Richard Powell

The Void - Future saga following the cold war between multiple human empires and the people desperate to be the inheritors of it all.

Check out the website at https://www.ratchman.com/

Alternatively, visit the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@T...
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“Strange that you need to damage your brains with intoxicants to think more.”
Cain
AI Core Of The HDR Liberator And Student Of Drunken Philosophy

03:19 PM - May 13, 2024

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S02E15 - Tracks In The Dust: When a new species enters the universal vicinity, the godlike Eyrians find themselves overwhelmed. How can humanity even hope to defend themselves?

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Illustration by Doodlenerve0116.
Captain Carl Schafer visits his Fillim crew members, Doctor Lux Pang and Doctor Exotic Nurr looking for information about these strange new invaders nicknamed The Silence.
It is the first time he has visited their habitat on the ship, and he finds it disorienting, aligned vertically rather than horizontally.
From the very narrow, but also very high, slot in the wall, Doctor Lux Pang emerges like a spider several metres off the ground.
His three arms clasp at the walls, as does his tripod legs, his single wraparound compound eye analysing Captain Schafer carefully. His chitinous exoskeleton shines a little as the light reflects off it.
Raising one of his insectoid claws, he beckons the captain to enter their crack in the wall.

03:41 PM - May 12, 2024

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S02E14 - From Cradle To Grave: The HDR Liberator visits Earth, now considered a legend by many, to attempt to resurrect the poisoned husk humanity once called home.

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Illustration by amirborghei.
Carter Vincent explores the ruins of outer San Francisco, finding little more than an old road, battered and pock-marked.
What was once verdant and beautiful is now flat, rocky and totally lifeless. Heavy pollution flows through the air, obscuring the light and reducing it to a sickly yellow hue in the fog.
So thick are these toxic mists, that the sky can no longer be seen, nor can anything at distance.
Carter stands alone on the road to San Francisco, despairing of the utter devastation. This wasn't a world destroyed in a spectacular fashion. This was a world strangled to death, every last scrap of life asphyxiated.

05:17 PM - May 11, 2024

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S02E13 - Falling Towards Entropy: With the Republic invading the UCH, they are liberating worlds. But is it ethical if they don't want to be? Or are they conquerors?

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Illustration by twiffcane99.
Captain Carl Schafer exchanges gestures with Commander Ellen Voight as they intensely disagree with the fleet leader, Admiral Fumiaki Harada.
Between them is a tactical display, displaying information regarding the impending battle.
The HDR Liberator's command centre is bathed in red light as they prepare. Both are serious and focused. There is no room for any error now, but it is a conflict that they should have evaded, and Schafer knows that the Admiral has made a terrible misjudgement.

02:53 PM - May 10, 2024

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S02E12 - Changing Of The Guard: The Aleph Corporation face a coup d'etat from their own war hero, Admiral Arturius Volt.

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Illustrated by Doodlenerve0116.
Having captured the planet of Morpheus, the media centre of the Aleph Corporation, Admiral Arturius Volt's rebel faction capture one of the senior management of the corporation, Taron Reesta.
Cornering him in a new studio, Volt has a frank discussion about what happens next. Convinced that Reesta is not going to be any use to him, he decides to execute him while the camera drones watch impassively.
Taking an assault rifle from one of his men, he turns the gun on Taron Reesta and fires a burst into his chest.

05:18 PM - May 09, 2024

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S02E11 - Quo Vadis: With the UCH's vulnerability, everyone is scrambling to take advantage, including the Republic. But can they considered liberators if the people don't want to be free?

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Image by Jessie of Drawtech Studio.
Marcus Bezalian poses for a propaganda shot of himself in the gardens that surround the Aleph Corporation tower in Hermoso Lugar on the planet Feyd.
The gardens are lush and perfectly manicured, with the shining spires of the capital rising in the background giving the whole city that utopian vibe.
Unfortunately, it is not representative of the Aleph Corporation's empire as a whole, a carefully crafted model city where the elite play, whereas the majority of citizens live in less salubrious circumstances.
Marcus himself stands with proud poise, his impossibly handsome face as sculpted as the city around him. It is a clone body, genetically engineered for maximum charisma, and not representative of his original body.

