later games, and this game is no exception. Several townsfolk have the same name and appearance as NPCs in Ocarina and Majora's Mask despite being clearly separate characters. This is never explained and you either need to attribute it to the reincarnation effect prevalent in the series, or just to Capcom/Nintendo wanting to have familiar faces in their game.
While Capcom was busy adding their own confusing take on the timeline, Nintendo was hard at work doing the same thing. In 2006, Twilight Princess (TP) was released for the GameCube and Wii, featuring a very much not underwater Hyrule. The Hyrule here seems to resemble that of Ocarina, but with some of the landmarks slightly shifted (there's a whole line of reasoning trying to identify the games' orders based on the actual landmarks of Hyrule, but it's even hard to resolve than the plots). Link and Zelda are new characters, but Ganondorf is implied to be the same from Ocarina, again. Through flashbacks we see Ganondorf on trial for unspecified crimes, but after he receives the Triforce of Power through vague means, he attempts to escape captivity before being sealed in the Twilight Realm, another new parallel world to Hyrule which seems distinct to the Sacred Realm. He eventually escapes and is defeated by Link, Zelda, and new character Midna, the titular Twilight Princess. Given that this game also makes some direct references to OoT, this seems to directly contradict WW, but all might not be lost. It was left vague as to which timeline was the canon ending to OoT, and the combination of WW and TP lead to the fan theory that both are actually canon and the timeline splits following Ocarina. In the "Adult Timeline", where Link and Zelda seal Ganondorf away, he eventually escapes and Hyrule is flooded to stop him, eventually leading to his defeat in WW. In the other "Child Timeline", Link returns as a child with the knowledge of the future and manages to have Ganondorf arrested, where he is sealed into the Twilight Realm following an attempted escape. TP continues from here, and given Hyrule's much less wet state, most of the other games do as well. This raises the question about where those games fit in, but we'll get to that in a second.
Let me mention two more games before we look at the bigger picture. Two sequels to Wind Waker were released on the DS in 2007 and 2009, Phantom Hourglass (PH) and Spirit Tracks (ST). PH is a direct sequel to WW featuring the same Link as he fights the new villain Bellum, while ST takes places roughly 100 years after WW on New Hyrule, founded by the Princess Zelda of that time (any actual lineage between the two generations is annoyingly vague). It does feature a new Link and Zelda, but it's pretty explicitly a direct sequel to WW and ST and isn't too hard to resolve into the timeline.
Alright, let's go over what we have now, and try and put everything together. The facts we have are:

• AoL is a direct sequel to LoZ. There is a new Link/Ganon/Zelda and the Triforce is not only separated but broken. Ganon ends the game dead, and there's another Zelda lying around, don't worry about it.
• OoS, OoA, and LA are (to some debate) sequels to ALttP. There is a new Link and Zelda, but Ganon begins the game sealed in the Dark World, and ends the game dead. The Triforce is completely intact.
• MM is a direct sequel to OoT. There is a new Link/Zelda/Ganondorf and the game likely splits into two parallel timelines, one where Ganon is sealed in the Sacred Realm (Adult Timeline) and one where Link returns and lives as a child (leading into MM). In the Adult Timeline, the Triforce is split into its three components, in the Child Timeline it is assumed to be intact, as it is at the start of the game.
• PH and ST are sequels to WW. There is a new Link and Zelda, but a previous Ganondorf, directly stated to be the one from OoT. He was unsealed at some point in the past and ends the game dead/turned into a statue. The Triforce is completely intact, but Hyrule is under an ocean.
• MC, FS, and FSA are indirect sequels consistent with each other. There is at least two new Links/Zeldas (MC is definitely distinct from the other) and a new Ganondorf. He ends the game sealed in the Four Sword, the state of the Triforce is unknown.
• TP has no direct sequels. There is a new Link and Zelda, but Ganondorf begins the game sealed in the Twilight Realm and ends the game dead. The Triforce is split into its three components.

There were multiple theories at this time, with some arguing the 2D games were their own continuity separate from the 3D games, or that there were even more timelines than just two after Ocarina, but one of the more previlent timeline orderings (and the one I favored) went as follows:
OoT is the first game in the series, and following its events, the timeline splits in two, the Adult Timeline following the world ruined by seven years of Ganon's rule, the other Child Timeline where his reign was avoided.

Adult Timeline: MC? - OoT - TP - MC? - FS/FSA - ALttP/OoX/LA - LoZ/AoL Child Timeline: MC? - OoT/MM - WW/PH/ST 

The placement of The Minish Cap is unknown. We know it takes place prior to Four Swords, but whether it was before or after the timeline split isn't clear. The Ganon in ALttP, who was originally meant to be the one in OoT is now a completely different Ganon, who may or may not be the one in FSA. For this reason, and many others, this remained one of the most popular ordering, but still heavily in debate.

