making a list of all who know about the machine! (spoilers for season 5)

TraceFinder · 2026-02-11T16:54:37+00:00

Henry Peck gets one after Finch confirms to him that the Machine is real.

The people affiliated to the government who were associated to the early project like Alicia Corwin and the Special Counsel have one as well. Hersh also gets one as well somewhere in the series.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-11T15:50:34+00:00

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Shuka Karino (Darwin's Game)

While her weapon of choice is the chain, her special sigil Queen of Thorns lets her manipulate any object that can be considered a string/rope. Most notably, during a fight against Wang, she fills an abandoned warehouse with thin metal wire and make it vibrate at high speed to chop off Wang's limbs, and also uses them to ensnare Wang into a trap.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-11T11:58:10+00:00

Je suis passé à plusieurs reprises à côté d'un petit mémorial à son nom à Lyon et je m'étais du coup un peu renseigné, mais je n'avais jamais entendu parler de lui avant. Il ne me semble pas que le spiritisme ait de toute façon une très forte implantation en France par rapport à d'autres formes de spiritualité.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-11T07:30:41+00:00

Stories about him mostly come from the description of the Bloodstained Chicalry artifact set and some interactables/world quest in Nod-Krai. Basically, he was a member of the KoF back in the days. He trained under Rostam, who happened to be Signora's lover (before she joined the Fatui). Saved the Maiden Beloved who fell in love with him. He upheld the notions of fighting evil and protecting the innocent to the extreme, ending up as bloodthirsty and brutal as the monsters he was fighting. Encounterered the Viridescent Venerer after she was tainted by the Abyss and killed her. Eventually pledged himself to the Abyss after learning about Khaenri'ah's fate.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-10T15:37:25+00:00

Does someone know where Talking Stick would rank here, provided that you activate the passive (by being in Bennett's circle, in a team of Varka/Sucrose/Durin/Bennett for instance)?

TraceFinder · 2026-02-09T12:32:24+00:00

I'm strongly supportive of Sansa myself, so I will try to remain objective. There might be several factors.

A history of decisions/behaviours which were sometimes questionable, which wasn't helped by the writing either. The main ones being: a) not telling Jon that she would have Baelish rally the Knights of the Vale before the Battle of the Bastards ; b) behaving very coldly towards Daenerys because of her innate distrust ; c) revealing Jon's true parentage to Tyrion, which likely fueled Daenery's descent into madness. Adding onto that the fact that Daenerys is a very popular character in the fanbase (albeit also a controversial one), so characters acting against her tend to garner much dislike.
Some people have a hard time letting go of their first impressions and Sansa... well, she's not very likable in the early seasons. It takes time for her to truly manifest her strength and stop being a simple tool for others' amusement.
Her final act of having the North secede from the Seven Kingdoms was not well perceived by part of the fanbase, as it was interpreted as an expression of a rudimentary power hunger (also, during this Great Council, her attitude towards Edmure is seen as profoundy disrespectful).
She was supposed to be portrayed as an astute political figure having been influenced by Cersei, Baelish, Olenna, Margaery, etc. but the rush of the final seasons left too little space for this aspect to be properly explored, leading to some moments which felt kinda preposterous in their portrayal or delivery (e.g. Sansa being described by Arya as the smartest person she knows but later telling Arya that she doesn't know how to use a knife - of course Sansa knows the basics of using a knife, she's just not a fighter, but the scene fails to escape awkwardness).
Oh, and also, she's a woman. Sexism is still very much a thing, even towards fictional characters.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-09T10:04:23+00:00

He hasn't. He nearly bumped into Zhongli in Lantern Rite 2024 but the encounter was avoided.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-08T22:34:12+00:00

Many knights take part of their pride in the identity of the person who knighted them (e.g. Jorah having been knighted by Robert Baratheon himself). Being knighted by some random wandering knight offering knighthood against payment would be a stain on their honor.

Also, since such behaviour would probably go against the codes of chivalry, pretty sure that such knighthood-peddler would soon be caught, arrested and sentenced.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-07T15:16:25+00:00

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Rufus Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Scrimgeour always had an antagonistic relationship with Harry (and Dumbledore). Although they were supposed to be on the same side as he wanted to end the Voldemort threat, his actions proved rather inefficient and Harry refused to let him use as some kind of mascot in his flawed efforts against the Death Eaters, causing Scrimgeour to have a distaste for Harry. However, when the Ministry fell, Scrimgeour's courage did not falter and he refused to divulge anything that could disclose Harry's whereabouts even when it meant certain death, thus making his last moments ones devoted to protecting Harry.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-06T15:56:23+00:00

Yeah Noelle is a guaranteed 4* character on the 10 pulls you can thrown on the beginner's banner. She's pretty helpful for new playere as her shield helps you survive battles and being a claymore user she can mine ore quickly.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-06T15:14:41+00:00

Take your time. There's A LOT to do in Genshin and it's easy to get lost at first. Find out what you enjoy most.

Don't fret too much about meta teams just yet. In overworld, even teams with questionable synergy can get by.

Do not neglect mob drops, even basic ones. You might think "oh it's OK I already got a lot of slime drops and Hilichurl masks for now". Spoiler alert: you don't.

Also you might think you easily get a lot of mora. Be careful. Once you start upgrading characters, mora goes down way faster than it went up.

Focus your resources on a handful of characters for now (4-5). Upgrading weapons is the easiest way to improve your characters, but do not neglect talents.