06:35 PM - May 08, 2024

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S02E10 - Digging In The Dirt: On a planet covered in broken glass, an ancient civilization is discovered. Older than all others, it begs the question: what happened to them?

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Illustration by amirborghei.
Four scientists stand on the surface that is consistently smooth. So smooth, there are barely any surface features. Such planets are extremely rare.
To add to the weirdness, the surface is made up of layers of what seems to be volcanic glass that cracks underfoot. It gives the surface a purple-blue colouration that bleeds into the inky darkness of the void above.
The four scientists have found a ramp down into the darkness, the single unusual feature in the plain of glass.
It can only be artificial, constructed by a long-dead species, but what is hidden within the planet?

07:46 PM - May 07, 2024

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S02E09 - Intervention: The Cadir War drags on, and radical solutions are sought, but when one invokes the Eyrians to vanquish an enemy, one must ensure the grave is big enough.

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Illustration by teddy09.
After an intense work-out session, Conn Teel and Grace Callister engage in a game of chess whilst stood at a chest-height table.
Grace has been challenging Conn in order for him to develop his new clone body, but Conn insists on breaks where they play chess, so that he can help discipline his mind at the same time.
As their back-and-forth conversation continues over the game, Grace posits the idea that Conn may be missing a few memories, an idea that gives Conn some pause.
He is the longest lived human being of all time, having lived in excess of two millennia. When you have been alive for so long, minor memories are easily lost, but he has started to forget some important memories. Has he reached a hard limit on what memories can be retained?
Grace, his bodyguard and personal trainer, is the only person who could challenge him this way without fear of a painful death, and she revels in this role. She herself has been granted immortality, and has been alive for...

04:40 PM - May 06, 2024

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The Void - Future saga following the cold war between multiple human empires and the people desperate to be the inheritors of it all.

Check out the website at https://www.ratchman.com/

Alternatively, visit the YouTube channel at https://www.ratchman.com/v...

"Medals and plaudits make for good talking points, but respect is far more useful. No leader is worth their salt if they do not command the respect of those they lead.”
Carl Schafer
Captain, HDR Liberator

05:18 PM - May 05, 2024 (Edited)

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S02E08 - Nomads: When one of his soldiers is seriously injured by an ambush predator, Major Varma has to call upon a xeno species for help, the bizarre wheel-shaped Emmen'Toi.

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Illustration by twiffcane99.
Whilst desert training on a remote Republic planet, Major Sanjeev Varma's men are attacked by an ambush predator, known as a sagonimou, a name derived from the Greek for 'desert jaw'.
It launches out of the dunes, having badly savaged one soldier's leg already. Looking like some bizarre cross between a centipede and a woolly hippo, it's gaping maw descends upon the helpless, injured soldier.
In the foreground, Marshal Turella leads the charge to rescue their colleague from the predator.

04:24 PM - May 04, 2024

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S02E07 - The Great Game: The Republic and The Teel Corporation engage in statecraft, but behind the genial public image lies a bitter rivalry that can only end in nothing less than death.

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Illustration by jadhaobrothers.
Lieutenant Commander Hanna Ilyas attempts to determine what is the source of the telepathic static she has sensed at the peace conference.
Due to the proximity being an issue, she has to try from the landing pad at the rear of the building. It is miserable and raining, but it is the closest she can get without being rendered insensible by the static.
Doctor Akari Takuma and Namor Skenn stand in the background, keeping an eye on her, ready to treat her should she black out again.
However, she has slumped to her knees after she has learned the dreadful source of the static, crying in sympathy and despair.

03:26 PM - May 03, 2024

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S02E06 - The Origin Of The Species: The Liberator is involved with with the evacuation of Favell, and its low-gravity populace, when racial tensions start to flare.