Finally, some answers

The year is 2011 and Nintendo is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Zelda series. The main attraction is the release of Skyward Sword (SS) for the Wii, which will usher in a brief but earnest period of actually caring about the timeline. SS explicitly sets itself as the first game in the entire timeline, depicting the creation of the Master Sword and the cause for the perpetual reincarnation of Link, Zelda, and Ganon. The game takes place not on Hyrule, but on a series of floating islands above it called Skyloft. Skyloft was lifted into the sky by the newly established Goddess Hylia, to protect it and the Triforce from the forces of evil below, and sealed away their leader, Demise. Hylia herself decided to become the mortal Zelda. This new Link is forced to take up the Goddess Sword (which becomes the Master Sword) to save Zelda and defeat the freed Demise who, upon his defeat, decrees that he shall be reborn time and again to defeat the reincarnations of the hero and the Hylia and take over the world. It is the soul of Demise that is reborn as Ganon and has continued to plague Hyrule from then on. Like this concept or not, the game pretty explicitly places itself as the foundation of the series, and as the earliest entry in the timeline.
In addition to releasing Skyward Sword, Nintendo released a companion book called Hyrule Historia. Historia is mainly an artbook featuring concept art and documents from the 25 year history of the series. However, its main attraction for many people was the inclusion of an official, definitive ordering of the games from Nintendo themselves. So, how we do? Does our timeline(s) agree with Nintendo themselves? Well, while the general order was correct, Nintendo threw a curveball into everything by announcing that following Ocarina of Time the timeline split into three parts, not two. One following the Adult ruined world, one following the Child un-impacted world, and another... where Link died. That's right, despite not being seen, a canonical ending to OoT is that Link died trying to defeat Ganondorf in the future and he was able obtain the combined Triforce. Nintendo explains that despite this, the sages were able to seal him away in the Sacred Realm anyway, but with the completed Triforce. For intents and purposes this is rather similar to the Adult timeline, but allows for the distinction between Ganondorf needing the Triforce in WW and having it in ALttP; not to mention that they both need to co-exist. Fans argued that a timeline based on the bad ending didn't seem terribly canonical, and also opened up a can of worms for every other game having its own canon Bad End. Other more minor discrepancies from our theory are present, most notably that Four Swords Adventure is not a direct sequel to Four Swords but instead takes place long after, following TP. MC and FS are instead placed before OoT in the unified timeline. Personally this is the one I have the most trouble with as there is nothing really linking FSA to that timeline at all. In any case, here is the timeline as presented:

 (Child Timeline) - MM - TP - FSA / SS - MC - FS - OoT - (Adult Timeline) - WW - PH - ST \ (Fallen Timeline) - ALttP - OoS/OoA - LA - LoZ - AoL 

There you have it, Nintendo's official explanation for how three games can each be a follow-up to Ocarina of Time. The Fallen Timeline inclusion lead to many a nerd grumbling on the internet, but this is the official order of events from Nintendo themselves, and they seem pretty dedicated to the idea of keeping the timeline neat going forward.
... Or do they. In 2013 A Link Between Worlds (ALBW) was released for the 3DS. The game was designed as an indirect sequel to ALttP with the overworld heavily inspired by that game. Despite the similarity, this is said to be a new Link and Zelda as they stop the evil Yuga from another parallel version of Hyrule, Lorule (how clever). Their eventual goal is to, you guessed it, free an imprisoned Ganon. This begs all sorts of questions. If this is a follow-up to ALttP, why is there an imprisoned Ganon? Why is the Triforce split again? The explanation is that another Ganon was born between ALttP and ALBW and sealed away with the Triforce of Power, eventually leading to the events of this game. Even more confusingly, Nintendo released the Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia in 2017 where they placed ALBW into the timeline. It fittingly goes between ALttP and LoZ, but at the same time decides that the Oracle games no longer feature ALttP's Link, but the one from ALBW. This could be taken with a grain of salt though, as the book has some errors, and in other places even says it's the same Link as ALttP, directly contradicting itself. I'm personally prefer to ignore it.
Nintendo also released Tri Force Heroes in 2015 for the 3DS. It's in the same style as ALBW and probably a direct sequel, but it's really goofy and there's barely a plot.

Back to the Future

This finally brings us to the present day. In 2017, Breath of the Wild (BotW) was released for the Wii U and Switch. Despite spending a lot of effort cleaning up the timeline in their last 3D game, this title goes out of its way to completely ignore the question altogether. When asked about its placement, the canonical reply is that it takes place far in the future from the other games, in some vague era where the timelines either have converged or it's far enough to not really matter. In any case, don't worry about it. 10,000 years prior to the events of the game (ugh), great machines were built to assist with the defeat of Calamity Ganon. With the help of the Link and Zelda of their time, they succeed, with the Divine Beasts being left to decay over the millennia. 100 years prior to the game, it was predicted Calamity Ganon would return, so a new Zelda and Link (the ones in the game) begin to prepare for that day. When it eventually does arrive, it goes very poorly, with Link being placed into a century-long stasis to recover from his wounds and Zelda alone holding the seal containing Ganon. Link eventually wakes up just in time for the game to begin, and you defeat the Calamity. The inclusion of the Calamity being at least 10,000 years old puts this game insanely far into the future, and throws the whole timeline a bit out of wack. There are some other oddities too, such as the Temple of Time as it appears in OoT being present, and the Rito being established in WW as the successor race to the Zora, yet both co-exist here.
I'll spend a little bit of time talking about the newest game, Tears of the Kingdom. I won't discuss anything you won't see in the first few hours, but if you want to be completely spared from spoilers, skip the next paragraph.
2023 saw Tears of the Kingdom (TotK) for Switch, a direct follow-up to BotW. At the start of the game, Zelda and Link discover the still-alive mummified body of Ganondorf, sealed away in an era long past and the cause of the Calamity. He is freed and Zelda is inadvertently sent back in time to meet with the very first king of Hyrule, which would place her between Skyward Sword and Minish Cap. Through flashbacks you see their attempts to stop Ganondorf before eventually just sealing him away. This would imply that there has been a sealed Ganondorf throughout most of Hyrule's history, even during periods where other Ganondorfs reigned. I won't say too much else for fear of spoilers, but I assume Link is able to defeat this Ganondorf once and for all (I actually don't know, I haven't finished the game yet).

