Register herald obituaries

If it weren’t for a killer urban legend, Tina and I would celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 14th
Honestly, I was enjoying a bit of human company after several hours of driving alone, four years ago. Correction. I was trying to enjoy human company. I couldn't identify what was out of sync about Ernestburgh and its inhabitants so I wrote it off to me being picky. I am picky. That's why I was looking this far away from home for the location of my much needed warehouse. I wasn't about to spend the money demanded for run down buildings in my hometown. My odometer assured me I was 114 miles from home. In Ernestburgh. Which isn't in my GPS or on any online map I called up.
Cindy the gas station cashier dropped the cash into my hand and wished me a happy day. Then, haltingly, as if going off script and unsure about doing so, she asked, "What brought you here?"
"Good question," I said, jamming the change into my jacket's inside pocket, "I'm in the market for a warehouse, around 1,000 square feet. Anything like that in town?"
"Let the young lady be on her way," a deep voice boomed behind me. My stomach jumped, although I think I remained calm on the outside as I turned around. A tall, muscular man was nodding at Cindy and me. "Don't mind her, Miss, sometimes we forget our manners here, being we all know each other. You know how that is." He chuckled, although his eyes never smiled. To me, he looked smug. I didn't appreciate that.
"Where are my manners?" I laughed, sticking my hand out to start a handshake. "I'm Lydia from the next town over. And you are?"
He stared at my hand for several seconds before taking it in a quick handshake. "Name's Hopper, Miss Lydia, good to meet you. My wife Cora tells me I need to socialize more and work less, but, you know how it is, I'm sure." He released my hand.
He sounded like he looked, smug. Part of me wanted to egg him on. But I took a breath before speaking and told him I was looking for a motel room for the night. His demeanor softened. "The Deu Lake Inn just reopened after renovations. Go right from our parking lot, left at the second stop sign. Ask for Room Number 103. It overlooks the Lake. Hope you're an early riser. Sunrise over the Lake is unforgettable this time of year!"
Ernestburgh didn't have street lights so the stop signs were a little hard to see but I managed to find the dirt road that ended at Deu Lake Inn's parking lot. That clicked for me. If I landed MoonDoor's warehouse here, the Inn and the entire old school vibe of Ernestburgh would be an easy sell to increase tourism. Especially to boomers.
Annie McIntosh greeted me at the front desk and offered me 10 % off on my stay, which I gratefully accepted. Annie called in Enzio Morton to take my 'overnight bag' to my room and make sure the air conditioning was working. I said I wasn't worried, since it was February 9 and I would rather the room was heated. Annie's response was the a/c was just installed and it being such new technology, staff needed to make sure it worked. I chuckled a little then noticed she probably wasn't joking so I stopped, rather awkwardly.
Annie busied herself with paperwork and actively avoided talking to me after that. Knowing that someone named Enzio had to accompany me to my room, I checked out the only photo on the wall. It was a black and white photo of a man who looked eerily familiar. He wore an odd white bucket hat with the brim pushed away from his face. He had dark hair with full, choppy bangs, eyebrows raised over large eyes opened wide, a nondescript nose and mouth open as if he was either talking or gawking.
It hit me: That was Bob Denver, when he was Gilligan from Gilligan's Island, a 1960s sitcom.
A document attached to the photo frame was titled "Official History and Lore of Our Founding Father". It explained 'Captain' Johnny Ernest spent his entire life in Ernestburgh. His parents raised him on their local farm, before the town existed. Deu Lake Inn was built over his family's farm property. He was orphaned at the age of 11 and lived alone for the rest of his life. He spent 25 years building the earliest homes, post office and stage coach station for what became known as Ernestburgh. Since his death, he returns every year to eat the living being he names. The town would not and could not exist without him, according to the document.
What the hell.
"Miss Annie," I asked, unwilling to be taken in by a local prank, "is that all there is to this story?"
Annie lifted her head, smiling widely. "Yes," she said brightly, "that's our Founding Father, Captain Ernest. Once a year he returns, eats whatever living being he names, then he returns to his beloved lake until the next February 10th."
'Eats whatever living being he names.' I felt fear without knowing its origin, something I don't often experience. I turned to face the Inn's entrance so I could avoid both Annie and Captain Ernest. Enzio appeared soon after. He got me to Room 103, confirmed the a/c was good, and I was left on my own for the night.
I opened the sports bag of spare essentials I always left in my vehicle. It stems from having to be prepared to run for my life when I was younger. Some habits are hard to break. It allowed me to change into a t shirt for that night. I grabbed the remote and jumped into bed.
Covers up to my neck, horror movie marathon playing quietly in the background, I was ready to relax. That's when I remembered my odometer. Part of my being picky is me recording my mileage at the end of every journey. My odometer registered exactly 114 miles from home to Ernestbugh. Based on memory, I'd travelled mostly westbound from home. And online maps clearly showed a large, well-known city 40 miles west of my place. Seems likely I would have noticed that city, had it been in my way during my travels.
Also, traveling no more than 50 miles per hour, my trip should have taken two and a half hours, three tops if I slowed down, got stuck in traffic jams or stopped a lot. That wasn't how my drive went at all. I left home at 10 a.m. and drove non-stop until I arrived at Ernestburgh nine hours later, just before 7 p.m.
Once again, what the hell.