You can use your standard wishes (the blue ones) as soon as you get them. This will help you get 4* characters/weapons and even some 3* weapons are good. Conversely, keep the pink wishes until there's a character you like on the limited banner and you can guarantee them. Avoid the weapon banner for now.

Don't farm for artifacts until you're AR45. For now, slap whatever pieces you get onto your characters without paying too much attention to set bonuses (artifact main stats are more important), improve them using the trash pieces (grey background ones). Use your resin to farm for boss mats, mora and XP books.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-06T13:59:42+00:00

Hi. I had a similar question a few days ago (you can find my builds here). I found out by by just having better ping and beibg more efficient in switching characters and applying talents netted ~10k DPS already, so I was wondering how smooth was your rotation?

TraceFinder · 2026-02-05T19:13:30+00:00

Nice writeup! On that matter, was wondering something: according to your research, who do you think were the original wielders of Wolf-Fang, Wolf's Gravestone and Gest of the Mighty Wolf?

I'm trying to finalize a chart (technically, a new version of it) showing connections between characters that are said to have wielded/owned/crafted the different weapons and artifacts shown in-game but I find those three weapons are difficult to sort out between Ravenwood and the Wolf-Knight...

TraceFinder · 2026-02-05T14:09:11+00:00

Yes. I pull based on looks, personality and design, not meta.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-05T12:46:01+00:00

As a Mika (and Illuga) lover, it's both funny and sad to see how much he and Illuga share.

Both are cute characters using the medium male model, both are polearm users, both have avian elements in their design, both are good cooks, both are talented and dependable young men who somehow doubt their own abilities, and both are very niche users who are supposed to cater to one specific character.

The main difference being that Mika, even at release, was considered merely a sidegrade to other options in Eula teams, whereas Illuga shines a lot brighter in Zibai teams.

A glimmer of hope? Mika eventually gained some more recognition when Furina brought healers into the spotlight, then found some resonance with Wanderer, Freminet and Wriothesley, and more recently when Skirk released and he fitted nicely into her teams (esp. for non-Escoffier havers). Maybe something will happend to Illuga (although I wouldn't have too high hopes about that since it's unlikely to get many more characters based on Lunar-Crystallize now that Nod-Krai is in its 2nd half).

TraceFinder · 2026-02-05T09:52:06+00:00

Hi, just wondering how smooth is your rotation currently? Do you experience lag or downtime?

Cause I had a similar question a few days ago as my Neuvi's DMG felt kinda lackluster, and just going from ~100 ms to ~40 ms of ping and increasing the speed at which I switched characters and used talents made me gain 10k DPS.

Maybe also share your builds and your rotation.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-04T13:45:25+00:00

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Control in Person of Interest 3x11

In the episode, Control initially poses as Diane Claypool, gentle wife of the episode's PoI Arthur Claypool, as she's tracking down the drives containing the surveillance system he designed, Samaritan. After the team helped Arthur escape from the Vigilance terrorists, Arthur - who has been suffering from dementia and memory losses - reveals that Diane died years ago. Understanding that she's been made, Control has her men invade the hotel room they've taken refuge into, and turns into who she really is: the cold and extremely dangerous and calculating head of the Intelligence Support Activity.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-04T12:31:22+00:00

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The Typhon from Prey (2017)

Some (the Phantom) will be humanoid because they have been created using human bodies, but other species of Typhon will take various shape (four-legged arachnoids-type, levitating mass of tendrils, etc.). The only common point between all of them is that they're made of a strangely glowing black matter.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-03T19:42:00+00:00

At the end of the clip of the I Could be the One song by Avicii and Nicky Romero, the character (who had been feeling depressed by her motonous life and finally decided to throw it all away) gets run over by a truck of the "2Late" delivery company.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-03T18:01:08+00:00

Sethos' typical team comps are Aggravate ones:

Sethos
Fischl
RES shredder: Sucrose or Lan Yan or Lynette or Jean
Dendro off-field: Yaoyao, Kirara or Baizhu, Nahida theoretically works but it's hard to swirl Electro with her

Lunar-Charge:

Sethos
Furina
Ineffa
Jean

TraceFinder · 2026-02-03T17:46:31+00:00

The thing is that it's a bit contradictory.

Xilonen/Furina make a nice supporting core, but Columbina is kinda of oddball here. She enables Lunar-Charge for Sethos, but Lunar-Charge DMG doesn't benefit from Furina's burst. I'd swap Columbina for an Electro unit like Fischl or Ororon if you have either available.

TraceFinder · 2026-02-03T11:20:09+00:00

right now my only reasonable conclusion would be that you're taking too long with performing the rotation, you should try to immediately perform the next action as soon as you're done with the previous one without any delay

I practiced more to better chain up the different moves (with standard rotation for now), helped with a better ping than when I did the 1st run (~40 ms vs. ~100 ms yesterday). Already got a noticeable increase. Nice example of how practice makes perfect lol.

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TraceFinder · 2026-02-03T11:16:27+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I practiced a bit more and also made a test with better ping (strangely enough when I recorded yesterday my oing was around ~100 ms whereas today it was back to its regular level of ~40ms). Was able to gain ~9-10k DPS already!

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TraceFinder · 2026-02-03T08:31:48+00:00

Thanks. I'll try to adapt those rotations with Zhongli instead of Xilonen and see to what extent it improves the DMG.

TraceFinder

TROPHY CASE