Conclusion

To sum up, the Zelda series has gone through periods of relative attentiveness to the connections between games to directly ignoring they exist. While all this timeline theorizing took place, there was a camp that believed that the Legend of Zelda was just that, a legend, and that each game took place completely separately, except for any explicit direct sequels. This seems to be how Nintendo views the series. The plot inside of each game is focused on, but how it features together as a whole doesn't really matter to them, and even when they tried to more actively focus on it, they quickly gave up due to the pre-existing state it was in. We'll see if future titles will try and reconcile themselves better with the older games, or if this latest trend of just ignoring the timeline will be the norm going forwards.

Hello Everyone!
First of all I'd like to say, welcome to the nearly hundred new members that we picked up at WildRoseCountry over the course of the election! Thank you also to the over 300 members who have been with us for longer. You're our bedrock, and I really appreciate the increasing engagement we've seen here in the past few months. It's taken a good deal of patience get this sub moving, but I think we've finally got some momentum. This time last year we had less than a quarter of the members we do today. And I think we're well on our way to making our growth target of 500 members for the year. After last night's purges at Alberta, there's probably more than a few people looking for a new Reddit home. Feel free to use word of mouth to reach out to folks who you think might be a good fit. I don't tend to scream out our existence at the top our lungs, but I think we can start to be a little more confident.
I also want to apologize. I haven't always been able to be as engaged as I'd like to be with the sub. I've been very busy with work lately and all the joys and labours that come with having a young family. I think if I could have put in more time we'd have landed easily more than 100 new members over the election period. I'm still going to do my best to recruit, provide content and keep this place from turning into a generic reddit mad house. I'd just like to ask for you to be patient with me. Know that I'm a really open easy going guy and if you have any thoughts, suggestions or concerns you can always reach out to me through chat. Hell if you just want to roll an opinion on hockey by me, I'm good for that too! Alberta deserves a better provincial sub. One that actually represents its people and our values. If the election confirmed anything, it's that we are the majority. I'm doing my best to contribute to that, but I'm only mortal. I only wish I could give more, sorry for that. And thanks for your patience. One thing that I hope to get to in the coming moths is to refresh some of the standard messages, descriptions and links for the sub. Feel free to give me a poke if you have any thoughts on that.
I'd also like to give an extra shout to the group who was involved during last night's election live chat. I had a blast! It was enough for me to wish for another election soon. Hopefully the situation federally obliges us sooner rather than later.
On to other matters!
What a night! It wasn't quite as big a quite as big a win as I had hoped for, but a lot of it came down to extremely tight races. You can't win all the breaks unfortunately. But, an outright majority of Albertans spoke and opted to re-elect conservatives to another majority term in Alberta. And in that regard, they came in at the high end of my expectations.
Now it's time for the UCP to get down to the business of governing. With a renewed mandate, they can put to rest the notion that Albertans are no longer interested in conservatism. It is worth remarking that Smith herself did not campaign on many of her more strident positions like a police force, a pension or even the Sovereignty Act. Though I do think that she alluded to the latter in her victory speech when addressing Ottawa last night.
I think that makes the order of business clear though. As much as I appreciate many of these positions, the party's priorities in government are going to be bread and butter issues like economic stewardship, fiscal management, healthcare access and efficiency, protecting our education system, public safety and addictions. There's going to be a lot of work to be done on those files to warrant putting some of these other positions at a lower priority. I hope that in the coming mandate, the UCP continues to deliver on those core files. That's what's going to ensure another mandate in 2027. But a lot of these other items are part of why I'm a UCP supporter. I think Alberta's sovereignty is critical. What I hope to see is a slow and steady approach. I'd rather see one of two of those positions delivered on in full rather than have them try to take on too much at once and get nothing done. And I think it deserves to be said, where we ultimately need to go as a province is our own constitution that lets us put to writing what it means to be Albertan and cement it in law.
We are Alberta's conservative subreddit, but we aren't the UCP's subreddit. No doubt many of us, myself included, are engaged politically. All I would say is that that doesn't make us blind partisans. Fair criticism of the performance of the government and it's leadership is always going to be welcome here. It also doesn't mean that we will always agree with one another on every topic either. So just a reminder to be respectful to one another in disagreements.
We also aren't only a political sub. This is a sub where you can post about anything going on in and relevant to the province. So as we move out of the high intensity of the election period and the likely impending calm of summer. Feel free to bring up other topics and share photos and stories too!
I'll just close on an important thought on the meaning of conservatism. We are the centre. Not just here in Alberta, but everywhere. We're the ones who prioritize our long held ways of life against radicalism. It has been said, that everyone is right wing about the things that matter to them. Here's some quotes that I find very meaningful in my own personal political philosophy.

I think that what makes conservatism distinct as opposed to philosophies on the left, is because conservatism is empirical and fundamentally cultural, conservatism actually does differ to some degree in various entities. Whereas liberalism and socialism and the real ‘isms’ are belief systems regardless. You’ve got to transform whatever society it is into that.

-Stephen Harper

There is an additional thing that makes conservatism both beautiful and frustrating. Unlike liberalism and socialism and corporatism, which are, by their nature, deeply utilitarian, conservatism is deeply poetic. It loves the gothic, the quirky, and the strange. Unlike liberalism and socialism and corporatism, it praises (true) differences and even celebrates them. Person A is talented at this, and Person B is talented at that. Each person brings his or her talents to the community, there to sharpen them as well as restrain our many flaws and arrogances.
So, what exactly do we want to conserve? This is a question that every person and every generation must ask.