I called up my dashcam footage and fast forwarded through the day's journey. There was scenery I recognized, close to home, then about five hours of static, then scenery that I recalled driving into Ernestburgh. The first time I watched it, I didn't believe it. Had to be a technical glitch. The third time I watched it, my muscles tightened for fight or flight. As much as I wanted to leave immediately, I realized I'd do better to wait until morning. I set my phone alarm for 6:45 a.m. and plugged in my phone to recharge, then spent a long time staring at the ceiling.
My alarm rang a bit too early for my liking and I didn't remember setting the ring tone to 'growls and groans'. The time on my phone was 5:45 a.m. so it wasn't my alarm. For a second I attributed the noise to the horror movie marathon I'd selected for the room's TV. Nope. TV must have shut itself off while I was asleep.
I heard it again. A growl, thunderous and a bit muffled, coming from the back of the Inn where my window faced. Expecting an incoming thunderstorm, I opened the curtains a bit and stared for a second or two at a huge bubble sitting on the lake. A face smiled at me from inside the bubble. A face. In a bubble. On a lake. Smiling at me. So much wrong.
After the fastest shower ever, I shoved all my gear into my sports bag and threw on my coat. I ran to the back of the Inn with all my gear and my phone (charge cord still attached, alarm shut off) at the ready. The beach, such as it was, was about a two minute jog from the back of the Inn and extended for quite a bit before meeting the water. There was a large bubble sitting on the water's surface, a significant distance from the shore. This was the same bubble I'd seen out the window. It kept getting larger, as did the face in it.
I was trying to focus my phone's camera when I heard someone speaking behind me. Annie, the front desk clerk, asked if I was ready to check out.
"Um, Annie, do you see that?" I said as gently as I could, pointing at the bubble. As soon as I looked at it, I couldn't look away. Annie didn't answer my question but she did keep talking. She said check out prior to 11:25 a.m. was fine but I had to pay now. I asked her how much and she didn't answer, which prompted me to look directly at her.
The growling started again. Of course it was much louder than I'd heard in my room. Annie frowned but stood firm, hand out, palm up. I looked back at the lake and the bubble had moved much closer to shore, almost touching dry land. It was huge, and the face now had a full body with arms and legs. Still smiling, it pointed at me with its left arm.
My blood ran cold. I heard Annie's voice but couldn't understand the words. The bubble drew ever closer. The growls were so loud, I clamped my hands over my ears but still couldn't stop staring at the face. It seemed so familiar.
Annie might have stopped talking, I don't know. All I could hear with my hands on my ears was muffled growling. I knew she was still there because she had grabbed my right arm with both hands and pulled fiercely. Even so, I kept staring at the bubble that had stopped rolling when it made land.
The growling continued.
Annie tugged until my right hand fell away from my ear. She screamed it wasn't her time as she released my arm. At that time I didn't know if she stayed or left because I was still watching the bubble.
A crack formed, splitting the bubble in half vertically. Within a blink or two, the bubble split open and the growling changed to a low, gravelly human voice. "Annie! Annie McIntosh!" the being said. Its finger no longer pointed at me, but to my right. I felt compelled to glance beside me and sure enough, there was Annie. Her hands were balled up into fists, pushing on her temples. She was crying and shaking, and I felt genuine terror just looking at her.
"Annie McIntosh, it is your time!" the being announced as it took two steps towards her. I'm ashamed to say I felt a brief moment of relief that the being wasn't aiming at me before I realized it appeared to be hellbent on getting Annie. She was now screaming wordlessly, seemingly unable or unwilling to run.
In that moment, two things occurred to me. The being was an exact replica of the black and white photo of the town's founding father. And if the urban legend was correct, 'Captain' Johnny Ernest can only eat one person per year. He names that person before eating them. Since he'd already named Annie, I figured I was safe at least for that year, and tried to distract him. Maybe Annie could escape and live another year.
I screamed at him, "Captain, you're dead, you don't need to eat anymore!" It was the best I could think of at the time. I put my hands on Annie's left arm and tried to drag her away with me. No luck, she felt like she was cemented to the spot.
Meanwhile, Captain Ernest continued to take huge steps towards us. I'm used to living with and around weird things, but this went beyond weird. Gilligan wanted to eat someone and he seemed focused on Annie.
Something in me broke. I screamed I was sorry to Annie and took off at a full run. I didn't stop running until I got to the back of the Inn. Maybe it was guilt, maybe it was morbid curiosity, but I had to take one last look back.
Captain Ernest was still at least two of his steps away from her when he grabbed her.
She was still screaming when he dropped her into his mouth.
I folded two ten dollar bills under the phone on the Inn's front desk then jumped into my car and peeled out. When I got to Ernestburgh's main street I turned left. A right turn would have taken me back to Ernestburgh and that was a huge nope for me. As soon as I saw something resembling a freeway, I took the eastbound route and didn't stop until I was home.
The trip home took two hours and added 114 miles to the odometer. My dashcam worked just fine that whole time. The previous day's footage came up as 'corrupted' when I tried to access it. I spent the next four days in bed, waiting for Tina to return from her mother’s.
Tina's mother recovered quickly and Tina came home on day five. She asked me to retrace my steps with her in the car. No matter what we did, we couldn't find Ernestburgh. I searched for obituary notices about Annie McIntosh until Tina said I might be reaching unhealthy levels of 'need to know' when, in fact, I don't need to know. And she was right.
But every February 9th and 10th since then, she and I spend those days together, at home, without guests. We stay in bed, watch our fav horror movies and eat whatever we want. It's our customized version of Valentine's Day.
Author's note: Find me at LG Writes, Odd Directions and Write_Right

