"GOL'BURGER - Brighten up your day!"

Franchise restaurants are hard to maintain, especially when they become one of the most popular fast-food services in the country! Thomas Alden grew up enjoying Gol'Burger's delicious hamburgers and fries growing up. Now, he's an adult in his thirties that has inherited a seat at the Board of Directors and a significant amount of shares in the company. With this comes great responsibility as his decisions will affect the company's future.

As Al Ray, the Chief Executive Officer of Gol'Burger, gets older, the world begins to change drastically. The FDA is beginning to implement and enforce new standards of practices regarding quality of fast-food chains around the country, putting the company's future at risk. The Members of the Board need to think of new ways to adapt.

What will you do in this privileged position of power? Will you flounder, find a way to rise above the noise, or become a victim to the strange forces in the background of the company?

Submitted for EndMaster's Crisis Contest 

Original Publishing Date: August 1, 2024

Corruption, complacency and conflict has eroded the once great Roman Empire. Split into two, and then diminished to the Italian Peninsula, Roman citizens, Christian and pagan, believe that the world as they know it is about end. His Holiness, Pope Leo, previously drove back Attila the Hun, called the Scourge of God by most west of the Danube River. The world believed that was the end of the Hun Invasion. They were wrong.

Eight years later, Attila still continues his conquest of the world, now having subdued all of Africa and the Eastern World. With the sacking of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire has collapsed into anarchy as the Huns and their subordinate tribes pillage and plunder the countryside. With no other obstacles in his path, Attila is once again free to attack the Western Roman Empire.

The alarming speed of the Huns' conquests and reports of new total war tactics terrify the west. Strange tales of hordes of vicious animals, warriors with the strength of ten men and demonic sorcery plague the imaginations of the Roman forces charged to protect what remains of the Empire. Before, reports of the Huns' savagery were already running rampant. Now, all forms of apocryphal tales are accepted as fact.

In a final desperate stand against the forces of darkness, the leader of the Christians, Pope Leo, has organized what remains of the bravest and most cunning soldiers of the Roman army to launch a covert mission to save the people of the West. There is no other way; Attila must be destroyed! Possessing otherworldly insight, Leo has been given he knowledge necessary to guide his chosen men, and you among them, to fight to the threat that seeks to end not only Rome, but the entire world. Will you defeat Attila's ambition to destroy the world, or will you be just another victim?

Update Notes:

Addressed the variable glitches that led to some of the content being blocked off. Fixed the issue and made some other edits.

France - Summer 1415 AD

The country of France faces a point of crisis. King Henry of England, fifth of his name and hope of the House of Lancaster, declares his intention to conquer France, stating it is the will of God. Charles, sixth of his name and known as the Mad King, is poorly suited to deal with the rising threat and relies on the strength of better men. To the shock of the French court, Henry and his army arrive safely in Normandy despite coastal defenses, leaving Henry to freely begin his siege of the port of Harfleur. Charles, furious and frothing at the mouth, threatens his lords into compliance to answer English aggression.

Command the destiny of Jean the Younger, heir to the Valois-Alençon dynasty. His father Jean the Elder, named the "Wise" and Duke of Alençon, is ordered by his liege to lead a portion of the French army to counter the English invasion. Little Jean wants to his father in action, drawn by the romantic, medieval desire to see the glory of battle. But, there is one problem: Jean is only a six-year-old boy! Nevertheless, he dreams of glory, being the son of one of the most powerful men in France.

Will you bind Jean's actions to history, guide him to a greater future or doom him to obscurity? His fate lies in your hands.

Hello all you CYStians!

For some of you, it's still Wednesday, but for me it's a Thursday. Please enjoy our regular issue, filled with interviews, cool art, advertisements for CYS-related activities and more!

Thanks and acknowledgements to all our staff members who went above and beyond the call of duty to produce so much stuff that we had push quite a bit to the next issue!

The pictures here are clickable! If you want the slideshow of this article, here's a link.

Hey CYStians!

I apologize for the delay, but the final issue declaring the winner for the Gazette Short Story Competition is now here! Please enjoy this mini-issue before we publish our main one tomorrow! It contains both a congratulations and a response to recent events. I can't say it hasn't affected us here at the CYS Monthly Gazette, but we are far from out!

As always, a hearty thank you to all the members of the CYS Monthly Gazette, Anthraxus, Suranna, RKrallonor, Will11, Yummyfood, our Mr. Nobody and welcoming Mystic_Warrior as our newest inclusion to the staff!

Stay tuned for our regular issue tomorrow!

The pictures here are clickable! If you want the slideshow of this article, here's a link.

3, D and III respectively

Thanks for the reference. Once again, I wish I had an account to access JSTOR texts.

I saw a recent paper from my Alma Mater (UMW) that actually references the document you shared. it does a bring up a good point with context. I suppose it is hasty to read the document with a modern lease of pairing gay and lesbian. However, Paul does decry any form of sexual activity outside of marriage (referencing back to his letter to the Corinthians that chronologically would have been written earlier), and it's not as if the church or even Roman culture is sanctioning female-to-female marriages.

Image 1: Inkblot

Image 2: Inkblot

Image 3: Inkblot

Image 4: Inkblot

Image 5: Inkblot

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Image 7: Inkblot

I was surprised this one wasn't mentioned already. Probably one of the strongest arguments for the Bible decrying homosexuality for both the sexes. Had to do some back reading here to confirm.

Guess I'll throw my hat into the ring here:

“For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/114/rom.1.26-27.NKJV

Thoughts from the language experts on these verses?

"I am in disbelief at how this group has voted against me. Of course, there are three trolls, so that would explain some of the votes at least. I tried to argue coherently to you, but you would not listen.

"Listen now: Anthraxus is most likely innocent. I chose to investigate him on the first night. I was murdered that same night too, which makes this whole situation very strange considering you all trusted me enough to bring me back. I thought you would have trusted me to when I said who I was. Would it make sense for me to immediately reveal who I was and let myself get targeted again so quickly? If it would have convinced you, maybe I should have.

"I hope voting me out will be the only mistake you all make this game and that it won't cost us victory against the trolls."

Milton then pixelates out of existence.

"Guys!" Milton shouts. "If you all have confidence that I am at least not a Troll, then you can be convinced that I am at least more likely to be truthful than the other person we know nothing about. I would be reluctant to say what my role is except for a situation like this one. If the Investigator reveals himself, he puts himself at great risk of attack. I'm revealing it because I know that MHD is lying. Anyone who argues against this idea is shooting themselves in the foot, or is in league with the Trolls."