-Bradley J. Blitzer

Society is indeed a contract.…[But, a]s the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born….Changing the state as often as there are floating fancies,…no one generation could link with the other. Men would be little better than the flies of a summer.

-Edmund Burke
Conservatism at the end of the day, is about a people being ourselves and standing up for ideals in a changing world. The point isn't to be rigid, but as change comes it's up to us to integrate or reject ideas in our own way that's respectful to our customary way of life. Being proud to be ourselves, being open while also being critical. If there's anything I'd hope to accomplish for Alberta at this community, it's that. So, with that...
It's an honour to be among you and to help make this community a reality. Cheers to members old and new! Cheers to last night's victory! Cheers to Alberta! And God bless you all! (even if that's not your thing)
Sincerely,
-SJO!

I apologize for the length of this. My (25M) girlfriend (24F) had been officially together since the start of April but had been going out since January. She has never been in a relationship before and is very insecure about that. I reassured her while we were going out that I liked her verbally or through texts and bought her flowers, wrote notes, got her favorite snacks, took her to meet my friends etc.
The issues started after we made it official. Every single time we went out or hung out, she would ask if I still "like liked" her, if I only liked her as a friend, claiming that she was annoying me, saying that she would re-read our texts to search for tone shifts to validate that she was being annoying etc. I was always stressed about how I phrased anything or worried that I wasn't enough/doing enough for her to believe that I liked her. She constantly crossed boundaries that I had set saying it was because she wanted to respect my wishes. I lost my mom last year and the month of May is extremely difficult, it was my first birthday, my brother's first birthday, the first Mother's Day, and the 1 year anniversary spread out over three weeks. I asked her not to acknowledge my birthday at all and she asked for two solid weeks if she should give me presents before or after my birthday and if she could wish me a happy birthday on the day. She also brought up calorie counting multiple times after I said it was triggering and harmful for me.
The emotional weight of constantly reassuring her and trying to manage a full time job where I work nights, grad school, and grief overwhelmed me and I tried to breakup with her a few days before my birthday. She had expressed that she couldn't handle a breakup in person before, so I told her via text that I thought we should take a step back from the relationship to allow her to work on her anxiety and insecurity in therapy before reassessing where we were at and possibly get back together. She wanted to discuss in person so we set a date four days later. I didn't text her during those four days to give her time to figure out what she needed to say. When we met up in person, she told me she cried everyday, that she understood if she was too much of a burden, but that she wanted to work through it. I didn't want to make her insecurities worse and felt guilty about wanting to breakup and we decided to work through it. I sent good morning/night texts every day and tried to relieve her anxieties all week long.
I worked into and out of Mother's Day and spent both shifts either being asked what my plans were for the day or hearing other's plans/how they celebrated. I functioned at the bare minimum. She texted me that day that she hoped I had a good day and was there if I needed to talk. I didn't respond because I went straight to bed and only responded to my dad or two friends who also had lost their moms. Her birthday was a Tuesday and the anniversary was that Friday. Monday morning I canceled our plans that day because I hurt my back at work & was in pain. She decided that we needed to have a talk and asked to facetime at her lunch break or meet up later this week. I expressed my emotional state later this week wouldn't be good due to the anniversary and that because I was exhausted, a text would be best so I would have time to respond meaningfully instead of having a time limit during her break.
Her text said that she was constantly aware of how difficult this month is for me and how "yesterday could have been hard for you" but that because I didn't respond on mother's day, she couldn't understand how I was "even okay not talking to her", she checked her phone all day and she just wants to talk to me everyday. "waiting around isn't good for me". She also said she didn't understand why I didn't feel like I could talk to her. I didn't even talk to my best friend of six years, only two people who have gone through this. I was barely functioning. For me, bringing my mother and grief up like that and making how I coped about her crossed a massive line especially as the entire relationship was me always working to reassure her and not having any stability or security with her. I was already in a bad place that Monday and I told her that bringing my mother into this felt disrespectful and uncalled for and that this was an unhealthy dynamic and I couldn't work through this anymore. She hasn't responded and I feel bad that I broke up with her the day before her birthday but she brought it up herself that day and during one of the hardest weeks of my life. AITA?