Introduction
Hey and welcome to the WikipediaPageCreation subreddit! This is a subreddit dedicated to discovering and exploring various methods and strategies of securing Wikipedia pages for a brand or person. My name is Nikolas Lemmel and I’m the team-lead at a boutique digital agency by the name of Maximatic Media. As we’ve spent the last couple of years dissecting the art of Wikipedia page creation, I’ve decided to open this sub in hopes of sparking a discussion on various impactful and non-impactful factors affecting the creation of stickied Wikipedia pages. I’m hoping to start the birth of this sub off strong so I’m gonna try to provide an in-depth overview of what we’ve learned about creating and stabilizing Wikipedia pages thus far as a company in this post. If you have any experience with either of the components I’ll be mentioning or would like to share one that we’ve yet to cover, please feel free to comment down below.
Page Stickiness
Let’s start this journey by first recognizing the weird word I’ve used like 3-4x in the introduction: “stickied”. This is a word you’ll see appear often the deeper dive into the Wikipedia publishing world.
The concept of "stickiness" in the context of Wikipedia publishing has to do with the longevity and resilience of a newly published Wikipedia page. Wikipedia is an open-source platform that relies on volunteer editors to maintain the quality of content on the site. These editors follow a set of guidelines to decide what content is notable and reliable enough to appear on Wikipedia.
When a new page is created, it undergoes scrutiny from higher-tier editors and admins, who assess whether the page meets Wikipedia's stringent notability and reliability criteria. If they decide that it doesn't, the page can be deleted or heavily revised, oftentimes within a matter of days from its publishing date. This constant monitoring and removal process is part of Wikipedia's commitment to maintaining a high-quality, reliable source of information and minimizing the extent to which Wikipedia is used in an advertorial fashion.
Stickiness, therefore, refers to the ability of a new page to withstand this scrutiny and remain live on the site. A stickied page is one that has been well-constructed, sufficiently sourced with credible references, and clearly meets the notability requirements. The page not only gets published but also stays published, or "sticks.”
Now, this may already be common knowledge to the bulk of you that are actively researching Wikipedia page creation for your brand. However, since we’ve launched our service, we’ve dealt with a lot of clientele who have attempted to create a Wikipedia page for themselves in the past and were hit with this harsh reality check. An alarming percentage of those cases fell prey to freelancers or companies specializing in Wikipedia publishing that charged them anywhere between $600 - $2000 to draft and publish a Wikipedia page, knowing full well that there was absolutely zero chance that the page would actually remain on Wikipedia. Not an outright scam, mind you, but very much bordering on one in my point of view.
The truth of the matter is that 95% of entities seeking a Wikipedia page do not truly warrant one and this statement is corroborated by Wikipedia’s own statistic, stating that a mind-boggling 98% of newly published pages get nominated for deletion. So how do we combat these ridiculously low odds? Well, let’s delve into what’s arguably the biggest factor of all when it comes to page stickiness:
Notability
So diving right into the nitty-gritty of Wikipedia Publishing, we must first cover the concept of notability - the most important aspect out of all of the points I’ll be covering in this guide. Notability in the context of Wikipedia simply means how often reputable, secondary sources are referencing you in their media output. Said references come in many forms, whether it be a full feature article, a short bio in a listicle or just a basic citation. However, not all references are made equal. Some references carry significantly more weight than others, either due to its “comprehensiveness” (i.e. a full feature article with the sole focus being on you) or the “reputability” of the source doing the referencing (i.e. mentioned in Forbes vs mentioned in “Biznes-News-Blog”).
Comprehensiveness
Let’s first delve into the topic of comprehensiveness. The comprehensiveness of your reference can be calculated by just a couple factors: the word count of the article, the keyword density of your entity’s name within said article and whether the entity is being referenced in the title/headline of the article. These three components determine the significance laid upon the entity by the reporting outlet. The more extensive the coverage, the higher the significance in the eyes of Wikipedia (i.e. a full-feature, 750-word article on Forbes vs a 150 word entry in “Top 30 E-Commerce Businesses of 2023” listicle on Forbes).
Reputability
Now that we’ve covered what I mean by “comprehensiveness”, let’s talk about the other component influencing the power of your media coverage: reputability. The concept of reputability is basically as straightforward as it gets. Just about any semi-famous news or media outlet that you can think of is viewed as a “reputable” source by Wikipedia. The likes of Forbes, Mashable, USA Today, etc are all stellar examples of significant coverage that corroborates you or your brand as a notable entity in the eyes of Wikipedia. However, a full feature article on each of those aforementioned sites costs $15,000, $2,400 and $6,500 respectively. If you as an entity see no utility in being featured on these media outlets beyond simply meeting the eligibility criteria for a Wikipedia page, it makes little sense to purchase those placements.
The Role of Domain Authority
This is where a more esoteric metric comes into play: Domain Authority. A DA score is effectively a ranking assigned to a domain which we can use to assess any given site’s authority in comparison to the rest of the web. It is calculated using the domain’s age, the amount of other sites referring to it and the reputability of said referrals. Basically the same criteria influencing the site’s probability of getting their own stickied Wiki page but quantified by a score from 1 to 100. Now let’s return back to three examples of reputable media outlets I’ve given above: Forbes, Mashable and USA Today. Forbes has a DA score of 95, Mashable has a DA score of 92 and USA Today has a DA score of 94. So all in all, all three publications are highly renowned, outpacing the vast majority of other sites on the web with scores of 90 and above. However, if referring back to the pricing of each placement, we see a pretty drastic incongruence with the value derived from each media outlet in the context of GKP creation. Forbes, despite being one measly basis point off of USA Today’s DA score, carries more than a 200% higher price tag. Now sure, Forbes has a significantly higher readership and holds far more clout than USA Today but if focusing solely on its impact in the context of a Wikipedia reference, it really doesn’t warrant the price you pay for it when compared to other viable alternatives.
And these are just the three sites we’ve mentioned so far. Take a look at the following spreadsheet containing 400+ available media placements and keep an eye on the DA column:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SX7bI0YSZeJCWwxaMEZ1LG-QtoiLFnDVJZjW1n-ZvQ0/edit?usp=sharing
As you scroll through, you’ll find that there are a plethora of Google-News-Approved sites that have a relatively high DA despite costing a fraction of what the internationally distinguished media outlets cost. Sites like Village Voice, HackerNoon, Times of Malta, Chiang Rai Times, etc. Now granted, they don’t exactly pack the same sort of punch that Forbes does but in the context of a Wikipedia page, you are considerably better off securing five B-tier placements in comparison to a singular A tier placement. So long as you are not cheaping out by opting for “Biznes-News-Blog” as your referring source and stick to Google-News-Approved publications, a varied list of reputable placements within your references section will take you much further than just one extremely reputable citation.
Reliability
Now that we’ve extensively covered the topic of notability, let’s talk about a factor of media assessment that is unique to Wikipedia: Reliability. Reliability is Wikipedia’s way of determining how trustworthy the source of incoming information is. It’s one of the only ORM services that views this factor as being separate from notability, which makes the process of selecting publications a bit more complex.
As a PR agency, we deal with a lot of ORM requests ranging from Google Knowledge Panels to Wikipedia Publishing to Social Media Verifications on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube. Theoretically, say that we receive a client seeking to get verified on all social platforms, get a GKP and get a Wikipedia page published about them. All in all, the works. Let’s say that they also came to us with a decent bit of pre-existing media coverage and have full feature articles about them published on the Daily Mail, Newsweek, RT News, OK Magazine and E! News.
Now, in the context of GKP Creation and Social Media Verification, we would notify this imaginary client that we are prepared to move forward with their case and are relatively optimistic about their probability of success. Given that their PR stems from highly recognizable publications with DAs in the high 80s/90s, there is little reason to suspect that they’d get rejected on the basis of notability. However, when it comes to Wikipedia, we unfortunately would have to reject this case and I’ll explain why. Despite the fact that each of those publications is considered notable by Wikipedia’s standards (which more or less follow the same criteria as Google and Meta mind you), not a single one of those listed outlets is viewed as a trustworthy source by Wikipedia. Newsweek is viewed as a biased news reporter, RT News is viewed as propagandized and state-run media, and Daily Mail, OK Mag and E! News are all considered low-quality, tabloid-like sources of information. Creating a Wikipedia page with only these articles as citations is basically a guaranteed nomination for deletion waiting to happen.