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Image by Doodlenerve0116.
Hanna Ilyas is communicating with a Venn Hidran via telepathy. The Venn Hidran has manifest a schoolroom, plucked from Hanna's own mind.
Instead of the teacher at the front f the class, stands a Venn Hidran, a xeno with an unusual morphology. Shaped like a palm tree with arachnid-like legs emerging from around the top, and a hideous maw in the middle of those limbs. There are strange eyes situated equidistant from each other underneath, and jet propulsion nozzles underneath that.
The main trunk leads down to what can only be described as a 'meat skirt'. The Venn Hidran hovers using a biological form of jet propulsion, the meat skirt acting like a hovercraft's.
On the blackboard, Hanna's words are being automatically written as she thinks them. They read 'I am still learning. Yes, telepathy is new for humans'.

08:20 PM - May 02, 2024

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S02E05 - The Savage Planet: When a Makeen kills and partially consumes a human on a joint colony, a diplomatic row erupts and the Liberator is forced to intervene.

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Image by teddy09.
Mira Candor takes Ludmilla Zielinski for her first ever ice-cream sundae.
Ludmilla, a young girl saved from a slaver by Mira, has led a tortured existence at the hands of her owner, and so has never experienced anything like chocolate or ice-cream.
Mira decides to treat her by taking her to a brightly lit, neon-drenched frozen pudding conveyor and she delights in one of the sweet treats.
Mira sits opposite Ludmilla, sit in the scarlet armour they wear, not touching their own sundae. It is a bonding moment between a little girl that has never experienced joy before, and a brutal bounty hunter that has taken upon themselves to return her home.

08:48 PM - May 01, 2024

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S02E04 - The House Of Teel: Lex Teel rails against the restrictions his father has placed on him, Conn starts to doubt his memory, and Livia makes plans against her own father.

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Image by twiffcane99.
Mira Candor discovers the fate of the slaves he has been looking for, buried in a mass grave on the estate of the owner of the company that bought them.
Enraged by the callous treatment of so many people, Mira, a former slave himself, shoots the estate manager in the back, blowing a hole in his spine and letting him fall into the pit, still alive.
The estate itself is sprawling, covering a large swathe of an entire continent, so this pit has been filled in a remote part, surrounded by kilometres of forest. It is a beautiful part of the countryside, besmirched by atrocity.

05:22 PM - Apr 30, 2024

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S02E03 - Bipolar Diplomacy: The Liberator escorts two diplomats to broker a peace deal between two warring species. But when hate is so ingrained, is peace even an option?

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Illustration by twiffcane99.
Carter Vincent, Ambassador Kleio Alexander and Commander Ellen Voight welcome the two Kollomeen diplomats onto the HDR Liberator.
Carter has his arms outstretched as he makes some light humour with one of the xenos.
The two xenos, Brother Oovo and Sister Zeke, are sapient gasbags from a gas giant, encased in transparent spherical environment suits, guiding them by using the tentacles that hang from their main body.
Behind them is their ship, which has the appearance of a liquid frozen into a solid and flows as it moves.

08:00 PM - Apr 29, 2024

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The Void - Future saga following the cold war between multiple human empires and the people desperate to be the inheritors of it all.

Check out the website at https://www.ratchman.com/.

Alternatively, visit the YouTube channel at TheAbyssalDepths.

“Plenty of stupid people out there, and plenty of people willing to be convinced because the alternative is just too depressing.”
Daedaric Varr
Anti-Corporation Alliance

04:41 PM - Apr 28, 2024 (Edited)

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S02E02 - The Thin Blue Line: When a journalist is murdered, Inspector Lin investigates. When she uncovers evidence of some corporate malfeasance, she finds herself at odds with Yiu Quon.

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Image by Doodlenerve0116.
Ximena Sanz escapes a brutal assault on an orbital station only for her ship to be disabled by the attacking Cadir.
Marooned and condemned to a death of slow asphyxiation, she watches the Cadir destroy her homeworld in a barrage of kinetic spears.
She floats around the cockpit, the dead pilot sat behind her, his head bifurcated and the blood slowly pooling in the air. The ship is dead in space and there is no power to any of the consoles.
All she can do is watch her world die, and await her own demise.

04:12 PM - Apr 27, 2024

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S02E01 - Whispers In A Crowded Room: The Mav Rann have been studied by the Republic for years, but when their colony is threatened, they feel compelled to help.