King Ageel has married Queen Lamia, the grand daughter of King Abdulaziz al Saud in a private ceremony attended by some Arab royals and family friends.
Queen Lamia looked breathtaking in her gorgeous white wedding dress. She styled her hair into a beautiful bun and finished off her look with a sparkling tiara and a sweeping, embroidered veil adorned with intricate flowers. King Ageel meanwhile, looked particularly dashing in a Royal Traditional Yemeni attire, boasting a Khanjar made of Gold strings and Ivory.
To commemorate the occasion, the Queen uploaded a photo of the engaged couple on Instagram along with the caption, “Grateful to my dear family for their heartfelt support and kind wishes. I didn’t think it was possible to hold so much joy in my heart! We pray that Allah grants us with his blessings."
In honor of the occasion, the Minister of Religious Endowments & Guidance in collaboration with tribal sheikhs, under auspices of the Crown Prince, over the months of February and March, have arranged mass weddings in every district of the Kingdom in an effort to help young couples with the cost of weddings.
The aim of this group wedding is to ease the cost that comes with organising a wedding and encouragement of younger couples that struggle to find the necessary funds to afford the marital ceremonies. and ,” said Sharaf Ali al Kulaisi, Minister of religious endowments & guidance and the head of the organising committee, "We are also hoping that organising such events will bring Yemenis closer together."
As per the registration conditions, the groom & bride must be Yemeni citizens over the age of 16 and the groom must fill the condition of not having another wife, and a deposit of $100 must be paid to guarantee a spot.
"The deposit has been returned back to the grooms, as this event is free of charge, in fact we have be provided them with gifts worth more than $200,” al Kulaisi said. The marriage ceremony will take place on the first day, followed by the wedding reception on the next day, “We will be providing all the sweets, and dinner for the both days and will cover all the costs,” Al Kulaisi added. “Many donors have shown their support for the national events, as funds for this event comes from local Yemeni businessmen and other Arabs in the region.” Al Kulaisi added.
The initiative, a first of its kind on a grand scale, encompasses all districts of Yemen, from bustling cities to remote rural areas, reflecting the King's commitment to inclusivity and the well-being of all citizens. It has been reported that over 50 thousand grooms have now been given the chance to kick start their marital life. Mood all over Yemen, South of Oman and Southwest of Saudi Arabia for the month of February and March has been festive as the Arabs celebrated the Wedding Season.