This is largely why, when purchasing press for Wikipedia, you want to stick to media outlets that are independent, journalistic sources with a good reputation behind them. So going back to the spreadsheet of PR placements, sites like Times of Malta and Chiang Rai Times are good examples of reputable, independent news sites that meet the notability criteria whilst remaining relatively affordable. The cream of the crop, however, would be publications like Wisconsin State Journal, Arizona Daily Star, Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald, etc. Localized, independent news sources that have a significant amount of authority within their local domains while having an international readership similar to that of the NYT and Chicago Tribune.
Lastly, let’s talk about press releases from reputable sites like Yahoo, Bloomberg, Business Insider, etc. Wikipedia views press releases, especially those bought from press release aggregators, with a measure of suspicion, considering them as 'purchased' content. Purchasing these is really like blowing money down the drain since these can only be used as secondary sources. Stay away from these and stick only to editorial articles — those written by the staff of the publication and not distributed through the plethora of press release services out there.
The Question of Quantity
A pretty common question we get asked in our Wikipedia publishing consultations with clients is what amount of references guarantees a stickied page. What is the absolute minimum that I can get away with? And truth be told, we honestly have a hard time answering this question as we don’t truly know. Without foreseeing the future and knowing which admin gets assigned to review the page and what their opinion is on each referring publication, it is impossible to predict the actual amount. In our experience of creating Wikipedia pages over the last couple of years, we’ve found no shortage of BS reasons given for rejecting a specific source. The way Wikipedia is organized, it really just comes down to luck. We’ve witnessed a client get a stickied page with just five references and we’ve also witnessed a client get their page deleted with upwards of 15 strong references.
Having said that though, if taking into account the median number of references across all of our successful cases, a good benchmark to aim for would be roughly 6 semi-strong, corroborating references with a DA of 75 and above. Again, this number is not set-in-stone and may vary contingent on the entity (living persons oftentimes given more leniency than corporate brands) but six is basically the optimal zone. In the event an admin decides to reject one of the citations, the page still has five other references to fall back on, making it difficult to argue a lack of notability within a nomination vote. But if you really wanna take your chances, three strong references is the absolute minimum. Just be aware that you are fully at the mercy of the admin in this scenario.
“Veteran” Editor Accounts
Now that we have finally finished covering the most important factor impacting your Wiki page’s stickiness, let’s move onto what is likely the 2nd most important factor: the Wiki account doing the publishing. Let’s imagine for a second that we have a ready-to-go Wikipedia article that is well-constructed, worded in an objective, non-advertorial manner and contains plenty of citations from reputable sources verifying each and every piece of factual information within the article. Now, let’s imagine that we take this exact same article, word-for-word and publish it from two separate editor accounts. One of those accounts has been around for 7+ years and has made 3,000+ edits across various existing pages alongside the 300+ pages they’ve created and published themselves. The other account was registered three days ago, has zero experience editing other people’s entries, and their very first edit is about to be a brand new page that very few people ever heard of, despite how well-cited it may be.
Assuming they both publish the exact same content, word-for-word with the same references section, who do you think will receive more scrutiny over the brand new page from admins? The guy who’s been around for close to a decade and has a historical track record of quality contributions? Or the guy who literally just made an account on Wikipedia and decided that publishing a page about a little-known entity is a good first step in his life-long Wikipedia journey?
I think that’s really all that can be said about this topic as it's quite straightforward. Aged accounts with a history of edits simply tend to be more trusted when it comes to new page creation than accounts that are brand new. If you have a semi-strong page with somewhat questionable references, the reputation and history of the editor doing the publishing can be the thing that nudges it over the edge of acceptance.
That’s partially why we charge $1,500 for our Wikipedia publishing service. No one should pay fifteen hundred bucks to write a 400 word entry about their brand, that’s obscene. You pay for the privilege of being published by a somewhat renown Wikipedia editor, minimizing the degree to which your entry elicits suspicion and thus, maximizing your chances of success.
Drafting the Page
Now that we’ve covered the two most important aspects influencing your page’s stickiness probability, let’s move onto the last and arguably, least important factor out of them all: the actual writing. Now don’t get me wrong, a poorly written page is still very much a massive red flag when entering the sandbox stage. However, the knowledge required to write an objective, Wikipedia-compliant page is far more prevalent and less clandestine than the knowledge required to make the entity eligible for one.
Just read about a dozen or so pages on living persons and emulate the language and writing style used by the editors to the best degree you can. Assuming that you are a native speaker and don’t have any glaring grammatical errors within your writing, nine times out of ten, the page ends up being eligible for publishing. We’ve had plenty of clients write their own pages that required little to no editing on our side prior to being published.
There’s not much I can add to this that hasn’t already been covered by Wikipedia themselves (which you can read on this link here:). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons
Aside from the common tidbits of knowledge such as not using promotional language or writing in an informal tone, my one piece of unorthodox advice is to not go overboard with the length of the article. The shorter your page is, the lower the attack surface. The best pages are those that have just a couple of paragraphs in them, ranging between 200 and 350 words. The longer your page is, the higher the chances that you may get flagged for some factoid that didn’t get referenced enough within the sources you’ve cited to be considered “factually verifiable”.
Keep it to a minimum and only write about things that are easily fact-checked and warrant being on Wikipedia. Beyond that, just refer to Wikipedia’s own guidelines for written content and read a couple of pages for a quick inspo-sesh.
Conclusion
Given that we’ve covered each aspect of Wikipedia creation worth mentioning, let’s do a brief overview given that this post ended up being far longer than I had initially anticipated. We've dug deep into the nitty-gritty world of Wikipedia publishing, dissected the perplexing idea of "stickiness", navigated through the labyrinth of notability, comprehensiveness, reputability, and reliability, and peered into the halls of "Veteran" editor accounts.
So, let’s summarize what we’ve learned. Wikipedia's demanding notability and reliability criteria mean you can't simply grab any media coverage and hope it sticks. Quality over quantity, friends. Be discerning in your source selection, aim for varied, reputable sources, and steer clear of low-quality, biased outlets. You need to be strategic and smart about it. A Wikipedia page isn’t a walk in the park, it's a marathon, demanding preparation, skill, and persistence.
Never forget the importance of the account that does the publishing. An aged, trusted account can make the difference between sailing through or sinking like a stone. And remember, Wikipedia is not a billboard. It’s not about shouting your brand or achievements from the rooftops, it’s about providing an unbiased, informative, well-referenced and worthwhile contribution to the collective human knowledge.
We've shared the tricks of the trade, the ins, the outs, and the in-betweens of securing your Wikipedia page and have hopefully proven ourselves to be an above-average service provider of Wikipedia Publishing Services in the process.
Hopefully, y’all found this sub’s first post to be useful and a good introduction into the world of Wikipedia publishing. Myself and my team member, Marcus will be sticking around for an AMA on this post in case people have questions regarding any of the factors we’ve covered in this guide. Don’t forget guys, we started this subreddit out of the desire to make the process of securing a Wikipedia page less daunting and more of a community endeavor. It's a place where we can share our triumphs and challenges, learn from each other, and navigate the Wikipedia landscape together. So whether you’re a newbie trying to secure your own page or a PMarketing professional with years of experience in the field, please do not hesitate to share your journeys along with any factors you’ve found to have an impact that we failed to cover in the guide.
Let’s make WikipediaPageCreation the focal point of every Wikipedian’s self-publishing endeavor!