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Image by Doodlenerve0116.
Commander Ellen Voight and Ambassador Kleio Alexander meet a contingent of Mav Rann on board the HDR Liberator.
The Mav Rann themselves are behind a glass partition as so to allow for a different atmospheric mix. One stands ahead of the others, consulting directly with Voight and Alexander.
The creature itself is a round central body with eight limbs radiating out at equidistant points around the circumference. Each of those limbs is jointed above the main body before forming a large, thick leg.
Inbetween each leg is a large eye, and at the base of the creature is a mouth, around which are numerous tool-wielding tendrils.
The Mav Rann is communicating non-verbally, using a colour display similar to ancient Earth octopuses. The whole body glows with various colours, blue at the base of the foot, yellow in the legs, purple at the knee.
Ambassador Kleio Alexander holds out her hands to the Mav Rann representative.

06:07 PM - Apr 26, 2024

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S01E15 - Man Of The People: Columbia is in flames, and a fleet is bearing down on the Liberator. Commander Voight knows the battle will be costly, but is determined to stop them.

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Image by mdw_jason.
The HDR Liberator's representatives face off against secessionists during a siege on a police station. Behind them lies the mob's target, the secessionist leader, arrested and placed in a cell.
From left to right, we have Major Sanjeev Varma, Captain Carl Schafer and Namor Skenn. The latter two are armed with guns, whereas Major Varma is wielding a khanda, a sword passed down through his family.

05:36 PM - Apr 25, 2024

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S01E14 - Controlling The Narrative: The planet Columbia is in the midst of turmoil, as a political party threatens the peace of the Republic.

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Image by palasharts.
William Pierce pays the price for his hubris, and finds himself in an enhanced interrogation chamber questioned by state-sanctioned interrogator Mr Styx, and the malevolent head of the Teel Corporation, Conn Teel himself.
William is restrained on a gurney, totally naked as an articulated arm hangs above him with various 'persuasion enhancers' fitted to it. Behind him is a station containing various other tools, and a display for monitoring his lifesigns. Can't have someone succumbing to excessive persuasion, after all.
Conn Teel stands behind the gurney, gloating over his fate whilst dressed in an anti-spatter smock.
Mr Styx stands in front of the gurney, formally attired, and with the appearance more like that of a bank manager than an interrogator.
Some excess blood trickles across the floor to a sluice at the side.

06:16 PM - Apr 24, 2024

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S01E13 - Thy Fearful Symmetry: The UCH has orchestrated a war between the Aleph Corporation and the Cadir and now millions of lives hang in the balance.

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Image by palasharts.
Major Sanjeev Varma and Namor Skenn are undercover in Aleph Corporation space, and wait for an informant at a noodle bar based at the edge of a busy commercial area.
Many people are rushing by and, although it is night, the surroundings are well lit by all manner of coloured lighting.
Aleph cities are characterised by their rampant consumerism, and this is no exception. It is not unlike any existing city, but it is the scale and the sheer level of advertising prevalent in the signage. Enter any covered commercial area, and even the floor is encouraging you to be the best version of yourself before offering a discount on custom surgery.
While sat at the noodle bar, Namor Skenn had made a rather unexpected, and mildly amusing, admission. Sanjeev Varma mocks the mercenary for his confession, but it is more of a bonding moment than intentional ridicule.

04:25 PM - Apr 23, 2024

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S01E12 - Tiger Above, Tiger Below: Aleph Corp have invaded the space of Yeung Corp. Quon suspects a trap, but his rival has persuaded them to respond.

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Image by teddy09.
Yiu Quon interrogates the captured Aleph Corporation fleet leader Admiral Amelia Bennett.
Despite being secured temporarily in a judiciary cell, Yiu Quon has some questions he wishes to ask her that he wants answered without the oversight of intelligence.
They are sat at a table in an interview room with a pot of tea between them. Yiu Quon is there to ask some hard questions, but he sees no reason to be uncivil.
Amelia, still bruised and battered from her capture, sits warily across from him, appreciating his civility, but also quite aware that her future is set to include a much more brutal interrogation by the intelligence division.

04:54 PM - Apr 22, 2024

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The Void - Future saga following the cold war between multiple human empires and the people desperate to be the inheritors of it all.

Check out the website at https://www.ratchman.com/.