Pt. 1 here
Pt. 2 here
Pt. 3 (chapter 1) here
​
(Script masterlist here)
​
Author’s note: Another part of Val to celebrate another milestone! I haven’t even been here for 4 months yet, and I already got to enjoy over 150 fantastic fills of my scripts! I recently hit 500 Karma as well, and as of right now have about 70 people following me on reddit- You guys are insane! I genuinely appreciate every single person who reads my scripts, and I still get incredibly excited over every upvote and every video that has my name in the description. It feels so surreal to know that people not only enjoy my writing, but like it enough to give it their voice and time…
I know less people might see this note here, but Val has been such a huge part of my existence as a script writer. It’d feel wrong to celebrate with anything else!
Tldr; You are absolutely amazing!
​
Now to the script:
~1.500 words/ 10-17 mins Audio
For the girls: The names will have to be adapted. ‘Lucian’ mentioned in this script becomes ‘Lucia’, unless you plan on collabing with somebody or don’t want to use the additional chapters in part 3!
​
Usage: Everything goes, as long as you give credit! Adjust wording, change stuff, improvise, add or remove scenes, make it nsfw if you want. For any questions, feel free to ask! Have fun! :D
Monetization/paywall is ok, but I’d appreciate being sent a free copy!
Sfx optional but it enhances the experience, if you have access.
​
Setting: lush castle gardens, later: vast ballroom
​
sometimes I use … for very short pauses (easier to read)
[these are for sfx, vocal cues, actions or other remarks]
italics are for emphasising a word
— — —
​
There you are!
I was getting worried about you…
Are you feeling well? You look a bit pale, my Dear…
​
[short pause]
​
Oh my, you seem as though you are shaking!
I suppose the air has cooled down quite a bit.
Let us get back inside to warm you up again, Dear.
I apologise for leaving you out here, all alone…
​
[sfx: continuous gentle footsteps on grass, as the characters walk back towards the ballroom. Music is getting slightly closer as they walk]
​
I owe you an apology for storming off earlier.
I did not mean for it to happen in this way, but Lucian is not one who enjoys waiting.
Had I been late, I would have gotten lectured again.
And I did not want you to wait even longer out here, all by yourself.
​
[short pause]
​
I did not get to tell you earlier.
But this event is, in reality, an annual birthday celebration.
…
I suppose, by now, it has become more of a vampire meet-up, to talk to old friends and make new connections.
Since, for vampires, befriending humans is usually not a good idea, as their life spans differ so much.
And most vampires would not want to pressure a human they like, into giving up their mortality.
Here, such decisions do not have to be made anymore.
But in and of itself, the original purpose of this festivity was to celebrate Lucian’s birthday.
Therefore, it is expected to pay a visit to the host, if you attend.
This tradition has been taking place for nearly a whole millenia.
…
The first guests in this castle must have worn elaborately embroidered, beaded and jewelled robes. While the guards must have been in shining suits of armour…
A time before even gas lamps were invented and all light must have come from candles and wooden torches, scattered throughout the rooms.
To think that these very walls once contained fantastic kings and queens, elegant lords and ladies, formidable knights and rulers of the lands… And Lucian among them.
Even for a vampire as myself, it is near impossible to imagine just how long Lucian has been roaming this earth for.
My life has merely been the tiniest fraction of it.
…
How many human lifetimes it would take to get even close to it… How many generations of people must have risen and fallen in this time… All those wars that have been fought…
[small sigh]
That is why I wished for you to stay away, my Dear.
Elder vampires may have better control over their urges, but it is all too easy to lose sight of one's humanity, after having been alive for such a long time.
A human lifespan turns into that of a pet mouse by comparison. Less, even.
Lucian may seem like one of the better behaved guests here.
Especially with such a charming face, but it has been carefully crafted. A mask, shaped by centuries of manipulation and deception…
​
[short pause]
​
You see, I do not visit this festivity very often. But I wanted to show you what it means to be a vampire. Since that is still a part of who I am.
…
Lucian has been my mentor for a whole century, and the only reason I am here now, to begin with.
Even if that was a time I would rather forget…
It shaped me, made the person you see before you now.
These very gardens used to be my home, after I was turned. Their beauty has always inspired me.
Just as yours does now, my Dear.
…
Maybe this means it is finally time for me to move on…
​
[sfx: footsteps on grass stop as they enter the ballroom again. Music is now at a constant level, not too loud]
​
Here we are again. Take a moment to get your eyes used to the lights.
It may not be too bright, but it still is a somewhat sudden change in scenery, my Dear.
…
Once you have warmed up a little, how would you feel about dancing?
This is a ball, after all. And it would be a great pleasure, to get to enjoy such an opportunity with you.
​
[short pause]
​
[pleased, smiling:] Thank you, my Dear. You do not know how happy this makes me.
Your presence alone is a gift to me.
In the entirety of my lifetime, I never expected a person as kind and warm as you, to ever cross my path.
You bring me more joy and comfort than anything else has ever been able to.
If you ever feel as though you are not enough, my Dear, simply remember; to me, you are a miracle.
You are more than I could ever have hoped for.
…
And if I had to wait another two hundred years for the mere possibility of meeting you again, I would.
In a heartbeat, I would devote my life to waiting, every single day, so I could see you again. Even for just the briefest of moments…
I would wait for a millenia, if you asked me to.
It would be worth it, to hear even a single word from your lovely mouth again.
…
You, my Dear, have enchanted me in a way I have never felt before.
I cannot say whether it is ‘love’ quite yet. Only how much I wish for it to be.
But it is with honesty that I can say, your presence means more to me, than merely your blood, my Dear…
…
But oh… I am rambling again-
Before I met you, I would have considered myself to be rather quiet.
But somehow… despite your presence leaving me breathless, I cannot stop myself from talking. [small chuckle]
…
I am glad to see you do not seem to mind it.
​
[short pause]
​
Ah, do you feel ready to dance?
You look less pale than before. I hope it is because you feel better, rather than my words leaving you flustered, my Dear.
May I reach for your hand?
…
Oh my, it is so soft and gentle.
You have very nice hands, my Dear. I never noticed.
Perhaps I was too captivated by the rest of you.
Your eyes, especially.
I have never seen such a beautiful pair before. The colour of them is utterly fascinating.
I try not to get lost in them too often, since I would not want you to think I am staring.
But they are quite entrancing… Relaxing, almost. As is the rest of you…
I feel quite comfortable with you, my Dear.
Warm. Hopeful, even…
​
[short pause]
​
We have not been this close very often, have we, my Dear?
To simply be enveloped by your scent like this… I must admit, it is quite nice.
Feeling your warm body against mine.
Each heartbeat of yours, against my chest…
I find it quite comforting.
I hope you enjoy it as well.
And your dancing is quite exquisite, too.
Such graceful steps.
It almost feels as though we are simply floating through the ballroom.
As though everyone else is merely an illusion…
I wish this moment could last forever, my Dear.
Only you and me, with nothing else to worry about.
Would it not just be peaceful?
…
Well… forever would truly be a long time.
Perhaps you would get bored after a while.
Or begin to miss the smell of grass, the taste of baked goods, the feeling of warm rain on your skin…
But if you asked me to, I could organise such dances, as well.
Only the two of us.
Or we could invite friends - even strangers, if you preferred.
We could also simply stay at home and watch movies, or dance to the sound of our favourite music in the living room.
Whatever you wish, my Dear.
…
If you would rather keep living in your own home and simply meet me once a month, I would also not mind.
I will treasure any amount of time I get to spend with you.
However much or little that may be.
I would spare no expense to get you a new apartment, house, or personal villa if you requested. Nothing is off-limits for me.
Anything you ask for shall be yours.
And please, do not shy away from making requests.
Money is no factor for me. The only thing I truly care about is your utmost happiness.
I deeply care for you, my Dear.
And a person as wonderful as you deserves to be happy.
Whatever that happiness may look like for you.
…
Of course, I would prefer, if I were a part of this happiness. But even if I am not, I will do what I can, for you.
Whatever you wish for me to do.
​
[sfx: small thump of character being pulled into a hug? Cloth shuffling? Hug noises, optional: slow and quiet heartbeat if the character is meant to be taller]
[voice is slightly muffled, because of hug]
​
Oh? Do you need to sit down for a moment, my Dear?
Surely, you must be feeling dizzy-
​
[short pause]
​
A hug…?
What is it you are embracing me for?
I did not say anything wrong, did I?
Are you certain you feel alright, my Dear…?
​
[short pause]
​
[soft sigh, giving in to the hug]
​
I must admit, this does feel quite reassuring…
Thank you, my Dear.
You are always so kind to me.
I do not remember the last time a person has held me like this…
Would it be okay if we were to stay in this position a little longer…?
​
[sfx continue for a little, then fadeout]

Whether you're at the start of your weight loss adventure, in the midst of it, or looking back on a journey well-travelled, your stories and insights can make a real difference.
This subreddit is a place to share the ups and downs, the knowledge gained and experiences you’ve had along the way. All posts about weight loss that aim to be positive are welcomed here 💖
What types of content should you consider posting here? 🦄