• Nikolas Lemmel Maximatic Media

Since I first learnt about SC and registered on the website back in 2015 I always dreamed about having a little ship in which I could live, plan my adventures and travel the Stars to unknown places to explore and discover, and the drake Herald was My preferred ship for that, because of the Amazing interior, and because im a solo player, but it always bothered me that the Herald didnt have a dedicated section of the ship as an airlock instead of the stair leading to the entire ship, but now That I have the Hull A is amazing, every part of it feels Functional, with the airlock section in the middle, a cozy living space with kitchen, bed, and bathroom, and the Amazing quantum fuel tank with 10k fuel.

Please note that the ticket links are usually for general admission; for VIP tickets, if available, you may have to go to the band's website.
Sunday, Jun 4, 2023

Ugly Kid Joe, Fozzy	Jannus - St. Petersburg

Monday, Jun 5, 2023

Rhapsody on Fire, Wind Rose, Seven Kingdoms	Conduit - Winter Park

Tuesday, Jun 6, 2023

Dying Whale, Dead Register, Moth Bite, The Path	Born Free Pub & Grill - Tampa
Heart Attack Man, Super American, Arm's Length	The Abbey - Orlando

Wednesday, Jun 7, 2023

Mike's Dead, The Haunt	Level 13 - Orlando
Within Chaos, Eyes Sewn Shut, Automatik Fit	Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville
Jameson Tank, Parks & Razz, Outer Edge Band	1904 Music Hall - Jacksonville

Thursday, Jun 8, 2023

Subhumans, UpChuck, gilt	Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville

Friday, Jun 9, 2023

Grass is Dead, The Coppertones	Underbelly - Jacksonville

Saturday, Jun 10, 2023

Halo Scars, Mind Virus, Cypher Machine, Re-Birth	Brass Mug - Tampa
Maul, Tombstoner, Plasmodulated	Conduit - Winter Park
Downswing, Falsifier, Bottomfeeders	Manna Tea & Kava Bar - Sarasota

Sunday, Jun 11, 2023

My Children My Bride, Extortionist, No Cure	Conduit - Winter Park
Bury Your Dead, Thirst, Edict	Tipsy Tiki - Fort Pierce

Monday, Jun 12, 2023

Maul, Tombstoner	Brass Mug - Tampa
Spotlights, Skyliner, The Darling Fire	Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville

Tuesday, Jun 13, 2023

Halocene, Lauren Babic, Alphamega	Hooch & Hive - Tampa

Wednesday, Jun 14, 2023

Drain, Drug Church, Magnitude, Gel	Brass Mug - Tampa
Halocene, Lauren Babic, Alphamega	Level 13 - Orlando
The Convalescence, Summoner's Circle	Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville
pulses., With Sails Ahead, I Met A Yeti	Will's Pub - Orlando

Thursday, Jun 15, 2023

Halocene, Lauren Babic, Alphamega	Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville

Friday, Jun 16, 2023

Roxx, Re-Birth, Cyber Machine, Haloscars	Conduit - Winter Park
Hollow Leg, Clamfight, Moat Cobra	Will's Pub - Orlando
Every Avenue, Makeout, Say We Can Fly	Orpheum - Tampa

Saturday, Jun 17, 2023

Crossbreed, Cultus Black, Cypher machine, Davey Partain	Orpheum - Tampa
Defy the Tyrant, Losing Daylight, Shadow the Earth	Kona Skate Park - Jacksonville
Breed, Gillian Carter, Audible Parts	Will's Pub - Orlando

Sunday, Jun 18, 2023

Crossbreed, Cultus Black, NoSelf, The Dev	Level 13 - Orlando
Bodybox, No Zodiac, High Pressure	Conduit - Winter Park
Dikembe, Camp Trash, Glazed	Will's Pub - Orlando

Wednesday, Jun 21, 2023

Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Animals As Leaders	Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater

Thursday, Jun 22, 2023

Garbage, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Metric	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa

Friday, Jun 23, 2023

Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Animals As Leaders	Hard Rock Live - Orlando

Saturday, Jun 24, 2023

Misfits, Megadeth, Fear	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheater - Tampa
Intoxicated, Vacuous Depths, Ebullition	Conduit - Winter Park
black midi, YHWH Nailgun	Orpheum - Tampa

Sunday, Jun 25, 2023

No/Mas, Knoll, Shock	Conduit - Winter Park

Monday, June 26, 2023

We Are the Union, Kill Lincoln, Catbite	The Social - Orlando
No/Mas, Knoll	Orpheum - Tampa

Tuesday, Jun 27, 2023

Yungblud, The Regrettes, Caspr	Jannus - St. Petersburg

Wednesday, Jun 28, 2023

D.R.I., Metalriser	Underbelly - Jacksonville
Peter Frampton	St. Augustine Amphitheatre

Thursday, Jun 29, 2023

The Cure	Amalie Arena - Tampa
D.R.I., Metalriser	Will's Pub - Orlando

Saturday, Jul 1, 2023

D.R.I., Metalriser	Brass Mug - Tampa
Liliac, Fortune Child	The Twisted Fork - Port Charlotte