"It is always better to hold your nerve and wait, than to move too quickly.”
Tobor Genn
Head Of Intelligence, Aleph Corporation

02:15 PM - Apr 21, 2024 (Edited)

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S01E11 - Heller's Apothecary: Viktor Heller decides to negate the growing threat of the Republic by initiating a narcotic supply into Republic space.

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Image by teddy09.
Valentine Rao leads an assault on the home of Himon Merec, current kingpin of Verona.
It's a bloody battle that leaves many dead, and there are a few evident in the picture.
Valentine is holding an assault rifle pointing at his adversary, a couple of mercenaries at his side. Facing them is Himon Merec, who is a large, muscular individual, and not intimidated by the violence.
They have violated his inner sanctum, his ornate study decorated with wooden panelling and a large oaken desk with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

02:33 PM - Apr 20, 2024

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S01E10 - The Ju'Jinkai: After decades of silence, the Ju’Jinkai suddenly return. Humanity has lost every battle against them, so can the Liberator survive?

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Illustration by Doodlenerve0116.
One of the Ju'Jinkai stand over a helpless Republic soldier.
Descended from an acquatic predator, there is a definite shark-like quality to them. Standing on two legs, but oriented on the horizontal plane, they have a distinct hammerhead and an extremely muscular frame, including two massive double-thumbed hands.
It holds a large handgun in one hand and wears a harness carrying grenades and bladed weapons.
Finally, they have one last terrifying weapon: their double-articulated jaws.
They are a species caught between two worlds: the aquatic and the terrestrial. They can breathe both an atmosphere and water, but this one is wearing a water tank for breathing.
Their species left the water of their world many generations ago, fleeing even bigger predators, and the terrestrial adaptation allowed them to start developing their intelligence.
Though terrifying, they should never be written off as dull and brutish. There is much more to them than first appears.

04:12 PM - Apr 19, 2024

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S01E09 - Halcyon Days: After a terrorist attack at the heart of New Athens, and the Senate itself, The Liberator is called to hunt down the terror group.

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Illustration by Doodlenerve0116.
Hanna Ilyas rides shotgun on a quad-rotor police flier belonging to the Potomac Police, with Chief Bonnell sat next to her.
They are on their way to intercept a suspected terrorist who planted the bomb that damaged the Senate, but they need to move fast to avoid him fleeing, so the fliers become necessary.
It is like a scaled up drone, but capable of holding multiple people and some equipment, much like an ancient helicopter.
There are other fliers as well, more modern designs that make use of maglev technology, but the rotor design is still popular as it can be cheaper and still works on planets with a weak magnetic field.

03:40 PM - Apr 18, 2024

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S01E08 - The Siren's Call: The Liberator investigates a world where the entire population has simply disappeared. But who, or what, is Galatea?

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Image by twiffcane99.
Doctor Akari Takuma surveys one of the commercial streets of the colony of Mul Haengseong. It is a normal street with coffee shops and fast food restaurants, but it is completely abandoned.
The detritus of everyday life remains: food is left uneaten, shopping bags lie where they were dropped and a baby's pram lies empty and unattended, something which sends a shiver down the spine of Akari.
One of her medical colleagues scans the area, attempting to pick up any traces of pathogens, but none have been currently found.

04:29 PM - Apr 17, 2024

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S01E07 - Consequences Of Past Deeds: The Liberator is seized by the Eyrians, godlike xenos that sit in judgement over all sentient species.

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Image by twiffcane99.
Captain Carl Schafer makes an impassioned plea to the Eyrian auditor.
Little can be discerned of the arena that they are in as it is so dark. The Eyrians exist in an environment with practically no light, so they accommodate only the dimmest of illumination for the accused.
The Eyrian itself regards the waffling human with cynicism. They have little respect for humanity, a species they deem to be destructive and selfish.
All we can see of the auditor is a vague shape. The most noticeable feature is its four eyes, glowing a deep scarlet and casting a little light over what can only be described as a beak. Behind the eyes, are some horns, and leathery wings that protrude from its back.
Despite being an alien, there is something deeply satanic about its appearance, and its presence inspires fear in the humans that accompany Schafer.

07:58 PM - Apr 16, 2024

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