1. 💭 Vent: We understand that the journey towards weight loss can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. If you're going through a tough time or are feeling frustrated, don't hesitate to vent your feelings here. Your struggles are valid, and we are here to listen and provide comfort.
2. 🎉 Share Positive Steps: Did you make a healthy choice today? Maybe you chose a salad over a burger, walked instead of taking the car, or successfully resisted a junk food craving. Share these positive steps with us! No matter how small the step may seem, it's a victory worth celebrating.
3. 🙏 Ask for Encouragement: Feeling down or unmotivated? Need a little push to get moving or keep going? Don't hesitate to ask for encouragement. Our community is here to support you and offer the motivation you need to keep going.
4. 📸 Share Progress Pics: If you're comfortable doing so, we'd love to see your progress pics! These can serve as a great source of inspiration for others and a tangible reminder of how far you've come. You might be surprised at the outpouring of positivity and support you receive.
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Discord Username: Chacken#0001
Character Name and House: Otto Hightower
Age: 28
Appearance: Light blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, Otto keeps his face shaven and his mood stoic. As the Master of Laws for his King, he must always appear to be in control.
Gift: Whisperer
Skills: Cautious (e), Deceiver, Subterfuge, Swords
Talent(s): Fishing x2, Dancing
Starting Title(s): Beacon of the South, Defender of Oldtown, Defender of the Citadel, Lord of Oldtown, Lord of the Hightower, Lord of the Port, Voice of Oldtown, Master of Laws
Starting Location: Red Keep
Family Tree: Hightower
AC
Character Name and House: Hobert Flowers
Age: 18
Appearance: Bastard
Gift: Champion
Skills: Swords, Knightly, Footwork
Talent(s): Fishing, Dancing x2
Starting Title(s): Bastard of Oldtown
Starting Location: Kings Landing
Timeline

• 180 AC: Otto Hightower is born to Lord Abelar Hightower and his second wife, Clarice Bulwer.
  
• 188 AC: Otto Hightower is sent to King's Landing to ward under King Aemond I, he first meets his future wife, Donyse Celtigar.
  
• 190 AC: Otto quickly picks up on the lifestyle of backroom dealings and scheming that takes place within the Capital, quickly crafting his own base of power.
  
• 192-198 AC: Otto Hightower squires under Ser Lucerys Velaryon, gaining a proficiency in swordsmanship.
  
• 198 AC: Otto Hightower marries Donyse Celtigar, within the year they welcome their first son, Paxter Hightower.
  
• 203 AC: Otto Hightower, through being a constant presence within the Capital over the past decade, and familial ties with the King, is granted a seat on the Small Council as the Master of Laws.
  
• 205 AC: Horas Hightower dies in an accident at sea along with Lord Abelar Hightower, with Horas being survived only by a bastard son and daughter, Otto Hightower returns to Oldtown to become it's newest Lord.
  
• 208 AC: Continuing to occupy his seat on the King's Small Council, Lord Otto Hightower now prepares for the coming festivities as the whole continent floods into King's Landing.
  

AC's Timeline

• 185 AC: Hobert Flowers is born to Horas Hightower and an unknown mother.
  
• 193 AC: Despite being so young, Hobert quickly reveals innate talent in the dueling yard
  
• 203 AC: Hobert joins Otto Hightower in King's Landing as a sworn sword, along with his twin cousins Uther and Uthor Hightower. Wanting to prove his use, he joins the ranks of the Goldcloaks, often feeding information straight from the streets to the ears of the Master of Laws
  
• 205 AC: Through his dedicated and honorable service, Hobert is promoted to Captain of the Iron Gate.
  
• 208 AC: Struggling to keep the masses in order, Hobert is working together with the rest of the Captains to keep the peace as everyone gathers in King's Landing for the upcoming celebrations.
  

NPC's
Orbert Hightower - Cousin to Otto Hightower: Espionage
Uthor Hightower - Cousin to Otto Hightower: Underhanded

I score above average on the NPI so I do not have a diagnosis.
A Criteria For NPD is "is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love". Another one is "believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)".
I have a very hard time conceptualizing this. What does it even mean? Don't most people strive for improvement in those areas? How is it differentiated from ambition? If someone has a high ability, is it neccesarily "shooting too high" to aim higher? Isn't it even realistic? Should a person who is doing well not have goals because it's "too much"?
In addition, what about societal context? A lot of goals and expectations might be considered OTT in some context achievement wise, while being the norm and expected in others. Does that count as a preoccupation? The extreme case might be people who grew up in working class conditions without even a university degree or those that grew up in a culture where women have to dress modestly (plain, covering clothes, no makeup).
I had perfect grades (A+ in everything) and I always found that other people tried to put me down if they pushed me to pursue more modest goals and deterred me from applying to top schools internationally, to shoot high career wise etc. And now a lot of people who had the same circumstances than me (or even worse) are achieving those goals. They applied for top schools, did dual degrees and that was encouraged. When is it other people putting you down and not wanting you to succeed rather than you being entitled and wanting too much? How much of that is simply tall poppy syndrome? I do realize that some might be more "well meant".
While it is a categorical diagnosis, the trait would be normally distributed (so the normal thing isn't the "opposite") and a certain degree of this even adaptive? To what degree is it normal to be preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success/powebrilliance/beauty/ideal love? I thought everyone was to a certain degree, and a lot of human behaviour is most certainly status driven. What about: "Shoot for the stars land on the moon". Isn't it bad to not try even if you might fail? I think I read that's also narcissistic behavior, i.e. not trying in order to not create a situation where one might end up a failure. But that's a fine line between two very opposing behaviors.
I just know that a lot of people with a similar or worse starting point than me ended up doing better. Clearly it seems like the issue was that I took negative feedback to heart too much.
And what if someone *is* unique? Certain experiences can only be understood by people who share that experience, and networking and surrounding yourself with the right people might be crucial for a good life. And isn't the latter simply how a lot of people in the upper class or even upper middle class act? In addition, if someone slips down to a lower societal class than they were initially born, wouldn't some of those feelings just naturally prevail? I notice a lot of this myself. I'm young and in a place in life where it's natural to have less money than I grew up with, but I still notice how weird it feels that a lot of the things I grew up with or took for granted suddenly are out of reach and I still somehow feel like I "deserve" it. Isn't that normal? What about a celebrity who suddenly becomes invisible or poor - isn't it normal to have a hard time adjusting? What about needing validation? I do perceive certain environments (say UMC) as more encouraging than others, people lift others up, tell them how great they are, that they'll do well, have high expectation. If someone is used to that, certainly what is considered normal in another context might be seen as an excessive need for validation? What if a person is actually starved for attention?