Sunday, Jul 2, 2023

Godflesh	Conduit - Winter Park

Thursday, Jul 6, 2023

Sad Summer Festival	Daily's Place Amphitheatre - Jacksonville

Friday, Jul 7, 2023

Sad Summer Festival	Coachman Park - Clearwater
Subdivisions, Violence System, The Fallen Sons	Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville
Days Of Summer festival	Conduit - Winter Park

Saturday, Jul 8, 2023

Memphis May Fire, Norma Jean, Secrets	The Beacham - Orlando
Days Of Summer festival	Conduit - Winter Park

Sunday, Jul 9, 2023

Memphis May Fire, Norma Jean, Secrets	High Dive - Gainesville
Crown The Empire, Varials	Orpheum - Tampa

Monday, Jul 10, 2023

blink-182, Turnstile	Amalie Arena - Tampa
Orthodox, Cell, Chamber	Crowbar - Tampa

Tuesday, Jul 11, 2023

Analepsy, Cognitive, Wormhole, Nectoricgorebeast	Conduit - Winter Park

Wednesday, Jul 12, 2023

Analepsy, Cognitive, Wormhole, Nectoricgorebeast	Crowbar - Tampa

Thursday, Jul 13, 2023

Staind	Seminole Hard Rock - Tampa

Friday, Jul 14, 2023

Staind	Hard Rock Live - Orlando

Saturday, Jul 15, 2023

Obituary	Brass Mug - Tampa
Flag On Fire, Scatter Shot, Backslide, Regions	O'Malley's Alley - Ocala

Monday, Jul 17, 2023

Cenotaph, Horrific Visions, Architectural Genocide	Conduit - Winter Park

Tuesday, Jul 18, 2023

Agents of Chaos, Black Clash	Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville

Friday, Jul 21, 2023

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Bryan Adams	Amalie Arena - Tampa
Mudvayne, Coal Chamber, Gwar, Nonpoint, Butcher Babies	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa
The Final Sound, Abbey Death, Layne Lyre	New World Music Hall - Tampa
Yosemite In Black, Endbringer, Murder Afloat	Orpheum - Tampa

Saturday, Jul 22, 2023

Yellowcard, Mayday Parade, Story of the Year	Daily's Place Amphitheatre - Jacksonville
Less Than Jake, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Devon Kay & the Solutions	House of Blues - Orlando
Rising Up Angry, Tragic, Legions Blind	Kona Skate Park - Jacksonville

Sunday, Jul 23, 2023

Yellowcard, Mayday Parade, Story of the Year	Yuengling Center - Tampa
Endbringer, Yosemite In Black, Heavy Hitter	1904 Music Hall - Jacksonville

Tuesday, Jul 25, 2023

Fall Out Boy, Bring Me The Horizon, Royal & The Serpent	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa

Thursday, Jul 27, 2023

Havok, Toxic Holocaust, I AM, Hammerhedd	Conduit - Winter Park

Friday, Jul 28, 2023

Between the Buried and Me, Rivers of Nihil, Thank you Scientist	Jannus - St. Petersburg
Round Eye, No Fraud, Caffiends	Will's Pub - Orlando

Saturday, Jul 29, 2023

Between the Buried and Me, Rivers of Nihil, Thank you Scientist	Beacham - Orlando
Southpaw, Highest Crown, Fortitude, Dead Mirrors	Born Free - Tampa

Sunday, Jul 30, 2023

Crobot, Rickshaw, Billie's Burger Patrol	Orpheum - Tampa

Thursday, Aug 3, 2023

Underoath, The Ghost Inside, We Came As Romans	Yuengling Center - Tampa

Saturday, Aug 5, 2023

Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa
Underoath, The Ghost Inside, We Came As Romans	St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Sanguisugabogg, Kruelty, Vomit Forth	Conduit - Winter Park

Sunday, Aug 6, 2023

The Queers, The Radio Buzzkills, The Jasons	Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville

Wednesday, Aug 9, 2023

Pyrexia, Cerebral Incubation, Atoll	Conduit - Winter Park

Friday, Aug 11, 2023

The All-American Rejects, New Found Glory, The Starting Line	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa
Black Flag	High Dive - Gainesville

Sunday, Aug 13, 2023

Alesana, Vampires Everywhere, Limbs	Level 13 - Orlando

Wednesday, Aug 16, 2023

The Offspring, Sum 41, Simple Plan	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa
hed p.e., Lydia can't Breathe, Razorz Edge	Jack Rabbits - Jacksonville

Saturday, Aug 19, 2023

Left to Suffer, Distant, Justice for the Damned	Conduit - Winter Park

Sunday, Aug 20, 2023

The Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol, Rival Sons	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa

Tuesday, Aug 22, 2023

The Mezingers	Underbelly - Jacksonville

Wednesday, Aug 23, 2023

Bless The Fall, Caskets, Kingdom of Giants	Orpheum - Tampa

Thursday, Aug 24, 2023

Clutch, Giovanni & The Hired Guns, Mike Dillon	Jannus - St. Petersburg

Saturday, Aug 26, 2023

Rob Zombie, Alice Cooper, Ministry	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa

Wednesday, Aug 30, 2023

Ghost, Amon Amarth	Daily's Place Amphitheatre - Jacksonville

Thursday, Aug 31, 2023

Ghost, Amon Amarth	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa

Saturday, Sep 2, 2023

Baby Metal, Dethklok, Jason Richardson	Orlando Amphitheater

Sunday, Sep 3, 2023

Spitalfield, Rookie of the Year, The Future Perfect	Conduit - Winter Park

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023

Bad Omens, ERRA, I See Stars	Jannus - St. Petersburg

Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023

Bad Omens, ERRA, I See Stars	House of Blues - Orlando

Friday, Sep 8, 2023

The Waning Moon, Palace of Tears, Rux Vendetta	Hooch & Hive - Tampa

Saturday, Sep 9, 2023

Kamelot, Battle Beast, Xandria	Hard Rock Live - Orlando

Sunday, Sep 10, 2023

Angelmaker, Vulvodynia, Flasifier	Conduit - Orlando

Tuesday, Sep 12, 2023

Black Veil Brides, VV, Dark Divine	Jannus - St. Petersburg

Wednesday, Sep 13, 2023

3 Doors Down, Candlebox	Daily's Place Amphitheatre - Jacksonville
Dance Gavin Dance, SiM, Rain City Drive	Hard Rock Live - Orlando

Friday, Sep 15, 2023

3 Doors Down, Candlebox	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa

Saturday, Sep 16, 2023

Movements, Mannequin Pussy, Softcult	The Ritz - Tampa

Sunday, Sep 17, 2023

Avenged Sevenfold, Falling in Reverse	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa
Wave to Earth, slchld	Orpheum - Tampa

Tuesday, Sep 19, 2023

Scowl, Militarie Gun, MSPAINT	Conduit - Winter Park

Thursday, Sep 21, 2023

Scowl, Militarie Gun, MSPAINT	1904 Music Hall - Jacksonville

Friday, Sep 22, 2023

Cavalera Conspiracy, Exhumed, Incite	Beacham - Orlando

Saturday, Sep 24, 2023

Boys Like Girls, State Champs, Four Year Strong	House Of Blues - Orlando

Sunday, Sep 25, 2023

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus	High Dive - Gainesville

Friday, Sep 29, 2023

CIRCLE JERKS, TSOL, Negative Approach	Underbelly - Jacksonville
Shinedown, Papa Roach, Spiritbox	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre - Tampa

Saturday, Sep 30, 2023

NOFX	Vinoy Park - St. Petersburg
Flogging Molly, The Bronx	House Of Blues - Orlando

Thursday, Oct 5-7, 2023

Absolution Fest	Crowbar - Tampa

Tuesday, Oct 10, 2023

Ne Obliviscaris, Beyond Creation, Persefone	Orpheum - Tampa

Wednesday, Oct 11, 2023

Ne Obliviscaris, Beyond Creation, Persefone	Conduit - Winter Park
Fit For a King, The Devil Wears Prada, Counterparts, Landmvrks	The Ritz - Tampa

Thursday, Oct 12, 2023

Dawn of Ouroboros, Fires in the Distance, Somnent	Conduit - Winter Park

Saturday, Oct 14, 2023

Beast in Black, Dance with the Dead	Orpheum - Tampa
Fame on Fire, Kingdom Collapse	The Social - Orlando

Sunday, Oct 15, 2023

Beast in Black, Dance with the Dead	Conduit - Winter Park
Motionless In White, Knocked Loose, After the Burial, Alpha Wolf	Hard Rock Live - Orlando