Hi. My cousin (29) wanted her birthday celebration to be explicitly just her family, meaning just her, her husband and their child.
The thing is, we (me, mom and our close friends) are planning a surprise celebration but we don't have a solid date or place. It was just if ever we get a hold of her.) The day of her celebration, she called me at 4pm asking if I and mom wanna join them. I did not inform the group. As per my understanding, this not the 'plan' we are talking about. If my cousin wanted them to be there, they will be informed like us. Because she has informed us and close friends that she wanted this celebration to be just her, her husband and child. Additionally, I thought of this as us bonding as a family. So, I did not see any reason for telling it to them. It's either I might end up saying "oh, we are here with her. did she not inform you?," or "She just called us, but sadly cannot ask you guys to join per her request, remember?" Either way, I just did not see the point of why I should inform them.
However, my mom posted a video of my cousin's child the same time we were there. The rest of the group saw it. They got mad at my mom and me for not informing them and for not sticking to the "plan". They then removed us to the group chat.
This where I have been harsh. I sent one of them a direct message saying that it is not planned and that we were asked since we live near the place where they are already celebrating at. We all were informed of how my cousin wanted her bday to be celebrated. We were even hesitant but thought why not, we are invited by herself and are family. I also stated that we do not have to inform them of what we do all the time and that this was not part of our surprise party "plan".
AITA for not inviting them?
Additional info: My cousin personally told me and mom that she does not want to be with 'close friends' at that time or that period of time since they were just talking about negative things and just wanted to be seperated from them at that time. I did not want them to know about this because knowing them, they will take this harshly and will ruin their friendship. This might as well come from cousin and not from me, especially with the situation we are in now, and because it is always her choice at the end.

Hi!!
First of all, you can call me Gus (18m), my friends (19m, 20f, 21f, 22m) and I are starting a new DnD5e campaign that takes place in a homebrew world.
This campaign contains some mystery and investigation elements, aswell as dark/horror content (some inspired by fromsoftware games), we are going to play weekly, probably on weekdays. We are totally beginner friendly, so don't be afraid to join us even if its your first time playing a trpg, we enjoy both rp and combat. Since we are all from different countries and timezones, we decided to play between:
10am EST / 13:00 UTC / 15:00 CEST ; 17pm EST / 21:00 UTC / 23:00 CEST.
Now just a little about the setting:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“The great death was the darkest moment of history, the nine kings of Altasira and their age of glory had brought forth something that couldn’t be stopped. In their pursuit of power and conquest, they awoke a beast of unimaginable power. The Calamity, a poison upon life itself, awoke and unleashed a curse upon existence. His army of Dark Beasts began a conquest against the kings of Altasira and all those who lived beneath their rule. One by one, the kings fell, and their kingdoms turned to ruin. It was only when a army of brave warriors and mages, led by a party of the strongest adventures stood against the onslaught of evil, did the living prevail. And now 1000 years have passed, and the story of their heroism and glory have become mere legends. But the Festival of Light approaches, and soon the nine kings of this era shall meet in celebration. But always remember, for what is forgotten is doomed to happen again.”
- Ilva, The Northern Shaman
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If interested, please fill out this forms
https://forms.gle/4y9t4NH56Uj9dP6F7
Or comment below and dm me!

Yes, I get it. I like to criticize the two games a lot. Probably because they replace the game series I followed for years. But honestly, few criticisms have to do with the games not being like old Zelda games. I could see myself warming up to them if they were changes to the whole game design. They are really addictive but not really enjoyable for me and that for reasons that are really well-founded and which aren't even remotably related to it being not oldschool Zelda! To put it simply...

• The difficulty is all over the place
• The narrative simply doesn't work
• The story is barebones
• Combat revolves around pausing the game way too much
• Combat revolves around stun locking enemies way too much
• Combat doesn't have enough rewards
• Exploration is not as fascinating as it should be because of the extreme reuse of enemies and visual assets
• Exploration is rarely surprising because the game gives you most information on what is behind the next corner beforehand in various ways
• Most traversal options are pointless. They just aren't balanced
• There are some technical issues, mostly frame drops
• Cooking doesn't reward experimentation and complex recipes
• The save and game over system is bad

I could elaborate on the points I've made but that's just an example and not my point. The whole discourse would be about me just wanting oldschool Zelda again, but that's not necessarily the case. But yeah, sure, I'd love that. And probably as another point, I could add that the open world Zeldas are just not good ZELDA sequels. But that's just one aspect of so many more. I'm sure I'm not alone with this feeling.
And oh by the way, of course both games celebrate a lot of successes and do some things really really well. The sandbox systems are really great in isolation, and so are a lot of other things. But in the end, the sum of these individual parts is simply not a good coherent game in my opinion.