Tuesday, Oct 17, 2023

Atilla, Gideon, Until I Wake, Ten56	Underbelly - Jacksonville

Wednesday, Oct 18, 2023

Atilla, Gideon, Until I Wake, Ten56	Orpheum - Tampa

Friday, Oct 27-29, 2023

The Fest	Gainesville

Tuesday, Nov 7, 2023

Protest the Hero, Moontooth	The Abbey - Orlando

Wednesday, Nov 8, 2023

Protest the Hero, Moontooth	Orpheum - Tampa

Friday, Jan 24, 2024

Kansas	Florida Theatre - Jacksonville

​

FirstPreviousNextWiki
​
Georgy sat at his console on the bridge of the Nikitovna, trying to ignore the constant bustle going on around him. His mind overflowed with worries and doubts. Something was wrong, he was sure of it. The commander of the rival fleet had run amok seemingly without support from their homeland, but had received some three additional fleets’ worth of ships without much fuss shortly afterward. There had to have been something the Poslushi weren’t showing.
Georgy’s phone buzzed in his pocket; someone was calling him. He pulled out the device and checked the caller ID: Svetlana. He tapped the green Answer button and put the phone to his ear. “Hello, is this Admiral Kuznetsov?” the light voice of his niece said.
“Yes, Svetka. What is it?”
“Are you busy?” Svetlana’s tone was almost pleading.
“No, why?”
“Well, I have news. I, erm…” Svetlana paused, trying to find the words. Her voice trembled slightly with nerves.
“Spit it out, Svetka.”
“I, uh, found somebody. He’s really nice.”
“Is it that German boy?”
The line went dead for a moment. “How in God’s name did you know?”
“I’m not blind, Svetka; I saw how you eyed him. Is he with you?”
“Yes, Uncle. Do you want to speak with him?”
“Yes, please.” Georgy replied. There was a minor clatter on the other end, and then a more masculine voice spoke, a slightly synthetic edge to it given by a translator. “Admiral Kuznetsov, sir.”
“Johann, is that your name?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why are you after my daugh–my niece, Captain?” Georgy hastily corrected himself; Svetlana hated it when he called her his daughter, even though he had been her guardian long enough for the distinction to become moot.
“I think we have chemistry, sir. We get along well, she’s quite funny, and she’s so unbelievably smart.”
“And why am I to believe that once she ceases to amuse or provide an intellectual challenge, you will not leave her, Captain? My niece is a good Russian lady; she courts to marry, not entertain.”
“I don’t think that’ll ever happen, sir. She certainly hasn’t gotten any less interesting so far.”
“Are you going to marry her?”
Georgy could faintly hear Svetlana facepalming and suppressed a chuckle. “I’m sorry, sir?”
“Did you not hear what I said? Svetlana courts to marry.”
There was a pause while Johann considered his options. Then, “If it works out, then I’ll marry her.”
“That’s a good answer; you’re not presumptuous like some of the others. Now, will you treat her correctly and with respect to her ladyhood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And will you appreciate her day after day?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And are you willing to demonstrate that you can be a good courtier and husband, to me and her, before our very eyes?”
“Yes, sir.”
Georgy nodded. “Then we have no quarrel. For now.”
“Thank you… sir?”
Suddenly, the wavering voice of the radar officer rose above the general hum of the bridge. “Admiral…?”
“What is it?” he turned, cupping his hand over the phone.
“Registering new contacts on the forward sensors, sir. A lot of contacts, sir.”
“Uncle? What’s wrong?” Svetlana asked.
“I’ll call you later, Svetka.” Georgy said hastily, cutting the connection before she could respond. Then, he leapt from his seat and went to see the radar holograph.
At first, his eyes refused to accept the dense cloud of blinking red dots that had appeared on the opposite side of the planet as being really there. Perhaps an asteroid that had previously gone undetected had gone within the planet’s Roche limit and fractured, but it wouldn’t explain the dispersion of the contacts. Besides, rock chunks didn’t emit radio signals. Georgy’s jaw fell agape in abject horror as the radar officer read out the counts.
Eleven thousand enemy craft. Seven thousand of them were slave and supply barges, with the rest being a mixture of different combat vessels. There were hundreds of the same cruisers their commander piloted, along with dozens of even larger battleships, with estimated tonnages in the hundreds of thousands. However, even these titans were dwarfed in mass by the thousands of little frigates, who outweighed them by sheer numbers. CAST’s aerospace forces were outnumbered thirty to one, and their men on the ground were not by much better.
Poslush had stopped seeing this as a game.
“Wh-what do we do?” the radar officer asked, his face pale and eyes wide with terror.
Georgy took a breath, trying to collect his thoughts. “We call our men on the ground. And we tell them to get the hell off Omen.”
—
“Well, that was… awkward.” Johann said, putting the phone down on the tent’s floor. Svetlana looked at him comfortingly.
“It went a lot better than with some of the other men I brought home.”
“Oh?” Johann raised an eyebrow.
“I had a thing for bad boys when I was just getting out of secondary school. The small-time mobster I took a liking to thought he was tough until Georgy threatened to sic the GRU on him.”
“Your uncle tried to get the Russian national intelligence service to take out your date?”
“It was a bluff; he didn’t have that kind of authority at the time. He had the company of Naval Infantry guarding his flagship at his disposal instead.”
“That isn’t any better.”
“Oh, no, it is. The Naval Infantry will just put two rounds in your chest and leave you. Shack up with the GRU, and you’ll become quite well acquainted with the bicycle pump they shove up your ass and pressurize.”
“And I thought the CIA was mean.” Johann said, raising his eyebrows and pursing his lips as he considered the prospect.
“We’re just more direct.” Svetlana said matter-of-factly, only for Johann to seemingly ignore her.
“Hear that?” Johann said, holding a hand up. The tent fell deathly silent. Then, a faint sound prickled Svetlana’s ears and made the hairs on her neck stand up straight. In the far distance, an air raid siren was wailing.
“The hell?” Johann said, standing up. Fumbling with the tent flaps, he eventually emerged to see… nothing. No distant flames of war, no screaming jets overhead. The only things wrong about the scene were the strange, shifting stars in the night sky.
Suddenly, Hersch grabbed him from behind, pulling him away from the tent. “Hess! Come on, we need to get the tank!”
“Johann? What’s happening?” Svetlana asked, peeking out from the tent.
“I don’t know–I’ll tell you as soon as I do!” Johann cried hastily, then turned and ran with Hersch.
“The hell’s going on!?” Johann yelled.
“New offensive! We have to push the lines forward or they’ll punch through to the base!”
Soon, they arrived within sight of the Leopard. Hiedrich waved them closer from the commander’s cupola, dropping down into the vehicle as they approached. Johann jumped down after him and situated himself in his seat, Hersch slamming the hatch behind himself as he got in the driver’s spot. Seconds later, the tank’s engine purred to life and it shot forward, joining a growing line of armored vehicles that led out of Fort von Richthofen.
Johann slipped his radio headphones on and listened intently to what the commander of the 467th was saying.
“...receiving reports of large numbers of enemy craft in low orbit. The Poslushi have summoned reinforcements, possibly numbering in the millions. CAST is pulling back to fortify Kormoran and New ‘Couver, but they need to buy time first. That’s where we come in. Our task is to hold the line against the Poslushi long enough to evacuate Fort von Richthofen, and then we’re out. Over.”
Johann thumbed the transmitter switch on his radio and broadcast to the remainder of his platoon. “Well, you heard the man. Proceed to defensive positions, over.”
A GPS screen to his right flashed twice, and a position at the very edge of the plateau Fort von Richthofen was situated on was highlighted. “Hersch, you know what to do.” Johann ordered. Hersch nodded and the Leopard adjusted course, leading the rest of the platoon north. Along the way, Johann shuddered with horror. A million was a number almost impossible to even think about, much less several. Johann hadn’t really considered the possibility that he wouldn’t make it home; of course, it was always there, but it never really came across his mind for more than a few seconds. Now, however, that dark chance was fully in view. For a moment, Johann wanted to stop the tank, to shut everything out and try to imagine that it would all be okay.
Then, a steely calm descended over him. He wasn’t fighting for himself alone, but everyone. The fate of every human being presently alive and yet to be born hinged on his duty. If he were to die in service to his nation, CAST, humanity itself…
Then so be it.
—
“Wait. How many?” President Herald asked, his hand reflexively covering his heart.
“Eleven thousand, sir. It’s estimated that a few thousand more will arrive soon, and this isn’t even close to their full fleet.” Secretary of Defense Margaret McNamara responded, her mouth drawn into a grim line. She placed a stack of papers two centimeters thick on the president’s desk, a massive set of defensive projections and increasingly-pessimistic war plans. Herald’s heart leapt into his throat as he saw a particular scenario featured prominently. The scenario, a defense plan by the name of Steadfast Shield - Patton Contingency, was drawn up under the previous administration during the Contact Wars, discussing the possibility of an encounter with a vastly more powerful and actively malicious alien intelligence. It proposed a doctrine of defeat in depth, trying not to win battles, but to simply delay the inevitable long enough to launch a series of AI-guided sleeper ships out of the galaxy by the thousands, in the hopes that one or two would escape detection and destruction, find a habitable world, and thus ensure the continuity of humanity.
Even modified for the Poslushi, who weren’t as far ahead as the hypothesized enemy, the chances of Earthborne government continuing to exist and CAST retaining its independence weren’t good. CAST’s forces, even if they joined with AHINT, would, in all likelihood, simply be crushed under the Poslush Combine’s weight of numbers, and it would only be more devastating to humanity if it escalated into a nuke-slinging match.
Still, Herald had to stay calm. The position of head of state was a paranoid depressive’s worst nightmare: one genuinely could not let their true emotions show, or risk being pounced upon by their enemies. If he lost his cool, it would only hasten the destruction of all humanity held dear.
The odds were suddenly stacked against CAST. Herald, if he were religious, would’ve had his faith shaken by now. However, he did play American football back in his college years, and if there was one thing he knew, it was that Hail Maries tended to come out of the woodwork when the team was down beyond hope.
All he had to do was make the throw.
(AN: People get down on their luck sometimes. Bad things happen and they get knocked down, but the universe has a way of keeping things in balance. Luck, karma, whatever you call it, things work out in the end.
​
That's what people who get back up again say, anyway.
​
Love 'ya!)